Per 
Subject:
Object Class:
Current Designation, "Gritty"
Status: Contained, under observation.
"Gritty" is the latest form taken by an entity that was known to have existed in one form or another since at least the early 1970s, and may possibly be much older.
While this entity possesses some shape-shifting abilities, it always appears to take on a vaguely humanoid shape with large eyes, shaggy fur that is typically brightly colored, two arms, and two legs. On a personal note, it seems like this thing is always trying to be cute but always comes out creepy in some way.
The entity in question possesses some power to alter the perceptions of those aware of him on a conscious level. Experiment's XXX-1-19 have shown that this typically takes the form of developing some attachment to the entity, and the desire to defend the entity when this attachment to the entity or the entity itself are questioned. Some test subjects have become violent in defense of "Gritty" but this is thought to be a function of the test subject's personalities rather than an affect of the entity itself.
The effect begins when the exposed person, hereto after refereed to as XXXX-1, is exposed to Gritty through direct contact or materials including at least a photograph and some descriptive text. There is something of a lag period of hours to days between exposure to Gritty and the subsequent psychological effects. This includes a short "refractory period" where the subject's opinion of Gritty remains unchanged, and the subject is willing to make jokes about Gritty's characterization or appearance and question how he ever came to be a mascot. This refractory period is typically no more than a few hours, and after that the effects begin to alter XXXX-1's perception of Gritty, although there is still some lag between the onset of the affect and the fruition of Gritty's psychological effect on the subjects. This lag period can typically be shortened by making a disparaging comment about Gritty in the presence of XXXX-1, although testing has shown this varies person to person.
Testing has revealed that persons with Antisocial Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Asocial Personality Disorder, and most forms of psychotic disorder and highly resistant to the effects of XXXX, if not entirely immune. This suggests that while Gritty can induce adoration in most, it cannot create positive motions in those without the capacity to feel them to begin with.
Subject Gritty was first encountered by Foundation personnel in 1971, when it was introduced as the McDonald's fast-food mascot Grimace. XXXX was ignored at this time because it did not display any anomalous properties. This changed as the character faced a rapid decline in popularity in the late 80's and early 90s. Reports began to surface of a Grimace that looked anemic, weak, and starved appearing at various McDonald's locations and frightening small children. A Foundation Security Team, the Tunnel Rats, was returning from a failed attempt to secure and contain SCP-[redacted] and stopped at a McDonalds in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for lunch. Lt. Leslie Redmond described the encounter.
"Described what happened when you encountered the entity."
"That sounds a bit too ominous for what we brought in, don't you think?"
"Answer the question lieutenant."
"Right…. so… we were on our way back from trying to capture [redacted]. I don't care what they say about [redacted], it's a slippery bastard, nearly killed Piotrowski and-"
"Save that for the mission de-briefing. Focus on the entity you brought in."
"Right, right. Sorry. So… Anyway. We were driving back to base, but we saw the McDonald's and I told Ricky to pull over."
"Even though you were told to return as quickly as possible?"
"Doc, we'd been through 4 days of freezing mud with nothing to eat but MRE's as well as running on little to no sleep. On top of all of that we lost the damn [redacted] and we knew we were going to get reamed out when we got back, so yeah, I decided 30 minutes and a hot meal was worth whatever disciplinary measures command decided to hand down."
"Proceed."
"Okay. So. We go inside, everyone orders, we all sit down. We got the side eye from a few of the other patrons, being in dirty fatigues and all, but I guess they decided we were hunters or something and let us alone. I'm finishing my fries when we all hear a kid screaming. We bolt up and see a pale purple… thing looming over the kid. At first we though it was just a kid in an old beat up Grimmace costume, the mascot thing, but it looked all… wrong. You could see bones in it, the fur was all falling out, and it looked… gaunt."
"So you took action."
"Yes. Ames and Ricky went out to the van and grabbed a rifle each in case it went sideways. I figured having to call in for a few class B amnestics and a cleanup crew would be better than letting a kid die, so I went over there with my knife and told the fucker to back down."
"Did he?"
"Well, I'm not sure. It started coming towards me, I thought it was going to try to take me down, so I stabbed it. It started bleeding purple and another kid runs over and hugs the damn thing and screams 'Don't hurt Grimmace!' That was when the thing… It got stronger. It got more purple, the cut healed up, it started looking a lot less thin and weak. It rushed me, knocked me over and held it down."
"So it was violent towards you?"
"I mean… yes, but technically I threw the first punch when I tried to stab it. It pinned me to the ground and just… stared at me. Like it was pleading with me to not fight back. When Ames and Ricky came back with the rifles I told them to use the tranq instead. If figured whatever was potent enough to knock out [redacted] could put this thing to sleep. We secured it in the cell in the back of the van, called for a clean-up crew to administer the amnestics to the witnesses and we were brought here."
[silence]
"That's not the end of the story."
"(sighs). No.
Subject is suspected to have been a mascot of some sort for most if not all of it's history. There is some speculation that Gritty may be the origin of the idea of the costumed mascot as it is known today.
In prior forms, the entity now known as Gritty only seemed weakened or emaciated as the the character he was associated with declined in popularity or became an object of scorn. This was observed during the decline of the popularity of the McDonald's character Grimace. This supports the current working theory that Gritty seems to feed off of the adoration of the masses in some way, especially when that takes the form of defending Gritty.
As of now, while the subject is not contained in a traditional sense, it seems to be content enough to be a mascot for the Philadelphia Flyers. As none of it's confirmed past incarnations have been associated with suspicious deaths, mass casualty events, property destruction, or malignant personality changes, it's assumed this entity is not a threat and has therefore been classified as Safe. As a precaution against changes in it's behavior, several personnel have been embedded in the Flyer's organization at various levels to observe Gritty and run any necessary disinformation campaigns to keep it's true nature a secret.
Special Containment Procedure: Operation River Lethe
In the event of Gritty or any subsequent form of the entity becoming a credible threat to the general populous, the necessary personnel will be dispatched to observe the entity and attempt containment.
In the event the entity is too strong to be contained, the entity is to be "starved" by means of first a smear campaign against the institution responsible for the popularization of whatever character Gritty is inhabiting, as well as coordinated efforts to prevent the entity from being broadcast on any form of mass media up to and including the cancellation of television programs, removal from advertisements and promotional materials, reducing the popularity of any team or organization that the entity is a mascot for.
Note: This is not to take the form of a direct assault against the entity's image, as defending the entity from others will make it stronger.
Subsequent attempts to achieve containment will be made until successful. The entity will be locked in Level 4 containment and be prevented from contact with anyone outside of D-Class personnel who have been demonstrated to possess a high degree of Anti-Social Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or similar a-social and a-empathetic tenancies. All materials related to XXXX and it's previous forms is to be suppressed
