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The Case of the Brisbayne Possession and Prophecy is one of the most odd on record. This singular Case of Witchcraft was one of the earliest recorded of the Village of Arkham, Massachusetts. Its Uniqueness was due in Part to the celestial Events that served as Evidence against the Accused, and to the general Nature of the Charges. That Arkham should later become the Site of so many other unusual Cases was surely not foreseen at that Time.
There lived in Arkham at that time a Witch Finder named Orin Wormtree, rivaling Matthew Hopkins in Zeal if not in notoriety, who brought various Charges of Witchcraft and Murder against one Ezekiel Brisbayne, a successful Farmer in whose Pastures it was rumoured that Witches’ Meetings were held. More specifically the Charges were that ..."in the last Summer [of 1665], on the Night of the Eclipse of the Moon, Ezekiel Brisbayne did use Sorcery on a young Man, Nathaniel Harrison, such that Nathaniel Harrison’s Spirit took Flight from his Body, and Ezekiel Brisbayne entered the Body in Spirit and took Possession of it, and that while in the Body of Nathaniel Harrison, Ezekiel Brisbayne did perform several divers heinous Acts, including the Murder of a young Woman, being Prudence Adams."
...Brisbayne was accordingly summoned before the Essex County Court in Salem, where Orin Wormtree prosecuted the Case against him. ...
The Accused was called upon by the Clerk to hold up the right Hand, and the substance of the Charges was reiterated. Brisbayne pleaded Guilty, and offered moreover and without Coercion a large Confession, disconcerting Orin Wormtree and frightening many Spectators. He confessed to ‘Familiarity with the Devil,’ who he claimed appeared to him in the Form of ‘the black Goat with a Thousand Young,’ attended by ‘Frog Creatures and winged Spirits.’ They had first visited him many Years previously, and since that Time he had served and worshipped them, leading ‘the Devil’s Sacrament’ and offering ‘Sacrifices to them’ at Night on his large Farm. Brisbayne then told of a Prophecy his Familiars had delivered to him, which ran thus: ‘The Brisbayne Line will come to a bloody End. When the Child of the ninth generation becomes the Man, the last Brisbayne Son will destroy his Father.’ He confessed to having possessed the Body of Nathaniel Harrison through the Practice of Witchcraft, and declared that ‘the next Time the Moon [was] right [he would work his Spell again].’ This frank Avowal and Lack of Penitence threw the Court into an Uproar, and Orin Wormtree demanded the harshest Penalties.
...the Sentence of the Court was, that Brisbayne should be hanged. Orin Wormtree presided at the Execution, and Brisbayne died pronouncing Curses against him, and vowing that no Prophecy would claim the Brisbayne Line. Brisbayne’s Wife and two Sons were compelled to flee Arkham, leaving the Family’s Farm abandoned, which, thereafter, terrified and indignant Townspeople burned. Brisbayne’s Body was thrown onto the Pyre, and Wormtree scattered the Ashes to the four Winds."

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Looking into the death of Vivien Brisbane, the Investigators comb through old news articles from the Arkham Advertiser. They find her obituary, dated May 12, 1899. It says, in part:

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VIVIEN BRISBANE DIES IN CHILDBIRTH
Vivien Brisbane, wife of prominent local industrialist Luther Brisbane, died last night giving birth to the couple’s first child. The infant, a baby son, is alive and under close medical supervision.
The community will feel deeply the loss of Mrs. Brisbane, who has been a great benefactress of the underprivileged, a patron of the arts, and a prominent figure in local society.
... Mrs. Brisbane founded the Ladies’ Arts League in 1896, ... Mrs. Brisbane’s contribution to local charitable causes have been no less noteworthy. ...A bright star in local society, Mrs. Brisbane was the hostess of several wonderful galas....
... Although friends remembered her today as vivacious and youthful, which she certainly was, they also remark that she had become ever more withdrawn over the last year or two. Indeed, although her many good works continued unabated, she appeared in public, and in the headlines, less and less often. Perhaps the true measure of her charity is the degree to which she shunned notoriety.
Mr. and Mrs. Brisbane were overjoyed when they learned of the impending arrival of their first child. Mr. Brisbane is known to have spent long hours anticipating his fatherhood, converting rooms in the Brisbane home into nursery, playroom, and governess’ quarters. Those rooms are now being used in a twenty-four hour vigil over the infant, supervised by the Brisbane family doctor, William O’Day ...and Mr. Brisbane, who never leaves the boy’s bedside.

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Further searching through newspaper archives reveals lots of articles about the Brisbane family, which is a prominent one in Arkham.

An item from 1911 bears the headline "BRISBANE DEDICATES NEW HOSPITAL WARD," and reads, in part:

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Mr. Luther Brisbane dedicated a new women’s ward at St. Mary’s Hospital yesterday named for Elsie Eichorst, the governess of his son Luther Brisbane, Jr. Miss Eichorst died three weeks ago in the Brisbane home, the apparent victim of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.
"She meant a great deal to my son," Mr. Brisbane said at the ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday. ...Miss Eichorst served the Brisbane family since 1899. She assumed duties as governess to Mr. Brisbane’s son... just weeks after the child was born.
Miss Eichorst is also survived by her mother, Mrs. Flora Eichorst, and a brother, Douglas Eichorst, both of Arkham."
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There is a photograph accompanying the article, showing Brisbane and his young son at the hospital. Standing to Brisbane’s left is Flora Eichorst, and standing behind them is Doug Eichorst. The investigators note the curious expressions on the faces. Only Brisbane is looking at the camera. His son has a disturbingly vacuous expression, and Doug Eichorst seems to be staring at Brisbane. Flora Eichorst is looking at something outside the picture.

A subsequent item from the "Ask Roberta" society column from 1916 mentions Luther Brisbane Junior’s high school graduation party. In addition to giving a little Brisbane family history, it quotes the elder Brisbane on his son. "I’m awfully proud of my boy," said Mr. Brisbane, "and I don’t care if the whole world knows it. He’s my hope for the future."

And in recent society columns (1920) they find the following announcement:
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ENGAGEMENT
Mr. and Mrs. Roger Wingate are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Rebecca, to Mr. Luther Brisbane, Junior. The wedding will take place in September at Christchurch Episcopal in Arkham, to be followed by a large reception hosted by the parents of the bride.
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After going through all this documentary evidence, the Investigators suspect that the ghost they saw in the graveyard may be that of Vivien Brisbane. Or possibly Elsie Eichorst. They are haunted by George Noy’s words about "the prophecy" and the "nine talismans," and the cryptic notes in his hymnal about how "the child must have some human element," and his obvious attempts to dig up something from the vicinity of Vivien Brisbane’s grave. Although they have no evidence that Luther Brisbane is guilty of any wrongdoing, his family history of witchcraft makes them nervous. Especially when they look again at the photo from the news article about the hospital. Investigator Alice Jamison is quite spooked by the look on Luther Junior’s face in the photo: she’s convinced there’s something wrong with him. Feeling it would be a bad idea to directly confront one of the town’s richest and most powerful men, they decide to talk instead to the family of Elsie Eichorst.

The pay a visit to Mrs. Flora Eichorst, the aged and nearly senile mother of Elsie. She remembers her daughter as a sweet little girl, and is very proud of the way she became governess to Luther Brisbane’s son. She shows them a picture of Elsie: she is pretty, but looks rather grim. She also shows them a doll which had belonged to her daughter since childhood. It seems normal enough until they turn it around and look at the back. The back of the head is smashed in, and there is a hole which is disturbingly similar to the hole in the head of the ghost they saw in the old cemetery. When they ask her how the doll was broken, Mrs. Eichorst says that Elsie broke it on her last visit to the family home, not long before she died. Mrs. Eichorst reveals during their conversation that Mr. Brisbane still provides her with money to live on. She thinks he’s a great man, and is very grateful to him.

Her son, Doug, has different opinions. When they’ve finished talking with his mother, Doug pulls the Investigators aside and tells them that he thinks his sister’s death was not an accident. He thinks that Brisbane murdered her because she learned too much about secret family business. He doesn’t know what it might be, but he suspects that Brisbane is somehow guilty also in the death of his own wife. He shows the Investigators some of the letters that his sister wrote to him from the Brisbane house. They read, in part:
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May 28, 1899
...Little Luther is a good baby. He never cries, although he does seem sad. Almost as though he knows what happened. He’s very slow, and not very active. He’s not hard to sit with at all.

October 31, 1908
...Mr. Brisbane has taken Luther trick-or-treating, as he does every year. I think Mr. Brisbane enjoys it more than Luther, although you’d think he might want to try a new costume. As they were dressing in their traditional fancy choir robes, Luther was his usual unflappable self. ...Luther... frightens me sometimes. Sometimes he looks at me with a gaze so intense that it just stops me in my tracks. Normally his glance is listless and lifeless. He doesn’t seem like a normal nine-year old boy. ....I wish I could tell you all that goes on here, but Mr. Brisbane’s prohibitions are so strict, and I dare not violate them. There are still rooms in the house that I am not allowed to enter.

May 11, 1909
...Mr. Brisbane... said that when he grew to manhood, Luther would do great things. ...He said he would vindicate the Brisbanes, although I don’t know what he meant by that. ...I can’t tell you all that he said...But he seemed to say something about revenge, and I could swear he said "that protestant bug." I know it doesn’t make any sense. Nothing does around here anymore.

17 July, 1911
...I dreamt that Mr. Brisbane stood just outside my door, just waiting there. I could feel him. Only it wasn’t like a dream because I was dreaming that I was there in bed, so it was very confusing. When I woke up and was sure I was awake, I was still so frightened that I imagined I heard noises in the house. I have always heard strange noises in the house, but this noise was like a scream coming from downstairs.

[No Date]
Dear Douglas,
I interrupted them accidentally. I heard noises and went down and saw them. He was giving him something to drink out of a cup. I just spied them through the door. They must have heard me because they both looked up the same way. I froze. I think they saw me but they both looked down again and Luther drank it. Luther fell down and I ran upstairs. I can’t sleep now. It feels like those dreams. I must put out the light now.
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CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE FACSIMILES OF ELSIE’S LETTERS

Now deeply suspicious of Luther Brisbane, the Investigators wanted to look into the circumstances of his wife’s death and his ancestry. Since one of the Investigators was a grave digger, they got the idea to attempt to exhume the coffin of Vivien Brisbane. Upon opening the casket, they discovered that it was full of bricks. The body was nowhere to be found.

Speculating that she was buried elsewhere, the Investigators researched the old colonial cemetery across the lane, where the ghost had appeared to them that first night. They learned that Orin Wormtree, the enemy of Brisbane’s ancestor, was buried there. Exhuming that grave, they found the remains of a woman. The base of the skull had a square hole surgically cut out of it. It seemed clear that Mrs. Brisbane’s death was not as it had been reported in the papers.

Following notes and diagrams from among George Noy’s papers, and remembering his dying words about the “nine talismans,” the Investigators conclude that the body in Wormtree’s grave is that of Vivien Brisbane, and that the grave is surrounded by a large elder sign, at each point of which is buried one of nine talismans meant to keep Vivien Brisbane’s spirit at bay. They decide to dig up the talismans, which is what they conclude George Noy had been attempting to do, and thus free Vivien Brisbane’s spirit to reach its destiny. They do more research, and procure flashlights, shovels, and a length of rope for measuring at a local hardware store. Late at night, in the middle of a fierce thunderstorm, they enter the old colonial graveyard, muttering prayers to themselves.

The rain is heavy and the ground is very sloppy. It’s dark, and strange noises surround them. They mark off the points of the elder sign and begin to dig, hoping to find one of the talismans. One of the Investigators unearths a small stone with an elder sign carved on its surface, and they note its location. Figuring out the probable location of the remaining talismans based on the first one, they begin digging for the rest. Strange meeping noises come from the woods as they work, making them extremely nervous, but they manage to recover other carved stones.

Digging in the spot where the ninth talisman should be, they are surprised to find a small steel box. Wilbur, the gravedigger Investigator, clears the mud away, and with great effort pulls the box out of the soaked earth. There is a loud sucking sound as the earth tries to hold on to the box. The Investigators gather around Wilbur, as lightning flashes and the rain continues to pour down. He finds a latch which opens the box, and yanks open the lid.

When he sees what’s inside, Wilbur leaps up and back, dropping the box into the mud again. Everyone screams. When they regain their composure, Wilbur’s friends creep up to the box and look inside. It contains the decomposing remains of a human infant: a newborn. The skull appears to have been crushed. Inside the box with the remains is the ninth stone talisman. As they inspect the last of the talismans, they hear more strange noises. Looking up, they see the ghost of Vivien Brisbane appear to them again. She is still unable to speak, but she is quite close and the hole in the base of her skull is now quite clearly visible. From her gestures in response to their questions, the Investigators understand that the infant they found is her son. They see the ghost of an infant appear in the air near Vivien. It seems they have released the spirits by digging up the talismans.

Then, as the rain continues to fall, they hear more meeping sounds in the surrounding woods. They can hear and see creatures of some kind moving in the graveyard around them, drawn -- perhaps -- by the smell of the decomposing remains. They don’t wait to get a better look, but grab up the talismans and the metal box containing the remains, and run out of the woods as fast as they can, chased by the ghouls. They are separated in the darkness and the confusion, and the ones who first reach the newer part of the cemetery across the lane are extremely worried about their friends. But the ghouls only pursue as far as the edge of the old cemetery, and all the Investigators make it out alive.

Later, in the light of day, the Investigators correlate their contents. If the newborn infant with the crushed skull is the son of Vivien Brisbane, then who or what is the person raised as Luther Brisbane, Jr? Who was Elsie Eichorst taking care of all those years, and who is about to marry Rebecca Wingate?

The Investigators do some more genealogical research, and learn that Luther Brisbane Junior is of the ninth generation of Brisbanes since the curse described in Drake’s Annals of Witchcraft. They also realize that Luther Junior’s 21st birthday is coming up very soon, and that there will be a lunar eclipse on that very night. They discover that George Noy is a descendant of Prudence Adams, the woman Ezekiel Brisbayne is said to have murdered so long ago. They also learn that Brisbane’s family doctor, who attended his son’s birth, died in mysterious circumstances years earlier, just like Elsie Eichorst.

They consult Uncle Rolandson, a relative of one of the Investigators who knows a thing or two about witchcraft and the occult. He tells them about the golem, a creature made by a sorcerer out of clay and given life through the use of some human tissue. The Investigators believe that Luther Brisbane, in a desperate attempt to defeat the ancient curse on his family, killed his own natural son at birth and replaced it with a golem. They believe that he used a portion of the brain matter of his wife, Vivien Brisbane, in the creation of the homonculus, accounting for the surgical violation of her skull. They suspect that he plans to possess the body of the golem, like his ancestor had done, and live out eternal life in it, thus defeating the curse.

They realize that Luther Junior’s 21st birthday is the day all this will occur, and they vow to interfere with whatever Luther Brisbane is planning. They believe that he will go with his golem son to the location of his ancestral farm, and perform a ritual to enter the golem body. Investigator Irwin Craggs fashions a decoy version of the remains of the dead Brisbane infant, planning to disrupt the ceremony. They take the real remains and the decoy with them and stake out the old farmstead on the night of Luther Junior’s birthday.

Sure enough, Luther Brisbane and his cultists arrive, along with the golem son and the fiancee, Rebecca Wingate. Rebecca is bound with rope, and the Investigators fear that she will meet the same fate as Prudence Adams did so many years earlier. When Brisbane begins his ritual, the courageous Irwin Craggs rushes through holding the decoy up high, shouting "I’ve got the baby!" The cultists are thrown into disarray, and Brisbane orders his followers to attack Craggs. The other Investigators rush in to save Rebecca Wingate, and as chaos follows, the ghosts of Vivien Brisbane and the murdered Brisbane Infant appear once again. Brisbane is shocked to see the ghost of his wife, and realizes that he cannot cheat Destiny. As he screams for help, the ghost of the baby transforms into a frightening apparition of death which strikes out at Brisbane, who falls to the ground. The golem Luther Junior is attacked by the ghost of Vivien, and it too falls dead. The cultists scatter into the night, and the Investigators save the traumatized Rebecca Wingate. The ghosts vanish again into the night, and the Investigators feel that they have brought peace at last to those two imprisoned, tortured spirits.