crocface

SCP-324-1874, casing removed.

Item #: SCP-324-1874

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-324-1874 is to be contained in a standard 2x2x2 meter storage module, constructed of non-porous materials, with halogen lamps installed in each wall and the ceiling to ensure the entirety of the object casing is visible to observing personnel at all times. In the center of the containment module is to be a display pedestal, upon which the SCP is to be stored. It is to be kept in an upright position when testing is not underway, so that the casing is fully displayed in a manner that allows for the saturation levels of all surfaces to be simultaneously monitored by at least two personnel at all times. A glass case is to be placed over the object to prevent the transmission of aerosolized particulate in the event of saturation levels reaching manifestation.

When fully saturated, the casing of SCP-324-1874 is to be removed by (one) D-Class personnel, outfitted in a hazardous materials protection suit equipped with a self-contained air supply. It is then to be placed in a clear glass container, rated for no less than a level-3 biological containment use, and brought to an adjacent biohazard lab for analysis of all manifesting liquids, gases, and particulate. Full artistic renditions of the casing's designs and imagery are to also be completed at this time. At the conclusion of these proceedings, which should be completed as quickly as safety allows, the D-Class personnel is to transport the casing to the incinerator, and burn it.

Another D-Class personnel, outfitted as the first, is to standby in the storage chamber for confirmation that the casing has been completely destroyed. As soon as the destruction is total, and not at any point before, the second D-Class is to slide a blank casing over top of the anomalous object, until it is completely covered. until there is only 2cm of the object remaining visible. The glass case is then to be replaced. Both D-Class personnel must then be decontaminated and placed in isolation for a twenty-four observation period. So long as they show no signs of manifestation or mutation, they can be re-used for these tasks indefinitely.

In the event of manifestations breaking containment, or personnel mutation, small arms fire may be utilized to dispatch any hostile entities. All corpses, created objects, or uncooperative mutated personnel are to be incinerated while contained, to prevent the spread of manifesting particles. In the event that small arms are ineffective, any and all fire and explosive-based weaponry is permitted to contain the threat.

Description: SCP-324-1874 is a home video cassette tape, measuring at 18.7 × 10.2 × 2.5 cm
(7​1⁄3 × 4 × 1 inch), and matching the standard size and design specifications for a Victor Company of Japan VHS cartridge. Composition analysis shows no anomalous materials or components, though the exact makeup changes slightly with each chemical testing. The magnetic tape contained within is made of mylar, as is usual for cassettes of this design, but appears to be coated in a keratin particulate. The purpose, and origin, of this particulate is currently unknown.

On the front of the cassette, sticker label is applied. The words "The Professor's Fantastic, tour tape 2" are written in felt-tip pen. Handwriting analysis indicates it was written by a left-handed female. No other labeling or manufacturer's information is present on the object. For reasons not fully understood, the label, as well as the designs and markings on the casings, are not able to be captured by cameras or other recording devices.

SCP-324-1874 is usually sleeved in a standard card-stock VHS case. If a case is not provided to it within 10 to 15 minutes, it will assemble one from nearby materials through apparent telekinetic force. Such cases have been observed to be created from: cardboard boxes, copy paper, wooden beams, carpeting, the skin of dead animals, the leaves of a ficus plant, and the faceplate of a hazmat suit. The cassette seems to 'prefer' items of a consistency similar to card-stock, often bypassing closer materials for it, up to an observed range of ten meters. All used materials are transmuted into card-stock over the course of thirteen hours, creating a blank case.

The object's casing will, over time, begin to saturate with pigmentation. This process usually takes between three and ten days, and is usually uniform across all surfaces, though both the time and uniformity are subject to unexpected changes. (Re: Subject #4 report) Frequent viewing of the tape has proven to slow these processes.

When fully saturated, the pigmentation on the surface of the casing will form into complex designs, including words and photo-realistic images. Usually, these designs correlate to a kind of advertisement usually found on VHS cases, displaying content purported to be on the tape. This content is universally related to carnivals, freak shows, and unusual acts, typically with a one-eyed man dressed in a formal suit on the 'front' of the casing. This imagery, as with the labeling on the cassette, has yet to be captured by recording devices.

Upon completion of the designs, or of a particular section of the designs, the pigmentation will begin to 'oversaturate' in that location, manifesting gases, liquids, or semi-solids. The form of the manifestation has been observed to correlate to the image depicted in the design; images of popcorn manifest an aerosolized form of popcorn scent, images of animals manifest bits of fur or skin, images of liquids manifest small amounts of those liquids, etc. These manifestations are highly dangerous, as allowing them into any dark place, such as the interior of a human body, can result in rapid reproduction, mutation, or the manifestation of entire associated entities.

Addendum 1, Recovery: SCP-324-1874 was first discovered in the small town of Green Lake, Wisconsin, in December of 1996. In October, a series of reports regarding missing persons, strange animal sightings, and vandalism were flagged by standard Foundation database sweeps as potentially anomalous in origin. A pair of agents were dispatched to the area to investigate, arriving on location November 4th, 1996.

Posing as a couple looking to purchase a local house, the agents proceeded to search the town and document their findings as per Foundation standard practices (see archive for full documentation).
Over the course of the next several weeks, they made note of a number of potentially anomalous activities, including but not limited to:

• Repeated instances of graffiti appearing in proximity to homes of citizens whom would later go missing. This graffiti consistently contained reference to "The Fantastic", a one-eyed man named "The Professor", or general carnival themes.
• Sightings of animals non-native to the area, state, or even continent. At least two instances of as of yet unknown species were sighted personally by the agents.
• Unexplained manifestation of carnival paraphernalia, such as cotton candy booths, posters and flyers for various acts, animal taming equipment, etc.

In mid-December, the agents called for a biohazard containment team to quarantine and process the town. Operating under the guise of a medical emergency response team, Foundation personnel placed the town's 1,874 residents on lockdown to "combat a sudden resurgence of January's dengue fever outbreak". 323 of these residents were found to be in varying states of mutation, ranging from unexplained growth of fur and scales, to radical changes in bone structure and cognition levels.

These mutations were quickly cataloged and the epicenter for their origin was uncovered in the local video rental store, Take-Home Entertainment and Rentals. In the basement of the building, a team found the establishment's owner, one Douglas [Redacted], in a heavily mutated state. Though uncommunicative, he was alert and active, raptly watching a video tape, which would come to be known as SCP-324-1874, on loop. Attempts to divert his attention from the viewing were unsuccessful, and he became violent when a member of the team momentarily blocked the screen from his line of sight.

Agents were forced to neutralize him, as his many appendages and bizarre skeletal structure, coupled with an unexpected level of strength, made restraint impossible with their current equipment. SCP-324-1874 was retrieved, and the interior of the building was purified of all potential mutagenic vectors via applied directional thermo-defoliants. Interviews with the 323 mutated residents confirmed that they had all viewed the tape at least once. Those whom scored qualifying marks on the Miller Sapience Scale were allowed to remain in Green Lake, with monitoring by the Foundation continuing to this day.

Addendum 2, Playback Log: When placed in a video cassette player, SCP-324-1874 will automatically begin playback. This playback has so far been impossible to capture via camera or other remote viewing device, requiring the use of direct observation and note-taking to log the contents.

Subsequent playbacks, regardless of whether or not the viewer has knowledge of previous observations, cause the contents of the recording to change. It is unknown if any affect is amplified or altered specifically due to prior exposure to the contents, but testing is underway. Viewers whom have seen multiple iterations of the playback report that the content becomes increasingly more extreme and personalized, as well as "more entertaining". Multiple viewings also appear to accelerate any occurring mutations in the subject.

Though the contents of the playback vary with each viewing, the same general format and timeline is present each time:

• The scene fades in over images from a carnival, circus, or similar venue. A voice-over will inform the viewer that they are seeing the travelling event known as "The Fantastic".
• A man in a formal suit will appear on screen, through various forms of entrance or editing tricks. While his appearance varies slightly from viewer to viewer, he is consistently described and illustrated as elderly, mostly bald, with long white hair on the sides and back of his head. His right eye is missing, replaced by a large metal screw. He is the source of the voice-over, and introduces himself as "Professor Screwtape".
• The Professor will then spend between two and three minutes extolling the virtues and values of The Fantastic, and giving a short advertising pitch urging the viewer to purchase a ticket and visit.
• There will then be a segment showing off an exhibit as The Professor provides voice-over. These have included:
  • The Bat Beast of Hyperborea, in which a creature resembling a cross between a human woman and a giant bat demonstrates how it hunts prey. A man is randomly chosen from the audience and led to the stage, whereupon the creature shrieks at him, causing him to fall to the ground in pain. This continues until the man's eyes and ears simultaneously rupture, at which point the bat beast latches on to his shoulders with her feet, lifts him into the air until they are both off-camera, and drops him head-first onto the stage. The segment ends as she returns to the stage to feed.
  • The Far-Depths Mermaids, in which the camera is entered into a large tank of unlit water. It descends for several minutes, as the voice-over explains the origins of said mermaids, as well as waxes poetically about their "ethereal beauty". Glimpses of several deep-sea species of fish are seen during the descent, until the floor of the tank is reached. Bio-luminescent nodules are visible, and the voice-over describes the mermaids as appearing in the dark as an underwater starry sky. A large number of nodules begin to approach the camera, and a long lamprey-like creature with a vaguely humanoid torso near the head becomes visible. The segment ends as the camera is jostled by its passing.
  • Several segments about exotic food and performing animals. These segments typically end with close-ups of the food or animal in question as the voice-over declares them to be found "only at The Fantastic".
  • The Helmet of Invincor, whom we are told was so fierce a warrior that "even Death dare not approach the one whoso wears this helmet". This is demonstrated when an audience volunteer is called to the stage. She places the medieval-styled helmet on her head, and jokingly models it for the audience. The audience reacts first with laughter and whistles, then gasps of surprise and amazement when a woman steps onto the stage and runs the wearer through the stomach with a cavalry sabre. A series of stagehands then follow suite, stepping up to impale the volunteer with a bladed weapon before exiting the stage and leaving their weapons behind. The volunteer, impossibly, retains life and consciousness throughout the demonstration, despite obvious extreme pain and loss of blood. When the stagehands have all deposited their weapons, there are upwards of 20 blades in the volunteer. (The D-Class viewing this playback claims to have "stopped counting at twenty, but it went on for a while after.") A large man dressed as a medieval executioner then approaches the volunteer and beheads her with a swing of an oversized axe. A pair of stagehands dressed as middle-eastern bellydancers then retrieve the fallen head and display it on a pillow, encouraging audience members to approach and verify for themselves that the volunteer is still blinking, looking, and attempting to speak. The segment ends as they place their hands on the helmet to remove it.
  • Several other variations have been documented in the archives.
• After each segment, there will be another interlude by The Professor as he continues to promote the carnival and insist that the viewer must attend.
• The playback will conclude thereafter with The Professor naming the locations of The Fantastic's next few destinations, which varies on each playback. No town or city named has been reported to see any increase in anomalous activities in the timeframes given, or in the days and weeks before or after the carnival is set to visit. The locations are not known to correlate to any particular pattern, and are thought to be entirely random. Viewers who watch more than one cycle of the tape report that the names of the locations become more personally relevant to them on subsequent playbacks. After five playbacks, the list of locations invariably contains towns and cities in close physical proximity to the viewer at the time of viewing.

Subjects whom watch multiple playbacks seem to develop a partial immunity to amnestics in regards to the content of the playbacks. They also begin to develop an addictive desire to watch the cassette with increasing frequency, claiming it to be their "favorite show". As multiple viewings can cause spontaneous minor mutations to occur in the viewer, each subject is only to be used once for viewing duties. Due to the events concerning Subject #4 (attached file, Subject #4 report), permission from the Ethics Committee is required for repeated testing using the same subject.

Addendum 3, Manifestations: As noted above, SCP-324-1874 is able to manifest various kinds of matter, often with unpredictable results. When in a darkened area, this manifested material is capable of causing many as of yet unexplained phenomena, most often the creation of large objects and animals, and mutations of those whom come into contact with the initial manifestations. On rare occasions, these secondary manifestations can trigger their own tertiary manifestations. Though no instance of a third generation manifestation has been observed to trigger a further effect of its own, the theoretical possibility still exists. A list of notable manifestations follows, with supplemental logs included to illustrate the danger posed.

1. Popcorn Scent. Manifested as a colourless gas. Threat: Fatal to individuals not wearing contained breathing units.
2. Animal fur. Manifested as singular hairs. Threat: Depending on animal and location of manifestation, fatal to individuals and small groups.
3. Cotton Candy. Manifested as liquid sugar. Threat: Fatal to individuals not wearing contained breathing units, and small groups in close quarters.
4. Screws. Manifested as metal shavings. Threat: Potentially fatal to individuals, if the manifested screws appear in vital bodily areas.
5. Posters, flyers, and advertisements. Manifested as paper dust. Threat: Potential cognitohazard, study is in progress.

Supplementary Interview Log 324-1874-MP: Following the unexpected death of a D-Class personnel while changing the object's casing for the first time, an interview was conducted with Dr. Amlia, then head of the project.
[Recording Begins]
Interviewer: Thank you for your cooperation, doctor. Could you please summarize today's events, for the record?
Project Head: Yes. Today, we cleaned and sanitized 324-1874's containment unit, including proper disposal of it's casing. Unfortunately, a previously unknown behavior surfaced and the assistant doing the actual cleaning, uh, well, you know…
Interviewer: The report says the SCP killed him. Is this correct?
Project Head: Not directly, but, yes.
Interviewer: Can you elaborate, please?
Project Head: Well, you see, when the cassette was first recovered, it had no box. No sleeve, I mean. For the sake of protecting its exterior, we put one on it. We realized pretty quickly that being on the cassette was causing the paper to bleach, we still aren't sure how it does that, and soon afterward it began to fill in with images and words. This was all very fascinating, of course, but then it didn't stop.
Interviewer: How so?
Project Head: When it ran out of room on the case, it just kept making more, on the surface of the case. We thought it was rotting the paper at first, but closer examination showed that materials were pooling on the outside of the sleeve. Well, we figured, it wasn't doing that before we put a sleeve on, so maybe it would stop if we took it off.

Addendum 4, Subject #4 Report: