Item #: SCP-2088
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: A 4km2 area of land centered around SCP-2088 has been established as Provisional Site 2088, and is fenced off from the general public under the guise of a nature preserve for endangered species. The perimeter is to be patrolled by guards, and any civilians who enter are to be evicted. Any civilians who witness a Bardagi Event should be amnesticized and released.
Ten motion-sensor video cameras are to be placed around the perimeter of SCP-2088 to capture footage of Bardagi Events. All recorded footage of Bardagi Events is to be labelled and stored for archival purposes, and notable examples may be used in the training of field agents.
Notice: As of 2/12/2011, all footage of Bardagi Events is to be entered into the face-recognition algorithm, and the results cataloged as according to Document-2088-A.
Description: SCP-2088 is a small area of land located near Karasjok, Norway. It is marked by a stone ring 20m in radius. The area's sole anomalous property is the occasional manifestation of incorporeal entities.
Such manifestations are referred to as Bardagi Events, and always appear as follows:
At random intervals, two to four entities will manifest inside SCP-2088. These entities are visible but intangible, and do not emit sound or heat.
One of these entities (designated SCP-2088-1) will appear as a soldier from seemingly any era in history, and will be dressed and armed appropriately. All other entities (designated SCP-2088-2) will appear as decaying corpses, and are equipped with heavily damaged armor and weapons typical of the Vikings. SCP-2088-2 are stronger and more durable than a human of similar size and build would be. Their equipment also seems to be unusually durable. After all entities manifest, SCP-2088-1 will proceed to engage in battle with all instances of SCP-2088-2 until either SCP-2088-1 or all instances of SCP-2088-2 appear to be fatally wounded. All entities present will then disappear, leaving no trace of any activity.
All Bardagi Events should be cataloged as follows:
From the recording of the Bardagi Event, take a clear image of SCP-2088-1's face, and enter it into the face-recognition algorithm. Then, record the generated ID number, and fill out the battle record form (details below). Save both the video log and the battle record form into the appropriate databases.
Battle record form:
Battle ID: [ID number of SCP-2088-1]-[number of SCP-2088-2 manifested]-[W (win) or L (loss) of SCP-2088-1]
Date: [Date]
SCP-2088-1: [Description of SCP-2088-1 instance]
Notes: [Notes]
Addendum 1: Face-recognition technology has been utilized on the entities dressed as modern-day soldiers. Current results indicate that each entity strongly resembles a real soldier who has been killed in the line of duty.
Addendum 2: On 12/3/2010, an instance of SCP-2088-1 matching Agent William Jackson's appearance manifested in SCP-2088. Agent Jackson had been killed two weeks prior in the line of duty.
Addendum 3: Facial-recognition technology was employed to catalog each entity that appeared, and the subsequent results were studied in hopes of finding a pattern. See Addendum 4 for further details.
Addendum 4:
Battle ID: 1312-1-W
Date: 12/3/2010
SCP-2088-1: Agent William Jackson, deceased Foundation field agent
Notes: First manifested SCP-2088-1 matching a Foundation employee's appearance. The SCP-2088-1 instance acted in a manner consistent with Agent Jackson's skills and abilities.
Battle ID: 1312-2-W
Date: 2/5/2011
SCP-2088-1: Agent William Jackson, deceased Foundation field agent
Notes: First recorded instance of the same SCP-2088-1 manifesting twice. Once again, the instance's skills matched those of Agent Jackson's.
The repeat appearance of this SCP-2088-1 instance led to further research into repeat appearances of other SCP-2088-1.
2/27/2011: So far, we have found nearly 300 cases of repeat manifestations. There has to be some sort of pattern to these. -Dr. Wilson
3/11/2011: I think we've got something. Of the 40 repeat manifestations we've studied so far, there are the same number of, or more, SCP-2088-2 than there were during the first manifestation. This warrants some further investigation. -Dr. Wilson
3/25/2011: One of the researchers decided to look through the files of any soldiers who have had SCP-2088-1 matching their appearance manifest, and compare the soldiers' fighting styles to that of the SCP-2088-1. The results are still inconclusive, but what we have now is interesting. In each and every case, the SCP-2088-1 acted exactly like their real-life counterparts. This feels important, but we have more pressing concerns right now. I will take a look at this when we've finished with the repeat manifestations investigation. -Dr. Wilson
4/2/2011: We're still working on the repeat manifestations, but something odd has come up. When an SCP-2088-1 wins against three SCP-2088-2, it appears to permanently cease manifesting. Usually the average time between repeat manifestations is 2-4 months, but SCP-2088-1-0674 won against three SCP-2088-2 in February last year, and it's never appeared since then. 0674 isn't the only one, either. We currently have 34 cases that are practically confirmed, and 22 more that we're still waiting on. -Dr. Wilson
6/7/2011: It's all coming together now. We think the SCP-2088-1 are participating in some sort of structured combat, almost a competition of sorts. When an SCP-2088-1 wins against one SCP-2088-2, it goes on to fight two. When it wins against two, it then fights against three. And if it loses at any point, it'll appear later and fight against the same number of SCP-2088-2 it had lost against. Then, when it wins agains three, it just disappears. -Dr. Wilson
6/8/2011: Well there's the "what", but where's the "why"? What the hell are these things? How come they all resemble dead soldiers and nobody else, and why are they practically mirror images of their real-life counterparts? The battle is clearly some sort of competition, but why? What are they fighting for? -Dr. Lan
6/10/2011: My job's just to find facts and crunch numbers, not explain the anomalies. Hell, most of the things we study have no explanation. But if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that they're gathering an army. I don't know what they're preparing for, but what happens at this site is some sort of entrance exam. As for why they look like real people… Maybe that's what they are. -Dr. Wilson
Addendum 5: On 7/15/2011, an engineer sent to inspect the cameras noticed an inscription one of the stones in the ring around SCP-2088. Further investigation revealed that the inscription was in Old Norse, and that each stone in the circle has been similarly inscribed. When all the inscriptions are read together, they translate to the following message:
The final day of Ragnarok approaches
And the warriors stand strong in Valhalla
Let us pray that they are ready
The significance of this message in relation to SCP-2088 is currently unknown.
We are the Foundation. We secure, we contain, we protect.
Even the newest of recruits know those words by heart. The Foundation is Earth's first line of defense against the anomalous. We find the things that should not be and capture them, study them, learn from them. We discover all that we can in order to make the world a safer place.
But if you go through our main list of SCPs, you might notice a strange pattern. Each and every object we have in containment is interesting. Every one has some incredible ability or some captivating story, something that truly makes it special. But what are the chances of that? Why don't we have a twelve-foot-long, acid-spewing turtle? Or what about a sentient plant that enjoys the taste of human flesh? Why don't we have any generic monsters, the kind we read about in bad horror novels?
The truth is, we do. Or at least, that's what they tell us.
A long time ago, we kept these monsters in regular containment. We captured the acid turtle, the flesh-eating plant, and thousands more just like them. We housed them in our sites, in steel-and-concrete cages. We studied them like we would any other object. We devoted countless hours and millions of dollars to keeping them contained.
But at some point, we realized something. Those monsters were far too dangerous, and not nearly interesting enough. We poured in time and money, but we received nothing. Yes, every single one of them broke well-established laws of physics and chemistry and biology. But that was it. None of them were special. They were just a little weirder and a little scarier than what we were used to.
So one day, all the O5s got together for a long and important meeting, and at the end it was decided that these monsters were not worth what we were investing in them. They took far too much and gave back far too little. The Foundation may seem like some supernatural, godly force, but at the end of the day we still have bills to pay, and these creatures simply weren't paying up. So what were we going to do with thousands upon thousands of these things?
Why, destroy them, of course.
Nobody was very happy with this plan. After all, we exist to contain, not kill. We exist to create knowledge, not destroy it. We should be keeping everything in a cage, just in case another one pops up. In fact, the opposition to this plan was so great that after just two months and twelve destroyed SCPs, the entire project was shut down and we went back to the good old days of containing each and every object we found.
But I've done some digging of my own over the past few years, and I've noticed some interesting things. If you go through our site list, we have a few, like 124 and 57 that are listed as being for "containment of dangerous anomalies". When we encounter something too dangerous to contain, but too useless to study, we're supposed to send in a transfer request. Then it goes through some paperwork, and few days later the SCP is gone, sent off to one of these specialized containment facilities. Then after a few months, the file for that SCP mysteriously disappears. And this isn't just a few isolated incidents, either. Within the past five years, at least fifty SCPs that I've been assigned to have been transferred and erased like this.
That got me thinking. What exactly was happening to these SCPs that we had sworn so long ago to secure, contain, and protect? Over the past year, I pulled a few strings and called in some favors, and despite being only a level 3 researcher, I think I've figured this all out.
It turns out that the O5s never stopped destroying SCPs. They just amnesticized everyone who didn't need to know, and wrapped the thing up in so many layers that nobody would ever realize that this project even existed.
These "containment" facilities don't contain anything but a big room with reinforced walls and a lot of weapons. When the SCPs get sent in for "containment", it's really for destruction. They throw the SCPs in, bring out all their big guns, and a few hours later whatever's left get tossed into the incinerator or the acid bath. Then after a while, the containment procedures are "lost", and the SCP fades from existence forever. And when a new one comes in, it's just rinse and repeat.
Now, why am I telling you? Why would I risk my career and my life to send you this message? Why would I dig so deep into one of the Foundation's biggest secrets, and then just throw my findings into the crowd?
Well, I'm really not risking much. By the time you receive this letter, I will have disappeared. I've contacted certain individuals, and paid them to completely wipe me from existence. I no longer exist in any records - government, Foundation, or otherwise. If I'm lucky, they'll never find me. If I'm not, I'll at least be able to hide for five or ten years. But that doesn't quite answer the question of "why".
I'm doing all this because I believe you deserve to know. I believe we all deserve to know. The Foundation is not some deity, it is not some power that has existed since time immemorial. The Foundation is just as human as the hundreds of thousands of people staffing its facilities, and so it is flawed. But if we are flawed, we deserve to know. After all, acceptance the first step on the road to recovery.
Maybe they'll try to amnesticize you. But I've sent this letter to everyone I could, and they can't amnesticize all of them. People know now, and nothing the O5s do will change that. The veil has been torn down, the secrets exposed. And the bell cannot be unrung.
Perhaps after reading this you've lost faith in the Foundation, come to regard them as cruel and secretive, keeping secrets from the very people whose hard work they rely on. But remember that we are an organization dedicated to lying to the world, and so we must inevitably lie to each other as well.
This does not make us evil. We are still the Foundation. We still secure, contain, and protect.
But sometimes, we must destroy.
Event ID: KL-4995-27
Event Description: A barn spontaneously manifested on a previously empty patch of farmland.
Date of Occurrence: 04/18/2018
Location: Hays, Kansas, United States of America
Follow-up Actions Taken: Barn was investigated and is not believed to be anomalous in and of itself. Amnestics have been distributed to civilians as appropriate.
Anabelle Wesson finished the last few words of the report. She read what she had written, and satisfied with its contents, submitted it. With the last of the night's paperwork finished, Anabelle turned off her computer and left the building.
The next morning, Anabelle returned to her cubicle, well-rested and prepared for a productive day of work. She turned on her computer again, and took the first file from the stack. Out of habit, she opened the reports from yesterday to see if there had been any changes. And as she read through the words she had written just a dozen hours ago, she found herself confused, puzzled, and just a little frightened by what was there.
Or, to be precise, what wasn't.
Event ID: KL-4995-27
Event Description: A man entered the Hays, Kansas City Hall and spontaneously caught fire. The flames extinguished after several minutes, and the man was unharmed.
Date of Occurrence: 04/18/2018
Location: Hays, Kansas, United States of America
Follow-up Actions Taken: Security footage was edited, and amnestics have been distributed to civilians as appropriate.
This wasn't right. This wasn't what she wrote last night. She remembered it clearly - it had been something about a barn appearing out of nowhere. Not a man bursting into flames.
No. This was probably just some sort of error. Some junior researcher just accidentally overwrote her file with a new event. Yes, it was just a mistake. Nothing to be worried about.
But even as she hurried over to her department manager, she knew that was incredibly unlikely. There were several layers of warnings and safeguards to prevent overwriting files. No employee in the building was incompetent enough to ignore all of them. Something was wrong here.
She reached her manager's desk. "Frank, you read through all of last night's reports, right?"
The man at the desk looked up at her. "Yeah, sure did. Is something wrong?"
"I think so. KL-4995-27 - it was the one about the barn. But now it's something else entirely."
"A barn? Don't remember anything like that. Where was this?"
"Hays, Kansas."
"Hm. I remember one being from Kansas, but that was about a spontaneous combustion, wasn't it?" He clicked several times on his computer and brought up the file. "Yeah, spontaneous combustion. Nothing about barns here, or anywhere else in yesterday's reports."
"No, that can't be right. I wrote that file myself, and I'm certain it was about a barn."
"That's odd. Do you have the physical file?"
"Not right here, but it should be filed away with the others."
The two of them walked past the rows upon rows of cubicles, each with someone typing away at a computer, occasionally pulling a file off a stack. They went through a door, and into a room lined from floor to ceiling with immaculately labelled cabinets.
"Alright, last night's should be in this one over here." Anabelle opened the cabinet, and riffled through the papers within. "KL… KL… Here." She drew out the single sheet of paper and stared intensely at it.
"What's it say?"
"It's… It's the same as what we have logged. Have a look." She handed the sheet to Frank, and frowned. "But that can't be right. I read that file and I wrote that report, and I know this wasn't what it was about."
"Are you sure you're not just misremembering things?"
"Absolutely positive. If this was a week or two ago I'd have my doubts, but I wrote this report last night. Something doesn't line up here."
"What are you thinking?"
"Either my memory is wrong, or everything else is. Neither would be good news." She was lost in thought for a moment, and then spoke again. "Hey, Frank. Who does the paper say we sent to cover that one up?"
Frank scanned through the paper. "Says it was Mobile Agent Division L-77. Why'd you ask?"
"I'm going to check my story against theirs."
He nodded. "Alright, good luck with that. Try to get to the bottom of this as quick as you can, we still have plenty of work to do."
Anabelle nodded back to her manager, and rushed out the door.
Fifteen minutes and twenty-four seconds later, Anabelle stood in the entry room to the Mobile Agent Division dispatch center. The receptionist greeted her. "What can I do for you today, ma'am?"
"I need to talk with any members of L-77 that were assigned to Extranormal Event KL-4995-27 yesterday."
"And the reason?"
"Possible code M-55, memory alteration. I need to check my story against theirs."
"Okay. Just have a seat in conference room 2A, I'll call them up."
Soon, Anabelle found herself seated at a table with six other men and women.
"Okay, I know you all have work to do, so I'll be quick. You were all deployed to Hays, Kansas, yesterday to deal with an extranormal event, right? I want you to tell me what that event was."
"Human combustion, right?" Four of the others nodded, but the last one was frowned.
"No, it was a barn. Popped in out of nowhere. What're you guys talking about?"
"Jim, it was human combustion. A guy goes into the City Hall, and bam, he catches fire. We had to edit the tapes, too. Don't tell me you've forgotten."
"I didn't forget anything, Martha, because that didn't happen. It was a barn, I'm sure of it."
As the two of them began to argue, a third of them turned around to face Anabelle. "What was it supposed to be?"
"I'm not entirely sure myself; that's why I called this meeting." The sounds of arguing were quickly replaced by silence. "I remember it being the barn as well, but every piece of documentation we have points to the human combustion."
"So what's that mean? What's going on?"
"Nothing good, that's for sure. There are two main possibilities here: Jim and I have had our memories altered, or reality itself has changed and we're the only two who know. I don't like the sound of either."
"And what's your plan now?"
"I don't know, but I'm going to need some help. And right now, that means the Site Director."
Site Director Anthony Chen peered at his visitor from behind his monitor. "My secretary says you're here to discuss a possible code M-55?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well then, you'd better have a seat. Tell me what's going on."
Anabelle sat in the offered chair, and began to speak.
Several minutes later, Anabelle had concluded her tale. Anthony rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I don't like the sound of any of this."
"Neither do I, sir."
"Well, let's see what we can do about this." Anthony began to type at his computer.
"Actually, sir, I have an idea of my own. I'd like to request a full-suite scan on the barn in question."
"Hm, that is a good idea. If the barn itself has anything to do with all this, I'm sure we'll be able to find something. I'll get somebody on that as soon as I can. You go back to work for now, I'll send a message if we find anything unusual."
Item #: SCP-RRRR
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: One copy of SCP-RRRR is to be stored on a secure Foundation server. Any experiments involving SCP-RRRR require the approval of a level 3 personnel.
Foundation web crawlers are to search for and delete any instances of SCP-RRRR found. Any personnel involved in verifying the web crawlers' results must have a minimum of class-3C cognitohazard training.
Foundation web crawlers are also to search the Internet for individuals who may be SCP-RRRR-1B or -1C instances. Foundation agents are then to covertly question the identified targets. If the targets are found to be -1B or -1C instances, agents are to meet with and amnesticize the targets, following the guidelines in Document RRRR-1. Any Foundation personnel who become -1B or -1C instances are to be given the same amnestic treatment.
Description: SCP-RRRR is an edited version of the ████ company's music video for the song Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley. SCP-RRRR appears identical to the original video, but in fact contains several audio and video cognitohazards. When any subject with functioning hearing and sight views and listens to the video for more than ten seconds, they become an instance of SCP-RRRR-1. SCP-RRRR-1 instances possess an anomalous effect that causes certain media near the instance to play SCP-RRRR instead of its original contents. There are three different types of SCP-RRRR-1:
- SCP-RRRR-1A. The most common type of SCP-RRRR-1, comprising more than 98% of individuals who have viewed SCP-RRRR.
- SCP-RRRR-1B. Significantly rarer than -1A, SCP-RRRR-1B instances make up roughly 1% of individuals who have viewed SCP-RRRR.
- SCP-RRRR-1B. The rarest of the three types, consisting of less than 0.5% of individuals who have viewed SCP-RRRR.
Item #: SCP-BBBB (temporary designation)
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: Inapplicable.
Description: No details about SCP-BBBB are currently known, or theoretically knowable. All information regarding SCP-BBBB, whether verbal, textual, or otherwise, immediately becomes obfuscated by a type-Lear antimemetic agent upon creation. This has rendered research nearly impossible, as there are no known counteragents to type-Lear antimemetics other than natural-born resistance. Current attempts at research take one of three routes:
- Attempts to extract details about SCP-BBBB from what little obfuscated information is available. This has been largely unsuccessful, as there are no known methods capable of consistently recovering information distorted by a type-Lear antimemetic.
- Attempts to deduce details about SCP-BBBB from information about information about SCP-BBBB, as such information is not affected by the type-Lear antimemetic. Once again, this is largely unsuccessful, due to both the limited amount of such information, and the natural difficulty of such a process.
- Attempts to take action against, and hopefully gain information about, SCP-BBBB by using individuals immune to type-Lear antimemetics to direct personnel with no knowledge of SCP-BBBB or the significance of their actions. This is currently the most successful of the three research options, though progress is still limited.
The primary source of information on SCP-BBBB is a document titled SCP-\̅\̅\̅\̅, which is currently disguised as a satirical article.
If you're listening to this, keep listening. I'm going to need you to save the world. But first, you'd better get somewhere safe. If the locusts are anything like the ones outside this bunker right now, you'll need at least six feet of solid rock between you and them. You're listening to this on one of the mobile consoles, right? Hit the red button to pause this recording. Start it up again when you're sure you're safe.
So, found somewhere to hide? Good. Let's get started. By now I'm sure you've noticed the locusts. Seen what they can do. Maybe firsthand, if you're unlucky. And you're probably wondering what the hell is going on with all that, so I guess I'd better start off with some explanations.
We are the SCP Foundation. We secure, contain, and protect. We are a clandestine global organization whose primary goal is ensuring the continued survival of mankind, by ensuring that it is protected from anomalous threats - stuff like immortal omnicidal lizards, reality benders, and sentient ideas. We're sort of like the Men in Black, I guess. I know this sounds like bullshit, but I'm going to need you to believe me. Anyways, we've been working in the shadows since god knows when, keeping the world safe from monsters that should never have existed. Or at least we were, until we fucked it all up.
You see, in March of last year, a friend of ours introduced us to some locusts. They ate their way through plants like you wouldn't believe, but were otherwise harmless. So we took them in and gave them a cell, and we started experimenting on them. All according to standard operating procedure. About half a year later, some poor guy walks into the containment chamber and had the flesh stripped from his bones, and then had his bones eaten as well. We didn't think much of that at the time. We'd seen flesh-eating monsters by the dozen; one more wouldn't be a problem. So we just upped the security and called it a day.
Then they started eating through their cell, and we started worrying. Fortunately for us, we figured out pretty early on that they couldn't eat through glass. We lined their cell with half an inch of solid reinforced glass, and for a while it looked like that was the end.
As you've probably guessed by now, we were very, very wrong. I'm recording this on July 25, 2022, 5:45 PM. This morning, the locusts started eating glass. They ate straight through their containment cell, the surrounding facility, and almost certainly all of the security personnel stationed there. We detonated the on-site nuclear device, but even that didn't stop them. We received reports of the locusts in California at twelve, and it just kept getting worse from there. I'm guessing they've spread across the entire world by the time you found this recording.
You're probably asking how we let this happen. Why we let this happen. Why we didn't just burn every last one of those bastards when we had the chance. And the answer is because we couldn't. That's not who we are as an organization. We secure, contain, and protect not just mankind, but anomalies as well. We can't afford to destroy more than we have to. We need to learn all we can about these anomalies, because knowledge is our greatest weapon against them.
But still… I'm sorry. I'm sorry we didn't stop them. We should have known better. We should have done better. We should have made sure that this never happened. I know my words aren't worth anything, but I want to apologize all the same. All of this was our fault, and I'm sorry you have to live through this nightmare. You've probably lost things to these locusts. Your home, your loved ones, your normal everyday life. And there's nothing I can do to fix that. I can't return things to the way they were. I'm sorry.
There is still hope though. I can't give you back what you've lost, but I can help you help others, make sure nobody has to lose anything else.
We have a facility in Yellowstone National Park. In there, we keep a machine that can reset the world. It has a backup of everything - books, buildings, even people. If you can get that started up, it'll rebuild everything. It's going to be as if the world had never ended. Unfortunately, there's no way to remotely start the system. You'll have to physically go there. The mobile communication console you're holding has a GPS device in it, and that will lead you right to the entrance. Once you get there, plug it into the terminal, and it'll take care of everything for you.
I'm sure it's going to be a difficult journey. Just the locusts alone are more than bad enough, but on top of that there's the lack of food and resources, general destruction of infrastructure, and whatever abominations made it out of our containment sites. Christ, it's like a living hell out there, isn't it?
Maybe you're thinking you don't want to do this. I wouldn't blame you. We have no right to force this responsibility on you. We fucked the world up, and now we expect you to fix it? It's ridiculous. This was our mistake and we should be the ones risking our asses to make things right. But we're all dead. If we weren't, you wouldn't be listening to this in the first place. We went and fucked things up and now we're dead, so I'm begging you. Please. For humanity's future.
I believe in you, even if you don't believe in yourself. You can do this. Doctor Johnathan Morris, senior researcher of the Foundation, signing off here.
Secure, contain, protect.
The dark
Curse of immortality
Skywriter chalk
Scpgoat
Reset (176)
Resurgence (The price we pay)
Do not edit other writers' sandboxes without permission.
