Billington House

[AWD Lurker]: Family home of the Billingtons. Located northwest of Arkham, in Billington's Wood. The house is connected to the Aylesbury Pike by a small private road. Somewhere to the east of the house is the Miskatonic River, while somewhere to the west of the house is a a stone tower with a circle of stones, in a small (usually dry) tributary of the Miskatonic. In between the house and the tower is a marsh with frogs and whippoorwills that signal when the servants of the Great Old Ones (3) are present.

In 1921, family descendant Ambrose Dewart decided to move into the old house and restore it. Stephen Bates visited him there later. Dr. Seneca Lapham inferred that an influence was being exercised on the inhabitants of Billington House. With the help of Winfield Phillips, Dr. Lapham was able to kill Richard Billington (who had possessed the body of Ambrose Dewart) and Quamis before they could finish summoning Yog-Sothoth into our world via a ritual at the stone tower.

The location of Billington House is a bit difficult to visualize. The opening paragraphs of AWD Lurker seem to give the impression that Billington House is a short distance off the Aylesbury Pike as you proceed northwest from Arkham in the direction of Dunwich. From this, you might expect Dunwich to be somewhere to the northwest of Billington House. However, Laban Billington, when he lived at Billington House, heard cries "east by northeast, which is the direction of Dunwich, or the wild country around Dunwich." He also heard inhuman screams "from far off in the direction of Dunwich or Innsmouth"; if these are roughly in the same direction, this confirms that Dunwich is northeast of Billington House. Possibly the Aylesbury Pike follows a winding, eccentric path; or possibly Billington House is some distance west of the Pike, in which case the private road connecting the house to the Pike must be a few miles long.

Dunwich and Billington House might be closer together as the crow flies than they are by road. At the intersection of the road from Billington House and the Aylesbury Pike, Ambrose Dewart saw a faint orange glow on the horizon rising in the direction of Dunwich, and he thought he heard sounds that might have been voices raised in fright. He thought that perhaps one of the ramshackle old buildings in the Dunwich country had caught fire. This suggests that Dunwich was fairly nearby. However, Dewart had to drive a least an hour to get from Billington House to Dunwich; and that time span of "perhaps an hour" may be in reference only to the latter part of the trip, when he was in the Dunwich area, a region of deep ravines and gorges.

Billington House seems to be close to Arkham, which is odd since it is also close to Dunwich. Thus, "Squire Billington . . . made application to be heard by the Court of the County in its session at Arkham . . ." This suggests that Billington was living in the same county as Arkham, Essex County. Similarly, when Ambrose Dewart looked through old newspapers for information about Alijah Billington, he consulted only the Arkham Advertiser and Arkham Gazette, as if these were the most local newspapers. And John Druven reported talking a walking journey west and northwest of Arkham, and getting caught by darkness in the region of Billington's Wood, not far from Billington House; thus, we are either within a day's walk of Arkham, or Druven undertook a walking trip of multiple days. Also, when Stephen Bates was staying with Ambrose Dewart at Billington House and it was almost luncheon time, Bates suggested taking an impromptu trip into Arkham for lunch, as if Arkham was close enough for an impulse trip without unduly delaying their meal.

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