Anne's Children

According to William Lyall’s A True History of Mr. Bleak’s College Its Founding Its Purpose Its Sudden Destruction, monsters played a part in the founding of Bleak College. Lyall writes that Prosperity Bleak arrived in New Haven in 1671, furnished with letters from the clergy of Boston which attested to his piety and learning. All might have been well this time, except that he was accompanied by a piebald quadruped that could only have been a dog, although people swore they had heard it speak in a woman's voice.

Lyall doesn’t speculate about the nature or origin of this creature at this point (although later he guesses that it must have been one of Anne Hutchinson’s children). He only observes:

[…] strange doings in Mr. Bleak's house on Prospect Street. Lights and noises at night. Comings and goings of Figures in Cloaks, and Shapeless Creatures in Carts. Frenzied barking of dogs. Great laying-in of provisions, including much Food not fit for any Man: spoiled Meat, Corn, etc. […] Digging, constant digging […] Speech in unknown Languages, and Inhuman Cries.

What is happening? Mr. Bleak is building a school.