Wilbur ventures to Miskatonic University in Arkham to procure the copy of the "Necronomicon" – Miskatonic's library is one of only a handful in the world to stock an original. The "Necronomicon" has spells that Wilbur can use to summon the Old Ones, but his family's copy is damaged and lacks the page he needs to open the "door." When the librarian, Dr. Henry Armitage, refuses to release the university's copy to him (and by sending warnings to other libraries thwarts Wilbur's efforts to consult their copies), Wilbur breaks into the library at the cover of night to steal it. A guard dog, maddened by Wilbur's alien body odor, attacks and kills him with unusual ferocity. When Dr. Armitage and two other professors, Warren Rice and Francis Morgan, arrive on the scene, they see Wilbur's semi-human corpse before it melts completely, leaving no evidence.