The Case of Mister Krumm

Foreword

Vernia Society of Criminology presents

With a foreword by

PROF. DR. CHARLES SINGER

Foreword

In 1915 I had the honour to personally assist Robert Fox in an investigation and as a result I can vouch for his undoubted expertise as a criminalist. However; regarding the subject of the supernatural, a closer examination is needed. Supranaturalism encompasses phenomena that seem to transcend those parts of the world which are sensually perceivable and rationally comprehensible to us. With growing knowledge, the strict exclusion of such phenomena from the established objects of science must be reconsidered. I prefer a view of the supernatural as going beyond our present understanding of nature. Ancient philosophy teaches us that everything is recurrent. A difficult hypothesis to grasp since every life seems like a new beginning to us. In every known religious belief system there is mention of a great catastrophe that has shaped our world. I particularly like the following description by my colleague Dr. Cornelia Vanderbergh (The Storm Inside the Hourglass. 1909, p. 72.).

Like the needle on a gramophone, the Old World has gone off track. A storm inside the hourglass. Every spark of our creative power, every thought has already been considered, but was lost and forgotten. In some places, fragments can still be found. Words carved in stone. Artifacts with unknown meaning. Ancient thoughts without proven origin, handed down as if they originated from the collective spirit of humanity itself. The same place where our primal fears reside, which accompany us like a shadow.

On one point, however, religion and science agree: our Vernia is located where once the cradle of the last great culture of this Old Worldused to be.

Vernia, named after the great goddess who rose from the steam of the deep and revealed to us the wonders of mechanics. A continent like a patchwork rug of thousands of stories, interwoven with folk myths and superstition. We are modern, we live in rational times and we have achieved unprecedented prosperity through progress. The faith in science dominates us. Nonetheless we are surrounded by phenomena whose nature is difficult to identify and which, for the layman, are difficult to comprehend. To the same extent, they can both inspire and overwhelm our imagination.

Last year, in Vernia alone, one percent of criminal cases were filed undersupranaturalism, as if an unknown force of nature had been at work. These borderline cases are the bread-and-butter of private investigators of curious and supernatural phenomena. The following detailed description of a case by the famous detective Robert Fox may only now be released to the general public. Needless to say, as a piece of fantastic literature.

Arcton, September 1922
Professor Doctor Charles Singer

University of Arcton, Faculty of Vernian Studies
Department of Cultural and Literary Studies