It’s been far too long since I published a Mysterious Monday article. Therefore, it’s time to make that right! Below, I have laid out five horrific adventure seed ideas for your next horror game. As a huge fan of Call of Cthulhu, you may notice that some are infused with a touch of the mythos.

 [Fiction] The town of Eastport, Maine is nestled on an idyllic set of islands in the Gulf of Maine. Breathtaking views of picturesque scenery are everywhere and while they pacify and calm the tourists during the summer, they do little to quell the fear of many of the residents. Every five years during the annual September Salmon Festival a sacrifice must be made to the sea. In years past, residents that are also part of the festival committee, select a teenage girl from the village. That is only if they can’t lure and abduct a girl from the tourist population that swells each September. This is the fifth year!

[Historical] Charleston, South Carolina is home to major historical events, many of which helped to shape the nation in some form or fashion. If you peel back the layers of history, there are countless stories that will make your skin crawl. The story of John and Lavina Fisher is ample food for thought! History says that more than 200 years ago they managed a small inn just north of Charleston and at night Lavina would offer an unsuspecting traveler a cup of drugged tea (a sedative). Once the traveler went to sleep in a very special room, John would throw a switch that would open a trapdoor and drop the bed and the drugged traveler into a pit below the house where they were then murdered and buried. While they were eventually caught, tried and hanged for their crimes. They leave us with a piece of factual history that is perfect for our purposes. Modernize this to a roadside motel with a sadistic and creepy on-site manager who has a fetish for murder.

 [Fiction] Tommy Elvis McElvoy is a music fanatic and travels much of the year to see his favorite band, Devil Dogs, play all over the world. His obsession started two years when he was just twenty and attending college at William and Mary. As luck would have it, late one night in the college library he located a dusty old book that explained music theory or so he thought. The book was, in fact, a treatise on the Music from Beyond (mythos tome); upon the next time he listen to that new band, Devil Dogs, he connected their music to the book. To fund his travels, it’s not beneath him to purse snatch, but in recent months he has begun kidnapping, torturing and assuming the identities of his victims. All in the name of pursuing the ultimate piece of music.

 [Fiction] Pittsburgh police were called out to the old Himmelberger Carpet Factory last night for suspicious activity. The factory was abandoned in 1932 and has laid empty and disused all these years; a common location for parties. Thinking it was nothing more than teenagers partying again, they took their time and casually enter the facility. When they arrived, the scene inside the large spacious factory was truly gruesome. Five lifeless bodies hung from ropes drawn over high rafters. Pools of blood had congealed and were intermixed with intestine and other organs, under each body; the bodies had been disemboweled from groin to sternum. It wasn’t until the scene was photographed from rafters, looking down, that the officers realized the bodies had been arranged in such a way as to mimic a pentagram.

[Fiction] Late night adventures by young adults and 20-somethings are not anything new and have always been a thing. Tyler Stock, a 21-year-old college dropout, had every intention of meeting some old college friends for a beer at a nearby pub. Two days later at 4am Tyler’s body was found in the eastbound lane of a remote country road. His neck was broken and one left toe has been surgically removed. Questions, Tyler’s friends reported to the police that he never arrived at the pub and was not out of the ordinary for him to “flake out” on gatherings. So what really happened two nights ago to Tyler Stock?

In need of character, investigator, or NPC portraits for your game? Have a look at our collection of Investigator Images: A Curated List of Yearbooks For Call of Cthulhu

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