Harold
Hadley Copeland (1860–1926)
"The shocking discoveries made since
we first opened the tomb should be more than enough to inform us. The knowledge
lingering in those ancient tablets may wither our souls."
-From
the Introduction to “The Zanthu Tablets: a Conjectural
Translation”
A noted anthropological researcher and co-founder
of the Pacific Area Archaeological
Association (PAAA), of which he later became the president. He began his
studies in Cambridge, later graduating from Miskatonic University. He travelled
widely throughout Asia in the 1890s and his published journals of these trips
gained him some popularity. His early scholarly writings include “Prehistory in the Pacific: A Preliminary
Investigation with References to the Myth Patterns of South-East Asia”
(1902), “Polynesian Mythology, with a
Note on the Cthulhu Legend-Cycle” (1906), The Ponape Scriptures (1907) (his translation of a document
discovered in 1734), “The Ponape Figurine”
(1910) and “The Prehistoric Pacific in
light of the Ponape Scriptures” (1911). This last work met with
considerable disfavour and he was forced to resign his presidency of the PAAA as a result.
In 1913, Copeland took a different tack and set off
on an expedition to Central Asia, in search of the Plateau of Tsang. The Copeland–Ellington Expedition met
with disaster from the outset: Ellington died in mysterious circumstances after
only a few days and the group’s guides and bearers either deserted, or perished
from the harsh conditions. Three months later, Copeland was found raving in
Mongolia, claiming to have encountered a Muvian wizard named ‘Zanthu’, who gave
him ten inscribed stone tablets. These tablets were in his backpack when he was
discovered, covered with ancient hieroglyphics.
After returning from his ordeal, Copeland spent the
next three years translating the tablets and published his findings as The Zanthu Tablets: A Conjectural
Translation; he was then confined to an asylum in San Francisco where he
slit his own throat shortly afterwards. His vast collection of papers and
Polynesian artefacts was left in his will to the Sanbourne Institute of Pacific Studies.
(Source: Lin Carter, “The Dweller in the Tomb”)
“Prehistory in the Pacific: A Preliminary
Investigation with References to the Myth-Patterns of Southeast Asia”
A relatively innocuous monograph,
attempting to resolve archaeological phenomena found in the Pacific region with
the mythography of the Southeast Asian margin of the ocean. While not outlining
clear connexions between legend and phenomena, the paper provides sound
procedures for using mythology to provide rationales for cultural behaviours
and taboos.
English; Harold H. Copeland; 1902; 1/1d2 Sanity
loss; Cthulhu Mythos +1 percentiles; 4 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: None
“Polynesian Mythology, with a Note on the
Cthulhu Legend-Cycle”
Still in academically tepid waters,
Copeland tries in this paper to connect several articles and journals published
by the Miskatonic Press with the
studies already undertaken by the PAAA.
In the course of his analysis he finds great sympathy with the work of George
Angell and Francis Wayland Thurston and sceptically probes the implications of the
so-called “Worldwide Cthulhu Cult”. His conclusions weigh heavily on the side
of there being enough parallelism amongst mythology for the paranoid observer
to construct any kind of bizarre scenario; however, he does leave many
suggestive coincidences unresolved.
English; Harold H. Copeland; 1906; 1/1d3 Sanity
loss; Cthulhu Mythos +3 percentiles; 8 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: None
The Ponape Scriptures
The original
copy of this work was discovered in the Carolinas by Captain Abner Exekiel Hoag
in 1734. It was scribbled upon a series of dried palm leaves protected by a
frame made from the wood of an extinct cycad. With the help of his servant “Yogash”,
Hoag translated the text: some say that Hoag wrote the material himself after
talking to the natives; as the original is written in hieratic Naacal, a
language which should not have been available either to Hoag or his servant,
this point of view is somewhat ameliorated (if only by the existence of the actual
text).
Hoag’s attempts
to publish the work, which seemed designed for missionary purposes, were
thwarted by the religious leaders of the time who were especially concerned by
references to Dagon throughout the text. It was finally published in a
duodecimo format after Hoag’s death by his granddaughter, Beverly Hoag Adams,
although prior to this several clandestine copies had been passed around amongst
occult circles. The first printed (or “Beverly”) edition is slightly abridged
and error-ridden due to cost constraints in its production. The original work
is still available for view however, in the Kester Library in Salem
Massachussets, USA. The most voluble proponent for the work was Harold Hadley
Copeland who cited the book extensively in his essay the Prehistoric Pacific
in Light of the Ponape Scriptures (1911) and who published his own
translation through the Miskatonic University Press in 1907.
The book deals
largely with the lost continent of Mu and the wizard-priest Zanthu who
doomed the place in a fiery cataclysm; it discusses Cthulhu, Idh-yaa
and their descendants including Ghatanothoa, Ythogtha, Zoth
Ommog and (obliquely) Cthylla. The text has dramatically affected
and informed the rites and practices of the Esoteric Order of Dagon,
among others.
(Source: Out
of the Ages, Lin Carter)
Hieratic
Naacal; author unknown; date unknown (discovered 1734); Sanity loss: 1d8/1d12;
Cthulhu Mythos +15 percentiles; average 20 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: Contact
Deep One; Contact Father Dagon; Contact Mother Hydra; Contact Cthulhu
English;
Capt. Abner Exekiel Hoag; unpublished manuscript translation, various dates;
Sanity loss: 1d6/1d10; Cthulhu Mythos +10 percentiles; average 15 weeks to
study and comprehend
Spells: Contact
Deep One; Contact Father Dagon; Contact Mother Hydra
English:
“Beverly” edition; Capt. Abner Exekiel Hoag; 1795; Sanity loss: 1d3/1d6;
Cthulhu Mythos +5 percentiles; average 10 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: None
English;
Harold Hadley Copeland trans.; Miskatonic University Press, 1907; Sanity loss:
1d4/1d8; Cthulhu Mythos +7 percentiles; average 12 weeks to study and
comprehend
Spells: Contact Deep One
“The Ponape Figurine”
In 1909, a diver discovered a
nineteen-inch tall, jade figurine of a grotesque creature from the seabed near
the island of Ponape. The carving was bought by the Sanbourne Institute of Pacific Studies where it came under the
scrutiny of Harold Hadley Copeland. Copeland’s examination of the piece was
meticulous and exacting as far as it went – positing the origin of the image as
Chinese and possibly deposited during the Chinese diaspora – but then it went right off the rails by once more citing
Angell and Thurston and even mentioning the Johansen
Narrative as a critical source. Even less welcome were his attempts to
prove that the figurine was a cult object connected with the Ponape Scriptures which he had just
finished translating the previous year, a work which had met considerable
disfavour amongst Christian and academic communities. The reception of this
article was cool at best and several colleagues suggested that Copeland take a
leave of absence.
English; Harold H. Copeland; 1910; 1d4/1d6 Sanity
loss; Cthulhu Mythos +4 percentiles; 7 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: None
“Prehistoric Pacific in the Light of the Ponape
Scriptures”
Undeterred, Copeland returned to his
earlier work on myth patterns in the South Asian region and wrote a ‘compare
and contrast’ paper referring current Pacific mythography with the imagery
contained in the Ponape Scriptures.
The clear implication of the article was that there was an over-arching belief
structure that controlled and directed Oceanic and Southeast Asian cultures
from a shadowy background location, most likely based in China. Many academics
felt that Copeland was too busy buying into the fantastic paranoia of the
Angell-Thurston research and suggested that Copeland resign his post as the
head of the PAAA and a take a long
leave of absence.
English; Harold H. Copeland; 1911; 1d2/1d4 Sanity
loss; Cthulhu Mythos +2 percentiles; 7 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: None
Zanthu Tablets
These
tablets were apparently given to Harold Hadley Copeland during the Copeland-Ellington
Expedition by a wizard called ‘Zanthu’, although it is unclear whether they
were handed to him by that entity or if he took them from Zanthu’s tomb.
Copeland was rescued in Mongolia after the expedition disappeared in 1923; he
was the sole survivor. When located, the ten tablets were in his backpack; they
are made of black jade and written all over in what Copeland described as
hieratic Naacal, the written language of Mu. The tablets now reside in the Sanbourne
Institute of Pacific Studies.
Hieratic Naacal; ‘Zanthu, Wizard of Mu’; prehuman
timeline; 1d6/1d10 Sanity loss; Cthulhu Mythos +6 percentiles; 60 weeks
to study and comprehend
Spells: Contact Deity: Cthulhu; Contact Deity: Ghatanathoa;
Contact Deity: Lloigornos; Contact Deity: Ubb; Contact Deity: Zoth-Ommog;
Enchant Bell
“The Zanthu Tablets: A Conjectural
Translation”
The text of
the ‘Tablets is most readily encountered in this monograph written by
Copeland just prior to his commitment to an asylum and suicide. There are no
spells in this translation; however their presence and function are alluded to.
There are claims that, in later years, more copies of the ‘Tablets have
been found by fisherman around the Pacific Rim.
(Source: Lin Carter, “The Dweller in the Tomb”)
English; Harold Hadley Copeland: The Zanthu
Tablets: A Conjectural Translation; 1926; 1d3/1d6 Sanity loss; Cthulhu
Mythos +3 percentiles; 8 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: None
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