{"id":1767,"date":"2015-09-30T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T14:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theunspeakableoath.com\/home\/?p=1767"},"modified":"2015-09-16T12:59:49","modified_gmt":"2015-09-16T18:59:49","slug":"mysterious-manuscript-saucer-attack-1928-the-dunwich-horror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theunspeakableoath.com\/home\/2015\/09\/mysterious-manuscript-saucer-attack-1928-the-dunwich-horror\/","title":{"rendered":"Mysterious Manuscript \u2014 Saucer Attack 1928!: The Dunwich \u2018Horror\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mysterious Manuscripts are books and other documents of supernatural importance, ready to be added to your Call of Cthulhu game. \u201cSaucer Attack 1928! The Dunwich \u2018Horror\u2019\u201d \u2014 by Bret Kramer, \u00a9 2012, illustrated by Vicente Rivera Catal\u00e1, \u00a9 2012 \u2014 appears in The Unspeakable Oath 21, available in PDF and in print with free PDF download<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSaucer Attack 1928!: The Dunwich \u2018Horror\u2019\u201d was written by Heath Berger and published in 1960 by Vast Cosmos Books. It\u2019s an A-format paperback (4\u2153\u201d x 7\u201d) in cheap newsprint; about 200 pages. The amateurish cover painting shows a glowing green flying saucer destroying a barn with a bolt of lightning; in the foreground a policeman is disintegrated by a similar bolt. Title and author are given on the cover and the spine. The work is poorly edited and contains frequent typographical errors and lacks source citations.
\n
\nSaucer Attack 1928!<\/i> can be found second-hand with a Luck <\/i>roll and 1d4\u20131 days of searching, or immediately (perhaps at an online bookseller) if the Luck <\/i>roll is impaled. Anyone with an exceptional interest in UFOlogy who makes a Luck <\/i>roll may, at the Keeper\u2019s discretion, already own it.<\/p>\n

Skimming<\/b><\/h1>\n

This work claims to reinterpret the events of the so-called \u201cDunwich Horror\u201d of 1928, a series of deaths and accidents near the village of Dunwich, Massachusetts. \u00a0The author, self-described \u201cLeading Saucer Phenomena Expert\u201d Heath Berger, claims that the \u201cHorror\u201d was actually a coordinated attack by alien beings in preparation for a future invasion — and that the U.S. government, in order to prevent panic, actively conspired to conceal the events of the \u201cHorror.\u201d \u00a0The work concludes by connecting the \u201cHorror\u201d to contemporary UFO encounters, suggesting the final invasion is drawing near.<\/p>\n

No remains were ever located save fragments of human teeth and bones. There are two possibilities here. Either the aliens used atomic disintegrator rays or they used a matter transmission beam, causing the annihilation of Elmer Frye and his clan on Earth only to reassemble them elsewhere!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thorough Reading<\/b><\/h1>\n

According to Berger, the events of the \u201cDunwich Horror\u201d were a series of calculated attacks by an unknown alien race (or races) against an isolated human settlement with the purpose of testing local, state, and federal government reaction.<\/p>\n

Berger presents an eclectic body of anecdotal evidence for earlier alien visitors in the region, drawing on Penacook and Abenaki myths regarding \u201cWinged Ones\u201d (flying spirits), standing stones (modeled on Stonehenge, \u201ca well-known saucer landing site\u201d) frequently adorned with unknown symbols, reports of weird lights and noises, and numerous missing persons.<\/p>\n

The author then presents a chronological breakdown of the events of the \u201cHorror,\u201d beginning in early September with a barn collapse and cattle mutilation reports, through to the destruction of the Frye family farm and the deaths of five Massachusetts State Police officers. Berger cites multiple interviews with unnamed \u201ceye-witnesses\u201d including Dunwich residents and a Professor Armitage connected to Miskatonic University.<\/p>\n

Berger reports further mysterious disappearances, weird lights, and sounds from the hills after the \u201cHorror,\u201d as well as an eerie \u201cwhite humanoid\u201d spotted near Cold Springs Glen, epicenter of the attacks. In the years afterwards the village, already in decline, was disincorporated and the area taken over by neighboring towns, much of it being purchased by the state in creating Bishop State Park. Berger regards this as proof of official collusion in the cover-up.<\/p>\n

The final section of the book compares the events of the \u201cHorror\u201d to the Hopkinsville Goblins, the Flatwoods Monster, the Roswell crash, and a host of lesser known close encounters. He argues the increasing frequency of contact between humans and aliens is clear proof that the attacks begun in 1928 (if not earlier) are only increasing, suggesting that the time for invasion is close at hand.<\/p>\n

Research<\/b><\/h1>\n

A single Library Use<\/i> roll provides a short summary of the so-called \u201cDunwich Horror\u201d of the summer and fall of 1928, a hoax perpetrated by an Aylesbury, Massachusetts newspaper man who alleged it was caused by an \u201cinvisible elephant.\u201d A series of several moonshine still explosions, wild dog attacks on cattle, and the accidental deaths of several state patrol officers were misinterpreted by locals as a supernatural event. The reporter sold the story as a piece of \u201chillbilly humor\u201d to the Associated Press, who distributed it more widely. \u00a0It is viewed as a precursor to the panic associated with Orson Welles\u2019 1938 War of the Worlds <\/i>broadcast.<\/p>\n

The basic details of the \u201cHorror\u201d as presented by Berger can be confirmed with additional research. Curiously, while Berger\u2019s conclusions about alien attack are clearly off-base, his underlying questioning of the official account of the \u201cHorror\u201d is much harder to dismiss. His basic research showing the Dunwich area to be unusual (to say the least), and the catalog of disappearances, weird phenomena, and the holes in Dr. Armitage\u2019s account are very solid.<\/p>\n

Some information on Berger himself can be uncovered with a separate Library Use <\/i>roll. \u00a0Heath Berger, born Hiram Berkowitz (1924-1971), was an American writer of pulp fiction. Forgotten by all but the most well-read aficionados of the genre, he is considered at best a prolific but ultimately derivative author.<\/p>\n

It is clear then that what Reverend Hoadely observed was not the \u201cvoluble distributions wrought by demonick forces\u201d but instead the sounds wrought by the mechanism of the alien outpost, perhaps excavating saucer hangars and laboratories. Note that Dunwich lacks the limestone karst traditionally associated with cave formation yet there are several caves noted on the 1919 Geological Survey. Might these not be of unnatural formation? Large subterranean structures would account for the magnetic anomalies reported in the region.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Statistics<\/b><\/h1>\n

Saucer Attack 1928!: The Dunwich \u201cHorror.\u201d<\/i> English. No SAN cost. Cthulhu Mythos +0 percentiles. (However, if additional research validates Berger\u2019s underlying claims they are worth +1 Cthulhu Mythos and 1\/1D3 SAN loss.) Occult +4 percentiles. Average 3 days to study and comprehend. Spells: None.<\/p>\n

Using <\/b>Saucer Attack!<\/i><\/b> In Your Campaign<\/b><\/h1>\n

In a modern game \u201cSaucer Attack!\u201d could be the spur for an investigation into the events of the Dunwich Horror, either by the Investigators or by an NPC. Keepers might make use of this work as an imperfect source of information about the Dunwich Horror. Alternately it might be a curio uncovered among the effects of an NPC with an interest in UFOlogy or the paranormal. \u00a0Finally, it might be used to torture players familiar with Lovecraft\u2019s fiction, especially if the work is discovered and examined by one who is unfamiliar with the stories.<\/p>\n

Armitage claims that the \u201cHorror\u201d was noting but mass hysteria. Why then take a sabbatical afterwards? What of his government ties? Why had the late Wilbur Whately — known for his curious walk and his remarkable height; the same man whose own grandfather bought many head of cattle which were never seen again, and was said to haunt the very stone-topped mountains discussed previously — why had he called upon this \u201cinnocent\u201d academic just before the \u201cHorror\u201d began? Was it to warn him? Was Armitage the government\u2019s alien liaison?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Saucer<\/a>

Saucer Attack 1928!: The Dunwich \u2018Horror’ appears in The Unspeakable Oath 21<\/p><\/div>\n

Ready for more alien horrors from beyond time and space?<\/p>\n

This manuscript and more available in<\/p>\n

The Unspeakable Oath, Issue 21!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mysterious Manuscripts are books and other documents of supernatural importance, ready to be added to your Call of Cthulhu game. \u201cSaucer Attack 1928! The Dunwich \u2018Horror\u2019\u201d \u2014 by Bret Kramer, \u00a9 2012, illustrated by Vicente Rivera Catal\u00e1, \u00a9 2012 \u2014…<\/p>\n

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