The House of Mystery is a sentient house of magic that exists simultaneously in a metaphysical realm known as The Dreaming and anywhere it desires to appear in known existence.
Mischievous in spirit, the house's outer architecture changes to suit the will of the house or its custodian and the same holds true for the inside of the house, where the rooms of the house constantly shift location or change entirely, to the bafflement of those dwelling inside.
History[]
When Abel was first killed by his brother, Cain, his spirit was brought into the Dreaming where he became a storyteller and was given the House of Secrets to live in, as {[dcd|Dream}}; Prince of Stories, knew that the tale of Abel's death would be told and re-told for many centuries to come.
As one of the few residents of the Dreaming back in those early days, Abel grew lonely, and so Dream fashioned a version of his brother to live next door in the House of Mystery. Of course, being next door to his brother reminded this Cain of why the original Cain murdered him in the first place, and thus he killed Abel again, except this time Abel was resurrected, starting a never ending cycle of Cain repeatedly murdering Abel and Abel resurrecting after each murder.
The first known corporeal form of the House of Mystery was built in 1748 just north of Louisville, Kentucky, and was almost immediately abandoned by its builder, Col. Braitwaithe, before the American Civil War.
In 1916, Dream was forcibly removed from his realm by the occultist Roderick Burgess, and held prisoner until 1989. During this time, the Dreaming fell apart, though Cain and Abel continued to amuse themselves by telling stories; with Cain opening the House of Mystery to storytellers and those in search of a good scary story. To aid in the telling of his stories he kidnaps artists and writers and holds them in the House.
At some point Cain began working as the caretaker of the House of Weirdness instead of the House of Mystery, where he meets Blue Devil when the hero accidentally stumbles through a portal into the House, incidentally allowing the Hairy Devourer to escape to Earth. Cain returns with Blue Devil to help locate and subdue the monster. Afterwards, he forces Blue Devil to take a lease on the house on Earth that had a permanent portal to the House of Weirdness. He occasionally intrudes into Blue Devil's reality, and sometimes solicits Blue Devil's help in dealing with escaped weirdness.
Meanwhile, the House of Mystery elected the supernatural woman Elvira; Mistress of the Dark, to briefly take Cain's place as caretaker and storyteller until Cain eventually returned to his customary abode with no knowledge of his time at the House of Weirdness.
As Cain resumes his hobby of telling stories to wayward beings, the House eventually gets tired of his behaviour, ejects him, and kills itself. This sends him into a deep depression, and forces him to move into the House of Secrets. He flees the Dreaming for some time, before he is ultimately found and returns under the orders of Dream to become custodian of the newly reformed House of Mystery.
Sometime later, Dream sought to rescue his former lover Nada from Hell, to which he'd condemned her centuries ago after she spurned his affections. Cain was sent ahead as an envoy to give Lucifer fair warning that Dream would be entering his realm and possibly invading it. Cain had been chosen as the messenger, as the mark upon his forehead would prevent him from being killed. Still, Lucifer and his minions subjected Cain to rough treatment, and the first murderer would later leave the realm deeply shaken by his experiences. The House of Mystery then runs away from Cain, and he spends a great deal of time attempting to locate it and take it back. He is approached by the Pair of the Conception and becomes the Coachman, taking people out of the House and interrogating them about it. He joins forces with Ceorel and the Thinking Man in an attack on the House, which fails. He and Ceorel pursue the House to the Space Between, where they are briefly trapped, but he manages to re-enter the House, and escapes when it is transported out by the Conception. Back inside the House, he reluctantly becomes co-manager of its bar with Fig Keele. He is forced to accompany Fig on a journey through her own mind and memories. The House is destroyed soon after, and Cain is excluded from Lotus Blossom's new version of it. He creates a cabal with several powerful individuals to try to drive out Lotus Blossom, who has destabilized the universe. When the universe is stabilized he finds he is permanently pushed out of her version of the House, and begins to construct his own.
Involvement[]
- The House of Mystery marks the first stage of the JLD: Fellowship of the Arcane 8 player operation.
- The Cursed House of Mystery appears as location for the JLDC: Cursed House of Mystery alert.
Associated Equipment[]
Map[]
Inhabitants[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The House of Mystery first appeared in House of Mystery #1 (January, 1951).
- The House of Mystery's "sister house", the House of Secrets, is typically located next door to the House of Mystery in the Dreaming; located on opposite hills, with a rundown cemetery between them (however, like it's sister, the House of Secrets can change its corporeal location at will). The current custodian of the House of Secrets is Abel, Cain's brother. The House of Secrets is a dangerous location to frequent due to Cain's hobby of devising new and inventive ways of murdering his brother (who always resurrects after each death) which have a tendency to catch innocent bystanders in their wake.
- Batman once entered the house while being pursued by an assailant and inadvertently tripped on a magically moved floorboard. He would have been shot had his pursuer's gun not magically jammed. Superman also once entered the house and teamed with Cain to thwart Mister Mxyzptlk, who was attempting to take possession of the House.
- A team of detectives called the "Croatoan Society", which counts Edogawa Sangaku, Traci Thirteen, Elongated Man, Detective Chimp, and Tim Trench as members, periodically uses the house as their meeting headquarters. The group is known for having unlocked the mysteries of Stonehenge, Easter Island, Kasper Hauser, and the television series Lost.
- Another house of magic, the Shadowcrest Mansion, is the family mansion of the Zatara family and currently serves as Zatanna Zatara's personal sanctuary and base of operations. Shadowcrest's library boasts one of the most extensive collections of books on magic and magical knowledge ever assembled. It also houses an arsenal of powerful magical relics that can do "just about anything you'd want them to do" (according to Zatanna). The mansion's corporeal form is located on the outskirts of Gotham City, but like all houses of magic the interior of the mansion actually exists in an entirely separate magical dimension.
External Links[]
- House of Mystery DC Database
- House of Mystery Wikipedia
- House of Mystery Comicvine