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Prime universe
(Capcom's primary storyline)

The Mansion Incident refers to two things. Chiefly, it refers to a botched police special forces operation that took place in July 1998 to investigate a series of murders in Arklay County, but otherwise can refer to the preceding events leading up to this investigation. The Mansion Incident was the site of a biological, ecological, and environmental disaster which took place in the Arklay Mountains. Estimations as to the death toll are imprecise, but scattered material indicates over 200 deaths occurring as a result of the Queen Leech's attacks. Some 127 deaths were the result of the attack on the Arklay Laboratory itself, including seventy-eight Umbrella employees, twenty-three test subjects, twenty civilians and seven Raccoon City police officers.[1]

The incident ultimately resulted in the total destruction of the entire underground laboratory, as well as its sheltering mansion complex after RPD rookie officer/field medic Rebecca Chambers activated the facility's self-destruct system to eradicate the infected infestation, and she, along with 5 other fellow RPD personnel Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, Brad Vickers, and Albert Wesker all survived the events and escaped the premises.

Background[]

From the 1960s, Umbrella Pharmaceuticals - and later Umbrella USA - operated a laboratory underneath the Spencer Mansion, an isolated building situated deep within the mountains of Raccoon Forest. How much the public at large knew of the mansion and lab is uncertain, but the US government was indeed aware of the facility. Officially, vaccine research was conducted on BSL-4 level viruses such as Ebola.[2] Unofficially it was the site of viral weapons development running contrary to the 1972 Bioweapons Convention, and illegal human testing. The virus involved in the outbreak, however, was a strain - or strains - of t-Virus, a virus which mutates humans to survive a number of normally fatal conditions such as cardiac arrest, but which also causes necrosis, brain damage, and excessive hormone production leading to bone growth, murderous anger and cannibalistic hunger. In this condition, mutant humans are dubbed "Zombies".

Attack[]

The accident took place in the early hours of Monday 11 May. The exact cause and events is uncertain, but it is understood a sentient research specimen, the Queen Leech, set in motion an eventual containment failure in the laboratory. This accident occurred during an experiment by the Tyrant Project team, who were undergoing work on the T-002 and T-011 Tyrant subjects and deep in surgery. Epsilon, a newer t-Virus strain, leaked out into the lab in the confusion, released as an airborne pathogen from a special organ created for T-002. The accident was discovered by the staff soon after, and the entire facility staff, regardless of duties, was ordered to don Positive pressure personnel suits (PPPS), typically only worn within a laboratory.[3][4] Otherwise, work continued as normal, with scientists taking advantage of the incident for further research. One researcher was infected by Epsilon in the lab and quickly became a Crimson Head, the first occurrence of such a being, and was sealed for further study before being locked up in an elaborate storage container shaped like a coffin.

Knowledge of the true extent of the accident was known only to a select few. Dr. Albert Wesker, a former Tyrant Project researcher but by then a security agent, ordered telephone access to the outside world to be cut to prevent information leaks.[5] Security personnel also received orders to shoot anyone attempting to leave the facility.[3] At this point at least seventy-eight Umbrella employees, not counting Dr. Wesker's team, were subject to quarantine, seven of whom being researchers on transfer from Umbrella HQ, along with at least twenty-four human test subjects.[1][excerpt 1][excerpt 2][note 1]

As early as Wednesday 13 May, signs of t-Virus infection were being displayed among staff members who were neither present or involved in the Tyrant Project. Among these was the facility's animal keeper, with responsibilities of feeding bio-weapons test subjects.[3] Information on the outbreak was, again, limited, and the medical team allowed patients to believe their sores were merely the result of wearing the PPPSes, and provided bandages rather than antiretroviral drugs.[3]

The virus began spreading out of the facility on Thursday 14 May, carried within a pack of Cerberuses which had turned feral from the keeper's apathy towards feeding them.[3] Friday 15 marked the first casualty in the incident, a researcher being shot by security personnel while trying to escape from the mansion grounds.[3] The earliest known killing took place a week later on Thursday 21, when the keeper murdered a friend, Scott, in a fit of rage at his apparent ugliness and soon after ate him.[3] The writings of another man, Martin Cluckholm, indicate the mansion was lost to the Zombies by Wednesday 3 June, and he killed himself to avoid mutating into one.[5] On Monday 8 June, chief researcher Dr. John Clemens discovered in the lab he also was infected with the virus, possibly indicating the lab was still operational to some level. He left instructions to his girlfriend, fellow Umbrella employee Ada Wong, to kill him should she come looking for him.[6]

On Monday 22 June there were still a scattered group of survivors within the dormitory building. One man attempted to murder his friend, Robert, who was displaying signs of infection, and wrote a suicide note before hanging himself.[7] Both attempted killings failed.[8]

Mountain deaths[]

Remake 2002 intro cutscene (4)

Crime scene photograph.

The first known civilian death in the incident was that of a young woman, estimated to be 20-years old, who washed-up on the Marble River's bank in Cedar, on the outskirts of Raccoon City on the night of Wednesday 20 May. The Raccoon Police Department revealed in a press conference she had suffered lacerations to her arms and was missing her left foot. Given the force at which bite marks appeared to have been inflicted, it was determined she had been killed by a grizzly bear or like creature and her body swept by the river from the mountains. A mountaineering boot on her right foot suggested she was out hiking at the time of the attack, and may have been an out-of-state tourist.[9]

In the weeks following, there were a number of other bizarre attacks, though none else are dated. By a roadside in the Arklay Mountains, three members of a family were found dead following a savage attack on them while camping in the woods. The mother, father and son were found to be missing a number of internal organs, and had a number of bite wounds all over their body, which the Raccoon Police Department determined were human in origin.[10]

A 39-year-old man was found dead at the boat mooring station he worked at along the Mendez River, though little of his body was recovered. Across the scene were the bodies of a number of small animals such as rabbits and birds, which appeared to have been partially eaten raw. Several suspicious persons covered in blood were seen in the area at the time the body was reported, but disappeared later.[10]

A fourth known case was that of the Lindlays. The elderly couple lived in an isolated home in the Arklay Mountains. The police determined they had died of blood loss, the result of suffering powerful bites to their necks. An autopsy found that flesh was present in both their digestive systems, implying they killed and consumed each other, though the Raccoon Police Department was exploring the possibility this was somehow the actions of a third party.[10]

In all, seven hikers and mountain climbers from out-of-town were found dead over the course of a month. Five of these individuals were believed to have died alone, along with the discovery of two pairs of bodies.[1][excerpt 3] Four families local to the area were also killed, numbering thirteen people,[1][excerpt 4] and giving a total of at least twenty victims of Zombies or animal attacks.[1] In some cases, it was determined as many as ten Zombies participated in these attacks on individuals.[11] By Tuesday 16 June the idea that a grizzly was involved in the killings was replaced with that of a pack of particularly aggressive dogs, which had been sighted by hikers frequently enough to get reported in the Raccoon Times.[9] Ultimately, on Thursday 9 July, the Raccoon Police Department called for the closure of all roads leading into the Arklay Mountains, hoping to limit the number of deaths while continuing their own investigations.[9]

Police investigation[]

The investigation conducted by the Raccoon Police Department was extensive, but yielded no results. Due to the extensive nature of some mutilations, some younger victims were so unrecognisable that even parental identification was having setbacks, with some victims' faces being ripped open and their bellies excavated.[12] Information given to the press was also deliberately limited, and one police officer estimated that newspaper of the coverage of the violence did not even constitute 10% of the injuries committed on victims.[12] The Raccoon Police Department had quickly determined cannibalism to be part of the murders, at least as early as the Mendez River killing, and could not rule out that at least some victims were eaten while alive.[12]

The police had a working theory that the murders were committed by a group of cultists, who would consume narcotics before killing and eating their human sacrifices. The police began asking questions at Raccoon General Hospital and pharmacies, hoping to find patients with suspicious injuries, and began searching for evidence of any violent cult active in the area. These investigations made no progress, and it was decided that, cult or not, a gang of killers must instead be based within the mountains.[12] As early as 9 July, the police were considering assigning the case to the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.), a police special forces team with members headhunted for their scientific and military expertise to counter the recent rise of domestic terrorism. Eventually under increasing media pressure, Police Chief Brian Irons formally assigned the case to S.T.A.R.S..

The S.T.A.R.S. investigation came to similar conclusions as the Raccoon Police Department, and it was decided by Wednesday 22 July that S.T.A.R.S. would deploy into the Arklay Mountains and search for this gang. The planning of the mission was conducted by Dr. Albert Wesker, himself also Captain of S.T.A.R.S., who had received orders from Umbrella to enter the Arklay Laboratory, obtain bio-weapons data, and then destroy it. S.T.A.R.S., as a trained task force, would serve as a tool to allow him to carry-out this task. Expected to die in the confrontation with escaped bio-weapons, their deaths would also serve as a proof-of-concept for those particular B.O.W.s, as well as silencing an otherwise inevitable, legitimate investigation that could be damaging for the company.[13][14]

S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team was assigned orders to investigate the area, and took off from a Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter in the evening of Thursday 23 July. The helicopter had been sabotaged by Captain Wesker before take-off, and suffered an engine failure which forced it to crash-land not far from the Spencer Mansion. As Captain Wesker was himself busy conducting the Reclamation Project for the nearby executive training center, this act of sabotage worked to remove Bravo Team from the equation. The six S.T.AR.S. officers and RPD pilot, Kevin Dooley, would soon find themselves caught up in the violence themselves.[15] The six S.T.A.R.S. officers under Captain Enrico Marini split up to search for escaped prisoner Marine 2Lt. Billy Coen, after two Marine MPs were found dead during a prison transport operation. During this search, Rebecca Chambers and Edward Dewey found themselves on board the Ecliptic Express, a private train attacked by the Queen Leech two hours earlier, with Dewey being infected and killed. Chambers herself spent the night with 2Lt. Coen in what became known as the "Ecliptic Express Incident". Officer Dooley was killed not long after the crash landing, having been mauled to death by the Cerberus pack while sat in the cockpit.[11]

Captain Marini and officers Kenneth J. Sullivan, Forest Speyer and Richard Aiken ultimately reached the Spencer Mansion that very night, and were separated. In the morning of Friday 24th, Chambers arrived and, failing to find anyone, went to sleep in the dormitory building. In the evening, she was awoken by Aiken, who was himself also searching for their comrades. Meanwhile, Umbrella changed its plans for the operation, dubbed "X-Day". Rather than rely on Captain Wesker in obtaining the bioweapons data, Col. Sergei Vladimir, head of the UBCS, was sent into the laboratory to obtain the research in person and, with the aid of two Tyrant bodyguards, obtained the T-011, but left the T-002 behind. Soon after their departure, witnessed by Aiken and Chambers, the Yawn - an escaped snake test subject - attacked the duo, poisoning Aiken. How long Chambers stayed with Aiken following the attack is uncertain, and certain accounts conflict, though it appears she eventually left him to go to the mansion's store room, where serums were stored.[16][note 2]

The loss of contact with Kevin Dooley directly warranted the departure of Captain Wesker's Alpha Team on the Friday evening, a day after his death. Ahead of the departure, Captain Wesker manipulated Barry Burton into believing his wife and daughters, Moira and Polly, were being held hostage by Umbrella security staff, and that Burton had to assist him in destroying incriminating data which might survive the lab explosion or they were to be killed.

During the initial investigation on the ground, which discovered his body, the Cerberus pack also attacked Alpha Team, resulting in officer Joseph Frost being mauled to death, and forcing pilot Brad Vickers to take-off, stranding the others in the forest.[11] Captain Wesker, Burton, Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield all made it into the mansion's main hall, but separated soon after arrival. In the first minutes, Sullivan was found choking to death in his own blood, after his throat was ripped out by a Zombie as Alpha Team arrived in the building. Soon after, Speyer was found to have been infected while out on the balcony; initially believed dead following a ravaging by a murder of crows, he awoke as a Zombie and was killed. Redfield found Chambers in the medical store room while she was examining the medicines; due to her inexperience with firearms she offered to aid the team by continuing her role as medic, though later went on to help Redfield further, including playing a piano composition.[16]

As time went on, stretching into the early hours of Saturday, 25 June, the S.T.A.R.S. force, reduced to six without Vickers, made their way through much of the complex, encountering escaped human test subject Lisa Trevor, a warren of mutant Spiders, and a tree capable of movement, a school of sharks, as well as killing the Yawn. Valentine meanwhile became suspicious of Burton's behaviour, but was unaware he was destroying evidence. Captain Marini was discovered alive in the underground, and had had the benefit of more time to discover S.T.A.R.S.' involvement in an Umbrella conspiracy. Captain Wesker shot him dead before taking off to prevent him telling the others any more information.[17][18][note 3]

In the Arklay Laboratory, proper, Captain Wesker infected himself with a prototype virus handed to him by Dr. William Birkin. Having decided to betray Umbrella by handing over the bio-weapons embryos and data to a rival company, he decided that faking his death would be the perfect way to avoid retribution, and decided to awaken the T-002 Tyrant. The T-002, having recognised him as a participant in the experimentation that mutated him in the first place, decided to attack him before the other S.T.A.R.S. members. Elsewhere in the laboratory, Chamber set off the facility's self-destruct system.[16] With Vickers still flying above, the four S.T.A.R.S. members raced to the rooftop intent on getting his attention. Having passed out from his wounds when stabbed by T-002's claws, Captain Wesker woke-up to find himself wounded, but alive and mutated.[19] Having underestimated Alpha Team's resourcefulness, he had little time to obtain embryos of the bio-weapons, and found that Col. Vladimir had deleted his computer login, preventing him from downloading the data. Having betrayed Umbrella for nothing, he decided to simply escape the laboratory and take advantage of his assumed death for the time-being.[19] He successfully escaped just as the complex exploded, thanks to his newly acquired enhanced running abilities.[20]

Perpetrators[]

Main article: Queen Leech
James Marcus

The Queen Leech.

The Queen Leech was a sentient leech created by Dr. James Marcus in 1988 shortly before his assassination. Dumped in a nearby water treatment plant with his corpse, the Queen Leech began feeding on his body, and gained his memories while eating his brain. Over the next ten years, the leech began developing a human-level consciousness, and by 1998 believed itself to be Dr. Marcus himself brought back to life. Queen Leech spent several weeks attacking Umbrella facilities to get revenge, with the ultimate goal being the complete destruction of all life on earth after developing a Messiah complex. The Queen Leech was killed by 2Lt. Coen, who forced it down an elevator shaft in an exploding building.[21]

Victims[]

Of civilians, at least 20 civilians were killed before 23 July. Split between locals and non-locals, these are seven tourists and thirteen residents from four households.[22]

The Arklay Laboratory itself lost 78 Umbrella employees.[22] These consisted of twenty-five researchers, of whom a number were found to have committed suicide,[22] an additional seven researchers on loan from head office, presumably Umbrella HQ.[22] An additional forty-six were guards, maintenance, staff and persons with other non-research roles. These people were found in the mansion and its dormitory building.[22] Another twenty-four human test subjects were killed during the S.T.A.R.S. raid, consisting of twenty-four Modified Zombies, the T-002, and Lisa Trevor.[22][note 4]

The RPD reported eight deaths, though Dr. Wesker's death was later found to be falsified. The other seven included RPD pilot Kevin Dooley; Enrico Marini, Edward Dewey, Forest Speyer, Dr. Kenneth J. Sullivan and Richard Aiken from the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team, and Joseph Frost from Alpha Team.[22]

Aftermath[]

The laboratory's explosion caused a large forest fire which destroyed an area of forest equal to 750 acres (304 ha; 1.172 sq mi).[1] The Raccoon Fire Department found itself under-equipped and the National Guard was brought in to assist.[22]

Following their return, S.T.A.R.S. called for an immediate investigation into Umbrella's affairs, but the unit was disbanded owing to Umbrella's financial influence over the Chief of Police, Brian Irons.[citation needed] While the public at large became aware of the incident and the Umbrella connection, little was said. The Raccoon City Police Department later started an investigation in August, though Umbrella was given the advanced warning by Chief Irons and knew to hide evidence in preparation for it.[citation needed]

Umbrella's own investigation into the incident resulted in the forced resignation of Morpheus D. Duvall for "gross negligence", the corporation using him as a scapegoat.[23] Duvall would later form a terrorist organization and attack Umbrella in 2002.[24]

Bibliography[]

Sources[]

notes
  1. Increasing by 1 to account for the addition of the T-011 in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, which is successfully evacuated in July.
  2. How Richard Aiken's attack is treated differs between 1996's Resident Evil, 2002's Resident Evil, 2007's Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, and 2015's BIOHAZARD THE STAGE. The Wiki will assume THE STAGE is the more accurate telling of events, and that she left to go to the storeroom following the attack.
  3. Due to the branching nature of Resident Evil's story, the exact events here are unknown so are only being summarised.
  4. Note: As the book is based on information from the 1996 game, the Wiki will add the remake-exclusive Lisa Trevor to the account.
excerpts
  1. Excerpt from Inside of BIO-HAZARD, p.121: ""本社よりの出向研究者 7名 (推定)……上記人数はすべて行方不明者で遺体の確認はされていない。 場合によっては、 アンブレラ社により隔離されている可能性もあるため、 確実な所在調査が現在の急務である。"".
  2. Excerpt from Inside of BIO-HAZARD, p.121: ""被験者タイプA (氏名未確認) 22名……各種B.O.W.の素材としてウィルス投与を行なわれた者。 そのほとんどがS.T.A.R.S.隊員により射殺された。 これらの被験者は、 元はホームレスなどの住居不特定者であったことが予想され、 身元確認は困難を極めている。
    被験者タイプB (氏名未確認) 1名……ウィルス投与などの処でタイラントと化した被験者。 研究所爆発のため遺体の確認はできず、 身元の解明はもはや不可能であろう。".
  3. Excerpt from Inside of BIO-HAZARD, p.121: ""他州よりの旅行者 7名(推定)……登山中にケルベロスの襲撃を受けたものと思われる。 2名を除きすべて単独の登山者。"".
  4. Excerpt from Inside of BIO-HAZARD, p.121: ""ラクーン市住民 4世帯13名(推定)……研究所より抜け出したゾンビ及びケルベロスの襲撃による被害者。"".
references
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Inside of BIO-HAZARD, p.121.
  2. Wesker's Report II.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Resident Evil (2002), file: "Keeper's Diary".
  4. Hamamura (ed.), KAITAISHINSHO, p.234.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Resident Evil (2002), file: "Researcher's Will".
  6. Resident Evil (2002), file: "Letter of a Researcher".
  7. Resident Evil (2002), file: "Suicide Note".
  8. Resident Evil (2002) gameplay.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Resident Evil (1996), file: "Scrapbook".
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 (2004), file: "Bizarre case file".
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Resident Evil (2002), scene: "Prologue".
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Matsuyama, biohazard, chapter: "Chris Redfield".
  13. Resident Evil (2002), file: "Fax".
  14. Resident Evil (2002), file: "Mail from the Chief of Security".
  15. Resident Evil 0 (2002), scene: "Opening".
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 BIOHAZARD THE STAGE.
  17. Resident Evil (2002), scene: "Bravo Captain (Chris)".
  18. Resident Evil (2002), scene: "Bravo Captain (Jill)".
  19. 19.0 19.1 Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007), scene: "Rebirth 1 opening".
  20. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007), scene: "Rebirth 2 ending".
  21. Resident Evil 0 (2002), scene: "Coup de grâce".
  22. 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 22.7 Takeo (ed.), Inside BIO-HAZARD, p.121.
  23. Resident Evil: Dead Aim (2003), file: "Dismissal Notice".
  24. Resident Evil: Dead Aim (2003), file: "Regular Report No. 1162".
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