The mysterious death of the Duke of Rutland, 1940

While searching for mysteries that occurred during the war, I came across the death of John Manners, the ninth Duke of Rutland. The Duke's actual death isn't actually all that mysterious, but the circumstances that surround it make ideal fodder for potential plot hooks for Section D's investigators.

In April 1940, the Duke of Rutland died of pneumonia in a cramped room in the servant's quarters of his family estate, Belvoir Castle. Shortly after his death, his son had the rooms sealed for several decades with no-one allowed access. Even the castle staff were tight lipped about exactly what happened...

Prior to his death the Duke had spent ages sorting through the family archives putting them in order and cataloging everything in the library, including various archeological artifacts as well as his family histories and books. Later investigations revealed that the Duke had spent his last days actively destroying evidence of certain periods in his life and encoding others. The three obvious gaps cover some of his childhood, his time in Rome (1909) and some of his time during WW1 when he is know to have had conflicts with his family.

But... what other things did he try to hide in his final days and what did he pass on to Section D? And most importantly of all, why were his chambers sealed and his retainers so secretive? This makes me want to weave something in about the Duke becoming entangled with some mystical group in Rome, aimed at re-balancing power in favour of the Church. As WW1 breaks out and he witnesses the horrors of mass destruction, he could start to feel disillusioned with his involvement in this and he slowly turns to darker powers to try and rectify his earlier mistakes.

WW2 rolls around and things are still following a course the the Duke cannot help but feel he helped guide. When he is diagnosed with pneumonia, he turns over all his research to Section D as he does not have the strength to carry on combating the German mystics and instead starts to spend his final days purging anything suspect from the records; covering them up with more mundane concerns like family arguments.

This handover from the Duke may lead the investigators on a covert mission to Rome to try and recover some additional information about a larger plot, or reveal the location of a large archeological dig sponsored by the Vatican

Copehill Down, UK

In 1943 the entire population of the British town of Copehill Down on Salisbury Plain was evacuated and they have never been allowed back since. The town was, apparently, converted to be a training facility for American troops preparing for the invasion into Europe as they had no experience of the more dense layout of European villages compared to those in America. The town is still owned by the MoD and has been expanded upon to recreate other village types across Europe, including eastern european towns in the 1980s.

But what caused them to pick this village in particular? Salisbury Plain  is home to a number of important mystical sites in the UK; most notably Stonehenge. It wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility that Copehill Down was picked by a cult for their base of operations.  In order to protect the population from whatever was about to (or did) happen, the village was evacuated and turned over to Section D to protect. The village could be part of a gateway through to the Dreamlands, home to a band of ghouls or worse...

The Piltdown Man

While reading up on the various Lovecraft stories, I came across a reference to the Piltdown Man. This is a real life example of something that could hide deeper, darker things.

In 1908 a skull and jawbone were dug up in a gravel pit in East Sussex in England. This discovery was, for many years, believed to be an early, unknown strain of man as it had a distorted lower jaw. Part of the skull had been unearthed by workmen, with the other fragments discovered in the spoil heaps later. A reconstruction was undertaken by experts at the British Museum and given it's own classification, Eoanthropus dawsoni. Additional pieces, including the lower jaw and ape like teeth were discovered over the course of various digs at the site and added to the reconstruction. A second skull and jaw were said to have been discovered at Sheffield Park in 1915, proving that it wasn't just a one off. In our world it took until the 1950s to debunk the hoax as just a human skull with an orangutang jawbone and chimpanzee teeth.

During the course of WW2 it would still have been a hot topic for debate amongst anthropologists; but what if the final conclusion  published in Time magazine were to cover up something far more sinister?

While the original digs are too early for our time period, it would certainly be possible to have similar remains uncovered elsewhere, along with eerie inscriptions; leading to our intrepid investigators being sent off to recover the bones and hide any proof that they actually exist. this would be especially viable as we approach the end of the war and all indication of the elder races and their spawn are being covered up.

Markham Colliery Disaster

Markham Colliery at Staveley near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England suffered a massive explosion on the 10th of May, 1938 that killed 79 miners. It is believed that the explosion was caused by a runaway truck that cut an electric cable and released coal dust into the air; this combination would have been lethal.

The Markham No. 1 Colliery is situated about four miles east of Chesterfield. Mining work began at this site about 1882, but the Blackshale Seam, where the explosion was centred, was not reached until 1924 or 1925. No coal mining was taking place in this part of the mine in 1938; it is believed that the truck collided with containers full of  waste material accrued during the cleaning of the gearheads and loader gates.

Lots of information about the real event on: http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/pits/markham/markham_38.htm#top

It all sounds far too neat. I suspect the miners dug through into a nest full of Ghasts and causing the explosion was the only way to stop them from escaping