Sanctum Secorum #45 - The Mound




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Summary: The story is narrated by an ethnologist who visits the town of Binger, Oklahoma in 1928 to investigate certain stories related to a certain nearby mound, which is said to be haunted by a strange Indian man by day and a headless woman by night. The local people avoid the place, and there are strange stories of those who dared to venture there either disappearing, or returning insane and inexplicably altered. Being initially quite skeptical, the narrator brings some archaeological tools and visits the mound, noticing that the man pacing it appears closest to the native Indians, but cannot be identified with any known Indian tribe. Through a talisman made of a strange metal given to him by a local chieftain, he unearths a strange cylinder made of the same unidentifiable metal full of hideous engravings and strange hieroglyphics. Upon discovering a scroll written in Spanish in the cylinder, the narrator returns to his host and begins to translate it. The contents of the scroll, covering a large part of the narrative, describe the travels of one Pánfilo de Zamacona y Nuñez, an asturian explorer, almost 400 years prior. Zamacona recounts how he was a part of an expedition from Mexico to North America, and how, through the help of a native Indian, he discovered a vast underground world filled with grotesque temples, and populated by strange beasts and a highly advanced telepathic civilization who worshipped Cthulhu, Yig, Shub-Niggurath -and, until a certain incident, Tsathoggua. The members of the underground race -who lived in what they called the kingdom of K’nyan- welcomed him, but the more Zamacona learned about them, the more fearful he became. The narrator is shocked by this scroll but remains skeptical, so the next day he goes to the mound again for further investigation, repeatedly telling himself that this is an elaborate hoax. Upon digging in a depression on the mound, he discovers a staircase leading deep underground... Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight, the Keepers of Mysteries saddle up and head West to explore H.P. Lovecraft's The Mound. What's that? What about episode #44? Well, its coming folks - just like those missing companions but, as you can see, one of our own having a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2059365241/dark-trails-rpg">Kickstarter</a> takes precedence. ;)