MADMac0498

CAPTION-GOES-HERE

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Safe Keter

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX is to be contained within a brick wall 5 meters high, around an area no smaller than 60x60 meters. Any and all civilians residing within a 20 kilometer radius are to be relocated outside this distance. Foundation personnel are to spend no more than two (2) hours on-site at a time, waiting at least one week before returning.
Following the events of 21/12/1985, all Foundation personnel are ordered to evacuate Site-███ as soon as possible (See Addendum 1B). SCP-XXXX is to be isolated from society, and considered uncontainable through any other means. Any buildings still left standing within a 20 30 100 kilometer radius are to be evacuated and destroyed. Class-C amnestics are to be administered to any previous occupants, and maps and official documents are to be updated to merge the encircled counties with the Gulf of Mexico. Should residents be resistant to relocation, purging of buildings should remain the Foundation's top priority.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a tree of the species quercus virginiana¹, 20 meters in height, with a limb spread of 25 meters, located on a plantation in ████████, Louisiana. The object's roots extend to the far reaches of the town, and its anomalous effects are detectable several towns over.
The object's trunk has been impervious to all attempts made, Foundation or otherwise, to cut it down, including use of axes, power tools, and dynamite (See Test Log).
SCP-XXXX is capable of affecting the mental status of human subjects, causing intense anxiety, paranoia, and fear of impending doom, after approximately two (2) hours of exposure if approached with intent to harm the object, typically manifesting approximately two (2) hours after initial contact. Subjects may experience intense auditory and visual hallucinations, recurring nightmares leading to extreme sleep deprivation, and suicidal tendencies (See Interview Log 2).
SCP-XXXX exhibits a mild temporal anomaly in surrounding towns, whereby the annual difference between sunrise and sunset has been evened out as compared to other areas of similar latitude.
Any images, photographic or artistic, directly depicting SCP-XXXX will disappear suddenly and without trace, presumably by anomalous means. Any footage containing the object will distort to the point of total obscurity while the object is in frame. Once it is outside the visible range of the device, the footage will return to its previous, unaltered state.

+ Test Log [MAY NOT KEEP]

Test Log: A team of D-class personnel led by Junior Researcher Michael David were moved to ████████ to document the strength of SCP-XXXX's trunk, as well as its supposed psychological effects.

Test A - 25/11/1985

Procedure: Several D-class personnel were armed with axes and instructed to use them to cut down SCP-XXXX.
Results: After two (2) hours worth of attempts, SCP-XXXX retained minor structure damage at the point of entry. The D-class personnel complained of a minor headache, soon followed by extreme anxiety. Junior Researcher David quickly ordered termination of the test.
Analysis: Psychological symptoms become apparent after approximately two hours of exposure. Affected D-class personnel should be held and psychologically evaluated for no less than one (1) week.

Test B - 27/11/1985

Procedure: D-Class-6454 was given a chainsaw and instructed to cut SCP-XXXX in the area which was already damaged.
Results: SCP-XXXX suffered no further damage after a half hour. At this point, Junior Researcher David ordered termination of the test to avoid potential psychological damage.
Two hours after initiation of the test, D-Class-6454 became visibly distressed, describing whispering voices expressing extreme anger. They have been admitted into psychiatric care.
Analysis: Symptoms will appear after two hours of initial contact, rather than constant exposure. This makes working with SCP-XXXX much more dangerous, as anybody directly involved in testing will be subject to the psychological havoc it wreaks.
Junior Researcher David has filed a request to the O5-Council to stop further research into the durability of SCP-XXXX.
Notes: Further testing of XXXX is absolutely too dangerous to continue. Clearly, it wants to be left alone, and I highly doubt that's unreasonable. It's a tree, for God's sake. They wanna cut it down due to its past, I say leave it up and let it be. Put a wall around it or something, this is ridiculous.
- Junior Researcher David

A request has been filed to stop researching the durability of SCP-XXXX. This request has been denied by the O5 Council, who argue that the research into SCP-XXXX's properties will make it easier to contain.

Test C - 05/12/1985

Procedure: Several D-Class personnel were instructed to lay sticks of dynamite around SCP-XXXX. Junior Researcher David then had the area cleared before blowing it up.
Results: SCP-XXXX suffered no blast damage. Three hours later, all involved D-class personnel were admitted into psychiatric care. Symptoms included migraine headaches, intense auditory and/or visual hallucinations, and nightmares involving people hanging from branches of a large tree. Many affected personnel were disturbed enough to avoid sleep altogether, which amplified SCP-XXXX's effects.
Analysis: Symptoms are not caused by direct contact with SCP-XXXX, but rather approaching it with intent to harm it. Junior Researcher David has filed a request to the O5 Council to stop further research.
Notes: I mean it. This research has the combined benefit of being completely unnecessary and entirely contradictory to the Foundation's purpose. We're supposed to be securing and protecting. This accomplishes neither of those things and puts our personnel at a considerable risk. This needs to be abandoned. Just build a wall around the damned thing and call it a day.
- Junior Researcher David

The request to stop research into the durability of SCP-XXXX has been approved by the O5 Council.

+ Addendum 1

Addendum 1A: On 15/12/1985, A team of construction workers led by Researcher Taylor Cox began construction on a brick wall around SCP-XXXX 5 meters high with a 30 meter radius. Researcher Cox set up a popup site, Site-███, to oversee construction of the wall.
Six (6) days later, on 21/12/1985, construction was completed, and all workers were administered Class-A amnestics before being laid off.
At exactly 21:32:43, on the evening of 21/12/1985, 36 seconds after completion of the wall, 30 tornadoes were documented to have formed globally within the same instant, nearby to important Foundation research laboratories. Research is still ongoing as to whether or not the tornadoes were anomalous in nature.
One (1) such tornado made its way through ████████ to Site-███, lifting the on-site cement truck, carrying it over 100 kilometers south, and depositing it into the Gulf of Mexico.
Minutes later, a thunderstorm transited through ████████. Lightning struck SCP-XXXX once, and the wall four (4) times. SCP-XXXX's leaves caught on fire, its trunk remained unharmed, and the wall proceeded to disintegrate, leaving behind no particulate. Samples of its bark were collected, and analysis of its chemical structure is ongoing. Researcher Cox filed a request to reclassify SCP-XXXX as Keter.
Notes: Fuck.
- Researcher Cox

Addendum 1B: As of 23/12/1985, in the interest of preventing a potential XK class end-of-the-world scenario, the O5 Council has ordered the immediate discontinuation of all research into the nature of SCP-XXXX and any supposedly related events.

+ Interview Log

Interviewed: Researcher Taylor Cox

Interviewer: Dr. Andrew McKay

Foreword: Conducted on 05/01/1986, approximately two weeks after the discontinuation of research into SCP-XXXX, in order to document the effects that the object has on behaviour and mental status.

<Begin Log>

McKay: Mr. Cox, I thank you for agreeing to this interview. Please, have a seat.

Researcher Cox grunts as a soft squeak is heard from the chair.

McKay: I'd like to start off just by asking you what it was like to work in such close proximity to SCP-XXXX.

Cox: That fucking tree … The longer I'm near it, the worse I feel. When I was collecting samples from the bark, I swore I heard monstrous screaming. One time, I felt eyes boring into the back of my skull, but when I turned around all I saw was that. Damn. TREE.

After a few seconds of silence, Researcher Cox lets out a long, exhausted sigh.

Cox: We shouldn't have been there. We weren't welcome. This was a mistake, and we'll all pay the price for it. I haven't slept well in 2 weeks. Every time I close my eyes, I hear blood-curdling screams. Whatever that fucking tree is, it was angry, and it wanted us gone. I can't help but wonder if it's still angry, and if the stain it left on our minds will ever fade.

McKay: I see. And was there any details you could provide—

Cox: Does it look like I'd want to tell you? Does this seem like something I wanna fucking talk about?!

McKay: Taylor, please, I just need you to tell me—

Cox: I don't wanna fucking talk about it, Andrew, how many times do I have to tell you?! No, you know what? I'm leaving.

The chair squeaks once more, footsteps ring out as Researcher Cox mumbles inaudibly. Dr. McKay sighs gently.

McKay: Council's gonna have my ass—

<End Log>

Closing Statement: On the evening of 15/01/1986, Researcher Cox was found dead in his office, with the words "IT'S ANGRY" scrawled in frantic handwriting on the walls and ceiling.

Notes: Following this interview, the O5 Council finalized the decision to update SCP-XXXX to Keter classification.

+ Addendum 2

Addendum 2: On the morning of 16/01/1986, a Cat 5 hurricane formed from a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico. Record-breaking winds entirely destroyed Site-██ near ███████, Louisiana, causing a widespread containment breach of at least ██ Euclid and █ Keter SCP objects. All objects have been successfully relocated to Site-██ in Kentucky until reconstruction of Site-██ has been completed.
Notes: That tree is trying to kill us.
- Dr. Alan Snyder

Footnotes

1. Southern live oak