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Item #: SCP-XXXX
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX is to be stored in a 70 cm by 15 cm by 10 cm glass case, locked by method of keycard access with Level 3 security protocols in storage at Site-28. Personnel may only access SCP-XXXX for the purpose research and study of the object, and require the explicit written permission from two or more Class B personnel (permission pending genetic heritage testing of aforementioned research personnel). Any personnel that come into physical contact with SCP-XXXX are to routinely check in for psychiatric evaluation for no less than 180 days after handling the object. Any abnormal behavior noted during or outside these sessions regarding personnel known to have been in contact with SCP-XXXX – such as asocial, reclusive, aggressive behavior that runs counter to the known personality or demeanor of said person prior to exposure – should be reported to on-site security immediately.
Photo of SCP-XXXX taken upon foundation acquisition.
Description: SCP-XXXX is a 2 foot (60.96 cm) double-edged blade of hand-forged iron, dating back to an indeterminate year sometime in the early 19th century. The blade is flat and rough, with a strange oval shape just between the base of the blade and the carved wooden hilt. Despite its crude manufacturing and apparent age, the blade is remarkably sharp, as well as very heavy – owing to the composition of crude iron and dense wood.
The object was recovered from a dig site at LocationABC in the Congolese Free State during a privately funded follow-up expedition in 1899 to investigate the disappearance of a Mr. Harrison T. Winchester III (who was sent by MC&D in 1898 to the Congo Basin to explore the anomalous properties of SCP-2292-3).
The object was dug up by hired hands at a ruin site approximately 4 kilometers from the location of SCP-2292-3, exposed several feet below the topsoil in what appeared to be a burial site of reasonable age and size – though no bodies were ever uncovered in the dig site. Following its discovery, the object was secretly hidden and smuggled out of the territory by a mercenary named Sam Dupont of Mechelen, Belgium. Foundation historians believed that Mr. Dupont, who had agreed to the expedition on the conditions of debt forgiveness, had planned to sell the artifact in Europe to collectors in order to lift his family out of poverty.
Several days after returning to Belgium from the Congo Basin, Mr. Dupont was apprehended by police following a call from concerned neighbors, who heard “blood-curdling screams and howls”, as well as sounds of intense struggle, from Mr. Dupont’s Mechelen apartment. Upon the police breaking into the locked apartment, all four of Dupont’s children and his wife, as well as two in-laws that had been visiting at the time, were found to be dead, with expressed signs of distress and panic visible on their faces. In addition, all hands of the victims had been sliced off in a crude manner; postmortem autopsies of the victims ascertained that the hands had been dismembered while the victims were still alive, and the cause of death of all seven victims had primarily been exsanguination. The blade, believed to be the murder weapon, was promptly seized and locked up by Mechelen police as evidence.
However, due to the historical nature of the object, as well as the reigning Belgian monarch’s (King Leopold II’s) fascination of Sub-Saharan paraphernalia, the blade was taken in by the Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale (Royal Museum for Central Africa) until its sale into a private collection in 1905. The blade changed possession several times over the next several decades, being continuously resold after distinctly horrific circumstances surrounding the former owner of the object – involving the torture, mutilation, dismemberment, and murder of the buyers’ families by the buyers themselves (and the eventual arrests and executions of said buyers) – until the anomalous properties of the object were relayed to the Foundation, whereupon the blade was seized for containment and study. To date, twenty-one people have been killed due to the properties of SCP-XXXX, with six others (buyers of the artifact – usually men, heads of the family, etc.) apprehended for the murders.
Addendum I: Following a survey into the previous historical incidents surrounding the object, as well as foundation testing of the object at Site-28, we have been able to better understand the variables at play in determining the severity of, and length of time from initial interaction to, the effect on persons caused by SCP-XXXX.
Of the nine buyers of the artifact over its history of changing hands via private sale – six of whom succumbed to its infernal effects – three were completely unaffected and held the object in their possession for many years without consequence to the buyer or their family. Investigation into any extenuating commonalities shared between the three unaffected persons yielded, among other inconsequential similarities, a common patri- or matrilineal genetic connection to the people inhabiting the Congo-Gabon region of West-Central Africa. Two of the buyers were registered as being within the “Black” racial category (recorded at the time as “Negro”, “Mulatto”, “Quadroon”, etc.) in census data – with genealogical records showing familial roots originating in what is now the northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo – while the third buyer was registered as “White.” Further inquiry provided evidence that the third individual’s paternal lineage was 100% African American, with genealogical connections to the pre-European Kingdom of Loango.
In tandem with the previous discovery, all six buyers who exhibited the effects of SCP-XXXX were all genetically and ethnically Eurasian, and – more importantly – lacking in any substantial genealogical connection to Sub-Saharan African genetic markers. It seems that, while the effects of SCP-XXXX vary from subject to subject, those with backgrounds of West/Central African heritage are immune to (or at the very least, at far lower probability than average to be influenced by) the effects of SCP-XXXX.
Addendum II: The following information is a summary and catalogue of the assigned research personnel’s current knowledge on the nature of SCP-XXXX and its effects on subjects. For experiment logs, see: Addendum III.
Upon handling the blade (a period hereby referred to as Stage I) a subject is connected to the blade in a way that cannot be explained as of yet, due to the lack of testimony from those taken over by SCP-XXXX (see: Experiments II and III). The effects appear to take root much quicker if the subject handling the artifact is in the presence of two or more other humans, including blood relatives – reducing the period between contact and effect from several weeks to months, down to hours and even minutes. Following interaction with SCP-XXXX, subjects will begin to mentally and socially deteriorate, albeit subtly – creating the potential for cases of influence to go unnoticed until Stage II is initialized. Subjects will become withdrawn, quiet, paranoid, and apathetic, often remaining sequestered in a single place or area until the effects of SCP-XXXX are manifested in Stage II. Subjects are mute, only being heard occasionally mumbling indecipherable words of a Belgian-accented French, despite subjects often not being Francophones.
Stage II occurs at an indeterminate amount of time – from as short as an observed 35 minutes, to as long as several months. At this point, the subject will suddenly awaken from their inert state, howling and targeting anyone in the vicinity as potential victims. It seems that the subject will only awaken from their docile phase when in the presence of multiple persons, possibly to maximize casualties, and will not awaken when in a space alone. The methods of attack have been different between incidents – some subjects brutalizing their victims’ appendages, while others were found to have rather psychologically tortured their victims by forcing them to watch the committed acts – but all incidents regarding SCP-XXXX have involved the severing of the hands from the victims. While subjects under the effect of SCP-XXXX will maim and injure their victims, they have never been recorded actually killing them with the artifact itself – the cause of death for all deceased has consistently been exsanguination due to the bodily injuries inflicted.
The object’s manipulative nature on the psyches of subjects it comes into contact with, and the extreme variability of time between interaction and effect, have pressed the foundation to increasing security clearance required for SCP-XXXX access to Level 3, to prevent future incidents among staff (see: Experiment III); however, at this point, O5 Harrison has denied the necessity of upgrading the object’s status from “Safe” to “Euclid,” given the absence of risk in the presence of appropriate countermeasures in limiting access to the artifact.
Addendum III - Experiment Logs:
ACCESS GRANTED
CLASSIFIED
Experiment I
SCP-XXXX
|
Date/Location: ██/█/████ ; Site 28 Lead Researcher: Dr. H. Sheppard |
Experiment
Subject SCP-XXXX-D1 led into contained testing chamber alone. Testing chamber consists of a plain white room, approximately 200 square feet, with a wooden table centered in the room. SCP-XXXX is set on the table in its glass case, still closed but Level 2 locks disengaged to allow access by test subject. Subject is instructed to pick up and examine SCP-XXXX, and to relay any mental or physical sensations noted during the testing period.
Results
Subject SCP-XXXX-D1 reports no mental or physical changes or sensations during the one-hour testing period of the object. Subsequent psychiatric evaluations are unsuccessful in finding any changes in the mood, behavior, or demeanor of test subject.
Researcher's Notes
My name is Researcher Harold Sheppard, and I have been assigned to oversee the investigation into the properties of the anomalous object, SCP-XXXX. Our first experiment was, to put it bluntly, not overly interesting or informative. However, I have been given clearance to proceed with several more tests; hopefully we can ascertain the nature of this anomaly. Time will tell. »
- Researcher H. Sheppard
Addendum IV - Incident Log SCP-XXXX-Alpha:
