====== The Springer Mound Monsters ======

{{ :byakhee.jpg?direct&400|}}Two large winged creatures (which would later be identified as 'Byakhee') circled endlessly above [[Springer Mound]] near [[Clare Melford]]. One of these creatures attacked and killed [[Harold Jennings]] after he accidentally discharged his shotgun into the nine obelisks hidden on his land. It also hunted down and killed both of his dogs, as well as an unfortunate local constable from Long Melford. 

The creature was seen clearly by [[Andrew Saunders]] as he witnessed its attack on [[Harold Jennings]] and less clearly by [[Nathaniel Browne]], but it attacked neither of them. Saunders managed to convince the police that the attacks were the work of Jennings' dogs, who he suggested 'killed the first policeman and then each other'.

The investigators also discovered:

  * Saunders described the creature as //"a man-sized insectoid horror with a head like a horse's skull. It had sharp claws on all four limbs, great leathery wings and dead grey eyes"//. This description was later confirmed when the party encountered the creatures in [[Carcosa]].
  * When the investigators returned to Springer Mound in early December 1928 the creatures had gone, along with the obelisks which they had apparently been guarding. The obelisks later turned up in Scotland.
  * The [[bone whistles]] once owned by [[Lawrence Bacon]] and [[Henry Lister]] bear likenesses of these creatures. A room full of similar whistles was discovered when the investigators visited [[Carcosa]].
  * In [[Carcosa]] it was discovered that these creatures are called **//byakhee//** and are the servants of [[Hastur]]. Hundreds of the creatures were summoned to [[Carcosa]], where they clustered on the roof of the palace, watching the play performed by [[Montague Edwards]] and his followers.
  * According to [[Doctor Frederick Bartlett|Dr. Bartlett's]] dream, when Carcosa left the Earth the byakhee all flew into Hastur's enormous eyes.