The Witch Artifacts - The macabre Keziah Mason collection

"To some, though, the greatest mystery of all is the variety of utterly inexplicable objects—objects whose shapes, materials, types of workmanship, and purposes baffle all conjecture—found scattered amidst the wreckage in evidently diverse states of injury."

The Dreams in the Witch House

- H.P. Lovecraft

Objects created by Jason McKittrick,

A unique collection of items based on H.P. Lovecraft's classic tale, "Dreams in the Witch House". Created in incredible detail by Mythos artist Jason McKittrick, this collection is composed of artifacts belonging to Keziah Mason found in the Witch House after the unfortunate incidents involving Miskatonic University student Walter Gilman.

This collection of strange objects from the colonial period was behind a plaster wall in the attic that was occupied by the young mathematician Walter Gilman. The items were collected by the police and since there was no consensus about their purpose or if they had been used in any criminal activity, they were eventually donated to the Miskatonic University History Department. Later they became part of the Museum of History, Archeology and Anthropology collection as extremely valuable items for the colonial history of Arkham and New England.

THE MANUSCRIPT

"Other objects found included the mingled fragments of many books and papers, together with a yellowish dust left from the total disintegration of still older books and papers. All, without exception, appeared to deal with black magic in its most advanced and horrible forms; and the evidently recent date of certain items is still a mystery as unsolved as that of the modern human bones. An even greater mystery is the absolute homogeneity of the crabbed, archaic writing found on a wide range of papers whose conditions and watermarks suggest age differences of at least 150 to 200 years."

Most of the papers found in the Witche's House were greatly deteriorated and most cannot be recovered, despite the efforts of the University team. This unique page of vellum has survived almost by miracle the action of time, humidity and dust. Considering that she was exposed without any protection it is incredible that he is in such good condition.

The manuscript presents a series of directions and landmarks scattered around the infamous house, constituting what in theory would be a guide of how to move inside the house using references to access "planes and spaces beyond". In theory, following a certain order of movement within the house it would be possible to access dimensional portals that allow traveling not only through space, but time. Presumably the paper was used by Keziah Mason in her occult practices.

Professors in the controversial Medieval Metaphysics course have conducted numerous studies and come to the conclusion that this symbols and annotations refers to extremely advanced mathematical calculations. Not even the students of the Department of Exact Sciences and Mathematics were able to decipher all the calculations and the complicated tabulation. How a practically illiterate woman of the seventeenth century used these formulas is an enigma. Some people suspected that the notes would belong to Walter Gilman, who was a mathematics student until his tragic death, yet a sample analysis resulted in confirmation that vellum and paint used in the parchment were at least 200 years old.

Unfortunately with the destruction of the house there is no way to define if the marks really existed and what would be their practical use.

THE KNIFE

"On this deep bony layer rested a knife of great size, obvious antiquity, and grotesque, ornate, and exotic design—above which the debris was piled.".

The knife used by Keziah Mason in her rituals of witchcraft and alleged sacrifices was buried in a pile of bones and dust. The material was identified by the biology laboratory as a mixture of human bones - the vast majority belonging to children, and common mice. Many of these bones were so worn that they disintegrated, evidencing their monumental antiquity. However, clinical analysis of some samples attested that some of the material was of recent origin, less than 10 years old (!)

No explanation for this was obtained.

The rudimentary knife is made of a kind of sharp Silex and is about 20 centimeters long from one end to the other. The blade is protected by strips of raw leather and ornamented with a bluish stone (possibly lapis lazuli) attached to the pommel by a chain. It is noteworthy that the blade remains sharp despite being abandoned for so long.

It has no sheath and stands on a smooth stone.

THE STATUETE

"One of these things—which excited several Miskatonic professors profoundly—is a badly damaged monstrosity plainly resembling the strange image which Gilman gave to the college museum, save that it is larger, wrought of some peculiar bluish stone instead of metal, and possessed of a singularly angled pedestal with undecipherable hieroglyphics."

Possibly the most unusual piece found in the sealed room of the attic.

The piece is made of a bluish stone, carved rudimentary but with impressive details, evidencing the talent of its artificer. There is no consensus as to what it means, but everything suggests that it is a representation of some mythical creature. Anthropology scholars have suggested that it could be the representation of some demonic entity.

Measuring exactly 17 centimeters high, from the base of the pedestal to the tip, the piece is massive weighing 5 pounds and 450 grams. Scholars were divided as to the chemical composition of the material used; some suggested that the raw material could be part of a asteroid.

The curious hieroglyphs engraved at the base of the statuette are also a mystery. No student who examined the piece was able to determine its origin or meaning.

In 1931, remnant members of the Miskatonic Expedition who visited Antarctica suggested that the piece held a striking resemblance to biological specimens found in excavations on the icy Continent. Once the specimens were destroyed in a tragic blizzard there was no way to corroborate these suspicions. Members of the expedition who came in contact with the specimens, including Professors Lake and Atwood, respectively from the Departments of Biology and Astronomy, tragically died during the same snowstorm.

In 1933, one of the surviving members of the fateful Expedition, the student graduate and airplane pilot, Danforth attempted to destroy the piece that was on display at the Museum. Security guards managed to prevent him from damaging the piece. The student paid a fine and had to pay for the damages caused. He did not explain what motivated his violent reaction to the piece.

METAL BOWL

"Archaeologists and anthropologists are still trying to explain the bizarre designs chased on a crushed bowl of light metal whose inner side bore ominous brownish stains when found".

The curious bowl or basin of metal is quite rustic and was found slightly damaged with marks consistent with crushing. The metal used for its creation challenged the notions of metallurgy of the specialists who could not determine how it was produced.

The piece is 25 centimeters in diameter and curious symbols carefully engraved inside. The symbols closely resemble those engraved on the base of the statuette which indicates that the pieces are in some way related. The basin weighs only 3 pounds.

The brown stains found inside the basin, according to the analysis of the Biology Laboratory, are consistent with dry blood. There is plenty of documentation about similar utensils being used to collect blood in rituals of black magic. The specialists of the Department of Anthropology were unanimous in affirming that the purpose of the piece was to collect the blood produced in sacrifices.

This piece disappeared from the collection of the University Museum in the year 1965.

Its current whereabouts is unknown.

THE RAT

"In the midst of this debris, wedged between a fallen plank and a cluster of cemented bricks from the ruined chimney, was an object destined to cause more bafflement, veiled fright, and openly superstitious talk in Arkham than anything else discovered in the haunted and accursed building. This object was the partly crushed skeleton of a huge, diseased rat, whose abnormalities of form are still a topic of debate and source of singular reticence among the members of Miskatonic’s department of comparative anatomy. Very little concerning this skeleton has leaked out, but the workmen who found it whisper in shocked tones about the long, brownish hairs with which it was associated.".

The skeleton of this huge rodent found in the Witch House was handed to the professors of the Department of Biology for further analysis.

There was no consensus as to the remarkable peculiarities of its bony structure, especially regarding the skull and forepaws, which resembled hands. Unfortunately the specimen was destroyed by a museum cleaner who threw it into the incinerator believing it to be a simple rat carcass. The photo above is one of the only remaining photos that corroborate the existence of the specimen.

At least the skull that had been removed for studies by another team survived to the present day.
RAT SKULL

The peculiar rodent skull found in the Witch House basement is one of the most curious pieces of the collection of the Miskatonic University Museum.

The object is a partially crushed skull of a huge rat whose abnormalities in its cranial structure are still the subject of heated debate and singular reticence among the members of the University's Comparative Anatomy Department.

The skull was placed in a dome-shaped glass and can found in the University's Biology Laboratory. He was dubbed the "Monster Rodent" by students, though some of the more adventurous ones like to call him Brown Jenkin thanks to a popular belief that Keziah Mason would have transformed a criminal into a pet servant.

The piece was removed from the collection once and remained missing for several weeks in mid-1970, then reappeared in a garbage can in the University courtyard, wrapped in newspaper sheets. The case has never been explained and is considered as a joke from of some student.