#the case files of clara holmes

[mrhyde-mrseek]

Similar to how I made moodboards for SMS, I made some for the Case Files characters!

There’s a LOT, so this’ll be split into multiple parts. First, we have the Order of Peculiar Mortals and Other Such Figures:

Clara Holmes

Dr. Watson

Jonathan Harker

Adam Shelley

The Time Traveller

Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde

Griffin

Allan Scholar

Ichabod Crane

[cruetrimeblog]

The Unfortunate Story of H.H. Holmes

H.H. Holmes was born Herman Webster Mudgett in Gilmanton, New Hampshire in May 1861. His parents were Levi Mudgett and Theodate Price. Holmes was the third of five total children. His siblings' names were Ellen, Arthur, Henry, and Mary. The Mudgett's were a Methodist family. Many people believe that Holmes tortured animals and also suffered abuse from his father. However there has been no solid proof to back up either of these accusations.

Holmes graduated from high school at 16 years old and went on to be a teacher. He married a woman named Clara Lovering in July 1878. They went on to have a son named Robert in February of 1880.

Holmes enrolled in the University of Vermont when he was 18, but dropped out a year later. He then transferred to the University of Michigan where he studied medicine and surgery. He graduated in June 1884. After school Holmes worked as an apprentice to advocate of human dissection, Nahum Wight. After his crimes, Holmes admitted to using cadavers to commit insurance fraud in college.

Roommates of Holmes witnessed him be very abusive to Clara. She moved back home in 1884. She didn't talk to him very much afterwards. Holmes then moved to New York. It was rumored that he was the last one seen with a young boy before he disappeared. Holmes told everyone that the boy had gone back home to Massachusetts. There was no investigation into the boy's whereabouts, and Holmes quickly left town afterwards.

Holmes traveled to Philadelphia where he took on a job as a keeper at a hospital. He quit a few days later. He then accepted a job at a drug store. A boy died while Holmes worked there after taking medicine that was bought at that specific store. However, Holmes denied being involved. He then left Philadelphia and moved to Chicago. It is here that the officially changed his name to H.H. Holmes to avoid being exposed.

In a later confession, Holmes admitted to killing former classmate Robert Leacock for insurance money. However, it was confirmed that Robert actually died in his home in Canada 3 years later. While still being legally married to Clara, Holmes married a woman named Myra Belknap in Minneapolis. He filed for divorce just a few weeks later, claiming it was because Clara was unfaithful to him. These claims weren't ever proven, so the case was dismissed. It's possible that Clara never even knew the case had taken place. Their divorce was never finalized.

Holmes had a daughter with Myrta named Lucy Holmes 1889. She grew up to be a school teacher. Holmes married for yet a third time in January of 1894. This wife's name was Georgiana Yorke. He was still married to both Clara and Myrta at the time.

After moving to Chicago, Holmes got a job in a drugstore owned by Elizabeth Holton. Holmes would eventually buy the drugstore from her. It was rumored that Holmes had killed Elizabeth and her husband, but this was later proven to be a myth.

Holmes bought some land near to the drugstore. He began construction on a two story building in 1887. He planned to use the upper floor for apartments and retail space. The bottom floor would serve as a second drugstore.

Holmes added a third floor to the building in 1892. He explained that this floor would be used as a hotel of sorts. This section was never completed due to the contractors backing out of the deal after they found out that Holmes had been stealing materials from them.

Many of the rooms were soundproofed. The hallway resembled a maze with many pathways to nowhere. Several rooms were also equipped with chutes down to the basement. Holmes stored acid and lime in the basement which he later used as a crematorium for his victims. The builders notified the public of Holmes strange habits. This caused the investors of the hotel to back out. Many years after Holmes arrest, an unknown arsonist started a fire on the third floor which destroyed a large portion of the building. It was later rebuilt and used as a post office until 1938.

The hotel was mostly complete by 1892. The first floor was used as a storefront. The second floor held many elaborate torture rooms. The third floor held apartment space. Police decided to check out the hotel in 1894 while Holmes was away. The found many disturbing things inside: rooms with hinged walls and false partitions, secret passageways, gas pipelines leading to airtight rooms, and the chutes used by Holmes to transport bodies to the basement.

The basement held surgical tables and medical tools. Holmes used these to dissect his victims to then sell their organs and bones. He sold body parts to medical facilities on the black market.

One of Holmes' first victims was his mistress named Julia Smythe. Julia and her daughter Pearl went missing on Christmas Eve 1891. Holmes claimed that Julia died during an abortion, but what happened to them was never confirmed. Emeline Cigrande began working at the hotel in 1892 and was also likely a victim of Holmes. The disappearance of Edna Tassel has also been linked to Holmes.

Holmes met Benjamin Pitezel while working at Chemical Bank, and the two became close friends. Pitezel had a criminal history and soon became Holmes' right hand man.

Holmes met actress Minnie Williams when she moved to Chicago in 1893. He offered her a job as his personal stenographer, which she accepted. The two became close enough for Holmes' to convince Minnie to sign over some of her property to "Alexander Bond" which was one of Holmes' aliases.

Holmes would then sign the property over to Pitezel. Holmes and Minnie rented an apartment together in Chicago. After Minnie's sister Annie came to visit her, she wrote to her mother that the two sisters planned to go to Europe to visit "Brother Harry." The two sisters were last seen alive on July 5, 1893.

Several insurance companies were trying to prosecute Holmes for arson. So much so, that Holmes fled Chicago in 1894. He was spotted in For Worth, Texas where he had inherited property from the Williams' sisters. He planned on building another castle there to use to swindle suppliers.

Holmes was arrested for the first time in the same month. He was charged with selling mortgaged goods. He quickly posted bail and didn't spend long in jail. But while he was there he met Marion Hedgepeth, a famous Wild West outlaw. At this time, Holmes was planning to fake his own death to get $10,000 in life insurance money.

Holmes offered Hedgepeth $500 to give him the name of a trustworthy attorney. He gave him the name of attorney Jeptha Howe. Jeptha thought Holmes' insurance plan was genius. However, the plan ultimately failed when the insurance company became suspicious and refused to pay up. Holmes quickly adjusted his plan to claim insurance money on Pitezel instead.

Pitezel agreed to fake his own death so that his wife could collect the $10,000. She agreed to split it with Holmes and Jeptha. Holmes originally planned to use a cadaver as the fake dead Pitezel, but found it easier to just kill him instead. Holmes chloroformed Pitezel and burned his body.

Holmes collected the insurance money and even manipulated Pitezel's widow into signing over custody of three of her five children over to him. Holmes traveled with the children all throughout American and Canada.

Holmes managed to keep all of this a secret from his wife. Holmes would later admit to killing two of the children by locking them in a trunk. He drilled a hole into the trunk to insert a tube connected to a gas line causing the children to asphyxiate. He buried their bodies in the cellar of the house he was renting at the time.

Philadelphia policeman Frank Geyer was appointed to the case of the missing children. He ultimately found their bodies in Holmes' home. Frank then headed to Indianapolis in search of him. Holmes had been spotted at a pharmacy there. He was purchasing drugs to use to kill the third child. He had also been spotted sharpening knives at a repair shop. He later used those knives to dismember the child. He burned the child's remains in his fireplace where bone fragments and teeth were later discovered.

Holmes didn't stop killing until he was arrested again in November of 1894 in Boston. He was located by the Pinkertons Detective Agency. He had a warrant out for her arrest in Texas for horse theft. His wife was very shocked to find all of this out.

Police began investigating the murder castle in July 1895. Surprisingly, there was no sufficient evidence found against Holmes in Chicago. Some people even began to believe that the torture rooms were a myth.

Holmes was put on trial for Pitezel's murder in October 1895. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. Holmes later admitted to 27 murders and 6 attempted murders. The Hearst newspaper paid Holmes $7,500 for his confession. However parts of his confession were proved to be untrue. There were several "victims" of Holmes that were later found to still be alive.

Holmes described his wife differently depending on who asked him about it. Sometimes he claimed he was innocent, while other times he claimed to be possessed by the devil. Because he lied so often throughout his life, the truth is hard to come by. Holmes claimed to start resembling the devil more and more the longer he was in prison.

Holmes was hanged in Philadelphia on May 7, 1896. He was calm and friendly throughout the process. He wasn't upset or afraid. He requested for his body to be buried 10 feet down and to be encased in cement so that people wouldn't try to rob his grave. Holmes' neck didn't break which caused him to suffocate to death. He was pronounced dead after hanging for 20 minutes.

The murder castle mysteriously burned down in August 1895. It was reported that two men were seen near the building at around 8 pm that night. They could be seen leaving half an hour later. After the fire ended, police found a gas can near the back steps. The building was able to be repaired and was turned into a post office until it was torn down in 1938.

It was rumored in 2017 that Holmes may have managed to escape his execution. His body was exhumed for testing, but wasn't as decayed as it should have been due to being encased in cement. His clothes were preserved. His mustache was intact. However, DNA testing was done using Holmes' dental records, and the corpse is in fact his. Holmes was then reburied.

[newsnurturer]

Bay Area tech exec says company lied to get $25M from investors, fired him for speaking up

A Bay Area tech founder has alleged in a wrongful termination lawsuit that his former company and its CEO repeatedly lied to investors and then fired him for protesting those actions.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Santa Clara, Subburajan Ponnuswamy, who co-founded the digital security company Cloudbrink in 2019 and served as its chief technology officer, alleged that Cloudbrink CEO Prakash Mana used false information to secure funding from investors. In the complaint, Ponnuswamy alleged that Mana, who joined as CEO in 2020, had conducted a “‘fake it till you make it’ scheme” by falsifying revenue, purchase orders, and customer quotes in presentations for investors and board members. He also alleged that Mana promised customers Cloudbrink stock in exchange for helping him falsify the revenue.

In a statement from Cloudbrink provided by company spokesperson Mark Fox, the company wrote that it “affirmatively denies Ponnuswamy’s allegations and will be filing a formal denial in court at the appropriate time.”

“Our policy is not to comment on active litigation; however, we can say that Cloudbrink has an impeccable reputation in the marketplace, intends to vigorously defend itself in this lawsuit, and views the allegations as internally inconsistent and nonsensical. The Board is aware of Ponnuswamy’s allegations and remains in full support of Cloudbrink’s current leadership and direction,” the statement continued.

Ponnuswamy’s filing specifically points out Cloudbrink’s $25 million “Series A” funding round, which the company announced in November 2022; the former executive alleges that Mana used fake customer testimony and false revenue information to raise the money. He alleges that Mana then falsified invoices to assuage investors’ “due diligence” check.

“For some of the falsified revenue and/or customers, CEO Mana did not issue any invoices even after 6 months of claiming the revenue; for other ‘customers,’ CEO Mana created a batch of invoices right around the time of fundraising (months or quarters after claiming those as ARR), just to establish paper trails,” the complaint alleged. “Yet there was no evidence of those invoices ever being submitted to the alleged customer, and no funds were received from them.”

Ponnuswamy reportedly discussed his concerns with Cloudbrink’s board in four meetings with board members, and Mana’s conduct toward the chief technology officer became “increasingly retaliatory,” according to the complaint. Mana allegedly told Ponnuswamy at one point, “If you come into my swim lane, I’ll make sure to take parts of your swim lane.” Mana also asked Ponnuswamy to create fake user and customer accounts, which Ponnuswamy refused to do, according to the lawsuit.

Ponnuswamy alleged in the complaint that his forced exit came after he met in March with board members and representatives from The Fabric and Highland Capital Partners in March. Both companies were listed by Cloudbrink as lead investors in the $25 million funding round. The complaint said Ponnuswamy “presented hard evidence of falsification of [annual recurring revenue] and customer count.”

Two weeks later, the Cloudbrink board told Ponnuswamy that “while it appeared to be true that CEO Mana had been reporting fraudulent customers and revenues to the Board and investors, they could not terminate him for fear it would damage Cloudbrink’s sales operations and customers,” per the lawsuit.

Ponnuswamy alleged that the board then told him they would be firing him instead, and that they planned to “‘clean up’ the books.” Then they terminated his contract, the complaint reads. His last day was March 20.

“It became clear that the Company had decided to cover its tracks and side with CEO Mana’s unlawful ‘fake it till you make it’ scheme over lawful business practices,” the complaint reads.

Ponnuswamy wrote in a statement that “high-profile cases like Elizabeth Holmes and Sam Bankman-Fried are just the tip of the iceberg, with similar unlawful practices in smaller startups often going unreported or inadequately investigated due to company board complicity.” Two investors named in the lawsuit from The Fabric and Highland did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ponnuswamy alleges he was fired in retaliation and wrongfully terminated, without being provided the stock options he’d been promised.

“In effect, CEO Mana and the Board waited for Mr. Ponnuswamy to build the technology and ship product, careful not to issue any additional promised options, […] diluted his options, and terminated him because he repeatedly raised concerns about the Company’s unlawful and fraudulent conduct,” the complaint said. Ponnuswamy is seeking lost wages and punitive damages, among other relief.

[wardrobeoftime]

Movies

A Castle for Christmas

A Royal Affair

A Royal Night Out

Aladdin (2019)

Angélique (2013)

Angelo

Assassin’s Creed

Baron Münchhausen

Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Belle (2013)

Berlin ‘36

Cinderella (2015)

Cinderella (2021)

Clara Immerwahr

Corsage (2022)

Crimson Peak

Das Attentat - Sarajevo 1914 (2014)

Das kalte Herz (2016)

Das weiße Haus am Rhein (2022)

Death on the Nile (2022)

Der Club der singenden Metzger

Der junge Karl Marx

Descendants 3

Die geliebten Schwestern (2014)

Effie Gray (2014)

Elizabeth (1998) & Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

Emma (2020)

Enola Holmes & Enola Holmes 2

Fallen (2016)

Five Feet Apart

Geliebter Johann, Geliebte Anna

Gosford Park (2001)

Grace of Monaco (2014)

High School Musical Trilogy

House of Gucci (2021)

I, Tonya

Jack the Ripper - Eine Frau jagt einen Mörder (2014)

Kaisersturz

Katharina Luther

Käthe Kruse

Kronprinz Rudolf (2006)

Lady Macbeth (2016)

Les Miserables (2012)

Little Women (2019)

Lotte am Bauhaus

Love and Friendship (2016)

Ludwig (1972)

Ludwig II (2012)

Madame Bovary (2014)

Marie Antoinette (2006)

Mary Queen of Scots (2013)

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

Marvel Cinematic Universe*

Mata Hari - Tanz mit dem Tod

Mozart's Sister (2010)

Mr Malcom's List (2022)

Mulan (2020)

My Cousin Rachel (2017)

My Fair Lady (1964)

Nacht über Berlin

Oceans 8

Ophelia

Ottilie von Faber-Castell - Eine mutige Frau

Romeo and Juliet (2013)

Rosaline (2022)

Ruby Red Trilogy

Sisi (2009)

Sissi Trilogy

Spencer

Sternstunde ihres Lebens

The Countess aka Bathory (2009)

The Current War (2017)

The Duchess (2008)

The Exception

The Favourite

The Girl King

The Greatest Showman

The Green Knight (2021)

The Hunger Games Trilogy

The King (2019)

The Last Duel

The Madness of King George

The Pagan Queen (2009)

The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)

The Princess (2022)

The Princess Switch Trilogy

The Scandalous Lady W

The School for Good and Evil

The Twilight Saga

The Wolfman (2010)

The Young Victoria

Three Thousand Years of Longing

Till Eulenspiegel

Trenck - Zwei Herzen gegen die Krone

Tulip Fever

Vampire Academy (2014)

Viceroy’s Home

Victoria and Abdul

Vorwärts immer

W.E. (2011)

Wendezeit

____________________

*I don't have files for everything, so this depends on a case to case basis. I watched the movies and the Disney+ series but not most of the series produced by ABC, Freeform, Netflix etc.

[suffragettecity100]

History Doesn’t Happen in a Vacuum

37.  History Doesn’t Happen in a Vacuum

This post is a mini-break from the suffrage timeline in order to tie it into other things happening in the world. The suffrage movement during the second half of the fight from 1885-1920 takes place in a completely different world than the first half 1848 (Seneca Falls) to 1885.

America is over 100 years old and up and coming on the world stage but it’s not a full world power yet. The population jumped 30% from 1870-1880  mostly because of immigration. In 1880 there are 38 states and 12 territories and District of Columbia. By 1890 the population grew another 25% to reach almost 63 million people. There are 44 states and 6 territories and District of Columbia.

This sample decade illustrates how much was happening in the world at the time. This was the first decade to have a lot of things made out of the recently invented first plastic called celluloid (which was and still is dangerously flammable). During the decade things like harnessing of electricity, the first gasoline and diesel engines, the introduction of telephones, telegraphs, and motion picture cameras change the world in ways that still resonate with us today. 

1880

Construction begins on the Panama Canal. (It has many delays and takes 24 years to finish.)

The first issue of “Science” is published with backing from Thomas Edison.

Electricity is cutting edge technology and is far from perfected.

City of Wabash, Indiana lays claim to being the first city to have electric lights.

Broadway lit by electricity. 

Helen Keller is born.

1881

Booker T. Washington opens the Tuskegee Institute for African Americans to train as teachers.

Sioux Chief Sitting Bull surrenders to United States troops at Fort Buford, Montana.

Barnum and Bailey Circus debuts in New York City. 

The American Red Cross is founded by Clara Barton.

1882 

Standard Oil Company Trust incorporates and is owned by one man, John D. Rockefeller, who now controls 90% of the U.S. oil refineries. (Kerosene is the top product at this time; gasoline has no practical use yet but Standard Oil employs scientists to find new uses for petroleum products.)

First significant anti-immigration law, the Chinese Exclusion Act, is passed.

1883 

Time zones are created in the U.S. 

Buffalo Bill Cody starts his Wild West Show to preserve a way of life that is already going extinct.

The “Civil Rights Cases,” a group of five Supreme Court cases, legalize discrimination and segregation until the 1964 Civil Rights Act. (They did not use the term, “separate but equal,” in the rulings, but that is the common summary of the cases. The 1896 case of Plessy v Ferguson reaffirms this idea.)

Jan Matzeliger of Lynn, MA, patents the Shoe Lasting Machine. (The machine could produce 700 shoes a day compared to 50 by hand. Mass-produced shoes are more affordable.)

Susan Hayhearst becomes the first woman to get a pharmacy degree in the United States.

1884

Corn Flakes patented by the Kellogg brothers who were also experimenting with healthy lifestyles.

First skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building, is built in Chicago. (It has 10 stories and uses new building material, steel, from the recently created Carnegie Steel Company.)

First roller coaster opens in Coney Island, NY.

Eleanor Roosevelt is born.

1885 

American Telephone and Telegraph is created by Alexander Graham Bell. 

Washington Monument is completed.

Rudolph Diesel patents first diesel engine in France.

Sarah E. Goode, inventor of a hideaway bed, is the first female African-American to receive a patent.

Hill Valley Courthouse and Clock Tower are built. #moviefan

Alice Paul, next generation suffrage leader, is born.

1886

First coca-cola is sold.

The Statue of Liberty is dedicated.

Karl Benz received the first patent for an automobile in Germany.

Edison and Tesla are rivals in the battle for electrical currents (Direct vs. Alternating) involving J.P. Morgan and George Westinghouse (GE Corporation) as financial backers.

First trainload of oranges leave Los Angeles to be shipped to the east coast.

After 30 years of fighting for his people, Apache Chief Geronimo surrenders to U.S. Government troops signalling the end of the Indian Wars in the Southwest. 

Sigmund Freud opens his first practice in Vienna, Austria.

1887

The Dawes Act breaks up Native American tribal lands to sell to non-native settlers.

White Chapel murders taking place in London (Jack the Ripper).

19 year old Ghandi is beginning a career as a lawyer in London.

Susanna Madora Salter elected first female mayor in the U.S. (Argonia, Kansas).

Yellow River floods in China, one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. Two million people are killed.

Georgia O’Keefe is born.

1888 

Edison files patent for first “optical phonograph” i.e. movie camera.

George Eastman introduces the affordable and easy to use Kodak box camera.

First practical inflatable tire invented by John Boyd Dunlap.

U.S. Department of Labor is created.

Van Gogh cuts off his ear after an argument with fellow painter Paul Gaugin.

Edith Eleanor McLean is the first baby to use an incubator at State Emigrant Hospital, NY.

1889

North and South Dakota, Montana, and Washington (state) are admitted to statehood.

Eiffel Tower opens in France.

“Wall Street Journal” newspaper begins publication.

Nintendo is founded in Japan as a playing card company. #Gamer

Intrepid female reporter Nellie Bly starts her around the world trip in 72 days, completes it in 1890.

1890

Idaho and Wyoming admitted as states.

Alice Sanger becomes first female White House staffer.

Arthur Conan Doyle publishes first Sherlock Holmes story, “A Study in Scarlet.”

Ellis Island opens as an immigration station.

Mississippi installs the first “literacy tests” to disenfranchise African-American voters. (Illiterate white voters are exempt because they are descended from previously registered voters.)

Bonus: Melville Bissel invented the first carpet sweeper for his wife Anna. It was a non-electric roller type but it worked wonderfully. He patented it in 1876. They started making them and selling them door to door. In 1883 they opened their first factory. When Melville died in 1889, Anna took over and became the first female corporate CEO! 

2nd Bonus: a year after the decade in 1891 John Crapper improves the design of the flushable toilet. He didn’t invent the toilet; he invented the siphon device that stopped the methane gas from accumulating and being potentially explosive in the plumbing. (Speaking on behalf of most women, SuffragetteCity100 LOVES indoor flushable toilets, so we had to include this an an important invention to civilization even though it’s not a woman inventor.)

This week’s song pick:

“Down by the Riverside” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe https://youtu.be/4xzr_GBa8qk

#FightForThe19th #SuffragetteCity100

Episode 37 Sources

https://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1880.html

https://worldhistoryproject.org (years 1880-1890)

http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/events/1880_1890.htm

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Civil-Rights-Cases

https://www.onthisday.com/events/date (1880-1890) 

http://www.vacuumcleanerhistory.com/vacuum-cleaner-development/carpet-sweeper-history/

Events were double checked by searching each one individually but the source list would be far too long. Google any specific item for more information. This is meant as a broad overview of a decade to put suffrage in context of everyday things, events, and people that would be familiar to a wide range of the general public.

[mrhyde-mrseek]

Now here’s the moodboards for the Women’s Order of the Haunted Hollow:

Katrina Van Tassel

Alice Perez-Liddell

Wendy Darling

Christine Daaé

Dorothy Gale

[mrhyde-mrseek]

CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BOOK 2!

And then we’ve got several characters who are associated with one or both of the orders in some way, and/or play an important role in TCFOCH:

Katherine “Kitty” Baker

Mina Harker

Sterling Abbott

Victor Alden

Thomas Hendriks

[mrhyde-mrseek]

CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 2 (PUBLISHED) AND 3 (WIP)!

Now for the Case Files antagonists:

Dion Tantlos/Edgar Wick

Abraham “Brom Bones” Van Brunt (whose name I somehow managed to type incorrectly onto the moodboard)

The Headless Horseman/Hans Woelfel

The vampire colony

[mrhyde-mrseek]

I have an entire page of forgotten sketches of a character in the second Case Files book (named Sterling), and I don’t think I’ll ever end up touching them again but look. Look at him. Look at the pose. Look at the hands. Why do I love this so much

[mrhyde-mrseek]

A comprehensive list of ship names for my stories (that I should actually start using)

Holmes x Watson (SMS): Holmeson (the SMS specific ship isn’t Johnlock because I want it to be separate from BBC Sherlock)

Jekyll x Utterson (SMS): Love Potion (‘cause the Hyde serum is the science equivalent of a potion)

Gwen x Newt (SMS): I’m torn between Blackcrow and Curse Breakers

Victor x Walton (SMS): Waltonstein (I’m gonna be honest, I have no idea what their book-specific ship name even is)

The Time Traveller x Jekyll/Hyde (The Case Files): I came up with Lab Partners a couple of years ago and I still love it

Loreley x Nicora (The Afterlife Chronicles): Grim Reaper (“grim” bc Loreley’s a demon, “reaper” bc Nicora’s a psychopomp)

Lupa x Lucifer x Beelzebub (before Lupa’s death) (The Afterlife Chronicles): Hellish Trio (they’re all demons)

Lucifer x Beelzebub (after Lupa’s death) (The Afterlife Chronicles): Horn Fly

Libra x Max (The Haunted and the Hollow): Cryptozoologists (they’re both obsessed with cryptids)

Birdy x Lily (The Haunted and Hollow): Birdflower

[mrhyde-mrseek]

“Rooted to the spot, he stared at the place she had been standing even after the door had swung shut again, clutching the unknown paper limply by his side. Oh, dear, was all he could think.”

-The Women’s Order of the Haunted Hollow, Chapter Two: Bar Fright

I think this is the first time I’ve drawn Case Files Ichabod! I’m also just… absolutely in love with his expression. And his pants. Look at him. What a dork (lovingly).

[mrhyde-mrseek]

Little pen drawing of the Case Files Headless Horseman that I went kinda hardcore on the shading with for ✨drama✨

(I scribbled out his name on my phone because it’s a huge spoiler for book 2)

[mrhyde-mrseek]

Questionable/suspicious/just downright weird things I have researched for my many writing projects:

How long a person can survive after being stabbed in the leg

Types of hunting knives

(Additionally, if bowie knives were popular hunting knives to use in the 1800s once I’d gotten my answer)

The manufacturing of prosthetic eyes in the 1800s

Struggling to find clear photographs of what Revolutionary War forts look like (I complained to @froppydeloppy about this a while ago and she very helpfully found me some references!)

The myth of Hyacinthus

Greek curse words

Who the fuck Thamyris even was in the myth of Hyacinthus

The worship of Apollo in Sparta

A list of demons in Christianity

A list of angels in Christianity

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Demonic possession

When telephones were made

DEEP research into the history of the Headless Horseman (which was difficult, considering there’s . . . not much)

Synonyms for “decapitated limbs” because I couldn’t remember the word “disembodied”

Quadruple-checking when Holmes died/when he came back to life to make sure the timeline of The Case Files made sense

The science behind the saying “red sky at night, sailor’s delight, red sky in the morning, sailors take warning”

Dutch first names and surnames + their meanings

Popular songs in the 1800s that have lyrics

What information is necessary to put on a case file

A map of Sleepy Hollow

When libraries were invented

Vampires’ powers and weaknesses in the Dracula book universe because I was too lazy to comb through the book for that information

How long it takes for a dead body to decompose

[mrhyde-mrseek]

My favorite duos in The Case Files and why

Clara and the Time Traveller

They trust each other

Clara was the first the Time Traveller came out to (albeit accidentally)

Both optimistic

Good at on-the-spot planning

Griffin and Clara

Aroace solidarity

Unlikely friendships are the best

Sarcastic, stubborn, competitive, and ambitious

There’s a scene in book 2 where Clara saves Griffin from being beaten up by Brom Bones and it’s one of my favorites

Harker and Adam

Adam is sort of Harker’s right-hand man

Adam actually lived with the Harkers for a while before the Order was officially formed, they were some of the first people to treat him like a person

Adam yells at the Order when Harker is otherwise occupied

They trust each other with their lives

They’re also two of the four Order members who don’t actively cause chaos wherever they go (the other two being Watson and Allan)

The Time Traveller and Jekyll/Hyde

Well, they’re boyfriends, so-

Scientists who slightly regret their creations

Hyde’s helping the Time Traveller become less terrified of the risks their relationship poses (or is trying to, at least)

They would literally throw themselves in front of a moving train to protect the other

Mind-bending science

Tall x short boyfriends

Dorothy Gale and Christine Daeé

Gardening together helped Christine work through her trauma by providing a distraction

Dorothy isn’t afraid to yell at anyone in Sleepy Hollow who makes racist remarks about Christine (who is Black)

Unlikely friendship—Christine is very quiet, while Dorothy is rather blunt

English lessons for Christine

They thing the other’s accent is endearing

Did I mention they like gardening together

Harker and Katrina Van Tassel

Both leaders of their respective orders

Good at planning together, get along surprisingly well

Have experience with the supernatural

Harker was the second person to find out that Katrina’s a witch (Ichabod being the first)

Katrina hasn’t met Mina yet (that’s book 3) but they will absolutely become best friends once she does

[mrhyde-mrseek]

In case anyone was curious how I plan my stories, I found this timeline I made for chapter 9 of The Women’s Order of the Haunted Hollow, where the giant space between the point where Jekyll finally lets Hyde out and the point where they see the Horseman is simply labeled “FUCK IDK shenanigans???”

[mrhyde-mrseek]

Welcome!

Please, take a seat. Would you like anything? A cup of tea, perhaps? Coffee? Hot chocolate?

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General "about" stuff

First of all, hi! You can call me Nikki, Nik, Mr. Hyde, Hyde 'n' Seek, anything really, I'm not picky. My pronouns are they/them. I’m 18+, so if that makes you uncomfortable that’s 100% okay and you don’t have to follow, but I try to keep my posts PG-13 at most.

Please keep in mind general DNI stuff (homophobia, transphobia, racism, etc.)

This blog is pretty much a smorgasbord of hyperfixations, but the main things you'll see here are:

Gothic/classic lit

Journey to the West

Paganism

Hyacinth: A Greek Tragedy

Various writing projects

Drawings

Mythology

Other interests that I occasionally post about include:

Good Omens (I don’t support Neil Gaiman!!!)

Scooby-Doo

Random queer shit

Gravity Falls

Cryptidcore/spooky stuff

Moomin

The Glass Scientists

Science Most Sinister

I’ve got an ongoing gothic lit au that I’m writing here called Science Most Sinister, or SMS for short. It’s split into three volumes, with Volume I being completed, Volume II being a WIP, and Volume III not yet up. I don’t have a schedule, so updates kind of come whenever I have time to write them.

The books I Frankensteined together to create it are:

Sherlock Holmes

The Time Machine

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Invisible Man

Frankenstein

Dracula

🤎Masterpost🤎

Other WIPs I talk about:

The Case Files of Clara Holmes - a gothic lit trilogy I plan on actually publishing one day. It follows Clara, the cousin of the famous assumed-to-be-dead Sherlock Holmes, and her adventures with a society of misfits.

Red Sun - a JTTW story set in the 21st century about an immortal peach theft and the oblivious reincarnation of Red Boy.

The Afterlife Chronicles - my oldest trilogy that I’m still working out the plot and lore of. For now, think of it as a cross between Good Omens (except not written by a r*pist), dark fantasy, and the aesthetic of Halsey’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power album. I also plan to publish this someday.

The Haunted and the Hollow - my oldest standalone that has gone through many, MANY revisions. It revolves around a summer camp for teenage and preteen witches and the mystery surrounding it. I also plan to publish this eventually. If you like Gravity Falls, gay people, cryptids, or Welcome to Night Vale, you’d probably like this.

Hyacinth: A Greek Tragedy

This is one of my pride and joys! It’s a musical I’m working on! Hyacinth: A Greek Tragedy, or simply Hyacinth, is a retelling of the myth of Apollo and Hyacinthus. I’ve been posting song lyrics as I write them.

🪻Info post🪻

Paganism

I have been a practicing pagan for about half a year currently. It’s not the main focus of this blog, but I post about it fairly often. I’m also working on my tarot skills!

Deities I currently work with:

Apollo ☀️

Dionysus 🍇

Aphrodite 🐚

Ares 🗡️

Athena 🦉

Lilith 🕷️

Deities I currently worship:

Hades 🪦

Persephone 🥀

Hermes 🪽

Artemis 🌙

Misc. interests

Other things I haven’t posted about yet (and if I have, I don’t remember) but may in the future include:

Various horror podcasts (TMA, Welcome to Night Vale, Malevolent)

The Owl House

Doctor Who

Percy Jackson

Night at the Museum

The Amazing Digital Circus

Over the Garden Wall

I will always put content warnings at the beginning of a post if it contains something that may be triggering or upsetting!!!