WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.250 --> 00:00:01.920 July 18th, 2014. 00:00:01.920 --> 00:00:07.960 The calm and peaceful tranquillity of the day has just been disrupted by the squawk 00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:10.350 of a panicked report over the radio. 00:00:10.350 --> 00:00:13.630 Civilians in danger, urgent assistance required. 00:00:13.630 --> 00:00:17.560 The Park Ranger hears the screams carried through the trees by the wind a second later, 00:00:17.560 --> 00:00:21.550 already hurtling his way toward the location given by his colleague. 00:00:21.550 --> 00:00:23.220 Something is very, very wrong. 00:00:23.220 --> 00:00:27.199 Usually, nothing like this happens at Crater Lake National Park. 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:31.750 His mind starts racing as fast as the Jeep he’s driving, a brain entering survival 00:00:31.750 --> 00:00:34.220 mode, trying to predict every possible danger. 00:00:34.220 --> 00:00:35.540 A forest fire? 00:00:35.540 --> 00:00:38.150 It was still daylight; he’d have seen the smoke. 00:00:38.150 --> 00:00:39.740 An animal attack? 00:00:39.740 --> 00:00:43.960 Maybe, bears could sometimes be seen roaming about on the fringes of the park, but they 00:00:43.960 --> 00:00:48.180 typically kept away from humans, especially the more people were around. 00:00:48.180 --> 00:00:53.180 And today, in the midst of July, there were plenty to ward off any strays. 00:00:53.180 --> 00:00:58.050 Every attempted prediction only raised the same question: just what the hell was going 00:00:58.050 --> 00:00:59.390 on? 00:00:59.390 --> 00:01:02.630 Approaching the tree line, one of the other rangers waves down the car. 00:01:02.630 --> 00:01:03.930 She’s armed. 00:01:03.930 --> 00:01:07.770 If the vagueness of the report hadn’t been troubling enough, seeing another park ranger 00:01:07.770 --> 00:01:10.409 with a shotgun in her hands certainly was. 00:01:10.409 --> 00:01:14.940 They were in bear territory; it wasn’t unheard of for one of them to occasionally need a 00:01:14.940 --> 00:01:16.560 gun to ward the bears off. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:18.670 But that was a rarity out at Crater Lake. 00:01:18.670 --> 00:01:22.909 Slamming the brakes and leaping out of the Jeep, the Park Ranger rushes towards his colleague 00:01:22.909 --> 00:01:25.180 as she takes cover behind a nearby tree. 00:01:25.180 --> 00:01:29.439 He immediately asks her what the situation is, but she urges him to be quiet. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:33.869 There’s something out there with them, she tells him in a whisper, racking a live round 00:01:33.869 --> 00:01:34.899 into her shotgun. 00:01:34.899 --> 00:01:39.430 When the Park Ranger asks what, the Other Ranger shoots him a look. 00:01:39.430 --> 00:01:44.869 Her eyes say it all: she’s terrified and confused; this isn’t just a wild animal 00:01:44.869 --> 00:01:50.020 on a rampage or frightenedly defending its territory and cubs; she has no idea what it 00:01:50.020 --> 00:01:51.020 is. 00:01:51.020 --> 00:01:54.500 She can’t even believe she’s seen it, let alone start describing it. 00:01:54.500 --> 00:02:00.360 Twigs snap under the foot of… something, causing the Other Ranger to raise her shotgun, 00:02:00.360 --> 00:02:03.510 leaning out from behind the tree in the direction of the noise. 00:02:03.510 --> 00:02:06.880 She scans the space a few feet beyond the barrel: nothing. 00:02:06.880 --> 00:02:12.120 The Park Ranger takes a look for himself, not exactly eager to see what it is but unable 00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:14.760 to fend off his own curiosity. 00:02:14.760 --> 00:02:19.090 He spots something, nothing more than a shape passing between the trees, almost mistaking 00:02:19.090 --> 00:02:22.220 it for a branch simply moving in the gentle breeze. 00:02:22.220 --> 00:02:26.780 He taps on the Other Ranger’s shoulder and alerts her: whatever it is, it’s close. 00:02:26.780 --> 00:02:30.180 And it seems to be walking like a man. 00:02:30.180 --> 00:02:31.569 The Other Ranger looks. 00:02:31.569 --> 00:02:36.830 In a second, she raised her shotgun and fired; a blast of buckshot erupts from the barrel, 00:02:36.830 --> 00:02:40.239 causing a deafening, high-pitched ringing in the Park Ranger’s ears. 00:02:40.239 --> 00:02:45.410 He doubles over, clutching his ears as the sound becomes physically painful, not realizing 00:02:45.410 --> 00:02:49.880 his colleague fumbling as she grabs a fresh cartridge… or the thing staggering towards 00:02:49.880 --> 00:02:51.120 them. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:55.830 That is, until he looks up, the moment his hearing returns. 00:02:55.830 --> 00:02:59.530 But before we go any further, I have a question for you - 00:02:59.530 --> 00:03:01.569 Does something feel wrong… with you? 00:03:01.569 --> 00:03:06.990 Is there something interfering with your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals? 00:03:06.990 --> 00:03:11.310 Regardless if you have a clinical mental health issue like depression or anxiety, or if you're 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BetterHelp for supporting this channel. 00:04:23.940 --> 00:04:29.690 Now back to the bizarre creature in the forest It’s like part of the forest has come to 00:04:29.690 --> 00:04:34.039 life and assumed the shape of a human being in order to attack them. 00:04:34.039 --> 00:04:37.789 Roots cover its body, sealing up the space where its eyes would be. 00:04:37.789 --> 00:04:41.850 Oregon beaked moss coats its arms and hangs off it like it’s been draped in a sheet 00:04:41.850 --> 00:04:43.449 of yellowy green plants. 00:04:43.449 --> 00:04:45.680 The creature is horrible to look at… 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:47.770 And yet, it looks lost. 00:04:47.770 --> 00:04:53.000 It stumbles, arms outstretched like it’s trying to blindly feel its way around… and 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.500 the Park Ranger realizes it can’t see. 00:04:56.500 --> 00:05:00.020 Another cartridge clicks into the shotgun tube, pulled back the chamber by the slide 00:05:00.020 --> 00:05:04.280 of the pump, and the Other Ranger raises the weapon, steadying her aim so as not to miss 00:05:04.280 --> 00:05:05.320 this time. 00:05:05.320 --> 00:05:10.330 Her sights line up, the mossy monstrosity sitting in the center, and her finger squeezes 00:05:10.330 --> 00:05:11.889 on the trigger. 00:05:11.889 --> 00:05:15.949 An unexpected force from below pushes the barrel of the shotgun upwards, pointing it 00:05:15.949 --> 00:05:17.880 towards the treetops. 00:05:17.880 --> 00:05:23.090 Another ear-splitting blast rings out, sending nearby birds flying from their nests in panic. 00:05:23.090 --> 00:05:27.539 The Park Ranger keeps the weapon pointed up, despite his colleague’s protests to let 00:05:27.539 --> 00:05:31.610 go of her gun or the drops of blood dripping out and trailing down his neck from his own 00:05:31.610 --> 00:05:33.110 eardrums. 00:05:33.110 --> 00:05:38.080 He glances over his shoulder as… whatever it is, flees in terror. 00:05:38.080 --> 00:05:42.160 Startled by the shotgun blast, it runs away between the trees, knocking into some as it 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:44.570 moves with uncertainty. 00:05:44.570 --> 00:05:48.410 Minutes later, a team of other rangers arrives, declaring that they’re taking over the search 00:05:48.410 --> 00:05:52.800 effort for the creature that was found lurking around Crater Lake National Park. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:58.420 These rangers seem off; they look the part, in full uniforms and everything. 00:05:58.420 --> 00:06:01.220 But the Park Ranger can’t place their faces. 00:06:01.220 --> 00:06:06.940 They somehow seem brand new, yet not one of them is phased by the unusual situation. 00:06:06.940 --> 00:06:11.760 They seemed all the more interested in questioning all the hikers and families visiting the park 00:06:11.760 --> 00:06:14.509 who had seen the creature, as they were in actually finding it. 00:06:14.509 --> 00:06:18.569 It was almost as if they didn’t want the word getting out. 00:06:18.569 --> 00:06:23.200 The Park Ranger decides he can’t keep quiet any longer and raises a concern to the newcomers. 00:06:23.200 --> 00:06:27.800 He tells them that he doesn’t think whatever is out there is some kind of monster… he 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:29.550 thinks it’s human. 00:06:29.550 --> 00:06:33.449 The new rangers thank him for his input, but insist that they’ll take it from here. 00:06:33.449 --> 00:06:37.080 Little did he know, these weren’t other park rangers… 00:06:37.080 --> 00:06:39.460 they were agents of the SCP Foundation. 00:06:39.460 --> 00:06:46.530 They have been embedded within the National Park’s rangers to contain SCP-3310, an anomalous 00:06:46.530 --> 00:06:52.210 log floating in Crater Lake, said to contain a powerful deity named Llao, who can cause 00:06:52.210 --> 00:06:56.230 dangerous weather to erupt unless the log is left to float freely. 00:06:56.230 --> 00:07:02.620 Then, the call comes in from SCP Foundation command, reports of an entity attacking civilians. 00:07:02.620 --> 00:07:07.220 Since they happen to be nearby, in the same park, no less, a handful of agents are sent 00:07:07.220 --> 00:07:11.420 in to investigate, and, if possible, contain the creature. 00:07:11.420 --> 00:07:15.420 Before too long, the civilian witnesses, even the real park rangers who had tried to kill 00:07:15.420 --> 00:07:20.750 the entity, have all been interviewed, administered with memory-wiping amnestics, and subsequently 00:07:20.750 --> 00:07:24.500 released, as if nothing out of the ordinary has even happened. 00:07:24.500 --> 00:07:29.660 Putting boots to the ground, the search for the unidentified creature doesn’t take long. 00:07:29.660 --> 00:07:33.270 Within two hours, the agents have found what they’re looking for. 00:07:33.270 --> 00:07:34.820 Only it’s not a creature. 00:07:34.820 --> 00:07:36.410 It’s a person. 00:07:36.410 --> 00:07:38.830 His name is Zach Hermann. 00:07:38.830 --> 00:07:42.910 They find him cowering under an alcove near the edge of the lake, his moss-covered skin 00:07:42.910 --> 00:07:47.979 providing a near-perfect camouflage for him to blend in with his woodland surroundings. 00:07:47.979 --> 00:07:52.090 The only thing that gives him away is the sound of his frightened sobs. 00:07:52.090 --> 00:07:55.729 The Foundation agents aren’t under orders to neutralize him on sight. 00:07:55.729 --> 00:08:00.470 Instead, they humanely subdue Zach Hermann and arrange to have him taken to a nearby 00:08:00.470 --> 00:08:03.740 Foundation outpost for examination. 00:08:03.740 --> 00:08:09.470 SCP-3462, an anomalous humanoid entity known to inhabit a rundown Blockbuster video rental 00:08:09.470 --> 00:08:14.210 store in the nearby town of Bend, Oregon, with the area having been sealed off and constantly 00:08:14.210 --> 00:08:16.090 patrolled by Foundation personnel. 00:08:16.090 --> 00:08:20.770 So, that seems like the best place to take Zach and figure out exactly what happened 00:08:20.770 --> 00:08:21.870 to him. 00:08:21.870 --> 00:08:26.580 Upon closer examination at the Foundation outpost, it’s discovered that Zach Hermann 00:08:26.580 --> 00:08:32.459 has a number of unidentified roots growing through both his skin and internal organs. 00:08:32.459 --> 00:08:36.370 Given the danger to his life that this poses, he’s rushed into an operating theatre to 00:08:36.370 --> 00:08:38.380 undergo emergency surgery. 00:08:38.380 --> 00:08:42.220 Eighteen hours pass as the Foundation tries to save the man’s life. 00:08:42.220 --> 00:08:47.160 At this time, the surgeons decide that it isn’t wise or possible to remove all the 00:08:47.160 --> 00:08:52.410 roots at once, so instead, they focus on clearing the ones that had grown within and over his 00:08:52.410 --> 00:08:55.900 eyes, nostrils, ear canals, and throat. 00:08:55.900 --> 00:09:00.329 Another seven hours of intensive surgery pass, and Zach Hermann is still alive. 00:09:00.329 --> 00:09:05.519 He’s not cured, but the roots covering much of his face have at least been cleared. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:09.920 After stabilizing, it’s then that he’s transferred to Site 56, where the Foundation 00:09:09.920 --> 00:09:14.200 intends to conduct further operations to remove the growths from his body, as well as ask 00:09:14.200 --> 00:09:16.480 Zach questions about what happened to him. 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:21.940 They’re still baffled as to what caused his anomalous mutation into a moss monster. 00:09:21.940 --> 00:09:29.280 Just where had these roots come from… and what exactly was SCP-7185? 00:09:29.280 --> 00:09:34.020 Researcher Charlie Kanley is tasked with conducting interviews with the subject, Zach Hermann, 00:09:34.020 --> 00:09:38.830 between his various procedures, and she wastes no time in unearthing his story. 00:09:38.830 --> 00:09:40.480 Oakridge, Oregon. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:44.940 Sixty miles north of Crater Lake National Park, where Zach will eventually be found. 00:09:44.940 --> 00:09:49.550 That’s where he describes the horrific mutation taking place. 00:09:49.550 --> 00:09:54.440 Given that the roots would grow over his eyes, his vision impaired, he has no idea where 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:58.209 he’s going until he eventually winds up in Crater Lake. 00:09:58.209 --> 00:10:01.560 Scared, alone, and changed beyond recognition. 00:10:01.560 --> 00:10:06.200 And as he describes it, he wasn’t the only one. 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:11.029 Shortly before his own mutation, Zach mentions witnessing the same happening to Kellen Hermann, 00:10:11.029 --> 00:10:12.170 his husband. 00:10:12.170 --> 00:10:16.050 The couple, along with a group of several others, are in a small Oregon town reached 00:10:16.050 --> 00:10:21.089 by traveling to Hills Creek Lake, then following Hills Creek Road south until finding a road 00:10:21.089 --> 00:10:23.740 sign simply labeled ‘Beard.’ 00:10:23.740 --> 00:10:28.339 The place has spent seventy years in ruins, abandoned, and left to be overtaken by the 00:10:28.339 --> 00:10:29.390 elements. 00:10:29.390 --> 00:10:33.630 Most of the roads leading into the area are blocked off thanks to a landslide, leaving 00:10:33.630 --> 00:10:37.250 the town completely void of all human life. 00:10:37.250 --> 00:10:40.500 Until Zach and his friends arrive in Beard. 00:10:40.500 --> 00:10:45.630 There are six of them in total, including Zach, his husband, Kellan, then Azrael, Mark, 00:10:45.630 --> 00:10:47.709 Angel, and Caleb. 00:10:47.709 --> 00:10:52.120 Answering an ad on Craigslist, the group has come to Beard after being hired by a man named 00:10:52.120 --> 00:10:56.540 Sean to scavenge through the abandoned town, collecting anything that could potentially 00:10:56.540 --> 00:10:58.010 be of value. 00:10:58.010 --> 00:11:02.490 Scrap metal and intact valuables, as long as they can be resold, are worth holding on 00:11:02.490 --> 00:11:03.490 to. 00:11:03.490 --> 00:11:07.980 While the group searches, Sean delivers food and supplies to them once per month. 00:11:07.980 --> 00:11:12.339 One thing that they hope for each time, but never seem to get, is something to drink in 00:11:12.339 --> 00:11:13.399 their downtime. 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:18.380 So, on a whim, while exploring an abandoned factory they come across, Zach looks for an 00:11:18.380 --> 00:11:21.010 alternative source of beer for the group to enjoy. 00:11:21.010 --> 00:11:25.170 What he finds is an unusual blue machine. 00:11:25.170 --> 00:11:29.800 Pulling levers on it, he finds that it dispenses samples of a surprisingly green liquid. 00:11:29.800 --> 00:11:33.260 Of course, none of the group immediately drinks it. 00:11:33.260 --> 00:11:38.310 Not until Angel finds an old journal with entries dating back to the 1930s. 00:11:38.310 --> 00:11:42.350 It describes the owners of the factory giving the liquid to their workers and only ceasing 00:11:42.350 --> 00:11:45.570 the practice after the workers stopped getting drunk. 00:11:45.570 --> 00:11:49.670 Taking that to mean the liquid was safe to drink, the group decided to each take a swig 00:11:49.670 --> 00:11:51.480 of the green. 00:11:51.480 --> 00:11:53.800 Initially, none of them feel any change. 00:11:53.800 --> 00:11:57.250 It’s actually rather anticlimactic, at least at first. 00:11:57.250 --> 00:12:03.029 Soon after, however, they start to feel energized, more alert and awake for much longer without 00:12:03.029 --> 00:12:05.900 feeling the usually expected fatigue that would bring. 00:12:05.900 --> 00:12:09.590 It even helps them search through parts of the town quicker, something they’re all 00:12:09.590 --> 00:12:11.410 grateful for. 00:12:11.410 --> 00:12:14.750 After a week, not one of them even feels the need to sleep. 00:12:14.750 --> 00:12:18.880 They were even healing from injuries faster; small cuts were sealing in minutes, bruises 00:12:18.880 --> 00:12:22.639 clearing entirely almost as quickly as they formed. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:25.670 After about a month, the negative side effects start. 00:12:25.670 --> 00:12:30.269 They start manifesting as small symptoms, the group experiencing various bodily aches 00:12:30.269 --> 00:12:32.490 that gradually become far, far worse. 00:12:32.490 --> 00:12:36.040 It affects each of them differently, too. 00:12:36.040 --> 00:12:40.880 Zach starts to experience a tightness in his chest, while Caleb develops a bad fever that 00:12:40.880 --> 00:12:43.410 leaves him barely able to function. 00:12:43.410 --> 00:12:46.990 Mark and Angel’s hair starts falling out in thick clumps, too. 00:12:46.990 --> 00:12:50.260 Soon after, the same is happening to Caleb too. 00:12:50.260 --> 00:12:54.710 His symptoms are the first to worsen; after his hair falls out, his skin starts to do 00:12:54.710 --> 00:12:55.800 the same. 00:12:55.800 --> 00:12:58.680 It keeps peeling away, turning red… 00:12:58.680 --> 00:13:01.260 Then, Sean arrives in Beard. 00:13:01.260 --> 00:13:05.040 According to the information given by Zach in his interviews with the Foundation, their 00:13:05.040 --> 00:13:09.290 employer would routinely drive to the town every three months in order to pick up anything 00:13:09.290 --> 00:13:11.519 valuable the group has recovered. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:15.050 All of them suffering from the ill effects of whatever the liquid they’d all drank 00:13:15.050 --> 00:13:19.290 was, those of the group that still had the strength to stand rushed to meet Sean and 00:13:19.290 --> 00:13:21.300 beg him to get them help. 00:13:21.300 --> 00:13:25.889 Upon taking one look at them, he drives away, abandoning them. 00:13:25.889 --> 00:13:29.899 Four days after Sean left them there, the sleepless group is startled by screaming in 00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:30.899 the night. 00:13:30.899 --> 00:13:33.519 It’s Caleb… and he’s on fire. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:38.110 Panicking, the others try to help, pouring water on him to douse the flames. 00:13:38.110 --> 00:13:42.279 It seems to work, if only for a few minutes before the fire starts up again. 00:13:42.279 --> 00:13:46.510 They even try taking him to the creek that runs through the town, but submerging Caleb 00:13:46.510 --> 00:13:51.750 in the water only causes his skin to form massive blisters that painfully burst. 00:13:51.750 --> 00:13:55.660 Keeping him under didn’t work either; he kept needing to come up for air – and breaking 00:13:55.660 --> 00:14:00.449 the surface, he started catching fire again, the second he was above water. 00:14:00.449 --> 00:14:04.430 There was nothing they could do to save him; he just kept burning. 00:14:04.430 --> 00:14:06.720 Caleb is the first of the group to die. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:08.949 It’s not clear when this occurred. 00:14:08.949 --> 00:14:13.910 Investigating the area, the Foundation recovers fragmented journal entries written by Azrael, 00:14:13.910 --> 00:14:18.149 in which the others all attribute Caleb’s death to him having a weak immune system. 00:14:18.149 --> 00:14:22.540 But normally, diseases don’t cause people to spontaneously catch fire. 00:14:22.540 --> 00:14:27.470 By the morning, he has almost completely burned, leaving only a charred corpse that the group 00:14:27.470 --> 00:14:29.509 buried by the factory. 00:14:29.509 --> 00:14:32.190 Following Caleb’s death, Zach is forced to leave. 00:14:32.190 --> 00:14:35.680 The others blame him for Caleb’s death, and he does as well. 00:14:35.680 --> 00:14:39.880 He intends to find some other way of getting help for the rest of the group. 00:14:39.880 --> 00:14:42.500 Kellan joins him, and the couple leave Beard together. 00:14:42.500 --> 00:14:47.700 Meanwhile, Angel, Mark, and Azrael search for their own way out of the town, but to 00:14:47.700 --> 00:14:49.230 no avail. 00:14:49.230 --> 00:14:53.730 Hardly any of the roads are accessible on foot, and those that are just lead to abandoned 00:14:53.730 --> 00:14:56.740 properties on the woodland outskirts of Beard. 00:14:56.740 --> 00:15:00.589 According to Azrael’s journal entry, they then refocused their efforts towards finding 00:15:00.589 --> 00:15:03.230 a cure for whatever it was they had drunk. 00:15:03.230 --> 00:15:05.880 It’s not much more successful. 00:15:05.880 --> 00:15:09.519 During Zach and Kellan’s absence, Mark is the next group member whose symptoms start 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:10.519 to get worse. 00:15:10.519 --> 00:15:16.260 His hair had almost entirely gone, and soon, rashes started to form over his skin before 00:15:16.260 --> 00:15:17.690 peeling away. 00:15:17.690 --> 00:15:21.899 Immediately, he and the other two start to fear that what happened to Caleb might be 00:15:21.899 --> 00:15:24.250 about to happen to Mark, too. 00:15:24.250 --> 00:15:27.829 Their only plan is for Mark to stay out in the snow if he starts catching fire in the 00:15:27.829 --> 00:15:32.290 same way since, by this point, winter had reached Oregon. 00:15:32.290 --> 00:15:36.370 But instead of a reoccurrence of Caleb’s condition, Mark’s skin begins repeatedly 00:15:36.370 --> 00:15:40.850 forming an unusual blueish-green substance, warm to the touch. 00:15:40.850 --> 00:15:46.060 It accumulates every few hours, and Angel and Azrael help him scrape it off before it 00:15:46.060 --> 00:15:47.320 ultimately returns. 00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:51.449 Within days, it’s returning faster, too fast for them to clear it. 00:15:51.449 --> 00:15:54.779 So much of it forms that it starts dripping off Mark. 00:15:54.779 --> 00:16:00.800 Then Angel points out it seems to be candlewax… and the more of it, the hotter it gets. 00:16:00.800 --> 00:16:03.680 Shortly after, the substance burns out Mark’s eyes. 00:16:03.680 --> 00:16:09.259 He’s completely covered in scalding hot wax, with no way of removing it entirely. 00:16:09.259 --> 00:16:11.390 Eventually, he dies. 00:16:11.390 --> 00:16:16.691 Angel and Azrael can’t move his body thanks to the wax, as more of it keeps forming, nor 00:16:16.691 --> 00:16:19.680 can they bury him yet, thanks to a snowstorm outside. 00:16:19.680 --> 00:16:24.930 It’s only a week later that Azrael thinks he sees the body moving… 00:16:24.930 --> 00:16:26.089 Mark is still alive. 00:16:26.089 --> 00:16:31.720 He’s been lying in a pile of hot wax the entire time, his body still making more. 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:35.120 Soon, he stops moving altogether. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:39.420 While all this is happening, Kellan and Zach are still trying to find help, but manage 00:16:39.420 --> 00:16:42.470 to wind up lost in the woods surrounding Beard. 00:16:42.470 --> 00:16:47.459 The numerous overlapping and confusing paths surrounding the town had meant one wrong turn 00:16:47.459 --> 00:16:52.339 sends both of them heading towards the woods, with only a few cans of food, a lighter, and 00:16:52.339 --> 00:16:54.660 a pocket knife between them. 00:16:54.660 --> 00:16:59.240 After a week, they pass a mountain that Zach assumes is the Diamond Peak volcano. 00:16:59.240 --> 00:17:03.699 Another week later, both he and Kellan are beginning to suffer their own severe symptoms 00:17:03.699 --> 00:17:06.250 from the liquid they consumed. 00:17:06.250 --> 00:17:09.010 Kellan is vomiting shards of metal and glass. 00:17:09.010 --> 00:17:13.350 Further metallic chunks were breaking through Kellan’s skin as they grew within his body. 00:17:13.350 --> 00:17:18.600 At the same time, roots grow over Zach’s eyes, preventing him from fully seeing just 00:17:18.600 --> 00:17:20.680 what is happening to his husband. 00:17:20.680 --> 00:17:25.320 They sit together in Kellan’s dying moments, Zach feeling like he needs to be there for 00:17:25.320 --> 00:17:29.450 his partner even though he can’t see him or do anything to help him. 00:17:29.450 --> 00:17:34.520 A few hours after Kellan’s breathing eventually stops, Zach walks through the woods until 00:17:34.520 --> 00:17:39.960 he hears the sound of cars, only to be found in Crater Lake National Park. 00:17:39.960 --> 00:17:42.680 Around the same time, Angel also dies. 00:17:42.680 --> 00:17:47.020 It takes him a whole week after his eyelids and fingernails fall out, followed by every 00:17:47.020 --> 00:17:48.180 layer of his skin. 00:17:48.180 --> 00:17:52.730 It would happen multiple times, thanks to the effects of the green liquid causing him 00:17:52.730 --> 00:17:56.289 to recover, all so his skin could once again come off. 00:17:56.289 --> 00:18:03.120 At one point, Azrael, horrified by it all, sees his friend’s face fall off. 00:18:03.120 --> 00:18:07.289 Still unable to find a way out of Beard, one of the remaining two survivors of the group 00:18:07.289 --> 00:18:09.280 also starts to change. 00:18:09.280 --> 00:18:14.450 Bumps form under Azrael’s skin, eventually causing his hands to become swollen and preventing 00:18:14.450 --> 00:18:16.920 him from moving anything below his chest. 00:18:16.920 --> 00:18:21.770 Aware of his impending fate, he stashes the journal he’s been writing in inside a backpack 00:18:21.770 --> 00:18:23.531 and leaves it for whoever finds them. 00:18:23.531 --> 00:18:29.010 The Foundation is able to recover the bodies of Azrael, Angel, Mark, and the buried remains 00:18:29.010 --> 00:18:33.090 of Caleb within Beard, but they decline to share this information with Zach. 00:18:33.090 --> 00:18:37.929 Sean’s identity is confirmed to be that of Sean MacDougall, and Foundation agents 00:18:37.929 --> 00:18:39.310 are sent to interrogate him. 00:18:39.310 --> 00:18:44.630 They aren’t able to ascertain any valuable information from him, so instead amnesticise 00:18:44.630 --> 00:18:45.650 him. 00:18:45.650 --> 00:18:49.390 Anything saved on Sean’s devices relating to the location of the town of Beard, the 00:18:49.390 --> 00:18:53.340 group he hired to scavenge there, and the forty-six thousand dollars he’d made from 00:18:53.340 --> 00:18:56.840 the scavenged goods are all seized. 00:18:56.840 --> 00:19:00.240 SCP-7185 consists of two elements. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:04.780 The first is an unidentified machine that was uncovered by Zach Hermann and his friends 00:19:04.780 --> 00:19:09.470 in an abandoned factory in the Southern Cascadian Mountain Range of Oregon. 00:19:09.470 --> 00:19:15.270 Despite not having any power sources connected to it, SCP-7185 seemingly functions without 00:19:15.270 --> 00:19:17.510 the need for electricity. 00:19:17.510 --> 00:19:22.270 It is instead operated via a series of levers connected to the main body of the device. 00:19:22.270 --> 00:19:25.110 Two are black, and one is rusted over. 00:19:25.110 --> 00:19:29.559 Should both of the black levers be switched downwards and the rusty lever pulled, the 00:19:29.559 --> 00:19:33.950 machine will produce the second element of this anomaly, designated by the Foundation 00:19:33.950 --> 00:19:41.120 as SCP-7185-1, hereby alternatively known as the Body Horror Juice. 00:19:41.120 --> 00:19:47.960 The alcoholic liquid byproduct of activating SCP-7185 is green in color and has a semi-viscous 00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:48.960 consistency. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:53.289 If this liquid is drunk at any point by a human being, then this person will undergo 00:19:53.289 --> 00:19:58.250 major bodily changes that tend to span a period of at least several weeks. 00:19:58.250 --> 00:20:05.049 Anyone ingesting SCP-7185-1 will suffer numerous mutations and deformations of their body, 00:20:05.049 --> 00:20:10.610 although exactly how they are altered varies depending on the person drinking the juice. 00:20:10.610 --> 00:20:16.380 SCP-7185-1 also negates the effects of any depressants, opiates, or other stimulants 00:20:16.380 --> 00:20:21.700 taken after ingestion, meaning there is no way to nullify the pain of these intense physical 00:20:21.700 --> 00:20:22.730 changes. 00:20:22.730 --> 00:20:28.450 On July 21st, 2014, Zach Hermann died thanks to complications during surgery. 00:20:28.450 --> 00:20:32.280 The Foundation surgeons have been making extensive efforts to clear the roots growing throughout 00:20:32.280 --> 00:20:36.580 his body as a result of Hermann ingesting SCP-7185. 00:20:36.580 --> 00:20:40.809 They have made enough of a difference to allow him to participate in interviews with Researcher 00:20:40.809 --> 00:20:41.809 Kanley. 00:20:41.809 --> 00:20:46.380 However, during these exchanges, Zach mentions that he can still feel everything that is 00:20:46.380 --> 00:20:48.730 happening to him during the procedures. 00:20:48.730 --> 00:20:51.980 Every incision, every removal, every stitch. 00:20:51.980 --> 00:20:56.840 The same day, the body of Zach’s husband, Kellan Hermann, is also recovered. 00:20:56.840 --> 00:21:00.780 Check out the Dr. Bob Patreon and become a junior researcher today! 00:21:00.780 --> 00:21:06.230 Now go and watch another entry from the files of Dr. Bob, like SCP-420 Aggressive Skin Condition!