Journal of Henry Jones

Greenland Entries: 10/22/1922 - 10/28/1922

10/22/1922 -Sunday: Today is the day that Laticia and I've been waiting for! The sun will not be up for two hours yet, but we will start our journey in about 30 minutes. I'm going to say goodbye to the villagers, and to thank them for allowing me to stay with them. Benny will be going along with us. Even though we was born here in Greenland, he is anxious to escape this 'uncivilized place' as he put it. With his growing up in the Americas, I can't really blame him. He also tells me, now that we're leaving, that the inhabitants of the East side of Greenland that we're on are known for cannibalism! Well, it's off for now! Tally Ho!
.. - We've made good time today. The villagers have built us fine igloo's in which to sleep tonight. It still amazes me that a hut made of ice can be as warm as it is. That's probably from the fact that we've been out in the elements all day. We are setting up watches tonight, just in case there are any interested bears out. We should be able to ward them off by waving brands of fire in the air if any do approach.
10/23/1992 - Monday: What a night! The second watch, Laticia and Frederick, started off bad. Frederick, whom I've found out is a Parapsycologist, has apparently never heard of the Aurora Borealis. He woke everyone out of a sound sleep with his shouting. On the third watch, the American baseball player shot at a bear. He claims that the bear was making for him, but I doubt his story. McDugan claims that he was looking the other direction, so he couldn't prove or disprove Shultz's story. After the first shot, Benny and the villagers begin shooting the bear with the rifles that they took from Karnes' expedition when they left. Lars, the German, for some unknown reason rushed the bear with nothing more than a seal hunting spear. I would suspect, from the littered bottles, that he and McDougal had a bit too much to drink again. The sight was unspeakable. I don't know that I've ever seen anyone… I can't even bring myself to put to paper the horror of it. The Inuit's finished off the bear while we took care of Grogmore's remains.
.. - McDougal woke up late this morning, no doubt recovering from last nights drunk. He started off about the fact that his 'pipes', whatever they are, are missing. Being a hotheaded Irishman, he accuses the villagers of stealing them. Benny assured him that they would not do that to him. He then began looking for someone else's tracks outside of his tent, but instead he came across the tracks of the Karnes expedition. They lead North from where we are now. We are discussing if we should follow them, or continue on to civilization.
.. - Since Mr. Shultz shot the polar bear in the first place, the villagers decide that it's was his honor to skin it. He apparently has some sort of phobia of animals and declines. This disgraced him in the the Inuit's eyes. Dr. Williams asked to skin it, being a doctor and very skilled with a scalpel. His hands must have still been suffering from the cold, as he manages to slit open the bowels, ruining a good portion of the meat and skin. This appalled the villagers, who stepped in at that point to try to salvage some of the meat. It has become obvious that the rest of the day will be spent here, so we have decided to follow the tracks for a ways to pass the time.
.. - We made it back just before sunset. D'Arnot, Shultz, McDougal, Frederick, Ms. Bolga and myself went to follow the tracks. About an hour away from camp, Mr. Shultz shot a snow hare, apparently his fear of animals coming back. About 30 minutes after that, Frederick happened to find a small vial laying beside the trail that we were following. It was lying half buried in the snow. It was filled with a clear liquid with the consistency of petroleum jelly. It almost appeared to be wriggling of it's own power. He decides to be prudent by pushing the stopper deeper, but his heavy gloves make him a little less that dexterous. He broke the vial, spilling the substance onto a portion of his exposed wrist. At this point he cried out as if in pain. Looking at the substance with horror, I could see it seep into his arm, then apparently it began to work it's way up towards his body like some alien organism! He suddenly stopped screaming, and said that he no longer felt it. We begin to think that it's possible something has began to control him. He started acting very defensive, so we asked to have his weapons until we knew more about what had just happened. He agreed to give up his shotgun, but wouldn't part with is pistol. McDougal approached his in a empathetic manner, began to tell him how sorry he was, then in a surprise move, hit him, knocking him unconscious. After this altercation, I looked to the ground where the rest of the liquid had spilled, but could find no trace of it. We dragged Frederick back to the camp, tying his hands and feet. He woke up shortly after our return. He of course was very angry, but you could hardly blame our reactions. Once it became obvious that we weren't going to untie him until we knew it was safe, he began an ancient sounding chant that went something like, "Yig Yig n'bloc acitacalag, joie, sot, YIG! YIG!" Before he could finish it, Dr. Williams wisely injected him with morphine, once again returning him to unconsciousness. Mr. Shultz and Ms. Sanders both claim that the chant was a spell known as 'Summon Child of Yig'. I profess that I still do not know much of the ancient world, or of the workings of magic, but I do remember reading a little of this somewhere in my earlier days, and it did not sound like a good omen. The entire group of us decided to keep him unconscious for the time being, and we also leave him tied in case it turns out that the dosage isn't enough.
10/24/1922 - Tuesday: Fred woke up this morning, but he would not talk, or indeed utter a sound of any kind at all. His visage is extremely livid, not that I can blame him either. Ms. Sanders fed him this morning to help keep his strength up. The three Inuit guides decided this morning that they were going to return to the village with the bear meat. Benny is going to stay with us, but it's only because he wishes to reach the Western edge of Greenland. This led me to believe that the other villagers are leaving us due to the what must have seemed insane goings on of last night.
.. - We decided to follow the Karnes trail in the hopes of discovering what has happened to Frederick. About 3 hours from last nights campsite, we came across a shallow crater with a meteor in it. This is the meteor that the Inuit's have been mining for iron for centuries. At this point, we decide to untie Frederick, but not to give him any weapons. The Irishman noticed that Fred's black eye that he received yesterday is gone. This seemed a bit odd, so Dr. Williams checked the puncture mark where he injected him with morphine last night, and it is gone as well. As a test, he then used a scalpel to make a small mark on his hand. To our amazement, the cut immediately clotted, and within a few seconds, it had disappeared completely! We the rethought our decision to untie him, given this unnatural ability. Frederick at this point starts making the accusation that Dr. Williams has cut himself as well, infecting his blood with Frederick's, but there is no evidence of this. After that we marched for four more hours before settling down for camp. We really missed the villagers tonight, building our own igloos was quite an adventure. At least Benny is still with us to instruct us, otherwise we would be out in the cold tonight.
10/25/1922 - Wednesday: We tested Frederick again this morning. He still exhibits the amazing healing attributes. Dr. Williams has never heard of anything like this before. Frederick claims that he feels better now than any other time in his life. Dr. Williams drew some blood to experiment on it. He used a fire to heat it up, but nothing abnormal happened. I don't know exactly what he was looking for, but everything seemed OK. During the process, Dr. Williams spilled some of the blood on himself. The Irishman decided to sneak up on him and give him a little gash to see if he was infected with the same condition as Frederick, but he bled without healing.
.. - Things are definitely becoming more fantastic. A few hours after we set off this morning, we spotted something coming over a hill towards us from the direction that we were heading. At first it appeared to be some sort of cat, like a puma. As it approached, it began to look more like a cat attacking a shaggy elephant. As it cleared the rise, it became clear that it was a Sabertoothed Tiger riding a Wooly Mammoth! Two animals extinct for 100,000 years or more! They appeared to be melded together into some grotesque, double-headed monstrosity, lumber towards our group, bellowing loudly! We began to fire our weapons at it, afraid for our lives. It only took one or two rounds, something that size should have taken much more, then it exploded, sending showers of the same slimy goo over our party. I don' think that any got on me personally, but I don't know about the rest of the group. As the monster disintegrated, it oozed back into the snow, the same way that the substance had a few days earlier, but this time it left a large hole in the snow. We decided to continue on for a little while, not wanting to camp here next to the hole for fear of something coming back out of it. After a couple of hours, we stopped again and made our igloo's for the night. In the morning, we will discuss what happened yesterday, and what we should do next.
10/26/1922 - Thursday: I must admit, my wits are becoming more frazzled that I can ever remember before! This morning, we wanted to test Dr. Williams wit a minor cut to see if he's become infected like Frederick. After cutting himself, he quickly bandaged it under the pretense of not wanting to contract a 'normal' infection. We insisted on looking closer at his wound, not convinced that we had been able to observe it long enough to make a good observation, but he refused. I must admit that I am catching the paranoia that is consuming everyone, because during this exchange, we all began pulling our weapons. Dr. Williams finally agreed, and when he removed his bandaged, the cut was gone! Guns still pointed, we told he to either give up his weapons willingly and remain free, or we would force him, tying him up like Frederick. Once that was done, we decided to test each of ourselves to find out if we had become infected with this demonic substance.
As we were about to begin, Williams walked up to McDougal, slapping him with a bloody hand. The Irishman, being a very emotional and superstitious person, reacted by whipping around with his shotgun, and letting loose a barrage into Dr. Williams at point blank range! To the our horror, the remains of Dr. Williams began to squirm back together! After a few minutes had passed, it had come totally back together into a grayish mass, still breathing! This was a very disturbing sight for the rest of us, so we decided that whatever this was, it wasn't natural. During the commotion, Ms. Sanders sent a shot into the air. I glanced over long enough to tell that she was trying to warn Benny, who had taken one of the remaining dog teams and a sled and left. After seeing our entire group apparently go mad, I can hardly blame him, but it will be worse out here without his knowledge of the land.
We concluded our tests immediately to find out exactly who was infected. In the end, we determined that Frederick, Dr. Williams, McDougal, and poor D'Arnot have become infected. I suggested that, once we start out, we keep the infected ones out in front, in case something takes over their actions, such as we've seen in Frederick when he tried to cast that foul spell, and Dr. Williams when he maliciously slapped McDougal to insure his infection. We can't leave them in front, of course, without defense, so the rest of the group agreed that we should let them keep their pistols. McDougal, of course who thinks he is doomed, refused, wanting only his large hunting knife. We are almost done breaking camp now, and have decided that we will continue to follow the trail. I pray that the rest of the day goes better.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully, but with paranoia and suspicion filling the tense air. For watches tonight, we are going to make sure that at least one of us who is not infected remains awake, to assure against foul play, or worse.
10/27/1922 - Friday: Williams awoke this morning, much to our horror. He still doesn't look whole, with patches of gray showing all over. He apparently doesn't remember what has happened since their plane crashed 9 days ago. Mr. Sanders took his medical bag while he was out, and refuses to give it back to him. I must admit, that sounds like a good idea at the moment. We haven't told him yet of the events that have transpired, not wanting to upset him more at this time. Just before we were ready to continue along the Karnes trail, Frederick began feeling extremely cold, and started sweating profusely. McDougal decided that it would be best to test him again, so he gave him a small cut. Although he still healed at an accelerated rate, it didn't seem as quick as before. Maybe there is a limit to how long this lasts!
Just after we had started off again, having stopped for lunch, we noticed a figure coming over a rise towards us. The Irishman immediate dove into the snow to hide himself, and began to circle around it. As it approached, it became apparent that it was human. D'Arnot, not wanting to take any chances, used his Thompson machine gun to warn the person not to come any further. It's a good thing that he's proficient with the weapon, as he sprayed a line of bullets into the snow right in front of the newcomer! At that point, he pulled back his hood, revealing the dark skin and black hair of a native, who we mistook at first for an Inuit. He spoke a few words, which only Laticia could understand. She told us that the person was speaking Navaho! Considering the tense circumstances of the last few days, we became immediately suspicious. It was at this point that the Irishman jumped out of the snow behind him and ordered him to stop. I suppose in another situation, I might have laughed at his foolishness, since the stranger wasn't moving at the moment! McDougal ordered the Indian to drop his spear, which he did. The rest of us then approached to interrogate him. Laticia found that this traveler spoke English, which helped immensely. His name translated into Puma Walks Far. He explained that he was transported here by an Inuit wizard through what he called the Spirit Plane. He took us back to the spot that he claimed to have first appeared here in the Arctic, where we found this 'Wizard' that supposedly brought him here. Dr. Williams tried to discern the cause of death, but was unable to find anything wrong. Ms. Sanders took a look next, and came to the conclusion that the poor fellow just 'ran out of energy,' whatever that means. There were no other tracks other that the ones that we made to this spot, supporting the claims that this Navaho was deposited here by magic. We retraced our steps back to the Karnes trail, and began on northward again. Before we made tonight's camp, we began noticing that the landscape has begun to change. The winds have carved parts of the ancient ice into strange shapes and truncated cones. We even ran across clusters of grouped dots, in a five point pattern. It reminds me of things that I've read about the fabled Plateau of Leng, which when I first realized this sent shivers through me. When I think that these could possibly be marks of the Old Ones, my blood runs cold. Ms. Sanders, who apparently has some geological experience, estimated based on the layering of the snow and ice, that some of these marks could have been made as recent as one hundred to one thousand years ago.
.. - After making camp and preparing a meal, Frederick began screaming in agony. Our new guest began mixing some tribal concoction from the ingredients in his pouch. Dr. Williams, always eager to find new drugs, be they scientific or superstitious, paid particular attention to the mixture. Frederick was at first unwilling to drink the potion, but was finally convinced, not wanting Dr. Williams to try his hand at a cure again. After he calmed down somewhat, he reported to us that the 'warm glow' that he had is now gone, only to be replaced by disorientation and hallucinations. We decide to give him another test, and to our relief, the cut that we gave him did not heal. I believe that whatever affected him has passed from his body, and that he is returning to his normal state of being. The rest of us also conclude that the infecting substance, while possibly of evil nature, did not in any way affect the personalities of it's victims. Puma Walks Far gave Frederick a second potion to help him sleep, which he did shortly after drinking it. This is good news for the others who've been infected, and I can't wait until all are once again whole.
10/28/1922 - Friday: This morning when the group awoke, we found Frederick vomiting violently. Dr. Williams said that his vomit looked normal, but his sickness seems to be going on and on. The only way to continue now is to put him on the sled. D'Arnot has also begun to feel cold, signaling the end of his infection as well, so he will have to hold on to the back of the sled for support today, as we really do not wish to stop yet.
.. - McDougal found a mound marked by the same pattern of five dots. He began digging into it, to find that it is hollow, with fragments inside that look like metal, as well as what appear to be pieces of bone, as though this were a burial cairn, and all that remains are the decomposed bones of whatever was contained inside. Ms. Sanders examined the metallic shards and theorized that they came from some sort of meteor, as she has never seen any metal like this before.
.. - We've come across a cluster of these 'burial mounds.' Frederick has finally stopped vomiting, and now he's just sitting there groaning and holding his head as though he's got a terrible migraine. We are going to dig into these mounds to see if they contain the same materials as the one that we found earlier.
.. - Of the five mounds that we've dug into, all contained the same types of specimens. The fifth one also contained a strange green stone, marked with a five pointed symbol. D'Arnot recognized it as a sort of ward against something. We've also been able to determine that the 'bone' fragments are not human, and actually are probably not bone at all, although exactly what they are we can't tell.
.. - We've made camp again for the night. After leaving the mounds behind, the trail that we're following began to wander through these irregular pits. They are all similarly shaped, but they appear to be placed at odd intervals. McDugan is making a map of the area, to insure that we can easily make it back. After a while of studying his map, he suddenly shoved it back into his pack with a very disturbed look on his face. When questioned, he would say nothing more than he began to get a bad feeling looking at it. After some convincing, he agreed to show the map to us. Mr. Shultz seems to think that the pattern is not random, but that it is like no pattern he's ever seen before. He predicts that the same pattern will intensify as we go on, and that 'We are getting close to the center. Center of what I'm not sure, but the center not the less!" This revelation, if accurate, is quite disturbing. The Irishman began checking his ammunition and weapons as though we were about to enter a battle of some sort. I will admit that I find these thoughts a bit frightening also, and I found myself making sure that my .45 was loaded, with spare rounds at the ready. D'Arnot's fever broke tonight also. He apparently is not going to go through the same ill side effects as Frederick did. Frederick began felling better tonight as well.