Miskatonic Expedition
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Chronology

Lovecraft Mythos Timeline

A provisional sequence of mythos incidents and archival events referenced across the dossiers. Dates remain subject to revision.

  1. Colonization of Earth — chronology dossier photograph
    Colonization of Earth — chronology dossier photograph

    Colonization of Earth — chronology dossier photograph

    Prehuman

    Colonization of Earth

    The Elder Things arrive from space, build cities across warm Antarctica, breed shoggoths for labour, and war with Cthulhu's spawn. R'lyeh sinks; the Elder Things retreat as the ice advances.

  2. Composition of the Al Azif — chronology dossier photograph
    Composition of the Al Azif — chronology dossier photograph

    Composition of the Al Azif — chronology dossier photograph

    730 AD

    Composition of the Al Azif

    Abdul Alhazred completes the text later known as the Necronomicon in Damascus, after decades of travel among ruins that predate human memory. The manuscript will outlive every empire that tries to burn it.

  3. Death of the Mad Arab — chronology dossier photograph
    Death of the Mad Arab — chronology dossier photograph

    Death of the Mad Arab — chronology dossier photograph

    738 AD

    Death of the Mad Arab

    Alhazred is torn apart in broad daylight before a crowd in the marketplace - devoured, witnesses insist, by something the eye could not see. His book multiplies without him.

  4. Dunwich Settlement — chronology dossier photograph
    Dunwich Settlement — chronology dossier photograph

    Dunwich Settlement — chronology dossier photograph

    1692

    Dunwich Settlement

    Puritan settlers establish Dunwich in the Miskatonic hills upon ground already consecrated to older powers. The Whateley line takes root.

  5. Curwen's Resurrection — chronology dossier photograph
    Curwen's Resurrection — chronology dossier photograph

    Curwen's Resurrection — chronology dossier photograph

    1765–1770

    Curwen's Resurrection

    Joseph Curwen of Providence perfects the salts that restore the dead and correspond with beings beneath the sea. Charles Ward will unearth his legacy a century and a half later.

  6. Innsmouth Raids — chronology dossier photograph
    Innsmouth Raids — chronology dossier photograph

    Innsmouth Raids — chronology dossier photograph

    1846

    Innsmouth Raids

    Federal forces and local militia suppress public cult activity in Innsmouth after decades of Marsh gold and Deep One breeding. The Esoteric Order of Dagon is driven underground; the reef pact continues.

  7. The Colour Falls at Arkham — chronology dossier photograph
    The Colour Falls at Arkham — chronology dossier photograph

    The Colour Falls at Arkham — chronology dossier photograph

    1882

    The Colour Falls at Arkham

    A meteorite poisons the Gardner farm on the blasted heath west of Arkham. The Colour Out of Space drains life from land, water, and blood until nothing remains but grey dust and a well that glows at night.

  8. Legrasse Cult Raid — chronology dossier photograph
    Legrasse Cult Raid — chronology dossier photograph

    Legrasse Cult Raid — chronology dossier photograph

    1907

    Legrasse Cult Raid

    Inspector Legrasse raids a swamp cult in Louisiana, seizing a stone idol and a chant that translates to the worship of Cthulhu. The connection to global activity will not be understood until 1925.

  9. Exham Priory Destroyed — chronology dossier photograph
    Exham Priory Destroyed — chronology dossier photograph

    Exham Priory Destroyed — chronology dossier photograph

    1918

    Exham Priory Destroyed

    Sir William Brinton demolishes the priory in the Severn Valley after the de la Poer massacre. Something in the walls had been feeding for centuries.

  10. Pickman Disappears — chronology dossier photograph
    Pickman Disappears — chronology dossier photograph

    Pickman Disappears — chronology dossier photograph

    1923

    Pickman Disappears

    Richard Upton Pickman vanishes from his North End studio after a fellow artist sees what his canvases concealed. The tunnels beneath Boston are not mapped on any city plan.

  11. Emergence of R'lyeh — chronology dossier photograph
    Emergence of R'lyeh — chronology dossier photograph

    Emergence of R'lyeh — chronology dossier photograph

    1925

    Emergence of R'lyeh

    The Emma's crew witnesses the risen corpse-city in the Pacific; Johansen drives Cthulhu back into the vault. Worldwide dreams intensify. Francis Thurston assembles the threads.

  12. Innsmouth Investigation — chronology dossier photograph
    Innsmouth Investigation — chronology dossier photograph

    Innsmouth Investigation — chronology dossier photograph

    1927

    Innsmouth Investigation

    Robert Olmstead escapes the town and triggers a Federal raid - torpedoes, internment, and a silence almost as complete as Innsmouth's own. The hybrids are not eradicated.

  13. The Dunwich Horror — chronology dossier photograph
    The Dunwich Horror — chronology dossier photograph

    The Dunwich Horror — chronology dossier photograph

    1928

    The Dunwich Horror

    Miskatonic scholars Armitage, Rice, and Morgan confront the Whateley manifestation on Sentinel Hill using the Necronomicon itself. The farmhouse burns; the hill does not forget.

  14. Vermont Horror — chronology dossier photograph
    Vermont Horror — chronology dossier photograph

    Vermont Horror — chronology dossier photograph

    1928

    Vermont Horror

    Albert Wilmarth investigates the Akeley correspondence in the hills and learns the Mi-Go are real, the brain cylinders are real, and the stars are closer than astronomy admits.

  15. Curwen's Ashes Scattered — chronology dossier photograph
    Curwen's Ashes Scattered — chronology dossier photograph

    Curwen's Ashes Scattered — chronology dossier photograph

    1929

    Curwen's Ashes Scattered

    After the Ward case ends in fire and madness, investigators scatter Joseph Curwen's ashes into the sea. The correspondence had already spread to other hands.

  16. Antarctic Expedition — chronology dossier photograph
    Antarctic Expedition — chronology dossier photograph

    Antarctic Expedition — chronology dossier photograph

    1930–31

    Antarctic Expedition

    The Miskatonic expedition catalogs Elder Thing ruins and awakens what still moves beneath the ice. Dyer suppresses his report; sixteen men and thirty-seven dogs do not return.

  17. Blake Dies in Providence — chronology dossier photograph
    Blake Dies in Providence — chronology dossier photograph

    Blake Dies in Providence — chronology dossier photograph

    1932

    Blake Dies in Providence

    Robert Blake is found dead before the steeple of the Free-Will Church, staring upward. The Shining Trapezohedron is gone. The Church of Starry Wisdom is not.

  18. Witch-House Incident — chronology dossier photograph
    Witch-House Incident — chronology dossier photograph

    Witch-House Incident — chronology dossier photograph

    1933

    Witch-House Incident

    Walter Gilman dies in the Arkham slums after renting a room in a house once owned by Keziah Mason. The geometry of the corner should not permit what witnesses heard.

  19. Derby–Waite Exchange — chronology dossier photograph
    Derby–Waite Exchange — chronology dossier photograph

    Derby–Waite Exchange — chronology dossier photograph

    1934

    Derby–Waite Exchange

    Edward Derby's body and mind are traded with Asenath Waite and what wore her face. The Innsmouth look was not the worst inheritance.

  20. Peaslee's Lost Years — chronology dossier photograph
    Peaslee's Lost Years — chronology dossier photograph

    Peaslee's Lost Years — chronology dossier photograph

    1935

    Peaslee's Lost Years

    Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee's consciousness is displaced by the Great Race of Yith; five years vanish from his life. His son records what the father cannot remember.

  21. Carter Crosses the Gate — chronology dossier photograph
    Carter Crosses the Gate — chronology dossier photograph

    Carter Crosses the Gate — chronology dossier photograph

    1935

    Carter Crosses the Gate

    Randolph Carter passes through the silver gate and does not return to the waking world in any form the archive can verify. The Dreamlands file remains open.