These stories first appeared in Hunt's Book of Weapons, an in-game collection of found documents curated by an unknown researcher. They are replicated here in their original format. This means that many of the stories are not presented chronologically, or in one grouping, and it is left to the reader to put together the puzzle pieces and determine to what extent they contain fact, fiction, or fable.

Prior to the launch of Hunt: Showdown 1896, this weapon was named the Sparks LRR. We have updated the names where relevant, but you may still see the more period accurate names within the lore texts.

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Sparks

SPARKS LRR. (See also, RIFLE) The Sparks Long Range Rifle (LRR) is a long-bore single-shot long gun of exceptional range and with a reputation for being reliable, simple to use, powerful, robust, and accurate. During the War of the Rebellion, the Sparks LRR M74 model experienced incredible popularity thanks to these traits, and breech-loading percussion carbines of this model were used with success by the Union Army and Navy. Further to that, it was one of the earliest issued weapons to make use of cartridge ammunition. The LRR was the most common Sparks model, but its occasional designation as the 74 was incorrect, as it was actually produced in 1871.

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Records, Louisiana State Asylum at Jackson
Handwritten notes
Author: Handwriting match for Philip Huff Jones
Undated

Candidates for immediate recruitment:
Frank Fisher. Diagnosis: Delirium of Persecution. File notes: "lucid, but insists he is persecuted by spirits flying about his room and person, that they torment him." I suspect Mr. Fisher will be an easy recruit. However, if a demonic element has attached itself to him, I wonder whether he can be controlled. Finch.

Nellie Crown. Diagnosis: acute Religious Mania. Badly marked from small pox. Claims an Angel is in her; then it is a snake. And who is to say that she is not possessed by Angels or Snakes? I have seen leeches the size of a human head burrow into a man's skull. Much more is possible than our medical textbooks would admit. Possibly a previous initiate. Have others reacted poorly to the serum? Observation required.

Johathon Costello. He "imagines himself possessed by the voudous and is impertinent if one disbelieves him." He would not be the first to be sent to the asylum for speaking the truth. Finch.

Fannie Camba. Insomniac, experiences violent rages daily at sunset. Properly directed, this rage could make of her a formidable Hunter. (Infected?) With patient instruction, we will put her night-time energies to good use in the field. Finch.

Oliver Locke. Diagnosis: Religious Mania and Delirium of Persecution. Mr. Locke is "very ragged; he imagines himself persecuted by the so-called voudous, who have placed snakes in his body." Such a common affliction in this city it would seem—and it is no coincidence that we see so many cases now, as the situation worsens. Interview required. Finch.

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Records, Louisiana State Asylum at Jackson
Handwritten notes, partial
Author: Unknown

Louisiana State Asylum at Jackson
Doctor's Memorandum - 27 June

14 asylum patients were brought to the infirmary at 4am this morning. 11 dead on arrival, 3 with extensive wounds died in the following 3 hours from internal bleeding. Cause of death: multiple gunshot wounds (rifle shot?), burns.

Patients brought to infirmary by Dr. Huff, who provided no details about what nightmare had transpired to deliver to us 14 corpses, all patients of Dr. Finch. Huff rushed back to the grounds. At the time, I assumed he was needed urgently elsewhere. However, he has continued to refuse to provide any information, telling me only to wait.

Why were the patients out of their rooms? How did they get past the night watch? Who shot them and why? Was Dr. Huff involved? These questions press upon me. This incident must be investigated, as it represents a failure of great magnitude on the part of our staff. I intend to report the matter to the police tomorrow should no further information be forthcoming.
The patients in question are listed below, along with a description of their injuries.

Sparks Incendiary Ammo

RN: It stands as both a testament to and failure of Huff's character that he kept such extensive records of the AHA during his tenure. We have almost a complete picture of his behavior across personal notes, letters, and journals. Of course, what's far more interesting, and likely damning, is what he wasn't writing down.

Sparks Pistol

SPARKS PISTOL. (See also, SPARKS LRR) Essentially a Sparks LRR with a sawn-off barrel and stock removed, the Sparks Pistol is famous for delivering shots as powerful as its rifle counterpart. It makes use of the single-shot, rolling-block action that the Sparks LRR is famous for, and fires high caliber rifle cartridges. Though equally powerful and deadly over short to medium ranges, its shortened barrel makes it less effective over longer distances than the original rifle, and since there is no stock to absorb the kickback, each shot delivers a stronger recoil.

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Sensitive information on Pelican Island Prison
Envelope addressed to the Wichard & Cohle Detective Agency
Return address: Blank
Contents: One letter, three pieces of torn paper
Processed by the Department of Police on June 3rd, 1896
Handwritten letter, 5.5" x 8.5"

To the fine detectives of the city of New York,

The documents I entrust into your care were not acquired through legal means. I admit this free of shame, for nothing in this investigation has been just or right, and I am certain this information will be of better use in your capable hands.

I see the vultures pushing you for swift results, ready to claim your work as their public victory. I beg you to remember your duty is not to the politicians but to the victims that cannot speak for themselves and the families who will not rest without answers.

While the angry mob cares only for a name to carry the blame, bear in mind the many other names you must honor. Each life lost in this tragedy deserves justice, even if their stories can't fit into a simple narrative.

Sincerely,
Someone looking for peace

Torn paper, handwritten, 2" x 3.5"

All tha time, feedin Theo like a pig for slauter. Chummin up to the poor coot til he lost his wits bout him. Boy still smeld like his momma's milk. Coulda been sumeone, coulda have a family. Instead tha bastard blew his face rite off with his fancy pistol.
May he die chokin on a rusty nail.

Torn paper, handwritten, 3.5" x 3.1"

he came back alive and they shot him anyway he came back alive and they shot him anyway he came back alive and they shot him anyway he came back alive and they shot him anyway
he came back alive and they shot him

Torn paper, handwritten, 2.5" x 4"

They gon try to put lies in my head but they cant erase what I seen. That basement took many lives but not his. That boy died right here and they cant wash his insides from the walls.

When the devil comes for the warden, he gon pay, but not for this. No, this sin belongs to Curtis Grey.

Sparks Silencer

SPARKS LRR SILENCER. (See also, SPARKS LRR) The Sparks LRR Silencer offers the sharpshooter convinced of subterfuge the ideal armament. The boom of shot and flash of muzzle are often recounted as the key giveaways to a sniper's position on the battlefield, which when identified are particularly vulnerable: while well camouflaged, the leafy bower as that which is favored as hide and vantage point offers little in the way of fortification under a barrage of targeted rifle fire. The fitting of a silencer, designed to effectively eliminate the flash and crack of firing, offers a sharpshooter some peace of mind, and the chance of getting of more shots before having to re-position.

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Unpublished manuscript, "Bad As They Seem"
Author: Hayden Collins
Undated
Bleached paper, typewritten, 8.5x11 in

-25-
Voices spoke to each of them. Through the snakes. Through the cards. And through metal. Fin. Jos. Lynch. Three Hunters, three voices, and an uncountable trail of corpses behind them, leading up to this moment.

They stood in a circle, as was custom for such things, three points of a sacred triangle. They had stood in this sacred formation before, in friendship. Now they stood poised for attack.
Lynch knelt slowly, hands grubbing into the damp bayou soil, blackened fingernails breaking as they met stone, then metal, then flesh. She kept her eyes on the twins as her hands slowly, painfully, became the large claws of a bird. The claws scraped deeper, searching, digging. They met purchase, then, and pulled from the earth a man, held in her clutches like a doll, and seemingly dead.

She held the small man in her craven claws, muttering, and he opened his eyes and screamed in pain as his body slowly began to change. As his hands transformed into talons, Lynch regained her own hands. Feathers sprouted violently from his neck, as a beak forced its way through the skin of his lips, the only evidence that he had once been a man the blood smeared across them.

The bird screamed and flung itself into the air, letting gravity return it to its prey, claws outstretched and reaching for Jos' throat.

But as the bird descended, the ground between the twins began to shake and rupture as from its depths the thick muscled length of a giant snake flung itself into the air, intercepting the bird's murderous grasp. The two beasts crashed to the ground, snake wrapped around the bird's body, talons wrapped around the body of the snake.

Their strength was matched; however, inside the snake's gruesome bite waited a poison that would tip the balance. As the snake sunk its fangs into the bird's breast, it shrieked, shedding crimson feathers like tear drops, shrinking as it did, until it lay on the ground, a lifeless ragged little doll man once more.

Sparks Poison Ammo

RN: Huff's competency was lacking. He was a reasonably proficient doctor, but his moral code non-existent. His handling of the situation lurched from treating it as nigh on inconsequential, to the greatest crisis to face humanity to which he was the sole defense and counterforce.

Sparks Sniper

SPARKS LRR SNIPER. (See also, RIFLE, SHARPSHOOTER, SPARKS LRR)The characteristics for which other Sparks rifles are known are also evident in the manufacturer's sniper model. That is to say, it is an easy-to-handle, long-range, single-shot rifle of reliable, powerful, and robust design. Particularly suited to hunters of large game, the Sparks LRR Sniper could take down a beast of considerable size, such as a lion or an elephant, at a distance of up to one kilometer. In the United States, it has proven well-suited to the buffalo hunt. Should you, however, be unfamiliar with the particulars of the power necessary to overpower quarry of this size, I offer a second comparison. With the regulation charge of powder, the LRR Sniper propelled a bullet through 33 half-inch elm planks, and the missile was then only stopped by a 34th panel of solid oak.

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Correspondence, Philip Huff Jones
Typewritten, carbon copy
June 29, 1895

Father,

Victor Caldwell has failed us. That onion-eyed rump-fed miscreant! I will wring the man's neck who recommended him; surely he must have known the nature of Caldwell's character? He has destroyed all we have so carefully built. May he burn in hell. Ha! I suppose I have my wish already.

Caldwell arrived on Wednesday evening, and though tired from the week-long journey from Connecticut, was eager to see one of our "home-grown" Louisiana monsters. It took a good deal of persuasion to convince him he would not be best served to hunt in a state of exhaustion.

Oddly, he had with him a Sparks! "Researching the competition," he told me as he displayed its fine form over breakfast the following morning. It is a firearm with exceptional range, which we would see demonstrated in the most horrifying manner that evening. We were on the grounds with Finch's 14. I spoke of our plans when he suddenly became agitated, and disappeared, and they are all dead. He found a sniper's perch and picked them off, one by one. He must have had a number of weapons on him, perhaps a scope. I could not move quickly enough to his location. Eleven died where they fell, 3 more did not survive being moved to the infirmary. He is an excellent shot.

Having destroyed our humble army—easy, unarmed targets as they were—he disappeared. However, the fire in the armory shed last night tells me he is not gone. I must speak to the staff now. They are already beginning to ask uncomfortable questions, and then there is the matter of Lynch. But that is subject for another letter.

Sparks FMJ Ammo

RN: The more I look over Huff's accounts, the more I realize that nothing the man put to paper can be trusted. His patients' deaths have long nagged at my conscience. Discovering more about this Henry Monroe is of paramount importance.

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