Is there a group in Dresden Files that keeps the supernatural world secret?

Question

In the Dresden files universe is there a group or organization that keeps the supernatural world secret and cleans up the mess?

Like, for instance, the cleaners in Underworld and Charmed, or Obliviators in Harry Potter etc.

Answer 1

Harry Dresden discusses this several times in the stories and the answer is basically "No". He explains that most people don't want to see or know about anything supernatural. They simply ignore anything that doesn't fit their world view. This is borne out repeatedly, as Harry Dresden is openly listed in the yellow pages under "Wizards", and he gets many calls from people who think it a joke, or that he is a charlatan, or who wonder if he does birthday parties.

On the other hand, there are individuals and groups in the government who are aware of the existence of the supernatural, such as Murphy's "spook squad". It is mentioned repeatedly that the reports filed by Murphy and her people are sanitized and contain only mundane explanations for the supernatural events that they witnessed.

Answer 2

No, or at least, nothing like those other universes.

The White Council flat out wont. Altering memories violates the Laws. Period. If a wizard causes enough trouble to make the public aware, they deserve what the public does to them. Which is probably why Harry bewilders them. He's in the phone book. Under 'Wizards'. They might grind their teeth, but they won't do anything about it, other than wonder how he hasn't ended up burned at the stake.

Some groups might try to keep their own secrets. That's different though. The public by and large corrects their own memory or invents non-magical explanations to waste effort controlling their exposure. Any normal that has survived a brush with the supernatural, without permanent mental damage, has earned the right to be left alone.

Answer 3

Maybe. From the final chapter of Fool Moon:

The weird thing was that the film just vanished after two days. No one knew what happened to it, but the film technician in the room with the exclusive WGN Channel Nine videotape disappeared, too, leaving only a few scattered and low-quality copies.

Harry goes on to speculate that there might be people in the mundane government who are aware of the supernatural world and don't want it to become common knowledge. But that's just speculation, and as far as I know there has been no follow-up in later books. There are any number of possible other suspects: the White Court, for example, or the Sidhe.

Certainly there does not appear to be an official organization of this sort, since if there were, Harry would be aware of it. Such a group could have been established as part of the Unseelie Accords, for example, but apparently the supernatural community felt no need to do so.

As to why they felt no need for such an organization, these are Harry's words in Small Favour:

We're ostriches and the whole world is sand.

Newbies who are just learning about the world of wizards and the unpleasant side of the supernatural always think there's this huge conspiracy to hide it from everyone. There isn't. There's no need for one, beyond preventing actual parades down Main Street. Hell's bells, from where I'm standing, it's a miracle anyone ever notices.

Which is why I was fairly sure that our parley with the Archive and the Denarians in the Shedd Aquarium was going to go unremarked.

Answer 4

Yes, there is. There are, in fact, multiple groups.

The White Council does work hard to keep things secret - but they do, as Donald observed, refuse to resort to methods such as mind control. There MAY be an exception to this rule in the Black Staff - we are relatively unclear as to what the exact role the Black Staff plays, but it seems to be 'outside the standard rules'. They do their secrecy stuff by policing their own populace and playing politics with other supernatural groups.

There is also the group that Thomas belongs to. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the group off hand, but the general idea is that certain beings of power are given their power by belief and knowledge in them. Thomas' secret organization eliminates knowledge of Ancient Ones, thus removing their power. They have no idea if they've succeeded at eliminating knowledge of any of them, yet ... because records of whom they've erased would defeat the purpose of erasing them.

Answer 5

There is no specific organization that keeps the supernatural world as a whole under wraps.

That said, mundane humans, by and large, don't want to know. Much like how people ignore the great big blue police box in Doctor Who, people try to ignore and forget what they see of the supernatural world in Dresdenverse. Naturally, there are exceptions: mortals who see the supernatrual and don't try to forget. Karrin Murphy and her Special Investigations department of the Chicago PD are an example of the exceptional mundane humans.

Additionally, most of the Things That Go Bump™ don't want the world at large to know they exist. Bringing mortals into a supernatural conflict is often compared to bringing in nukes. When humans see a monster, there's a decent chance they'll overreact and use overwhelming force to destroy it; even something like a Loup-Garou isn't completely invulnerable. Put up something like an Outsider against mortals, and actual nukes might get involved.

Finally, there is the Venatori, who fight the Oblivion War. They strive not to simply keep the supernatural secret, but to eliminate all knowledge of the Old Ones. The Archive is the ultimate tool of the Venatori, as she can coordinate the Venatori cells and know when any mention of an Old One is put into writing. When knowledge of an Old One is ostensibly eliminated, the Archive remembers that Old One for approximately 1000 years (to ensure they didn't miss any reference), before forgetting it entirely, destroying the Old One.

(The Outsiders, a category of monster that includes the scariest bad-asses Harry has fought, were the foot soldiers of the Old Ones)

Answer 6

Officially no, its pretty much self regulating as to much mundane involvement would be bad for the metaphysical community.