Mark Twain School

The Mark Twain School (formerly the Hatch School) is a wizarding school housed aboard a boat of the same name, which sails up and down the Mississippi River. The school was founded by Bartholomew Q. Hatch.

The Mark Twain School is perhaps the most unusual of all the American Wizarding schools, at least in appearance. Twain is housed on a riverboat that continuously floats up and down the Mississippi River. While the boat itself looks rather old and shabby (it is quite an old school, after all), once inside its true splendor is revealed. An undetectable enlargement spell means that the river boat can easily house a school the size of a small town, with everything the students and staff could ever need.

Twain has a reputation as a party school, and is also one of the cheaper schools, but that should not deter prospective students. It’s a good option for students up and down the Eastern side of the US that aren’t near another school, since the Mississippi traverses so many states, and Twain’s academic record is of course up to par. It is true, however, that their lacrosse program is severely lacking, as they have little to no opportunity to practice outside.

An interesting feature of the magically enlarged inside of the river boat is the glass floor (and, at times, glass walls). Students can come to the lower levels and literally be surrounded by the river.

Bartholomew Q. Hatch
There was once a wizard named Bartholomew Q. Hatch from South Carolina. He was born on July 4th 1776, to the ancient and most revered house of Hatch (the crest is a gold cross on a white background). He had very specific ideas about what magic is, and how it should be used (i.e, following a very European standard; he is what could be called a “tradition supremacist.” For instance, he was completely against voodoo (as is most of the Wizarding world), and did not approve of ALAMMO.). He gathered a cult following, known as the Cult of Hatch, to whom he taught magic. Hatch recorded all of his travels in The Book of Hatch, which was a compilation of all of Hatch’s thoughts, spells, plans, records, etc. He could take thoughts directly out of his head and enter them into the book. Obviously, for the sake of convenience, there is an “unlimited page” charm on the book- whenever you turn the last page, a new page appears. No one could touch the Book of Hatch other than Bartholomew.

Bartholomew Q. Hatch's Traveling School for Land-Owning White Men (Coloreds Need Not Apply)
The Cult of Hatch eventually developed into Bartholomew Q. Hatch’s Traveling School for Landowning White Men (coloreds need not apply). This school was the precursor to “Twain."

The Hatch School
Hatch's Traveling School eventually evolved in the Hatch School.

Fall of the Hatch School
During the civil war, both Hatch and ALAMMO took sides. Ironically (as Hatch is mostly in the North and ALAMMO is in the south), Hatch supported the confederacy while ALAMMO supported the Union. At one point, Bartholomew and Witch Doctor VII went head to head--the end result of the conflict being that Bartholomew was trapped inside the Book of Hatch and Witch Doctor VII was trapped inside of a shrunken head totem. The Book of Hatch was lost for years. The legendary secret vault where the book is kept (even though no one actually knows where it is) is known as “The Hatchery.”

Division and Modernization
At ALAMMO, a new Witch Doctor is simply appointed. At Hatch, however, Bartholomew was the life and soul of the institution. After his disappearance, the school was left in chaos, and started dividing into factions. The school divided into the Blues (supporting the Union, who thought that Hatch's ideas had perhaps been a bit flawed and left for the North), the Golds (who were more or less neutral and remained on the Mississippi), and the Reds (who supported the Confederacy and Bartholomew’s traditional teachings, and left for further south). After the civil war, the Golds make an effort to rejoin the factions. This is when they officially change the name to The Mark Twain School, in an effort to have a fresh start (and to appease the Blues. To appease the Reds, there is still a large statue of Hatch in the main foyer).

The boat for the school was an actual Def boat called “The Mark Twain,” which was commandeered by the wizards and upgraded to accommodate the whole school. The name “Mark Twain” was originally kept as an attempt to blend into Def culture at the time of the School’s founding. Most of the students at the school do not actually know who he was and the fact that the boat is called The Mark Twain “School” has confused many a Def.

In the present day, Twain is fully integrated into normal wizarding society. There is still tension between them and ALAMMO, but it’s more of a rival school type tension (Once a year, when Twain passes through Louisiana, there is a tournament between Twain and ALAMMO. This is a huge deal in the American Wizarding World; everyone tunes in.).

However, there is a secret faction of the old Reds who stayed separate. Today, they call themselves the Cult of Hatch, since them see themselves as a direct extension of the original cult. A member is called a “hatchling,” although they are referred to as “neo-cultists” by outsiders.

Atticus Peck
Twain is steered by a haf-def ghost called Atticus Peck. While of course the boat is enchanted so as to not crash and kill all of the hundreds of students and teachers aboard, it is still important (for appearance’s sake, if nothing else) to have somebody steering. He is a jolly fellow, who takes the importance of his job seriously. He is about as old and as weathered as the boat itself.