The Calls of Innsmouth - ‘Dead Air’

📘 The Calls of Innsmouth - ‘Dead Air’ – Issue 1

Written by Christopher Allen
Art by TBD
Lettering by TBD
Published by Dyvers Hands Productions, LLC
First draft: 2025-06-14

© 2024 Dyvers Hands Productions, LLC, licensed CC-BY-NC-SA.
This work is licensed Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

This script is part of the Lovecraft Country: The Innsmouth Papers series.
Lovecraft Country: The Innsmouth Papers™ is a trademark of Dyvers Hands Productions, LLC.

---

🗂️ Issue Overview

Title: Dead Air
Series: Lovecraft Country: The Innsmouth Papers
Issue: 1
Setting: Arkham, Massachusetts, July 15, 1927
Main Character: Claire Palmer (Telephone Operator)
Synopsis: July 15, 1928. Night telephone operator Claire Palmer connects routine calls in sleepy Arkham—until desperate voices from neighboring Innsmouth break through. Against every rule of her profession, she listens in, discovering a federal raid planned for dawn. As the night deepens, familiar operators at the coastal exchange are replaced by strangers, calls are cut short, and the voices of Innsmouth fade one by one into dead air. By morning, an entire town will vanish, and Claire must choose between her safety and bearing witness to the truth.

Logline: A 1920’s telephone operator becomes witness to a town’s final hours before federal erasure.
Tagline: Every call carries the weight of history.

📝 Script Notes

🎨 ARTIST: Visual style should evoke 1920s noir with Art Deco elements. Heavy use of shadows and limited color palette - primarily blacks, whites, and muted blues/greens. The telephone exchange should feel both safe and claustrophobic.

🌫️ ATMOSPHERE: The story builds from routine professionalism to creeping dread. Each violation of protocol should feel weightier than the last. By the federal takeover, the atmosphere should be suffocating.

🎭 COSTUME: Claire wears professional 1920s operator attire - white blouse, dark skirt, no jewelry. Headset is crucial visual element. Federal agents in period dark suits and fedoras.

📦 PROP: Manual switchboard with vertical panels of jacks, horizontal rows of cords. No dials or numbers - operators connect by name. Small desk lamp provides main lighting.

🔊 SOUND DESIGN: Each type of call should have distinct characteristics - clear local calls, slightly distorted Innsmouth calls, distant/tinny long-distance calls.

📎 REFERENCE: 1920s telephone operator procedures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcjEaH7lqEo 📎 REFERENCE: Manual switchboard operation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgHbgJiF0oc

📎 REFERENCE: Period Telephone Switchboard (click to view)

 **Source:** Bell Telephone Magazine, Volume 22 (1943), page 233 **Original Archive:** [Internet Archive - Bell Telephone Magazine](https://archive.org/details/belltelephonemag22amerrich/page/233/mode/1up?view=theater) **Description:** This image shows a typical manual telephone switchboard from the era, with vertical panels of jacks and hanging cords that operators used to physically connect calls. Note the multiple rows of connection points and the indicator lamps above each jack that would light up when a subscriber lifted their receiver.

---

Act 1: Rumblings of Unease

📄 Page One - Establishing the Exchange

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Six-panel grid establishing setting and protagonist.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Wide establishing shot of Arkham’s main street at dusk. Small town atmosphere - two-story buildings, a few shops, gas street lamps beginning to glow. One or two automobiles.

🌆 BACKGROUND: Show Arkham Telephone Exchange building prominently. No phone booths visible anywhere.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  Arkham, Massachusetts. July 15th, 1927.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  Population 3,847. Twelve public telephones in the entire town.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Interior of exchange - three switchboard positions in a row. Art Deco details, single overhead lamp plus desk lamps at each position.

📦 PROP: Manual switchboards with no dials - just jacks, plugs, and indicator lamps.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  The Arkham Telephone Exchange. Where every call passes through human hands.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: CLAIRE PALMER (28) at center position, training LOUISE DUTTON (19) at left. Right position empty. Both in professional attire.

🎨 ARTIST: Claire is composed, professional. Louise is eager but nervous.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Watch carefully, Louise. This job requires precision and discretion.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Close-up of switchboard showing local jacks labeled by name, and trunk lines labeled “Boston LD,” “Coastal Exch,” “County Seat.”

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (OFF-PANEL):
  Local calls connect by name - all 347 Arkham subscribers.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (OFF-PANEL):
  Coastal Exchange handles Innsmouth, Falcon Point, and three other fishing villages.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: A lamp lights up on the board - incoming call indicator.

• 🔊 SFX (MECHANICAL):
  click

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Mrs. Henderson calling. I know that lamp.

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Claire demonstrating proper technique - inserting answering cord into jack.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Insert the answering cord, speak clearly, then connect and withdraw.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  We facilitate. We don’t participate.

📄 Page Two - The Rules of the Exchange

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Nine-panel grid showing routine operations and establishing ethics.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire speaking into her headset, perfect posture.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Number please?

• 🗣️ MRS. HENDERSON (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Claire dear, get me Dr. Hartwell please.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Claire’s fingers finding Dr. Hartwell’s jack with practiced ease.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  One moment, Mrs. Henderson.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  Tuesday evening. Her “nervous condition” acting up again.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire inserting the ringing cord to complete connection.

• 🔊 SFX (MECHANICAL):
  RING… RING…

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Ringing Dr. Hartwell now.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: The moment of connection - Claire pulling back from headset.

• 🗣️ DR. HARTWELL (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Dr. Hartwell speaking.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Go ahead, Mrs. Henderson.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire’s hand moving away from the connection - she’s withdrawn from the circuit.

• 🗣️ LOUISE (BALLOON):
  Don’t we monitor to ensure good connection?

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  No. Once connected, we withdraw completely.

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: MISS TEMPLETON (50s), the chief supervisor, standing on her raised platform behind them.

🎭 COSTUME: Templeton in severe black dress, hair in tight bun. Intimidating presence.

• 🗣️ MISS TEMPLETON (BALLOON):
  Precisely correct, Miss Palmer.

• 🗣️ MISS TEMPLETON (BALLOON):
  Rule number one, Miss Dutton?

🖼️ PANEL SEVEN

🎨 ARTIST: Louise reciting nervously while Templeton looms.

• 🗣️ LOUISE (BALLOON):
  “The operator shall not listen to subscriber conversations.”

• 🗣️ MISS TEMPLETON (BALLOON):
  Violation means immediate termination. No exceptions.

🖼️ PANEL EIGHT

🎨 ARTIST: Clock showing 9:00 PM. Templeton putting on her coat.

• 🗣️ MISS TEMPLETON (BALLOON):
  I’m leaving early - family emergency. You’re senior operator tonight, Miss Palmer.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Yes, Miss Templeton.

🖼️ PANEL NINE

🎨 ARTIST: Templeton at the door, final warning.

• 🗣️ MISS TEMPLETON (BALLOON):
  Remember - we are the nervous system of this town. Professional. Invisible. Trusted.

• 🗣️ MISS TEMPLETON (BALLOON):
  Don’t betray that trust.

📄 Page Three - First Warning Call (Beat 1 Ends)

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Seven panels showing the first Innsmouth call and Claire’s first ethical compromise.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire and Louise alone now. More relaxed atmosphere.

• 🗣️ LOUISE (BALLOON):
  She terrifies me.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Good. Fear keeps you professional. Professionalism keeps you employed.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: An indicator lamp lights up - trunk line from Coastal Exchange. Slightly greenish tinge to the light.

• 🔊 SFX (MECHANICAL):
  RING-RING-RING

• 🗣️ LOUISE (BALLOON):
  That’s the Coastal Exchange trunk. Don’t they close at eight?

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire hesitating before answering. She recognizes this exchange routing.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  That’s routed through Coastal Exchange. But Sarah usually closes at eight…

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  Must be an emergency. Innsmouth only calls direct when it’s urgent.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Claire answering, professional but wary.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Arkham Exchange. Number please?

• 🗣️ RESIDENT (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  I… I need… the newspaper. Mr. Matthews at the Advertiser.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire checking the time, then the Advertiser’s jacks.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  The Advertiser closed at six, sir.

• 🗣️ RESIDENT (OFF-PANEL, WHISPER):
  No! He works late Tuesdays. Please… it’s about the strangers!

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Claire making a decision - connecting to Matthews’ desk line. Louise watching with concern.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  I’ll try his desk.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  Strangers? In Innsmouth?

• 🔊 SFX (MECHANICAL):
  CLICK-RING

🖼️ PANEL SEVEN

🎨 ARTIST: Large panel. Claire not withdrawing from the circuit after connection - her first violation. Hand hovering over disconnect.

🌫️ ATMOSPHERE: This moment should feel significant - a line being crossed.

• 🗣️ MATTHEWS (OFF-PANEL):
  Advertiser, Matthews.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Go ahead, Innsmouth.

• 🗣️ RESIDENT (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  They’re everywhere… federal men… taking pictures… asking questions…

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  Federal men? I should disconnect… but…

📄 Page Four - The Call Cut Short

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Six panels showing Claire’s growing concern.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire listening intently, Louise tapping her shoulder.

• 🗣️ LOUISE (WHISPER):
  Claire! You’re still connected!

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (WHISPER):
  The line quality… I need to monitor it.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Split panel - shadowy Innsmouth resident on left, Matthews taking notes on right.

✍️ LETTERER: Resident’s dialogue should be slightly distorted.

• 🗣️ RESIDENT (BALLOON):
  They’re watching the Esoteric Order building. The harbor. Even the old families…

• 🗣️ MATTHEWS (BALLOON):
  Can you give me names? Badge numbers?

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: The resident looking over his shoulder, paranoid.

• 🗣️ RESIDENT (BALLOON):
  Can’t talk long. They might be listening…

• 🗣️ RESIDENT (BALLOON):
  Something big is coming. The Elders are frightened. Really frightened.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Sudden disconnection - the line goes dead with electrical interference.

• 🔊 SFX (ELECTRICAL):
  CRACK-BZZZT

• 🗣️ MATTHEWS (OFF-PANEL):
  Hello? Hello?!

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire pulling off her headset, shaken. Louise staring at her.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Line went dead. Third time this week.

• 🗣️ LOUISE (BALLOON):
  Should I log it as equipment failure?

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Claire making notes in her personal notepad - not the official log.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Yes. Innsmouth line fault. Routine.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  But federal men in Innsmouth? That’s not routine at all.

📄 Page Five - Community Check-in (Beat 2 Ends)

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Large panel at top, then two tiers of three panels each, showing the coded “festival” call.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Wide panel showing passage of time. Clock at 9:43 PM. Claire teaching Louise about toll calls while writing in her notepad.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  Twenty-three minutes later…

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  For long-distance toll calls, we interrupt at three-minute intervals…

• 🗣️ LOUISE (BALLOON):
  “Your three minutes are up. Deposit five cents to continue?”

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Another Innsmouth indicator lights up.

• 🔊 SFX (MECHANICAL):
  RING-RING

• 🗣️ VOICE (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Get me Barnabas Marsh on Federal Street.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire’s fingers finding the local Innsmouth connection - she knows these names too.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  One moment, connecting to the Marsh residence.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  Elder Waite calling Elder Marsh. Unusual for this hour.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Split panel showing both elders - shadowy figures with suggestions of unusual features.

• 🗣️ MARSH (BALLOON):
  Yes?

• 🗣️ ELDER WAITE (BALLOON):
  Barnabas? It’s Gideon. About the… festival preparations.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire’s hand on the disconnect switch but not pulling away. Another violation.

• 🗣️ MARSH (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Ah yes. The Festival of the Tide. Everyone ready on your end?

• 🗣️ ELDER WAITE (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  The young ones are restless. But they’ll follow the old ways when the time comes.

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Claire writing “Festival?” in her notes while listening.

• 🗣️ MARSH (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  And the… decorations? All in place?

• 🗣️ ELDER WAITE (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Hidden where outsiders won’t find them. The old places remember.

🖼️ PANEL SEVEN

🎨 ARTIST: Both elders in dramatic lighting, speaking in code.

🌫️ ATMOSPHERE: Ominous undertones despite mundane words.

• 🗣️ ELDER WAITE (BALLOON):
  If the strangers interfere…

• 🗣️ MARSH (BALLOON):
  Then we celebrate early. The Deep Mothers will understand.

• 🗣️ ELDER WAITE (BALLOON):
  Iä! The tide rises.

• 🗣️ MARSH (BALLOON):
  And we rise with it.

📄 Page Six - The Broker’s Greed

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Six panels showing the exploitative call.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Clock showing 10:02 PM. A call from Arkham’s business district.

• 🗣️ WHITMORE (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Long distance to Boston. Make it snappy, girl.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Connecting to long distance operator.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: HAROLD WHITMORE in his luxurious office, greedily rubbing his hands.

🌆 BACKGROUND: Expensive furnishings, stock certificates on wall.

• 🗣️ LONG DISTANCE (OFF-PANEL):
  Boston connection ready.

• 🗣️ WHITMORE (BALLOON):
  Commonwealth 4-5600. Franklin Cabot’s residence.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire connecting the call, about to withdraw when…

• 🗣️ WHITMORE (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Franklin? It’s Whitmore. About those Innsmouth properties…

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  Innsmouth again?

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Claire deliberately staying on the line. Louise has stepped away to file paperwork.

• 🗣️ INVESTOR (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Rather late for business, Harold.

• 🗣️ WHITMORE (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  My federal contacts say tomorrow’s the day. Full raid.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire’s shocked expression, hand gripping her desk.

• 🗣️ WHITMORE (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Property values will crater. We buy the waterfront for pennies.

• 🗣️ INVESTOR (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  And the residents?

• 🗣️ WHITMORE (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Who cares? Bootleggers and degenerates, the lot of them.

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Claire writing frantically in her notes: “FEDERAL RAID TOMORROW!”

• 🗣️ INVESTOR (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  How reliable is your source?

• 🗣️ WHITMORE (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Treasury Department. Iron-clad.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  Oh God. They’re really going to do it.

📄 Page Seven - End of Act 1 (Beat 3 Ends)

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Full-page splash with small inset panels showing Claire’s moral crisis.

🖼️ PANEL ONE (main image)

🎨 ARTIST: Claire alone at her station, illuminated by a single desk lamp. The switchboard looms large, its cords like tentacles. Her notes visible with fragments: “Federal raid,” “Festival,” “Strangers watching.”

🌫️ ATMOSPHERE: Film noir lighting - Claire isolated in a pool of light surrounded by darkness.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  Three calls. Three violations of protocol. Each revealing pieces of tomorrow’s horror.

🖼️ PANEL TWO (inset top left)

🎨 ARTIST: Close-up of Claire’s notepad with her observations.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  I should report this. But to whom?

🖼️ PANEL THREE (inset top right)

🎨 ARTIST: The Innsmouth exchange lines - several dark now.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  They’re already cutting communications…

🖼️ PANEL FOUR (inset bottom)

🎨 ARTIST: Claire’s face, torn between duty and conscience.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  Miss Templeton said we’re the nervous system of the town…

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  But what if the body is sick?

Act 2: Escalation and Interruption

📄 Page Eight - Operational Intrigue

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Nine-panel grid showing Claire accidentally intercepting classified communication.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Clock showing 10:47 PM. Louise returning with coffee.

• 🗣️ LOUISE (BALLOON):
  Coffee? You look like you need it.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Thanks. It’s been a strange night.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: An unusual connection request - no originating lamp lit.

• 🔊 SFX (ELECTRICAL):
  BZZT-CLICK

• 🗣️ LOUISE (BALLOON):
  That’s odd. No incoming indicator…

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire answering cautiously.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Arkham Exchange. Number please?

• 🗣️ VOICE 1 (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  —secure line confirmed?

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Claire checking her equipment, confused.

• 🗣️ VOICE 2 (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Confirmed. Scrambler active. Proceed.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  This shouldn’t be possible on our equipment…

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire frantically trying to disconnect but the plug won’t budge.

• 🗣️ VOICE 1 (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Operation DEEP SWEEP is green-lit. Dawn, February 14th.

• 🔊 SFX (MECHANICAL):
  stuck

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Louise noticing Claire’s distress.

• 🗣️ VOICE 2 (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  All teams in position?

• 🗣️ VOICE 1 (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Affirmative. Coast Guard has the harbor sealed.

🖼️ PANEL SEVEN

🎨 ARTIST: Map of Innsmouth on the wall behind them, Claire’s shadow falling across it.

• 🗣️ VOICE 2 (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  State Police have roadblocks ready. No one in or out after 0300 hours.

• 🗣️ VOICE 1 (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Treasury’s cover story?

🖼️ PANEL EIGHT

🎨 ARTIST: The connection suddenly cuts with violence.

• 🔊 SFX (ELECTRICAL):
  CRACK-ZZZT

• 🗣️ VOICE 2 (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Bootlegging and tax evasion. No one questions revenue ag—

• silence

🖼️ PANEL NINE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire and Louise staring at the dead line.

• 🗣️ LOUISE (WHISPER):
  What… what was that?

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (WHISPER):
  I don’t know. But we didn’t hear it. Understand?

📄 Page Nine - Distress Call (Beat 5 Ends)

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Seven panels building panic and showing the first direct evidence of the operation.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: 11:23 PM. Both operators trying to appear normal.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  Thirty-six minutes of routine calls. Thirty-six minutes of pretending.

• 🔊 SFX (MECHANICAL):
  RING-RING-RING

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Claire answering an urgent call.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Arkham Exchange.

• 🗣️ OLMSTEAD (OFF-PANEL, PANICKED):
  Police! Get me the police! They won’t let me into town!

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: JACOB OLMSTEAD in a gas station phone booth, sweating and panicked. Through the booth’s glass, we can see his car and the attendant watching nervously.

🌆 BACKGROUND: Small gas station on Route 1A, single pump, dim lighting.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Connecting to Arkham Police. What’s your emergency?

• 🗣️ OLMSTEAD (BALLOON):
  They turned me back! Federal roadblock! My family’s in Innsmouth!

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: SGT. MURPHY at police station, expression changing as he listens.

• 🗣️ SGT. MURPHY (BALLOON):
  Slow down, sir. Where are you calling from?

• 🗣️ OLMSTEAD (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Paxton’s Gas Station, Route 1A! They’ve got the road blocked five miles ahead!

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Through the phone booth glass - gas station attendant gesturing urgently, pointing at approaching headlights on the road.

• 🗣️ ATTENDANT (MOUTHING):
  They’re coming!

• 🗣️ OLMSTEAD (BALLOON):
  They said quarantine! No one in or out! My wife, my children—

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Olmstead dropping the phone, running from booth as federal vehicles pull into the gas station. Line goes dead.

• 🔊 SFX (ELECTRICAL):
  CLICK

• 🗣️ SGT. MURPHY (OFF-PANEL):
  Hello? Sir? What quarantine?

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  He had to flee… They’re hunting anyone trying to reach Innsmouth.

🖼️ PANEL SEVEN

🎨 ARTIST: Large panel. Claire attempting another Innsmouth connection, getting an unfamiliar voice.

🌫️ ATMOSPHERE: Growing sense of wrongness and dread.

• 🗣️ UNFAMILIAR OPERATOR (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Coastal Exchange. That line is temporarily unavailable.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (WHISPER):
  That’s not Sarah’s voice. Sarah always works nights at Coastal…

• 🗣️ LOUISE (WHISPER):
  They’ve taken over the exchange.

📄 Page Ten - Academic Insight

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Six panels featuring the professors’ cosmic horror discussion.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Midnight. Clock striking twelve. Both operators exhausted and tense.

• 🔊 SFX (AMBIENT):
  BONG… BONG… BONG…

• 🗣️ PROFESSOR (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Urgent call for Professor Armitage. Tell him it’s Peaslee.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: PROFESSOR PEASLEE in his study, surrounded by disturbing artifacts and star charts.

📦 PROP: Visible books - “Cultes des Goules,” “Ponape Scripture,” star charts with strange alignments.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Connecting to Professor Armitage’s residence.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  The folklore department. Always strange calls…

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Split panel - both professors, Armitage answering in nightclothes.

• 🗣️ ARMITAGE (BALLOON):
  Peaslee? It’s midnight—

• 🗣️ PEASLEE (BALLOON):
  The stars, Henry! They’re almost right! And Innsmouth—

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Claire unable to disconnect, listening with growing horror.

• 🗣️ PEASLEE (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  The government thinks they’re raiding smugglers. But the Esoteric Order—

• 🗣️ ARMITAGE (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Careful! Even on a private line…

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Peaslee holding up a disturbing carved stone with Deep One glyphs.

📎 REFERENCE: Deep One glyphs based on Lovecraft descriptions

• 🗣️ PEASLEE (BALLOON):
  If they disturb what sleeps beneath Devil Reef…

• 🗣️ ARMITAGE (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  The 1846 plague. The 1878 disappearances. All connected.

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Both professors looking grave, Claire writing frantically.

• 🗣️ ARMITAGE (BALLOON):
  We should warn them—

• 🗣️ PEASLEE (BALLOON):
  Who’d believe us? Fish-gods and star-spawn?

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  What madness is this?

📄 Page Eleven - Urgent Warning (Beat 7 Ends)

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Full page with large central panel and smaller panels showing simultaneous action.

🖼️ PANEL ONE (top strip)

🎨 ARTIST: 12:45 AM. Multiple Innsmouth calls coming in at once - panic spreading.

• 🔊 SFX (MECHANICAL):
  RING-RING-RING-RING-RING

• 🗣️ LOUISE (BALLOON):
  They’re all calling at once!

🖼️ PANEL TWO (large central)

🎨 ARTIST: Wide shot of the exchange. Claire and Louise working frantically, multiple connections being made. Through the window, we see dark vehicles moving through Arkham’s streets.

🌫️ ATMOSPHERE: Chaos breaking through routine. The safe space invaded by outside threat.

• 🗣️ VOICE 1 (OFF-PANEL):
  —can’t leave my house! Armed men—

• 🗣️ VOICE 2 (OFF-PANEL):
  —Martha, don’t come tomorrow! The wedding—

• 🗣️ VOICE 3 (OFF-PANEL):
  —they’re surrounding the Esoteric Order—

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Stay calm, I’m connecting you—

🖼️ PANEL THREE (bottom left)

🎨 ARTIST: JUDITH in Innsmouth, clutching phone as shadows pass her window.

• 🗣️ JUDITH (BALLOON):
  Martha? Thank God! Don’t come to Innsmouth!

• 🗣️ MARTHA (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Judith? What’s wrong?

🖼️ PANEL FOUR (bottom center)

🎨 ARTIST: Federal agents kicking in Judith’s door.

• 🔊 SFX (IMPACT):
  CRASH

• 🗣️ AGENT (SHOUT):
  DROP THE PHONE!

• 🗣️ JUDITH (SHOUT):
  THEY’RE TAKING EVERY—

🖼️ PANEL FIVE (bottom right)

🎨 ARTIST: Claire trying to reconnect through Coastal Exchange, getting strange responses.

• 🗣️ NEW OPERATOR (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Coastal Exchange. All Innsmouth lines are temporarily out of service.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (WHISPER):
  That’s definitely not Sarah. Or Margaret. Or any voice I know…

• 🗣️ LOUISE (WHISPER):
  Who are these people?

Act 3: Before the Raid

📄 Page Twelve - Federal Takeover

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Six panels showing the government taking control.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: 1:15 AM. Claire trying to call out to warn someone - anyone.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (WHISPER):
  I have to warn someone. The state police, the newspapers—

• 🗣️ LOUISE (WHISPER):
  Claire, no! If they’re listening—

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: The exchange door bursting open. AGENT MORRISON leading federal agents in.

• 🔊 SFX (IMPACT):
  SLAM

• 🗣️ AGENT MORRISON (SHOUT):
  FEDERAL AGENTS! Step away from the switchboard!

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire and Louise with hands up, terrified. Agents surrounding them.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  We’re just operators—

• 🗣️ AGENT MORRISON (BALLOON):
  You’re government assets now. Sit. Don’t move.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Agents seizing all the call logs and Claire’s personal notes.

• 🗣️ AGENT (BALLOON):
  Sir, this one’s been taking extensive notes.

• 🗣️ MORRISON (BALLOON):
  Bag everything. Every scrap.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Morrison examining Claire’s notes about federal raids and “festivals.”

• 🗣️ MORRISON (BALLOON):
  “Federal raid.” “Deep Mothers.” Interesting reading, Miss…?

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Palmer. Claire Palmer.

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Morrison looming over Claire.

• 🗣️ MORRISON (BALLOON):
  Miss Palmer, you’re going to help us complete one last call.

• 🗣️ MORRISON (BALLOON):
  Or you’ll be charged with sedition. Your choice.

📄 Page Thirteen - Final Plea and Silence (Beat 9 Ends)

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Nine-panel grid for the emotional climax - the last call from Innsmouth.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire at switchboard under guard, Morrison pointing to specific line.

• 🗣️ MORRISON (BALLOON):
  One call coming through from Innsmouth. Connect it to Miskatonic University, Dr. Wilmarth.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  One last voice before the silence…

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: The connection being made, Claire’s hands shaking.

• 🔊 SFX (MECHANICAL):
  click-bzzt

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Dr. Wilmarth? Emergency call from Innsmouth.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: ELDER GILMAN in his ancient study, surrounded by artifacts of the Esoteric Order.

🎨 ARTIST: Gilman should show clear Deep One heritage - this is the last testament of his people.

• 🗣️ ELDER GILMAN (BALLOON):
  Wilmarth? Thank the Deep Ones you answered.

• 🗣️ WILMARTH (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Elder Gilman? It’s past one—

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Federal agents visible through Gilman’s window, surrounding his house.

• 🗣️ ELDER GILMAN (BALLOON):
  Listen! There isn’t time. They come with the dawn.

• 🗣️ ELDER GILMAN (BALLOON):
  The government. They think we’re criminals.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire listening intently, tears in her eyes. Morrison taking notes.

• 🗣️ ELDER GILMAN (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  The Pact of 1797. Captain Obed Marsh’s bargain. The prosperity for the promise.

• 🗣️ WILMARTH (OFF-PANEL, ELECTRONIC):
  Gilman, you’re not making—

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Gilman holding an ancient gold tiara - the crown of the Deep Ones.

📦 PROP: Elaborate alien goldwork, clearly non-human design

• 🗣️ ELDER GILMAN (BALLOON):
  We kept the bargain! Bred with them, yes, but kept the surface world safe!

• 🗣️ ELDER GILMAN (BALLOON):
  Now they’ll destroy the barriers. Wake what sleeps.

🖼️ PANEL SEVEN

🎨 ARTIST: Gilman’s door being broken down, agents rushing in.

• 🔊 SFX (IMPACT):
  CRASH

• 🗣️ ELDER GILMAN (SHOUT):
  Tell our story, Wilmarth! The truth, not their lies!

🖼️ PANEL EIGHT

🎨 ARTIST: Gilman raising his arms in final supplication as agents reach for him.

• 🗣️ ELDER GILMAN (SHOUT):
  Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!

• 🗣️ ELDER GILMAN (SHOUT):
  THE STARS REMEMBER!

🖼️ PANEL NINE

🎨 ARTIST: Connection severed. Claire, Wilmarth, and Morrison in three-way split.

• 🔊 SFX (ELECTRICAL):
  ZZZZT-DEAD AIR

• 🗣️ MORRISON (BALLOON):
  That’s the last of them. Operation Deep Sweep is go.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (THOUGHT BALLOON):
  The last voice of Innsmouth. Forever.

📄 Page Fourteen - The Dawn Raid

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Single splash page showing the raid in progress.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Aerial view of Innsmouth at dawn. Federal vehicles everywhere. Residents being loaded into covered trucks. Smoke rising from the Esoteric Order building. The harbor is blockaded by Coast Guard vessels.

🌫️ ATMOSPHERE: Documentary horror - this happened. This was real. Show it like a historical photograph.

🌆 BACKGROUND: Period-accurate vehicles and uniforms. Show the sheer scale of the operation.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  July 16th, 1927. Dawn.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  387 arrests. Most would never be seen again.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  Officially: a successful raid on bootleggers and tax evaders.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  The truth was drowned with the tide.

Epilogue: Reflecting on Silence

📄 Page Fifteen - Aftermath (Beat 10 Ends)

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Six panels plus epilogue text, showing the cover-up and consequences.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Morning. Claire and Louise being released from the exchange, federal agents still present.

• 🗣️ MORRISON (BALLOON):
  You saw nothing. You heard nothing. You know nothing.

• 🗣️ MORRISON (BALLOON):
  Clear?

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Claire at a diner, exhausted. Coffee untouched. REPORTER MATTHEWS entering.

• 🗣️ MATTHEWS (BALLOON):
  Claire? Rough night? You look terrible.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Matthews… that call you got last night…

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Claire leaning in, whispering urgently. Matthews shocked.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (WHISPER):
  They took everyone. The entire town. Federal agents.

• 🗣️ MATTHEWS (WHISPER):
  That’s… how do you…?

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (WHISPER):
  I heard everything. Connected every call.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Claire showing Matthews her hidden backup notes - a few pages she managed to conceal.

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  They called it Operation Deep Sweep. But Matthews…

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  There was something else. Something about things sleeping beneath the water.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Wide shot of the diner. Normal morning, normal people, unaware of the horror.

• 🗣️ MATTHEWS (BALLOON):
  I’ll investigate. Document everything before—

• 🗣️ CLAIRE (BALLOON):
  Before they make us disappear too?

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Final shot - Claire walking away down Arkham’s main street. In the distance, smoke still rises from Innsmouth.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  Claire Palmer worked three more months at the exchange.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  Then she too vanished. Her notes were never found.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  Except for the pages hidden in the diner that morning.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  The pages that told this story.

📄 Page Sixteen - Final Revelation

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Single image with text overlays.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: The Coastal Exchange building, years later. A modern automatic switching station now, no operators needed. But through the window, we see one old manual switchboard kept as a memorial.

🌫️ ATMOSPHERE: Modern efficiency masking old secrets. Progress covering tragedy.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  The Coastal Exchange was rebuilt in 1930. Fully automatic. No operators required.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  Sarah Henley, the night operator, was never seen again after July 16th, 1927.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  Innsmouth remains empty. Federal property. No trespassing.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  But sometimes, the automatic switches connect calls that shouldn’t exist.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  From numbers that were disconnected long ago.

• 🎙️ CAPTION (NARRATOR):
  In voices that drowned with the tide.

---

Historical Note

The federal raid on Innsmouth as depicted in H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” (1931) was written just three years after the events in this story. Lovecraft claimed his tale was fiction.

Those who know better remain silent.

The systematic removal of an entire population based on their “difference” would be repeated throughout the 20th century - from the Armenian Genocide to the Holocaust to Japanese-American internment to modern-day raids on immigrant communities.

The tools change. The fear remains the same.

And somewhere, someone is always listening.

---

End of Script