Hell Vapor

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX must be stored at all times inside a cylindrical, purely metallic tank with a height of 250 cm, an inner diameter of 80 cm, and an outer diameter of 84 cm. It is connected to an outside power source which keeps it electrified at all times by producing a current of 160 volts, which is required to keep SCP-XXXX in a liquid state. The tank is protected by a 5 cm thick metallic tube which maintains a distance of 1 cm from the tank. This 1 cm space is filled with a plastic-like substance which prevents the electrification of the tube.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a vapor-like organism, covering an area roughly the size of a cube with 60 cm sides. When exposed to an electrical current of 140+ volts, SCP-XXXX turns into a bright green liquid. SCP-XXXX can act as a nerve agent if a human being is exposed to it, capable of simulating the signals responsible for causing a sense of fear. When in vapor form, a single intake of breath within a 2.5 meter radius is enough for the pathogen to get inside the respiratory system. When in liquid form, there is no risk of infection from SCP-XXXX unless it comes into direct contact with a person's body or tight clothing. The pathogen attaches itself to the nervous system in less than 2 minutes, after which the exposed person is considered to be infected by SCP-XXXX.

Symptoms and Effects: The infected person, henceforth referred to as the "host", is subject to sudden unpredictable attacks between 10 to 24 hours after exposure. A typical attack is preceded by 3 preparatory stages1:
1. The host feels as if a large current of fluid is being pushed into his/her brain from the bottom of the spinal cord. (6 seconds)
2. The host is overwhelmed by a strong feeling of disorientation and a violent but brief vertigo. (10 seconds)
3. The previous symptoms disappear. This is when the pathogen successfully resides in the core of the nervous system and releases the toxin it has produced upon entering the body. (5 seconds)
Once the toxin activates, it manipulates the nervous system and triggers a sense of fear by sending fake signals to the brain. The host starts to feel afraid without existence of any outward stimuli, and the intensity of the fear slowly begins to increase. This agonizing state continues for approximately 25 seconds, until the sense of fear reaches such a critical level that the host either temporarily loses consciousness or goes into cardiac arrest.

Fatality Rate and Treatment: There is a 40% chance that the host survives the first attack with nothing more than a traumatic experience. For the second attack the chance drops down to 15%, and even if the host survives, there is a great chance he/she would have to be institutionalized due to permanent brain damage. After the third attack, however, all motor functions cease and death is guaranteed to occur within 5 seconds.
Those who survive the first attack must immediately be taken to a special cryogenics chamber, available on the site where SCP-XXXX is being contained, be put into a drug-induced coma, and be kept inside a cell as cold as -120 Celsius2 for at least 28 hours, after which the SCP-XXXX will be neutralized. If the comatose host is successfully resuscitated, he/she will have been cured; there is a 60% chance, however, that the host dies in the attempt. There has been a report of 18 personnel casualties within the first six months after the containment of SCP-XXXX, only 7 of whom have survived.

Discovery Report: In August 2009 a mental institution in ████████ received 16 patients within 3 days, all of whom had reportedly gone insane. A doctor described their behavior in this way: "They spend all day cowering in a corner, almost completely motionless, and stare into the void, occasionally murmuring and whispering unintelligible phrases." They all died within a week.
Police investigators found that the patients had all been spending time in an abandoned ██████ mine, looking for █████. According to the locals, those who had gone insane said they had seen strange foul-smelling fumes inside the mine. The police immediately reported the incident to CDC and experts explored the mine in Hazmat suits. The vapor-like substance was then secured and sent to ████████ for inspection, where it was labeled as SCP-XXXX and sent to the █████ site for containment.


1. The time estimations are approximate and might increase or decrease by a maximum of 4 seconds depending on the emotional and nervous stability and endurance of the infected person.
2. The low temperature is maintained using dry ice.