#CursedFootage Day 5: Historical

Letter to Allison Palmer from Martin Gentry, local Arkham antiquities collector.

“Dear Allison,

I apologize for my brusque treatment when you visited me. I was distraught over Diane’s untimely death, and most times, I spend my days inside a whiskey bottle. It keeps my mind from thinking of…you know.

If only Diane wasn’t so nosy! You’re nosy too, and if you’re not careful, you’ll end up just like her. If you’re lucky. You think you know so much. But you don’t yet know the weight of knowing, the curse of being known. You will.

You thought you were so slick, taking the Maligni Spiritus when my back was turned. What a fool. I let you take it, and now it’s yours. I could never get Diane to take it. She knew the power such tomes contain, knew that owning them is dangerous for any one individual.

Now that the Maligni Spiritus is yours, you can never get rid of it of your own accord. It cannot be destroyed. It can only be contained. I hope you enjoy your I’ll-gotten boon.

You’ve freed me of some of my burdens. I still know what I know (once something is learned, it can never be unlearned), but the temptation to learn more, to dig deeper into the black pit of madness is gone. Now it’s your burden. Will you resist the pull towards the ultimate knowledge? Diane couldn’t, apparently. I only resisted by keeping my mind so inebriated that lucid thought was impossible. How will you cope? I don’t think you can. I think I’ll be reading your obituary soon.

I’m sorry for you.

-Martin Gentry”