Documents in the Case of Elizabeth Akeley

"Documents in the Case of Elizabeth Akeley" is a Cthulhu Mythos story by Richard A. Lupoff, a sequel to H. P. Lovecraft's "The Whisperer in Darkness." It first appeared in the March 1982 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
==Synopsis ==
A federal agency investigates a cult headed by the great-granddaughter of a man who vanished under mysterious circumstances a half century earlier. Evidence suggests that the great-grandfather may be returning, improbably enough--but what is his hidden agenda?
==Characters==
*Elizabeth Akeley: Radiant Mother of the Spiritual Light Brotherhood. Aside from her position in the church, she lives "a normal life for a young woman of her social and economic class." She lives at 176 Pleasant Street in National City, a residential suburb of San Diego, California.
*Marc Feinman: Elizabeth's boyfriend. Works as a computer systems programmer with an avocation as a musician. He was "born and raised in the Bronx, New York." He lives in "a pleasant apartment on Upas Street near Balboa Park."
*Vernon Whiteside: Sexton of the church, "a nondescript looking Negro." He was infiltrated into the church by a federal agency to keep tabs on its doings.
*Ezra Noyes: President of the Vermont UFO Intelligence Bureau and editor of the Vermont Unidentified Flying Object Intelligencer. Nineteen years old, he lives with his parents in Dark Mountain, Windham County, Vermont.
*Henry Wentworth Akeley: Elizabeth's great-grandfather, born in 1871.
*Sh’ch’rrru’a: An entity from Aldebaran, Henry's lover. Also known as Sheera.
==Akeley Family==
Lupoff creates an extensive family history for the Akeleys, presented as one of the documents that make up the story. Highlights include:
1607: Beelzebub Akeley sails on the caravel Worthy from Portsmouth, England, to Kingsport, Massachusetts.
1618: Beelzebub establishes the Akeley dynasty in Townshend, Windham County, Vermont.
The Akeleys line continues in Windham County for the next two centuries, "producing numerous clergy, academics, and other genteel professionals in this period."
1832: Birth of Abednego Mesach Akeley, "the last of the Vermont Akeleys to pursue a life of the cloth."
1868: Death of the Rev. Samuel Shadrach Solomon Akeley, Abednego's father, who ordained him. On rising from assistant pastor to pastor, Abednego "transferred the affiliation of his church from its traditional Protestant parent body to that of the new and suspect Starry Wisdom sect.
1871: After Abednego's death at the age of 39, "the remnants of his congregation moved as a body to Providence," Rhode Island. Later that year, Henry Wentworth Akeley is born to Sarah Elizabeth Phillips, a formerly a servant in the Akeley household, "fathered by Abednego mere hours before his death."
1901: Henry's wife gives birth two their only child, George Goodenough Akeley, "succumbing two days later to childbed fever."
Henry has a successful academic career and returns to Windham County to retire.
Early 1920s: George Akeley "emigrated to San Diego, California, building there a modest but comfortable house at 176 Pleasant Street."
1928: Henry's "mysterious disappearance and presumed demise."
George becomes Radiant Father of the Spiritual Light Brotherhood. He divides his time between San Diego and "the spiritualist center of Noblesville, Indiana."Wikipedia, "Noblesville, Indiana."
1930: George and his wife--"suspected of harboring a strain of Indian blood"--become parents to a set of quadruplets, three boys and a girl. Only the girl survives, named Aimee Semple Conan Doyle Akeley after evangelist Aimee Semple McPhersonWikipedia, "Aimee Semple McPherson." (whom George met and was inspired by) and spiritualism advocate Arthur Conan Doyle.Wikipedia, "Arthur Conan Doyle."George befriends spiritualist and fascist leader William Dudley Pelley.Wikipedia, "William Dudley Pelley."
1959: Aimee Doyle Akeley marries Hiram Wesley Pelley, nephew of William Pelley. Aimee’s mother dies and is buried in Noblesville.
1961: Aimee Doyle Akeley Pelley gives birth to a daughter, named Elizabeth Maude Pelley, named for right-wing leaders Elizabeth Dilling of IllinoisWikipedia, "Elizabeth Dilling." and Maude Howe of England.Maud Howe, leader of the Canadian Christian Crusade--not to be confused with novelist Maude Howe Elliott. See "A Godless Dominion: Unbelief and Religious Controversy in Interwar Canada," by Elliot Hanowski, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, June 2015.
1976: Elizabeth Pelley breaks with her parents due to political disagreements. She returns to San Diego to live with her grandfather, and takes the name Elizabeth Akeley. Upon the death of her grandfather, she becomes Radiant Mother of his church.Elsewhere in the story, George Goodenough Akeley is said to have died in 1970.
== Publication History ==
After its appearance in Fantasy & Science Fiction, "Documents" was reprinted in the anthology The Hastur Cycle (Chaosium, 1993) and in Lupoff's collections Claremont Tales (Golden Gryphon Press, 2001), Terrors (Elder Signs Press, 2005), and The Doom That Came to Dunwich (Venture Press, 2017). It has been translated into German and French.Internet Speculative Fiction Database, "Title: Documents in the Case of Elizabeth Akeley."
==References==
Category:Expanded Mythos Works
Category:Richard A. Lupoff works