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Item #: SCP-5181
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5181 must be kept in an 8x8 confined room with no ventilation, light, or camera systems. No light is to enter the room in which it is contained, not even the slightest bit, for it will reflect its effects through this light on the nearest living organism it encounters. If entering SCP-5181’s containment center, the individual’s eyes must remain closed at all times in addition to no light entering the room. Only 1 individual can enter the confined space at once.
Description: SCP-5181 is a simple ornate Victorian mirror from around the year 1885. Its most noticeable feature is a prominent crack on the top, about 5 inches in length. The mirror is approximately 1 foot and a half long. It has a black rim around the mirror glass, shaped into decorative American-Victorian patterns that were common at the time. SCP-5181 was discovered in 1997 in a [DISCLOSED INFORMATION] in Fall River, Massachusetts. There are few recorded instances about SCP-5181’s effects, but they are known to be complex, long lasting effects that mostly result in horrifically inflicted causes of death. SCP-5181 appears to manifest itself into the viewer’s subconscious and unconscious brain at first, identifying and embodying the individual’s personality and cognitive processes within 7 seconds of looking into the mirror, or even looking at the light reflected off the mirror. What follows this event is one of three known circumstances: (1) The individual who encountered the effects of SCP-5181 becomes the embodiment of their biggest fear over the course of 7 years, with side effects of increasing bad luck towards the individual and proximity to their biggest fear as the timestamp of 7 years approaches, followed by immediate death when the time expires, (2) The individual becomes increasingly suicidal within the course of 7 days, until finally taking their lives by means of taking a hatchet to the head, or (3) The individual goes on a murderous rampage on their 2 closest family members over the course of 7 days as well, where they commit all the murders on the 7th day, also by means of attacking them with a hatchet. It is thought that SCP-5181 then consumes the viewer’s personality, hindering most of the abilities in their frontal lobe, such as personality development and identity expression. It is not known if these personalities can one day be unleashed by the mirror itself. The number of identities trapped in the mirror is also unknown. The pattern and assignment of effects to the viewer seems to be at random, chosen by the mirror itself.
The soul of the individual that is trapped within the mirror is thought to be trapped in a parallel dimension that consists of a seemingly never-ending house of mirrors that is extremely difficult to escape. It is not known if this mirror dimension is lit up or completely dark all the time, but it is assumed that if the identity of the individual finds its way through the apparently inescapable mirror maze, it will return back into this dimension. Any instances of these said identities venturing back into this current dimension are currently unknown, since there is a very limited amount of information about the layout and content of the items and pathways within the mirror dimension.
There have been 7 recorded instances of SCP-5181. 3 of the known individuals suffered Effect 1 (now deceased), 2 of them faced Effect 2 (now deceased), and the remaining 2 have gone through Effect 3, where they remain contained in the facility to this day for research purposes. The last remaining live incidents of SCP-5181 are believed to have become immortal, since all attempts to terminate them have been unsuccessful. These entities are now confined and monitored by Level 4 personnel. These contained anomalies are known as SCP-5181-S and SCP-5181-B. Respectively, their genders are male and female, indicating that SCP-5181 does not discriminate against gender in its effects. The identities of these past individuals will remain confidential.
Background: Many Researchers suggest that this mirror once belonged to famous American murder Lizzie Andrew Borden (1860-1927), and many go as far as suggesting that either her soul, personality, and mind is what gave the broken mirror its supernatural ability, or Borden herself was an instance of the mirror, as well as the events that followed. Borden spontaneously murdered her father and stepmother on August 4, 1892 with a hatchet. This leads many Researchers to claim that the mirror did, in fact, belong to Lizzie Borden, specially since it was made and acquired by whoever owned it in 1885, 7 years before the Axe Murders.
It is also a commonly known superstition in Victorian culture that breaking a mirror would mean a series of bad luck and a surge of unfortunate events for the person who broke it and those who witness it. It was also believed that the souls of those who look into the mirror are kept by it, and if it is broken, the action equates to the damaging of the individual’s spirit. SCP-5181 is believed to capture the spirits of those who encounter it.
