Bullshit

Item Number: SCP-4062

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: The Bull Island Coast Guard have a direct line of contact to Site-IE05, and are instructed to contact when initial signs of a procession arise. Embedded agents within Dublin City Council's Parks and Landscape Division are on watch for attempts to spread awareness of the processions,

Area 36-Alpha is to be monitored by the Bull Island Coast Guard and is to restrict access to any and all civilians who attempt to enter the area.

Description: SCP-4062 is a yearly event whereby a large number¹ of pack animals wash ashore Bull Island, Dublin, walk to the mainland, then return to the ocean. This commonly occurs in the month of December, though it has been known to occur as early as October 28th and as late as January 6th. All animals (SCP-4062-1) involved in the procession are medically dead, though they behave as if they are alive. Dissection reports indicate drowning as the most common cause of death, although a small number of animals (<1%) bear unhealed knife wounds which may have contributed.

Approximately three days prior to any Processions of SCP-4062 occurring, Bull Island will experience a surge in natural growth throughout the island between one and three days prior to it occurring. As a Procession actually begins, instances of SCP-4062-1 begin to wash up onto the northern shore and remain motionless until reaching a certain density. After this, SCP-4062-1 instances will begin to walk southwards along the coast until reaching the Star of the Sea and turning right towards the mainland. Instances will cross the bridge to Dublin proper before stopping, standing motionless for several minutes, and returning to the ocean along the path they took to arrive there.

Each instance of SCP-4062-1 carries a single 185 liter varnished leather bag. The bags each contain an instance of SCP-4062-2 submerged in a viscous transparent hydrogel. Instances of SCP-4062-2 are deceased human children of various nationalities which, similar to instances of SCP-4062-1, continue to behave as if they were alive. SCP-4062-2 instances are generally found in the foetal position, and are covered in a micrometre-thin iridescent biofilm.

While the instance of SCP-4062-2 is in contact with the hydrogel surrounding it, skin contact with the hydrogel will impart positive thoughts and sensations on the subject touching it. Isolating a sample of the hydrogel will not warrant the same effect, implying the hydrogel itself is non-anomalous unless in contact with the SCP-4062-2 instance it is associated with. Once the iridescent biofilm surrounding an SCP-4062-2 instance is broken, the instance ceases to animate.

In 1983, the Director of Site IE01, Caoilfhionn Bridge, proposed to build a sea wall surrounding Bull Island to prevent the incursion of SCP-4062-1 instances in the hope that this would curtail Processions entirely. In the years following the implementation of this procedure, a notable uptick in rates of reported Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) were observed. While no concrete link to SCP-4062 had been found, in 1991 Colm O’Reilly ordered the dismantling of the wall as part of his first orders as new acting Director, and cases of SAD receded to their previous levels².

On 24/12/2004, a tracking device was attached to a mule during a Procession. The next day, a diving team followed the signal to a spot in the Irish Sea about 2.7km from Bull Island. On diving, the team was discovered the mule half-submerged in silt on the ocean floor, surrounded by other instances of SCP-4062-1. The area of ocean floor which is covered in dormant instances of SCP-4062-1 is designated Area 36-Alpha, and contains an estimated 35,000 instances.
CAPTION: Area 36-Alpha

Footnotes

1. Between 80 and 150.

2. While this has since been marked as a direct infraction of Keeping the Balance: The Importance of Leaving Things Be, a core text in the Irish branch's guidelines, O'Reilly argues that the actual infraction was the construction of the sea wall, and his action was to correct it.This case has been suspended while O'Reilly returns to normal work, but is slated to be re-opened in the case that he is considered for a full directorial position.