WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.350 --> 00:00:05.330 A wasp stings a cockroach in the brain, rendering it a mindless zombie that she can lead to 00:00:05.330 --> 00:00:10.730 her home and fill with eggs that will hatch and devour the insect from the inside. 00:00:10.730 --> 00:00:16.209 A snail accidentally eats the eggs of a flatworm, and the eggs hatch, filling the snail's eye-stalks 00:00:16.209 --> 00:00:18.000 with sacs of wriggling larvae. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:22.400 They mimic the movements of caterpillars, attracting hapless birds and enticing them 00:00:22.400 --> 00:00:27.140 to swoop down, attack, eat, and continue the life cycle of the worms. 00:00:27.140 --> 00:00:31.900 The spores of the Cordyceps fungus make their way inside of a doomed ant, taking over its 00:00:31.900 --> 00:00:37.180 nervous system, puppeting its body, and forcing it to march to the nearest, highest point 00:00:37.180 --> 00:00:42.320 only to die and split open, fungus blooming from its corpse and spreading spores to the 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:43.550 next victim. 00:00:43.550 --> 00:00:48.230 Underwater, the sea louse settles into its new home inside of a fish's mouth, feeding 00:00:48.230 --> 00:00:51.190 on blood from the tongue until it withers away. 00:00:51.190 --> 00:00:55.890 There, the louse attaches itself in the tongue's place, serving as a mimic of the original 00:00:55.890 --> 00:00:59.620 organ while the fish is none the wiser. 00:00:59.620 --> 00:01:02.610 Back on land, humans are not exempt. 00:01:02.610 --> 00:01:07.299 Nematode worm larvae infect the bloodstream through fly bites, hiding undetected until 00:01:07.299 --> 00:01:10.400 their host feels them wriggling beneath the cornea. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:16.080 Guinea worms enter the system when a person drinks infested water, growing longer and 00:01:16.080 --> 00:01:18.680 longer, then forcing their way out through the foot. 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:23.430 Nature is full of terrifying parasitic creatures, but far scarier than the parasites we know 00:01:23.430 --> 00:01:27.049 about are the parasites that we haven't discovered yet. 00:01:27.049 --> 00:01:31.280 The creatures sneaking in and burrowing under the skin of their hosts without anyone even 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:33.290 knowing they exist. 00:01:33.290 --> 00:01:37.530 After all, if you don't know something is there, how can you possibly hope to protect 00:01:37.530 --> 00:01:39.250 yourself from it? 00:01:39.250 --> 00:01:43.180 As a man hikes through the woods of the Pacific Northwest, he is thinking about repelling 00:01:43.180 --> 00:01:47.790 mosquitoes, is pulling up his socks to stop ticks from latching onto his flesh, but he 00:01:47.790 --> 00:01:52.070 has no idea what else is lurking out here in the wild with him. 00:01:52.070 --> 00:01:56.650 He knows to look out for mountain lions and bears, to watch for signs of rabid animals, 00:01:56.650 --> 00:01:58.990 and avoid being bitten or scratched. 00:01:58.990 --> 00:02:04.680 But he doesn't notice the tiny, almost invisible flecks drifting through the air around him. 00:02:04.680 --> 00:02:08.369 He doesn't notice when one happens to get caught on the breeze of his inhale, pulled 00:02:08.369 --> 00:02:09.840 into his nostril. 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:14.200 He rubs at his nose idly, sniffing to clear his airways, then turns his attention to a 00:02:14.200 --> 00:02:16.680 bird nesting in a nearby tree. 00:02:16.680 --> 00:02:20.540 All the while, something is taking root right under his nose. 00:02:20.540 --> 00:02:23.720 Well, actually, inside of it. 00:02:23.720 --> 00:02:27.760 But he doesn't feel a thing, other than the occasional urge to sneeze. 00:02:27.760 --> 00:02:32.319 He does, sneezing loud enough to startle the bird he was observing moments ago, but it 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:34.070 doesn't do any good. 00:02:34.070 --> 00:02:37.819 Sneezes are for clearing out dust and debris, foreign objects that wound up in the nose 00:02:37.819 --> 00:02:39.310 by happenstance. 00:02:39.310 --> 00:02:43.989 This new intruder is there by design, and it is holding on tight. 00:02:43.989 --> 00:02:47.890 The hiker continues the rest of his walk without a care in the world, taking deep breaths of 00:02:47.890 --> 00:02:52.430 fresh forest air and relishing the feeling of the breeze on his face. 00:02:52.430 --> 00:02:56.350 By the time he gets back home, he has made it out of the woods without a single mosquito 00:02:56.350 --> 00:03:00.390 bite, with nary a tick to be found in his meticulous pre-shower check. 00:03:00.390 --> 00:03:04.890 That night, he sleeps soundly, and the next morning as he goes back to work at his office 00:03:04.890 --> 00:03:08.810 job, all thoughts of the wilderness slowly drift from his mind. 00:03:08.810 --> 00:03:13.599 He goes about his ordinary routine for months, all the while carrying a hidden passenger 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:19.020 with him from place to place, a tiny little thing steadily growing larger and larger, 00:03:19.020 --> 00:03:25.150 spreading spindly appendages out and up, through the nasal passages, up toward the skull. 00:03:25.150 --> 00:03:29.940 One night, about six months after that fateful hike, the man is sleeping peacefully in his 00:03:29.940 --> 00:03:35.110 bed, dreaming of a sunlit forest clearing and the pleasant chirping of birds, when all 00:03:35.110 --> 00:03:39.019 of a sudden, he is jerked awake by a splitting pain in his head. 00:03:39.019 --> 00:03:43.319 His vision swims from the throbbing pain, and he clutches his face, pressing against 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:44.400 his forehead. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:46.599 It must be a migraine, he thinks. 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:51.450 He hasn't had one in quite some time, but this is clearly no ordinary headache. 00:03:51.450 --> 00:03:55.510 Eventually, the pain subsides and he is able to drift back to sleep. 00:03:55.510 --> 00:03:58.390 But the next day, at the office, it returns. 00:03:58.390 --> 00:04:03.079 That same, sharp pain radiating through his skull, like the worst sinus headache he has 00:04:03.079 --> 00:04:04.340 ever had. 00:04:04.340 --> 00:04:08.379 The persistent feeling of pain and pressure in his head becomes too much to bear, and 00:04:08.379 --> 00:04:12.150 he decides to take the rest of the day off of work and go to the doctor. 00:04:12.150 --> 00:04:16.009 Much to the man's relief, his doctor is not concerned. 00:04:16.009 --> 00:04:20.170 With no other troubling symptoms presenting themselves, the situation seems relatively 00:04:20.170 --> 00:04:21.519 straightforward. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:26.020 She writes a prescription for some migraine medication, and sends the man on his way. 00:04:26.020 --> 00:04:29.870 That night, when the headache returns, the man takes some of the medicine, and the cloud 00:04:29.870 --> 00:04:31.630 of pain clears. 00:04:31.630 --> 00:04:33.130 Sweet relief. 00:04:33.130 --> 00:04:35.520 Once again, things are good. 00:04:35.520 --> 00:04:37.750 For a couple months, at least. 00:04:37.750 --> 00:04:41.870 But then one day, on his morning walk to the office, just as he is lifting his travel mug 00:04:41.870 --> 00:04:44.750 of coffee to his lips, his vision cuts out. 00:04:44.750 --> 00:04:49.150 It's as if something is blocking his eyes, as if someone were covering them and preventing 00:04:49.150 --> 00:04:53.690 him from seeing directly ahead, but when he lifts his hand to feel his face, there is 00:04:53.690 --> 00:04:55.270 nothing there. 00:04:55.270 --> 00:04:59.300 Panicking at the sudden loss of sight, he drops his cup, spilling coffee all over the 00:04:59.300 --> 00:05:00.300 sidewalk. 00:05:00.300 --> 00:05:04.290 He doesn't even notice the spill, too busy grasping at his face and feeling his eyes 00:05:04.290 --> 00:05:05.669 with his fingers. 00:05:05.669 --> 00:05:09.690 He fumbles in his pocket for his phone, hoping he can remember where the numbers on the screen 00:05:09.690 --> 00:05:11.840 are well enough to call 9-1-1. 00:05:11.840 --> 00:05:16.830 But his hands are shaking so hard that he drops the phone, hearing it clatter on the 00:05:16.830 --> 00:05:18.120 pavement. 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:23.070 He exclaims in frustration and fear, and turns around, following the sound of the phone. 00:05:23.070 --> 00:05:28.610 As he turns, his vision suddenly clears, the blinders lifted, and he is able to see just 00:05:28.610 --> 00:05:30.550 as well as he did before. 00:05:30.550 --> 00:05:35.330 Experimentally, he turns back to face his original direction, and again, he loses his 00:05:35.330 --> 00:05:37.419 sight, something blocking his view. 00:05:37.419 --> 00:05:40.280 He turns around, and he can see again. 00:05:40.280 --> 00:05:45.050 He tries this a few more times, spinning back and forth, back and forth, watching his vision 00:05:45.050 --> 00:05:46.500 flicker in and out. 00:05:46.500 --> 00:05:51.120 He only stops when a passing jogger shouts at him, asking what the hell he's doing. 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:53.720 The interruption startles him, bringing him back to earth. 00:05:53.720 --> 00:05:55.640 What is happening? 00:05:55.640 --> 00:05:57.490 Surely this can't be normal. 00:05:57.490 --> 00:06:01.330 What is it about facing one direction that causes him to lose his sight, while another 00:06:01.330 --> 00:06:03.610 direction returns him to normal? 00:06:03.610 --> 00:06:08.060 A sinking feeling in his stomach tells him that, whatever was causing his headaches before, 00:06:08.060 --> 00:06:10.750 it was not something he should ignore any longer. 00:06:10.750 --> 00:06:15.190 He grabs his phone off the ground, calls out of work, and schedules an urgent appointment 00:06:15.190 --> 00:06:16.340 with his doctor. 00:06:16.340 --> 00:06:21.080 At first, he considers running home and getting his car, or his bicycle, but his unreliable 00:06:21.080 --> 00:06:25.520 vision would make taking either mode of transportation a potentially deadly mistake. 00:06:25.520 --> 00:06:27.740 So, instead, he walks. 00:06:27.740 --> 00:06:31.990 The walk to the doctor's office is the most difficult walk of the man's life. 00:06:31.990 --> 00:06:35.979 Every time he turns a corner, he wonders if his vision will flicker out again, if the 00:06:35.979 --> 00:06:40.900 mysterious obstacle will block his sight and force him to reroute himself or start from 00:06:40.900 --> 00:06:42.220 scratch. 00:06:42.220 --> 00:06:46.540 While trying to maintain a consistent line of sight, he loses his balance several times, 00:06:46.540 --> 00:06:48.680 and nearly collides with a lamp post. 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:51.620 Eventually, he reaches the doctor's office. 00:06:51.620 --> 00:06:55.889 One look at the man's terrified face is enough for the doctor to insist on some immediate 00:06:55.889 --> 00:06:57.259 X-rays of his head. 00:06:57.259 --> 00:07:01.220 The man sits on the examination table, nervously bouncing his knee, waiting for the doctor 00:07:01.220 --> 00:07:02.550 to return with the results. 00:07:02.550 --> 00:07:04.129 What could it be? 00:07:04.129 --> 00:07:06.040 Some undiagnosed degenerative illness? 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:07.129 A tumor? 00:07:07.129 --> 00:07:11.009 Irreparable damage caused by looking at a solar eclipse as a child. 00:07:11.009 --> 00:07:15.220 The man can hear the doctor speaking to a nurse in hushed, frightened tones just outside 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:16.550 of the exam room door. 00:07:16.550 --> 00:07:20.949 He can't quite tell what she is saying, but he makes out one word that makes his blood 00:07:20.949 --> 00:07:24.530 run cold: "infestation." 00:07:24.530 --> 00:07:28.600 When the door opens, and the doctor enters holding the man's chart, her expression is 00:07:28.600 --> 00:07:33.960 neutral and professional, but her face is pale, her forehead dotted with sweat. 00:07:33.960 --> 00:07:38.250 She can't hide the fact that, whatever she saw on that X-ray, it horrified her. 00:07:38.250 --> 00:07:39.569 "What is it?" 00:07:39.569 --> 00:07:43.030 He asks, though he isn't sure he wants to hear the answer. 00:07:43.030 --> 00:07:47.580 The doctor is silent for a moment, turning over the right words to say in her mind. 00:07:47.580 --> 00:07:52.020 After a seemingly endless pause, she pulls an X-Ray from the stack of papers on her clipboard 00:07:52.020 --> 00:07:54.340 and pins it up for them both to see. 00:07:54.340 --> 00:07:58.740 There, the man can see his skull, a white outline against the dark background. 00:07:58.740 --> 00:08:00.900 His skeleton, on display. 00:08:00.900 --> 00:08:05.560 But inside of the skull, there is a mass that definitely shouldn't be there. 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:10.060 It starts in his nose, a rounded shape, but it stretches out in long limbs that travel 00:08:10.060 --> 00:08:12.380 up, into his brain. 00:08:12.380 --> 00:08:14.800 After a long pause, the doctor speaks. 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:17.500 "I've never seen anything quite like this before. 00:08:17.500 --> 00:08:22.569 At first, I thought it might be some sort of growth, but as I reviewed the scans, I 00:08:22.569 --> 00:08:25.710 realized that it showed signs of...movement. 00:08:25.710 --> 00:08:29.639 Whatever is in there, I'm afraid that it's alive." 00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:33.640 The man's stomach turns, and he worries for a moment that he might be sick all over the 00:08:33.640 --> 00:08:35.089 clean white floor. 00:08:35.089 --> 00:08:39.709 Instead, he just asks the doctor what can be done to help him. 00:08:39.709 --> 00:08:43.270 She explains that she plans to give him a local anesthetic, then attempts to get a closer 00:08:43.270 --> 00:08:44.540 look at the situation. 00:08:44.540 --> 00:08:48.790 Once she has eyes on the parasite, she will see if she can surgically remove it without 00:08:48.790 --> 00:08:51.870 causing any additional damage to his brain tissue. 00:08:51.870 --> 00:08:57.100 All the man can think about is that...thing inside of his skull, and how badly he wants 00:08:57.100 --> 00:08:59.640 it gone, by any means necessary. 00:08:59.640 --> 00:09:04.510 He immediately agrees, and after a few quick injections, he is lying on his back, staring 00:09:04.510 --> 00:09:08.420 up at the ceiling as the doctor performs a nasal endoscopy. 00:09:08.420 --> 00:09:13.060 She slides the tube up his nostril a little bit at a time, monitoring the image on a nearby 00:09:13.060 --> 00:09:14.060 screen. 00:09:14.060 --> 00:09:17.670 Suddenly, she freezes, a small gasp escaping her lips. 00:09:17.670 --> 00:09:21.820 He demands to know what she's seeing, and she stammers, saying only that it's a creature 00:09:21.820 --> 00:09:26.470 she's never seen before, but it looks quite a bit like a sea spider. 00:09:26.470 --> 00:09:31.180 The man's eyes widen, and he's about to say something else, when suddenly his vision goes 00:09:31.180 --> 00:09:32.269 dark again. 00:09:32.269 --> 00:09:38.300 Now, he knows what that means, and the doctor's startled cry confirms it: the creature is 00:09:38.300 --> 00:09:39.300 moving. 00:09:39.300 --> 00:09:43.310 The man begins shaking, begging the doctor to get it out of him, to just grab the invader 00:09:43.310 --> 00:09:47.430 with some tweezers or whatever it is doctors do in this situation, and get it out of his 00:09:47.430 --> 00:09:48.510 head. 00:09:48.510 --> 00:09:52.880 She grabs a pair of nasal forceps and slowly eases them into his nose, but the creature 00:09:52.880 --> 00:09:56.620 feels her coming, and lurches upward away from her grasp. 00:09:56.620 --> 00:10:01.600 The man feels a sudden burst of pain, and then everything goes dark as he loses consciousness, 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:03.700 his eyes fluttering shut. 00:10:03.700 --> 00:10:07.700 The doctor checks his pulse, checks his breathing, and attempts to rouse her patient, but he 00:10:07.700 --> 00:10:09.050 is out cold. 00:10:09.050 --> 00:10:12.920 As she examines him, she notices a fluttering motion beneath his right eyelid. 00:10:12.920 --> 00:10:16.840 At first, she thinks she imagines it, and takes a closer look. 00:10:16.840 --> 00:10:22.360 The flutter turns into a distinct, undeniable bulge beneath the eyelid, and then a slender 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:25.459 limb poked out from beneath the thin veil of flesh. 00:10:25.459 --> 00:10:31.770 It curves under the eyelid, tugging it open to reveal the unfocused eyeball beneath, and...something 00:10:31.770 --> 00:10:32.899 else. 00:10:32.899 --> 00:10:36.930 Something moving, pushing the eyeball aside just slightly without knocking it from the 00:10:36.930 --> 00:10:37.930 socket. 00:10:37.930 --> 00:10:43.120 The doctor watches in open-mouthed horror as more long, thin appendages join the first, 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:45.600 poking out from behind the eye toward the air. 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:50.090 The many-legged creature pulls itself from the ocular cavity and begins scuttling down 00:10:50.090 --> 00:10:54.840 her patient's face, over his neck, then off of the edge of the exam table and onto the 00:10:54.840 --> 00:10:55.840 floor. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:59.360 As it nears the door, the doctor regains her ability to move, and rushes to try and catch 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:00.430 the thing. 00:11:00.430 --> 00:11:04.779 She grabs a jar and the forceps, hoping to capture it without touching it. 00:11:04.779 --> 00:11:08.250 Even with gloves on, she shudders at the thought of touching the thing. 00:11:08.250 --> 00:11:10.950 It evades her grasp, darting away from her forceps. 00:11:10.950 --> 00:11:15.339 It scrabbles back toward the table, and in a moment of primal instinct and revulsion, 00:11:15.339 --> 00:11:20.149 the doctor brings her foot up, and stomps on the little parasite with all of her strength. 00:11:20.149 --> 00:11:25.019 When she lifts her shoe, all that is left on the ground is a few spindly legs and a 00:11:25.019 --> 00:11:27.500 small brown stain. 00:11:27.500 --> 00:11:31.440 She curses herself for acting impulsively and not finding a way to trap the thing and 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:35.329 keep it for observation, but that ship has sailed. 00:11:35.329 --> 00:11:40.120 The only thing she can do now is tend to her patient and monitor his wellbeing. 00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:44.680 As she approaches the man on the table, his eyes open, and he gasps, sitting up suddenly 00:11:44.680 --> 00:11:46.410 and gripping his head. 00:11:46.410 --> 00:11:50.480 The man awakes with a headache, and a foggy feeling in his head, but also with a sense 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:54.770 of relief, a feeling that the unwelcome presence that took up residence in his skull for so 00:11:54.770 --> 00:11:58.510 many months is thankfully gone. 00:11:58.510 --> 00:12:02.899 He asks the doctor, haltingly, struggling to find his words, if she was able to remove 00:12:02.899 --> 00:12:04.200 the creature. 00:12:04.200 --> 00:12:07.060 She tells him, simply, that it is gone now. 00:12:07.060 --> 00:12:11.270 The man slowly climbs off of the table, and, ignoring the protests from the doctor as she 00:12:11.270 --> 00:12:15.430 begs him to sit back down and let him examine her, he walks out of the office and heads 00:12:15.430 --> 00:12:17.170 back home. 00:12:17.170 --> 00:12:20.310 Over the next several weeks, the man returns to normal life. 00:12:20.310 --> 00:12:25.320 He feels a little bit different, a little hazier, a little slower to respond. 00:12:25.320 --> 00:12:28.870 He tires more easily, going to bed earlier and sleeping in later. 00:12:28.870 --> 00:12:31.520 But overall, he feels nothing but relief. 00:12:31.520 --> 00:12:36.670 Still, at night, when he tries to fall asleep, he thinks of those X-rays. 00:12:36.670 --> 00:12:40.420 He imagines what that creature might have looked like when the doctor got it out, how 00:12:40.420 --> 00:12:41.720 it might have moved. 00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:45.220 He wonders where it came from, or if it will come back. 00:12:45.220 --> 00:12:48.220 He never goes hiking in those particular woods again. 00:12:48.220 --> 00:12:52.890 Meanwhile, the doctor receives an influx of patients complaining of persistent headaches. 00:12:52.890 --> 00:12:54.790 Sometimes it's a sinus infection. 00:12:54.790 --> 00:12:56.790 Sometimes it's a hormone imbalance. 00:12:56.790 --> 00:12:57.790 Sometimes it's stress. 00:12:57.790 --> 00:13:02.610 But a few times...well, she knows what to look for now. 00:13:02.610 --> 00:13:06.699 She tells her patients to watch out for changes in vision, for a feeling of pressure in their 00:13:06.699 --> 00:13:07.699 skull. 00:13:07.699 --> 00:13:11.430 She learns how to keep a straight face when looking at their X-rays and seeing that familiar 00:13:11.430 --> 00:13:15.019 long-limbed shape burrowed deep in their nasal cavities. 00:13:15.019 --> 00:13:18.089 She puts her patients under now, when she tries to remove the creatures. 00:13:18.089 --> 00:13:22.190 It doesn't make much of a difference, but it saves them the terror of the truth, saves 00:13:22.190 --> 00:13:26.420 them the feeling of the creature thrashing inside their head until it knocks them out. 00:13:26.420 --> 00:13:30.329 She manages to collect a few specimens for study and contacts her friend at the Centers 00:13:30.329 --> 00:13:32.310 for Disease Control. 00:13:32.310 --> 00:13:35.579 He's never seen or heard of anything like these parasites, either. 00:13:35.579 --> 00:13:39.510 But he does know someone who might be able to offer their expertise. 00:13:39.510 --> 00:13:43.310 When the doctor comes into work the next day, there are two strangers waiting in her office. 00:13:43.310 --> 00:13:47.690 They introduce themselves as employees of a specialized research foundation, and ask 00:13:47.690 --> 00:13:48.840 to see her samples. 00:13:48.840 --> 00:13:53.600 The next thing she knows, the doctor is waking up in bed the following morning, and she has 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:58.960 no memory of ever seeing a patient with a strange, spidery parasite in their skull. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:02.850 If she remembered enough to look for the records, she would find that they had disappeared from 00:14:02.850 --> 00:14:06.470 her office, along with the living specimens she collected. 00:14:06.470 --> 00:14:10.630 But she doesn't remember, and her discovery is now in the hands of the SCP Foundation, 00:14:10.630 --> 00:14:15.839 who have given it an official designation: SCP-1104. 00:14:15.839 --> 00:14:22.370 SCP-1104, commonly nicknamed "nose crabs," is a species of organism tentatively identified 00:14:22.370 --> 00:14:27.880 as a member of the order Chelicerata, which includes sea spiders and horseshoe crabs. 00:14:27.880 --> 00:14:31.290 The life cycle of the organism consists of at least two phases. 00:14:31.290 --> 00:14:35.740 The first of these is a larval stage, at which point the creature is approximately 0.4mm 00:14:35.740 --> 00:14:37.199 in diameter. 00:14:37.199 --> 00:14:42.480 At irregular intervals, SCP-1104 larvae are expelled from tubes at a concentration of 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:45.050 up to 200 per cubic meter. 00:14:45.050 --> 00:14:49.079 These larvae drift through the air for as long as 14 hours at a time, and have been 00:14:49.079 --> 00:14:53.240 spotted traveling for several kilometers under the right weather conditions. 00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:58.490 Whenever an SCP-1104 larva is inhaled, it will attach to the nasal mucosa of its host 00:14:58.490 --> 00:15:03.199 and begin to excrete H1 receptor antagonists that suppress inflammation as well as the 00:15:03.199 --> 00:15:05.220 implantation of any further larvae. 00:15:05.220 --> 00:15:10.940 Over the next six to eight months, SCP-1104 will grow larger, extending appendages through 00:15:10.940 --> 00:15:13.310 the ethmoidal canals of the host. 00:15:13.310 --> 00:15:17.220 Aside from occasional, persistent headaches, the host will likely not notice the presence 00:15:17.220 --> 00:15:20.269 of SCP-1104 during this period. 00:15:20.269 --> 00:15:24.509 Once the organism has matured, however, it will begin to apply pressure to its host's 00:15:24.509 --> 00:15:28.990 optic nerves, causing its central visual field to be obstructed. 00:15:28.990 --> 00:15:33.990 SCP-1104 will apply this pressure selectively, whenever the host is not oriented toward the 00:15:33.990 --> 00:15:37.029 gradient of atmospheric hydrogen sulfide. 00:15:37.029 --> 00:15:41.569 SCP-1104 can detect this hydrogen sulfide through its host's nasal respiration. 00:15:41.569 --> 00:15:46.410 At first, this effect is distressing to the host, but after a little while, they will 00:15:46.410 --> 00:15:50.569 begin to adjust their behavior accordingly, showing a preference for facing and moving 00:15:50.569 --> 00:15:53.530 in directions that do not cause those visual disturbances. 00:15:53.530 --> 00:15:58.910 Without realizing it, the host is moving closer and closer to higher concentrations of hydrogen 00:15:58.910 --> 00:16:00.500 sulfide. 00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:05.800 Once the host reaches an area with sufficient hydrogen sulfide concentration, SCP-1104 will 00:16:05.800 --> 00:16:11.140 extend its appendages into the host's prefrontal cortex, causing the host to lose consciousness. 00:16:11.140 --> 00:16:17.610 While the host is passed out, SCP-1104 will exit through their ocular cavity. 00:16:17.610 --> 00:16:21.920 Once SCP-1104 has left its host, it will attempt to find and enter the source of the hydrogen 00:16:21.920 --> 00:16:22.920 sulfide. 00:16:22.920 --> 00:16:27.829 This can include, but is not limited to, a lava tube, or a sewer pipe. 00:16:27.829 --> 00:16:32.339 Whatever it does next is currently unknown, as its subterranean behavior and development 00:16:32.339 --> 00:16:34.589 has not been documented. 00:16:34.589 --> 00:16:39.149 Humans show the same instinctive aversion to SCP-1104's visual disturbances as other 00:16:39.149 --> 00:16:42.760 animal hosts, but they also are able to defy this influence. 00:16:42.760 --> 00:16:48.170 They are especially able to avoid following SCP-1104's prompting if they are informed 00:16:48.170 --> 00:16:50.870 of the nature of the infestation. 00:16:50.870 --> 00:16:55.870 Any attempt to surgically remove or poison a fully-developed SCP-1104 will trigger its 00:16:55.870 --> 00:17:00.269 exit response, and it will flee through the host's ocular cavity and scuttle away. 00:17:00.269 --> 00:17:05.390 Following SCP-1104's exit, the former host displays a lack of spontaneous response to 00:17:05.390 --> 00:17:09.930 external stimulus, with delayed reactions as well as changes to personality linked to 00:17:09.930 --> 00:17:12.360 orbitofrontal lesions. 00:17:12.360 --> 00:17:17.819 While individual instances of SCP-1104 are relatively easy to destroy, the species as 00:17:17.819 --> 00:17:22.130 a whole is considered endemic to certain subsurface geological formations. 00:17:22.130 --> 00:17:27.270 As it currently stands, the general population of SCP-1104 cannot be reached by convenient 00:17:27.270 --> 00:17:28.820 means of extermination. 00:17:28.820 --> 00:17:33.860 An area ten meters in diameter, thought to contain the majority of SCP-1104, has been 00:17:33.860 --> 00:17:39.429 blocked off from the public under the guise of conservation, and designated Site-104. 00:17:39.429 --> 00:17:44.570 Any non-Foundation personnel mammalian organisms larger than 10kg found in the area should 00:17:44.570 --> 00:17:48.740 be considered contaminated and promptly incinerated on-site. 00:17:48.740 --> 00:17:54.060 Once the SCP Foundation has discovered a way to effectively exterminate SCP-1104, doing 00:17:54.060 --> 00:17:57.460 so has been strongly endorsed by the O5 Council. 00:17:57.460 --> 00:18:00.280 However, such a method has not yet been discovered. 00:18:00.280 --> 00:18:07.000 So, for now, SCP-1104 continues thriving underground, spouting larvae into the air to crawl up the 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:12.190 noses of unsuspecting deer, possums, squirrels, and humans. 00:18:12.190 --> 00:18:16.400 So if you go out walking and feel a little tickle in your nose, it might just be a bit 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:18.340 of extra pollen in the air. 00:18:18.340 --> 00:18:23.610 Or, it might be a tiny nose crab, burrowing itself into your mucosal tissue, growing just 00:18:23.610 --> 00:18:27.210 a little bigger every day until it reaches your brain. 00:18:27.210 --> 00:18:30.240 But like I said, maybe it's nothing. 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:32.400 No need to get crabby about it. 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:36.020 Check out the Dr. Bob Patreon and become a junior researcher today! 00:18:36.020 --> 00:18:42.330 Now go and watch another entry from the files of Dr. Bob, like "Botfly Parasite - SCP-658."