Our History

Origins

The start of the Bureau Arcana can be traced back to the 1850s, with a special division of Pinkerton agents focusing on investigating and debunking hoaxes of the supernatural, infiltrating and dismantling dangerous cults, and other such affairs. Over time, the special division found that not every claim of the supernatural could be explained with the methods and knowledge available to them.

A group of these agents, not content to simply accept that some things couldn’t be explained, started meeting in secret to try and understand the inexplicable events they experienced.

As time went on, the group slowly uncovered a set of cosmic truths, incongruous with traditional sciences, but consistent in their own metaphysics. As more and more of these truth became understood, the organization grew to include some of the brightest minds in the world.

With a stable foundation of arcane knowledge and a growing membership, including government officials, the organization officially established themselves as a special branch of the Secret Service. in 1895 as the Bureau Arcana,* with Harvey Ashford as its first Executive Director.

*Note: Some historical documents suggest there was contentious conversation to call the organization the SECRET secret service. The label of Bureau ended up so well received by those in the president’s “black cabinet” that the name was reused in 1908 for the Bureau of Investigation.