JOHN AMHERST
"As he passed away, the second time, I implored him to stay that way. He just looked at me: ‘But you see, doctor, I am such a restless man.’”
- Sir Frederick Treves [MAG 68 "The Tale of a Field Hospital"]
who is john amherst?
- a recurring character in the magnus archives
- an avatar of the corruption with an affinity for insects, particularly ants and flies, and disease
- possibly, a short-term director of ivy meadows care home in woodley, greater manchester
- a former soldier who repeatedly menaced sir frederick treves during his reporting on the second boer war
timeline of events
ca. 1899: while chronicling his experiences as a volunteer field surgeon in the second boer war, sir frederick treves, 1st baronet, encounters a man introduced to him as "private amherst," who dies of typhoid shortly after their meeting. treves later encounters amherst, alive but injured, in a field hospital. when questioned about his return from the grave, amherst says only that he is "such a restless man." amherst repeatedly offers his infirmary bed to other wounded soldiers, all of whom quickly die of infection. amherst dies once more of gangrene. treves encounters amherst on one other known occasion, in which amherst, covered in flies and barely alive, approaches him. amherst claims to have come from a british concentration camp, and tells treves about "disease, putrefaction and the writhing creatures of filth," before dying once more.
july 2011: ivy meadows care home, woodley, greater manchester is decommissioned. sometime around this time melanie king's father, a resident, dies.
mid august 2011: nicole and joshua baxter of baxter & gordon funeral directors arrive at ivy meadows care home to retrieve the body of bertrand miller. nicole observes that the care home is noticeably dirtier than before, and that it appears deserted. she is greeted by john amherst, who claims to be the new director of the care home. the baxters are led by amherst to miller's room, where they find miller's badly decomposed corpse, which is partially covered in a strange yellow rash. the baxters retrieve the body and it is cremated.
sept. 4 2011: nicole baxter returns to ivy meadows care home following a phone call from alenka kozol, a nurse there. upon arriving she does not enter the building, but sees kozol through the window, covered in the same rash as miller. kozol attempts to scream, and flies pour from her mouth. baxter turns and flees, encountering two people she does not recognize (trevor herbert and julia montauk) before leaving the scene. ivy meadows care home burns down.
fanart
pictured: amherst in his characteristic oversized suit, accompanied by a manifestation of the corruption
