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Wadsworth Zane first sees Harker House
Harker House, also known as Harker Mansion, is a historic mansion in the town of Broodhollow, located on Darning Street. It was once owned by William Harker, a local tailor of great renown[1], but it now seems to be public property, and is protected as a historic building. Parts of it were damaged in the 1840 Downtown Fire, although most of the house has apparently been repaired or reconstructed since the event. Harker House is not open to the public, although the Society of the Skull and Shovels seems to have used its considerable local political influence to secure use of the site for secret meetings[2].
The fire[]
Harker House was apparently among the buildings damaged in the 1840 Downtown Fire. William Harker apparently perished with his wife and children in the blaze[3]. However, the mansion shows no outward signs of fire damage, indicating that the fire was either highly localized or, more likely, the house underwent extensive reconstruction following the disaster, repairing both the exterior and interior of the local landmark.
The sub-basement[]
Wadsworth is held captive in the sub-basement by William Harker
Although the upper levels of Harker House show no signs of fire damage, the mansion's little-known sub-basement seems to have gone undisturbed since the fire[4]. The reanimated skeletal corpse of William Harker seems to have been using this sub-basement as a base of operations during the intervening period. Shortly after Wadsworth Zane arrived in Broodhollow, Harker kidnapped him and brought him to the burned-out cellar, where he intended to harvest Wadsworth's heart. It was here that Iris Bellweather was led by the ghost of Madeleine DeLueur, where she proceeded to smash Harker's skull with a frying pan, apparently destroying him. It is possible that Horace Bellweather was murdered by Harker in the same sub-basement.