by Frank Erdman

Innsmouth, MA – A stash of old letters detailing life in Innsmouth between 1915 and 1927 has been found during routine renovations to a Dyer College dorm. Gilman House – as it is still popularly known – was owned by Hiram Gilman Jr. until 1927. It was purchased by Dyer College in the 1960s.

The collection of personal letters is noteworthy for its mentions of occultist practices and an Apocalyptic cult.

“Gilman seems to have been involved in some kind of neo-Millerite society. There were all kinds of end-of-the-world societies in the 19th century and early 20th centuries,” said Professor of Folklore at Miskatonic University, Leila Acton.

Many of the letters unearthed seem mundane: Gilman complains about the weather or discusses fishing. However, Acton explains that it is easy to often find a different meaning in these innocent exchanges.

For example, a letter dated October 8, 1889, speaking against the establishment of a branch of the First National Grocery chain in the Town Square on the west side of Federal, reads:

“The copious amount of drink sold at this store contributes to the overall decline of the high standards of ethics our citizens have always committed themselves to upholding and, I fear, is part of a broader trend of urban degeneration more to be found in metropoleis like Boston, and ought not to be seen in quiet, hard-working seaside fishing hamlets like our own most-venerated Innsmouth. However, these are really trivial considerations which I have compared to my primary reservation. Here in Innsmouth, we value our privacy and our particular way of life, and we do not need merchants from the outside coming in and possibly coming to misapprehensions regarding our citizenry, misapprehensions that could cause the spread of rumours about our fine town into the far corners of the Commonwealth.”

The “rumours”, Acton thinks, would involve the Apocalyptic cult Gilman was associated with.

“If you listen to Dyer College students, there’s been talk of human sacrifices occurring at Gilman House for ages. Not that I believe there ever was anything like that, but the rumours might be distortions based on fact: perhaps Gilman House was a point of encounter for a type of cult,” Acton said.

However, James Marsh, author of A Brief History of Innsmouth, dismissed these claims as “overblown tripe”.

“Hiram Gilman was an upstanding citizen of Innsmouth, and to suggest he might have been involved in some type of shady end-of-the-world cult is ridiculous. Next, you’ll be telling me the witches in Salem really did fly through the air,” Marsh said.

 Print | Filed under: Monster Bytes, News by silviamg