Mystery Mountain

Mystery is in the shadow of Mystery Mountain, the largest peak in the southern New Hampshire area, situated some distance from a spur of the White Mountains. “The sun sets early in Mystery” the locals say, given the vivid sunsets over the peak of the mountain as its shadow spreads eastward over the town in the early evening.   Although some granite quarrying and mining took place on Mystery Mountain generations ago, the whole area has been a state park since the 1930s, and the only commercial enterprise is the Mystery Mountain Lodge Ski and Recreation Area. Colorful local legends refer to the peak as “the Devil’s Mountain” and talk about covens of witches meeting in dark groves along its slopes, or sightings of strange lights or shapes late at night.   There is some truth to the legends: Mystery Mountain marks a dimensional “fault line” and nexus, allowing extradimensional energies (and, sometimes, beings) to slip into Earth’s reality. Abandoned quarries and mine shafts have connections to Sub-Terra, while those of a mystical bent have sought to exploit, or guard against, alignments of power here.