From Col. Edward Mustard’s Correspondence File
27: Swarkestone
For the attention of:
His Grace the Duke of Brunswick
Swarkestone, Derbyshire
April 1769
My Lord Duke,
I am writing to make further Report to Your Grace upon my Activities in Derbyshire.
Having dispatched Mr. Whithurst and Nephew under Guard to the Tower, we fell to a detailed Examination of their Abode. In a hidden Cellar guarded by crude but dangerous Enochian Sigils we found their secret Archive. Our Perusal of the Documents found there was necessarily brief, but our Eyes were caught by a Reference to a “Red King” and to the very substantial Sums of Money secretly directed to an Endeavour associated with that Name. Further Researches brought forth the name of Swarkestone, a Village in the South of Derbyshire.
In Swarkestone we found a very substantial new Residence, largely complete but still under Construction, guarded by a Workforce of the sort with which we are well acquainted: namely ordinary Folks, robbed of their natural Wits and possessed by Spirits. When I announced I was about the King’s Business they barred the Doors and assaulted us, but we were able to suppress or evade them to gain Entry.
This new Edifice, it transpired, was built around an older Farmhouse, entirely encasing it. There we discovered the original Inhabitants of Lowe Farm, an elderly Couple and their Servants, oblivious to their Change in Circumstance and the Passage of Years due to the Sorceries Practised upon them. Freed from Mental Enthralment, we found them naturally Bewildered at the Loss of some Five Years of their Lives. In my Humble Opinion this Cruel Practice upon innocent Subjects of His Majesty would alone merit the most severe Punishment under Law against its Perpetrators.
In the Basement we discovered a room with a large Enochian Gate, powered by many Engines. Two Men working there immediately attacked us. We overcame and secured the First, but the Second fled through the Gate. We pursued and found Ourselves in a Huge Chamber, full of Enochian Engines and Gates, one of which was currently in operation. We apprehended our Quarry just beyond this Gate, which opened onto a tunnel that in turn opened onto a vista of sand with Aegyptian style Pyramids in the Distance. There were Companies of Skeletal Soldiers marching in Formation each with a Green Glint in its Eyes.
We did not tarry but as I activated the Gate to return us to the “Engine Room” I was contacted by an Entity. I was Warded but Possession did not seem its Intent. Instead it sought to persuade me to its Purpose. Needless to say I was firm against its Blandishments. However, from its Converse I gleaned the Following: this was the “Red King”; it was one of the Anonaki; it found the Tedium of its Exile unbearable and sought to return to the World; it despised the other Anonaki but all of them sought the Same; Daniel Whithurst had agreed to free it in return for Power and Riches; he did not entirely trust to Whithurst’s Moral Fibre and sought Alternative Instruments; it did not understand Whithurst’s Methods but surmised the involvement Mechanical Engines.
We exorcised our two Captives of their Occupying Spirits. Natter and Cuthbertson were Field Engineers for Whithurst and Boulton. It is Interesting (and much to our Advantage) that unlike most previous Victims of Possession that we have encountered, these Fellows retain recall of Events and Deeds during their Possession. We can speculate that their own Knowledge and Higher Mental Functions were required and could not be suppressed without rendering them useless. The Two were most keen to co-operate and willing to turn King’s Evidence against their former Employers. They informed us that the “Engine Room” led to many Worlds, some of which had been explored. They named Daniel Whithurst as the main Motivator behind the Swarkestone Endeavour but did not demur when I suggested that the expertise of Whithurst Senior must also be required to have designed and configured such an array of Enochian Engines and Gates.
After evaluating the Situation with my Advisors, I took the View that the “Engine Room” was too dangerous to be left in Operating Order. I laid Charges there, set the fuse and retreated to the “Gate Room”. Rao, assisted by Natter and Cuthbertson closed the Gate behind me. Our Calculation is that the Explosion, in combination with the resultant Enochian Disruptions, will make the Entire Assemblage inoperable and most likely destroy it entirely. The Devices in the Gate Room we will dismantle and remove for Study.
It is my Recommendation that the Whithursts to be held in the Tower pending trial. The ill done to the occupants of Lowe Farm (and to Natter and Cuthbertson) is quite sufficient to hold them for now. I enclose affadavits to support the Charges. However, a Charge of Treason does not seem excessive, for they have plainly colluded with a Foreign Power (the Red King) to the Endangerment of the Realm and the Overthrow of King George III. God Save the King.
I remain,
Your Grace’s most Obedient Servant,
Edward Mustard, Brigadier.