Arkham is a fictional city situated in Massachusetts. It's a dark city and 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. 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. Arkham Asylum, a fictional institution in DC Comics' Batman stories, is also named for Lovecraft's Arkham.
In Lovecraft's stories
Arkham is the home of Miskatonic University, which figures prominently in many of Lovecraft's works. The institution finances the expeditions in the novellas, At the Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Out of Time. Walter Gilman, of "The Dreams in the Witch House", attends classes at the university. Other notable institutions in Arkham are the Arkham Historical Society and the Arkham Sanitarium. It is said in "Herbert West—Reanimator" that the town was devastated by a typhoid outbreak in 1905. 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. 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. The disappearance of children at May Eve and other "bad doings" are accepted as a part of life for the poorer citizens of the city.
Location
The precise location of Arkham is unspecified, although it is probably near both Innsmouth and Dunwich. However, it may be surmised from Lovecraft's stories that it is some distance to the north of Boston, probably in Essex County, Massachusetts. A more recent mapping of Lovecraft Country reinforces this suggestion, with Arkham being situated close to the location of Gordon College; in Lovecraft's work this would presumably be replaced by Miskatonic University itself. The real-life model for Arkham seems to be, in fact, Salem, its reputation for the occult appealing to one who dabbles in the weird tale. Arkham Sanitarium appears in the short story "The Thing on the Doorstep" and may have been inspired by the Danvers State Insane Asylum, aka Danvers State Hospital, located in Danvers, Massachusetts.
Appearances
Lovecraft's fiction
Note: dates are the year written. Arkham first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The Picture in the House" —the story is also the first to mention "Miskatonic". It appears in other stories by Lovecraft, including:
"Herbert West–Reanimator" ; first story to mention "Miskatonic University"
"The Unnamable"
"The Silver Key"
"The Colour Out of Space"
"The Dunwich Horror"
"The Whisperer in Darkness" ; Albert N. Wilmarth is described as a folklorist and assistant professor of English at Miskatonic University.
"The Thing on the Doorstep" ; first to mention "Arkham Sanitarium"
"The Shadow Out of Time"
Other appearances
Arkham appears in "The Collect Call of Cthulhu", episode 32 from season 2 of The Real Ghostbusters, when members of the Ghostbusters go to Miskatonic University to get information on how to stop Cthulhu.
In the DC Universe, Arkham Asylum is a high-security asylum for dangerous psychopaths where many Gotham Citysupervillains, including the Joker, are kept under guard. The name was picked by editor Jack C. Harris and writer Dennis O'Neil in homage to Lovecraft. In the fictional universe, it was run by the Arkham family, namely Amadeus Arkham, giving it its name.
Arkham Horror is a cooperative adventure board-game themed around H.P Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. The game has players exploring the town of Arkham as they attempt to stop unmentionable horrors from spilling into the world.
Splatterhouse takes place in the setting of Arkham, Massachusetts.
Arkham is the setting for the 1963 film The Haunted Palace directed by Roger Corman, which is based on the H.P. Lovecraft novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.
"An Arkham Halloween", short story appearing in Bewildering Stories, in which the Wandering Jew volunteers to aid Miskatonic University in preparing a modern translation of the Necronomicon, meets a descendant of Edgar Allan Poe's protagonist in the "Tell Tale Heart", and battles Dracula. Reprinted in author's collection, 'Weird Thoughts'.
Novels
Arkham is the primary setting of Lovecraftian: The Shipwright Circle by Steven Philip Jones. The Lovecraftian series reimagines the weird tales of H. P. Lovecraft into one single universal modern epic.
Arkham is the setting for all of the stories in the 2006 anthology Arkham Tales published by Chaosium.
In the novel The Arcanum, Lovecraft himself is said to have been involved in solving a case involving a witch cult in Arkham.
Arkham is mentioned in two novels by author Charles Stross. In The Atrocity Archives, a philosopher is attracted to Arkham due to the "unique library" there.. In The Jennifer Morgue, the occult branch of the American intelligence community, code-named "Black Chamber", is headquartered in Arkham.
Primary sources
Lovecraft, Howard P.
* At the Mountains of Madness, and Other Novels, S. T. Joshi, Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1985. . Definitive version.
* Dagon and Other Macabre Tales, S. T. Joshi, Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1987.. Definitive version.
* The Dunwich Horror and Others, S. T. Joshi, Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1984.. Definitive version.
