Item Number: SCP-3825-EX
Object Class: Keter Explained
Containment Procedure: SCP-3825 currently exists in every populated country for several decades, making containment impossible. SCP-3825-EX no longer requires Containment Procedures. [See Addendum 3825-A]
Description: SCP-3825-EX is a dodecahedral symbol that resembles an S or Möbius loop, commonly called “the Cool S”. Drawing SCP-3825 consists of 14 lines: 2 rows of 3 vertical lines (6 total), 2 lines at the top and bottom to make the points (4 total), and 4 lines in the middle to complete the symbol (4 total).
SCP-3825-EX is a non-threatening a non-anomalous meme of unknown origin, believed to have originally been a logo of some kind or a graffiti tag. Although official sightings have never been recorded, it is popularly to have first been spread in the 1960s. It can now be found in populated areas of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
SCP-3825 displays anomalous effects in its method of dispersion. It is hypothesized that the meme alters the perception of those who know its pattern, encouraging those it’s affected to find it extraordinarily enjoyable to draw. It is more commonly spread between humans with greater imaginative capacity, resulting in SCP-3825 having a higher dispersion rate in children than adults.
Addendum 3825-A: Upon further review, observation, and testing of SCP-3825, the O5 Council voted in favor of re-designating the meme to Object Class: Explained. Although many researchers contributed to the review of SCP-3825-EX, it is noted that O5-06 and O5-11, who had previously abstained in the voting, changed their minds after reading Dr. Jackson Hyde's report (file attached below), which swung the vote in favor of re-designating the Object Class. In addition, the requirement for a Containment Procedure was decided against, as the meme is too widespread for anything effective.
SCP-3825 Review
Submitted By: Hyde Research Team
My colleagues and I (Norman Strong, Erich Goldstein, Meredith Livesly, Jackson Hyde) were transferred to Site ██ two months ago to review previous SCP files for inconsistencies and flaws. One month ago, Dr. Goldstein found the file for SCP-3825, a drawing that all of us recognized despite different background. We found the description to be too lacking for a meme as widespread as this, so we decided to submit a review of its alarmingly high dispersion rate, even post-Internet era, to be added to its file.
Our first idea was that SCP-3825 was a magical rune of some type that powers itself the more it is drawn. This hypothesis was reached by the fact that the symbol looks similar to a Möbius loop, which is associated with the concept of infinity. The idea was that the closer the number of times the symbol was drawn grew to infinity, the stronger the rune became, essentially perpetuating its cycle of dispersion. We filed a 4∑C Request Form for Global Occult Coalition assistance and received Assessment Team 7P4, which consisted of Agatha Perkins (Type Blue) and Manny Oswell (Type Green).
First, we had Dr. Strong draw SCP-3825 in a contained room without any other visual or auditory stimulants. We attached him to an EEG and monitored him from a separate room, observing him only with cameras while Ms. Perkins set up a spell that would monitor him for compulsions. At his discretion, Strong drew the symbol. During this process, we recorded minor activity in the amygdala and mesolimbic pathway, but nothing out of the ordinary. Likewise, Ms. Perkins could not detect any signs of compulsion: magical, psychic, or thaumaturgic.
After that, we attempted to brainstorm a different way that SCP-3825 could affect an individual. Dr. Livesly suggested the idea that SCP-3825 was minutely adjusting reality make it seem socially acceptable to draw the symbol more often. Continuing with the idea, we placed the image that Dr. Strong drew inside of a portable Kant counter. However, the Kant counter maintained a reading of 56.74 Humes before and after SCP-3825 was placed inside of it, meaning any effects were not reality based. In agreement with us, Mr. Oswell found that SCP-3825 was as susceptible to changing reality as any of the other objects in the room*.
Exhausted of ways to determine if SCP-3825's incredible dispersion rate was anomalous in nature, we attempted to research a more mundane reason. After digging through articles pertaining to SCP-3825, one article interviews Paul Cobley, a professor of language and media. Cobley suggests that there is no special meaning to SCP-3825, but it is highly spread because of its interesting shape and simplistic design, especially amongst younger children that cannot draw complex shapes.
In conclusion, we could not find any conclusive anomalous properties in SCP-3825 that relate to its dispersion method or otherwise. We believe the spread of the meme to be the byproduct of good design, human psychology, and just being enjoyable to draw.
*Room 23 of Site ██-G needs two replacement plastic chairs.