Mister Corbitt the Character

Played by: Alex Morrison

First appeared in: Mister Corbitt

Bernard Corbitt is the villain of Mister Corbitt. To his Arkham neighbors he is a quiet, somewhat reclusive importer known for his greenhouse, his generosity with produce and his squeaky car. In truth he serves an entity called Ramasupva, controls minds with strange chanting, and has spent years raising a monstrous creature in the basement of his house with stolen human body parts.

Background

According to his neighbor Mr. Barber in 102: Neighborhood Watch, Corbitt has lived on the street for many years and runs an import business inherited from his father. He is a widower who lives alone and travels overseas often. His journals from 1911 to 1925, found in 108: Head of the Beast, reveal much more:

• Ownership of Corbitt Importers of America was signed over to him by his mother, whose mind was unhinged by the death of his father; he admits to a role in that death. He writes that his "lord" Ramasupva spoke to him, left a mark on his chest and devoured his father.
• He met Lynn Myers in 1911 and married her in 1912. At Ramasupva's demand, a ritual was performed to unite the entity with his wife, and the child that resulted was hidden in the basement after her death.
• An earlier experimental creature was entrusted to a man named Mordecai Shep in the coastal settlement of New Jerusalem.
• In 1924 he was directed to find fresh limbs and organs for the creature, and he recruited Randolph Tomaszewski ("Mr. Tom") to supply them, dosing him with drugs. The journals link Corbitt directly to the Miskatonic Mangler murders.

Season 1: Mister Corbitt

101: It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Corbitt arrives home carrying two wrapped packages; when one falls open it appears to show a human hand and he hurriedly rewraps it. He politely lets the neighbors into his house, shows them his curios and religious idols, and explains that his ceremonial dagger is supposedly a Thuggee sacrificial blade from India. He ends the visit, increasingly suspicious, when the group's snooping and the hats and pea coat thrown out of his window are reported to him by Tom Barber, and he shuts the door "harder than before" after Tallahassee blames ghosts.

102: Neighborhood Watch

When the investigators sneak into his yard, Corbitt phones someone to report prowlers and demand they hurry, and comes out shouting that he has a gun. He catches Dom Druncard in the upstairs hallway, stares into his eyes and chants incomprehensible syllables; Dom fails his POW roll.

103: Usual Suspects

Corbitt stays calm and respectable, tells the police he was alone, and suggests the men may be part of a cult. He explains the "human hand" as a branch he was storing in his refrigerator for fertilizer experiments, and the detectives report that he has solid alibis for several murders and cannot be the Mangler. He declines to press charges.

104: Attic Window

Billy notes that Corbitt seemed nervous under questioning. In Dom's recovered memory, Corbitt appears behind him in the hallway, chants in an unknown language and whispers commands that force Dom into the attic.

105: Radical Medicine

When Tallahassee Turner arrives with the photograph and a gun, Corbitt reacts with alarm but again uses his chanting to take control of Tallahassee's body and mind.

106-108: The Miskatonic Mangler, Fates and Retribution, Head of the Beast

Corbitt is not seen in these episodes, but he is the focus of the investigation. Tomaszewski admits in 106 that Corbitt ordered Dom's abduction, that he supplied Corbitt with body parts for drugs, and that Corbitt is building a gate for "the Master". In 107 the police cannot get a warrant for Corbitt's home because he is a respected businessman, and he is away from the house and later missing from work when the investigators break in during 108 and read his journals.

109: For Whom the Dice Rolls

Billy McConnell confronts Corbitt at his workplace with Tomaszewski's name and the vial, and catches him pronouncing the name "too correctly". Corbitt flees through the warehouse but is run down and arrested, and Billy takes him back to the house handcuffed and gagged. In the basement he panics at the open door and the dead head-creature, and when the investigators find the huge creature he gazes at it tearfully with open adoration. He tries to protect it, is knocked back, and after it dies he throws himself on it, is stabbed by Tallahassee and is left sobbing against the corpse.

In 301: No Rest for the Wicked the Major visits him at the Arkham Sanatorium three days before the trip to New Salem. Haggard and silent at first, he mocks the Major for blasting his way through everything, says he hid things in his journals because Ramasupva can read his mind, and calls Mordecai Shep a nobody he pays, "more like a body keeper." He hints that what waits in New Jerusalem is worse than his creation, that others like him are everywhere and far ahead of the investigators, and he is laughing as the Major leaves.

In 303: The Grand Slam the investigators find his 1917 letters to Mordecai Shep, signed "BC," hidden in Mordecai's shack. They describe moving "the subject" to a more secure location, Corbitt's complaints about the cost of outside labor, and on December 17th, 1917, the completion of a laboratory beneath a tomb, with an elaborate locking mechanism inspired by the tales of his neighbor Tallahassee Turner.

In 304: Pet, Cemetery the investigators tell Percival Warthrop about Corbitt's monster-breeding and his letters to Mordecai Shep, and they use the dates in those letters to search the New Jerusalem cemetery for his laboratory.

In 305: The Shining... Skin the investigators find what appears to be the hidden laboratory described in Corbitt's letters, with a large cage, and they wonder whether monsters were kept and built there as Corbitt did.

In 306: Cellar Door the papers recovered from the hidden laboratory turn out to summarize years of Corbitt's research, including a projection showing his creatures reproducing asexually at an exponential rate. The investigators reckon that it has been about twelve weeks since they put him behind bars.

In 307: Smooth Criminal the investigators reconstruct fourteen years of notes kept by Corbitt and his associate Mordecai Shep. The notes record that the creature reproduces by regurgitating offspring once it has eaten enough. Corbitt carved binding runes into it after an Arkham associate mentioned wizards who bound creatures to their will, and the control this gave him let them exercise it at a nearby abandoned sanatorium.

In 308: Infestation Goodman Gray, the leader of a rival group, says that he is not an associate of Bernard Corbitt but is an interested party in his research.

Appearances

• 101: It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
• 102: Neighborhood Watch
• 103: Usual Suspects
• 104: Attic Window
• 105: Radical Medicine
• 109: For Whom the Dice Rolls
• 301: No Rest for the Wicked

Mentioned

• 106: The Miskatonic Mangler
• 107: Fates and Retribution
• 108: Head of the Beast
• 303: The Grand Slam
• 304: Pet, Cemetery
• 305: The Shining... Skin
• 306: Cellar Door
• 307: Smooth Criminal
• 308: Infestation