Editing Arkham

{{Short description|Fictional city in H.P. Lovecraft's works}}
{{about|the city in fiction|the hospital in DC Comics|Arkham Asylum|the video game series|Batman: Arkham|other uses|Arkham (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2016}}
{{Infobox fictional location
| name = Arkham
| image = Map of the Principal Parts of Arkham, Massachusetts.png
| caption = H. P. Lovecraft's hand-drawn map of Arkham, Massachusetts
| image2 = 
| caption2 = Location of Arkham in [[Lovecraft Country]], Massachusetts
| creator = [[H. P. Lovecraft]]
| genre = [[Horror fiction]]
| type = City
| located_in = [[Massachusetts]]
| locations = [[Miskatonic University]]
}}
'''Arkham''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɑr|k|ə|m}}) is a fictional city situated in [[Massachusetts]], United States. An integral part of the [[Lovecraft Country]] setting created by [[H. P. Lovecraft]], Arkham is featured in many of his stories and those of other [[Cthulhu Mythos]] writers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Manguel |first1=Alberto |last2=Guadalupi |first2=Gianni |title=The Dictionary of Imaginary Places |date=1987 |publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |isbn=0-15-626054-9 |pages=20–21}}</ref>

[[Arkham House]], a publishing company started by two of Lovecraft's correspondents, [[August Derleth]] and [[Donald Wandrei]], takes its name from this city as a tribute.<ref>Cf. "About Arkham House" web site.</ref> [[Arkham Asylum]], a fictional mental hospital in [[DC Comics]]' [[Batman]] mythos, is also named after Lovecraft's Arkham.<ref name="Dark Age"/>

==In Lovecraft's stories==
Arkham is the home of Miskatonic University, which features prominently in many of Lovecraft's works. The institution finances the expeditions in the novellas, ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' (1936) and ''[[The Shadow Out of Time]]'' (1936). [[The Dreams in the Witch House#Walter Gilman|Walter Gilman]], of "[[The Dreams in the Witch House]]" (1933), attends classes at the university. Other notable institutions in Arkham are the Arkham Historical Society and the Arkham [[sanatorium|Sanitarium]]. It is said in "[[Herbert West—Reanimator]]" that the town was devastated by a typhoid outbreak in 1905.

[[File:Crowninshield-Bentley House - Salem, Massachusetts.JPG|thumb|Lovecraft's Crowninshield House in ''[[The Thing on the Doorstep]]'' was modeled on the real ''[[Crowninshield-Bentley House]]'' in [[Salem, Massachusetts]].]]

Arkham's main newspaper is the ''Arkham Advertiser'', which has a circulation that reaches as far as [[Dunwich (Lovecraft)|Dunwich]].  In the 1880s, its newspaper is called the ''Arkham Gazette''.

Arkham's most notable characteristics are its [[gambrel]] roofs and the dark legends that have surrounded the city for centuries.

===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]]''.

===Miskatonic University===
Miskatonic University is a [[Fictional location|fictional university]] located in Arkham, near the banks of the (fictional) Miskatonic River. Lovecraft concocted the word ''Miskatonic'' as a mixture of root words from the [[Algonquian languages]],<ref>Lovecraft, ''Selected Letters III'', p. 432.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Harms |first=Daniel |title=The Cthulhu mythos encyclopedia |publisher=Elder Signs Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-934501-05-4 |edition=3rd |location=Lake Orion, MI |page=181}}</ref> the source of many place-names throughout [[New England]]. Anthony Pearsall believes the name is based on the [[Housatonic River]],<ref>Pearsall, "Miskatonic River (Valley)", ''The Lovecraft Lexicon'', p. 281.</ref> which flows from the [[Berkshires]] of [[Western Massachusetts]] and western [[Connecticut]] to [[Long Island Sound]].

After first appearing in [[H. P. Lovecraft]]'s 1922 story "[[Herbert West–Reanimator]]", the school was mentioned in numerous [[Cthulhu Mythos]] stories by Lovecraft and other writers. The story "[[The Dunwich Horror]]" implies that Miskatonic University is a elite university on par with [[Harvard University|Harvard]], and that Harvard and Miskatonic are the two most popular schools for the Massachusetts "Old Gentry". It is modeled on the northeastern [[Ivy League]] universities of Lovecraft's day, perhaps [[Brown University]] in his hometown [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]], which Lovecraft himself wished to attend.<ref>Ross Wells. 2002.
EXploZion!
iUniverse. p. 15</ref> Miskatonic's student body is implied to be all-male like northeastern universities of Lovecraft's time. The only female student mentioned is [[Characters of the Cthulhu Mythos#Waite, Asenath|Asenath Waite]] in "[[The Thing on the Doorstep]]" (1937).<ref>Pearsall, "Miskatonic University", ''The Lovecraft Lexicon'', p. 281.</ref> 

The university library is famous for its collection of [[List of Cthulhu Mythos books|occult books]], including one of the handful of genuine copies of the ''[[Necronomicon]]''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Howard P|last=Lovecraft|title=A History of The Necronomicon|url=http://www.mythostomes.com/content/view/12/72/|publisher=Necronomicon Press|location=West Warwick, RI|isbn=978-0-318-04715-7|year=1980|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603151040/http://www.mythostomes.com/content/view/12/72/|archive-date=June 3, 2008|url-status=dead|via=Mythos Tomes}}</ref> Other tomes include ''[[Unaussprechlichen Kulten]]'' and the fragmentary ''[[Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature#Book of Eibon|Book of Eibon]]''. Notable faculty members mentioned in Lovecraft's stories included doctors [[Characters of the Cthulhu Mythos#Armitage, Henry|Henry Armitage]] and [[Characters of the Cthulhu Mythos#Morgan, (Professor) Francis|Francis Morgan]] in ''The Dunwich Horror'', and [[Characters of the Cthulhu Mythos#Dyer, William|Professor William Dyer]] in ''At the Mountains of Madness''. Later authors would people the university with their own characters.

==Appearances==

===Lovecraft's fiction===
''Dates are the year written.''

Arkham first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "[[The Picture in the House]]"<ref name="The Dunwich horror and others">{{cite book|first1=H. P.|last1=Lovecraft|others=selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch|editor=S. T. Joshi|title=The Dunwich horror and others|date=1963|publisher=Arkham House|location=Sauk City, Wis.|isbn=0870540378|page=[https://archive.org/details/dunwichhorroroth0000love/page/117 117]|edition=corrected 7. printing|url=https://archive.org/details/dunwichhorroroth0000love/page/117}}</ref> (1920), which is also the first to mention "Miskatonic".<ref name="The Dunwich horror and others"/>

It appears in other stories by Lovecraft, including:
* "[[Herbert West–Reanimator]]" (1921–[[1922 in literature|1922]]); first story to mention "Miskatonic University"<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lovecraft|first1=H. P.|others= selected by August Derleth, text edited by S. T. Joshi, introduction by T. E. D. Klein|title=Dagon and other macabre tales|date=1987|publisher=Arkham House Publishers|location=Sauk City, Wis.|isbn=0870540394|page=133|edition=Corr. 5th print.}}</ref>
* "[[The Unnamable (short story)|The Unnamable]]" (1923)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lovecraft|first1=H. P.|others= selected by August Derleth, text edited by S. T. Joshi, introduction by T. E. D. Klein|title=Dagon and other macabre tales|date=1987|publisher=Arkham House Publishers|location=Sauk City, Wis.|isbn=0870540394|page=200|edition=Corr. 5th print.}}</ref>
* "[[The Silver Key]]" (1926)<ref>{{cite book|first1=H. P.|last1=Lovecraft|others=selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch|editor=S. T. Joshi|title=At the mountains of madness, and other novels|date=1985|publisher=Arkham House|location=Sauk City, WI|isbn=0870540386|page=413|edition=Corr. 7. print.}}</ref>
* "[[The Colour Out of Space]]" (1927)<ref>{{cite book|first1=H. P. |last1=Lovecraft |others=selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch |editor=S. T. Joshi|title=The Dunwich horror and others|date=1963|publisher=Arkham House|location=Sauk City, Wis.|isbn=0870540378|page=[https://archive.org/details/dunwichhorroroth0000love/page/53 53]|edition=corrected 7. printing|url=https://archive.org/details/dunwichhorroroth0000love/page/53}}</ref>
* "[[The Dunwich Horror]]" (1928)<ref>{{cite book|first1=H. P.|last1=Lovecraft|others=selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch|editor=S. T. Joshi|title=The Dunwich horror and others|date=1963|publisher=Arkham House|location=Sauk City, Wis.|isbn=0870540378|page=[https://archive.org/details/dunwichhorroroth0000love/page/165 165]|edition=corrected 7. printing|url=https://archive.org/details/dunwichhorroroth0000love/page/165}}</ref>
* "[[The Whisperer in Darkness]]"  (1930); Albert N. Wilmarth is described as a folklorist and assistant professor of English at Miskatonic University.
* ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' (1931); one of the ships is named ''Arkham'' and the expedition that is the story’s subject is commissioned and financed by Miskatonic University<ref>{{cite book|first1=H. P.|last1=Lovecraft|others=selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch|editor=S. T. Joshi|title=At the mountains of madness, and other novels|date=1985|publisher=Arkham House|location=Sauk City, WI|isbn=0870540386|page=6|edition=Corr. 7. print.}}</ref>
* ''[[The Shadow over Innsmouth]]'' (1931)<ref>{{cite book|first1=H. P.|last1=Lovecraft|others=selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch|editor=S. T. Joshi|title=The Dunwich horror and others|date=1963|publisher=Arkham House|location=Sauk City, Wis.|isbn=0870540378|page=[https://archive.org/details/dunwichhorroroth0000love/page/305 305]|edition=corrected 7. printing|url=https://archive.org/details/dunwichhorroroth0000love/page/305}}</ref>
* "[[The Dreams in the Witch House]]" (1932)<ref>{{cite book|first1=H. P.|last1=Lovecraft|others=selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch|editor=S. T. Joshi|title=At the mountains of madness, and other novels|date=1985|publisher=Arkham House|location=Sauk City, WI|isbn=0870540386|page=262|edition=Corr. 7. print.}}</ref>
* "[[Through the Gates of the Silver Key]]" (1932–1933)<ref>{{cite book|first1=H. P.|last1=Lovecraft|others=selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch|editor=S. T. Joshi|title=At the mountains of madness, and other novels|date=1985|publisher=Arkham House|location=Sauk City, WI|isbn=0870540386|page=422|edition=Corr. 7. print.}}</ref>
* "[[The Thing on the Doorstep]]" (1933); first to mention "Arkham Sanitarium"<ref>{{cite book|first1=H. P.|last1=Lovecraft |others=selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch|editor=S. T. Joshi|title=The Dunwich horror and others|date=1963|publisher=Arkham House|location=Sauk City, Wis.|isbn=0870540378|page=[https://archive.org/details/dunwichhorroroth0000love/page/276 276]|edition=corrected 7. printing|url=https://archive.org/details/dunwichhorroroth0000love/page/276}}</ref>
* "[[The Shadow Out of Time]]" (1934–1935)<ref>{{cite book|first1=H. P.|last1=Lovecraft|others=selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch|editor=S.T. Joshi|title=The Dunwich horror and others|date=1963|publisher=Arkham House|location=Sauk City, Wis.|isbn=0870540378|page=[https://archive.org/details/dunwichhorroroth0000love/page/370 370]|edition=corrected 7. printing|url=https://archive.org/details/dunwichhorroroth0000love/page/370}}</ref>

=== Other appearances ===
* [[Arkham Asylum]] is a high-security asylum in the [[DC Universe]], run by the [[Eponym|eponymous]] Amadeus Arkham, where many [[Gotham City]] [[supervillains]], including the [[Joker (comics)|Joker]], are kept under guard.<ref name="Unauthorised">{{cite book |last=O'Neil |first=Dennis |url=https://archive.org/details/batmanunauthoriz0000unse/page/111 |title=Batman Unauthorized: Vigilantes, Jokers, and Heroes in Gotham City |publisher=BenBella Books |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-933771-30-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/batmanunauthoriz0000unse/page/111 111]}}</ref> Editor [[Jack C. Harris]] and writer [[Dennis O'Neil]] picked the name as a homage to Lovecraft.<ref name="Dark Age">{{cite book|title=The Dark Age: Grim, Great & Gimmicky Post-Modern Comics|last1=Voger|first1=Mark|last2=Voglesong|first2=Kathy|publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing|year=2006|isbn=1-893905-53-5|page=5}}</ref> 
* ''[[Arkham Horror]]'' is a cooperative adventure board-game based on H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Players explore the town of Arkham while attempting to stop unmentionable horrors from spilling into the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34/arkham-horror|title=Arkham Horror|website=Board Game Geek|access-date=February 20, 2019}}</ref>
* ''[[Splatterhouse (2010 video game)|Splatterhouse]]'' takes place in Arkham, Massachusetts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gamesradar.com/splatterhouse-easter-eggs-and-references-guide/|title=Splatterhouse easter eggs and references guide|first=Jeff|last=McAllister |date=2010-12-07|website=gamesradar}}</ref>
* ''[[The Haunted Palace]],'' the 1963 film directed by [[Roger Corman]] and based on H. P. Lovecraft's novella ''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]],'' is set in Arkham.
* Arkham appears in ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]],'' season 2, episode 32, titled ''The Collect Call of Cthulhu'' (October 27, 1987), when members of the Ghostbusters go to Miskatonic University to get information on how to stop [[Cthulhu]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Real Ghostbusters (a Titles & Air Dates Guide) |url=http://epguides.com/RealGhostbusters/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119095529/http://epguides.com/RealGhostbusters/ |archive-date=November 19, 2015 |access-date=November 18, 2015 |website=Episode Guides}}</ref>
* ''[[Suitable Flesh]]'', a 2023 film starring [[Heather Graham]], directed by [[Joe Lynch (director)|Joe Lynch]], and based on the H.P. Lovecraft story ''[[The Thing on the Doorstep]]'', takes place in Arkham. Character Asa Waite is a student at [[Arkham#Miskatonic University|Miskatonic University]].

=== Novels ===
* Arkham is the primary setting of Steven Philip Jones' ''Lovecraftian: The Shipwright Circle,'' part of his ''Lovecraftian'' series which reimagines the weird tales of [[H. P. Lovecraft]] into one single universal modern epic.
* Arkham is the setting the 2006 anthology ''[[Arkham Tales]]'' published by [[Chaosium]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Arkham Tales|url=http://www.chaosium.com/arkham-tales/|website=Chaosium|access-date=March 3, 2015|archive-date=March 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317041851/http://www.chaosium.com/arkham-tales/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* In the 2005 novel ''[[The Arcanum (novel)|The Arcanum]]'', Lovecraft himself is said to have been involved in solving a case involving a witch cult in Arkham.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Arcanum |url=https://www.librarything.com/work/382540 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231219061003/https://www.librarything.com/work/382540 |archive-date=December 19, 2023 |access-date=December 18, 2023 |website=LibraryThing}}</ref>
* Arkham is mentioned in two novels by [[Charles Stross]]. In ''[[The Atrocity Archives]]'', a philosopher is attracted to Arkham due to the "unique library" there.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Atrocity Archives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m4fG4aVdvAMC&q=arkham&pg=PT47|access-date=March 3, 2015|ref=Arkham has a really unique library, you know|isbn = 9781101208847|last1 = Stross|first1 = Charles|date = January 3, 2006| publisher=Penguin }}</ref> In ''[[The Jennifer Morgue]]'', the occult branch of the American intelligence community, code-named "[[Black Chamber]]", is headquartered in Arkham.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Jennifer Morgue|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FNvJTW0mL1EC&q=arkham|access-date=December 20, 2015|ref=Overseas Operation Directorate, based out of Arkham|isbn = 9780748124145|last1 = Stross|first1 = Charles|date = November 4, 2010| publisher=Little, Brown Book }}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==

===Primary sources===
* Lovecraft, Howard P.
** ''At the Mountains of Madness, and Other Novels'' (7th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1985.  {{ISBN|0-87054-038-6}}. Definitive version.
** ''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', S. T. Joshi (ed.), Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1987. {{ISBN|0-87054-039-4}}. Definitive version.
** ''The Dunwich Horror and Others'' (9th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1984. {{ISBN|0-87054-037-8}}. Definitive version.

===Secondary sources===

====Books====
* {{cite book|last=Harms|first=Daniel|chapter=Arkham|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediacthu00dani/page/10 10]|title=[[The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana]]|edition=2nd|year=1998|location=Oakland, CA|publisher=Chaosium|isbn=1-56882-119-0|chapter-url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediacthu00dani/page/10}}
* {{cite book | last1=Joshi | first1=S. T. | author-link=S. T. Joshi | first2=David E. | last2=Schultz | title=An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia | chapter=Arkham | pages = 6–7 | location=Westport, CT | publisher=Greenwood Press | year=2001 | isbn=0-313-31578-7}}

====Web sites====
* {{cite web|title=About Arkham House Publishers|url=http://www.arkhamhouse.com/about.htm|access-date=January 19, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060106155321/http://www.arkhamhouse.com/about.htm|archive-date=January 6, 2006|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}
* {{cite web|author=Joseph Morales|title=A Short Tour of Lovecraftian New England|url=http://baharna.com/cmythos/NewEngland/Danvers/danvers.htm|access-date=April 16, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507000319/http://baharna.com/cmythos/NewEngland/Danvers/danvers.htm|archive-date=May 7, 2006|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120207125435/http://www.baharna.com/cmythos/arkham.htm "Lovecraft's Map of Arkham"], from The Cthulhu Mythos: A Guide

{{H. P. Lovecraft}}
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[[Category:Cthulhu Mythos locations]]
[[Category:Fictional elements introduced in 1920]]
[[Category:Fictional populated places in Massachusetts]]