BIDZ180

Instance of SCP-XXXX discovered on 2012-6-25. Hazardous components redacted. See Addendum-XXXX-1.

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: The guidelines detailed in Document XXXX-A are to be applied to any facility that produces alphabet soup for mass market sale. To minimize consumer exposure to SCP-XXXX, the expansion of alphabet soup into new markets is to be suppressed. Any commercially sold alphabet soup products found not to conform to Document XXXX-A guidelines are to be immediately recalled.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a phenomenon capable of affecting all commercially-sold brands of alphabet soup¹. Homemade alphabet soup and soup with alphabet pasta added after purchase are unaffected. SCP-XXXX is only capable of affecting bowls of soup with at least one of each letter in the English alphabet, and only with particular letter ratios. The omission of any of the 26 letters, the inclusion of any other character or symbol, or inclusion of a number of particular letter ratios will prevent the manifestation of SCP-XXXX. Document XXXX-A details a number of ratios and character alterations that have proven capable of preventing the phenomenon.

When a bowl of commercially-sold alphabet soup with a susceptible letter composition is heated and served in a bowl, there is an abnormally high chance² that the alphabet pasta therein will rise to the surface in such a pattern as to produce a memetic kill agent. A variety of patterns are possible, though no observed arrangements have rated higher than 7 on the Berryman-Langford MKA Potency Scale. On average, the memetic kill agents produced by SCP-XXXX are capable of inducing fatal cardiac arrest in 60% of viewers.³

Testing suggests that alphabet pasta itself is non-anomalous beyond the statistical improbability of arising in such a specific arrangement. Disruption of the pattern will nullify its memetic effect, though bowls affected by SCP-XXXX have been shown to slowly drift back into anomalous arrangements over time. Removal or consumption of some pasta from tested bowls has shown limited success in nullifying the effect, with only complete pasta removal or consumption proving 100% effective.⁴ Consumption of SCP-XXXX has not been observed to cause any adverse or anomalous reactions, and it is considered a valid method of neutralization.

Though alphabet soup dates back to at least 1883, there is no evidence of SCP-XXXX manifestation prior to 1930. Investigation into the phenomenon's origin is ongoing.

Addendum-XXXX-1: On 2012-6-25, █████ Cooley, a food blogger based in Winnipeg, Canada, posted a photograph of a bowl of alphabet soup. The meal was prepared from a packet of Knorr brand dry soup mix which had not been subjected to XXXX-A guidelines, and prompted a manifestation of SCP-XXXX.⁵ While Cooley was unaffected by the kill agent, the photograph resulted in the deaths of 47 blog readers before it was taken down.

Webcrawler B24130 has been set to monitor all forms of online visual media for potential SCP-XXXX instances.

Footnotes

1. Only alphabet soups have been proven to be affected. Other alphabet-based foods such as Post's Alpha-Bits are not susceptible to SCP-XXXX manifestation. Testing on Campbell's A to Z SpaghettiOs is ongoing.

2. Upwards of 95%

3. The other 40% are unaffected. Individuals may be unaffected by one SCP-XXXX instance, but susceptible to another. No definitive pattern of SCP-XXXX-resistance has been determined.

4. This is true even when partial removal would prove sufficient if implemented prior to sale.

5. Measuring 6 on the Berryman-Langford MKA Potency Scale.

Filename: Alphabet Soup
Author: Scott Veg
License: CC BY 2.0
Source Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/90155432@N02/8485898599
Additional Notes: Blackboxes added