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After cleaning up the last of the blood, 
the Priest splashes water on his face,  

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hoping the chill will help steady him, 
steel his nerves ahead of the ceremony.  

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He’s performed dozens, hundreds even, knows 
the order of service for a Catholic wedding  

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by heart. That was until… it had found him.
The ‘Faith Eater’ he calls it. When it first  

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appears, or rather, its voice does, the Priest 
falls for its trick. He thinks it’s the voice  

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of God speaking, reaching down from the 
heavens to offer up divine wisdom. But  

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the more strange things the voice tells the 
Priest to do, the more he begins to wonder. 

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Then it starts telling him about the weddings. 
What to do, who to accept, how many it needs…  

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and where to expect the Harbinger.
It looks almost Satanic the first time,  

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the sights and sounds of what could only be an 
unholy ritual. But, wrestling with it afterwards,  

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the Priest believes the lies told by the Faith 
Eater, that this is all part of the grand  

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plan. The Harbinger is only present at these 
services to help determine who is worthy and  

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who isn’t. For a time, the Priest resigns 
himself to his own lack of understanding;  

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the Lord’s ways are not his to know, his methods 
beyond the comprehension of a mortal… but he  

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still has nightmares about all the blood.
Lifting his head and looking at himself in  

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the mirror, the Priest clenches a fist, trying 
to stop the trembling of his fingers. The voice  

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of the Faith Eater is still in his head, telling 
him that its Harbinger has arrived. A door opens  

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behind him, and the Priest sees the figure in 
the mirror behind him. They always look the same,  

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always appearing as a man of middle age. But 
beneath the surface it has no organs, its body  

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made of the same fibrous tissue as an insect, hair 
and teeth formed from chitin. This is more cicada  

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than man… just like the Faith Eater itself.
It’s always nerve wracking, performing the  

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ceremony knowing there’s one present who doesn’t 
belong. The Priest always expects there to be a  

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perceptive child or someone, anyone, on the 
bride or groom’s side to point out there is  

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a stranger standing among the groomsmen. 
That the Harbinger will be noticed and the  

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subterfuge will be gone. But it never happens; 
they’re always happy to see ‘Cousin Johnny’,  

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as they call it, and laugh at its jokes. They 
seem to be able to understand the jumble of  

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words that the Priest can hear it speaking in.
The Priest feels his heart racing as he gets  

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through the order of proceedings, drumming at his 
ribs knowing the time to exchange vows is getting  

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closer and closer. The happy couple recite their 
beautiful words and give each other their rings,  

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and a swell hits the pit of the Priest’s stomach. 
The Harbinger, Cousin Johnny as they know him,  

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steps forwards with multiple pairs of pliers 
in his hands, just like the previous time. He  

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passes them around the other groomsmen he’d hiding 
amongst, and the bridesmaids, compelling them to  

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start wrenching their teeth out one by one.
There are no screams, no signs of pain,  

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just copious amounts of blood pouring from the 
wounds in their mouths. As the Harbinger gathers  

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up the removed, bloody teeth and presents them to 
the Bride and Groom, the newlyweds start eating.  

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The crack of their own enamel, jawbones breaking 
is sickening, every time causing the Priest to  

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avert his eyes and look upwards.
Sometimes he prays – to the real  

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god, not the Faith Eater – that this 
nightmare will cease. Other times,  

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he just stares at the church's rafters. This 
time he spots something secluded among the old  

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woodwork overhead, the only other witnesses to the 
objectionable ceremony below… a nest of cicadas. 

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Of all the areas of public life that the 
SCP Foundation keeps under surveillance,  

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one might not expect the world of dentistry to 
be one that warrants so much observation. Yet,  

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over the years, the Foundation’s mission has 
come to prove anything, it’s that anomalies  

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can and will occur almost anywhere, in 
the most likely or unlikely of places. 

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Including inside human teeth.
Some Foundation agents have spent tireless years,  

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even entire careers, embedded as assistants, 
receptionists and other members of staff at dental  

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practitioners, on the look out for SCP incursions. 
While under deep cover at these establishments,  

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agents are tasked with keeping a close eye on the 
medical and dental records of patients, and are  

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instructed to report suspected any potentially 
anomalous conditions to the Foundation. 

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One recent incident took place at a rural 
dentist’s office in New Mexico. The Patient,  

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an unassuming, average male, had booked an 
appointment with the local dental surgery,  

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complaining off a mild pain within his jaw, in 
and around his canines. The Dentist, a man named  

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locally as ‘Uncle Ted’ given his reputation as 
a friendly family dentist, performed a routine  

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examination on the Patient, expecting that the 
man had little more than a minor toothache. 

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On first glance, Uncle Ted thought he was looking 
at an ectopic growth, wherein a tooth grows in  

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an abnormal position, usually stemming from the 
root. Shifting his tiny mirror around, he wasn’t  

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certain; it could have been a gemination, where 
a developing tooth splits into two teeth. But the  

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Patient had said that this pain had only started 
up relatively recently. On top of that, his teeth  

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were all fully developed, either one of these 
conditions would have been noticed much sooner. 

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What he saw when he looked in the Patient’s 
mouth was something entirely different. 

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In his uncertainty, the Dentist probed at the 
afflicted tooth with one of his implements… 

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And to his horror, saw something 
was burrowing inside the tooth... 

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Unbeknownst to him, both the Patient and his 
assisting dental nurse had been undercover  

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operatives of the SCP Foundation, and had 
been waiting for exactly this moment. Now  

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able to get visual confirmation of the 
anomaly, the Assistant locked the Dentist  

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and Patient inside the office and called in 
the incident. Within a matter of moments,  

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operatives of the Foundation’s Mobile Task Force 
Lambda 12 – also known by the code name ‘Pest  

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Control’ – had arrived on the scene to detain the 
Patient, and bringing Uncle Ted the Dentist into  

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custody as a witness to be dosed with amnestics.
What he had just witnessed was a cicada,  

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crawling into the man’s tooth.
The SCP Foundation has given this designation to a  

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phenomenon that affects members of the Superfamily 
Cicadoidea, more colloquially known as cicadas. 

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What do insects like these have to do with teeth?
Well, instances SCP-5852 are cicada’s afflicted  

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with an anomalous growth of human teeth. 
The development of SCP-5852 has, at present,  

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never been recorded occurring with the teeth 
of any other species, only human. In addition,  

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researchers at the SCP Foundation have 
extensively examined each known case  

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of cicada’s being afflicted with SCP-5852 
growths. As far as anyone is aware, there is  

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nothing linking any of these cases of SCP-5852 
infestations, each recorded specimen afflicted  

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with them have nothing in common, from genetic 
background to the region the insects inhabit. 

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All SCP Foundation researchers looking into the 
phenomenon of SCP-5852 seem to concur that these  

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teeth can manifest at random, inside any cicadas 
on the planet. As a result, physical containment  

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of potential specimens is impossible, given the 
sheer numbers of cicada populations in the wild,  

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all of them considered to be potential specimens.
Those known to be afflicted with SCP-5852  

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instances are referred to under the designation 
of SCP-5852-1. A cicada becomes one of these when  

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a growth begins, typically occurring when the 
insect makes direct external contact with an  

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SCP-5852 instance, or another infected SCP-5852-1. 
However, in some cases, researchers have observed  

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a selection of instances wherein infectees 
suffer an internal onset growth of SCP-5852,  

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seemingly having had no other contact 
with the anomalous insects. Essentially,  

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they can grow on or in any affected specimen.
Once a cicada has been infected, the SCP-5852  

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growth will begin by manifesting within its body. 
This can cause anything from mild pain to intense  

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discomfort to the cicada, which only worsens 
as the growth gets larger. When this occurs,  

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anomalous teeth sprout from it, and these 
can pierce through an SCP-5852-1 infectee’s  

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soft tissues surrounding the developing tooth. As 
the teeth increase in number, continuing to grow  

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and damage these tissues, it can lead to fatal 
injuries within the affected cicada, especially  

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if the teeth emerge within and cause damage to the 
insect’s nervous system or cardiovascular system. 

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During experimentation, Foundation 
research teams have discovered that  

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intervening while these SCP-5852 growths 
are occurring has proved impossible. One  

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test involved making numerous attempts to 
counteract the rapid growth of more teeth  

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using targeted injections of acid. Researchers 
theorised that, because human enamel is mostly  

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comprised of a crystalized mineral called 
hydroxyapatite, that a sufficient application  

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of acid would trigger demineralisation, 
essentially dissolving the teeth growing on  

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SCP-5852-1 instances like salt crystals in water.
However, given that acid with a pH lower than five  

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point five was required in order to demineralise 
enamel, this also meant that the infected cicadas  

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were dissolved. Further experimentation with 
lower measures of acid also resulted in failure. 

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Inevitably, a cicada that has become and instance 
of SCP-5852-1 will continue to anomalously grow  

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teeth out of its body until they break through 
the insect’s exoskeleton. Once this has happened,  

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it will become entirely overwhelmed by 
teeth, but will attempt a desperate effort  

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for survival. As is well known among those 
who live in areas where cicadas emerge en  

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masse after their long periods spent dormant, 
these insects are infamous for shedding their  

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exoskeletons in a process similar to moulting, 
in a process commonly referred to as sloughing. 

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SCP-5852 infected cicadas will attempt the same 
when overwhelmed by teeth growths. Foundation  

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entomology experts have since gathered up some of 
these sloughed exoskeletons, and have run numerous  

00:10:11.040 --> 00:10:16.360
tests on them. Conducting close analysis, the 
Foundation has determined that these exoskeletons  

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are comprised entirely of hydroxyapatite 
– that’s the aforementioned, naturally  

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occurring calcium mineral found in tooth enamel.
When an instance of SCP-5852-1 sheds its calcified  

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exoskeleton, this signals the termination of 
the insect’s life; in every documented case,  

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the process always results in the death of 
an infected cicada specimen. This occurs  

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when the teeth that have grown on their old 
exoskeletons pierce and rupture the softer,  

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underdeveloped exoskeleton the cicada grows to 
try and replace it. These are far more fragile,  

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and damaging it is enough to kill an SCP-5852 
infected cicada, if it hasn’t already been killed  

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by having its body ruptured by the teeth growths.
Foundation research teams have closely examined  

00:10:59.040 --> 00:11:03.520
the conditions of the teeth that grow 
as the result of an SCP-5852 infection,  

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and have concluded that over thirty per cent are 
discoloured. Just under thirty per cent posses  

00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:15.040
some form of cavity, and there have – at a 
lower rate – been instances wherein SCP-5852  

00:11:15.040 --> 00:11:20.560
has manifested as malformed teeth. Some of these 
have been observed as containing teratomas,  

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a rare form of germ cell that can 
create tumours in fully formed tissues,  

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including within teeth. Smaller percentages of 
the teeth that develop in SCP-5852-1 instances are  

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either Macrodontia or Microdontia, teeth that are 
either larger or smaller than the average size. 

00:11:37.280 --> 00:11:40.840
Meanwhile, as few others have grown as 
germinated teeth, wherein one of the  

00:11:40.840 --> 00:11:45.360
developing growths splits into two teeth, or 
ectopic growths that causes them to form in  

00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:51.040
abnormal positions or grow at an angle – although, 
some Foundation researchers have pointed out that  

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a tooth growing out of a cicada could easily be 
considered an abnormal place for teeth to develop. 

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Arguably strangest of all, however, is the one 
point four five percent of SCP-5852 teeth that  

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grow out of infected cicadas in the exact same 
condition as teeth that have undergone some form  

00:12:07.520 --> 00:12:13.840
of dental restoration or cosmetic repair work. How 
this is able to occur without the aid of a trained  

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dental professional is still unclear, and a 
question that has baffled Foundation researchers. 

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The widespread nature of SCP-5852 has made it hard 
– if not entirely impossible – for the Foundation  

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to contain it. The Foundation themselves have not 
been exempt from directly experiencing outbreaks  

00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:37.920
of SCP-5852. An incident arose on the twenty 
first of July 2012, significant for marking  

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the first recorded instance of SCP-5852 – which 
normally only affects cicadas – affecting humans… 

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On the day in question, senior Foundation 
researcher at Site 21 and leader of  

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the team handling the experimentation with 
SCP-5852-1 specimens, Doctor Charles Greaves,  

00:12:55.600 --> 00:13:00.280
would request a medical examination with an on 
site physician. He complained that he’d been  

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suffering with a mild toothache that seemed to 
be affecting his canines, and the severity of  

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it had gotten so bad that it was affecting his 
ability to focus and function during work at the  

00:13:09.280 --> 00:13:14.720
Foundation. Shortly after, his request for an 
examination was approved and he was submitted  

00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:20.240
to the Site 21 medical office for treatment.
The Foundation doctor, in an effort to remove  

00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:25.480
Doctor Greaves’ toothache, saw fit to entirely 
remove the affected teeth. This took little  

00:13:25.480 --> 00:13:29.400
more than conducting a routine extraction 
and pulling the researcher’s canines out.  

00:13:29.400 --> 00:13:34.520
But afterwards, to the horror of both Greaves 
and the man now looking at his removed tooth,  

00:13:34.520 --> 00:13:40.000
there was something living inside it.
Several juvenile, developing instances of  

00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:45.840
Magicicada cassini – referred to colloquially and 
among entomologists as the ‘as the seventeen year  

00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:52.880
cicada’ or ‘dwarf periodical cicada’ – had somehow 
burrowed their way into Doctor Greaves’s teeth… 

00:13:52.880 --> 00:13:58.160
The entirety of Site 21 was placed on an immediate 
lockdown, as the Foundation struggled to ascertain  

00:13:58.160 --> 00:14:03.560
exactly how these cicadas had gotten into 
someone’s teeth. In order to gauge just how  

00:14:03.560 --> 00:14:08.320
widespread the anomalous incident was, every 
member of staff was requested to submit to a  

00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:14.400
mandatory tooth examination. Over the course of 
several hours, it was subsequently discovered that  

00:14:14.400 --> 00:14:20.280
every member of Site 21 personnel who had been 
assigned to researching SCP-5852 had numerous  

00:14:20.280 --> 00:14:26.080
specimens of cicadas burrowing in their teeth.
Checking personnel work logs, there appeared to  

00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:31.080
be a breach, and one that risked further potential 
spread of this infection. A Foundation security  

00:14:31.080 --> 00:14:35.800
guard had been given several days of unpaid 
leave due to similar symptoms to Doctor Greaves,  

00:14:35.800 --> 00:14:41.160
having reported his toothache a few days prior to 
the senior researcher. Unlike Greaves, however,  

00:14:41.160 --> 00:14:46.760
the guard was not granted an on site examination 
and was forced to instead consult a local dentist,  

00:14:46.760 --> 00:14:50.800
and wasn’t permitted to return to 
work until his toothache was resolved. 

00:14:50.800 --> 00:14:54.920
Said civilian dentist, one 
Theodore ‘Uncle Ted’ Robinson,  

00:14:54.920 --> 00:14:59.040
would subsequently witness a cicada burrowing 
into the guard’s tooth during the procedure. 

00:15:00.560 --> 00:15:04.920
Fortunately, another Foundation operative was 
also present during the guard’s check up, and this  

00:15:04.920 --> 00:15:10.680
agent – posing as a dental assistant – was able to 
contact the Foundation for support. Presently, the  

00:15:10.680 --> 00:15:15.800
offending security guard has been made redundant 
and received severance without pay. Meanwhile,  

00:15:15.800 --> 00:15:21.160
in his absence, Mr Robinson’s small practice 
was forced to shutter its doors permanently.  

00:15:21.160 --> 00:15:26.120
Amnestic treatment was administered to the now 
former dentist, however an adverse reaction led  

00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:31.720
to exacerbated memory loss prior to Mr Robinson’s 
release from Foundation custody. The Foundation  

00:15:31.720 --> 00:15:37.160
considers its efforts to contain the SCP-5852 
related outbreak a marked success thanks to  

00:15:37.160 --> 00:15:42.680
minimal civilian witnesses and no casualties.
The live cicada specimens that were extracted  

00:15:42.680 --> 00:15:48.760
from affected personnel were kept and studied 
closely. Each one would begin to develop SCP-5852  

00:15:48.760 --> 00:15:55.960
tooth growths soon after. When analyzing these 
instances of SCP-5852-1, research teams discovered  

00:15:55.960 --> 00:16:02.360
that the teeth being grown by these cicadas were 
exact, identical matches… to their own teeth. 

00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:07.760
The teeth of the previous hosts were now growing 
out of the infected insects, though how exactly  

00:16:07.760 --> 00:16:12.360
this occurred, or even how the cicadas were 
able to burrow into staff members’ teeth at all,  

00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:17.240
remains unclear. Following this incident, 
personnel were instructed to never directly  

00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:23.680
handle instances of SCP-5852-1, and make no 
skin to skin contact with any of the cicadas  

00:16:23.680 --> 00:16:29.000
regardless of whether they were alive or dead.
It remains a mystery to SCP Foundation  

00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:33.760
researchers exactly what is responsible 
for causing SCP-5852 outbreaks among  

00:16:33.760 --> 00:16:38.800
cicada populations. Nothing has been gleaned 
about the precise origin of the phenomenon,  

00:16:38.800 --> 00:16:45.600
despite extensive experimentation and examination 
of infected SCP-5852-1 instances. Given that the  

00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:50.600
tooth growing phenomena can occur at random among 
cicada populations, and the fact that this makes  

00:16:50.600 --> 00:16:56.040
containing SCP-5852 somewhat troublesome, the 
Foundation has been forced to come up with  

00:16:56.040 --> 00:17:01.800
alternate procedures in order to keep public 
awareness of SCP-5852 as minimal as possible. 

00:17:01.800 --> 00:17:06.480
A cover story was devised and disseminated to 
civilians through the use of local and nationwide  

00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:12.040
media. Stories began cropping up – especially 
in areas known for having sizable populations  

00:17:12.040 --> 00:17:18.800
of cicadas – of a condition affecting the insects. 
This was referred to as ‘Tumorous Growth Disease’,  

00:17:18.800 --> 00:17:23.880
providing a plausible explanation for the 
toothy growths affecting the cicada populations. 

00:17:23.880 --> 00:17:28.880
Later, this cover story was further pushed 
by Foundation aligned entomological experts,  

00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:32.680
further promoting the notion that cicadas 
afflicted with Tumorous Growth Disease could  

00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:38.400
spread a form of mange – a skin disease normally 
caused by mites and seen in dogs, but that can  

00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:44.080
also result in rashes and irritation in humans, 
as well as the risk of secondary infections. 

00:17:44.080 --> 00:17:48.400
The use of these cover stories to explain the 
presence of tooth riddled cicadas to the public  

00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:52.960
has, for the most part, had the intended effect 
of prompting civilians to avoid cicadas when  

00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:57.560
they are no longer dormant. This has also 
led to most civilians avoiding making any  

00:17:57.560 --> 00:18:01.320
contact with the corpses or discarded 
exoskeletons of the insects, out of  

00:18:01.320 --> 00:18:07.000
concerns around the fictitious ‘Cicada Mange’.
No further incidents of cicadas burrowing into  

00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:12.680
teeth, like the one that occurred at Site 21, have 
been noted. Given their propensity for tracking,  

00:18:12.680 --> 00:18:18.760
containing, and – when necessary – exterminating 
anomalous organisms such as insects and vermin,  

00:18:18.760 --> 00:18:23.120
Mobile Task Force Lambda 12 have been assigned 
as the first response team when dealing with  

00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:29.600
SCP-5852 outbreaks. Should any infected cicadas 
be reported or found in the wild, then Pest  

00:18:29.600 --> 00:18:34.840
Control are sent to secure them, and return 
them to the Entomology Department of Site 21. 

00:18:34.840 --> 00:18:40.680
So far, very few at the Foundation have questioned 
why SCP-5852 specifically affects insects of the  

00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:46.520
Superfamily Cicadoidea and no other entomological 
group, or why certain other anomalies also  

00:18:46.520 --> 00:18:52.280
seem to revolve around cicadas. One member of 
personnel, Research Assistant ‘Wolfie’ Dalebrough,  

00:18:52.280 --> 00:18:57.960
did however raise this question in a small online 
forum connected with the Gamers Against Weed,  

00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:02.000
an online collective known to create 
anomalies for their own amusement. 

00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:08.200
In his post, ‘Wolfie’ highlighted that there 
seemed to be some tangential link between SCP-5852  

00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:16.160
and SCP-2852, a figure known colloquially as 
‘Cousin Johnny’. SCP-2852 has been known to appear  

00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:20.800
at various Catholic and Anglican religious 
functions, more specifically at baptisms,  

00:19:20.800 --> 00:19:26.520
weddings and funerals. An appearance of 
SCP-2852 often results in ceremonies taking  

00:19:26.520 --> 00:19:33.000
a disturbing and violent turn, which also all 
seem to be connected to cicadas in some way. 

00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:38.720
Weddings affected by SCP-2852 are referred 
to by the Foundation as ‘White Level Events’,  

00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:43.160
and ‘Wolfie’ Dalebrough had discovered that one 
of these took place in the same location that  

00:19:43.160 --> 00:19:49.960
SCP-5852 was first discovered. Templeton Memorial 
Church located in Templeton, West Virginia,  

00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:54.680
had been the site of a White Level Event 
several years prior to the discovery being made. 

00:19:54.680 --> 00:19:59.280
A nest of cicadas infected with the anomalous 
growths, the first recorded instances of  

00:19:59.280 --> 00:20:05.400
SCP-5852-1, were found nesting in the roof of 
Templeton Memorial Church by Foundation agents  

00:20:05.400 --> 00:20:10.240
clearing up evidence of the disastrous wedding 
that had been visited by ‘Cousin Johnny’. It  

00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:15.840
is unclear if this insect nest was present 
during the White Level Event, and if SCP-5852  

00:20:15.840 --> 00:20:22.120
was somehow the result of SCP-2852’s presence.
Since postulating about a connection between  

00:20:22.120 --> 00:20:28.320
SCP-5852 and SCP-2852, Research Assistant 
‘Wolfie’ Dalebrough has since been removed  

00:20:28.320 --> 00:20:33.440
from his position at the Foundation. In 2021, 
he was discovered to have been engaging with  

00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.880
the forum connected with the Gamers Against 
Weed group, and was administered with amnestics  

00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:42.120
following his subsequent termination.
It is still unclear if this Research  

00:20:42.120 --> 00:20:47.720
Assistant was able to learn the 
connection between SCP-5852 and Imago… 

00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:51.640
Check out the Doctor Bob Patreon and 
become a junior researcher today! Now go  

00:20:51.640 --> 00:20:58.120
and watch another entry from the files of 
Doctor Bob, like SCP-478 – Tooth Fairies!