(And the Surrounding Area)

Welcome to Miskatonic University. Located near the sleepy little town of Arkham, Massachusetts, Miskatonic has become the foremost university in the study of the arcane. Both the believers and the skeptics come to Miskatonic to study and learn. The poison ivy covered halls of Miskatonic are always home to strange and exciting phenomena…

Miskatonic University was formally opened in the year 1813. Arkham was well known at the time to be the focus of eldritch phenomena and parapsychologists would often set up camp there for glimpses of the unknown on All-Hollow’s Eve and Walpurgis Day. Eventually the camps developed into a set of worn buildings which grew into the University. Miskatonic University is named after the Miskatonic River which flows through the town of Arkham and down into the Atlantic Ocean. 

Arkham has been described as a small town, a jumble of old buildings, a city that time forgot. Indeed Arkham and Miskatonic University remain much the same physically today as they did in the 1800s. Arkham has no singular source of income but does a brisk tourist trade especially during the months of April and October. The Heath Reservoir feeds the town fresh water and is located just beyond Meadow Hill opposite a dark ravine.

The only swamp in Massachusetts is located slightly west of Arkham. Big Cypress Swamp — named for its discoverer: Jonas Cypress — is not normally one of the big tourist attractions; it is even shunned by the natives of Arkham. The swamp can be reached by the rarely used Gainsville Pike, a road that — coincidentally — runs past Miskatonic University to the south.

Just north of Arkham slightly up the coast east of Ipswitch lies the town of Innsmouth. Innsmouth was a popular trading port lying on the mouth of the Manuxet River. However when the B. & M. Railroad went through in the late 1890s Innsmouth was passed over and the town began to dwindle. Today Innsmouth is practically a ghost town with but a few inhabitants.

The natives of Innsmouth must be very proud of their town — for some reason — as they stubbornly refuse to leave the run-down dilapidated buildings. A few Innsmouth people do venture into the “outside world ” but — in the end — return to Innsmouth. It is said that those from Innsmouth have a queer look about them: dry grey flabby skin, little hair and bulging eyes, but in the modern day world of political correctness it is considered impolite to point this out.

The town of Kingsport lies to the east of Arkham. Kingsport is a sharp contrast to both Arkham and Innsmouth; it is a bright happy town whose buildings and towers seem to reach toward the sky. Kingsport is dwarfed however by the beautiful cliffs rising up just outside of town. It is said that on lonely summer evenings when the moon is full and the fog rolls in, the sound of music can be heard coming from the top of the cliffs. The natives claim that it is the fairies dancing. Kingsport is a rustic old New England town famous for its seafood.

But back to Miskatonic… Miskatonic University is home to many areas of study not found elsewhere. Medieval Metaphysics and Psichology are two of the many unusual majors you will find here at Miskatonic. Our Biology department is second to none and all departments offer many exciting research opportunities.

The Library at Miskatonic is one of the oldest in the New England area. It contains books and manuscripts not even found at the Library of Congress. Miskatonic University is the perfect place for the study of the weird, the bizarre, and the eldritch.