We interpret the “occult”
period maps of Allcock, Carlson, and Toledo (2002; 2011), of Looijenga and Swierstra
(2007; 2008), and of Kondō (2000; 2002) in moduli theoretic terms, as a
construction of certain families of polarized abelian varieties of Picard type. We show
that these period maps are morphisms defined over their natural field of
definition.