Editing Arkham (section)

===Location===
The precise location of Arkham is unspecified, although it may be surmised from Lovecraft's stories to be some distance to the north of [[Boston]], probably in [[Essex County, Massachusetts]]. 

[[Will Murray (writer)|Will Murray]] places Arkham in central Massachusetts and suggests it is based on the village of [[Oakham, Massachusetts|Oakham]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Murray |first=Will |date=October 1, 1986 |title=In Search of Arkham Country |url=https://archive.org/details/Lovecraft_Studies_13v05n02_1986-Fall_CosmicJukebox/page/n13/mode/2up?view=theater |journal=Lovecraft Studies |volume=Five |issue=2 |pages=54–67 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Robert D. Marten rejects this and equates Arkham with [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem]], with its name coming from Arkwright, Rhode Island (now part of Fiskville).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marten |first=Robert D. |title=Dissecting Cthulhu: Essays on the Cthulhu Mythos |publisher=Miskatonic River Press |year=2011 |isbn=9780982181874 |editor-last=Joshi |editor-first=S. T. |location=Lakeland, FLA |pages=174–176 |chapter=Arkham Country: In Rescue of the Lost Searchers}}</ref>

[[August Derleth]] describes Arkham as "Lovecraft's own well-known, widely used place-name for legend-haunted Salem, Massachusetts",<ref>"About Arkham House" web site.</ref> and Lovecraft himself, in a letter to F. Lee Baldwin dated April 29, 1934, wrote that "[my] mental picture of Arkham is of a town something like Salem in atmosphere [and] style of houses, but more hilly [and] with a college (which Salem [lacks]) ... I place the town [and] the imaginary Miskatonic [River] somewhere north of Salem—perhaps near Manchester."<ref>Joshi & Schultz, pp. 6–7.</ref>

Arkham Sanitarium appears in the short story "[[The Thing on the Doorstep]]" and may have been inspired by the Danvers State Insane Asylum, ([[Danvers State Hospital]]) in Danvers, Massachusetts.<ref>Joseph Morales notes in his "A Short Tour of Lovecraftian New England" (web site) that Danvers "is mentioned in passing in some of Lovecraft's stories, and may also be the inspiration for HPL's fictional Arkham Sanitarium".</ref> Danvers State Hospital itself appears in Lovecraft's stories "[[Pickman's Model]]" and ''[[The Shadow over Innsmouth]]''.