The Church on Prospect Hill

In Chapter 5 of Arkham Files: Visions from Beyond, Diana uses an incident that occurred in The Mirror to provoke a response from Azathoth.

Warning for minor spoilers for The Mirror and Arkham Files: Visions from Beyond.

In The Mirror, Neal entered two paintings in an art competition at a sci-fi convention. The paintings depicted scenes from when he and Peter were held captive by Azathoth. The account of their kidnapping is in The Woman in Blue. Neal realized it was a long shot that Azathoth would attend the sci-fi convention, but in the remote likelihood he did, Neal hoped his paintings would serve as a catalyst.

During the convention, a creative director of a special effects company, approached Neal to discuss the paintings. He mentioned that his company, Scima Workshop, was considering working on a film production of one of Lovecraft's short stories, "The Haunter of the Dark." Research revealed that the concept had been instigated by Azathoth, who conned both Paramount Pictures and Scima Workshop. The parallels between the short story and Neal's situation were numerous, raising a red flag that Azathoth was sending a signal of a future attempt on Neal's life.

Diana decided that two could play that game. She incorporated elements from the same short story in the one she was writing. In "The Haunter of the Dark," the protagonist is a young artist who lives in a loft and paints visions of the surreal and fantastic. He's inexplicably drawn to a deserted church on a hill which he can see from the window of his loft. The fate of the protagonist in Lovecraft's short story isn't a happy one. Diana and her team are determined the same fate doesn't occur to Neal.

The church I used to illustrate the derelict church Neal visits is the Cathedral of St. John in Providence, Rhode Island. It was built in 1810. The church is currently closed and is in a state of deterioration, although not as extensive as Diana and I depict. Lovecraft spent most of his life in Providence and used it as the backdrop for many of his stories. His choice of an abandoned church for a setting was inspired. Churches are by their nature the primary location in a community where the real world collides with the world of spirits and mysticism. A cathedral's lofty columns, soaring ceilings, and walls of stained glass, are designed to remove visitors from their everyday world and transport them to the world of the spiritual and supernatural.

The idea for the ruby crystal which Neal finds on the altar comes from a similar object in the same short story. Much is yet to be revealed about its significance. Diana and I have taken additional elements from that story and twisted them. Objects and events from Lovecraft's stories don't necessarily have the same meaning.

Arkham Files: Visions from Beyond on Archive of Our Own
Arkham Files: Visions from Beyond on FanFiction