Item #: SCP-XXXX
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures:
SPC-XXXX has been allocated a Standard Safe-Class Object Locker. Approval of at least one member of staff with Level-3 security clearance or above is required before removal of object.
Anomalous effects caused by SCP-XXXX are activated by skin contact with the artefact. Those not wishing to experience these effects are to wear latex gloves when handling SCP-XXXX.
Description:
SCP-XXXX is an artefact recovered from [DATA EXPUNGED], however was only recently discovered during a routine inventory check. SCP-XXXX is a 5”x8” photograph of a grassy area with a tree in the center. The photo is of poor composition, with no obvious focal point or intention for having taken the photograph.
Upon an individual’s skin contact with the artefact, a false memory will be implanted in the mind of the individual. The memories differ from viewer to viewer, however all memories reported have distressed or upset the subjects to various levels of severity and are of a violent or malevolent nature.
When skin contact with the artefact is broken, the individual will have no recollection of the memory, however, some subjects have subsequently complained of a feeling of mournfulness and despondency after the test.
Addendum XXXX-1A: Interviews
Interviews were carried out by Dr. Durfene and Agent Ebert in order to aggregate qualifiable data before SCP-XXXX is returned to storage. Below are a few selected interviews.
Dr. Dufrene: Good afternoon █████, I would like you to have a look at this photograph and tell me what you know about the location pictured.
The photograph is slid across the desk. Subject-XXXX-J2 picks it up and examines it.
Subject-XXXX-J2: It was early one summer’s morning, we lived in ████ back then, I was only a small child. My brother and I were playing outside when our mother called for us, we went inside and she instructed us to change out of our muddy clothes and follow her to a town meeting. We walked for a few minutes and arrived here, at this location.
Subject points to photograph.
Subject XXXX-J2: There was a large gathering of people and we couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. I broke free from my mother’s hand and pushed my way through the townsfolk to the front of the assembly. There was a boy on the floor at the feet of several guards. He couldn’t of been but twenty years old and he had been savagely beaten. The guards laughed and mocked him as he struggled to get back up on his feet, each time succeeding, being knocked back to the floor.
One of the guards then took his dagger and sliced through the boy’s rags and into his flesh. He was lifted up, his clothes torn from him and knocked back to the floor with a strong blow from one of the guard’s shield. As he lay down in the mud, his swollen face looking up at the sky and naked body splattered with blood and dirt, I noticed it wasn’t a boy at all but a young woman.
She was lifted up once more and dressed in a long white dress, much to the amusement of the guards. It was then I noticed a pile of wood with a large wooden beam placed in the middle. I knew what was going to happen, I hadn’t seen it happen before but my brother had told me about it.
The woman was dragged over to the beam and tied to it. She began to weep. A pitying priest approached her and placed a small crucifix in her hand which appeared to offer her some solace.
The sneering guards pushed the priest away and took a torch to the bottom of the wood. The flames grew rapidly. I couldn’t watch anymore. Just as the flames began to lick the bottom of the weeping woman’s feet I began to feel sick and covered my eyes with my hands. I can still smell the burning wood and the stinking crowd surrounding me. I can still hear the crackling of the flames and the sobbing woman. Just before she passed out she cried out like nothing I’ve ever heard before, she cried “Jesus!” with such fervour I don’t doubt it reached the gates of heaven. And with that the mob let out a tremendous cheer and I pushed my way back past them and mourned in the lap of my sympathetic mother
SCP-XXXX slips from the hand of the subject and falls to the table. Dr Dufrene takes the photograph back from subject.
Dr Dufrene: So as I was saying, can you tell me anything about this photograph?
He holds the photograph up and the subject leans in to examine it.
Subject-XXXX-J2: Hmmmm.. Nope. I don’t recognise that. Sorry.
Dr Dufrene: That will be all for today. Thank you.
End log XXXX-J2
Dr Dufrene: Hello ████, please examine this photograph and tell me what comes to mind.
Subject-XXXX-A3: Ah, I don’t like to think about this day.
Dr Dufrene: I'm sorry I must press you. Please tell me what you know about the location in this photograph.
Subject-XXXX-A3: Okay. It’s the back garden of my home in █████████. I was sat out by this tree with my books and pens. Suddenly I heard a loud bang come from inside. My mother leaned out the upstairs window and yelled “████! Hide! They are coming!”
I quickly crept into a bush and was paralysed with fear. I could still see my mother, her back was pressed against the window she had called to me from. I could hear a lot of shouting coming from inside and didn’t know what was happening. My parents had been talking about being prepared for something for the last few months but I didn’t really pay attention and dismissed it as ‘grown-up stuff’.
I heard the smashing of glass. My mother was thrown from the window, three stories high. She landed on the ground in a lifeless heap. A steady trickle of blood poured down from her temple. I wanted to run to her aid but I was so frightened, I couldn’t will my legs to move. All I could do was lie there in the dirt, weeping silently.
A man in uniform came bursting through the back door, followed by my father, my sister, two friends of the family that were staying with us and several more men in uniform. My sister spotted me in the bush and looked at me in horror before averting her gaze as to not draw attention to where I was.
My poor family and the family friends were made to face the back wall of the house and the men pointed their guns at them. At this point I had to cover my mouth as my sobbing was becoming uncontrollable. Another man in uniform came out of the house, he looked slightly more important than the others and had scarring on his face that made him look like a monster. He was carrying my father’s mantel clock, which was a family heirloom and which my father said was very valuable. The scarred uniform man handed it to another one of the uniform men. “All of this for a clock?!” I thought. I couldn’t believe it.
Devoid of emotion, the leader of the uniformed men took a luger from his belt, aimed it at my father’s friend and pulled the trigger. Then he shot that man’s wife. Then he shot my father. And finally he shot my sister. As they all they lay there under the blood splattered wall, I couldn’t contain my sorrow any more and let out a loud wail of sadness.
The last thing I remember about that day is being dragged from underneath the bush by the men in uniform and through my teary blurred vision, seeing a flock of birds fly across the cloudy sky.
Dr Dufrene: Ok ████, thanks. I think that’s enough for today. May I take that back for a moment?
Dr Dufrene takes the photograph back from Subject-XXXX-A3
Dr Dufrene: How do you feel now ████?
Subject-XXXX-A3: What happened? I feel awful. I feel so sad. What happened?
Dr Dufrene: I’m afraid the contents of this interview are strictly confidential. I would like to thank you for your cooperation. That will do it for today.
End Log XXXX-A3
Dr Dufrene: Good afternoon ██████, please look at this photograph and tell me what you can about it.
Dr Dufrene passes SCP-XXXX to Subject-XXXX-L1, he examines it
Subject-XXXX-L1: She just wouldn’t shut up. It was late and I wanted to sleep.
Dr Dufrene: Who are you talking about please?
Subject-XXXX-L1: Oh, my sister. I was about 19 and she was a few years older than me.
Dr Dufrene: Okay. Please continue.
Subject-XXXX-L1: She had, let’s say, severe learning difficulties.
Dr Dufrene: I see..
Subject-XXXX-L1: My parents had gone away just after Christmas to see some relatives. They left me the responsibility of taking care of her.
About six days in she starts acting up. Having ‘episodes’ and tantrums about every little thing. I can’t remember what this particular argument was about but I remember her just screaming at me. Screaming and crying. I snapped. I struck her across the face and she fell to the ground. “Look what you’re making me do!” I yelled, and kicked her a few times. She got up, ran out into the garden and sat with her head in her hands by this tree.
I shouted to her “Fine stay out there all night for all I care!” and locked the door. I went to my father’s whiskey cabinet, pulled out a bottle of scotch and began drinking.
The next thing I know I’m waking up on the sofa, it’s light outside. For a few moments I relished in the quiet dawn. Then I noticed it was too quiet. My sister. I unlocked the back door and stepped outside. She was in exactly the same position I had left her in the night before. Her body covered in a layer of frost and her hair frozen solid. She was dead, and I killed her.
Subject-XXXX-L1 puts down the photograph
Dr Dufrene: You piece of shit.
Subject-XXXX-L1: Excuse me, Doctor?
Dr Dufrene: Who told you about my sister!? You fucking asshole!
End Log XXXX-A3
Note: At this point in the interview Dr Dufrene leapt across the table in an attempt to attack Subject-XXXX-L1. Security staff entered to restrain Dr Dufrene and the interview was terminated.
After the incident that occured during Interview Log-XXXX-L1, Dr Dufrene was taken away for psychoanalysis. Dr Edwards, who conducted the sessions with Dr Dufrene, has concluded the event described by Subject-XXXX-L1 was an accurate description of a past experience of Dr Dufrene. It is therefore likely other scenarios described in interviews are non-fictitious events.
It is with the recommendation of Dr Edwards that I shall be removing Dr Dufrene from this case. He shall be suspended with pay until Dr Edwards believes he is capable of returning to the Foundation.
- Agent Ebert
Addendum XXXX-1B: Location pictured in SCP-XXXX
Research of satellite imagery has led to a successful match of location pictured in SCP-XXXX. However actual location does not match locations mentioned in interviews.
Research team-XXXX were sent to ███████████, Somerset, England to review the site. A small airtight box was found buried approximately 10cm below ground underneath the pictured tree. Inside the box was a photograph [SCP-XXXX-1] the same size as SCP-XXXX.
Researchers on the team have all stated that the photograph was of themselves, at that present moment, looking inside the box. The picture appeared to be taken from behind them, approximately four meters away, at an elevation of approximately three meters.
On the reverse side of SCP-XXXX-1 was a note which read as follows:
“███████, we have been watching.
Oh! What rectitude! What nobility! The history books will surely describe you in a Saint-like light. Do you think you can simply waltz into the abyss, leaving your worldly troubles behind?
And on that dark night before your dying day, mere hours from losing whatever significance your life ever had, we will be celebrating. Every wicked and heinous act you have ever committed will be paid back to you in full. We are the sufferers of your sin, and we are waiting for you.”
After having read the note, researches noticed the picture had begun to react with the light and within twenty seconds, the photograph had overexposed to complete black. The text on the reverse remains intact.
Another team were subsequently sent to excavate site. No further artefacts were found. Location has been secured by the Foundation and protected under UK legislation ‘Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979’.
Research team-XXXX have returned SCP-XXXX-1 along with the airtight box to The Foundation. Extensive testing to find the origin of SCP-XXXX-1 and/or the airtight box have proved inconclusive.
Addendum XXXX-1C: Article from ███████████ Gazette containing information relating to location pictured in SCP-XXXX
The following excerpt is of an article from the ███████████ Gazette dated 06/06/1990. It describes a suicide that took place at the location pictured in SCP-XXXX:
A fifteen year old boy was found near ████████████████ park early on Sunday morning. His death has been ruled as a suicide and police are not treating the death as suspicious.
William Hook, of ████████████ Drive, ███████████, was a student at ███████████ High School. A teacher who wished to remain anonymous said the boy was ‘kind of a loner’ and that he was ‘bullied by most of his peers’.
William’s mother, Ms. Annabelle Hook is yet to make a public statement.
An investigator from the Foundation was sent to the town of ███████████ to ascertain information pertaining to the Hook family. It was discovered that William and Annabelle lived alone and had attained a certain level of notoriety within the local community. Annabelle was described by locals as ‘very strange’, with some locals casting accusations of witchcraft.
After William’s death, locals claim Annabelle was often seen at the site where William died, leaving 'peculiar' tributes for her deceased son. Our investigator was unable to speak with Ms. Hook as she passed away in April, 1992 of ‘natural causes’.
Foundation staff active on this case have concluded that Ms. Annabelle Hook is most likely responsible for producing SCP-XXXX and/or SCP-XXXX-1.
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