WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.460 An SCP Foundation doctor wearing a hazmat suit is escorted by two guards through the 00:00:05.460 --> 00:00:06.180 secure facility. 00:00:06.180 --> 00:00:11.700 They stop in front of a large, sealed door and one of the guards scans his security card. 00:00:11.700 --> 00:00:14.580 There’s an audible hiss as the door slides open. 00:00:14.580 --> 00:00:19.860 The doctor nervously looks to the guard who motions him inside, they certainly won’t 00:00:19.860 --> 00:00:20.640 be joining him. 00:00:21.180 --> 00:00:24.720 The doctor steps into the small airlock and the door snaps shut. 00:00:24.720 --> 00:00:28.140 A complicated locking mechanism seals the door behind him. 00:00:28.140 --> 00:00:30.060 He’s truly locked in. 00:00:30.840 --> 00:00:34.020 The reverse process then begins on the locked door in front of him. 00:00:34.020 --> 00:00:39.480 It finishes and the door opens, revealing a room with bright lights that briefly blind 00:00:39.480 --> 00:00:39.900 the doctor. 00:00:39.900 --> 00:00:46.020 As his eyes adjust, he can see that the entire room is white and bathed in an intense light. 00:00:46.020 --> 00:00:51.420 He steps out of the airlock and towards the center of the room where his task awaits. 00:00:52.080 --> 00:00:57.000 He takes one slow step at a time, pausing for a moment after each before taking the 00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:57.180 next. 00:00:57.180 --> 00:01:02.100 The doctor wants to get this over with as quickly as possible, but he has to abide by 00:01:02.100 --> 00:01:07.080 the protocols, and this is how they dictate that one must walk in this containment chamber. 00:01:07.080 --> 00:01:11.400 As the doctor gets closer to the center, and his eyes further adjust to the bright light, 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:16.620 he can finally see what this room contains.In the very middle of the room, directly under 00:01:16.620 --> 00:01:18.300 the lights, is a man. 00:01:18.300 --> 00:01:23.580 He’s lying on a table and isn’t moving at all, except for his slow, rhythmic breathing, 00:01:23.580 --> 00:01:26.340 which is assisted by the ventilator he’s connected to. 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:31.620 A feeding tube has been placed inside his nose and numerous machines next to the man 00:01:31.620 --> 00:01:34.260 hum and beep as they measure his vital signs. 00:01:35.160 --> 00:01:40.260 The doctor continues to take one slow step after another and eventually, after what feels 00:01:40.260 --> 00:01:42.720 like an eternity, he reaches the middle of the room. 00:01:43.380 --> 00:01:48.180 The lights above the man are angled to create large, dark shadows coming off of him, and 00:01:48.180 --> 00:01:52.080 now the doctor is finally close enough to make out what he was warned about in his briefings 00:01:52.080 --> 00:01:56.880 - even though the man is completely still, the shadows… are moving. 00:01:58.200 --> 00:02:03.240 Scurrying on the edges of the man’s shadow are what look to be spiders, and big ones 00:02:03.240 --> 00:02:05.280 too, roughly three inches across. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:10.380 But the doctor can’t see any actual spiders on the man, only the shadows of these massive 00:02:10.380 --> 00:02:14.040 arachnids are visible as they move back and forth along the man’s shadow. 00:02:14.820 --> 00:02:16.860 The doctor is growing increasingly nervous. 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:21.540 He can feel the sweat dripping down the inside of his hazmat suit though he tries to tell 00:02:21.540 --> 00:02:24.660 himself it’s just a result of the bright lights beating down on him. 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:29.700 The doctor reaches the machines measuring the man’s vital signs and jots down their 00:02:29.700 --> 00:02:33.960 readings, marking down that the man’s medically induced coma appears stable. 00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:38.340 He’s continually distracted from his work though by the movement of the spiders. 00:02:38.340 --> 00:02:42.720 One suddenly “jumps” from one part of the man’s shadow to another, startling the 00:02:42.720 --> 00:02:44.340 doctor and causing him to jump back. 00:02:45.060 --> 00:02:49.740 The spiders abruptly stop moving and even though he can’t see their eyes, he has the 00:02:49.740 --> 00:02:51.480 feeling that they are looking right at him. 00:02:52.140 --> 00:02:58.620 The doctor is frozen right back at the spiders, but after a moment, they go back to their 00:02:58.620 --> 00:03:03.000 previous behavior and start crawling along the edge of the comatose man’s shadows once 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:03.180 more. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:07.740 The doctor continues to go down his checklist and audibly gulps. 00:03:07.740 --> 00:03:11.880 He’s reached the final item, the one labeled “Physical Exam.” 00:03:12.480 --> 00:03:16.860 Nervous sweat runs down his face into his eyes and he wishes he wasn’t wearing this 00:03:16.860 --> 00:03:18.480 hazmat suit so he could wipe it off. 00:03:18.480 --> 00:03:24.240 He knows he must get much closer to the man, and more importantly his shadow, than he feels 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:24.840 comfortable with. 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:29.280 He has to physically take the man’s pulse though, they won’t let him out of this room 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:29.820 if he doesn’t. 00:03:30.540 --> 00:03:33.960 He reaches out towards the man’s hand, slowly and carefully. 00:03:33.960 --> 00:03:39.000 He can see the shadow of his hand getting dangerously close to the man’s shadow, and 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:39.900 the spiders’. 00:03:39.900 --> 00:03:44.820 One of the spiders stops moving, as if it is watching and waiting for the doctor’s 00:03:44.820 --> 00:03:45.780 shadow to get closer. 00:03:46.380 --> 00:03:49.740 It raises up on its hind legs, looking like it is ready to pounce. 00:03:50.340 --> 00:03:56.160 The doctor gets closer and closer to the man’s hand when out of nowhere the room is rocked 00:03:56.160 --> 00:03:56.940 by an explosion! 00:03:57.600 --> 00:04:02.100 The doctor spins around and on a monitor next to the airlock door he can see a feed of the 00:04:02.100 --> 00:04:02.700 hallway outside. 00:04:02.700 --> 00:04:07.200 The guards who had escorted him run down the hall as a red emergency light flashes. 00:04:07.200 --> 00:04:11.640 He turns back to the man on the table, the spider that was waiting for him lowers itself 00:04:11.640 --> 00:04:14.700 out of its attack mode and goes back to scurrying along the shadow. 00:04:15.480 --> 00:04:19.560 The room is shaken by an even bigger explosion and it suddenly goes dark. 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:22.740 The power must have gone out from whatever is happening outside. 00:04:22.740 --> 00:04:28.200 He can hear the sound of muffled gunfire mixed with far off screams, but both are drowned 00:04:28.200 --> 00:04:30.600 out by his nervous, heavy breathing inside of the suit. 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:36.240 The doctor drops to the ground and tries to crawl back to the door, but he has no idea 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:37.320 which direction it is. 00:04:37.320 --> 00:04:42.300 He hits his head hard and hears a crack come down his mask - that must have been the table. 00:04:42.300 --> 00:04:46.800 The doctor turns and crawls the other direction, eventually finding the airlock door. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:50.820 He stands up and bangs and pulls on the door but it won’t move. 00:04:50.820 --> 00:04:54.900 He fumbles with his hazmat suit and finds the button for his emergency light. 00:04:55.800 --> 00:05:00.420 A chemical light comes on inside of his suit, casting his face in a sickly yellow light. 00:05:01.260 --> 00:05:04.920 But the light starts to flicker, something must be malfunctioning. 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:09.300 The light on one side of his protective mask goes out, leaving half of his face in darkness. 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:14.640 But that’s the least of his problems, because all of his attention is now focused on the 00:05:14.640 --> 00:05:16.020 shadow moving across his face. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:18.480 It’s the shadow of a spider. 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:24.600 His eyes go wide as the spider stops, and stands up on its rear legs. 00:05:26.340 --> 00:05:29.640 Arachnophobia, the fear of  spiders, and sciaphobia,  00:05:29.640 --> 00:05:31.860 the fear of shadows, are some of the most 00:05:31.860 --> 00:05:37.800 common phobias and today’s SCP file is a terrifying and dangerous combination of both. 00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:43.500 I’m Dr. Bob and this is SCP-538, also known as… 00:05:43.500 --> 00:05:45.120 The Shadow Spiders. 00:05:46.380 --> 00:05:53.700 SCP-538 is what appears to be a kind of “living shadow” not dissimilar to SCP-017, though 00:05:53.700 --> 00:05:56.880 these shadows always take the form of an unknown species of spider. 00:05:57.720 --> 00:06:03.000 These anomalous arachnids seek out the shadows cast by other living objects, attaching themselves 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.840 to the edge of the living creature’s shadow in such a way that their own shadows aren’t 00:06:06.840 --> 00:06:07.380 obscured. 00:06:07.980 --> 00:06:11.700 Once attached to a shadow, the spiders will appear to feed off of them. 00:06:11.700 --> 00:06:16.980 This allows them to rapidly grow in size, with adults measuring a total area of roughly 00:06:16.980 --> 00:06:18.540 15 square centimeters. 00:06:19.200 --> 00:06:24.000 Once they reach their full size they will continue to feed, though this will only maintain 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:24.480 their size. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:29.580 The feeding process seems to not impact the host in any way, and the spiders can remain 00:06:29.580 --> 00:06:30.720 on a shadow indefinitely. 00:06:31.560 --> 00:06:35.700 While the spiders have been observed feeding on the shadows of inanimate objects when no 00:06:35.700 --> 00:06:39.720 living creatures’ are available, these don’t appear to provide the spiders with whatever 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:43.860 nutrients they require, and they will slowly atrophy and decrease in size. 00:06:43.860 --> 00:06:49.620 It is only when they are connected to the shadow of a living organism that SCP-538 can 00:06:49.620 --> 00:06:49.980 thrive. 00:06:50.760 --> 00:06:54.360 SCP-538 are not locked to the shadow they are on though. 00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:59.040 The spiders have shown the ability to move across areas to reach a new host, though they 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:03.720 will decrease in size when not attached to a shadow, losing as much as 2 square centimeters 00:07:03.720 --> 00:07:08.220 of their size for every second that they aren’t on a shadow, and should they be stranded in 00:07:08.220 --> 00:07:12.240 the open without a shadow to feed on, they will decrease in size until they disappear 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:14.700 completely, at which point that individual  00:07:14.700 --> 00:07:18.660 instance of SCP-538 is  considered to be terminated. 00:07:18.660 --> 00:07:23.520 The spiders normally avoid this fate thanks to their extremely fast movement though, and 00:07:23.520 --> 00:07:27.000 fully grown instances have been measured moving up to one meter per second. 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:33.120 While SCP-538 instances are usually quite benign, seeming content to simply live on 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:36.960 the shadow of their host, they will attack if they are frightened, which is when the 00:07:36.960 --> 00:07:40.320 real danger presented by these anomalous arachnids comes to light. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:45.360 If the spiders are agitated, usually from the result of a rapid movement by its host, 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:49.560 the spider will bite the organism’s shadow before attempting to flee. 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:55.020 Once bitten, the unlucky individual will progress through five distinct stages, all of which 00:07:55.020 --> 00:07:57.300 take place over the course of roughly one hour. 00:07:57.300 --> 00:08:02.220 During the first, the subject will report pain in the area of their body that corresponds 00:08:02.220 --> 00:08:06.240 to the part of their shadow that was bitten, but no puncture wounds or other marks will 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:07.200 be visible in this location. 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:13.140 Minor psychological effects have been reported in this stage, mostly consisting of an increase 00:08:13.140 --> 00:08:17.580 in irritability and the tendency for the bitten subject to lash out at those around them. 00:08:18.300 --> 00:08:21.720 The second stage occurs ten to fifteen minutes after being bitten. 00:08:21.720 --> 00:08:26.580 The subject will begin sweating despite reporting that they feel cold while their skin will 00:08:26.580 --> 00:08:28.140 become red and warm to the touch. 00:08:29.520 --> 00:08:33.240 Twenty-five to thirty minutes after the bite, the third stage will begin. 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:38.280 At this point, the psychological effects become very noticeable, with the subject becoming 00:08:38.280 --> 00:08:40.980 violent and attempting to attack any person nearby. 00:08:40.980 --> 00:08:45.660 Their speech will be slurred, and they may show signs of impairment to their motor skills. 00:08:46.380 --> 00:08:52.440 The fourth stage begins at the forty to forty-five minute mark, and at this point the subject’s 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:56.880 skin color will go from being red to a pale white, as their core temperature drops five 00:08:56.880 --> 00:08:57.960 to eight degrees Celsius. 00:08:59.040 --> 00:09:03.300 Their psychological state will alter once again, and they will go from being extremely 00:09:03.300 --> 00:09:07.920 aggressive to overly apologetic, blaming their previous behavior on the fact that they weren’t 00:09:07.920 --> 00:09:10.020 feeling well and weren’t acting like themselves. 00:09:10.020 --> 00:09:14.700 After offering their apologies, they will then request their leave from the area, and 00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:16.260 attempt to retreat to a darkened area. 00:09:17.040 --> 00:09:22.020 The fifth and final stage happens fifty-five to sixty minutes after the bite, at which 00:09:22.020 --> 00:09:25.800 point the subject faces a grisly end to the entire ordeal. 00:09:25.800 --> 00:09:31.320 Their entire body will rapidly dissolve into a translucent liquid, while at the exact same 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:36.840 time, their shadow will disintegrate into numerous smaller instances of SCP-538. 00:09:37.560 --> 00:09:42.660 The spider “offspring” measure just four centimeters across and the new instances will 00:09:42.660 --> 00:09:47.040 immediately begin seeking out shadows of their own that they can attach to and feed off of. 00:09:47.700 --> 00:09:53.100 There is currently no known cure for being bitten by an SCP-538 instance, and even death 00:09:53.100 --> 00:09:54.540 will not halt the process. 00:09:55.320 --> 00:10:00.060 Instead, should the subject expire while in the earlier stages of the condition, death 00:10:00.060 --> 00:10:02.400 will cause the final step to occur immediately. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:08.220 In a bit of good news, only bites to the area of an individual’s shadow that correspond 00:10:08.220 --> 00:10:10.860 to a spot of bare skin seem to cause these effects. 00:10:10.860 --> 00:10:15.720 Even thin materials like cotton clothing appear to be enough to prevent the process from starting. 00:10:16.560 --> 00:10:22.260 The SCP Foundation has multiple instances of SCP-538 in containment, and they are kept 00:10:22.260 --> 00:10:26.820 in a white fifteen by fifteen by three meter room that is accessible only via an airlock. 00:10:27.420 --> 00:10:32.100 Four 200 watt lights are focused on a table in the center of the room where a D-class 00:10:32.100 --> 00:10:37.140 personnel in a medically induced coma is kept in a stable state in order to serve as a feeding 00:10:37.140 --> 00:10:39.480 source for the SCP-538 specimens. 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:44.880 No other sources of shade are allowed into the room, so that the D-Class serves as the 00:10:44.880 --> 00:10:45.960 only source of shadows. 00:10:46.680 --> 00:10:51.000 Any personnel that enter the room, whether to repair a light source or to check on the 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:55.440 condition of the D-Class, are to wear sealed hazardous material suits equipped with oxygen 00:10:55.440 --> 00:11:00.000 tanks and are advised that they must move slowly and deliberately in order to avoid 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:02.880 agitating any instances of SCP-538. 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:08.100 Initially, doctors sent to examine the D-Class Personnel were allowed to enter the room alone, 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:14.580 however following the events of incident I-538-1, that protocol has been changed. 00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:20.280 During the incident, an attack by the Chaos Insurgency caused disruptions to both the 00:11:20.280 --> 00:11:24.480 main and backup power sources to the part of the site where the SCP-538 containment 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:28.740 cell is located, just as a Foundation doctor was in the middle of an examination of the 00:11:28.740 --> 00:11:29.880 comatose D-Class. 00:11:29.880 --> 00:11:34.560 The power outage led to all lights in the containment cell shutting off, while at the 00:11:34.560 --> 00:11:39.600 same time sealing the airlock that provides the only means in or out of the room and trapping 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:40.440 the doctor inside. 00:11:41.580 --> 00:11:46.320 The power was not able to be restored to the containment cell for another 18 hours, at 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:49.020 which point the doctor was finally removed from the cell. 00:11:49.020 --> 00:11:54.000 The doctor sobbed uncontrollably as he kept repeating that he could “feel them crawling” 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:54.600 all over him. 00:11:55.260 --> 00:11:59.880 The doctor was required to attend mandatory psychological therapy for his newly developed 00:11:59.880 --> 00:12:02.460 arachnophobia and was later reassigned. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:08.520 Following this incident, the examination protocol was updated, and health checkups of the D-Class 00:12:08.520 --> 00:12:12.300 personnel are now performed by a doctor who is accompanied in the cell by two security 00:12:12.300 --> 00:12:17.460 personnel, each of whom are equipped with two 250 watt flashlights that can be used 00:12:17.460 --> 00:12:19.260 in the event of another disruption to the lights. 00:12:20.460 --> 00:12:25.020 If at any time, a staff member is bitten by one of the spiders, they are to be immediately 00:12:25.020 --> 00:12:30.360 placed within SCP-538’s containment cell as soon as possible, as the failure to properly 00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:35.100 contain them could easily lead to a massive containment breach by SCP-538 entities. 00:12:35.880 --> 00:12:40.500 Bitten individuals will often attempt to hide the fact that they are bitten so anyone who 00:12:40.500 --> 00:12:44.460 comes into contact with the Shadow Spiders must be carefully monitored for signs of any 00:12:44.460 --> 00:12:45.900 of the symptoms that follow a bite. 00:12:47.100 --> 00:12:51.300 The ease with which they could quickly spread and the huge threat they pose to humanity 00:12:51.300 --> 00:12:57.060 has led to SCP-538 being classified as Euclid, and while the Foundation hopes that they have 00:12:57.060 --> 00:13:02.400 been successfully contained, we all must remain ever vigilant of movement on the edge of shadows. 00:13:02.400 --> 00:13:07.500 Should you spot something, don’t take any chances, your future, non-liquefied body will 00:13:07.500 --> 00:13:08.160 thank you for it. 00:13:08.160 --> 00:13:11.340 A young man and his girlfriend enter the apartment they share. 00:13:11.340 --> 00:13:16.140 She tosses her keys on the entryway table as the man checks the time on his phone, he 00:13:16.140 --> 00:13:19.080 reminds the young woman that they will need to leave soon if they don’t want to miss 00:13:19.080 --> 00:13:20.580 the movie they have purchased tickets for. 00:13:20.580 --> 00:13:24.360 The woman agrees, but she wants to take a quick shower before they leave. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:29.340 As she goes to freshen up, the man sits down at his computer to get in a quick round or 00:13:29.340 --> 00:13:31.740 two of his favorite online  squad-based first-person  00:13:31.740 --> 00:13:32.340 shooter. 00:13:32.940 --> 00:13:35.160 He puts on his headset and jumps into a game. 00:13:35.160 --> 00:13:37.980 Before he knows it, he’s just finished his third round. 00:13:37.980 --> 00:13:41.640 He checks the time on his phone again and realizes that they are running late. 00:13:41.640 --> 00:13:45.720 He takes off his headphones and is confused when he hears what sounds like the shower 00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:46.140 still running. 00:13:46.140 --> 00:13:51.000 He gets up and goes to the bathroom door and listens, the shower is definitely still on. 00:13:51.660 --> 00:13:54.660 The man knocks on the door and asks if everything is alright. 00:13:54.660 --> 00:13:57.120 He waits a moment but there’s no response. 00:13:57.120 --> 00:13:59.520 He knocks again and still nothing. 00:13:59.520 --> 00:14:03.900 She doesn’t usually take showers this long and he immediately worries that she might 00:14:03.900 --> 00:14:06.840 have passed out or… well he doesn't even want to think about it. 00:14:06.840 --> 00:14:10.800 “I’m coming in, okay?” he announces as he opens the door to check on her 00:14:11.400 --> 00:14:15.720 The man immediately notices how steamy the room is, the hot water must have been running 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:18.780 for a while and he’s worried she really did pass out from the heat. 00:14:18.780 --> 00:14:22.920 “What’s going on, are you okay?” he asks and when there’s no response again 00:14:22.920 --> 00:14:26.280 he pulls open the shower curtain to find… nothing. 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:28.260 Just an empty tub. 00:14:28.260 --> 00:14:30.540 There’s no sign of his girlfriend anywhere. 00:14:30.540 --> 00:14:32.700 The man is beyond confused. 00:14:32.700 --> 00:14:36.480 He turns off the water and goes to the bedroom but she isn’t in there either. 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:40.620 He runs to the front door but it’s still locked, and her keys are sitting on the table. 00:14:40.620 --> 00:14:45.120 He unlocks the door and sticks his head out into the hallway anyway, but nothing is out 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:45.300 there. 00:14:45.900 --> 00:14:46.860 What is going on?! 00:14:47.760 --> 00:14:52.140 He checks the bedroom again, then the bathroom, but she hasn’t suddenly reappeared in either. 00:14:52.140 --> 00:14:55.380 He’s in complete shock, unsure of what could be happening. 00:14:55.380 --> 00:15:00.180 He sits down on the toilet and puts his head in his hands, his head is spinning as it feels 00:15:00.180 --> 00:15:02.580 like the world is suddenly falling down all around him. 00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:05.700 The police are immediately suspicious of the man’s story. 00:15:05.700 --> 00:15:08.580 His girlfriend simply vanished while taking a shower? 00:15:08.580 --> 00:15:10.380 “You expect us to believe that?” 00:15:10.380 --> 00:15:11.760 the detective asks. 00:15:11.760 --> 00:15:13.800 The man has no answer though. 00:15:13.800 --> 00:15:16.320 It’s as if she simply blinked out of existence. 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:21.240 He’s convinced she must still be in the building somewhere, that she somehow slipped 00:15:21.240 --> 00:15:24.720 out without him noticing, but none of the security footage from inside of the building 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:25.980 shows anything abnormal. 00:15:25.980 --> 00:15:29.760 There’s footage from the cameras in the lobby of them entering the building, but nothing 00:15:29.760 --> 00:15:30.780 after that of her leaving. 00:15:30.780 --> 00:15:36.240 Just as in every missing person case like this, the boyfriend is the number one suspect, 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:39.780 but without any evidence, they can’t hold him any longer. 00:15:39.780 --> 00:15:44.460 After many long hours of interviews, they finally allow him to leave, but not back to 00:15:44.460 --> 00:15:46.500 the apartment since it’s an active crime scene. 00:15:47.160 --> 00:15:51.420 The man has no family to speak of and his few friends seem to have the same suspicions 00:15:51.420 --> 00:15:53.580 as the police and want nothing to do with him. 00:15:53.580 --> 00:15:58.320 His girlfriend was the only person he truly had in the world and now she’s gone. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:03.900 He’s put up in a shabby motel and days pass, then weeks, then months. 00:16:03.900 --> 00:16:07.320 But no evidence of the missing woman ever turns up. 00:16:07.920 --> 00:16:12.540 The man replays the memory of that day over and over in his head searching for some kind 00:16:12.540 --> 00:16:17.580 of answer, but try as he might he can’t remember anything helpful, no clue as to what 00:16:17.580 --> 00:16:18.000 could have happened. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:21.720 The case is completely cold, and has been from the very start. 00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:26.880 The police eventually have to move on to newer, more solvable cases, and they finally allow 00:16:26.880 --> 00:16:27.960 the man to return home. 00:16:28.620 --> 00:16:31.440 He’s overwhelmed with emotion the first time he enters the apartment. 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:36.180 The place is a mess, it looks like the police turned it inside out looking for clues. 00:16:36.180 --> 00:16:41.040 Not knowing what else to do, he starts the long process of cleaning up the apartment. 00:16:41.880 --> 00:16:46.860 After hours of putting things away, he eventually gathers the strength to go to the one room 00:16:46.860 --> 00:16:48.900 he’s been avoiding… the bathroom. 00:16:48.900 --> 00:16:52.800 He opens the door to the last place he’s certain his girlfriend was. 00:16:52.800 --> 00:16:56.820 He enters to find that it looks like the rest of the apartment, as if someone has looked 00:16:56.820 --> 00:16:57.900 at every single object. 00:16:58.500 --> 00:17:02.100 But just like him, the police never found any trace of where she went. 00:17:02.640 --> 00:17:06.840 After straightening up this last room, he decides that he should take a shower and go 00:17:06.840 --> 00:17:07.080 to bed. 00:17:07.080 --> 00:17:11.280 It fills him with dread to think about standing in the last place he knows where she was, 00:17:11.280 --> 00:17:15.480 but he’s had months to grieve the loss of his girlfriend and he’s decided that he 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:19.140 needs to move on, whatever that means when someone goes missing without a trace. 00:17:19.740 --> 00:17:22.920 He turns on the shower and lets the water heat up before stepping in. 00:17:23.580 --> 00:17:26.520 Once he’s in, every thought he has is about her. 00:17:27.120 --> 00:17:32.160 He wonders if she ever actually got in the shower at all, or somehow used it as a diversion 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:33.180 to slip out unseen. 00:17:33.180 --> 00:17:35.400 He just can’t figure out how. 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:39.600 The day’s events race through his mind, just as they have a thousand times before, 00:17:39.600 --> 00:17:43.680 but his thoughts are interrupted when he notices that the water has started to pool around 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:44.100 his feet. 00:17:44.760 --> 00:17:47.220 He looks down and sees that the drain cover looks normal. 00:17:47.220 --> 00:17:48.720 Maybe there’s a clog though. 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:50.640 Do showers clog when they’re not used? 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:51.780 He has no idea. 00:17:51.780 --> 00:17:53.760 He bends down to get a closer look. 00:17:53.760 --> 00:17:58.500 The long, black creature emerges from the drain in the blink of an eye and latches onto 00:17:58.500 --> 00:18:01.320 his mouth, muffling him before he even has a chance to scream. 00:18:01.320 --> 00:18:05.340 He struggles and pulls down the curtain on top of him as he falls back onto the shower 00:18:05.340 --> 00:18:11.160 floor, but it’s already too late, and in a matter of minutes, he too will be gone without 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:11.760 a trace. 00:18:12.360 --> 00:18:16.740 Is there anything more comforting after a hard day than a nice, long, hot shower? 00:18:17.280 --> 00:18:19.560 The answer to that is… no. 00:18:19.560 --> 00:18:20.640 There is nothing better. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:25.380 But that relaxing shower might just be the last you ever take when, unbeknownst to you, 00:18:25.380 --> 00:18:30.120 your pipes are home to an instance of SCP-153, also known as… 00:18:30.120 --> 00:18:31.560 Drain Worms. 00:18:32.280 --> 00:18:38.220 SCP-153 refers to a species that resembles the common nematode or roundworm, consisting 00:18:38.220 --> 00:18:41.040 of a long, thin body with a large mouth on one end. 00:18:41.040 --> 00:18:46.200 While some roundworms can grow to as large as a meter long, which is in itself a disturbing 00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:52.620 thought, SCP-153 instances can be much, much larger, and it is estimated that they can 00:18:52.620 --> 00:18:57.240 reach up to nearly 10 meters in length, though it is hypothesized that some instances in 00:18:57.240 --> 00:18:59.040 the wild may grow even longer. 00:18:59.040 --> 00:19:04.260 These worm-like creatures will feed off of any available organic material, however their 00:19:04.260 --> 00:19:08.640 favorite form of sustenance is fresh animal tissue, and they appear to have an especially 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:11.040 strong predilection towards human flesh. 00:19:11.580 --> 00:19:17.040 In order to satiate their desire to feed on their preferred prey, SCP-153 has developed 00:19:17.040 --> 00:19:21.360 a rather unique predatory style that perfectly suits its elongated body structure. 00:19:21.900 --> 00:19:26.520 While it is unknown just where they originate, they are most often found in the pipes of 00:19:26.520 --> 00:19:27.900 sewer and drainage systems. 00:19:27.900 --> 00:19:33.540 153 instances will swim up these pipes, seeking out ones that lead to people’s homes, and 00:19:33.540 --> 00:19:36.420 especially those that connect to showers and bathtubs. 00:19:36.420 --> 00:19:41.760 Once they reach the end of the pipe, SCP-153 will latch onto the drain cover and begin 00:19:41.760 --> 00:19:43.320 secreting an acidic substance. 00:19:43.320 --> 00:19:48.960 The acid quickly dissolves the drain cover and SCP-153 will position its own mouth in 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:53.700 its place, which it then is able to camouflage as the missing drain cover almost perfectly. 00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:59.640 Once SCP-153 has taken this position, it is virtually impossible to distinguish it from 00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:01.920 the original or discern that anything has changed. 00:20:03.060 --> 00:20:08.580 SCP-153 will then lie in wait until it detects that someone has entered the shower or bathtub. 00:20:08.580 --> 00:20:13.260 Once the unsuspecting person has begun to bathe, it will very quickly emerge from the 00:20:13.260 --> 00:20:17.160 drain, latching onto the victim’s face, most likely in order to prevent them from 00:20:17.160 --> 00:20:17.880 calling for help. 00:20:17.880 --> 00:20:22.440 It then begins to rapidly secrete more of the same acid that it used to dissolve the 00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:22.860 drain cover. 00:20:22.860 --> 00:20:28.440 With how effectively it was able to dissolve metal, it’s no surprise that SCP-153 is 00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:30.840 able to quickly produce the same effect on its victim. 00:20:31.380 --> 00:20:38.460 Their skin, muscle, and bone will all be almost immediately liquefied, allowing SCP-153 to 00:20:38.460 --> 00:20:39.360 feed on the slurry. 00:20:39.360 --> 00:20:42.120 And the Drain Worms feed extremely quickly as well. 00:20:42.120 --> 00:20:46.680 After just several minutes, basically nothing will remain of the person who stepped into 00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:51.900 the shower, and 153 will retreat back into the drain, leaving no signs that it was ever 00:20:51.900 --> 00:20:54.120 there save for the missing drain cover. 00:20:54.660 --> 00:20:59.160 The SCP Foundation became aware of this anomaly following multiple mysterious missing person 00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:04.500 cases that all had one key element in common, each was reported as having disappeared after 00:21:04.500 --> 00:21:07.080 entering a bathroom to either shower or take a bath. 00:21:07.740 --> 00:21:12.900 The Foundation soon discovered that large populations of SCP-153 instances were living 00:21:12.900 --> 00:21:17.580 in the sewers beneath several major American cities, and immediately began enacting containment 00:21:17.580 --> 00:21:18.060 procedures. 00:21:18.780 --> 00:21:20.700 The Foundation collected as many specimens  00:21:20.700 --> 00:21:22.980 as they could find and  brought them to Bio-Research 00:21:22.980 --> 00:21:27.780 Area-12 where they keep them contained in 10 by 10 by 5 meter tanks that are kept partially 00:21:27.780 --> 00:21:30.780 filled with sewage and other organic material for them to feed on. 00:21:31.380 --> 00:21:35.520 Of course it is of the utmost importance that these containers are never connected to any 00:21:35.520 --> 00:21:38.340 other plumbing systems, either internal or external. 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:43.260 With several specimens contained, the Foundation began researching the creatures in order to 00:21:43.260 --> 00:21:47.040 hopefully better understand them and how they were able to develop such complex hunting 00:21:47.040 --> 00:21:47.820 techniques. 00:21:47.820 --> 00:21:52.260 Research was also approved to find out whether they could be used as a sort of waste disposal 00:21:52.260 --> 00:21:58.140 system in certain extreme circumstances, such as with SCP-2717, a mass of living animal 00:21:58.140 --> 00:22:02.160 tissue that has grown to line nearly 4 kilometers of sewer pipes beneath Amsterdam. 00:22:02.940 --> 00:22:08.040 A small number of SCP-153 instances were approved for release into the wild in order to test 00:22:08.040 --> 00:22:13.800 whether they could stall the spread of 2717, however this experiment was halted following 00:22:13.800 --> 00:22:15.180 some disturbing new reports. 00:22:15.720 --> 00:22:18.180 More missing person reports  came to the Foundation’s  00:22:18.180 --> 00:22:20.940 attention that bore the hallmarks of an SCP-153 00:22:20.940 --> 00:22:25.140 attack, but these new reports were not limited to people who vanished after bathing. 00:22:25.140 --> 00:22:31.860 It now appears that SCP-153 has further adapted, and has begun to emerge not just from showers 00:22:31.860 --> 00:22:36.960 and bathtub drains but now also from sinks, and yes, even toilets. 00:22:37.500 --> 00:22:42.900 The Foundation is unaware of just how many instances of SCP-153 continue to exist in 00:22:42.900 --> 00:22:47.520 the wild, but there’s no doubt that many continue to live and hunt undetected in sewers 00:22:47.520 --> 00:22:48.060 around the world. 00:22:48.060 --> 00:22:53.340 This anomaly, which has been classified as Euclid, is taken very seriously by the Foundation, 00:22:53.340 --> 00:22:57.720 and any reports of people who go missing from bathrooms are immediately investigated for 00:22:57.720 --> 00:22:59.400 signs of SCP-153. 00:22:59.400 --> 00:23:05.580 Field agents are to be equipped with infrared and ultraviolet sensors which can bypass SCP-153’s 00:23:05.580 --> 00:23:09.780 camouflage, and if specimens are able to be captured alive, then they are to be brought 00:23:09.780 --> 00:23:11.700 to Area-12 for further research. 00:23:12.360 --> 00:23:15.540 But don’t bother worrying too much the next time you step into the tub. 00:23:15.540 --> 00:23:21.180 If you’ve been targeted by SCP-153, there’s not much you’ll be able to do anyway, and 00:23:21.180 --> 00:23:25.620 your worries will soon be going down the drain, along with whatever remains of you. 00:23:25.620 --> 00:23:29.940 At first glance, it looks like a perfectly ordinary bathroom. 00:23:29.940 --> 00:23:33.180 Nothing to suggest that anything weird is going on here. 00:23:33.180 --> 00:23:38.040 Certainly, if the D-class personnel assigned to investigate this facility had encountered 00:23:38.040 --> 00:23:42.000 this room in the wild… if he walked into a bathroom that looked like this while visiting 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:46.140 a friend’s house or lunching in a restaurant, or even stopping at a gas station rest stop, 00:23:46.140 --> 00:23:48.960 he wouldn’t have any reason to think anything was amiss. 00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:55.020 But this is the SCP Foundation, so he knows that nothing here is as it seems. 00:23:55.740 --> 00:23:58.680 He glances briefly up at the camera installed in the ceiling. 00:23:59.220 --> 00:24:04.020 The lens aperture dilates briefly, focusing on his face, and he knows that an SCP technical 00:24:04.020 --> 00:24:06.120 on the other end is watching his every move. 00:24:06.120 --> 00:24:11.400 He grimaces, fully aware that his status as a member of D-class personnel means that every 00:24:11.400 --> 00:24:13.080 experiment could be his last. 00:24:13.740 --> 00:24:18.060 That knowledge doesn’t exactly endear him to the Foundation or its mission, but it’s 00:24:18.060 --> 00:24:20.640 not like he has much of a choice in picking his assignments. 00:24:21.180 --> 00:24:23.880 Suddenly a voice crackles to life over the intercom. 00:24:23.880 --> 00:24:27.720 “Please step fully into the bathroom,” says the researcher on the other end of the 00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:28.140 camera feed. 00:24:28.680 --> 00:24:31.560 “What’s this all about?” asks the D-class personnel. 00:24:31.560 --> 00:24:33.180 “This is just a bathroom, isn’t it? 00:24:33.180 --> 00:24:34.620 That’s so special about this place.” 00:24:35.220 --> 00:24:36.600 His eyes scan the room. 00:24:36.600 --> 00:24:39.360 The floor is covered with smooth, white tiles. 00:24:39.360 --> 00:24:44.040 The walls are a soothing light blue color, reminiscent of a calm ocean, the sort of color 00:24:44.040 --> 00:24:47.400 that you might pick for its soothing effect when you need to make use of these facilities. 00:24:48.060 --> 00:24:51.540 A large mirror is fixed to the wall, before a countertop with a sink. 00:24:51.540 --> 00:24:56.280 Next to the sink, there’s a toilet, and next to that, a bathtub with a shower. 00:24:56.280 --> 00:25:00.120 There’s a scrubbing brush and a plunger stashed behind the toilet tank, and a fuzzy 00:25:00.120 --> 00:25:01.980 shag cover stretched over the toilet lid. 00:25:01.980 --> 00:25:03.420 It’s all very ordinary. 00:25:03.420 --> 00:25:05.760 It’s much too ordinary, he thinks. 00:25:06.360 --> 00:25:08.280 A sudden horrible thought occurs to him. 00:25:08.280 --> 00:25:12.660 “You’re not gonna watch me use the toilet?” he asks, a slight edge of panic in his voice. 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:16.920 That’s absurd, of course, but… here at the SCP Foundation, there’s nothing that 00:25:16.920 --> 00:25:18.000 he would put past these people. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:22.920 They’ve always got some new weirdness happening and it wouldn’t at all surprise him to learn 00:25:22.920 --> 00:25:25.320 that they would want to watch him at his most exposed. 00:25:25.860 --> 00:25:27.600 The voice comes back over the intercom. 00:25:27.600 --> 00:25:28.440 “What? 00:25:28.440 --> 00:25:28.980 No! 00:25:28.980 --> 00:25:31.440 You don’t need to use the… look, just step forward. 00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:34.080 Literally all that I want you to do is to step into the room.” 00:25:34.860 --> 00:25:36.300 The D-Class smirks to himself. 00:25:36.300 --> 00:25:39.720 He’s already been through more of these crazy experiments than he would care to remember 00:25:39.720 --> 00:25:44.280 and he has the scars to prove it… it gives him a small measure of satisfaction to hear 00:25:44.280 --> 00:25:45.600 the agent getting flustered. 00:25:45.600 --> 00:25:50.340 Even if he has to participate in these dangerous experiments, he can at least make things awkward 00:25:50.340 --> 00:25:51.240 for his tormentors. 00:25:51.240 --> 00:25:54.360 That seems like a little bit of poetic justice to him! 00:25:55.020 --> 00:25:57.540 As the agent requested, though, he steps forward. 00:25:57.540 --> 00:26:02.220 The moment that he’s cleared the threshold, the door slams behind him with a crash. 00:26:02.220 --> 00:26:04.200 The D-class jumps in surprise and shouts. 00:26:04.200 --> 00:26:04.620 “What the!? 00:26:04.620 --> 00:26:05.280 Why’d you do that?” 00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:08.220 “I didn’t do that,” says the voice over the intercom. 00:26:08.220 --> 00:26:10.860 Of course, thinks the D-class personnel. 00:26:10.860 --> 00:26:12.420 He should have expected this. 00:26:12.420 --> 00:26:16.860 He grabs the doorknob and tries to yank the door open – but the door is stuck fast. 00:26:16.860 --> 00:26:20.820 He yanks again, harder this time, but the result is the same. 00:26:20.820 --> 00:26:22.440 The door doesn’t budge at all. 00:26:23.040 --> 00:26:24.180 “The door’s stuck!” 00:26:24.180 --> 00:26:25.260 cries the D-class. 00:26:25.260 --> 00:26:28.860 He feels his heart start to beat faster and his temperature begins to rise. 00:26:28.860 --> 00:26:31.380 What terrible thing does this room plan to do to him? 00:26:31.380 --> 00:26:34.080 But after a moment, he begins to calm down. 00:26:34.080 --> 00:26:36.900 It doesn’t seem like this room is planning to do anything. 00:26:36.900 --> 00:26:39.120 Maybe it’s just a room with a weird door? 00:26:39.720 --> 00:26:43.920 But if that was the case, then why would the SCP Foundation be interested in this? 00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:46.200 “Just hang tight,” says the agent. 00:26:46.200 --> 00:26:48.000 “I’ll see what I can do about getting that door open.” 00:26:48.540 --> 00:26:52.500 A few moments later, the agent arrives at the door to the bathroom and gives it a sharp 00:26:52.500 --> 00:26:52.680 yank. 00:26:52.680 --> 00:26:54.060 It doesn’t budge. 00:26:54.060 --> 00:26:55.800 “Door’s stuck,” she says. 00:26:55.800 --> 00:26:57.420 The D-Class rolls his eyes. 00:26:57.420 --> 00:26:58.860 Of course, it’s stuck. 00:26:58.860 --> 00:27:01.560 “Hold on a second, I’ll go get a technician,” she says. 00:27:02.100 --> 00:27:05.760 The D-Class personnel listens to the sound of the agent’s feet retreating into the 00:27:05.760 --> 00:27:05.940 distance. 00:27:05.940 --> 00:27:09.840 He sits down on the closed toilet and buries his face in his hands. 00:27:09.840 --> 00:27:11.040 What a day! 00:27:11.040 --> 00:27:13.560 Is he going to be trapped inside this bathroom forever? 00:27:14.220 --> 00:27:17.520 He can’t help but speculate, but he tries not to think about it. 00:27:17.520 --> 00:27:19.560 He’s more annoyed than anything, truth be told. 00:27:19.560 --> 00:27:23.820 He wonders if the agent is actually going for help or if she’s still just sitting 00:27:23.820 --> 00:27:27.540 in her cubicle, watching him through the camera and waiting for the other shoe to drop. 00:27:28.200 --> 00:27:30.900 His eyes flick to the camera and he furrows his brow. 00:27:30.900 --> 00:27:35.940 He's so intent on the camera that he doesn’t notice as a dark shape slowly bubbles out 00:27:35.940 --> 00:27:37.020 from the bathtub drain. 00:27:37.020 --> 00:27:40.140 It’s a cockroach, a perfectly ordinary cockroach. 00:27:40.140 --> 00:27:41.520 Or is it? 00:27:41.520 --> 00:27:45.840 The roach remains motionless for a moment, perfectly still except for the subtle twitch 00:27:45.840 --> 00:27:47.160 of its antennas. 00:27:47.160 --> 00:27:49.380 Then, all at once, it starts to move. 00:27:49.380 --> 00:27:54.120 The roach scuttles across the tub, scaling the porcelain walls, and runs across the counter. 00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:59.280 Like all cockroaches, it seems confused now that it’s emerged into the light and eager 00:27:59.280 --> 00:28:00.960 to find a dark corner where it can hide again. 00:28:01.620 --> 00:28:06.180 It reaches the edge of the countertop, but, of course, a sheer cliff is no obstacle for 00:28:06.180 --> 00:28:06.660 an insect. 00:28:06.660 --> 00:28:10.200 It shimmies down the cabinet and makes a dash across the tiled floor. 00:28:10.980 --> 00:28:14.340 That’s when the moving roach finally catches the eye of the D-class personnel. 00:28:14.340 --> 00:28:18.060 He yelps in surprise and pulls his feet up, his knees going flush with his chest. 00:28:18.060 --> 00:28:22.620 The roach looks oddly out of place in this clean and well-maintained bathroom, and the 00:28:22.620 --> 00:28:26.760 sight of this disgusting little vermin fills the D-class with a sudden and deep sense of 00:28:26.760 --> 00:28:27.120 loathing. 00:28:27.840 --> 00:28:30.840 “That’s one massive cockroach,” he mumbles to himself. 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:35.340 Almost as if it heard his words, the roach starts to skitter toward him. 00:28:35.340 --> 00:28:37.500 The D-Class does not like that at all. 00:28:37.500 --> 00:28:41.520 Without hesitation, he immediately stomps on the roach – bringing his foot down with 00:28:41.520 --> 00:28:45.420 a definite THUD and then grinding the unfortunate insect under his heel. 00:28:45.420 --> 00:28:48.840 The sound is loud enough to attract the attention of the agent behind the camera. 00:28:48.840 --> 00:28:53.340 Apparently, she must have returned to her post after sending a request for a technician. 00:28:53.940 --> 00:28:54.720 “What was that?” 00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:57.000 she asks, her voice crackling over the intercom. 00:28:57.600 --> 00:29:00.180 “There was a really huge cockroach, just came out of the tub. 00:29:00.180 --> 00:29:01.800 C’mon, hurry up and get the door open… 00:29:01.800 --> 00:29:03.000 I don’t like it in here. 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:04.020 There might be more of them!” 00:29:04.020 --> 00:29:06.120 “Okay, okay,” says the agent. 00:29:06.120 --> 00:29:07.260 “Just hold on for a second. 00:29:07.260 --> 00:29:09.000 Help will be here in just a couple minutes. 00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:10.440 Don’t be so jumpy. 00:29:10.440 --> 00:29:12.120 It’s just a bug, after all, nothing to worry about.” 00:29:12.120 --> 00:29:15.240 The D-Class Personnel isn’t so sure of that. 00:29:15.240 --> 00:29:19.800 After all, when you’re dealing with unknown anomalies like those in the SCP archives, 00:29:19.800 --> 00:29:21.720 can you ever just “not worry?” 00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:26.100 He pulls his shoe off, stands up from the toilet, and walks over to the sink. 00:29:26.100 --> 00:29:30.840 Grumbling to himself, he turns the faucet and starts to wash the insect ichor off the 00:29:30.840 --> 00:29:31.620 bottom of his shoe. 00:29:31.620 --> 00:29:36.300 He’s too intent on his activity to notice that a second cockroach has already popped 00:29:36.300 --> 00:29:37.440 out of the bathtub drain. 00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:39.840 Like the first one, it hesitates for a moment. 00:29:39.840 --> 00:29:44.940 And then it scuttles across the tub, scales the walls, and makes a beeline for its deceased 00:29:44.940 --> 00:29:45.420 comrade. 00:29:45.420 --> 00:29:49.860 As this happens, a third roach emerges from the drain, and a fourth. 00:29:49.860 --> 00:29:54.600 By the time the D-Class turns around, a whole battalion of cockroaches has entered the bathroom. 00:29:54.600 --> 00:29:59.160 His eyes go wide as he takes in the scene: a good dozen roaches have clustered around 00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:02.100 the first, smashed roach, all feeding on its carcass. 00:30:02.700 --> 00:30:06.000 It’s a grisly scene and the D-class is immediately revolted. 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:10.140 He knows nothing about roaches, nothing that might suggest to him that this is in any way 00:30:10.140 --> 00:30:14.220 unusual behavior for these insects, but he doesn’t really care – it looks disgusting 00:30:14.220 --> 00:30:16.260 and he’s positive that it isn’t natural. 00:30:17.100 --> 00:30:18.000 “I don’t like this! 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:20.580 I don’t like this!” he yells, panic rising in his voice. 00:30:20.580 --> 00:30:21.540 “Get me out of here! 00:30:21.540 --> 00:30:22.980 Hurry up and open the stupid door!” 00:30:22.980 --> 00:30:27.540 The observing agent, safe in her office, doesn’t share the D-class personnel’s terror. 00:30:27.540 --> 00:30:31.440 From her point of view, she’s just watching a man freak out over a couple of perfectly 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:32.400 ordinary bugs. 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:36.840 Of course, the scene takes on a whole different feel when you’re not the one being asked 00:30:36.840 --> 00:30:39.840 to expose yourself to strange and potentially dangerous SCPs. 00:30:39.840 --> 00:30:41.940 She can’t help but chuckle at the scene. 00:30:41.940 --> 00:30:43.260 “It’s not funny!” 00:30:43.260 --> 00:30:47.640 cries the D-class, once again jumping on the toilet and pulling up his legs into a fetal 00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:47.760 position. 00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:49.560 “Those things are huge! 00:30:49.560 --> 00:30:52.410 You better get me out of here now or… or… or…” 00:30:52.410 --> 00:30:56.520 He struggles to think of some threat that might convince the agent to take him seriously, 00:30:56.520 --> 00:30:57.660 but he fails. 00:30:57.660 --> 00:31:00.360 The agent is too busy taking notes on the situation. 00:31:00.360 --> 00:31:04.980 The roaches look to be ordinary specimens of the American cockroach, each about five 00:31:04.980 --> 00:31:06.120 or six centimeters long. 00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:10.920 When the group of roaches has devoured their smashed comrade, that’s when things start 00:31:10.920 --> 00:31:11.940 to get really strange. 00:31:11.940 --> 00:31:15.360 The small group turns, as one, toward the D-class. 00:31:15.360 --> 00:31:17.820 Now that is weird, thinks the agent. 00:31:17.820 --> 00:31:22.080 The D-class probably thinks the same, because he starts to scream incoherently. 00:31:22.080 --> 00:31:26.880 Both agent and D-class are so focused on the roaches that they don’t notice something 00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:28.980 even more sinister happening in the bathtub. 00:31:28.980 --> 00:31:33.960 A dark, tar-like substance has started to seep out of the drain, gradually filling the 00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:34.320 bathtub. 00:31:34.320 --> 00:31:39.060 The agent is too busy trying to soothe the D-Class, trying to convince him to stop screaming 00:31:39.060 --> 00:31:43.080 and start explaining the scene to her in rational detail so that she can add his observations 00:31:43.080 --> 00:31:43.920 to her notes. 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:49.200 Meanwhile, the oily black tar continues to bubble from the drain, the surface level rising 00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:52.260 until the tub is approximately one-fifth full of black goo. 00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:55.260 The D-class’ eyes suddenly alight on the tub. 00:31:55.260 --> 00:31:57.600 “What the… what’s this?” he mutters. 00:31:57.600 --> 00:32:03.480 Suddenly, dozens and dozens, maybe hundreds, of roaches start to rise from the black goo. 00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:09.000 They boil over the sides of the tub in massive, chitinous waves, spreading across the floor 00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:11.940 of the bathroom in a solid sheet of glimmering, black carapaces. 00:32:12.600 --> 00:32:16.440 It happens so fast that the D-class can only gibber in mindless terror. 00:32:16.440 --> 00:32:17.580 There are too many roaches! 00:32:17.580 --> 00:32:20.880 For the moment, the D-class seems safe perched on the toilet. 00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:24.840 The roaches can’t scale up the shiny porcelain, slipping back down at every attempt. 00:32:24.840 --> 00:32:28.740 He scrambles to his feet, standing on top of the toilet lid and praying that it will 00:32:28.740 --> 00:32:33.120 hold his full weight – otherwise, he’s going to tumble headfirst into that writhing, 00:32:33.120 --> 00:32:35.100 seething swarm of vermin! 00:32:35.100 --> 00:32:40.020 He stares at what looks like an ocean of living insects, the light reflecting off their chitinous 00:32:40.020 --> 00:32:41.820 shells with an evil oily gleam. 00:32:41.820 --> 00:32:45.240 It’s like a scene out of a cheesy horror movie, but it’s all too real. 00:32:45.240 --> 00:32:49.740 Through his panic, the D-class vaguely recalls that when he was a kid, he once read a book 00:32:49.740 --> 00:32:54.120 about ancient life on earth during the Permian era, when the earth was a hot, humid jungle, 00:32:54.120 --> 00:32:58.200 when high temperatures and oxygen-rich air made the world perfect for giant insects. 00:32:58.200 --> 00:33:01.980 Cockroaches have lived on this earth for how many million years, he wonders. 00:33:02.520 --> 00:33:06.240 He knows it’s a lot and he can’t help but think about that legacy now that he’s 00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:09.300 confronted with a living carpet made entirely out of roaches. 00:33:09.300 --> 00:33:13.500 Aren’t scientists always predicting that cockroaches will eventually outlive humanity? 00:33:13.500 --> 00:33:18.180 They’re the only nasty little things tenacious enough to survive a nuclear holocaust or the 00:33:18.180 --> 00:33:19.380 punishments of climate change. 00:33:19.380 --> 00:33:23.880 He’s less worried that cockroaches will outlive humanity right now, though, and more 00:33:23.880 --> 00:33:25.980 worried that they might outlive him personally! 00:33:26.760 --> 00:33:30.780 The roaches can’t get up the toilet, but they have more success in scaling the walls. 00:33:30.780 --> 00:33:35.580 Soon the walls are covered in a mass of roaches, the air filling with a constant cacophony 00:33:35.580 --> 00:33:39.720 of chittering and scratching that sends chills up the spine of the panicking D-class. 00:33:39.720 --> 00:33:44.160 The roaches start to march across the ceiling and the D-class gets the distinct impression 00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:47.820 that, if he doesn’t do something fast, he’s going to be completely covered. 00:33:48.360 --> 00:33:52.740 In desperation, he throws his shoe across the room with all his might, shouting curses 00:33:52.740 --> 00:33:54.780 as he does, but it doesn’t do any good. 00:33:54.780 --> 00:33:59.580 His shoe hits the opposite wall and bounces off, dropping into the swarm and quickly sinking 00:33:59.580 --> 00:34:01.800 beneath the rolling tide of chittering insects. 00:34:01.800 --> 00:34:06.660 His futile attack only provokes the insect mob, and several dozen roaches take flight, 00:34:06.660 --> 00:34:08.520 launching themselves at the D-class. 00:34:08.520 --> 00:34:12.000 He shouts and claws them away as roaches land on his face and shoulders. 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:14.880 They scramble up his neck and tangle themselves in his hair. 00:34:14.880 --> 00:34:19.380 He keeps shouting and swatting them away, but there are more and more of them every 00:34:19.380 --> 00:34:19.680 second. 00:34:19.680 --> 00:34:24.000 More roaches are swarming out from the black oil simmering in the bathtub every second, 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:27.300 and now they all seem intent on the D-class. 00:34:27.300 --> 00:34:29.580 They crawl inside his mouth as he screams. 00:34:29.580 --> 00:34:33.300 He gags and coughs, trying to spit them out, but it seems that they’re already crawling 00:34:33.300 --> 00:34:34.020 down his throat. 00:34:34.020 --> 00:34:36.240 In his panic, he slips and lurches forward. 00:34:36.240 --> 00:34:40.740 Screaming and flailing his arms helplessly, he dives into the writhing mass of roaches. 00:34:40.740 --> 00:34:44.280 Within seconds, he is covered in a sheet of living insects. 00:34:44.280 --> 00:34:49.380 The observing agent is speechless, unable to comprehend the sheer insanity of what she 00:34:49.380 --> 00:34:54.000 is seeing, but watching the D-class be consumed by cockroaches prompts her to vomit in disgust. 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:58.560 The wretching, gagging noises can be heard over the intercom - -hardly professional behavior, 00:34:58.560 --> 00:35:00.840 but we’re way past worrying about that by now. 00:35:01.500 --> 00:35:05.220 By now, the bathtub is almost completely filled with black goo. 00:35:06.060 --> 00:35:10.620 The roaches start to return to the bathtub, scaling the tub walls in vast waves and throwing 00:35:10.620 --> 00:35:12.360 themselves into the pool of dark tar. 00:35:12.360 --> 00:35:17.340 As they retreat, they reveal the decimated remains of the D-class. 00:35:17.340 --> 00:35:21.540 The corpse is ragged and bloody, partially eaten, its stomach visibly bloated. 00:35:21.540 --> 00:35:25.980 It twitches slightly and the observing agent momentarily wonders if it’s somehow possible 00:35:25.980 --> 00:35:29.940 that the D-class personnel survived his ordeal, even though even a brief glance at the state 00:35:29.940 --> 00:35:32.280 of the corpse should make it clear that would be impossible. 00:35:32.280 --> 00:35:34.140 There’s just far too much damage. 00:35:34.140 --> 00:35:38.460 It’s obvious, in fact, that the twitching is caused by roaches that have burrowed into 00:35:38.460 --> 00:35:40.320 the body, squirming beneath its skin. 00:35:41.100 --> 00:35:44.040 Suddenly, something else begins to rise from the bathtub. 00:35:44.040 --> 00:35:48.840 It’s another corpse, one in a much more advanced state of decomposition, to the point 00:35:48.840 --> 00:35:52.740 that it’s nearly skeletal but there’s still enough flesh clinging to its bones that 00:35:52.740 --> 00:35:55.440 you might be able to recognize it for the person it used to be. 00:35:56.160 --> 00:36:00.960 Under the black ooze, there’s still a ghost of a face clinging to the skull, liquifying 00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:05.160 eyeballs still rolling around loosely in its dark sockets, tattered lips hanging off of 00:36:05.160 --> 00:36:05.700 stained teeth. 00:36:05.700 --> 00:36:09.900 Its eyes swivel toward the prone body of the D-Class with malevolent intention. 00:36:09.900 --> 00:36:12.540 Black tar drips from its arms and skull. 00:36:12.540 --> 00:36:17.700 It places one hand against the rim of the bathtub, the other against the blue wallpapered 00:36:17.700 --> 00:36:22.380 wall, and slowly hoists itself up and out of the pool of black tar, displacing another 00:36:22.380 --> 00:36:24.360 few dozen cockroaches with its movements. 00:36:24.360 --> 00:36:29.520 The corpse slowly stumbles to its feet, dribbling black ichor, and steps out of the bathtub. 00:36:29.520 --> 00:36:34.800 It staggers across the room with sticky, uncertain steps, leaving a trail of roaches and black 00:36:34.800 --> 00:36:35.100 goo. 00:36:35.880 --> 00:36:40.080 When it reaches the body of the D-class, it grabs it by the leg and then drags it back 00:36:40.080 --> 00:36:42.000 across the bathroom floor toward the tub. 00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:46.860 The skeletal corpse pulls the body of the D-class personnel into the tub and both of 00:36:46.860 --> 00:36:48.600 them submerge into the black goo. 00:36:48.600 --> 00:36:54.180 The remaining cockroaches follow suit, jumping into the black oil and slowly sinking below 00:36:54.180 --> 00:36:54.720 the surface. 00:36:54.720 --> 00:37:00.000 At the same time, the level of the black substance begins to fall as it starts to swirl away 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:00.780 down the drain. 00:37:00.780 --> 00:37:03.660 After several minutes, the  black goo has completely  00:37:03.660 --> 00:37:05.880 drained away, leaving no trace that it ever 00:37:05.880 --> 00:37:06.300 existed. 00:37:06.300 --> 00:37:11.460 The roaches, the strange living cadaver, and the corpse of the D-class have all completely 00:37:11.460 --> 00:37:12.060 vanished. 00:37:12.060 --> 00:37:16.440 So that by the time the door of the bathroom clicks open again, there’s nothing to suggest 00:37:16.440 --> 00:37:18.720 that there’s anything at all strange about this room. 00:37:19.320 --> 00:37:23.700 Too late, the agent bursts into the room, flinging open the now-unlocked door with all 00:37:23.700 --> 00:37:24.060 her might. 00:37:24.060 --> 00:37:28.980 She scans the room in confusion knowing that just moments ago it was the scene of grisly 00:37:28.980 --> 00:37:29.460 carnage. 00:37:29.460 --> 00:37:34.020 There’s no evidence of that now, but just the memory – the sight of the D-Class’ 00:37:34.020 --> 00:37:38.040 bloated corpse, the sound of thousands of cockroaches marching and scuttling in unison 00:37:38.040 --> 00:37:40.740 – is enough to make the bile rise in her throat. 00:37:40.740 --> 00:37:44.280 She leans forward, hands on her knees, and vomits again. 00:37:44.280 --> 00:37:49.800 She’s seen a lot as an SCP Foundation agent, but this SCP is definitely not one for the 00:37:49.800 --> 00:37:52.260 faint of heart… or the sick of stomach! 00:37:52.800 --> 00:37:54.240 What just happened here? 00:37:54.240 --> 00:37:59.640 Unfortunately, this is far from an unusual occurrence when you’re dealing with SCP-6698. 00:37:59.640 --> 00:38:06.120 SCP-6698 is to all appearances a perfectly ordinary bathroom; until it started to manifest 00:38:06.120 --> 00:38:10.560 anomalous behavior, it existed as a second-story bathroom in a private residence somewhere 00:38:10.560 --> 00:38:12.000 in Alabama in the United States. 00:38:12.660 --> 00:38:16.980 The first instance of anomalous behavior happened the day after a resident of the household, 00:38:16.980 --> 00:38:21.360 a 16-year-old male, reported killing an unusually large cockroach in the bathroom. 00:38:22.380 --> 00:38:27.300 The following night, when using the same bathroom, that same resident was overheard yelling in 00:38:27.300 --> 00:38:27.600 fright. 00:38:28.140 --> 00:38:32.820 His screams were followed by sounds described as a sink breaking and then a body falling 00:38:32.820 --> 00:38:35.100 against a “crunchy and wet” surface. 00:38:35.100 --> 00:38:39.120 Other members of the family attempted to respond to these sounds, but found that the door to 00:38:39.120 --> 00:38:40.440 the bathroom refused to open. 00:38:40.440 --> 00:38:44.280 Once the noises subsided, they found the door suddenly quite pliable. 00:38:44.280 --> 00:38:48.900 But when they checked inside, they could not find any evidence of the bathroom’s teenage 00:38:48.900 --> 00:38:49.320 victim. 00:38:49.980 --> 00:38:54.720 The SCP Foundation quickly responded to the incident, amnesticising the family and planting 00:38:54.720 --> 00:38:58.560 a suggestion that the missing teenager simply “ran away from home” into their subconscious. 00:38:58.560 --> 00:39:02.760 The family was moved from the residence, which was then purchased by a Foundation shell company 00:39:02.760 --> 00:39:04.620 to allow for further testing. 00:39:04.620 --> 00:39:09.180 When a human enters the room, the door to the bathroom immediately closes and locks. 00:39:09.180 --> 00:39:12.240 The door will remain locked until the event is completed. 00:39:12.240 --> 00:39:16.620 Attempts to physically damage the door when it is in its locked state have all met with 00:39:16.620 --> 00:39:17.460 failure. 00:39:17.460 --> 00:39:21.480 A recording camera was installed in the bathroom to allow agents to observe the event as it 00:39:21.480 --> 00:39:21.960 unfolds. 00:39:22.620 --> 00:39:28.320 Victims who unknowingly wander into SCP-6698 will find themselves trapped; moments after 00:39:28.320 --> 00:39:31.680 the door locks, cockroaches will start to emerge from the drain of the bathtub. 00:39:31.680 --> 00:39:36.180 Once the swarm has reached sufficient mass, the roaches will attack and feed upon the 00:39:36.180 --> 00:39:36.480 victim. 00:39:37.080 --> 00:39:42.060 At the same time, a black oil will start to fill the tub, laying the stage for the emergence 00:39:42.060 --> 00:39:45.960 of the mysterious tar zombie which then removes the corpse of the victim from the scene. 00:39:46.500 --> 00:39:48.720 The observing agent noted that the skeletal  00:39:48.720 --> 00:39:51.480 corpse she saw merge from  the tub bore a superficial 00:39:51.480 --> 00:39:57.180 resemblance to the missing 16-year-old male, raising questions about how SCP-6698 might 00:39:57.180 --> 00:39:58.680 have bonded with its original victim. 00:39:59.400 --> 00:40:03.300 Testing was suspended following the death of the D-class personnel, so it is currently 00:40:03.300 --> 00:40:09.300 unclear if the same tar zombie appears during every instance or if perhaps SCP-6698 pulls 00:40:09.300 --> 00:40:12.720 from a rotating roster of previous victims during its manifestations. 00:40:12.720 --> 00:40:17.640 At this moment, the relationship between the tar zombie, the black ooze, and the legions 00:40:17.640 --> 00:40:22.020 of carnivorous cockroaches is unclear, but large amounts of spectral energy have been 00:40:22.020 --> 00:40:26.280 detected in the room, leading to an assumption that the event must be supernatural in nature 00:40:26.280 --> 00:40:29.040 and to the involvement of the Department of Spectral Phenomena. 00:40:29.040 --> 00:40:34.920 Since SCP-6698 only attacks victims who enter the bathroom and does not appear to be capable 00:40:34.920 --> 00:40:39.660 of manifestation once the door is open, the SCP Foundation has attached a special apparatus 00:40:39.660 --> 00:40:44.580 to prevent the door from closing of its own accord and assigned SCP-6698 a designation 00:40:44.580 --> 00:40:45.180 of safe. 00:40:45.180 --> 00:40:50.340 One thing that is for sure, though, is that of all the ways that deadly SCP anomalies 00:40:50.340 --> 00:40:55.200 might choose to do away with their victims, being eaten alive from the inside by a swarm 00:40:55.200 --> 00:40:58.560 of scuttling cockroaches probably ranks up there as one of the worst. 00:40:58.560 --> 00:41:02.160 So that’s something to think about the next time that you’re looking for a little privacy 00:41:02.160 --> 00:41:02.580 in the bathroom. 00:41:03.780 --> 00:41:07.620 Two men walk through a hot, dusty tunnel carved right into the rock. 00:41:07.620 --> 00:41:10.800 Their torches cast just enough light to see  00:41:10.800 --> 00:41:13.320 that the walls are covered  with strange hieroglyphics. 00:41:13.320 --> 00:41:18.000 They’ve been in many tombs before, but they’ve never seen markings like these before. 00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:22.140 They spot something up ahead - a person slumped against the wall. 00:41:22.140 --> 00:41:27.660 One of the men rushes over and sees that whoever this was, they’ve been here a very long 00:41:27.660 --> 00:41:27.960 time. 00:41:27.960 --> 00:41:31.680 Nothing is left but bones and a few scraps of cloth. 00:41:31.680 --> 00:41:35.460 As the man examines the skeleton, his partner calls him over. 00:41:35.460 --> 00:41:37.560 There’s something he has to see. 00:41:37.560 --> 00:41:42.720 He’s looking through a hole in the tunnel wall and on the other side is an enormous 00:41:42.720 --> 00:41:43.140 cavern. 00:41:43.140 --> 00:41:49.440 In the middle of the giant room is the strangest site either man has ever seen... an enormous 00:41:49.440 --> 00:41:53.220 upside down pyramid that stretches down from the roof of the cave. 00:41:53.220 --> 00:41:57.960 They look at each other in amazement before running down deeper into the tunnel, sure 00:41:57.960 --> 00:42:01.980 that it will lead them to the pyramid and the incredible treasures it must have inside. 00:42:01.980 --> 00:42:07.140 They can see through more holes in the tunnel wall that they are getting closer and closer 00:42:07.140 --> 00:42:07.920 to the pyramid. 00:42:07.920 --> 00:42:12.360 Finally they reach an entrance into the uppermost and widest part of the structure. 00:42:12.360 --> 00:42:17.100 As they enter the upside down pyramid they see that the passages are at least twice as 00:42:17.100 --> 00:42:21.180 high as any they’ve seen and are covered with more of the strange markings. 00:42:21.180 --> 00:42:26.700 They start walking through the passageway and soon realize that there are numerous twists, 00:42:26.700 --> 00:42:29.520 turns, branching paths, and dead ends. 00:42:29.520 --> 00:42:30.720 It’s a maze. 00:42:30.720 --> 00:42:34.680 The man turns to tell his friend that they should consider leaving and coming back with 00:42:34.680 --> 00:42:37.500 others, but he finds that he’s all alone. 00:42:37.500 --> 00:42:39.900 They must have gotten separated at some point. 00:42:39.900 --> 00:42:44.400 He starts backtracking through the passages turning this way and that, trying to retrace 00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:45.060 his steps. 00:42:45.060 --> 00:42:48.240 He abruptly stops though when he hears a strange noise. 00:42:48.240 --> 00:42:51.120 A metallic, grinding sound fills the air. 00:42:51.120 --> 00:42:57.000 The man watches as the walls themselves start to move, shifting and rearranging themselves. 00:42:57.000 --> 00:43:02.460 Without warning, the open passage in front of him closes, sealing his path back. 00:43:03.000 --> 00:43:06.660 The man begins to scream but there’s no answer to his cries. 00:43:06.660 --> 00:43:11.640 Panicked, he runs deeper and deeper into the maze, but try as he might, he can’t find 00:43:11.640 --> 00:43:13.800 his friend… or the exit. 00:43:13.800 --> 00:43:15.300 How long has he been walking? 00:43:15.300 --> 00:43:16.260 Hours? 00:43:16.260 --> 00:43:17.340 Days? 00:43:18.120 --> 00:43:21.240 He can remember hearing the walls shift at least one other time. 00:43:21.240 --> 00:43:24.120 Exhausted he sits down against the wall. 00:43:24.120 --> 00:43:27.060 He’ll just take a little rest, then it’s back to work. 00:43:27.060 --> 00:43:29.220 He must be able to find his way out. 00:43:29.220 --> 00:43:30.900 He must escape. 00:43:30.900 --> 00:43:31.920 Hi! 00:43:31.920 --> 00:43:37.500 I’m Dr. Bob, and this is SCP-875, also known as... 00:43:37.500 --> 00:43:38.940 War Criminals. 00:43:38.940 --> 00:43:45.780 SCP-875 is the designation the SCP Foundation has given to a massive underground pyramid 00:43:45.780 --> 00:43:48.540 whose exact location is a closely guarded secret. 00:43:48.540 --> 00:43:54.000 As of yet, no record of the pyramid’s construction has been found in any historical documents, 00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:59.160 though there is evidence that suggests SCP-875 is a man-made structure. 00:43:59.160 --> 00:44:05.040 While the outside of SCP-875 is made of normal sandstone like the pyramids of Egypt, there 00:44:05.040 --> 00:44:08.580 is an inner layer composed of a metal alloy that has yet to be identified. 00:44:08.580 --> 00:44:14.880 The first floor of SCP-875 is accessible through a tunnel and contains a number of passageways 00:44:14.880 --> 00:44:17.940 that appear to have been built for entities much taller than humans. 00:44:18.540 --> 00:44:23.760 These passages are arranged into a maze-like configuration, complete with double backs 00:44:23.760 --> 00:44:24.960 and dead ends. 00:44:24.960 --> 00:44:29.280 Adding to the confusion, is that the geography of the maze periodically changes. 00:44:29.280 --> 00:44:34.380 Mechanisms located within the walls and floor activate automatically every forty-eight hours, 00:44:34.380 --> 00:44:36.780 completely changing the layout. 00:44:36.780 --> 00:44:42.300 While anyone unlucky enough to be trapped within the shifting walls of SCP-875 may find 00:44:42.300 --> 00:44:46.500 themselves unable to leave by the path they entered, there are a number of hidden pressure 00:44:46.500 --> 00:44:50.940 plates and levers that can be found throughout the labyrinth that open up sections of the 00:44:50.940 --> 00:44:53.460 wall creating new paths and shortcuts. 00:44:53.460 --> 00:45:00.180 But these switches also cause the release of what the Foundation has designated SCP-875-1. 00:45:01.020 --> 00:45:08.220 SCP-875-1 are small, flying, insect-like creatures approximately six centimeters long with a 00:45:08.220 --> 00:45:09.540 mass of roughly three grams. 00:45:09.540 --> 00:45:14.640 They bear no resemblance to any known species of insect on earth, suggesting that their 00:45:14.640 --> 00:45:16.260 origin may be extraterrestrial. 00:45:16.260 --> 00:45:22.980 When released, SCP-875-1s will swarm the nearest person, stinging them mercilessly. 00:45:22.980 --> 00:45:29.040 Their sting is highly acidic and causes severe damage to nerves and tendons, and this potent 00:45:29.040 --> 00:45:33.960 acid, combined with their tendency to swarm, has resulted in victims' limbs becoming what 00:45:33.960 --> 00:45:36.900 can only be described as liquefied. 00:45:36.900 --> 00:45:42.000 Previous uses of explosives within the pyramid have left openings to a lower second floor 00:45:42.000 --> 00:45:46.980 that are relatively easy to access, provided that the maze’s current configuration allows 00:45:46.980 --> 00:45:48.180 the breaches to be reached. 00:45:48.180 --> 00:45:53.340 The main feature of the second floor is four large vats, each of which contains a clear 00:45:53.340 --> 00:45:58.860 liquid similar in appearance to normal water that has been designated SCP-875-2. 00:45:58.860 --> 00:46:05.580 When humans are exposed to SCP-875-2, they experience effects similar to an amnestic, 00:46:05.580 --> 00:46:09.480 but with the added sensation of feeling both happy and satisfied. 00:46:09.480 --> 00:46:14.160 Following what look like maintenance tunnels on the second floor leads down to a third 00:46:14.160 --> 00:46:17.820 floor of the pyramid that is home to a large nuclear reactor. 00:46:17.820 --> 00:46:20.460 The reactor takes up most of the area of this  00:46:20.460 --> 00:46:23.160 level of the pyramid and  appears to be self-cooling, 00:46:23.160 --> 00:46:27.240 with no evidence of a meltdown or other nuclear disaster having taken place. 00:46:27.240 --> 00:46:32.940 This reactor seems to be powering the rest of the pyramid, including the maze reorganizing 00:46:32.940 --> 00:46:37.920 mechanisms on the first floor, as well what’s hidden on the mysterious, lowest level of 00:46:37.920 --> 00:46:39.240 SCP-875. 00:46:39.240 --> 00:46:43.980 Although there is no direct access to the fourth floor of the pyramid, tunneling through 00:46:43.980 --> 00:46:47.340 the floor of the third level has revealed something incredible. 00:46:47.340 --> 00:46:52.680 Inside a small room are what look to be ten separate cryogenic stasis chambers. 00:46:52.680 --> 00:46:58.500 The chambers are arranged in a circular formation, and strangest of all, they’re all occupied. 00:46:58.500 --> 00:47:05.100 Inside each pod is a large, insectoid creature roughly three meters tall and weighing 240 00:47:05.100 --> 00:47:08.940 kilograms that have been designated SCP-875-3. 00:47:08.940 --> 00:47:13.620 Three of the creatures appear to have died from their stasis chambers failing at some 00:47:13.620 --> 00:47:16.680 point in the past and heavy decomposition has set in. 00:47:16.680 --> 00:47:21.720 Several other of the insectoid creatures are heavily damaged, though it is unknown if this 00:47:21.720 --> 00:47:26.580 is due to issues with the pods or if they had sustained injuries prior to entering stasis. 00:47:26.580 --> 00:47:32.340 While it is not known what exactly these creatures are, where they came from, or if their origin 00:47:32.340 --> 00:47:37.020 is even terrestrial, examination and analysis of some of the images carved into the walls 00:47:37.020 --> 00:47:41.340 of SCP-875’s first floor have provided interesting information. 00:47:42.240 --> 00:47:48.840 In one, two figures that bear a resemblance to SCP-875-3 are depicted facing each other, 00:47:48.840 --> 00:47:53.580 with one appearing to be stabbing the other with a spear implying some kind of violent 00:47:53.580 --> 00:47:54.600 conflict in the past. 00:47:54.600 --> 00:48:01.140 In the next, another figure that looks like SCP-875-3 is shown presenting a stone slab 00:48:01.140 --> 00:48:04.320 to what looks to be a human dressed in the garb of Ancient Egypt. 00:48:04.320 --> 00:48:09.600 The Egyptian is facing away from the insectoid, which might suggest a breakdown in communication 00:48:09.600 --> 00:48:13.020 or an unwillingness of the Egyptian to listen to the insectoid. 00:48:13.020 --> 00:48:18.240 The third image though, shows two humanoid figures now bowing to the insectoid figure, 00:48:18.240 --> 00:48:22.500 next to an image of a chalice with a drop of liquid falling into it. 00:48:22.500 --> 00:48:28.500 This may represent SCP-875-2, the amnestic liquid, and the way its effects were used 00:48:28.500 --> 00:48:29.940 to subdue this group of people. 00:48:29.940 --> 00:48:35.220 This hypothesis is further strengthened by a fourth image that shows an insectoid figure 00:48:35.220 --> 00:48:39.300 watching two humanoids pulling what looks like a large stone block with ropes. 00:48:40.020 --> 00:48:45.240 A fifth image shows the insectoid figure standing next to what looks like a dead humanoid, consuming 00:48:45.240 --> 00:48:45.780 a part of it. 00:48:45.780 --> 00:48:51.900 And finally a sixth image depicts the insectoid inside of a small rectangle, that may represent 00:48:51.900 --> 00:48:54.660 the stasis chambers found on the lowest level of the pyramid. 00:48:55.260 --> 00:48:59.940 Are these entities sleeping inside the stasis chambers the same ones depicted on the walls 00:48:59.940 --> 00:49:00.540 of the pyramid? 00:49:00.540 --> 00:49:05.280 Did they arrive on earth and subjugate a group of humans, forcing them to build a monument 00:49:05.280 --> 00:49:09.300 that could contain their stasis chambers and keep them in a form of perennial living death? 00:49:09.300 --> 00:49:13.980 Perhaps this question has been answered by a mysterious transmission that was detected 00:49:13.980 --> 00:49:14.700 by the Foundation. 00:49:15.300 --> 00:49:20.400 Coming from an unknown source, the transmission was in English, but the grammar and word choice 00:49:20.400 --> 00:49:24.360 sounded like it was from someone who had only the most basic understanding of the language. 00:49:24.360 --> 00:49:30.420 The transmission, in no uncertain terms, demanded the return of “the war criminals” and 00:49:30.420 --> 00:49:34.740 that if they were not returned that 95 percent of species would be made extinct. 00:49:34.740 --> 00:49:39.780 It then went on to describe a number of offenses perpetrated by these war criminals including 00:49:39.780 --> 00:49:41.940 claims of massacres and cannibalism. 00:49:41.940 --> 00:49:46.440 Were the creatures in the bottom of SCP-875 convicts on the run? 00:49:46.440 --> 00:49:51.840 War criminals from another planet or even another reality who had fled to earth to escape 00:49:51.840 --> 00:49:52.440 justice? 00:49:52.440 --> 00:49:57.720 It may never be known for sure as the message degraded and became unintelligible before 00:49:57.720 --> 00:49:58.320 it could finish. 00:49:58.320 --> 00:50:03.060 Due to its stable location and the relative ease with which the public can be kept away 00:50:03.060 --> 00:50:06.720 from it, SCP-875 has been classified as safe. 00:50:06.720 --> 00:50:12.240 Its location is marked as a military base on maps with satellite images altered according 00:50:12.240 --> 00:50:13.620 to Procedure Watson-24. 00:50:13.620 --> 00:50:19.020 Civilians who approach the area are to be taken into Foundation custody and administered 00:50:19.020 --> 00:50:20.760 Class A amnestics. 00:50:20.760 --> 00:50:26.760 Research personnel are only allowed inside SCP-875 when accompanied by two security staff, 00:50:26.760 --> 00:50:31.320 and six maintenance personnel are to monitor the nuclear reactor at all times. 00:50:32.100 --> 00:50:38.400 If any staff are stung by instances of SCP-875-1, they are to be treated on-site by medical 00:50:38.400 --> 00:50:43.980 personnel with alkali to neutralize the acidic stings, and in extreme cases, amputation of 00:50:43.980 --> 00:50:45.840 the affected limbs is authorized. 00:50:45.840 --> 00:50:52.320 In the event that an SCP-875-3 specimen becomes active, security personnel are to subdue them 00:50:52.320 --> 00:50:57.360 in a non-fatal manner if possible and transport them to a secure site for further research. 00:50:58.080 --> 00:51:02.580 A businessman from Queens had been saving for years to get something he’d been dreaming 00:51:02.580 --> 00:51:03.540 of since childhood. 00:51:03.540 --> 00:51:07.200 A particular wristwatch which just cost over $20,000. 00:51:07.860 --> 00:51:13.200 However, mere days after getting his hands on the pricey accessory, he noticed a small 00:51:13.200 --> 00:51:18.000 defect on the edge of the watch case - It was a small metal nub, an imperfection that 00:51:18.000 --> 00:51:20.160 he could have sworn wasn’t there when he first bought it. 00:51:20.160 --> 00:51:24.840 After all, he paid twenty grand for the thing, surely he’d notice if something was wrong 00:51:24.840 --> 00:51:26.100 with it when he first picked it up? 00:51:26.760 --> 00:51:30.660 He brought the watch to the official Service Center out on 5th Avenue that Friday evening. 00:51:30.660 --> 00:51:34.380 They’d check the watch out, and have it back to him by Monday, good as new. 00:51:34.380 --> 00:51:38.100 You don’t buy a watch like this if you expect anything less than the very best. 00:51:38.760 --> 00:51:42.840 The businessman’s watch was stored in a secure vault with several hundred others as 00:51:42.840 --> 00:51:45.060 it awaited repair from a  highly trained technician. 00:51:45.720 --> 00:51:48.240 What happened next would  be considered unbelievable,  00:51:48.240 --> 00:51:50.100 if it hadn’t all been caught on the security 00:51:50.100 --> 00:51:50.520 camera. 00:51:51.360 --> 00:51:55.260 The first watch began to mutate over the next eighteen hours. 00:51:55.260 --> 00:52:00.360 It shattered into a twisted mass of glass and metal cogs, its hands shooting out in 00:52:00.360 --> 00:52:04.560 every direction as four legs and a metal eye grew out of the resulting mass. 00:52:04.560 --> 00:52:09.900 This spider-like creature then skittered across every single other watch in the storage vault, 00:52:09.900 --> 00:52:16.140 and within another eighteen hours, they mutated too, until the room was positively alive with 00:52:16.140 --> 00:52:17.160 tiny metal creatures. 00:52:17.820 --> 00:52:23.160 Meanwhile, over at Site-19, a guard began to notice that his standard-issue Foundation 00:52:23.160 --> 00:52:25.980 handgun was unusually uncomfortable to hold. 00:52:25.980 --> 00:52:29.880 Perhaps he was developing a nerve issue or carpal tunnel syndrome? 00:52:30.600 --> 00:52:32.520 It’s not that uncommon in the profession. 00:52:33.060 --> 00:52:37.800 But no, it was actually the strange metal nub forming on his pistol’s grip. 00:52:37.800 --> 00:52:43.800 He had no idea that, inside the gun, a bizarre transformation was beginning to take place. 00:52:43.800 --> 00:52:49.740 And, within three days of the nub first appearing on the handgun, it underwent a remarkable 00:52:49.740 --> 00:52:50.520 metamorphosis. 00:52:51.240 --> 00:52:57.000 Much like the watches, the gun mutated, growing four legs and an eye, and began running through 00:52:57.000 --> 00:52:58.800 Site-19, causing chaos. 00:52:58.800 --> 00:53:04.020 The gun began firing with reckless abandon, sending bullets ricocheting off the walls, 00:53:04.020 --> 00:53:08.940 and injuring Dr. Jack Bright and Dr. Sophia Light as they attempted to disable the rogue 00:53:08.940 --> 00:53:09.300 pistol. 00:53:09.900 --> 00:53:14.340 It was able to fire in a sustained fashion for over a solid minute, before stopping to 00:53:14.340 --> 00:53:16.560 synthesize new bullets through unknown means. 00:53:16.560 --> 00:53:19.500 Eventually, the weapon was  captured and subsequently  00:53:19.500 --> 00:53:21.240 destroyed for presenting an active danger 00:53:21.240 --> 00:53:22.980 to SCP Foundation personnel. 00:53:23.580 --> 00:53:28.260 Meanwhile, in an insurance provider’s office building out in South Dakota, one of the many 00:53:28.260 --> 00:53:32.700 desk drones working their fingers to the bone typing up insurance claims barely noticed 00:53:32.700 --> 00:53:35.640 a small plastic nub forming on the side of their wireless keyboard. 00:53:35.640 --> 00:53:42.240 It remained this way for a relatively uneventful six days, before finally undergoing a complete 00:53:42.240 --> 00:53:42.720 transformation. 00:53:42.720 --> 00:53:49.080 It became a chaotic configuration of legs and keys, spelling out the words “ASK WE 00:53:49.080 --> 00:53:51.120 WILL ANSWER” on the top of its body. 00:53:51.120 --> 00:53:56.220 It wandered around the office, seemingly brushing up against as many other pieces of technology 00:53:56.220 --> 00:53:57.060 as it could. 00:53:57.060 --> 00:54:01.860 The astonished workers found that if you typed any complete sentence onto this mechanical 00:54:01.860 --> 00:54:06.540 creature’s keys, it would be rendered inactive for around an hour, much to the relief of 00:54:06.540 --> 00:54:07.800 everyone who was there at the time. 00:54:07.800 --> 00:54:13.140 In New Mexico, a small child was about to be scarred for life when his brand new talking 00:54:13.140 --> 00:54:16.260 action figure developed a plastic nub on the nape of its neck. 00:54:16.260 --> 00:54:18.900 The child didn’t really pay any mind to it. 00:54:18.900 --> 00:54:24.540 However, within ten days of the nub’s appearance, the toy took on a transformation that was 00:54:24.540 --> 00:54:25.740 impossible to ignore. 00:54:26.400 --> 00:54:31.320 The toy burst open, its head growing four legs and skittering away from its own broken 00:54:31.320 --> 00:54:31.740 body. 00:54:32.340 --> 00:54:34.920 When the little boy saw this, he called for his mother. 00:54:34.920 --> 00:54:39.120 When it began skittering towards him at surprising speed, he screamed and fled. 00:54:39.120 --> 00:54:44.520 The head, which had also somehow lost its eyes to an even more frightening effect, kept 00:54:44.520 --> 00:54:48.540 repeating “Mom, there’s something wrong with my toy” in the little boy’s voice. 00:54:48.540 --> 00:54:52.560 If it wasn’t for the Foundation amnestics that he and his mother would later receive, 00:54:52.560 --> 00:54:56.100 he likely would have been scarred for life by the anomalous experience. 00:54:56.100 --> 00:55:01.560 In Idaho, an old woman who lived alone noticed something strange going on with her television 00:55:01.560 --> 00:55:05.400 set, a lump of warped, bulbous plastic had started forming on the top. 00:55:05.400 --> 00:55:10.500 She decided to call a TV repairman, or perhaps her son who didn’t call her nearly enough, 00:55:10.500 --> 00:55:12.300 to come over and take a look at it. 00:55:12.900 --> 00:55:17.940 But as things often do in life, she let it slip her mind, and two weeks passed without 00:55:17.940 --> 00:55:18.780 her addressing it. 00:55:18.780 --> 00:55:23.820 This would prove to be a mistake - Not that any TV repairman really could have done anything 00:55:23.820 --> 00:55:24.300 to help. 00:55:25.920 --> 00:55:29.880 The TV sprouted four long, spider-like legs, and a single eye. 00:55:29.880 --> 00:55:34.860 The screen perpetually showed shaky footage of an unmoving figure, suspended mid-air in 00:55:34.860 --> 00:55:36.480 the middle of a blank, featureless room. 00:55:37.200 --> 00:55:42.420 This change from the usual programming disturbed the old woman greatly, even more so as the 00:55:42.420 --> 00:55:44.340 television began advancing towards her. 00:55:44.340 --> 00:55:50.520 Meanwhile, soldiers operating a tank stationed in Syria noticed a small metal welt on its 00:55:50.520 --> 00:55:50.880 chassis. 00:55:50.880 --> 00:55:55.500 Of course, given the natural wear and tear experienced by tanks on an active battlefield, 00:55:55.500 --> 00:55:58.080 none of them paid much mind to such a tiny defect. 00:55:58.800 --> 00:56:00.900 It continued like this for a month and a half  00:56:00.900 --> 00:56:04.200 until tragedy finally struck  in the most unexpected 00:56:04.200 --> 00:56:10.380 fashion: Much like the handgun over in Site-19, the tank grew legs and started firing in every 00:56:10.380 --> 00:56:15.000 direction, devastating nearby infrastructure and killing scores of people around it. 00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:18.600 It seemed not to discriminate, or even really to aim. 00:56:18.600 --> 00:56:23.280 It fired in all directions at soldiers and civilians alike, and took several groups of 00:56:23.280 --> 00:56:27.000 soldiers armed with anti-tank weaponry to finally put it down. 00:56:27.000 --> 00:56:29.940 No explanation was ever given for what happened that day. 00:56:29.940 --> 00:56:33.840 Most people just assumed that it was a tank operator who’d snapped under the intense 00:56:33.840 --> 00:56:37.980 pressures of war, and gone berserk, but the truth would forever elude them. 00:56:38.640 --> 00:56:40.140 So, what is the truth? 00:56:40.140 --> 00:56:45.480 Why has all this machinery, from innocent to disastrous, been taking on a mind of its 00:56:45.480 --> 00:56:47.640 own and causing chaos across the globe? 00:56:47.640 --> 00:56:49.200 Allow me to explain. 00:56:50.100 --> 00:56:55.860 These are just a few entries from the filing cabinet of incident reports belonging to SCP-658, 00:56:55.860 --> 00:57:00.720 a parasitic mechanical entity that’s also known as... the Botflies. 00:57:01.380 --> 00:57:04.620 SCP-658 instances are a unique species of  00:57:04.620 --> 00:57:07.440 highly reproductive anomalous  creatures, characterized 00:57:07.440 --> 00:57:09.780 by their four long, thin legs on the underside  00:57:09.780 --> 00:57:12.240 of their bodies, and their  single large, mechanical 00:57:12.240 --> 00:57:13.740 eye somewhere on the upper body. 00:57:14.580 --> 00:57:19.200 They reproduce through contact with any man made mechanical objects, though the exact 00:57:19.200 --> 00:57:21.480 means of parasitic infection are unclear. 00:57:22.200 --> 00:57:26.820 Simply making contact seems to be enough to turn an object into a breeding pod for a growing 00:57:26.820 --> 00:57:32.100 SCP-658 embryo and gestation time is dependent on the size and complexity of the infected 00:57:32.100 --> 00:57:32.400 object. 00:57:33.000 --> 00:57:37.320 The embryo will present itself as a metal or plastic nub on the surface of the object, 00:57:37.320 --> 00:57:41.640 appearing to the untrained eye like some kind of minor production defect. 00:57:41.640 --> 00:57:46.920 This keeps the embryo safe as it develops, growing and absorbing the surrounding technology 00:57:46.920 --> 00:57:48.840 into its own biomechanical makeup. 00:57:49.440 --> 00:57:55.440 Incidentally, the name “Botfly'' is a play on an equally unpleasant non-anomalous parasitic 00:57:55.440 --> 00:58:00.240 insect, latin name Oestridae, which implant their eggs into the living flesh of their 00:58:00.240 --> 00:58:04.260 victims, where they incubate, grow, and eventually burst out from the skin. 00:58:04.260 --> 00:58:07.380 The similarities in breeding  patterns of non-anomalous  00:58:07.380 --> 00:58:10.440 botflies and SCP-658 are self-evident. 00:58:11.220 --> 00:58:16.080 These entities vary massively in size, from the diminutive stature of five millimeters 00:58:16.080 --> 00:58:17.880 squared to hundreds of meters. 00:58:17.880 --> 00:58:23.640 The size of an SCP-658 instance, much like its aforementioned gestation period, depends 00:58:23.640 --> 00:58:29.460 entirely on its host object, and Foundation research has indicated that any complex, man-made 00:58:29.460 --> 00:58:32.520 mechanical object is susceptible to parasitic infection. 00:58:32.520 --> 00:58:37.380 From cellphones to jumbo jets, all technology is on the table for 658. 00:58:37.380 --> 00:58:40.140 And, as indicated through the eyewitness accounts  00:58:40.140 --> 00:58:42.540 in the case files, the  appearance of the individual 00:58:42.540 --> 00:58:47.340 SCP-658 instances are reflective of whatever technology incubated them. 00:58:47.340 --> 00:58:53.400 This influence of the host technology also appears to extend to SCP-658 behavior, with 00:58:53.400 --> 00:58:58.980 more benign objects like phones or wrist watches becoming equally benign creatures, and weapons 00:58:58.980 --> 00:59:03.600 such as firearms or combat-ready vehicles taking on a more aggressive nature. 00:59:03.600 --> 00:59:09.780 Given that the US Military alone has thousands of vehicles and even more firearms, there 00:59:09.780 --> 00:59:14.760 are naturally some concerns about what would happen if ever an SCP-658 outbreak got out 00:59:14.760 --> 00:59:16.080 of control at a military base. 00:59:16.740 --> 00:59:21.660 Thanks to the extreme proliferation of and dependence on technology in our modern era, 00:59:21.660 --> 00:59:24.660 a large-scale containment breach of SCP-658  00:59:24.660 --> 00:59:27.240 could lead to a catastrophic  exponential population 00:59:27.240 --> 00:59:27.960 boom. 00:59:28.620 --> 00:59:33.720 The SCP Foundation is keeping an extremely close eye on any signs of SCP-658 activity, 00:59:33.720 --> 00:59:38.520 especially in technologically-advanced cities and other densely populated locations. 00:59:39.240 --> 00:59:43.440 Research has proven that these creatures are capable of manifesting adaptations that increase 00:59:43.440 --> 00:59:45.540 their reproductive ability even further. 00:59:46.140 --> 00:59:48.900 For example, during one test, it was proven  00:59:48.900 --> 00:59:52.560 that one SCP-658 instance  was capable of impregnating 00:59:52.560 --> 00:59:52.800 another. 00:59:53.400 --> 00:59:58.200 The result was it transforming into a creature with eight legs and two eyes that was capable 00:59:58.200 --> 01:00:03.000 of impregnating any objects they touched with two embryos, rather than the typical single 01:00:03.000 --> 01:00:03.480 embryo. 01:00:03.480 --> 01:00:08.700 While senior researchers deemed it unwise to see exactly how far these 658 inter-breeding 01:00:08.700 --> 01:00:14.160 experiments could go, it stands to reason that it could also be subjected to an exponential 01:00:14.160 --> 01:00:14.460 increase. 01:00:15.240 --> 01:00:21.000 One hyper-mutated 658 instance could be capable of mass-impregnating larger pieces of technology 01:00:21.000 --> 01:00:23.460 with hundreds if not thousands of embryos. 01:00:24.240 --> 01:00:29.160 You can see how these often tiny and seemingly harmless creatures could quickly become a 01:00:29.160 --> 01:00:30.420 big problem for all of us. 01:00:30.420 --> 01:00:38.160 Picture every vehicle - cars, trucks, motorcycles, scooters, ATVs, vans, humvees, tanks, planes, 01:00:38.160 --> 01:00:45.300 helicopters, speedboats, yachts, cruise ships, battleships - all becoming hyper-mutated SCP-658 01:00:45.300 --> 01:00:45.840 instances. 01:00:46.380 --> 01:00:52.440 Then add every phone, every laptop, every computer, every tablet, every TV, every printer, 01:00:52.440 --> 01:00:58.380 every kitchen appliance, every gun, all being infected with SCP-658 embryos and joining 01:00:58.380 --> 01:00:58.920 the horde. 01:00:59.520 --> 01:01:04.440 Given how much all of us - including the SCP Foundation - rely on this technology and so 01:01:04.440 --> 01:01:08.820 much more in our work and daily lives, it’s clear how the uncontrolled proliferation of 01:01:08.820 --> 01:01:13.140 SCP-658 would completely alter the world as we know it. 01:01:13.140 --> 01:01:17.340 It’s a clear reminder of the importance of the SCP Foundation’s work: The worst-case 01:01:17.340 --> 01:01:19.680 scenarios for even some of  the more innocent-seeming  01:01:19.680 --> 01:01:21.960 SCPs can be startlingly bleak. 01:01:22.620 --> 01:01:26.520 Due to the mechanical nature of these anomalies, all connections to the Church of the Broken 01:01:26.520 --> 01:01:30.420 God and their illicit activities are being explored by Foundation field personnel. 01:01:30.420 --> 01:01:37.140 Containment protocols on SCP-658 are extremely clear: Any instance of SCP-658 no larger than 01:01:37.140 --> 01:01:43.020 50 CM across any axis - considered to be a “small” SCP-658 sample - is to be stored, 01:01:43.020 --> 01:01:46.500 alone, in a steel box when not being used in active testing. 01:01:47.160 --> 01:01:51.720 Special containment procedures specify that the box must be kept closed through low-tech 01:01:51.720 --> 01:01:56.280 means, and we mean a true return to basics here: String or duct tape are the preferred 01:01:56.280 --> 01:02:00.960 methods of keeping them under lock and key, or as some researchers prefer, weighing down 01:02:00.960 --> 01:02:02.160 the lid with heavy books. 01:02:02.820 --> 01:02:08.040 Anything with a more complex locking mechanism is capable of being impregnated by SCP-658, 01:02:08.040 --> 01:02:09.720 completely negating containment. 01:02:09.720 --> 01:02:15.240 Any 658 samples larger than 50 centimeters are to be destroyed as soon as possible after 01:02:15.240 --> 01:02:17.100 being apprehended by Foundation personnel. 01:02:17.820 --> 01:02:22.500 This “destroy on sight” order is also applicable for any technology infected by 01:02:22.500 --> 01:02:25.740 SCP-658 outside of intentional testing scenarios. 01:02:26.820 --> 01:02:32.100 In order to avoid population growth during containment, all captured SCP-658 samples 01:02:32.100 --> 01:02:36.840 must be kept at least three meters away from any man-made technology capable of sustaining 01:02:36.840 --> 01:02:38.700 an SCP-658 embryo. 01:02:38.700 --> 01:02:43.680 If unsure of whether an object is applicable, researchers and guards are told to err on 01:02:43.680 --> 01:02:47.400 the side of caution when it comes to this anomaly which has been classified as Euclid. 01:02:47.400 --> 01:02:54.780 After all, when it comes to SCP-658 - or really, any SCPs - it’s far better to be safe than 01:02:54.780 --> 01:02:55.020 sorry. 01:02:55.860 --> 01:03:02.280 the car screeches to a halt the door swings open  and the doctor tumbles out he lands on his hands   01:03:02.280 --> 01:03:06.360 and knees in the dirt and throws up the few  remaining drops of stomach acid left in his   01:03:06.360 --> 01:03:11.040 system he's put his hand in something sticky  he can feel an insect wriggling under his palm   01:03:11.820 --> 01:03:17.820 behind him the door slams and a pair of boots  walk around to his side of the car the translator   01:03:17.820 --> 01:03:22.440 accompanying him does not offer a hand to help  him up it had been a long car journey with many   01:03:22.440 --> 01:03:28.980 similar stops fortunately this was the last the  doctor gingerly gets to his feet and takes in his   01:03:28.980 --> 01:03:34.080 surroundings he finds himself in a small village  hidden amongst thick trees he's not sure what   01:03:34.080 --> 01:03:39.540 time it is anymore the flights time zones and car  journeys wrought havoc on his circadian rhythms   01:03:40.140 --> 01:03:45.660 he knows he is in china somewhere very remote and  very rural he tried to look it up with the maps on   01:03:45.660 --> 01:03:51.480 his phone during the journey but he'd lost signal  a long time ago one thing is clear however it is   01:03:51.480 --> 01:03:56.400 the middle of the night the car's headlights are  the only light source in the village no one comes   01:03:56.400 --> 01:04:02.220 out to greet them the doctor brushes himself off  and turns to his translator the man nods towards a   01:04:02.220 --> 01:04:07.500 small hut near the back of the village just beyond  the headlight's reach his translator is a man of   01:04:07.500 --> 01:04:13.380 few words both ironic and deeply unhelpful the  doctor does not know a word of mandarin himself   01:04:14.100 --> 01:04:19.140 in silence the two men approach the hut the  doctor reaches out to knock but his translator   01:04:19.140 --> 01:04:25.560 has already pushed the door open inside there's  just the dim light of a lamp almost everything is   01:04:25.560 --> 01:04:30.300 covered in shadow it is almost dark enough  that they can't see the cobwebs almost   01:04:31.200 --> 01:04:36.060 silken strings drape themselves over every  surface wall and item in the little hut it's   01:04:36.060 --> 01:04:40.020 impossible in places to even see what item of  furniture is hiding beneath all of the webs   01:04:40.560 --> 01:04:44.760 the translator reaches out to touch one of the  webs in fascination but the doctor grabs his   01:04:44.760 --> 01:04:50.460 hand shaking his head he hands the translator a  face mask and a pair of disposable gloves annoyed   01:04:50.460 --> 01:04:54.900 the translator takes them but does not put them  straight on choosing instead to walk deeper into   01:04:54.900 --> 01:05:00.360 the hut after a second the doctor follows only he  can't help the feeling that something's not right   01:05:00.360 --> 01:05:07.140 something's missing here says the translator it  is the first word he said in hours he's standing   01:05:07.140 --> 01:05:11.520 behind a little curtain looking down at something  as the doctor joins him there and almost wretches   01:05:11.520 --> 01:05:17.820 from the stench lying in the bed is an emaciated  man he looks like he hasn't eaten in days his   01:05:17.820 --> 01:05:23.220 wrists and ankles are bound tightly to the bed so  tightly in fact that his circulation has been cut   01:05:23.220 --> 01:05:28.680 off the doctor can see right away the telltale  signs of gangrene spreading across his palms   01:05:28.680 --> 01:05:35.340 but they're too late the man isn't moving his bony  chest isn't rising or falling worst of all he must   01:05:35.340 --> 01:05:40.320 have been dead for a while now there are sheets  of spider webs draped over his sallow skin like   01:05:40.320 --> 01:05:45.660 some kind of deathly funeral shroud the translator  mutters something in mandarin it doesn't take a   01:05:45.660 --> 01:05:50.400 phd to pick up on the evident frustration in his  voice a whole night of driving out to the middle   01:05:50.400 --> 01:05:55.620 of nowhere for nothing the translator kicks over  a wooden stool the sound is muffled by the thick   01:05:55.620 --> 01:06:01.200 layer of cobwebs as he storms out of the hut but  something is wrong here the doctor can't walk out   01:06:01.200 --> 01:06:09.240 just yet toxicology that's his field poisons  toxins infections bites but that's the thing   01:06:09.240 --> 01:06:14.400 there are no bites anywhere on this man's body  head to toe under the layer of spider silk there   01:06:14.400 --> 01:06:19.980 are no welts bruises or puncture marks the only  darkened veins standing out are on his fingertips   01:06:19.980 --> 01:06:26.880 as they rot away from stagnant blood nothing to do  with poisons but there's something else too a hut   01:06:26.880 --> 01:06:34.380 holding a dead body full of spiders webs but yet  no spiders a scream fills the hut the bed rocks   01:06:34.380 --> 01:06:39.480 violently the doctor looks down in horror to see  the dead man is not as dead as he'd appeared he   01:06:39.480 --> 01:06:44.100 thrashes this way and that straining against  the ties on his limbs the doctor calls out for   01:06:44.100 --> 01:06:48.300 the translator who appears at his side almost  immediately the translator shouts something in   01:06:48.300 --> 01:06:53.100 mandarin trying to be heard over the dying man's  screams but it's no use the man throws his head   01:06:53.100 --> 01:06:57.720 this way in fact trying to bash his chin into his  own chest or hit the top of his skull against the   01:06:57.720 --> 01:07:03.840 nearest wall it is no use the man opens cloudy  eyes that stare wildly around the room searching   01:07:03.840 --> 01:07:08.520 for something anything that could help him break  free from his restraints without thinking the   01:07:08.520 --> 01:07:14.640 doctor grabs the man's head and holds it steady  he peers into the man's weeping eyes bizarre if   01:07:14.640 --> 01:07:19.140 he didn't know better he'd say they almost looked  as if they had spiders webs built up beneath the   01:07:19.140 --> 01:07:24.540 eyelids clouding out the man's windows to see  the world small silvery balls of thick liquid   01:07:24.540 --> 01:07:30.060 gather in the corners of them too dense too murky  to be tears from somewhere beneath the haze the   01:07:30.060 --> 01:07:36.540 man's pupils find the doctors in an instant his  body falls still it is almost as if he relaxed   01:07:36.540 --> 01:07:42.540 completely a guttural murmur comes from the man's  throat the doctor looks to the translator for help   01:07:43.260 --> 01:07:49.200 free me the doctor looks down at his patient this  is the part of medicine he had always hated the   01:07:49.200 --> 01:07:54.600 most at what point do you let someone go at what  point do you say it's too late is it even right   01:07:54.600 --> 01:07:59.340 for him to make that decision looking at the man  lying in front of him a wave of sadness washes   01:07:59.340 --> 01:08:04.800 over him his initial assessment had been right it  is too late even if he could treat the gangrene   01:08:04.800 --> 01:08:09.900 in the man's limbs with amputation there's still  starvation and dehydration to deal with and then   01:08:09.900 --> 01:08:15.900 the apparent venom from the spiders except there  are no signs of venom perhaps it isn't too late   01:08:15.900 --> 01:08:21.180 after all with the right treatment there may be a  chance to the man's wrist snaps becoming a loose   01:08:21.180 --> 01:08:25.860 glove of broken bone that's easily pulled from  the restraint a foul stench of exposed rotten   01:08:25.860 --> 01:08:30.900 flesh hits the doctor like a slap in the face he  reels back in horror as the man pulls his other   01:08:30.900 --> 01:08:37.440 decimated hand free too unbound by his bed the man  lets out an animalistic roar sitting up in the bed   01:08:37.440 --> 01:08:42.240 he tips his head back and starts pounding at it  with what is left of his hands jagged wrist bones   01:08:42.240 --> 01:08:47.760 barely housed by paper thin skin slam repeatedly  into his forehead harder and harder with each hit   01:08:47.760 --> 01:08:53.640 the doctor is frozen to the spot staring as the  man smashes his own head skin splits revealing   01:08:53.640 --> 01:08:59.940 white bone bone cracks then with one last effort  that seems to take every remaining morsel of the   01:08:59.940 --> 01:09:05.040 man's energy he turns and crunches his fractured  skull against the wall caving the front half of   01:09:05.040 --> 01:09:11.880 his head in like a deflated basketball silence  more terrifying than any sound fills the hut the   01:09:11.880 --> 01:09:17.640 doctor stares at the body an almost comical  image pops into his head the head looks like   01:09:17.640 --> 01:09:22.080 just a red plastic bag that someone had left  on the floor full of shards of broken pottery   01:09:22.080 --> 01:09:31.020 he almost smiles but then the spiders appear  just one at first then 10 then a stream then   01:09:31.020 --> 01:09:35.400 an eruption spewing out of the gaps in the man's  head like water shooting out of a collapsing dam   01:09:36.120 --> 01:09:40.980 the tiny pink spiders flood the room shooting up  the walls into every crack and crevice writhing   01:09:40.980 --> 01:09:45.480 and rippling around their feet that breaks the  doctor's paralysis he and the translator sprint   01:09:45.480 --> 01:09:49.980 for the door they crash through it and cover  the length of the village in seconds grabbing   01:09:49.980 --> 01:09:54.540 the door handles they haul themselves up into  the 4x4 the translator slams it into reverse   01:09:54.540 --> 01:09:59.400 and almost crashes into a tree as he turns them  around and back onto the dirt trail they drive   01:09:59.400 --> 01:10:03.420 all through the night not talking the doctor  gets control of his breathing but his heart   01:10:03.420 --> 01:10:07.680 does not stop hammering the whole time he  cannot shake the images that fill his head   01:10:08.520 --> 01:10:15.780 spiders tiny pink spiders everywhere the sun  is just rising when the driver suddenly pulls   01:10:15.780 --> 01:10:21.060 over sharply his eyes are wide his face deathly  pale he doesn't say a word as he sits forward   01:10:21.060 --> 01:10:27.540 reaches down the back of his shirt and pulls  out one tiny pink spider the doctor yells in   01:10:27.540 --> 01:10:31.860 shock and hurriedly grabs a sample pot for the  man to throw the spider into the two men sit   01:10:31.860 --> 01:10:36.180 there in the front of the car in the warm morning  light staring through the glass at the arachnid   01:10:36.180 --> 01:10:42.420 it looks soft that's the most bizarre thing about  it rather than having a hard dark exoskeleton   01:10:42.420 --> 01:10:49.800 like other spiders this one looks fleshy no that's  not quite right it looks fatty looks squishy like   01:10:49.800 --> 01:10:55.440 parts of the body that get exposed in traumatic  crashes wrinkles and folds of pink mushy cells   01:10:55.440 --> 01:11:02.040 with fatty deposits except it cannot be made from  those kinds of things it's a spider as they watch   01:11:02.040 --> 01:11:07.200 the spider seems to recognize their attention  stands up on its back four legs and raises the   01:11:07.200 --> 01:11:12.180 remaining ones in the air it looks almost as if  it is doing some kind of mating dance for them   01:11:12.900 --> 01:11:17.160 it turns its back to them revealing a pattern  of brightly colored dots across its abdomen   01:11:17.940 --> 01:11:23.940 the doctor drags his eyes away from the dance  the sun is gone night has fallen again his   01:11:23.940 --> 01:11:29.160 stomach stabs at him in hunger but that can't  be right it was sunrise only a few seconds ago   01:11:29.700 --> 01:11:34.860 the headache had started as he sat down on his  flight now five hours in and somewhere over an   01:11:34.860 --> 01:11:39.840 ocean he knows he is not going to sleep tonight  he can't get the image of all those spiders out   01:11:39.840 --> 01:11:47.400 of his mind he needs to report this and he will  definitely but not yet a spider crawls up the   01:11:47.400 --> 01:11:53.040 seat in front of him his heart stops and he sits  back violently in his seat eyes wide on the floor   01:11:53.040 --> 01:11:59.580 of the plane pink spiders everywhere they're  not real they're not real just his imagination   01:12:00.300 --> 01:12:06.180 he needs some rest that's what he needs he'll  fly home wait for the headache to pass then he   01:12:06.180 --> 01:12:11.760 can call someone but right now he just feels too  groggy to do any of that the adrenaline of his   01:12:11.760 --> 01:12:16.800 hallucination passes as quickly as it had come  he can feel the glass pot in his pocket tapping   01:12:16.800 --> 01:12:22.980 occasionally begging for his attention his head  aches he runs a hand through his hair that can't   01:12:22.980 --> 01:12:28.500 be is he really growing gray hairs already in  frustration he reaches up and taps at his forehead   01:12:28.500 --> 01:12:36.000 much to his surprise the headache disappears  almost instantaneously if anything it feels good   01:12:36.720 --> 01:12:40.500 he sits there for several minutes drumming  a couple of fingers against his forehead and   01:12:40.500 --> 01:12:47.580 before he knows it he's fast asleep all his fears  and anxieties long behind him only they are not   01:12:47.580 --> 01:12:53.760 behind him once he touches down he goes straight  home to his apartment no spiders to be seen why   01:12:53.760 --> 01:12:59.400 not shouldn't there be more spiders he certainly  wants more spiders his headache comes back he   01:12:59.400 --> 01:13:04.380 drinks water takes a medicine goes for a nap and  turns off all of the lights but nothing seems to   01:13:04.380 --> 01:13:10.800 work even the tapping stops working more spiders  a call lights up his phone screen an international   01:13:10.800 --> 01:13:18.000 number he takes a long time to answer it it's his  translator the man's voice is shrill panicked far   01:13:18.000 --> 01:13:22.680 beyond what the doctor had ever heard before even  when they'd been running from the spiders the   01:13:22.680 --> 01:13:27.660 translator is not making much sense his words are  slurred and his sentences stop and start seemingly   01:13:27.660 --> 01:13:32.940 at random none of it makes sense the doctor turns  the volume on his phone down it's too loud for his   01:13:32.940 --> 01:13:39.900 headache way too loud government knows should have  worn gloves too late the pain the pleasure using   01:13:39.900 --> 01:13:45.480 a hammer none of it makes any sense the doctor  looks down at his phone screen the call is gone   01:13:45.480 --> 01:13:52.860 his phone is dead hadn't it been on full a moment  ago what time is it and where are the spiders he   01:13:52.860 --> 01:13:58.860 punches himself in the head a smile spreads across  his face he's in bed now something red around him   01:13:58.860 --> 01:14:05.760 his pillow it is soaked red could that be from  his head the sample pot sits on his bedside table   01:14:05.760 --> 01:14:12.120 only now it's empty how did that happen wasn't he  standing in the kitchen a moment ago he's losing   01:14:12.120 --> 01:14:18.300 time he runs a hand through his hair webbing  clings between his fingers he sits under his   01:14:18.300 --> 01:14:23.760 desk with a hammer in his hand euphoria washing  over his body just once more eight more times   01:14:24.540 --> 01:14:29.760 he hits the hammer against his forehead endorphins  flood every cell of his body so powerful he almost   01:14:29.760 --> 01:14:35.100 passes out as the pleasure chemicals crawl inside  of him oozing silk through the pores of his skin   01:14:35.880 --> 01:14:41.940 webs hang all over his apartment now just  one more hit eight more hits that feeling   01:14:41.940 --> 01:14:49.500 it's just so his wrists his ankles how many  limbs four not enough that light where is he   01:14:49.500 --> 01:14:55.380 figures crowd around him it is hard to see them  something's in his eye everything looks blurry   01:14:55.380 --> 01:15:02.820 and far away the pain the pain is back his head  someone please he screams and pulls against the   01:15:02.820 --> 01:15:08.580 bindings on his limbs the pain it's it's  impossible he needs to make it stop just   01:15:08.580 --> 01:15:13.320 one hit just one more hit from the hammer  that'll be enough something is behind his   01:15:13.320 --> 01:15:18.480 eye he can feel it something crawling on the back  of his eyeball but that doesn't matter none of it   01:15:18.480 --> 01:15:24.960 matters except getting his pain to stop no more  headaches just one more hit that's all he needs   01:15:24.960 --> 01:15:30.060 the hospital staff have never seen anything like  this before they're out of their depth here in the   01:15:30.060 --> 01:15:33.720 dead of night they arrange for the doctor to be  transferred to a specialist facility in the back   01:15:33.720 --> 01:15:38.280 of an ambulance it is a challenge to get him out  of his bed as the spider's web secreting from his   01:15:38.280 --> 01:15:43.380 skin have all but tied him to the linen as fate  would have it a drunk driver gives the doctor   01:15:43.380 --> 01:15:48.600 his final wish not seeing a red light the driver  plows full speed into the side of the ambulance   01:15:48.600 --> 01:15:55.020 sending it spinning off the road and down a hill  killing everyone inside including the doctor when   01:15:55.020 --> 01:15:58.800 police arrive at the scene in the early hours of  the morning they find the driver sitting on his   01:15:58.800 --> 01:16:04.260 own staring at some small insect by the wreckage  the driver is unharmed by the incident his only   01:16:04.260 --> 01:16:08.700 complaint as he spends the following night in  police custody is that he feels a mild headache   01:16:08.700 --> 01:16:14.220 coming on anyone experiencing that headache is  likely already too far gone from their exposure   01:16:14.220 --> 01:16:20.520 to scp-630 an anomalous species of cognito  hazardous arachnids nicknamed intrusive arachnid   01:16:20.520 --> 01:16:25.380 thoughts unconfirmed reports of mysterious  spider colonies have been springing up across   01:16:25.380 --> 01:16:31.680 asia particularly in rural china for several  decades in connection with this anomaly in 1972   01:16:31.680 --> 01:16:36.600 the population of an unnamed town in the anhui  province were found to have been almost entirely   01:16:36.600 --> 01:16:42.720 wiped out an entire town of corpses each with  their heads caved in brain matter missing with   01:16:42.720 --> 01:16:51.240 106 dead with 23 injured this case is to this day  the deadliest confirmed scp-632 breach strange as   01:16:51.240 --> 01:16:58.740 it may be physiologically speaking scp-632 could  be considered their bodies are squishy in texture   01:16:58.740 --> 01:17:04.380 bright pink and are in fact made up of human  tissue brain tissue to be exact coated in a layer   01:17:04.380 --> 01:17:11.520 of protective fat as happened to our unfortunate  doctor scp-632 reproduces parasitically within the   01:17:11.520 --> 01:17:18.360 human skull the exact mechanics of this process  remain unclear it is believed that scp-632 infects   01:17:18.360 --> 01:17:22.860 its human host through a selection of sensory  triggers those infected have each testified   01:17:22.860 --> 01:17:28.860 to having been exposed to the following firstly  viewing the pattern on scp-632's abdomen exposed   01:17:28.860 --> 01:17:34.380 during the dance that the spiders often do under  observation secondly making physical contact with   01:17:34.380 --> 01:17:40.380 scp-632 and lastly through exposure to as yet  unidentified chemical compound secreted by the   01:17:40.380 --> 01:17:46.860 older scp-632 instances this is where luck was  not on our doctor's side he was smart enough to   01:17:46.860 --> 01:17:51.540 wear gloves during his encounter with scp-632 in  china which may have been enough to protect him   01:17:51.540 --> 01:17:56.820 from being infected however upon his arrival as  he fell out of the car his hand landed directly   01:17:56.820 --> 01:18:03.840 in an scp-632 web housing a solitary live spider  if he had remembered his car sickness tablets this   01:18:03.840 --> 01:18:10.020 could have all been avoided within three hours  of initial exposure to scp-632 the subject will   01:18:10.020 --> 01:18:14.280 start to experience mild headaches followed  by an uncanny sensation that their skin is   01:18:14.280 --> 01:18:19.800 growing silk during this period mri scans have  found that small filament-like structures start   01:18:19.800 --> 01:18:24.480 to form within the host's brain tissue as these  filaments multiply and spread throughout the brain   01:18:24.480 --> 01:18:29.580 the subjects report developing an obsession with  spiders the brain tissue steadily deteriorates   01:18:29.580 --> 01:18:35.040 leading to changes in personality and mood as  well as irrational behavior over the coming days   01:18:35.040 --> 01:18:39.660 the headaches grow more severe as the filament  cells press against the blood vessels lining the   01:18:39.660 --> 01:18:44.580 inside of the skull subjects find that they can  relieve this sensation by tapping or hitting their   01:18:44.580 --> 01:18:49.140 forehead replacing it with a pleasurable feeling  as the filaments release endorphins upon impact   01:18:49.800 --> 01:18:56.400 this is part of the sinister final act of  scp-632's reproduction after six to seven days as   01:18:56.400 --> 01:19:01.440 the host's headaches worsen they find they have to  hit their skull harder and harder to alleviate the   01:19:01.440 --> 01:19:06.960 pain and get that chemical high eventually driven  mad by the pain inside their head they cracked   01:19:06.960 --> 01:19:12.480 through their own skull at this point all the  gestating spiders that have been forming within   01:19:12.480 --> 01:19:18.000 the filaments in their brain estimated to number  between 80 and 200 can escape through the opening   01:19:18.000 --> 01:19:23.460 because of its unique containment difficulties  caused by its cognitohazardous properties scp-632   01:19:23.460 --> 01:19:29.520 has been given the euclid object class there is  currently one live colony of scp-632 stored in   01:19:29.520 --> 01:19:34.080 the biological containment wing of site-52  the colony is housed in a small enclosure   01:19:34.080 --> 01:19:38.580 measured 20 centimeters by 40 centimeters  by 20 centimeters and sustained on a diet   01:19:38.580 --> 01:19:43.320 of insects and water supplied through a vacuum  chute all personnel that work in proximity to   01:19:43.320 --> 01:19:50.520 scp-632 are regularly screened physical contact  with any scp-632 is strictly prohibited and all   01:19:50.520 --> 01:19:54.360 personnel are required to wear protective  equipment and respirators at all times while   01:19:54.360 --> 01:19:58.980 handling live or deceased specimens they keep  a close eye on anyone developing any symptoms   01:19:58.980 --> 01:20:04.320 especially headaches the feeling of silk  on the skin or intrusive arachnid thoughts 01:20:05.280 --> 01:20:10.140 The 13 year old boy gets a running start, before leaping across from one moss covered 01:20:10.140 --> 01:20:10.800 boulder to another. 01:20:10.800 --> 01:20:15.180 He barely makes the jump and turns around to admire how far he leaped. 01:20:15.180 --> 01:20:20.220 He continues along through the woods, hopping over streams and making sure to swing on any 01:20:20.220 --> 01:20:23.280 hanging vines he can find, whether he needs to or not. 01:20:23.940 --> 01:20:28.440 He picks up a branch and starts to swing it against a tree, engaging in a life and death 01:20:28.440 --> 01:20:30.360 duel with the evil knight of the woods. 01:20:30.360 --> 01:20:35.640 After slaying the knight, the boy solemnly salutes his fallen foe before mounting his 01:20:35.640 --> 01:20:38.100 trusty steed to ride deeper into the forest. 01:20:38.820 --> 01:20:43.080 He’s all alone out here, and must be thousands of miles from civilization. 01:20:43.080 --> 01:20:48.300 The valiant knight unmounts from his horse and walks towards the culmination of his quest. 01:20:48.300 --> 01:20:50.700 The Tree of Lost Memories. 01:20:51.300 --> 01:20:55.200 Legend tells that anything buried beneath this tree will cease to exist. 01:20:55.200 --> 01:21:00.180 All memories of anything associated with the object buried will disappear from the minds 01:21:00.180 --> 01:21:04.860 of anyone involved and no one will ever bring them up again or wonder where the memories 01:21:04.860 --> 01:21:05.100 went. 01:21:05.940 --> 01:21:09.420 The knight takes a letter sealed with wax from where he was keeping it safely inside 01:21:09.420 --> 01:21:11.880 of his armor and kneels in front of the tree. 01:21:11.880 --> 01:21:16.740 He brushes the leaves and dirt away from a spot near the base of the tree and digs a 01:21:16.740 --> 01:21:20.580 small hole with his hands before placing the letter inside the hole. 01:21:20.580 --> 01:21:23.880 The boy looks down at the letter, satisfied with his work. 01:21:23.880 --> 01:21:28.740 He starts covering the letter inside the hole with dirt when he suddenly stands up. 01:21:28.740 --> 01:21:30.240 Was that a noise? 01:21:30.240 --> 01:21:34.620 He listens again, it’s not just a noise, it’s a voice. 01:21:35.340 --> 01:21:39.480 The knight unsheathes his sword and starts making his way in the direction he can hear 01:21:39.480 --> 01:21:40.380 the sounds coming from. 01:21:40.380 --> 01:21:43.320 He follows a game trail through the woods towards the noise. 01:21:43.320 --> 01:21:47.640 There’s no doubt, it’s definitely a voice, and he can make it out clearly now. 01:21:48.480 --> 01:21:55.080 “The Wheel of history turns, and ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend” 01:21:56.100 --> 01:21:59.340 The knight rounds a corner and the woods open up into a clearing. 01:21:59.340 --> 01:22:04.440 In the middle of the grassy open area is a stone archway unconnected to any walls. 01:22:04.440 --> 01:22:08.640 When looking through the archway though, one doesn’t simply see the other side of the 01:22:08.640 --> 01:22:09.060 clearing. 01:22:09.060 --> 01:22:15.600 No, inside the archway is a beautiful, white alabaster castle perched on rock overlooking 01:22:15.600 --> 01:22:19.140 the sea, its red roofed turrets jutting high up into the clouds. 01:22:19.140 --> 01:22:25.200 And standing next to the archway that seems to lead to another land, is an old man dressed 01:22:25.200 --> 01:22:28.080 in a long flowing robe, a wizard’s robe. 01:22:28.620 --> 01:22:30.840 The boy steps out of the woods into the clearing. 01:22:30.840 --> 01:22:32.700 What is this old man doing out here? 01:22:32.700 --> 01:22:34.680 And what’s going on with this archway? 01:22:34.680 --> 01:22:37.980 It really does look like it is showing something it shouldn’t be able to. 01:22:38.760 --> 01:22:44.460 “Legends fade to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth 01:22:44.460 --> 01:22:45.540 comes again.” 01:22:46.620 --> 01:22:47.760 “Are you talking to me?” 01:22:47.760 --> 01:22:48.780 the boy asks. 01:22:48.780 --> 01:22:53.580 “Venture forth and face your true calling,” the wizard responds. 01:22:54.180 --> 01:22:59.820 “You are the one that has been prophesied, but have you what it takes to enter this land 01:22:59.820 --> 01:23:00.540 of adventure?” 01:23:01.320 --> 01:23:06.180 The boy looks around, there’s no one else here, this old man must be speaking to him, 01:23:06.180 --> 01:23:06.480 right? 01:23:06.480 --> 01:23:10.920 The boy tosses his stick to the ground and steps closer to the old man and the archway. 01:23:10.920 --> 01:23:15.960 He can see now that the surface of the archway appears to be shimmering, as if it were a 01:23:15.960 --> 01:23:17.040 vertical surface of water. 01:23:17.640 --> 01:23:23.400 “Only the truest of hearts may enter the magical archway, but for the fair and brave, 01:23:23.400 --> 01:23:25.500 a great quest awaits. 01:23:25.500 --> 01:23:26.280 “ 01:23:26.280 --> 01:23:26.880 “A quest? 01:23:26.880 --> 01:23:27.660 For me?” 01:23:27.660 --> 01:23:31.080 the boy asks, but again the old man doesn’t respond. 01:23:31.080 --> 01:23:35.880 He doesn’t seem to be looking at him either, is this wise old man in the woods blind? 01:23:35.880 --> 01:23:40.140 The boy gets much closer now, close enough to wave his hand in front of the old man’s 01:23:40.140 --> 01:23:43.440 face, but there’s no reaction, he really must be blind. 01:23:44.040 --> 01:23:46.320 The boy looks back at the portal in the archway. 01:23:46.320 --> 01:23:50.040 He can see the waves breaking on the rocks and birds flying in the sky. 01:23:50.040 --> 01:23:55.020 He can even make out, up in one of the highest windows on the tallest tower, what looks to 01:23:55.020 --> 01:23:56.460 be a… a girl. 01:23:56.460 --> 01:23:58.380 She’s waving her ribbon in the air. 01:23:58.380 --> 01:24:02.700 She’s beckoning him, she needs the brave knight to come save her. 01:24:02.700 --> 01:24:08.400 “Pursue your destiny, and become the hero you were always meant to be!” 01:24:08.400 --> 01:24:13.740 The boy is entranced by the beauty of this land, the castle, the clouds drifting between 01:24:13.740 --> 01:24:19.080 the white towers, the perfectly blue sea, the beautiful princess locked in her tower, 01:24:19.080 --> 01:24:20.280 waiting for him. 01:24:20.280 --> 01:24:25.200 The boy reaches his hand through the surface of the archway and it passes through as if 01:24:25.200 --> 01:24:30.000 nothing were there, but on the other side it turns into the gauntleted hand of a knight. 01:24:30.000 --> 01:24:33.900 He pulls his hand back out and it looks like his own hand once again. 01:24:34.680 --> 01:24:38.700 The boy thinks about his mother, yelling at him for drawing pictures of the lands he wished 01:24:38.700 --> 01:24:42.540 he could live in when he should be studying, he thinks of his teacher grabbing the fantasy 01:24:42.540 --> 01:24:47.340 book out of his hand and dropping it in the trash calling it a waste of time, he thinks 01:24:47.340 --> 01:24:49.680 of his friends laughing when he came to school dressed as a knight. 01:24:49.680 --> 01:24:54.900 He knew he was destined for something greater, and here it finally is. 01:24:54.900 --> 01:24:56.820 He really is a knight. 01:24:56.820 --> 01:24:59.040 He’s the hero that was prophesied. 01:24:59.040 --> 01:25:01.140 He will become a legend. 01:25:01.140 --> 01:25:03.120 He’s special. 01:25:03.840 --> 01:25:06.780 The knight girds himself and steps forward into the archway. 01:25:06.780 --> 01:25:10.020 As he does he hears the old man still talking. 01:25:10.920 --> 01:25:16.800 “The Wheel of history turns, and ages come and pass, leaving memories that - “ 01:25:16.800 --> 01:25:22.020 The boy passes through the archway and the castle, the sea, the princess… all of them 01:25:22.020 --> 01:25:23.700 disappear in an instant. 01:25:23.700 --> 01:25:29.280 The boy spins around but the archway constricts, snapping shut in a tight ball with him still 01:25:29.280 --> 01:25:29.520 inside. 01:25:30.420 --> 01:25:33.900 The old man sinks into the ground as the archway seems to rotate. 01:25:33.900 --> 01:25:38.760 The archway then also disappears into the earth, as something else emerges. 01:25:39.300 --> 01:25:44.220 A giant centipede appears out of the ground, its scaly body the color of stone with movable 01:25:44.220 --> 01:25:47.940 plates on its posterior end that resembles the movement of cloth. 01:25:47.940 --> 01:25:53.340 The centipede opens its mouth and there’s a sound like the cry of a child before it 01:25:53.340 --> 01:25:56.040 dives down and disappears under the dirt. 01:25:57.660 --> 01:26:00.300 Have you ever thought that you were destined for something more? 01:26:00.300 --> 01:26:04.620 Do you feel as if the worlds described in fantasy books and that are brought to life 01:26:04.620 --> 01:26:08.220 in movies and in video games are somehow the places you actually belong? 01:26:08.760 --> 01:26:13.860 You’re far from alone, but be careful, because it’s exactly those thoughts that make you 01:26:13.860 --> 01:26:20.460 the prime target for SCP-4310, a deadly predator that preys on those with the desire to embark 01:26:20.460 --> 01:26:21.660 on a Hero's Journey. 01:26:22.380 --> 01:26:28.320 SCP-4310 is an anomalous creature that resembles a common centipede in many ways, though it 01:26:28.320 --> 01:26:31.680 has a number of traits that distinguish it from the kind you might find under a rock 01:26:31.680 --> 01:26:32.280 in the forest. 01:26:32.280 --> 01:26:35.160 Perhaps most obvious is its size. 01:26:35.160 --> 01:26:41.760 While some centipedes can grow as long as a foot, SCP-4310 is over 20 feet in length. 01:26:41.760 --> 01:26:46.560 This massive, carnivorous centipede, which is native to Great Britain and Ireland, also 01:26:46.560 --> 01:26:50.700 has a hunting method that is quite distinct from any arthropod, insect, or known animal 01:26:50.700 --> 01:26:51.720 at all for that matter. 01:26:51.720 --> 01:26:58.080 SCP-4310 hunts by cocooning itself in a pair of keratin flaps that cover its entire body 01:26:58.080 --> 01:27:00.540 except for its tail end, which is left exposed. 01:27:01.200 --> 01:27:05.580 The centipede then buries itself in the ground keeping its head and the majority of its body 01:27:05.580 --> 01:27:10.200 under the ground, except for a portion that arcs above the ground in a semi-circle shape 01:27:10.200 --> 01:27:12.660 as well as its exposed posterior. 01:27:12.660 --> 01:27:17.220 The centipede’s end resembles an old man wearing robes, and the centipede is able to 01:27:17.220 --> 01:27:22.020 manipulate its rear legs in a way that resembles the movement of a mouth and jaw, giving the 01:27:22.020 --> 01:27:24.060 impression that the old man is speaking. 01:27:24.060 --> 01:27:28.800 The rest of its body is contorted and the legs are arranged in such a way to resemble 01:27:28.800 --> 01:27:32.160 a stone archway standing unsupported on the ground next to the old man. 01:27:32.880 --> 01:27:37.440 Through a process that is yet to be understood by the Foundation, the centipede is able to 01:27:37.440 --> 01:27:41.520 produce a spatial anomaly in the area where its body is taking on the form of an archway. 01:27:41.520 --> 01:27:47.100 This spatial anomaly is actually a portal of sorts, a portal that leads directly into 01:27:47.100 --> 01:27:49.620 SCP-4310’s stomach. 01:27:49.620 --> 01:27:54.120 As soon as its prey enters the spatial anomaly, the centipede closes the portal. 01:27:54.120 --> 01:28:00.300 Inside, paralysis inducing enzymes incapacitate the prey as powerful stomach acids break down 01:28:00.300 --> 01:28:02.340 its meal over the course of several days. 01:28:03.180 --> 01:28:07.260 You may be thinking, “I would never walk into an archway next to an old man in the 01:28:07.260 --> 01:28:13.140 middle of the forest” but SCP-4310 has two powerful mechanisms perfectly suited to luring 01:28:13.140 --> 01:28:13.680 its prey. 01:28:13.680 --> 01:28:18.960 First, it is capable of emitting a pheromone that induces a state of mild euphoria while 01:28:18.960 --> 01:28:22.560 at the same time suppressing fear and encouraging curiosity. 01:28:22.560 --> 01:28:28.320 This appears to affect all warm blooded mammals, but humans and their natural inclination towards 01:28:28.320 --> 01:28:31.800 exploration makes them especially vulnerable to the effects. 01:28:31.800 --> 01:28:37.500 The second method 4310 utilizes to acquire food is producing a very unique set of sounds. 01:28:37.500 --> 01:28:42.660 These sounds, which are made by rubbing together portions inside of its tail segment, resemble 01:28:42.660 --> 01:28:47.940 English speech, and are almost always phrases that describe quests, prophecies, and heroic 01:28:47.940 --> 01:28:51.240 deeds that can only be undertaken by journeying into the archway. 01:28:51.900 --> 01:28:57.600 SCP-4310 calls can last for as long as three minutes before they begin to repeat the series 01:28:57.600 --> 01:28:58.680 of heroic phrases. 01:28:58.680 --> 01:29:02.280 And each instance of SCP-4310 appears to have  01:29:02.280 --> 01:29:04.740 its own unique set of calls  to embark on adventure, 01:29:04.740 --> 01:29:07.440 but with all encouraging entrance into the archway. 01:29:08.220 --> 01:29:14.520 It is unknown just how SCP-4310 learns these phrases, since other than this advanced hunting 01:29:14.520 --> 01:29:18.960 technique, no instance of the anomalous creature has shown intelligence levels above that of 01:29:18.960 --> 01:29:20.040 an ordinary centipede. 01:29:20.640 --> 01:29:26.220 Interestingly, the same heroic speech sounds appear to also act as SCP-4310’s mating 01:29:26.220 --> 01:29:31.200 call, and it is unknown if the luring of would-be adventurers by the noises is merely a lucky 01:29:31.200 --> 01:29:35.520 by-product, or if it specifically uses the sounds for both mating and eating. 01:29:36.120 --> 01:29:42.180 SCP-4310 became known to the SCP Foundation in the 1950s following an investigation into 01:29:42.180 --> 01:29:44.820 multiple missing persons in Belfast, Northern Ireland. 01:29:44.820 --> 01:29:47.880 Agents searched a nearby  forest and soon discovered  01:29:47.880 --> 01:29:50.040 human teeth in animal droppings concentrated 01:29:50.040 --> 01:29:51.300 around a wooded grotto. 01:29:51.300 --> 01:29:57.600 The grotto was excavated and three instances of SCP-4310 were found hibernating beneath 01:29:57.600 --> 01:29:57.900 the ground. 01:29:58.500 --> 01:30:03.900 It’s since been learned that after eating their fill, SCP-4310 will enter a hibernation 01:30:03.900 --> 01:30:08.460 state that can last as long as ten years, and it appeared that these three instances 01:30:08.460 --> 01:30:13.200 ate well, since the remains of over seventy children were eventually found in the immediate 01:30:13.200 --> 01:30:13.440 area. 01:30:14.280 --> 01:30:20.040 SCP-4310 has been classified as Euclid, and currently, one instance is kept in a containment 01:30:20.040 --> 01:30:21.720 cell for observation and testing. 01:30:21.720 --> 01:30:25.920 The cell has been filled with a thick layer of soil resembling that found in the temperate 01:30:25.920 --> 01:30:30.660 forests of Great Britain and once per week, five piglets are introduced into the centipede’s 01:30:30.660 --> 01:30:31.140 enclosure. 01:30:31.800 --> 01:30:37.260 Mobile Task Force Labda-12, codenamed “Pest Control,” is dispatched to areas where there 01:30:37.260 --> 01:30:41.220 are reports of old men resembling wizards encouraging people to step through a magical 01:30:41.220 --> 01:30:45.900 archway, and the MTF agents are to exterminate any instances that they find in the wild. 01:30:46.680 --> 01:30:51.060 The Foundation’s Department of Analytics also monitors all contemporary British children’s 01:30:51.060 --> 01:30:55.800 and young adult literature, especially the fantasy genre, for references to portals in 01:30:55.800 --> 01:31:00.060 the woods that lead to wondrous locations, and Lambda-12 is alerted to any that may be 01:31:00.060 --> 01:31:04.500 inspired by or referencing  real SCP-4310 instances. 01:31:05.280 --> 01:31:09.900 All of us fantasize from time to time about embarking on an epic quest that will allow 01:31:09.900 --> 01:31:11.520 us to escape our regular lives. 01:31:11.520 --> 01:31:16.800 While it is fun to dream about being swept off to another world, be very careful if you 01:31:16.800 --> 01:31:20.400 meet an old man in the woods who tells you that your quest begins with stepping through 01:31:20.400 --> 01:31:25.320 a magical archway, or you might just find that your hero’s journey starts and ends 01:31:25.320 --> 01:31:27.480 in the belly of a giant centipede. 01:31:27.480 --> 01:31:31.500 These winters are getting worse  every year. That’s for sure. 01:31:32.280 --> 01:31:36.360 The Old Cattle Rancher doesn’t know if it’s  the climate changing, God’s judgment arriving,   01:31:36.360 --> 01:31:42.060 or if he’s just getting older and struggling  to keep up. Probably a strong mix of all of it.   01:31:42.600 --> 01:31:48.780 Whatever the cause, it doesn’t change the facts.  It’s deathly cold out there. His ailing, elderly   01:31:48.780 --> 01:31:53.820 Ma’s health continues to deteriorate. He hasn’t  heard from his delivery driver, Jorge, in days.   01:31:53.820 --> 01:31:59.340 And on top of it all, his loyal dog, Marybell, is  out there, barking into the darkness of the barn. 01:32:00.120 --> 01:32:03.960 The Rancher heads out to fetch her. He  doesn’t know what he’d do if she froze. 01:32:04.560 --> 01:32:09.240 He whistles, but she doesn’t look back at him.  She just carries on barking up that road into   01:32:09.240 --> 01:32:13.860 the snowy night. The Rancher wades through the  snow and peers in the direction she’s looking. 01:32:14.760 --> 01:32:16.200 “There’s nothing there girl, get inside.” 01:32:17.040 --> 01:32:19.680 But Marybell keeps barking. She’s insisting. 01:32:19.680 --> 01:32:22.740 He looks again. Is that…? 01:32:22.740 --> 01:32:27.240 The Rancher takes off running up the road. All  thoughts of cold immediately gone from his mind,   01:32:27.240 --> 01:32:32.280 he races towards the figure as fast as he can.  His frozen fingers fumble at the zipper on his   01:32:32.280 --> 01:32:37.080 parka. Icy wind stabs the insides of his  lungs. Marybell shoots off ahead of him. 01:32:37.080 --> 01:32:42.120 There, he pulls the zipper down and wrestles  the thick coat off of his shoulders just as he   01:32:42.120 --> 01:32:46.260 reaches the tiny figure. He drops to his knees  and throws the coat over the shoulders of the   01:32:46.260 --> 01:32:51.660 little girl standing alone in the snow. Quick as  he can, he wraps it tightly around her, pulling   01:32:51.660 --> 01:32:56.280 the hood up and over her head. He takes her tiny  shoulders in his hands and gives her a shake. 01:32:56.280 --> 01:32:59.100 “Are you okay? Hello? Can you hear me?” 01:32:59.820 --> 01:33:05.820 The girl sways for a moment, then collapses. He  catches her and, in one deft motion, scoops her   01:33:05.820 --> 01:33:10.200 into his arms and takes off back down the road  in the direction of his farm. Where the hell had   01:33:10.200 --> 01:33:16.020 she come from? There are no buildings around here  for miles. No one uses that road except Jorge. And   01:33:16.020 --> 01:33:20.640 in this weather, she couldn’t have walked all the  way over those mountains, she’d have frozen solid. 01:33:20.640 --> 01:33:26.340 He bites the finger of a glove and pulls it off.  With his bare hand, he clasps one of hers. By   01:33:26.340 --> 01:33:31.560 the feel of her skin, she pretty much is frozen  solid already. He needs to get her warmed up. Now. 01:33:31.560 --> 01:33:35.040 He kicks open the front door and  bundles inside with a flurry of   01:33:35.040 --> 01:33:39.120 snowflakes and an anxious dog at his  heels. The fire’s not quite dead yet,   01:33:39.120 --> 01:33:42.840 so he rushes over to the hearth and  lays the little girl down next to it.   01:33:42.840 --> 01:33:47.100 He can barely see her at all wrapped up in his  enormous coat. She doesn’t seem to be moving. 01:33:47.760 --> 01:33:50.640 “Ma! I’m home! I… I found someone.” 01:33:51.300 --> 01:33:55.200 The Rancher grabs two dry logs from  the side and throws them onto the fire.   01:33:55.200 --> 01:33:59.100 He piles kindling high on top of them  and blows steadily into the embers at   01:33:59.100 --> 01:34:05.280 the bottom. They glow and swell in size. No  taking yet. He blows again for longer. And   01:34:05.280 --> 01:34:11.700 again. He feels his head starting to swim.  A crackle. A lick of flame. It’s taken! 01:34:11.700 --> 01:34:15.240 Panting, he turns back to the bundled-up  coat on the floor with the child inside.   01:34:15.240 --> 01:34:19.980 Still no movement. A sickening knot  tightens his stomach. What if she’s…? 01:34:19.980 --> 01:34:22.860 No. Don’t let yourself think that. Not yet. 01:34:23.640 --> 01:34:25.740 He reaches down and gently undoes the zipper   01:34:25.740 --> 01:34:28.560 on the parka. His trembling  fingers push back the hood. 01:34:29.580 --> 01:34:35.220 She’s pale. Deathly pale. Her dark brown  hair is wet and clings to her scalp. The   01:34:35.220 --> 01:34:40.920 tips are frozen. At a guess, she must  only be 9 years old. Eyes closed, lips   01:34:40.920 --> 01:34:46.740 a sickening blue. But that’s not the color that  scares him the most. On her neck, there’s red. 01:34:46.740 --> 01:34:51.120 Delicately as he can, the Rancher takes  the coat off her shoulders and hangs it   01:34:51.120 --> 01:34:55.140 up by the fire. She’s dressed only in  a plaid shirt, way too big for her.   01:34:55.140 --> 01:34:59.220 It looks like an adult’s shirt, similar  to an old one he used to have years ago.   01:34:59.820 --> 01:35:06.360 But on her neck, her hands, her feet, is that same  deep red. Layers of blood, frozen to her skin. 01:35:07.080 --> 01:35:12.960 He sits back, his mind blank. He’s seen that much  blood before. Sure he has. When you work with   01:35:12.960 --> 01:35:18.360 cattle, it’s an unfortunate part of the job. He’s  seen cows bleed out during childbirth. The girl   01:35:18.360 --> 01:35:23.220 in front of him? She’s the same color as those  orphaned calves that lie crying on the floor. 01:35:24.000 --> 01:35:26.880 A groaning sound fills the room. The Rancher looks   01:35:26.880 --> 01:35:30.060 across at the armchair where his  Ma sits. She doesn’t look at him,   01:35:30.060 --> 01:35:34.860 doesn’t look at the girl on the floor. She just  stares into the fire, same way she always does. 01:35:36.000 --> 01:35:38.520 Ma groans again. Trying to express something she   01:35:38.520 --> 01:35:41.400 doesn’t understand. Being in  a world without living in it. 01:35:41.940 --> 01:35:47.340 “Ma, it’s okay. Sorry if I startled you.  We have a um… we have a guest with us.” 01:35:48.300 --> 01:35:53.280 But she just keeps on groaning and staring into  the fire. The Rancher buries his head in his hands   01:35:53.280 --> 01:35:59.520 and lets out a deep breath. Only, the sound of  his breath is joined by another. A tiny breath,   01:35:59.520 --> 01:36:04.560 rattling and rasping through a damaged child’s  throat. Trying its best to keep its host alive. 01:36:04.560 --> 01:36:08.700 The Rancher opens his eyes and stares  at the child. She isn’t conscious,   01:36:08.700 --> 01:36:13.680 not by a long shot, but she’s breathing.  A little at a time. The icicles in her   01:36:13.680 --> 01:36:16.980 hair have turned into rounded droplets of  water that glow by the heat of the fire. 01:36:17.700 --> 01:36:22.200 He snaps back to his senses. He’s not doing  her much if she’s just lying there soaking wet.   01:36:22.800 --> 01:36:26.460 He runs off upstairs and grabs some  towels and a fresh flannel shirt to   01:36:26.460 --> 01:36:30.240 wear. After several minutes of drying  her off, he’s confident enough that   01:36:30.240 --> 01:36:34.020 he’s got most of the water off. There’s  still a lot of blood caked to her skin,   01:36:34.020 --> 01:36:37.500 but as far as he can tell, there’s no wound  anywhere that it could have come from. 01:36:37.500 --> 01:36:42.180 Brow furrowed, he leaves her under a bundle of  blankets and fills up the kettle with water.   01:36:42.780 --> 01:36:47.220 Hanging it carefully over the fire, he walks  over to the cabinet and fishes out a tin of   01:36:47.220 --> 01:36:52.200 coco from the top shelf. Hasn’t been used in  years but should still be fine. He would make   01:36:52.200 --> 01:36:56.580 it with milk, but she’s probably dehydrated.  Lifting the kettle’s lid with the poker,   01:36:56.580 --> 01:37:00.420 the Rancher pours the brown powder  inside and waits for it to boil. 01:37:00.420 --> 01:37:04.860 The little girl’s eyes are open now.  She’s staring into the flames. Her lips   01:37:04.860 --> 01:37:07.560 are looking a little more pink,  her skin a little more blotchy. 01:37:08.220 --> 01:37:12.900 “You’re safe here. Just stay by the  fire and warm up a bit. You like cocoa?” 01:37:13.440 --> 01:37:16.920 The little girl drags her eyes away  from the flames. Her expression is   01:37:16.920 --> 01:37:19.560 mostly blank. She looks too tired to be confused. 01:37:20.160 --> 01:37:20.880 “I don’t know.” 01:37:20.880 --> 01:37:24.600 “I think you will. Ma always gave me cocoa.” 01:37:24.600 --> 01:37:25.080 “Okay.” 01:37:25.800 --> 01:37:31.500 And with that, the farmhouse falls silent. The  little girl stares into the fire. The Rancher   01:37:31.500 --> 01:37:36.060 watches her, finally feeling the wave of  exhaustion crashing over him. His Ma has   01:37:36.060 --> 01:37:41.100 fallen asleep in her armchair. Only Marybel stays  awake through the whole night, staying close to   01:37:41.100 --> 01:37:45.140 the little girl by the fire. Occasionally  licking her toes to try and warm them up. 01:37:45.140 --> 01:37:46.140 ** 01:37:46.140 --> 01:37:50.640 By the morning, the snow’s stopped, but  the huge drifts remain. As the Rancher   01:37:50.640 --> 01:37:54.960 walks across to the barn, he finds it hard  to believe that just a few hours ago, the   01:37:54.960 --> 01:37:59.520 winds were whipping at his face as hard as they  were. The world this morning is totally still. 01:37:59.520 --> 01:38:04.500 What the Rancher finds even harder to believe is  that there’s a little girl in his house right now,   01:38:04.500 --> 01:38:08.340 fast asleep by the fire. He checked her  forehead when he woke up this morning,   01:38:08.340 --> 01:38:13.080 and she miraculously hasn’t caught a fever. She  can’t have been out in that weather for too long,   01:38:13.080 --> 01:38:16.860 but it only makes the question more  mysterious. Where did she come from? 01:38:17.640 --> 01:38:20.760 Marybell didn’t get up this morning.  From all of the excitement last night,   01:38:20.760 --> 01:38:24.540 she must have been too tired for today.  Walking through the crisp morning air,   01:38:24.540 --> 01:38:29.820 he can’t really blame her. He shoulders the  barn door open. A column of steam curls out   01:38:29.820 --> 01:38:34.680 of the opening. All of that warmth, humidity, and  cattle smell is strangely comforting this morning. 01:38:35.280 --> 01:38:40.260 But as the Rancher goes around checking on all the  cows inside, he very quickly discovers a problem.   01:38:40.920 --> 01:38:47.100 They’re thin, way too thin. Some of them look to  be on the verge of starvation. He’d missed it last   01:38:47.100 --> 01:38:51.960 night as he drove them down in the dark but in the  warm glow of the barn’s lights it’s unmistakable.   01:38:52.740 --> 01:38:55.020 These cows haven’t been eating properly. 01:38:55.800 --> 01:38:58.620 He pours out several sacks of  grain for them into the troughs,   01:38:58.620 --> 01:39:03.180 and they all gather round hungrily, filling  both their stomachs as fast as they can. The   01:39:03.180 --> 01:39:06.900 Rancher leans on the railing for a  moment confused. Even in this cold,   01:39:06.900 --> 01:39:11.040 there was still plenty of green grass for them  up on the ridge. That’s why he’d taken them   01:39:11.040 --> 01:39:14.580 up there. They should have had no trouble  eating until the snow came in last night. 01:39:15.120 --> 01:39:19.620 He doesn’t like this one bit. Last time Jorge  had driven down and collected some of the meat,   01:39:19.620 --> 01:39:23.940 he’d had a few questions about the quantity  being smaller than usual. Were the cows sick   01:39:23.940 --> 01:39:29.880 at all? Not that the Rancher could tell. But now  looking at them it’s clear as day. Something’s up. 01:39:29.880 --> 01:39:30.540 ** 01:39:30.540 --> 01:39:31.380 “You hungry?” 01:39:31.380 --> 01:39:35.400 The little girl nods. They sit across  the table from one another eating   01:39:35.400 --> 01:39:39.480 homemade bread and soup. Ma stays  over by the fire. Marybel slowly   01:39:39.480 --> 01:39:42.480 wanders over to the kitchenette and  flops down on the floor, exhausted. 01:39:43.020 --> 01:39:43.680 “Where you from?” 01:39:43.680 --> 01:39:45.420 The girl shrugs her shoulders. 01:39:46.020 --> 01:39:49.080 “You know how you got out here?  Remember anything from last night?” 01:39:49.740 --> 01:39:52.740 The little girl just eats her  soup and shakes her head. She   01:39:52.740 --> 01:39:56.160 doesn’t look particularly scared  or worried. Just a little confused. 01:39:56.820 --> 01:40:00.360 “Where are your parents? Do you have parents?” 01:40:00.360 --> 01:40:05.580 Again the little girl shrugs. The Rancher  sits back and folds his arms. He’s tried to   01:40:05.580 --> 01:40:09.360 call into town, but his phoneline’s gone  out in the blizzard. Not much to be done   01:40:09.360 --> 01:40:12.900 until this snow clears. He’s got a good  relationship with the police around here,   01:40:12.900 --> 01:40:15.720 if he explains the situation,  then it will all be okay. 01:40:16.560 --> 01:40:19.440 “What do you know? Can you  remember anything from last night?” 01:40:19.980 --> 01:40:24.480 “It was dark,” the girl slurps her  soup. “I was hungry, so hungry.   01:40:25.140 --> 01:40:27.120 Then I saw the light and I went towards that.” 01:40:27.660 --> 01:40:28.380 “My car.” 01:40:28.380 --> 01:40:32.760 “No. Well, yes. Later on, it was  your car. But before, it wasn’t.” 01:40:33.480 --> 01:40:35.880 “What was the light then? And where were you?” 01:40:36.420 --> 01:40:39.300 “I don’t know. It was just… the light.” 01:40:39.900 --> 01:40:45.240 Now he’s even more confused. But, try as he  might, the Rancher can’t figure any of it out and,   01:40:45.240 --> 01:40:49.140 try as she might, the little girl can’t  remember anything more precise than that. 01:40:49.140 --> 01:40:49.680 ** 01:40:49.680 --> 01:40:52.740 The pair of them hop into the car  and drive back out up the road that   01:40:52.740 --> 01:40:55.920 afternoon. The snow is piled so  high that the Rancher is having   01:40:55.920 --> 01:40:59.100 to get out twice as often as he did the  previous night to clear a track for them. 01:40:59.700 --> 01:41:03.300 He isn’t actually sure what he’s brought  her out here looking for. Clues maybe?   01:41:03.300 --> 01:41:08.640 He almost laughs at himself at the thought, but  that’s probably the best word for it. If he can   01:41:08.640 --> 01:41:13.140 figure out how she got here, then he can work on  understanding who she is and how to get her home. 01:41:13.860 --> 01:41:17.400 There’s the damage to the phone  line. One of the masts has collapsed,   01:41:17.400 --> 01:41:22.140 sagging heavily on the lines. That’s not  something he can fix on his own. No sir.   01:41:22.140 --> 01:41:25.680 Looks like he’ll have to wait for the snow  to melt before making any phone calls again.   01:41:26.400 --> 01:41:31.260 That could be in one week, that could be  in three months. He glances at the child   01:41:31.260 --> 01:41:35.220 sitting in the passenger seat. She’s just  staring out of the window in amazement,   01:41:35.220 --> 01:41:39.480 wrapped up in as many layers as he could put  on her. They may be stuck together for a while. 01:41:40.560 --> 01:41:45.060 A lurch! The pickup plunges dangerously to  the left. The Rancher slams on the breaks,   01:41:45.060 --> 01:41:49.500 and it comes to a stop just in time. A large  chunk of snow in front of them comes loose   01:41:49.500 --> 01:41:54.180 and slips off the side of the road. It tumbles  down into a gully that he hadn’t even spotted. 01:41:55.500 --> 01:41:59.940 With all this snow on the ground, he has no  frame of reference. Everything is just white. 01:42:00.660 --> 01:42:01.440 “Stay here.” 01:42:01.440 --> 01:42:05.340 The Rancher opens the door and climbs  out. He wishes Marybel was with him,   01:42:05.340 --> 01:42:07.860 but she’d wanted to stay home again. Poor dog,   01:42:07.860 --> 01:42:11.040 she must really be going through it if she  wasn’t even up for a ride in the pickup. 01:42:12.000 --> 01:42:15.960 Carefully as he can, testing every step  before making it, the Rancher creeps over   01:42:15.960 --> 01:42:20.880 to the edge of the gully. It’s bigger than  he thought, much bigger. It continues down,   01:42:20.880 --> 01:42:24.517 more and more sharply, for a few  hundred feet. All the way down into a… 01:42:24.517 --> 01:42:24.530 “Ah, no.” 01:42:24.530 --> 01:42:32.580 There’s a semi down there. A big rig, warped and  bent, lying on the rocks. Just a glance is enough   01:42:32.580 --> 01:42:38.400 to tell the Rancher it’s Jorge’s, but he just  keeps staring at it in disbelief. It can’t be. It… 01:42:39.060 --> 01:42:39.780 But it is. 01:42:39.780 --> 01:42:41.160 “Stay in the car.” 01:42:41.160 --> 01:42:45.180 The Rancher reaches past the little  girl and into the backseat. Grabbing   01:42:45.180 --> 01:42:48.060 a pair of crampons and some rope,  he straightens up and looks at the   01:42:48.060 --> 01:42:51.540 girl. She knows it’s serious, he  can see the concern on her face. 01:42:52.620 --> 01:42:55.140 “Stay in the car,” he repeats. 01:42:55.140 --> 01:42:59.880 By the time the Rancher makes it down to the  truck, his legs and back are killing him. All   01:42:59.880 --> 01:43:03.420 this work over the last 24 hours is going  to start taking its toll sooner or later,   01:43:03.420 --> 01:43:07.980 but some things have to be done. He  pauses by the semi. It’s on its side,   01:43:07.980 --> 01:43:10.500 he’ll have to climb up onto  it and try to open the door. 01:43:11.280 --> 01:43:12.780 Some things have to be done. 01:43:13.440 --> 01:43:18.000 He hoists himself up and manages to clamber  onto the metal door. It’s badly crumpled,   01:43:18.000 --> 01:43:21.900 and the window is smashed in. He doesn’t  fancy his chances of being able to get it   01:43:21.900 --> 01:43:25.560 open. One look through the window shows  him that he won’t want to do that anyway. 01:43:26.880 --> 01:43:32.040 Blood coats every inch of the inside of Jorge’s  truck. The cabin that the Rancher is so used to   01:43:32.040 --> 01:43:37.860 seeing and sitting in is almost unrecognizable.  Smashed glass is sprinkled across every surface,   01:43:37.860 --> 01:43:41.160 with a dark brownish red layer of  gore frozen into everything else. 01:43:41.940 --> 01:43:47.820 There, in the midst of it all, still wearing  a seatbelt, is Jorge’s body. It dangles like   01:43:47.820 --> 01:43:52.980 a limp carcass at a butcher shop. Like the cows he  hangs in the slaughterhouse. And like those cows,   01:43:52.980 --> 01:43:58.740 a large chunk of Jorge is missing. His  fat stomach is gone, not just cut open   01:43:58.740 --> 01:44:05.280 but gone. The tops of his thighs too and much  of his chest. So much of him is just missing,   01:44:05.280 --> 01:44:10.140 open arteries and lifeless nerves dangle in  place. That must have been a hell of a crash. 01:44:10.800 --> 01:44:15.060 The Rancher reaches over and pulls  Jorge’s cap down over his eyes. Not   01:44:15.060 --> 01:44:18.600 much else to be done right now. Ain’t no  way he can clean this mess up by himself. 01:44:19.260 --> 01:44:23.760 But as the Rancher climbs up the valley,  his mind starts to connect some dots. Dots   01:44:23.760 --> 01:44:27.660 that leave a sick feeling in his stomach.  He’s seen that much blood somewhere else,   01:44:27.660 --> 01:44:30.660 or rather on someone else, just last night. 01:44:31.380 --> 01:44:35.700 He slams the door to the pickup shut and  starts to drive back down the track. Since   01:44:35.700 --> 01:44:39.660 the snow’s stopped, all of the drifts that  he’d cleared earlier remain clear. It’s   01:44:39.660 --> 01:44:43.620 only a few minutes drive back down to the  farm. He doesn’t say a word the whole way,   01:44:43.620 --> 01:44:47.340 and neither does the little girl.  She clearly senses something’s up. 01:44:47.940 --> 01:44:50.700 The sick feeling in his stomach remains. He pulls   01:44:50.700 --> 01:44:53.760 up the handbrake and the two of them  sit in silence outside the farmhouse. 01:44:54.540 --> 01:44:56.820 “There was a truck in that  valley. Did you know that?” 01:44:56.820 --> 01:44:57.900 “Yes.” 01:44:57.900 --> 01:45:00.300 “Is that where you came from last night?” 01:45:00.960 --> 01:45:01.680 “I don’t remember.” 01:45:02.520 --> 01:45:07.920 “Was he…” the Rancher stops. “Jorge didn’t have  any kids. What were you doing in his truck?” 01:45:08.460 --> 01:45:09.120 “I don’t know.” 01:45:09.720 --> 01:45:11.640 “Did he… was he…” 01:45:12.240 --> 01:45:16.740 The Rancher can’t bring himself to accuse his best  friend of the words that almost left his mouth. 01:45:17.580 --> 01:45:20.940 “Do you think you might now remember  because something bad happened to you?” 01:45:21.600 --> 01:45:22.260 “I don’t know.” 01:45:22.260 --> 01:45:26.880 The Rancher closes his eyes for a  long moment. Silence fills the pickup. 01:45:27.540 --> 01:45:28.620 “Come on. Let’s get inside.” 01:45:29.400 --> 01:45:34.740 But inside wasn’t the safe haven he’d been  hoping for. Ma’s been throwing up. Not just   01:45:34.740 --> 01:45:39.300 once but a few times. She’s distressed, groaning  aimlessly for someone to come and save her.   01:45:39.900 --> 01:45:43.500 Marybel is pacing around the  room yelping and whining. The   01:45:43.500 --> 01:45:46.320 Rancher immediately goes upstairs  to get some rags to clean up with. 01:45:46.920 --> 01:45:48.600 Perfect timing. As usual. 01:45:49.260 --> 01:45:54.120 But he stops in his tracks when he comes back  down. His Ma’s stopped moaning. The little girl   01:45:54.120 --> 01:45:59.220 is kneeling by the armchair, holding the old  lady’s hand. The room is calm. The little girl   01:45:59.220 --> 01:46:03.720 gently places the frail hand back on the armrest  and comes over to take the rags from the Rancher.   01:46:04.440 --> 01:46:08.160 Returning to the old lady, the girl goes  about mopping her up as best she can. 01:46:08.160 --> 01:46:10.620 Marybel slumps back down on the floor. 01:46:10.620 --> 01:46:11.400 ** 01:46:11.400 --> 01:46:16.320 And that is how the four of them exist for the  next few days. Ma gets sicker steadily, but   01:46:16.320 --> 01:46:21.660 the little girl stays by her side all day long,  caring for her in every way. The Rancher’s glad of   01:46:21.660 --> 01:46:26.160 that. It gives him the time he needs to help his  cows outside. None of them are in a good shape. 01:46:26.160 --> 01:46:31.680 Whatever it is, they’re still getting thinner.  He feeds them all the grain they’d normally need,   01:46:31.680 --> 01:46:36.540 and then some, and they always finish it  off. Yet none of them are getting any fatter. 01:46:37.260 --> 01:46:40.800 The Rancher leans on the railing,  trusty dog by his side. His energy   01:46:40.800 --> 01:46:44.340 is starting to really lag behind what  he needs. The last couple of days,   01:46:44.340 --> 01:46:47.520 even though he hasn’t done all that  much, have totally taken it out of him. 01:46:48.180 --> 01:46:49.560 “What do you think it is, Marybel?” 01:46:49.560 --> 01:46:52.800 He looks down at his little  friend. She’s looking thinner,   01:46:52.800 --> 01:46:55.440 too, actually. But she’s been eating just fine… 01:46:56.220 --> 01:46:57.060 It hits him. 01:46:57.720 --> 01:47:03.000 Tapeworms. As soon as the word comes into  his head, it makes total sense. His cows,   01:47:03.000 --> 01:47:06.660 his entire herd by the looks of things,  have been riddled with tapeworms. 01:47:06.660 --> 01:47:08.340 “Ah hell.” 01:47:08.340 --> 01:47:11.040 He hasn’t got anywhere near the  amount of medicine needed to give   01:47:11.040 --> 01:47:14.460 some to all of them. Even if he did,  a lot of them are looking pretty far   01:47:14.460 --> 01:47:19.380 gone. The chance of reinfection would be  high. He needs supplies. He needs Jorge. 01:47:20.340 --> 01:47:23.880 Marybel whines softly next to him.  He knows what they have to do. 01:47:23.880 --> 01:47:24.720 ** 01:47:24.720 --> 01:47:29.040 Laying Marybel down carefully by the fire,  the Rancher administers the tapeworm medicine.   01:47:29.040 --> 01:47:33.960 For a few hours, they lie there together. He  strokes her side waiting for her to pass it.   01:47:33.960 --> 01:47:38.760 The little girl watches over his shoulder. His  Ma sits back in her chair, mumbling to herself. 01:47:39.480 --> 01:47:42.780 He hasn’t talked to the little  girl anymore about Jorge yet. He   01:47:42.780 --> 01:47:47.280 isn’t sure what there is to say. Maybe he  should ask if Jorge was sick. After all,   01:47:47.280 --> 01:47:51.300 the cows clearly have had these tapeworms  since before the other night. Jorge may   01:47:51.300 --> 01:47:54.600 have picked up contaminated meat  from him last time he came. Maybe… 01:47:54.600 --> 01:47:59.160 Marybel passes the worm on the rug. The smell…! 01:47:59.160 --> 01:48:05.520 The Rancher uses the tongs next to the fire  to pick the worm up. It’s long and pale. And   01:48:05.520 --> 01:48:10.620 dead. He tosses it into the fire and puts the  tongs in the flames for a bit to sterilize them.   01:48:11.220 --> 01:48:15.540 The worm sizzles and pops in the flames.  The sound makes his stomach crawl. 01:48:16.140 --> 01:48:19.140 The Rancher glances around and  sees the little girl staring   01:48:19.140 --> 01:48:23.880 at the tapeworm. He looks past the girl to  his Ma sitting in the chair. Her turn next. 01:48:23.880 --> 01:48:24.600 ** 01:48:24.600 --> 01:48:29.880 But as that night and the following morning  reveal, it’s too late. His Ma’s groans turn   01:48:29.880 --> 01:48:33.960 into cries of pain. She openly sobs  by the fire, clutching at her stomach.   01:48:34.500 --> 01:48:36.660 Every time the Rancher tries  to give her the medicine,   01:48:36.660 --> 01:48:41.820 she just vomits it back up. Each time she  vomits, there’s more and more blood mixed in. 01:48:43.320 --> 01:48:47.520 The little girl gets more and more upset. It’s  not fair on her to have to witness something   01:48:47.520 --> 01:48:51.780 this traumatic and disgusting, but there’s  nowhere else for her to go. She shouldn’t even   01:48:51.780 --> 01:48:55.620 be here at all. The fact that she is means  she has to help. That’s all there is to it. 01:48:56.160 --> 01:49:02.040 By sunrise, his Ma has passed away. There is  nasty red bruising all across her abdomen,   01:49:02.040 --> 01:49:06.960 which tells him she must have bled out internally  from this worm. He’d been too late to realize what   01:49:06.960 --> 01:49:12.240 was wrong. Too late with the cows and too late  with his Ma. He covers his Ma with a blanket   01:49:12.240 --> 01:49:16.320 and tells the little girl not to go and wash  her hands. He needs to check on the cattle. 01:49:16.920 --> 01:49:22.260 Sure enough, during the night, a handful  of them died too. The calves. They were the   01:49:22.260 --> 01:49:26.400 ones to go first whenever something like this  happened. Mother cows stood over their calves,   01:49:26.400 --> 01:49:28.680 licking their heads. Willing them to wake up. 01:49:29.220 --> 01:49:32.820 The Rancher drags each body out  to the back and burns them. He   01:49:32.820 --> 01:49:37.860 can’t risk any more contamination. As the  carcasses burn, he allows himself to cry. 01:49:37.860 --> 01:49:38.820 ** 01:49:38.820 --> 01:49:43.080 But when the Rancher comes back into the  house, it’s full of noise. A noise that takes   01:49:43.080 --> 01:49:48.960 his brain a long time to comprehend. Crying.  But his own. Not the little girl either. No,   01:49:48.960 --> 01:49:54.480 it was a new sound: it was a baby. A newborn  child screaming at the top of its lungs. 01:49:55.080 --> 01:49:57.000 The Rancher can’t believe what he’s looking at.   01:49:57.000 --> 01:50:01.200 The little girl is sitting by the hearth  with Marybel at her feet. In her arms,   01:50:01.200 --> 01:50:06.240 drenched in blood, is a baby. The girl  looks up at him and smiles sweetly. 01:50:07.140 --> 01:50:07.620 “It’s a boy.” 01:50:08.340 --> 01:50:13.020 Then she turns around to his Ma's body  under the blanket. A sickening red patch   01:50:13.020 --> 01:50:16.320 soaks through the fabric, right  over where her stomach would be. 01:50:17.040 --> 01:50:18.060 “What the hell happened here?” 01:50:18.900 --> 01:50:19.800 “I’ve got a little brother.” 01:50:20.640 --> 01:50:26.760 Securing and containing SCP-1003 has  proven… challenging. This is largely   01:50:26.760 --> 01:50:31.500 because the tapeworm that causes all of this  damage is virtually indistinguishable from   01:50:31.500 --> 01:50:35.580 echinococcus granulosus, the common variety  of tapeworm that causes hydatid disease. 01:50:36.240 --> 01:50:43.020 The tapeworm, designated SPC-1003-1, follows  the same lifecycle as other regular worms.   01:50:43.020 --> 01:50:48.420 Its eggs come into contact with an animal through  contaminated meat, saliva, or unclean surfaces and   01:50:48.420 --> 01:50:54.000 are ingested. Once inside the gut they grow and  latch onto the inside of the digestive tract where   01:50:54.000 --> 01:50:58.560 they feed on the nutrients of the food traveling  past them, steadily growing bigger and stronger.   01:50:59.220 --> 01:51:04.080 Once mature, they lay eggs which pass out in  the animal’s excrement to continue the process. 01:51:04.860 --> 01:51:09.480 Infections spread quickly, particularly in  unsanitary conditions amongst livestock,   01:51:09.480 --> 01:51:13.740 and can often be difficult to contain  as, by the time the symptoms - nausea,   01:51:13.740 --> 01:51:18.300 weight loss, fever - start to manifest in  the infected, the worms have likely already   01:51:18.300 --> 01:51:22.020 reproduced and have a new generation  growing in the guts of other animals. 01:51:22.020 --> 01:51:27.900 As far as the foundation is aware, SCP-1003  follows this normal pattern in all observed   01:51:27.900 --> 01:51:31.560 animals, except humans. When a human  ingests an egg from this tapeworm,   01:51:31.560 --> 01:51:34.200 a very different creature  starts to grow in their gut.   01:51:34.800 --> 01:51:40.860 Human embryos, with the same genetic code as the  tapeworm, begin to form. The rate of their growth   01:51:40.860 --> 01:51:46.080 is greatly accelerated, however. By just 8 weeks,  they are as mature as the typical 3-week-old   01:51:46.080 --> 01:51:51.240 neonate - or newborn child - although similar  in size to an 8-week-old embryo at 13-16cm. 01:51:52.200 --> 01:51:57.240 Many eggs usually enter this ‘fertilization’  period, but almost all of them die before   01:51:57.240 --> 01:52:01.740 having a chance to develop much beyond the early  stages. They stand the best chance of survival   01:52:01.740 --> 01:52:05.700 when buried in the hepatic tissue, where they  can absorb plenty of nutrients from their host.   01:52:06.300 --> 01:52:10.800 The host at this point usually starts  to experience mild symptoms. Lethargy,   01:52:10.800 --> 01:52:14.340 the occasional stomach cramp,  nothing particularly severe… yet. 01:52:14.340 --> 01:52:20.220 The embryos that survive soon develop rows  of temporary razor sharp. At this point,   01:52:20.220 --> 01:52:23.280 passively absorbing nutrients  is no longer enough for them.   01:52:24.000 --> 01:52:28.920 They bury their teeth into the soft tissue  surrounding them and begin to eat. Once they   01:52:28.920 --> 01:52:33.300 enter this stage, their rate of growth increases  exponentially, the more flesh they consume. 01:52:33.900 --> 01:52:38.940 Eventually burrowing out into the world, the  Tapeworm Child is born drenched in blood. 01:52:39.600 --> 01:52:43.980 The size and apparent age of the child that  emerges from the corpse are determined by the   01:52:43.980 --> 01:52:48.360 size of the person they consume. For example  the child eating its way out of the Rancher’s   01:52:48.360 --> 01:52:52.500 Ma appeared to be only a 10-month-old  child as there was very little of the   01:52:52.500 --> 01:52:57.420 frail old woman for it to eat. By contrast  the little girl who emerged from Jorge’s gut   01:52:57.420 --> 01:53:01.680 had plenty of fat to feast on and so was  able to grow to the size of a 9-year-old. 01:53:01.680 --> 01:53:06.960 Once the child emerges, the teeth that they’d  used to eat their way out quickly come loose and   01:53:06.960 --> 01:53:11.760 are replaced by regular human teeth. The children  themselves have no memory at all of where they’ve   01:53:11.760 --> 01:53:16.380 come from or what they are. They have the same  motor and linguistic skills that a regular child   01:53:16.380 --> 01:53:21.480 would possess at their age. Nothing, aside from  their DNA, marks them out as being any different   01:53:21.480 --> 01:53:25.620 from the children around them. Blissfully  ignorant, just like the children around them. 01:53:25.620 --> 01:53:30.420 It is theorized that many of these children end  up in orphanages. With no birth certificates   01:53:30.420 --> 01:53:34.800 or identifiable parents, they fall through  the gaps in the system, quickly lost to the   01:53:34.800 --> 01:53:39.060 world. The only way to really track them at  all is to follow the infections they cause. 01:53:39.600 --> 01:53:44.940 You see, these Tapeworm Children have one final  curse they must live with. Their bodily fluids,   01:53:44.940 --> 01:53:49.560 their saliva, and sweat, contain the same  tapeworm protoscolex that will develop into   01:53:49.560 --> 01:53:56.280 SCP-1003-1 as soon as it is ingested by another  creature. Making the cycle start all over again.   01:53:57.060 --> 01:54:01.140 If you want to track down a Tapeworm  Child, and I highly advise that you don’t,   01:54:01.140 --> 01:54:05.940 all you have to do is follow the trail of  nasty stomach infections, internal bleeding,   01:54:05.940 --> 01:54:11.580 and freak pregnancies amongst the outcasts of  society. It, unfortunately, will not take long. 01:54:11.580 --> 01:54:16.800 There are currently ten instances  of SCP-1003-2 in containment. The   01:54:16.800 --> 01:54:21.360 children live in Bio-Research Area 13  under strict supervision. Researchers   01:54:21.360 --> 01:54:25.200 are only permitted to enter their cells  whilst wearing full-body biohazard suits,   01:54:25.200 --> 01:54:29.040 but first must have Level 4 security  clearance, and must have written permission,   01:54:29.040 --> 01:54:34.440 and can only enter with specific research goals  agreed. All staff are regularly tested for the   01:54:34.440 --> 01:54:38.880 presence of any kind of tapeworms in their system.  No other animals are permitted in this facility. 01:54:39.840 --> 01:54:42.540 A truck pulls up in front of a quiet suburban home. 01:54:42.540 --> 01:54:45.960 The faded sign on the truck’s flank reads “EXTERMINATOR.” 01:54:45.960 --> 01:54:49.440 It’s not the most glamorous job, but hey, somebody’s gotta do it. 01:54:49.440 --> 01:54:54.960 In all his years of extermination work, this exterminator has seen it all – ants, termites, 01:54:54.960 --> 01:54:55.620 rats… 01:54:55.620 --> 01:54:57.960 But he’s never taken a job that he couldn’t handle. 01:54:57.960 --> 01:55:02.580 As he looks out at this sprawling suburban home, he can’t help but notice the nicely 01:55:02.580 --> 01:55:05.280 manicured lawn and the beautifully sculpted topiaries. 01:55:05.280 --> 01:55:08.880 The trash cans are neatly stacked on the curb, ready for pick-up. 01:55:08.880 --> 01:55:11.820 It doesn’t look like the sort of home that would have a vermin problem. 01:55:11.820 --> 01:55:16.620 But then again, this exterminator knows better than anyone that looks can be deceiving. 01:55:17.340 --> 01:55:21.660 People often think that only run-down slums will attract vermin, but he knows that even 01:55:21.660 --> 01:55:24.720 the cleanest kitchens can still have a problem with unwelcome invaders. 01:55:25.380 --> 01:55:29.520 He jumps from his truck and walks up to the front door, carrying his equipment on his 01:55:29.520 --> 01:55:31.200 back and a clipboard in his hands. 01:55:31.200 --> 01:55:34.740 He quickly reviews the specifics of this job from the paper on his clipboard. 01:55:34.740 --> 01:55:39.480 A woman called his company complaining about a major cockroach infestation, demanding that 01:55:39.480 --> 01:55:40.620 they send someone right away. 01:55:40.620 --> 01:55:45.240 He remembers that she sounded downright frantic on the phone, much more agitated than you 01:55:45.240 --> 01:55:46.920 would expect from a little cockroach problem. 01:55:46.920 --> 01:55:50.640 Then again, he thinks, some people just really don’t like bugs. 01:55:51.180 --> 01:55:52.920 He rings the doorbell and waits. 01:55:52.920 --> 01:55:55.080 A crabby-looking old woman answers the door. 01:55:55.080 --> 01:55:56.700 “It’s about time that you got here!” 01:55:56.700 --> 01:55:57.660 she snaps. 01:55:57.660 --> 01:55:59.820 “There’s a huge cockroach infestation in the basement. 01:55:59.820 --> 01:56:00.720 Hundreds of them! 01:56:00.720 --> 01:56:02.940 I want you to go down there and do something about it!” 01:56:02.940 --> 01:56:06.000 “Absolutely, ma’am,” says the exterminator politely. 01:56:06.660 --> 01:56:09.240 Part of his job is assuaging frantic customers. 01:56:09.240 --> 01:56:10.860 He’s used to this sort of thing. 01:56:10.860 --> 01:56:15.240 So many homeowners are absolutely terrified of insects that they fall to pieces at the 01:56:15.240 --> 01:56:16.740 sight of a spider or a cockroach. 01:56:16.740 --> 01:56:20.760 He’s accustomed to dealing with all manner of creepy crawlies, so he’s not at all worried. 01:56:20.760 --> 01:56:22.620 He’s sure this will be an easy job. 01:56:22.620 --> 01:56:27.360 “You’re in good hands with us, we’ll kill those roaches dead,” he says, recalling 01:56:27.360 --> 01:56:29.160 the company slogan that he’s required to repeat. 01:56:29.160 --> 01:56:31.560 “They’re in the basement,” says the old woman. 01:56:31.560 --> 01:56:33.600 “I’ve tried to kill them, but there’s too many of them. 01:56:33.600 --> 01:56:34.560 And they’re too fast! 01:56:34.560 --> 01:56:37.080 I’m way too old to be running after a bunch of bugs. 01:56:37.080 --> 01:56:38.400 It tires these old bones out. 01:56:38.400 --> 01:56:42.660 I was down there with a spray can myself but I just keep getting too tired to keep it up. 01:56:42.660 --> 01:56:45.060 It’s almost like those bugs were making me sleepy!” 01:56:45.060 --> 01:56:46.500 “Of course, ma’am.” 01:56:46.500 --> 01:56:50.820 The exterminator can barely keep from rolling his eyes as this old woman continues to rattle 01:56:50.820 --> 01:56:52.740 off complaints about the cockroaches in her basement. 01:56:52.740 --> 01:56:55.560 Of course, there’s an easy explanation for all this. 01:56:55.560 --> 01:56:59.640 This woman is very old, so she wouldn’t be able to run around much without tiring 01:56:59.640 --> 01:57:00.240 herself out. 01:57:00.240 --> 01:57:04.260 That’s much more plausible than believing that the cockroaches were somehow magically 01:57:04.260 --> 01:57:05.100 draining her energy. 01:57:05.100 --> 01:57:10.020 But again, he’s used to listening to all sorts of crazy stories from frightened clients, 01:57:10.020 --> 01:57:11.460 so he doesn’t give it much thought. 01:57:12.060 --> 01:57:14.820 “Then I’ll take a look and see what kind of problem you have.” 01:57:14.820 --> 01:57:18.480 The exterminator opens the door to the basement and peers down into the darkness. 01:57:19.020 --> 01:57:22.320 He gropes blindly for the light switch and eventually his fingers connect. 01:57:22.320 --> 01:57:26.400 He flips the switch and a bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling flickers on. 01:57:26.400 --> 01:57:30.720 The stairs leading down into the depths of the basement are warped and rickety. 01:57:30.720 --> 01:57:33.360 He makes a mental note to watch his step as he descends. 01:57:33.360 --> 01:57:35.820 The boards ominously creak under his feet. 01:57:36.540 --> 01:57:40.380 The basement is filled with junk, all the accumulated debris of the owner’s whole 01:57:40.380 --> 01:57:40.620 life. 01:57:40.620 --> 01:57:45.000 He sees piles of cardboard boxes, overflowing with old books and raggedy clothes. 01:57:45.000 --> 01:57:49.320 Paint cans are stacked in the corner, in defiance of any pretensions to fire safety. 01:57:49.320 --> 01:57:53.880 The boiler rattles and wheezes; it sounds like it might need to be replaced fairly soon. 01:57:53.880 --> 01:57:58.440 The air smells damp and musty and he wonders if the old woman has ever cleaned this basement. 01:57:58.440 --> 01:58:02.400 Looking at this mess, it’s no wonder that she would have a problem with cockroaches! 01:58:02.400 --> 01:58:06.840 The exterminator can’t help but think about how messy and decrepit this cellar looks compared 01:58:06.840 --> 01:58:08.640 to the immaculate façade of the house outside. 01:58:08.640 --> 01:58:11.880 The exterminator pulls out his flashlight and flicks it on. 01:58:11.880 --> 01:58:15.960 He aims it into the corners, hoping to see some evidence of this insect invasion. 01:58:15.960 --> 01:58:17.280 He sees nothing. 01:58:17.280 --> 01:58:22.020 The old woman described a basement infested with hordes of insects, yet he doesn’t see 01:58:22.020 --> 01:58:22.620 a single one. 01:58:23.220 --> 01:58:24.480 He stifles a yawn. 01:58:24.480 --> 01:58:26.160 Why does he feel so sleepy? 01:58:26.160 --> 01:58:30.360 This job must be more draining than he thought, because he’s already feeling spent. 01:58:30.360 --> 01:58:32.400 Could it be that the old woman was right? 01:58:32.400 --> 01:58:35.160 Is there something in the basement that is making him sleepy? 01:58:35.160 --> 01:58:37.740 Could it be something about those cockroaches that she blames? 01:58:37.740 --> 01:58:39.840 No, that’s just ridiculous. 01:58:39.840 --> 01:58:43.380 He knows enough about cockroaches to know that can’t be the case and he’s not about 01:58:43.380 --> 01:58:44.880 to start believing fantasies now. 01:58:44.880 --> 01:58:46.260 He’s a rational guy. 01:58:46.260 --> 01:58:49.740 He knows that you can’t lose your head and expect to do well in this line of work. 01:58:49.740 --> 01:58:54.480 Besides, he reminds himself, he still hasn’t actually seen any evidence of a cockroach 01:58:54.480 --> 01:58:55.140 problem at all. 01:58:55.860 --> 01:58:59.160 He continues to poke around the basement and still finds nothing. 01:58:59.160 --> 01:59:00.360 He frowns. 01:59:00.360 --> 01:59:01.800 This is really concerning. 01:59:01.800 --> 01:59:06.180 First of all, he doesn’t relish the idea of explaining to the old woman upstairs that 01:59:06.180 --> 01:59:08.280 she doesn’t actually have a cockroach problem at all. 01:59:08.280 --> 01:59:11.880 She’s probably not going to take kindly to him telling her that she’s delusional. 01:59:12.600 --> 01:59:14.880 But also, he was hoping that this would be a big job. 01:59:14.880 --> 01:59:18.720 If he can’t find any bugs, he won’t be able to justify charging the old woman for 01:59:18.720 --> 01:59:19.020 this visit. 01:59:19.020 --> 01:59:20.400 What a waste of his time! 01:59:21.180 --> 01:59:23.760 Suddenly, he catches movement out of the corner of his eye. 01:59:23.760 --> 01:59:27.900 He spins around, aiming his flashlight into the corner, just quick enough to see something 01:59:27.900 --> 01:59:29.220 scuttle through a crack in the wall. 01:59:29.820 --> 01:59:30.660 Did he imagine that? 01:59:30.660 --> 01:59:33.180 No, he tells himself, he definitely saw something. 01:59:33.180 --> 01:59:33.840 Great! 01:59:34.500 --> 01:59:37.380 He approaches the corner, his spirits suddenly buoyed again. 01:59:37.380 --> 01:59:40.740 He’s happy that he’ll actually have something to report to his upstairs client! 01:59:40.740 --> 01:59:42.720 Maybe he’ll find a whole nest in that crack! 01:59:42.720 --> 01:59:47.460 That would be great, he could justify recommending a full house fumigation then and that would 01:59:47.460 --> 01:59:49.080 bring some much-needed cash into the business. 01:59:49.980 --> 01:59:51.960 He narrows his eyes and peers closer. 01:59:51.960 --> 01:59:55.920 Even with his flashlight beam trained on the crack, it’s so dark in the basement that 01:59:55.920 --> 01:59:56.580 it’s hard to see. 01:59:56.580 --> 02:00:00.420 He can see the wooden boards of the house’s superstructure through the flaking paint on 02:00:00.420 --> 02:00:04.560 the wall and, if he squints just right, he thinks he can just see something squirming 02:00:04.560 --> 02:00:05.640 right there between the boards. 02:00:06.240 --> 02:00:08.580 Whatever it is, it stops  moving when his flashlight  02:00:08.580 --> 02:00:09.720 beam washes over it. 02:00:09.720 --> 02:00:11.160 That’s very unusual. 02:00:11.160 --> 02:00:15.420 He knows from experience that, when you turn over a rock, bugs will always race for cover. 02:00:15.420 --> 02:00:19.380 They aren’t smart enough to play dead… yet that’s exactly what it looks like this 02:00:19.380 --> 02:00:20.100 insect is doing. 02:00:20.100 --> 02:00:24.240 He rubs his eyes with his free hand, trying to blink away his sudden sleepiness. 02:00:24.240 --> 02:00:28.560 He’s feeling even drowsier than before, but he really needs to finish this job. 02:00:29.220 --> 02:00:32.400 He moves in closer and the cockroach decides to make a break for it. 02:00:32.400 --> 02:00:36.600 The insect skitters away, desperately trying to worm its little grey body between the boards 02:00:36.600 --> 02:00:36.900 to escape. 02:00:36.900 --> 02:00:38.520 The exterminator moves fast. 02:00:38.520 --> 02:00:42.840 He pulls a pair of tweezers from his pocket and pinches them closed on the squirming insect’s 02:00:42.840 --> 02:00:44.340 abdomen before it can wriggle away. 02:00:44.340 --> 02:00:48.120 He holds it up close to his nose so that he can get a better look at his prey. 02:00:48.120 --> 02:00:49.920 The exterminator laughs. 02:00:49.920 --> 02:00:54.180 He’s seen every kind of insect in his time and he can recognize a cockroach when he sees 02:00:54.180 --> 02:00:54.300 it. 02:00:54.300 --> 02:00:56.520 This is no cockroach! 02:00:56.520 --> 02:00:59.580 He can tell from a glance that he’s looking at a perfectly harmless cricket. 02:00:59.580 --> 02:01:04.080 Like so many people, that old woman must have just panicked at the sight of a bug and assumed 02:01:04.080 --> 02:01:04.860 it was a cockroach. 02:01:04.860 --> 02:01:05.820 That’s good. 02:01:05.820 --> 02:01:09.420 Most people don’t mind having crickets in their home, so this old lady will probably 02:01:09.420 --> 02:01:10.500 be happy to hear the news. 02:01:10.500 --> 02:01:12.900 Then again… is it a cricket? 02:01:12.900 --> 02:01:17.280 When he looks closer, he sees that it’s got some unusual features. 02:01:17.280 --> 02:01:21.720 There are strange barbed hooks visible on the underside of its abdomen, sharp enough 02:01:21.720 --> 02:01:25.440 that even an experienced exterminator like him thinks better of holding this thing too 02:01:25.440 --> 02:01:26.160 close to his face. 02:01:26.160 --> 02:01:27.420 Are those stingers? 02:01:27.420 --> 02:01:28.980 Could this bug be poisonous? 02:01:28.980 --> 02:01:33.900 And, even stranger, if he looks closer, he thinks he might even see metal wires protruding 02:01:33.900 --> 02:01:34.980 from its exoskeleton. 02:01:34.980 --> 02:01:37.980 The exterminator yawns again, rubbing his eyes. 02:01:37.980 --> 02:01:39.840 He suddenly feels so sleepy. 02:01:39.840 --> 02:01:40.980 What’s wrong with him? 02:01:40.980 --> 02:01:42.720 Did he not get enough sleep last night? 02:01:43.440 --> 02:01:46.680 “I should have had a second cup of coffee this morning,” he tells himself. 02:01:46.680 --> 02:01:48.480 “Why can’t I keep focused…” 02:01:48.480 --> 02:01:52.680 His words trail off as, all at once, sleep overtakes him. 02:01:52.680 --> 02:01:55.740 He collapses to the floor with a thud, dropping his tweezers. 02:01:55.740 --> 02:01:58.920 The cricket bounces free as the tweezers fall from his hands. 02:01:58.920 --> 02:02:01.380 The cricket drops to the floor and quickly rights itself. 02:02:01.380 --> 02:02:04.560 Instead of running, though, the tiny insect turns around. 02:02:04.560 --> 02:02:07.260 It skitters toward the prone  form of the exterminator,  02:02:07.260 --> 02:02:09.720 making a straight line for his head as if 02:02:09.720 --> 02:02:11.280 it were moving with intelligent purpose. 02:02:11.280 --> 02:02:14.280 This doesn’t look like the  frantic, stimulus-response  02:02:14.280 --> 02:02:15.240 movements of an insect. 02:02:15.240 --> 02:02:19.800 The insect crawls over the slumbering man’s face, hoisting itself over his chin, then 02:02:19.800 --> 02:02:22.320 lips, and then right up to his left nostril. 02:02:22.320 --> 02:02:26.820 With one sudden movement, the cricket slithers up his nose and disappears. 02:02:26.820 --> 02:02:31.620 The exterminator snorts and mumbles in his sleep, but the sensations of an insect wriggling 02:02:31.620 --> 02:02:34.260 up his nose does nothing to rouse him from his sleep. 02:02:34.860 --> 02:02:37.680 After a few minutes, the exterminator blinks his eyes open. 02:02:37.680 --> 02:02:39.960 He sits up with a groan and rubs his head. 02:02:39.960 --> 02:02:41.280 What the hell just happened? 02:02:41.280 --> 02:02:42.600 Did he pass out? 02:02:42.600 --> 02:02:44.400 How embarrassing… 02:02:44.400 --> 02:02:47.940 He looks around, finding his tweezers and his flashlight on the ground next to him. 02:02:47.940 --> 02:02:51.060 But no matter where he looks, he can’t see the insect anymore. 02:02:51.060 --> 02:02:52.560 Where did it go? 02:02:52.560 --> 02:02:56.100 He returns to the crack in the wall for a second look, but sees nothing. 02:02:56.880 --> 02:02:59.100 Absently, the exterminator rubs his nose. 02:02:59.100 --> 02:03:03.420 He feels a vague discomfort in his sinuses and he wonders if maybe his allergies are 02:03:03.420 --> 02:03:06.780 acting up, but otherwise, he remembers nothing about his bizarre experience. 02:03:07.440 --> 02:03:11.340 He probes his fingers into the crack and wiggles them around, hoping to find some evidence 02:03:11.340 --> 02:03:12.300 of the missing insect. 02:03:12.300 --> 02:03:13.620 There’s nothing there. 02:03:13.620 --> 02:03:18.180 Well, at least he knows what he’s dealing with and it’s definitely no cockroach. 02:03:18.180 --> 02:03:21.600 Eventually, he shrugs his shoulders helplessly and returns upstairs. 02:03:21.600 --> 02:03:23.940 “Did you find the cockroaches?” 02:03:23.940 --> 02:03:26.640 asks the old woman when he returns to the top of the stairs. 02:03:26.640 --> 02:03:28.260 “I know there are roaches down there!” 02:03:28.260 --> 02:03:29.580 He shakes his head. 02:03:29.580 --> 02:03:32.880 “Ma’am, I searched the whole basement and I didn’t find any cockroaches.” 02:03:32.880 --> 02:03:36.360 He explains to her that all he could find in the basement was a harmless cricket. 02:03:36.360 --> 02:03:40.980 The old woman starts to argue with him, insisting that what she saw in her basement was no cricket, 02:03:40.980 --> 02:03:43.320 but the exterminator has already made up his mind. 02:03:43.320 --> 02:03:47.160 This is annoying, he thought that she would be happy to hear that she doesn’t have roaches 02:03:47.160 --> 02:03:49.080 but now she just wants to make a fuss. 02:03:49.080 --> 02:03:52.920 He’s not going to waste any more time on this nonsense, not when he has real work to 02:03:52.920 --> 02:03:53.100 do. 02:03:53.100 --> 02:03:56.460 He shakes his head as he repacks his equipment and prepares to leave. 02:03:57.240 --> 02:03:59.880 The exterminator returns to his truck and turns the ignition. 02:03:59.880 --> 02:04:03.420 As he pulls away, his mind is already mulling his next job. 02:04:03.420 --> 02:04:05.340 He doesn’t give another thought to this  02:04:05.340 --> 02:04:07.800 crabby old woman and her  paranoia about cockroaches. 02:04:07.800 --> 02:04:10.980 He doesn’t stop to wonder what became of that strange cricket that he found. 02:04:10.980 --> 02:04:13.800 It probably just crawled back into the wall, he thinks. 02:04:13.800 --> 02:04:18.180 He certainly would have no reason to think that the cricket is still with him, a new 02:04:18.180 --> 02:04:20.400 and permanent hitchhiker inside his head. 02:04:21.000 --> 02:04:25.800 That exterminator had just acquired a new life-long friend, a life-long friend that 02:04:25.800 --> 02:04:27.780 we call SCP-2119. 02:04:28.440 --> 02:04:33.960 SCP-2119 is a bio-mechanical creature that resembles a small gray insect, ranging from 02:04:33.960 --> 02:04:39.300 5 to 15 mm in length, with a segmented body, six jointed legs, and protrusions from the 02:04:39.300 --> 02:04:42.540 head and abdomen that resemble antennae and ovipositors respectively. 02:04:42.540 --> 02:04:48.840 However, SCP-2119 does not appear to reproduce by any means known to man, so these ovipositors 02:04:48.840 --> 02:04:54.120 are likely simply a form of mimicry – something added to give SCP-2119 the appearance of a 02:04:54.120 --> 02:04:56.580 common insect to make it less conspicuous to humans. 02:04:57.240 --> 02:05:02.640 Genetic testing has determined that the organic parts of SCP-2119 are largely identical to 02:05:02.640 --> 02:05:06.300 those of gryllus Rubens, otherwise known as the southwestern field cricket. 02:05:06.300 --> 02:05:12.120 One notable difference between SCP-2119 and the field cricket, though, is that SCP-2119, 02:05:12.120 --> 02:05:17.220 also known as the transmitting parasite, has six barbed hooks on the underside of its body. 02:05:17.820 --> 02:05:23.700 Strangely, SCP-2119 also contains mechanical parts, including silicon parts that do not 02:05:23.700 --> 02:05:28.440 match any known make and platinum wiring, leading Foundation researchers to assume that 02:05:28.440 --> 02:05:31.380 SCP-2119 is an artificial lifeform. 02:05:31.380 --> 02:05:36.720 At this moment, who made SCP-2119 and why remains a mystery. 02:05:36.720 --> 02:05:42.660 In many ways, SCP-2119 not only looks like a normal insect, but also acts like one. 02:05:42.660 --> 02:05:46.980 It apparently possesses extremely rudimentary self-awareness and intelligence comparable 02:05:46.980 --> 02:05:51.240 to that of its insect brethren, being able to sense potential hosts or detect danger. 02:05:51.900 --> 02:05:55.740 It displays many normal self-preservation instincts common to insect life. 02:05:55.740 --> 02:05:59.040 If discovered by a conscious human, it will flee or hide. 02:05:59.040 --> 02:06:02.940 But it does possess one self-defense measure that no normal insect does. 02:06:02.940 --> 02:06:08.820 Any human who comes into the proximity of SCP-2119 will start to feel drowsy, eventually 02:06:08.820 --> 02:06:11.460 succumbing to unconsciousness within three to eight minutes. 02:06:11.460 --> 02:06:17.400 Once a human subject is unconscious, SCP-2119 will enter their head, either through the 02:06:17.400 --> 02:06:21.600 nostrils or the ear canal, and eventually make its way to the subject’s brain, where 02:06:21.600 --> 02:06:25.860 it will use its barbed hooks to attach itself to the corpus collosum, which are the nerve 02:06:25.860 --> 02:06:29.040 fibers that permit communication between the left and right side of the brain. 02:06:29.040 --> 02:06:32.400 The human subject will gradually wake up with no memory of the event. 02:06:32.400 --> 02:06:37.140 After waking, the subject will return to their normal routine and continue living just as 02:06:37.140 --> 02:06:38.100 if they were unaffected. 02:06:38.100 --> 02:06:42.000 It does not appear that infection with the transmitting parasite causes any physical, 02:06:42.000 --> 02:06:46.380 mental, or psychological damage to hosts or impairs their daily lives in any way. 02:06:47.040 --> 02:06:52.320 All attempts to physically remove SCP-2119 from a host’s brain have so far resulted 02:06:52.320 --> 02:06:57.840 in the death of the host, as SCP-2119 appears to have some way of halting a host’s brain 02:06:57.840 --> 02:06:59.040 activity when it is threatened. 02:06:59.040 --> 02:07:05.280 Once a host is dead, SCP-2119 will exit the host’s head, again either via the nostrils 02:07:05.280 --> 02:07:08.340 or ear canal, when it determines that no other humans are in the area. 02:07:09.000 --> 02:07:14.100 Once SCP-2119 has taken up residence in a host’s brain, it will start broadcasting 02:07:14.100 --> 02:07:21.420 a 514.1875 MHz radio signal with a range of approximately 3 km consisting of a tone lasting 02:07:21.420 --> 02:07:26.700 .05 seconds at two-second intervals, possibly with the intent of locating other infected 02:07:26.700 --> 02:07:27.360 human hosts. 02:07:27.360 --> 02:07:31.740 Once a connection has been established, specimens will transmit a continuous stream of tones 02:07:31.740 --> 02:07:38.280 of variable lengths between instances, ranging from 70 Hz to 1305 Hz, with wavelengths ranging 02:07:38.280 --> 02:07:41.040 from 480 cm to 25 cm. 02:07:41.040 --> 02:07:45.960 Foundation personnel have so far been unable to discern any pattern in the signal, so it 02:07:45.960 --> 02:07:49.380 is unknown if it is a form of communication or simply random. 02:07:49.380 --> 02:07:55.800 Most insidious of all, SCP-2119 seems able to spontaneously manifest inside human brains 02:07:55.800 --> 02:07:57.540 without entering through the ear or nose. 02:07:57.540 --> 02:08:00.000 Humans coming into the proximity of an infected  02:08:00.000 --> 02:08:03.720 host have a 14% chance of  spontaneously manifesting 02:08:03.720 --> 02:08:06.960 an instance of SCP-2119 in their own brains. 02:08:07.560 --> 02:08:11.040 Since SCP-2119 has no visible  means of reproduction,  02:08:11.040 --> 02:08:13.920 exactly how it does this continues to baffle 02:08:13.920 --> 02:08:14.940 Foundation scientists. 02:08:14.940 --> 02:08:20.760 SCP-2119 specimens are stored individually in hermetically sealed tanks composed of RF 02:08:20.760 --> 02:08:23.100 shielded glass and only removed for testing. 02:08:23.100 --> 02:08:27.900 Tests are to be conducted in hermetically sealed chambers composed of steel-reinforced 02:08:27.900 --> 02:08:31.500 concrete walls to block SCP-2119’s radio transmissions. 02:08:32.220 --> 02:08:37.680 All personnel handling specimens of SCP-2119 are required to wear Level 3 Hazardous Material 02:08:37.680 --> 02:08:39.240 suits to protect them from infection. 02:08:39.960 --> 02:08:45.660 SCP-2119 was recently updated from the Euclid to Keter designation after a peculiar incident, 02:08:45.660 --> 02:08:50.460 where all known hosts suddenly ceased all movement, respiration, and brain activity 02:08:50.460 --> 02:08:51.780 – effectively dying. 02:08:52.500 --> 02:08:57.120 After seven minutes and twelve seconds, the subjects revived with no ill effects from 02:08:57.120 --> 02:08:59.340 their apparent deaths and no memory of the incident. 02:08:59.340 --> 02:09:03.960 During the seven-minute interval, though, the transmitting parasites ceased broadcasting 02:09:03.960 --> 02:09:08.940 their usual static noises and instead broadcast what appears to have been a casual workplace 02:09:08.940 --> 02:09:14.400 conversation between two technicians working for whatever entity manufactures SCP-2119. 02:09:14.400 --> 02:09:20.700 All subjects infected with SCP-2119 began to emit a strange scraping noise from their 02:09:20.700 --> 02:09:24.900 throats, which agents later determined was the sound of a chair being dragged across 02:09:24.900 --> 02:09:25.320 the concrete. 02:09:25.860 --> 02:09:30.600 After this, subjects broadcast a conversation between two technicians who appeared to be 02:09:30.600 --> 02:09:33.240 oblivious to the fact that their words were being transmitted. 02:09:33.840 --> 02:09:38.340 During this conversation, the two technicians complained about a person named Rike, whom 02:09:38.340 --> 02:09:42.660 the Foundation assumes might be their supervisor, and afterwards one of the two was heard asking 02:09:42.660 --> 02:09:44.940 for and then drinking a can of Coca-Cola. 02:09:44.940 --> 02:09:49.080 The broadcast abruptly ended when one of the two technicians suddenly noticed that they 02:09:49.080 --> 02:09:50.280 were live and cut the feed. 02:09:50.280 --> 02:09:56.580 The name “Rike” is so far the Foundation’s only clue as to who or what is manufacturing 02:09:56.580 --> 02:10:00.120 SCP-2119, but so far all investigations into  02:10:00.120 --> 02:10:02.640 determining Rike’s identity  have been unsuccessful. 02:10:02.640 --> 02:10:07.260 It is currently impossible to estimate how many people in the general population are 02:10:07.260 --> 02:10:12.540 infected with SCP-2119, but, considering how contagious the parasite is, it is thought 02:10:12.540 --> 02:10:14.040 to be extremely widespread. 02:10:14.040 --> 02:10:20.940 Without any known means of deactivating SCP-2119 without killing its host, containment of SCP-2119 02:10:20.940 --> 02:10:22.560 is impossible. 02:10:22.560 --> 02:10:23.340 Who knows? 02:10:23.340 --> 02:10:25.200 You might already be infected yourself. 02:10:25.200 --> 02:10:27.180 It’s not as if you would notice! 02:10:27.960 --> 02:10:29.760 What is it that you want? 02:10:30.540 --> 02:10:32.700 Not just what you want in this moment. 02:10:32.700 --> 02:10:34.920 That’s fleeting. 02:10:35.520 --> 02:10:40.380 You get it and move on, or you don’t and you forget. 02:10:40.380 --> 02:10:41.940 No. 02:10:41.940 --> 02:10:44.040 What do you want? 02:10:44.040 --> 02:10:46.260 What do you yearn for? 02:10:47.040 --> 02:10:52.400 That humming dissatisfaction that underscores every moment of your life. 02:10:52.400 --> 02:10:59.280 The constant rumbling, always beneath the surface, that you can never put your finger 02:10:59.280 --> 02:10:59.460 on. 02:11:00.180 --> 02:11:04.655 Behind your computer monitor, at the bottom of your $4 coffee, left over in the box for 02:11:04.655 --> 02:11:08.940 your flatpack furniture, that quiet moment when you go to the toilet at a friend’s 02:11:08.940 --> 02:11:15.600 wedding and look at yourself in the mirror, asking: why am I not happy yet? 02:11:16.800 --> 02:11:23.580 This moment, this object, this feeling that I was looking forward to. 02:11:24.360 --> 02:11:27.360 Why does it feel empty? 02:11:27.360 --> 02:11:34.500 A night in with your best friends, a promotion at work, a new car, a new house. 02:11:34.500 --> 02:11:37.260 All empty. 02:11:37.800 --> 02:11:41.940 So when I ask you again, I want you to be serious. 02:11:41.940 --> 02:11:46.020 None of that fake surface-level fleeting drivel. 02:11:46.560 --> 02:11:49.020 What is it that you want? 02:11:49.680 --> 02:11:53.040 What will genuinely make you happy? 02:11:53.700 --> 02:11:55.800 The words buzz around the Student’s head. 02:11:55.800 --> 02:11:58.140 He hasn’t listened to a word of this lecture. 02:11:58.140 --> 02:11:59.100 Not for a moment. 02:11:59.100 --> 02:12:02.760 Last night’s therapy session had clearly struck a bit too close to home. 02:12:02.760 --> 02:12:06.240 He’d never expected this new therapist to be so direct. 02:12:06.240 --> 02:12:08.400 What was it that he really wanted? 02:12:08.400 --> 02:12:10.680 The Student looks down at his laptop. 02:12:10.680 --> 02:12:12.240 He’d really wanted that. 02:12:12.240 --> 02:12:15.960 He’d spent months researching it, holding off on buying other models. 02:12:15.960 --> 02:12:18.240 Waiting and saving up for the perfect computer. 02:12:18.240 --> 02:12:22.740 And here it is, with the same old boring lecture notes on the screen as his old one. 02:12:22.740 --> 02:12:26.340 Within a week he’d been back online looking up new phones. 02:12:26.340 --> 02:12:31.620 Here he is, 21 years old already and studying for a degree he doesn’t really care about, 02:12:31.620 --> 02:12:36.360 surrounded by happy smiling students who are all clearly going to be far more successful 02:12:36.360 --> 02:12:38.220 and happy than he’ll ever be. 02:12:38.220 --> 02:12:40.440 Beautiful people everywhere he looks. 02:12:40.440 --> 02:12:45.060 People who know how to dress well, how to have a conversation, how to smile and laugh 02:12:45.060 --> 02:12:45.600 with friends. 02:12:45.600 --> 02:12:47.580 How to have friends in the first place. 02:12:48.300 --> 02:12:49.800 His therapist is right. 02:12:49.800 --> 02:12:51.480 What’s he got to be happy about? 02:12:51.480 --> 02:12:55.980 That dissatisfied humming running through his life is steadily turning into a roar. 02:12:55.980 --> 02:12:58.140 What would actually make him happy? 02:12:58.860 --> 02:13:02.640 The more he thinks about it, the more the sense of dread creeps in. 02:13:02.640 --> 02:13:05.640 What has he actually got to look forward to in life? 02:13:05.640 --> 02:13:07.380 What can fill that void? 02:13:07.980 --> 02:13:09.120 The lecture is over. 02:13:09.120 --> 02:13:10.440 He hadn’t even realized. 02:13:10.440 --> 02:13:15.180 Everyone around him is already on their feet, putting notepads and laptops into bags, chatting 02:13:15.180 --> 02:13:15.960 away with their friends. 02:13:15.960 --> 02:13:18.720 The Student doesn’t have anyone else on his row. 02:13:18.720 --> 02:13:22.860 He’s somehow picked the only row in the lecture hall with just one person in it. 02:13:22.860 --> 02:13:24.540 No, that’s not the case. 02:13:24.540 --> 02:13:28.560 This is the only row in the lecture with one person in it because he picked it. 02:13:28.560 --> 02:13:30.480 His only company on this row? 02:13:30.480 --> 02:13:31.440 A fly. 02:13:31.440 --> 02:13:34.260 A fly that had been following him around all week. 02:13:34.980 --> 02:13:35.940 What’s the point? 02:13:36.540 --> 02:13:38.100 He looks at his laptop screen. 02:13:38.100 --> 02:13:39.240 Empty. 02:13:39.240 --> 02:13:40.680 His phone buzzes. 02:13:40.680 --> 02:13:43.440 It’s his mom, he declines the call. 02:13:44.100 --> 02:13:47.520 Swinging his bag onto his shoulder, the Student makes his way to the door. 02:13:47.520 --> 02:13:50.580 A group of guys up ahead are chatting loudly as they open it. 02:13:50.580 --> 02:13:53.160 One of them half-glances back over his shoulder. 02:13:53.160 --> 02:13:54.600 He stops in the doorway. 02:13:54.600 --> 02:13:55.680 Holding the door open. 02:13:56.220 --> 02:13:57.240 The Student looks around. 02:13:57.240 --> 02:13:58.860 No one else was with him. 02:13:58.860 --> 02:14:00.840 Who’s this guy holding the door open for? 02:14:00.840 --> 02:14:04.020 ‘You okay?’ the guy asks, looking straight at the Student. 02:14:04.020 --> 02:14:05.460 His eyes are very blue. 02:14:06.180 --> 02:14:10.200 The Student rushes through the doorway, muttering a ‘thank you’ on his way through. 02:14:10.200 --> 02:14:12.900 His phone starts to ring again in his pocket. 02:14:12.900 --> 02:14:14.940 He sits up alone that night. 02:14:14.940 --> 02:14:16.920 He does the same most nights. 02:14:16.920 --> 02:14:19.740 Even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep. 02:14:19.740 --> 02:14:24.000 Sharing a house with seven other people, there’s a party happening in one part of the house 02:14:24.000 --> 02:14:25.020 pretty much every night. 02:14:25.020 --> 02:14:29.760 The thumping bass is the only sound to reach the Student as he sits quietly at his window, 02:14:29.760 --> 02:14:34.080 looking out at the bags of trash lining the street and the couple across from him arguing 02:14:34.080 --> 02:14:34.680 on their porch. 02:14:34.680 --> 02:14:37.620 The little fly in his room is the only one keeping him company. 02:14:37.620 --> 02:14:40.740 Not buzzing around or trying to escape through the glass. 02:14:40.740 --> 02:14:44.220 Just sitting there next to him, watching the world go by. 02:14:45.000 --> 02:14:47.520 What is it that you really want? 02:14:47.520 --> 02:14:49.980 The words ring around in his head again. 02:14:50.820 --> 02:14:52.860 Tell me what will make you truly happy. 02:14:53.640 --> 02:14:54.540 What is it? 02:14:54.540 --> 02:14:55.740 ‘I think… 02:14:55.740 --> 02:14:59.820 I think I just want someone to love me,’ the student says quietly. 02:14:59.820 --> 02:15:02.700 He sits quietly by the window for a few more minutes. 02:15:02.700 --> 02:15:08.520 Not noticing as the little fly next to him catches fire and rolls onto its back, legs 02:15:08.520 --> 02:15:09.300 curled in the air. 02:15:09.900 --> 02:15:11.400 The Student just goes to bed. 02:15:11.400 --> 02:15:14.400 Nothing’s ever going to change, is it? 02:15:14.400 --> 02:15:17.880 A week later, the Student is back in that same lecture again. 02:15:17.880 --> 02:15:22.560 He arrived early this week, sitting down and unpacking his stuff a good 15 minutes before 02:15:22.560 --> 02:15:23.340 they were due to start. 02:15:24.060 --> 02:15:28.560 Surreptitiously as he can, the Student glances over at the door every time he hears it swing 02:15:28.560 --> 02:15:28.740 open. 02:15:28.740 --> 02:15:33.720 It’s the usual procession of beautiful happy people, each one dressed exactly how they 02:15:33.720 --> 02:15:33.900 want. 02:15:33.900 --> 02:15:37.560 Personalities, goals, and aspirations filling each of them. 02:15:37.560 --> 02:15:39.300 He looks down at his outfit. 02:15:39.960 --> 02:15:40.440 Gray. 02:15:41.220 --> 02:15:43.920 The lecture starts but the Student still can’t quite focus. 02:15:43.920 --> 02:15:47.760 He keeps his head half-turned towards the door the whole time, waiting. 02:15:47.760 --> 02:15:49.260 Ten minutes go by. 02:15:49.260 --> 02:15:50.220 Nothing. 02:15:50.220 --> 02:15:55.080 He slumps down in his chair and starts taking notes, just as the door softly creeps open 02:15:55.080 --> 02:15:58.080 behind him, making a gentle hushing noise on the carpet. 02:15:58.620 --> 02:15:59.820 The Student turns. 02:15:59.820 --> 02:16:00.720 There he is! 02:16:00.720 --> 02:16:02.520 The guy from before with the blue eyes. 02:16:02.520 --> 02:16:05.220 The Student tries his best to swallow his grin. 02:16:05.220 --> 02:16:08.880 He’s the only one on his row, if he can just get the guy’s attention maybe he’ll 02:16:08.880 --> 02:16:09.720 come and sit with him. 02:16:09.720 --> 02:16:11.700 But no, that’s a stupid plan. 02:16:11.700 --> 02:16:13.080 Why would anyone want to come and… 02:16:13.620 --> 02:16:15.480 The bag lands in the seat next to him. 02:16:15.480 --> 02:16:18.300 The Student turns to see those same piercing blue eyes. 02:16:19.080 --> 02:16:19.860 ‘Anyone sitting here?’ 02:16:19.860 --> 02:16:20.880 the guy whispers. 02:16:20.880 --> 02:16:24.420 The Student opens his mouth to reply but the words get stuck. 02:16:24.420 --> 02:16:26.820 After a second he manages to shake his head. 02:16:26.820 --> 02:16:29.580 The guy with the blue eyes grins and sinks into the seat. 02:16:29.580 --> 02:16:33.241 After a moment he asks if he can borrow a pen. 02:16:33.240 --> 02:16:34.019 That’s funny. 02:16:34.020 --> 02:16:37.321 The Student can see a pen right there, in the side pocket of the guy’s bag. 02:16:37.979 --> 02:16:39.959 Why would this guy choose to sit with him? 02:16:39.960 --> 02:16:42.300 There are plenty of free seats in this lecture hall. 02:16:42.300 --> 02:16:43.080 They’re everywhere. 02:16:43.620 --> 02:16:47.460 One thing’s for sure, the Student definitely can’t talk to this guy afterwards. 02:16:47.460 --> 02:16:48.120 No way. 02:16:48.120 --> 02:16:49.800 He’s too weird, it’ll be obvious. 02:16:49.800 --> 02:16:52.140 No one ever wants to have a conversation with him. 02:16:52.140 --> 02:16:56.220 Everyone he talks to is always sidling their way out of the room after just a couple of 02:16:56.220 --> 02:16:56.460 minutes. 02:16:57.180 --> 02:16:59.520 Besides, what if this guy finds out what he is really like? 02:16:59.520 --> 02:17:01.081 That he’s been seeing a therapist. 02:17:01.080 --> 02:17:03.720 Not just a therapist, that would be pretty normal. 02:17:03.720 --> 02:17:05.040 Normal people do that. 02:17:05.040 --> 02:17:08.760 No, what if this guy found out that his therapist was a fly? 02:17:08.760 --> 02:17:13.140 A fly that had been following him around, that he’d been talking to every night before 02:17:13.140 --> 02:17:13.500 bed. 02:17:13.500 --> 02:17:16.859 A fly that had been asking him what his deepest desires were. 02:17:16.859 --> 02:17:20.639 A fly that he’d woken up to find dead and burnt on his window sill this morning. 02:17:21.240 --> 02:17:21.960 Nope. 02:17:21.960 --> 02:17:24.180 No way is he going to have a conversation with this guy. 02:17:24.180 --> 02:17:25.560 It would just be a disaster. 02:17:26.340 --> 02:17:27.540 There’s no other option. 02:17:27.540 --> 02:17:28.859 He has to call his mom. 02:17:28.859 --> 02:17:32.700 As soon as the lecture is over he’ll call her and deal with whatever it is she has to 02:17:32.700 --> 02:17:32.880 say. 02:17:32.880 --> 02:17:35.460 He takes the phone out of  his pocket and stealthily  02:17:35.460 --> 02:17:37.439 gets his mom’s contact details up, ready 02:17:37.439 --> 02:17:39.660 to hit the call button as soon as the lecture finishes… 02:17:40.260 --> 02:17:40.860 There. 02:17:40.859 --> 02:17:42.059 The final slide. 02:17:42.060 --> 02:17:46.500 The Student hits dial and immediately turns away from the blue-eyed guy next to him, getting 02:17:46.500 --> 02:17:47.700 up and putting it to his ear. 02:17:48.300 --> 02:17:52.560 He shoulders his bag and marches out of the lecture hall, not looking back until he reaches 02:17:52.560 --> 02:17:54.720 the little square of grass outside where he sits. 02:17:54.720 --> 02:17:57.660 His heart doesn’t stop hammering until he’s sitting there. 02:17:58.320 --> 02:18:00.120 His mom takes a long time to pick up. 02:18:00.120 --> 02:18:02.880 When she does, it’s clear that she’s been crying. 02:18:02.880 --> 02:18:04.140 Not this again. 02:18:04.140 --> 02:18:07.201 The Student swallows and prepares for her to start ranting. 02:18:07.200 --> 02:18:08.280 Only she doesn’t. 02:18:08.280 --> 02:18:13.439 Instead, she just asks where he is and if she can drive over and get a coffee with him. 02:18:14.100 --> 02:18:17.880 He says yes, hangs up, and looks down at the phone, brow furrowed. 02:18:17.880 --> 02:18:19.680 What’s she got to say to him this time? 02:18:20.280 --> 02:18:21.840 A shadow falls over him. 02:18:21.840 --> 02:18:24.900 Turning, the Student just sees two blue eyes. 02:18:24.899 --> 02:18:28.439 The guy is holding out the borrowed pen, a gentle smile on his face. 02:18:29.220 --> 02:18:31.080 His mom doesn’t come for coffee in the end. 02:18:31.080 --> 02:18:33.780 Instead, she invites herself over to his house. 02:18:33.780 --> 02:18:35.639 It’s the first time she’s visited. 02:18:35.640 --> 02:18:39.540 As they make their way up all the flights of stairs to his floor, the Student holds 02:18:39.540 --> 02:18:43.680 his breath, waiting for her to start complaining about the cigarette butts, ashtrays, and pizza 02:18:43.680 --> 02:18:45.180 boxes lining the hallways. 02:18:45.180 --> 02:18:46.140 But she doesn’t. 02:18:46.140 --> 02:18:47.760 She doesn’t say a word. 02:18:48.359 --> 02:18:51.960 He closes the door to his room behind her and she lets out a sympathetic little sigh 02:18:51.960 --> 02:18:52.560 looking around. 02:18:52.560 --> 02:18:54.720 He probably should have tidied first. 02:18:54.720 --> 02:18:55.980 Here it comes. 02:18:55.979 --> 02:19:00.179 He can feel it, she’s about to start lecturing him on his dirty clothes, leftover dishes, 02:19:00.180 --> 02:19:01.080 his unmade bed… 02:19:01.800 --> 02:19:02.580 But no. 02:19:02.580 --> 02:19:05.700 She just quietly picks up a sweater and starts folding it. 02:19:05.700 --> 02:19:06.599 Then another. 02:19:06.600 --> 02:19:09.960 As she tidies his room, she shoots him a sad little smile. 02:19:09.960 --> 02:19:12.000 ‘This house really won’t do.’ 02:19:12.540 --> 02:19:15.060 He explains to her that it’s all he can afford at the moment. 02:19:15.060 --> 02:19:18.060 ‘Well then let me help you so you can find somewhere better.’ 02:19:18.840 --> 02:19:19.860 What is going on here? 02:19:19.859 --> 02:19:21.179 He doesn’t know how to react. 02:19:21.180 --> 02:19:22.741 This is surely one of her games. 02:19:22.740 --> 02:19:25.559 Any second, she’s going to lash out at him. 02:19:25.560 --> 02:19:26.161 But no. 02:19:26.160 --> 02:19:31.139 She just gently brushes the dead fly off the window sill into the trash and turns to him. 02:19:31.140 --> 02:19:34.380 They stand across the room from each other, the same way they always have. 02:19:34.920 --> 02:19:35.700 8ft between them. 02:19:35.700 --> 02:19:36.660 Plenty of space. 02:19:36.660 --> 02:19:37.680 Not too close. 02:19:38.399 --> 02:19:41.280 She closes the distance and pulls him in for a tight hug. 02:19:41.280 --> 02:19:46.019 As his mom buries her head in his chest, he notices for the first time how short she really 02:19:46.020 --> 02:19:46.260 is. 02:19:46.260 --> 02:19:48.060 Has she always been that height? 02:19:48.060 --> 02:19:49.860 Didn’t she used to tower over him? 02:19:49.859 --> 02:19:53.700 Her muffled voice speaks into his chest, right into where his heart is beating. 02:19:53.700 --> 02:19:56.399 ‘I am so sorry for how I responded before. 02:19:57.300 --> 02:19:58.620 I didn’t know what to say. 02:19:58.620 --> 02:20:01.140 You are my son and I’m proud of you. 02:20:01.140 --> 02:20:02.760 I always have been. 02:20:02.760 --> 02:20:07.440 You love who you love, don’t let anyone take that away from you. 02:20:07.439 --> 02:20:08.700 Even your silly old mother.’ 02:20:09.479 --> 02:20:11.820 For a long time, the two of them stand there. 02:20:11.820 --> 02:20:13.019 Crying together. 02:20:13.859 --> 02:20:16.439 It is a busy week, moving everything into his new apartment. 02:20:16.439 --> 02:20:19.559 It’s still a pretty basic place but at least it’s his own. 02:20:19.560 --> 02:20:23.220 The neighbors are quiet, the street is clean, and there are no flies. 02:20:23.220 --> 02:20:27.360 By the time the Student sits down for his lecture, he’s completely exhausted. 02:20:27.359 --> 02:20:31.259 He barely registers the bag landing on the floor next to him and the guy sitting in the 02:20:31.260 --> 02:20:31.380 seat. 02:20:31.380 --> 02:20:34.859 He’s so tired in fact that the conversation catches him off guard. 02:20:34.859 --> 02:20:36.660 He hadn’t prepared anything to say. 02:20:36.660 --> 02:20:38.880 But suddenly they’re talking. 02:20:38.880 --> 02:20:41.640 About the weather at first, it’s sunnier now. 02:20:41.640 --> 02:20:42.720 Then about the class. 02:20:42.720 --> 02:20:44.760 Then why they chose to study here. 02:20:44.760 --> 02:20:46.080 Then their teenage years. 02:20:46.080 --> 02:20:47.460 Then their homes and families. 02:20:48.000 --> 02:20:51.840 The lecture starts, but the two of them keep muttering away to each other in hushed tones. 02:20:51.840 --> 02:20:54.840 The Student cracks a joke and the guy with blue eyes laughs. 02:20:54.840 --> 02:20:55.860 Properly laughs. 02:20:55.859 --> 02:20:58.019 He isn’t just being polite, he actually found it funny. 02:20:58.020 --> 02:21:00.960 So funny that the lecturer tells the pair of them off. 02:21:00.960 --> 02:21:02.819 Which just makes them laugh more. 02:21:03.540 --> 02:21:04.620 Is this what it’s like? 02:21:04.620 --> 02:21:06.780 To be one of the beautiful happy people? 02:21:07.560 --> 02:21:11.161 Days go by and the Student wakes up every morning expecting it to be over. 02:21:11.160 --> 02:21:14.819 He’s going to wake up any minute now and he’ll be back in his old house, with a talking 02:21:14.819 --> 02:21:16.380 fly waiting for him by the window. 02:21:17.100 --> 02:21:17.880 But he doesn’t. 02:21:17.880 --> 02:21:20.940 It’s sunny, day after day, week after week. 02:21:20.939 --> 02:21:22.379 No flies in sight. 02:21:22.380 --> 02:21:24.060 He calls his mom. 02:21:24.060 --> 02:21:27.720 He doesn’t just pick up the phone to her, he actually starts to call her. 02:21:27.720 --> 02:21:32.340 He goes to parties, discovers he likes white wine, and finds out what it’s like to have 02:21:32.340 --> 02:21:33.120 a bit too much of it. 02:21:33.120 --> 02:21:37.740 He has his first kiss and opens his eyes to see a pair of perfect blue ones staring back 02:21:37.740 --> 02:21:38.040 at him. 02:21:38.040 --> 02:21:40.560 He makes friends, more friends than he can count. 02:21:40.560 --> 02:21:44.940 Friends who text him asking to hang out, who help him move house, then move house again, 02:21:44.939 --> 02:21:49.620 and who fill up rows and rows of seats the day he gets married to the man he loves. 02:21:49.620 --> 02:21:51.359 The man who loves him back. 02:21:52.080 --> 02:21:53.399 Is this what it feels like? 02:21:53.399 --> 02:21:55.200 Is this happiness? 02:21:55.200 --> 02:21:59.040 Maybe, just maybe, this is it. 02:21:59.040 --> 02:22:01.260 Until one day, the Man wakes up. 02:22:01.260 --> 02:22:05.520 Everything is perfect, the sun is still shining, he can hear his daughter’s squeals from 02:22:05.520 --> 02:22:07.621 downstairs, his world is still happy. 02:22:07.620 --> 02:22:09.780 Except for one thing. 02:22:09.780 --> 02:22:11.519 His ear hurts. 02:22:11.520 --> 02:22:14.041 Not that much, but there’s a little something. 02:22:14.040 --> 02:22:16.500 A kind of dull itch deep in his ear canal. 02:22:17.100 --> 02:22:19.621 The other ear starts to hurt as he makes his morning coffee. 02:22:19.620 --> 02:22:21.960 He should probably go to the doctor about it. 02:22:21.960 --> 02:22:23.280 He’ll book that this week. 02:22:23.280 --> 02:22:27.000 But by that night, he knows he probably shouldn’t wait any longer. 02:22:27.000 --> 02:22:30.420 He lies awake deep into the night, feeling his lungs tightening. 02:22:30.420 --> 02:22:32.640 You’re not supposed to feel your lungs, are you? 02:22:32.640 --> 02:22:35.580 But it’s not just his lungs, it’s his throat too. 02:22:35.580 --> 02:22:36.600 And his bowels. 02:22:37.380 --> 02:22:39.720 All of a sudden his stomach starts convulsing. 02:22:39.720 --> 02:22:43.800 He throws off the sheets and rushes into the bathroom, not quite making it to the toilet. 02:22:43.800 --> 02:22:45.900 His vomit splatters across the tiles. 02:22:45.899 --> 02:22:48.540 He must be getting delirious, that can’t be right. 02:22:48.540 --> 02:22:52.740 It looks like his vomit is moving, wriggling, and crawling. 02:22:52.740 --> 02:22:55.200 His husband appears behind him, switching on the light. 02:22:55.800 --> 02:23:00.240 The two of them stare in horror at the writhing maggots, covering the bathroom floor. 02:23:00.240 --> 02:23:03.420 The X-rays and MRIs paint a grueling picture. 02:23:03.420 --> 02:23:07.140 Each progressive scan over the next couple of days looks worse than the last. 02:23:07.140 --> 02:23:12.060 What had once been healthy flesh and organ tissue, steadily has deeper rivets chaotically 02:23:12.060 --> 02:23:12.781 eaten into it. 02:23:12.780 --> 02:23:18.359 The maggots work their way through the Man’s throat, lungs, stomach, sinuses, ears, bowels, 02:23:18.359 --> 02:23:19.259 and urethra. 02:23:19.920 --> 02:23:24.180 In some places, they run out of flesh and end up burrowing their way out of the surface 02:23:24.180 --> 02:23:24.720 of his skin. 02:23:24.720 --> 02:23:29.281 By the time the maggots mature into flies, the Man is on his deathbed. 02:23:29.280 --> 02:23:34.920 Excessive blood loss, organ failure, and multiple infections have worn his body down to a husk. 02:23:34.920 --> 02:23:37.020 There’s nothing left to be done for him. 02:23:37.620 --> 02:23:43.319 All that the Man’s husband, children, mother, and countless friends can do is stand by and 02:23:43.319 --> 02:23:48.840 watch, as, one by one, thousands of flies emerge from the body of the man they’d once 02:23:48.840 --> 02:23:49.800 loved so dearly. 02:23:50.460 --> 02:23:55.200 Heartbreaking as it may be, this is the sad reality of what you sign up for when you make 02:23:55.200 --> 02:24:00.300 a deal with SCP-3063, known informally as the “Fly”. 02:24:00.960 --> 02:24:04.680 This SCP on the surface seems like one of the most harmless that the Foundation has 02:24:04.680 --> 02:24:07.201 encountered, taking the appearance of a common housefly. 02:24:07.200 --> 02:24:11.399 It has no extraordinary physical properties, nothing apparent to distinguish it from any 02:24:11.399 --> 02:24:16.379 other fly, and yet it is one of the most powerful entities with an apparent ability to somehow 02:24:16.380 --> 02:24:17.700 alter reality itself. 02:24:17.700 --> 02:24:23.939 It is believed that SCP-3063 only exists in one instance at a time, though this is very 02:24:23.939 --> 02:24:27.000 difficult to prove given the sheer number of flies that exist around the world. 02:24:27.660 --> 02:24:33.599 As soon as one instance of SCP-3063 dies, a new one seems to manifest in a random location. 02:24:33.600 --> 02:24:37.380 Naturally, this makes studying the Fly very difficult indeed. 02:24:37.979 --> 02:24:42.359 As far as the Foundation is aware, the Fly communicates with its human target telepathically. 02:24:42.359 --> 02:24:45.839 It interrogates them, trying to discover what they want most in the world. 02:24:45.840 --> 02:24:48.720 It will then offer the individual that exact thing. 02:24:48.720 --> 02:24:53.460 If they refuse, it will make increasingly grand offers, tempting them with greater and 02:24:53.460 --> 02:24:55.260 greater promises until they accept. 02:24:56.040 --> 02:25:00.899 When I said this was one of the most powerful known SCPs, I was not exaggerating, because 02:25:00.899 --> 02:25:03.000 this Fly does not make empty promises. 02:25:03.000 --> 02:25:04.859 Do you want to become a millionaire? 02:25:04.859 --> 02:25:09.059 You might wake up tomorrow to a number of anonymous bank transfers or a handful of lottery 02:25:09.060 --> 02:25:10.500 tickets pushed through your letterbox. 02:25:10.500 --> 02:25:12.660 Do you want to become an opera singer? 02:25:12.660 --> 02:25:16.680 The next time you sing in the shower, you’ll find a whole new voice coming from your chest. 02:25:16.680 --> 02:25:21.300 Who knows, you may have left the window open and a superstar agent could be strolling by 02:25:21.300 --> 02:25:23.100 your house at that exact moment. 02:25:23.100 --> 02:25:26.880 Whatever it is that you tell the Fly that you want, it will be granted. 02:25:26.880 --> 02:25:31.260 The little insect will catch fire and “die” straight away, appearing somewhere else in 02:25:31.260 --> 02:25:33.360 the world ready to start talking to someone else. 02:25:33.359 --> 02:25:37.799 Your answered wish may not always take the form you expect, but it will be given to you. 02:25:37.800 --> 02:25:41.580 Just like our Student finding love everywhere he went for the next 6 years. 02:25:41.580 --> 02:25:45.840 Or, to be more precise, 2,376 days. 02:25:46.500 --> 02:25:50.520 You see, as soon as you make a deal with this Fly the clock is ticking. 02:25:50.520 --> 02:25:57.241 For 2,376 days you will be free to enjoy your dream coming true, no strings attached. 02:25:57.240 --> 02:26:00.300 Until one day you wake up with a little bit of discomfort. 02:26:00.300 --> 02:26:02.340 Like something growing inside of you. 02:26:02.340 --> 02:26:08.160 Eggs, anything from 5,000 to 20,000 in number, will suddenly appear throughout your body. 02:26:08.160 --> 02:26:12.960 In your digestive system, respiratory system, and even your muscle fibers, small maggots 02:26:12.960 --> 02:26:15.540 will be born comprising all known Diptera species. 02:26:16.140 --> 02:26:20.460 They will steadily eat away at your body, feeding their way out of you and growing into 02:26:20.460 --> 02:26:22.680 regular adult flies as they emerge. 02:26:22.680 --> 02:26:26.400 Most individuals die from multiple organ failures during this stage. 02:26:26.399 --> 02:26:31.019 It can often be difficult to identify the exact cause of death as the attack on the 02:26:31.020 --> 02:26:34.260 body’s central systems is  so absolute, devastating,  02:26:34.260 --> 02:26:35.040 and swift. 02:26:35.040 --> 02:26:41.340 If the individual dies before the 2,376th day then the process is halted and the flies 02:26:41.340 --> 02:26:42.420 die along with them. 02:26:42.420 --> 02:26:47.100 Attempts to contain SCP-3063 have all proven unsuccessful. 02:26:47.100 --> 02:26:51.661 To date, six members of SCP Foundation personnel have been targeted by the Fly. 02:26:51.660 --> 02:26:55.859 Each of them have tried to make a different wish to contain the Fly but each has had a 02:26:55.859 --> 02:26:56.819 loophole exposed. 02:26:57.420 --> 02:27:03.000 Senior Researcher Elizabeth Gāo requested “the death of SCP-3063” which the Fly 02:27:03.000 --> 02:27:07.620 interpreted as the death of that manifestation, combusted and returned in another instance. 02:27:07.620 --> 02:27:12.840 Senior Researcher David Roberts asked for “the permanent containment of SCP-3063”. 02:27:13.500 --> 02:27:17.760 The Fly then stood totally still, allowing itself to be taken into secure containment 02:27:17.760 --> 02:27:19.140 below Site-63. 02:27:19.920 --> 02:27:25.980 But sure enough, after 2,376 days the Researcher died and the Fly was discovered to still be 02:27:25.979 --> 02:27:27.120 manifesting around the world. 02:27:27.120 --> 02:27:32.160 It again had interpreted its containment to refer to just that current instance of its 02:27:32.160 --> 02:27:32.220 body. 02:27:32.880 --> 02:27:38.760 A later researcher requests knowledge of how SCP-3063 functions at which point the Fly 02:27:38.760 --> 02:27:44.040 combusted and a document containing all known information about SCP-3063 - everything I 02:27:44.040 --> 02:27:45.479 am telling you now - appeared before   02:27:45.479 --> 02:27:47.040 the researcher who later died. 02:27:47.040 --> 02:27:51.960 The penultimate test conducted by SCP personnel proved to be the most chilling. 02:27:51.960 --> 02:27:56.880 Dr. Patrick McGann asked the Fly if it could provide “clear, understandable knowledge 02:27:56.880 --> 02:28:01.560 of SCP-3063 other than knowledge currently possessed by The SCP Foundation". 02:28:01.560 --> 02:28:06.360 The results of that exact experiment and the next one were provided for him, including 02:28:06.359 --> 02:28:09.540 details of his own death which he immediately fulfilled. 02:28:09.540 --> 02:28:15.300 Either the Fly has some pre-cognisant abilities or is able to directly control events in the 02:28:15.300 --> 02:28:15.420 world. 02:28:15.420 --> 02:28:17.040 Or both. 02:28:17.700 --> 02:28:22.019 The final experiment was conducted even though the Fly had already provided the results in 02:28:22.020 --> 02:28:22.860 detail ahead of time. 02:28:22.859 --> 02:28:28.439 Dr. Jonathan Mabry simply asked “Is there even a choice?”, before suffering a severe 02:28:28.439 --> 02:28:30.960 pulmonary embolism and dying on the way to the hospital. 02:28:31.740 --> 02:28:37.740 Research indicates that SCP-3063 has been operating for over 4,000 years, with evidence 02:28:37.740 --> 02:28:41.639 of instances being discovered as far back as early Canaanite settlements. 02:28:41.640 --> 02:28:46.020 However, many theorize that the Fly has been with us a lot longer than that. 02:28:46.680 --> 02:28:52.080 Unless future containment efforts are more successful, SCP-3063 will likely remain one 02:28:52.080 --> 02:28:55.500 of the most powerful and prolific entities outside of containment. 02:28:55.500 --> 02:28:59.819 So next time you see a fly buzzing around your room, it might be in your best interest 02:28:59.819 --> 02:29:00.960 to leave it alone. 02:29:02.460 --> 02:29:07.740 All he could see were glimpses, flashes of movement, but he could clearly makeout that 02:29:07.740 --> 02:29:08.399 there was a girl. 02:29:09.000 --> 02:29:12.420 He could see the man walk up behind her and slip a bag over her head. 02:29:12.420 --> 02:29:13.920 There was a struggle. 02:29:13.920 --> 02:29:18.660 A body being dragged through the dark, and then the sound of a shovel scraping against 02:29:18.660 --> 02:29:19.500 the hard dirt. 02:29:19.500 --> 02:29:24.600 The body is thrown into the shallow hole, and as the dirt begins to rain down on her 02:29:24.600 --> 02:29:26.940 face, her eye opens up. 02:29:26.939 --> 02:29:31.379 The boy’s eyes open too and he sits up with a panicked jolt. 02:29:31.380 --> 02:29:36.240 Shaky and covered in sweat, he looks around his dark room and realizes that it was only 02:29:36.240 --> 02:29:36.599 a dream. 02:29:37.380 --> 02:29:42.480 The entire morning as the boy gets ready, rides the bus, and sits through school, all 02:29:42.479 --> 02:29:45.719 he can think about is the dream… and the girl. 02:29:46.500 --> 02:29:50.640 A group of teenage girls are out for a ride in one of their father’s sports car convertible. 02:29:50.640 --> 02:29:54.960 They’re having too much fun, and driving much too fast down the dark country roads. 02:29:54.960 --> 02:30:00.480 It doesn’t take much, it never does, just the shadow of an animal bolting across the 02:30:00.479 --> 02:30:04.679 road but it’s enough to make the driver jerk the wheel, causing the car to lose control. 02:30:04.680 --> 02:30:09.781 All of the girls scream, but none more than the one who is tossed from the sliding, spinning 02:30:09.780 --> 02:30:10.080 car. 02:30:10.920 --> 02:30:15.899 The girls stand around their dead friend and make a solemn pact, no one will ever know 02:30:15.899 --> 02:30:16.799 that she was with them. 02:30:16.800 --> 02:30:19.020 But what will they do with her? 02:30:19.020 --> 02:30:23.460 One of them points towards the woods and everyone turns to look at the dilapidated shed. 02:30:24.120 --> 02:30:29.040 As the girls, now dirty from their long night of digging and then filling a hole, emerge 02:30:29.040 --> 02:30:33.960 from the shed into the dim morning light, none of them are aware that beneath the dirt, 02:30:33.960 --> 02:30:36.240 the girl is still breathing. 02:30:36.240 --> 02:30:39.599 The boy gasps for air and struggles in the dark. 02:30:39.600 --> 02:30:43.621 He throws the blankets off of him before realizing that he is safe in his own bed. 02:30:44.399 --> 02:30:48.660 Another breakfast, another ride to school, another day of classes where the boy can think 02:30:48.660 --> 02:30:50.280 of nothing but the girl from his dreams. 02:30:50.280 --> 02:30:51.479 Who is she? 02:30:51.479 --> 02:30:53.879 He’s never seen her in his life, he’s sure of it. 02:30:53.880 --> 02:30:56.340 But then why does she keep appearing in his dreams? 02:30:57.000 --> 02:31:00.899 The boy is snapped out of his deep train of thought by the teacher slapping his desk and 02:31:00.899 --> 02:31:03.540 he apologizes before focusing on his studies once again. 02:31:04.319 --> 02:31:07.799 The look on the woman’s face is a mix of sadness… and annoyance. 02:31:07.800 --> 02:31:10.860 She doesn’t know how much longer she can go on like this. 02:31:10.859 --> 02:31:14.160 It never stops, how can someone cough so much? 02:31:14.160 --> 02:31:19.500 The woman sits in her chair and tries to push away the same thought that comes to her over 02:31:19.500 --> 02:31:23.580 and over… that it would be better for both of them if it would just end. 02:31:23.580 --> 02:31:26.160 The girl coughs loudly in her bed. 02:31:26.160 --> 02:31:31.200 The disease has ravaged her lungs and it takes all of her willpower not to scratch at the 02:31:31.200 --> 02:31:33.359 burning, itching sores on her face and chest. 02:31:33.899 --> 02:31:37.679 She looks towards the door with dazed eyes and sees her mother enter the room. 02:31:38.399 --> 02:31:42.540 She’s carrying a tray with soup just like she always does at this time, even though 02:31:42.540 --> 02:31:43.920 she has no appetite at all. 02:31:44.580 --> 02:31:49.500 As her mother gets closer she can see that the tray is empty… and it isn’t a tray 02:31:49.500 --> 02:31:51.540 in her hands, it’s a pillow. 02:31:52.140 --> 02:31:56.820 The girl can barely muster a scream as the woman places the pillow over her daughter’s 02:31:56.819 --> 02:31:57.000 face. 02:31:57.000 --> 02:32:02.160 As the mother walks out of the old shed in the backyard and towards the house she stops 02:32:02.160 --> 02:32:02.700 for a moment. 02:32:02.700 --> 02:32:05.939 Can she hear the sound of coughing coming from the shed? 02:32:05.939 --> 02:32:11.280 That morning at breakfast, the boy’s father tells him in no uncertain terms that he doesn’t 02:32:11.280 --> 02:32:12.780 want to hear any more about the girl. 02:32:12.780 --> 02:32:15.719 It’s just a dream, and he needs to put it out of his mind. 02:32:15.720 --> 02:32:18.120 What he needs to be focusing on is school. 02:32:18.120 --> 02:32:22.559 The note from his teacher said that he isn’t paying attention in class and if that keeps 02:32:22.560 --> 02:32:24.420 up he’s going to have much bigger problems. 02:32:24.420 --> 02:32:26.940 The boy promises, no more about the girl. 02:32:26.939 --> 02:32:32.399 As the boy stares out the bus window, it isn’t his fault that thoughts about his dream rush 02:32:32.399 --> 02:32:32.939 into his head. 02:32:33.540 --> 02:32:37.920 Because as the bus drives along the country roads he catches a glimpse of something down 02:32:37.920 --> 02:32:41.700 a long, tree covered driveway - it’s the house from his dream. 02:32:42.420 --> 02:32:46.560 The shed door opens with a creak, allowing a sliver of light from the full moon to fall 02:32:46.560 --> 02:32:46.800 inside. 02:32:46.800 --> 02:32:50.640 The boy enters the shed as quietly as he can and goes inside. 02:32:51.780 --> 02:32:55.979 He soon emerges with his bike, and a shovel strapped to his back before riding away from 02:32:55.979 --> 02:32:57.540 his own backyard into the night. 02:32:57.540 --> 02:33:02.100 The boy stops his bike at the bottom of the driveway leading up to the old, abandoned 02:33:02.100 --> 02:33:02.281 house. 02:33:02.280 --> 02:33:07.740 He rides up the drive and doesn’t even consider stopping at the house, his destination is 02:33:07.740 --> 02:33:08.219 somewhere else. 02:33:09.000 --> 02:33:13.260 The boy lets his bike fall to the ground in the backyard and stares at it… it’s the 02:33:13.260 --> 02:33:16.980 shed he’s seen so many times before despite never seeing it in person. 02:33:16.979 --> 02:33:21.540 It’s dark and quiet, the shed silhouetted against the large, bright moon. 02:33:22.319 --> 02:33:25.920 He approaches the only door on the small shed and reaches for the handle. 02:33:25.920 --> 02:33:28.500 It opens with a loud, rusty squeak. 02:33:29.220 --> 02:33:33.120 The boy takes out a flashlight and turns it on, illuminating the shed’s interior. 02:33:33.780 --> 02:33:37.259 Inside is nothing except for a wooden bench sitting on the dirt floor. 02:33:37.260 --> 02:33:39.781 But wait, there is something else. 02:33:39.780 --> 02:33:45.479 A spot on the ground appears different, blackened, almost as if it were burned. 02:33:46.020 --> 02:33:47.460 This is the spot though. 02:33:47.460 --> 02:33:50.160 This is the place the boy keeps seeing in his dreams. 02:33:50.160 --> 02:33:51.780 He knows she’s down there. 02:33:51.780 --> 02:33:53.040 She needs his help. 02:33:53.580 --> 02:33:57.899 The boy thrusts his shovel down into the dirt but it doesn’t even scratch the surface. 02:33:57.899 --> 02:33:59.639 The ground is cold and hard. 02:33:59.640 --> 02:34:02.880 He strikes down again and the shovel pierces into the dirt. 02:34:02.880 --> 02:34:06.840 The shovel suddenly falls to the ground though as the boy begins to cough. 02:34:06.840 --> 02:34:09.780 He drops to his knees as the coughing becomes a fit. 02:34:09.780 --> 02:34:12.359 He can’t stop and now he can’t breathe. 02:34:12.359 --> 02:34:15.599 It feels like his throat is filling with… something. 02:34:15.600 --> 02:34:19.860 He falls to the ground, still coughing as he feels whatever is filling his throat and 02:34:19.859 --> 02:34:21.179 lungs moving and vibrating. 02:34:21.180 --> 02:34:25.920 With a final, great hacking cough he unleashes a swarm of creatures from his mouth. 02:34:26.520 --> 02:34:31.440 He lies in the dirt, struggling but unable to get any air, as the buzz of thousands of 02:34:31.439 --> 02:34:33.839 locusts drowns out his final noises. 02:34:34.500 --> 02:34:39.240 It’s no surprise that what this young man ran into wasn’t a dream at all, but an interaction 02:34:39.240 --> 02:34:45.059 with an anomaly that has since been classified as SCP-4595, but also has the quite simple 02:34:45.060 --> 02:34:46.380 and appropriate name of… 02:34:46.380 --> 02:34:47.340 Witch. 02:34:48.120 --> 02:34:54.059 SCP-4595 is the designation given to a small room located inside of a woodshed, that is 02:34:54.060 --> 02:34:56.820 itself found behind a home near the town of Jasper, Indiana. 02:34:57.720 --> 02:35:02.160 The house appears to have been abandoned for some time, and there are no reliable records 02:35:02.160 --> 02:35:04.920 of who the home’s most recent or original owners were. 02:35:05.640 --> 02:35:10.741 The only item inside the woodshed is a simple, rough hewn, wooden bench, though at the time 02:35:10.740 --> 02:35:14.040 of the anomaly’s discovery, two other objects were found as well. 02:35:14.040 --> 02:35:17.939 The first was a small shovel, the type that might be used for gardening. 02:35:17.939 --> 02:35:22.859 The shovel appears to be ordinary in every way, except for the very tip which has what 02:35:22.859 --> 02:35:27.660 looks to be a bloodstain on it, though tests have been able to retrieve any genetic material 02:35:27.660 --> 02:35:28.680 from the discoloration. 02:35:28.680 --> 02:35:31.920 The second object was a small human skeleton. 02:35:32.640 --> 02:35:36.900 The body of the deceased person was removed from the woodshed, and an autopsy revealed 02:35:36.899 --> 02:35:40.500 that it had belonged to an adolescent male, roughly 11 to 13 years old. 02:35:40.500 --> 02:35:45.300 While the exact cause of death was unable to be determined, it is extremely likely that 02:35:45.300 --> 02:35:50.760 it was due to the anomalous effects that SCP-4595 produces, but more on those in a moment. 02:35:51.359 --> 02:35:55.740 Further examination of the woodshed reveals that the word “WITCH” has been scrawled 02:35:55.740 --> 02:35:59.760 on the door with charcoal, though it is unknown who wrote the message and whether it is meant 02:35:59.760 --> 02:36:02.040 to serve as a warning or has some other purpose. 02:36:02.040 --> 02:36:07.800 It is highly likely though, that the word is referring to the final element of SCP-4595, 02:36:07.800 --> 02:36:11.580 the body that is buried beneath the woodshed’s dirt floor. 02:36:11.580 --> 02:36:16.380 Ground penetrating imaging tools were brought in to investigate the shed, and researchers 02:36:16.380 --> 02:36:19.920 discovered that underneath one portion of the floor that appears to have been scorched 02:36:19.920 --> 02:36:24.180 at some point, a body is buried roughly one meter beneath the surface, which has since 02:36:24.180 --> 02:36:30.360 been designated as SCP-4595-A. Scans have revealed the body to be a humanoid figure, 02:36:30.359 --> 02:36:32.040 vaguely feminine in appearance. 02:36:32.040 --> 02:36:36.660 It’s limbs are twisted in a painful, and unnatural manner, and there are several large 02:36:36.660 --> 02:36:39.359 wounds present on its face, chest, and neck. 02:36:39.359 --> 02:36:44.219 But perhaps strangest of all is that despite evidence at the site pointing to the location 02:36:44.220 --> 02:36:48.660 not having been disturbed for many years, the corpse buried beneath does not seem to 02:36:48.660 --> 02:36:53.399 show any signs at all of decomposition, still appearing as it most likely did at the time 02:36:53.399 --> 02:36:54.540 it was interred in the ground. 02:36:54.540 --> 02:37:00.240 You are most likely asking yourself why the SCP Foundation has relied solely on subterranean 02:37:00.240 --> 02:37:04.200 imaging in order to assess  the state of SCP-4595-A,  02:37:04.200 --> 02:37:06.840 and why they don’t simply dig up the anomalous 02:37:06.840 --> 02:37:07.200 corpse. 02:37:07.200 --> 02:37:11.639 The reason why they haven’t is due to the anomalous effects present at the site. 02:37:11.640 --> 02:37:17.281 Testing on SCP-4595 has concluded that anyone who enters the shed and remains there for 02:37:17.280 --> 02:37:20.939 any substantial amount of time will begin to experience a number of effects. 02:37:21.660 --> 02:37:26.099 First, they will start to feel paranoid, getting the impression that someone is watching them. 02:37:26.700 --> 02:37:31.500 This purely mental effect is quickly followed by a physical one, where the individual’s 02:37:31.500 --> 02:37:32.760 skin will start to itch. 02:37:32.760 --> 02:37:36.480 Those who linger in SCP-4595 long enough will  02:37:36.479 --> 02:37:38.700 eventually begin to violently  scratch at themselves 02:37:38.700 --> 02:37:40.559 in an attempt to relieve the itchiness. 02:37:40.560 --> 02:37:45.180 These effects, while very uncomfortable, will eventually subside if they leave the location, 02:37:45.180 --> 02:37:49.320 and it is very likely that they are meant to serve as a warning of what will happen 02:37:49.319 --> 02:37:54.960 if one partakes in the most dangerous aspect of SCP-4595, which is disturbing the body 02:37:54.960 --> 02:37:55.859 buried beneath it. 02:37:56.460 --> 02:38:02.880 Anyone who attempts to impact SCP-4595-A by attempting to dig it up or otherwise remove 02:38:02.880 --> 02:38:06.840 it from the location, will quickly experience a horrendous anomalous effect. 02:38:06.840 --> 02:38:11.460 The individual will soon find that they are experiencing a shortness of breath, and soon 02:38:11.460 --> 02:38:14.819 will begin coughing and choking, and be unable to breathe at all. 02:38:14.819 --> 02:38:19.979 This is due to a phenomenon in which any empty space in their chest cavity, lungs, airways, 02:38:19.979 --> 02:38:25.439 stomach and intestines, will completely fill with Schistocerca gregaria, better known as 02:38:25.439 --> 02:38:26.339 the desert locust. 02:38:26.340 --> 02:38:31.080 The insects will continue to appear within the individual’s body until they expire, 02:38:31.080 --> 02:38:33.300 a process that typically takes mere minutes. 02:38:33.300 --> 02:38:38.640 Any locusts that manage to escape the individual’s body, most often through the mouth and nose 02:38:38.640 --> 02:38:41.100 will disappear into a vapor  that quickly dissipates  02:38:41.100 --> 02:38:43.080 the moment they cross the threshold of the 02:38:43.080 --> 02:38:43.800 woodshed’s doorway. 02:38:43.800 --> 02:38:49.920 So far, no method has been determined that can prevent any of SCP-4595’s effects, and 02:38:49.920 --> 02:38:54.120 for the time being, no personnel are allowed to enter the anomalous shed except for testing 02:38:54.120 --> 02:38:59.880 purposes, but even in those cases the disturbance of SCP-4595-A is not allowed. 02:39:00.420 --> 02:39:04.800 Due to the relative ease with which the Foundation can secure the site and is able to prevent 02:39:04.800 --> 02:39:09.120 anyone from entering, it has been classified as Safe, with the additional disruption class 02:39:09.120 --> 02:39:11.340 of Dark and the risk class of Warning. 02:39:11.340 --> 02:39:14.640 Just what is SCP-4595? 02:39:14.640 --> 02:39:18.480 Is the SCP-4595-A body a victim? 02:39:18.479 --> 02:39:21.240 Doomed to an eternity beneath this ramshackle shed? 02:39:21.240 --> 02:39:22.500 Or is it a monster? 02:39:22.500 --> 02:39:27.479 Sealed away for some unknown purpose, the only warning for us to stay away being a single 02:39:27.479 --> 02:39:28.139 word on the door? 02:39:28.740 --> 02:39:35.160 Maybe one day, we’ll finally know the answer to why SCP-4595 is only known as the Witch. 02:39:35.160 --> 02:39:37.920 It all started with the roses dying. 02:39:37.920 --> 02:39:39.720 Only the one bush at first. 02:39:39.720 --> 02:39:43.560 The Old Man had come out to water his garden the same way he did every morning. 02:39:43.560 --> 02:39:48.180 It was looking sad and brown, leaves drooping and branches hardening. 02:39:48.840 --> 02:39:51.000 Just the one bush in the corner. 02:39:51.000 --> 02:39:54.720 But the next day, the bushes on either side of it had died too. 02:39:54.720 --> 02:39:57.840 Within a week, it was that whole corner of the garden. 02:39:58.620 --> 02:40:02.819 As the Old Man puts on his gardening gloves at the sink and stares out of the kitchen 02:40:02.819 --> 02:40:07.080 window, he knows that something is seriously wrong with his poor plants. 02:40:07.080 --> 02:40:11.700 The flourishing garden, so neatly maintained throughout all of his retirement years - his 02:40:11.700 --> 02:40:15.420 pride and joy - is now steadily dying before his very eyes. 02:40:16.080 --> 02:40:19.920 Living in a small one-story house, there isn’t much left for him to do. 02:40:19.920 --> 02:40:24.480 Out in Bushey, right on the edge of what could be considered London, there is very little 02:40:24.479 --> 02:40:25.620 going on with his day. 02:40:25.620 --> 02:40:30.780 Inside the house, he hangs all of his photos of the Lancaster Bomber that he and his squad 02:40:30.780 --> 02:40:31.979 flew in the Second World War. 02:40:32.760 --> 02:40:37.260 Although those days are long behind him now, he chose to live here because on the hill 02:40:37.260 --> 02:40:41.760 that his house is on, he can see the planes taking off and landing from the nearby RAF 02:40:41.760 --> 02:40:42.180 base. 02:40:42.720 --> 02:40:45.120 And where does he like to sit and watch the planes? 02:40:45.120 --> 02:40:46.740 From his immaculate garden. 02:40:47.580 --> 02:40:49.140 The Old Man scowls at it. 02:40:49.140 --> 02:40:54.420 The perfectly trimmed hedges, blossoming trees, uniform grass, and colorful beds are all being 02:40:54.420 --> 02:40:58.080 ruined by a dark stain steadily spreading from the back right corner. 02:40:58.080 --> 02:41:02.399 Starting with that rose bush in the corner and spreading out, everything in a rough circle 02:41:02.399 --> 02:41:06.359 measuring close to 15 feet is withering away and dying. 02:41:07.020 --> 02:41:08.460 Not on his watch. 02:41:08.460 --> 02:41:10.740 The kettle finishes boiling. 02:41:10.740 --> 02:41:13.380 He has to use his old gas hobs to heat up the water. 02:41:13.380 --> 02:41:16.140 The cooker is apparently long past its lifespan. 02:41:16.680 --> 02:41:20.520 The ignition stopped working years ago, so he has to use matches to start it. 02:41:20.520 --> 02:41:22.560 If he leaves on the gas by accident… 02:41:22.560 --> 02:41:25.860 well, there wouldn’t be much of a kitchen left. 02:41:25.859 --> 02:41:29.880 He pours the water out into a mug and starts brewing his morning cup of tea. 02:41:30.540 --> 02:41:35.100 A few minutes later, the back door slides open, and the Old Man emerges, trowel and 02:41:35.100 --> 02:41:36.060 cup of tea in hand. 02:41:36.060 --> 02:41:41.220 Years ago, he would have marched purposefully across the grass, but now he is forced to 02:41:41.220 --> 02:41:42.060 plod instead. 02:41:42.060 --> 02:41:46.800 His knees and back are both starting to give out from the years of tending to his precious 02:41:46.800 --> 02:41:47.340 green friends. 02:41:47.340 --> 02:41:49.860 But the fire is still in his belly. 02:41:50.460 --> 02:41:53.160 He reaches the edge of the dead patch and looks down. 02:41:53.160 --> 02:41:56.220 The lawn isn’t just yellowing, it’s fully brown. 02:41:56.220 --> 02:41:59.880 He pokes at the grass with his shoe, and it breaks apart to the touch. 02:42:00.420 --> 02:42:01.319 How strange. 02:42:01.319 --> 02:42:04.559 He’s never seen anything die off so suddenly and uniformly. 02:42:05.160 --> 02:42:09.479 It isn’t just a bad bed or an infection spreading around, it’s a clear patch of 02:42:09.479 --> 02:42:12.000 death where nothing in the given area stands a chance. 02:42:12.840 --> 02:42:17.100 He steps onto the brown grass and walks to the corner where that first rosebush died. 02:42:17.100 --> 02:42:21.600 The base of the fence is rotting away in that corner, giving him a peek into his neighbor’s 02:42:21.600 --> 02:42:21.781 garden. 02:42:22.500 --> 02:42:26.640 With a good deal of groaning and aching, the Old Man lowers himself onto his hands and 02:42:26.640 --> 02:42:28.140 knees and peers under the fence. 02:42:28.859 --> 02:42:30.479 A pair of eyes meet his. 02:42:31.140 --> 02:42:32.820 The Old Man yells out in surprise. 02:42:32.819 --> 02:42:34.740 The person on the other end screams. 02:42:34.740 --> 02:42:37.500 After a moment they look under again and start laughing. 02:42:37.500 --> 02:42:39.359 It’s just the Mom from next door. 02:42:39.359 --> 02:42:42.599 She has kids who like to play in the garden on their trampoline while he’s working. 02:42:43.380 --> 02:42:46.020 They’ll often talk over the fence to him between bounces. 02:42:46.020 --> 02:42:47.820 ‘I hope I didn’t give you a heart attack!’ 02:42:47.819 --> 02:42:48.840 she teases. 02:42:48.840 --> 02:42:51.840 He reassures her that he’s made of sterner stuff than that. 02:42:51.840 --> 02:42:55.800 Then they get to the matter at hand, what is going on in their gardens? 02:42:55.800 --> 02:42:57.540 She is having the same issue too. 02:42:57.540 --> 02:43:00.420 That same circle is spreading out over her side too. 02:43:00.420 --> 02:43:02.819 Everything it touches is dying. 02:43:02.819 --> 02:43:06.719 ‘Well then, it has to be coming from this corner,’ the Old Man says. 02:43:06.720 --> 02:43:10.680 The pair of them pull the fence apart around the corner, creating a little hole between 02:43:10.680 --> 02:43:11.281 their gardens. 02:43:11.280 --> 02:43:12.420 It’s short work. 02:43:12.420 --> 02:43:14.640 The boards break apart at the lightest touch. 02:43:14.640 --> 02:43:17.460 Before long, they have a little work site ready. 02:43:17.460 --> 02:43:20.819 There must be something down in this corner that’s causing all of this. 02:43:21.540 --> 02:43:25.019 Side by side, the Old Man and the Mom from next door start to dig. 02:43:25.020 --> 02:43:30.060 The soil feels strange to dig through, there’s a kind of stickiness to it, as if there’s 02:43:30.060 --> 02:43:32.340 a very faint layer of slime binding it together. 02:43:33.300 --> 02:43:34.260 Could it be a dead animal? 02:43:34.859 --> 02:43:38.819 That’s the Old Man’s best guess right now, but it doesn’t seem very convincing. 02:43:38.819 --> 02:43:41.639 Surely that would nourish the soil with more nutrients. 02:43:41.640 --> 02:43:44.880 It might offset the pH balance a bit but not to the extent of… 02:43:44.880 --> 02:43:45.840 Crack! 02:43:45.840 --> 02:43:47.819 The Mom’s trowel breaks. 02:43:47.819 --> 02:43:49.920 She holds it up to her face, confused. 02:43:49.920 --> 02:43:51.660 The metal shovel scoop has broken. 02:43:51.660 --> 02:43:53.160 The tip of it has fallen off. 02:43:53.160 --> 02:43:55.080 Half snapped, half melted. 02:43:55.080 --> 02:43:56.880 ‘I just bought this the other day!’ 02:43:57.540 --> 02:43:59.880 But the Old Man isn’t looking at the trowel anymore. 02:43:59.880 --> 02:44:03.660 Instead, he’s staring into the hole that the pair of them have dug. 02:44:04.260 --> 02:44:09.000 Down there at the bottom, underneath the piece of broken metal something is moving. 02:44:09.600 --> 02:44:14.040 He plants a gloved hand on either side of the hole and leans down over it, peering at 02:44:14.040 --> 02:44:14.640 whatever it is. 02:44:15.359 --> 02:44:15.960 Worms. 02:44:15.960 --> 02:44:17.700 Tiny brown worms. 02:44:17.700 --> 02:44:21.720 Each writhing and wrapping around the others, tying and untying knots. 02:44:21.720 --> 02:44:26.220 He straightens up with a groan, takes his gloves off, and pushes himself to his feet. 02:44:26.819 --> 02:44:28.200 ‘We need to call the Council. 02:44:28.200 --> 02:44:30.540 There’s something dead down here that is rotting badly.’ 02:44:30.540 --> 02:44:35.460 The woman from Hertsmere Council was clearly not very interested in sending a waste disposal 02:44:35.460 --> 02:44:37.020 team down when the Old Man called her. 02:44:37.800 --> 02:44:41.640 She told him they would stop by the bungalow in three to five working days and hung up. 02:44:42.300 --> 02:44:46.200 Several calls later, she relented and agreed that they would send a team across that afternoon. 02:44:47.280 --> 02:44:49.740 Soon after 4pm, a knock comes at the door. 02:44:49.740 --> 02:44:53.939 The Old Man escorts the waste disposal team around the side entrance, keen for them not 02:44:53.939 --> 02:44:55.379 to traipse any mud through the house. 02:44:55.380 --> 02:45:00.060 Clearly annoyed by this, the two workmen for the Council trudge around the side and out 02:45:00.060 --> 02:45:03.661 into the garden, grumbling about how they have more important things to be getting on 02:45:03.660 --> 02:45:03.840 with. 02:45:04.439 --> 02:45:08.339 The Old Man chooses to ignore them, leading them to the back corner of his garden and 02:45:08.340 --> 02:45:11.280 pointing down into the hole he and his neighbor had dug just that morning. 02:45:11.280 --> 02:45:13.620 Only the hole is empty. 02:45:13.620 --> 02:45:15.240 ‘What are we looking at here?’ 02:45:15.240 --> 02:45:16.859 one of the workmen grunts. 02:45:16.859 --> 02:45:18.299 It is a good question. 02:45:18.300 --> 02:45:22.560 There’s nothing at the bottom of the hole, no writhing worms, not even the shard of the 02:45:22.560 --> 02:45:22.980 trowel. 02:45:22.979 --> 02:45:25.259 It’s just an empty hole. 02:45:25.260 --> 02:45:29.700 The Old Man kneels back down by the hole and scoops back the dirt a bit with his own trowel. 02:45:29.700 --> 02:45:30.540 Nothing. 02:45:30.540 --> 02:45:35.399 The Old Man hears words muttered that he hasn’t heard since the War as he escorts the two 02:45:35.399 --> 02:45:36.599 gentlemen back to their van. 02:45:36.600 --> 02:45:41.161 They slam the doors more heavily than necessary and drive off down the quiet suburban street, 02:45:41.160 --> 02:45:43.680 leaving the Man standing confused on his doorstep. 02:45:44.340 --> 02:45:48.120 The next day when he goes out to garden, the circle of death hasn’t grown. 02:45:48.120 --> 02:45:49.380 It still looks bad. 02:45:49.380 --> 02:45:53.640 The plants inside it are clearly dead, but it hasn’t spread any further than it was 02:45:53.640 --> 02:45:54.480 the previous day. 02:45:54.479 --> 02:45:58.080 The Old Man sips his tea over the sink and stares out at the garden. 02:45:58.080 --> 02:46:00.660 It must have been next door, that would be it. 02:46:00.660 --> 02:46:05.040 Before the Council had shown up yesterday, the Mom must have come outside and bagged 02:46:05.040 --> 02:46:07.560 up whatever dead thing was back there and thrown it out herself. 02:46:08.100 --> 02:46:08.701 Good. 02:46:08.700 --> 02:46:10.740 He just hopes it doesn’t stink up the bin. 02:46:11.700 --> 02:46:15.479 Now to do the sad part of the task and clear away all of his dead plants. 02:46:15.479 --> 02:46:18.240 Those rose bushes had been planted the year he moved in. 02:46:18.240 --> 02:46:19.620 His wife had planted them. 02:46:19.620 --> 02:46:24.720 As he dons his gloves, the Old Man feels a wave of sadness wash over, but before he can 02:46:24.720 --> 02:46:27.480 experience it too deeply, he notices the holes. 02:46:28.140 --> 02:46:31.560 The tips of his gloves are gone, his fingers poking clean out. 02:46:31.560 --> 02:46:36.300 In fact, looking down at his trousers, he notices a pair of holes on the knees of them 02:46:36.300 --> 02:46:37.980 from where he’d been kneeling in the dirt yesterday. 02:46:38.819 --> 02:46:40.799 A knock at the front door makes him jump. 02:46:40.800 --> 02:46:44.580 He goes out to see the Mom from next door standing anxiously outside his place. 02:46:44.580 --> 02:46:47.160 She’s glancing up and down the street as she talks. 02:46:47.160 --> 02:46:49.319 She asks if he’s seen either of her boys. 02:46:49.319 --> 02:46:51.660 He shakes his head, hasn’t seen them all day. 02:46:51.660 --> 02:46:53.700 He reassures her it's probably nothing. 02:46:53.700 --> 02:46:57.780 Back in his day, boys used to go out of the house first thing in the morning and be back 02:46:57.780 --> 02:46:58.139 for dinner. 02:46:58.140 --> 02:47:00.960 Parents these days are too sensitive, too anxious. 02:47:00.960 --> 02:47:03.600 The look on her face tells him that he isn’t helping. 02:47:03.600 --> 02:47:07.140 She mutters something about having seen someone suspicious walking down the street. 02:47:07.140 --> 02:47:08.281 Someone strange. 02:47:08.280 --> 02:47:12.359 No use worrying about it for now, she heads off in the direction of the local park to 02:47:12.359 --> 02:47:13.200 go and look for her sons. 02:47:13.920 --> 02:47:17.640 The Old Man calls out to her as she leaves, thanking her for sorting out the dead animal 02:47:17.640 --> 02:47:18.480 from the end of the garden. 02:47:18.479 --> 02:47:20.519 She looks back at him confused. 02:47:20.520 --> 02:47:21.840 She hadn’t touched it. 02:47:22.380 --> 02:47:26.819 All the rest of the day, the Old Man stands by his curtains, twitching them open every 02:47:26.819 --> 02:47:30.179 now and then to peer out and see if the boys are anywhere to be seen. 02:47:30.180 --> 02:47:33.060 He’s locked all of his doors and left the keys under his pillow. 02:47:33.060 --> 02:47:34.860 But sunset comes and goes. 02:47:34.859 --> 02:47:36.960 Night time creeps over the suburbs. 02:47:36.960 --> 02:47:38.819 No children in sight. 02:47:38.819 --> 02:47:42.719 He’s just about to go to bed when he spots someone on the corner of the street. 02:47:42.720 --> 02:47:46.800 Just outside the glow from the streetlights, the figure lurks over by the street sign. 02:47:46.800 --> 02:47:52.260 The person moves strangely, taking shaky footsteps and seeming to move slightly aimlessly around 02:47:52.260 --> 02:47:53.940 the pavement, avoiding the light. 02:47:53.939 --> 02:47:56.939 He opens the curtain wider and peers outside. 02:47:56.939 --> 02:48:01.259 His eyes definitely aren’t what they used to be, he can’t really make out who the 02:48:01.260 --> 02:48:02.100 person is at all. 02:48:02.100 --> 02:48:03.960 The safe thing to do is to stay inside. 02:48:03.960 --> 02:48:06.840 A man of his age should make sure not to get involved. 02:48:06.840 --> 02:48:11.340 But the photo of him standing by his Lancaster on the wall tells him something different. 02:48:12.180 --> 02:48:15.600 The Old Man straightens up as best as he can and walks over to the front door. 02:48:15.600 --> 02:48:17.161 He doesn’t take a weapon with him. 02:48:17.160 --> 02:48:18.300 He won’t need one. 02:48:18.300 --> 02:48:22.140 He will go over and talk to this gentleman, ask him what he’s doing hanging around this 02:48:22.140 --> 02:48:26.400 neighborhood at night, and if things go poorly, he will walk back inside and promptly call 02:48:26.399 --> 02:48:26.759 the police. 02:48:27.479 --> 02:48:30.167 The thrill of the confrontation excites him a little. 02:48:30.168 --> 02:48:30.960 He’s missed this. 02:48:30.960 --> 02:48:35.640 As the cold night air blows against his face, he feels his youthful energy returning to 02:48:35.640 --> 02:48:36.180 him once again. 02:48:36.180 --> 02:48:38.220 He calls out to the man on the corner. 02:48:38.220 --> 02:48:42.480 The shadowy figure stops pacing and slowly turns around to get a better look at him. 02:48:42.479 --> 02:48:47.219 The Old Man can tell even from this distance that the gentleman on the street is a good 02:48:47.220 --> 02:48:49.680 deal taller than him, but that shouldn’t matter much. 02:48:49.680 --> 02:48:52.741 He’ll go over, have some stern words, and that will be that. 02:48:52.740 --> 02:48:56.880 If this strange man knows anything, it will be that he should respect his elders. 02:48:57.540 --> 02:49:01.500 The Old Man crosses the road and stands under the streetlight, just a few feet away from 02:49:01.500 --> 02:49:01.800 the man. 02:49:01.800 --> 02:49:05.400 Frustratingly, his eyes still can’t quite make out the man’s face. 02:49:05.399 --> 02:49:08.759 The Old Man clears his throat and rolls up his sleeves. 02:49:08.760 --> 02:49:13.080 ‘Sir, this is a residential neighborhood with young children and an excellent relationship 02:49:13.080 --> 02:49:14.160 with local law enforcement. 02:49:14.700 --> 02:49:18.240 I would advise you to move along, or I will be forced to call the authorities.’ 02:49:18.899 --> 02:49:23.759 But the sound that greets the Old Man is enough to immediately do away with any of his bravado. 02:49:24.420 --> 02:49:28.500 His blood runs cold as the figure in front of him starts to laugh. 02:49:28.500 --> 02:49:32.520 It is a gruff rasping noise, with a slight squelching underneath it. 02:49:32.520 --> 02:49:37.260 Come to think of it, every little movement this figure makes, there’s a little squelch. 02:49:37.260 --> 02:49:39.300 The laugh stops suddenly. 02:49:39.300 --> 02:49:40.080 Sharply. 02:49:40.080 --> 02:49:43.800 The figure turns the rest of the way around to face the old man head-on. 02:49:43.800 --> 02:49:45.360 It takes a step forward. 02:49:46.200 --> 02:49:50.519 Light falls across it, revealing a mass of wriggling, convulsing worms. 02:49:50.520 --> 02:49:55.500 Millions of small brown worms all weaving in and out of one another, dripping a thick 02:49:55.500 --> 02:49:57.000 and sticky liquid onto the street. 02:49:57.660 --> 02:50:00.780 The creature has no face, no features, no skin, nothing. 02:50:00.780 --> 02:50:04.859 It has the shape of a man, but that is where the resemblance ends. 02:50:04.859 --> 02:50:06.719 It is utterly inhuman. 02:50:06.720 --> 02:50:08.520 Utterly terrifying. 02:50:09.120 --> 02:50:12.720 The Old Man almost topples backward in surprise but steadies himself. 02:50:13.319 --> 02:50:15.840 A fall at his age would be very bad news indeed. 02:50:16.439 --> 02:50:18.780 The creature reaches out a writhing arm toward him. 02:50:18.780 --> 02:50:20.939 Liquid drips from it onto the sidewalk. 02:50:20.939 --> 02:50:25.740 A small puff of gas comes up from it as the liquid bubbles, burning a little dent into 02:50:25.740 --> 02:50:26.160 the stone. 02:50:26.160 --> 02:50:28.559 So that’s what was killing his roses. 02:50:29.280 --> 02:50:32.460 Fast as he can, the Old Man turns and hurries back to his house. 02:50:32.460 --> 02:50:35.340 He doesn’t want to turn around for risk of losing his balance. 02:50:35.340 --> 02:50:38.100 He will get inside, lock the door and call the police. 02:50:38.100 --> 02:50:40.201 They will know precisely what to do. 02:50:40.200 --> 02:50:45.000 That squelching sound is behind him, taking shaky inhuman steps to follow him. 02:50:45.600 --> 02:50:48.000 The Old Man reaches the front door and slams it shut. 02:50:48.000 --> 02:50:50.580 He grabs the landline in  the hallway and immediately  02:50:50.580 --> 02:50:53.220 dials 999, the British emergency number. 02:50:53.220 --> 02:50:55.140 ‘Hello… police, please… 02:50:55.140 --> 02:51:00.000 there is a gentleman loitering outside my domicile… he appears to be made of worms… 02:51:00.660 --> 02:51:01.559 worms, yes… 02:51:01.560 --> 02:51:03.180 no, no medication… 02:51:03.180 --> 02:51:04.680 just myself…’ 02:51:05.520 --> 02:51:06.600 There’s a thud at the door. 02:51:06.600 --> 02:51:07.920 Then a second thud. 02:51:07.920 --> 02:51:10.740 The Old Man drops the receiver and takes a few steps back. 02:51:11.460 --> 02:51:13.740 No more thuds, no more noises. 02:51:13.740 --> 02:51:15.840 Maybe that was a slight overreaction. 02:51:15.840 --> 02:51:18.540 The Old Man straightens up and clears his throat. 02:51:18.540 --> 02:51:19.680 Nothing to worry about. 02:51:19.680 --> 02:51:22.080 A sizzling sound fills the hallway. 02:51:22.080 --> 02:51:25.019 The door starts to look… strange. 02:51:25.740 --> 02:51:29.760 Two patches are appearing on it, the paint cracking and discoloring. 02:51:29.760 --> 02:51:33.781 The patches start to bulge outwards, then a drop of liquid seeps through. 02:51:33.780 --> 02:51:37.259 It falls on the welcome mat and burns a hole clean through it. 02:51:37.260 --> 02:51:39.120 The Old Man’s eyes widen. 02:51:39.660 --> 02:51:40.439 Worms. 02:51:40.439 --> 02:51:45.540 Just two or three at first, then a few more, then a dozen more, burrow their way through 02:51:45.540 --> 02:51:48.060 the door, each dripping with that foul liquid. 02:51:48.660 --> 02:51:53.040 The holes grow larger and larger until the creature has two large armholes burnt clear 02:51:53.040 --> 02:51:53.640 through the wood. 02:51:53.640 --> 02:51:58.140 The creature grips what remains of the door with its wormed fingers and wrenches the wood 02:51:58.140 --> 02:51:58.560 apart. 02:51:59.100 --> 02:52:03.780 It towers over the Old Man as it stands in the doorway, its surface crawling and wriggling 02:52:03.779 --> 02:52:06.059 as its feet burn holes into the carpet. 02:52:06.060 --> 02:52:09.480 The book hits the creature square in the chest, knocking it off balance. 02:52:09.479 --> 02:52:11.759 The Old Man throws another book and another. 02:52:11.760 --> 02:52:14.760 He knew it was a good idea to keep his bookshelf out in the hallway. 02:52:14.760 --> 02:52:19.440 He grabs another but hesitates and puts it back; not the first editions. 02:52:19.439 --> 02:52:24.240 Instead, he heaves the old Yellow Pages in both of his hands and launches it as hard 02:52:24.240 --> 02:52:25.500 as he can at the worm monster. 02:52:26.399 --> 02:52:30.059 The book smacks into its chest with enough force to break a chunk of it apart. 02:52:30.060 --> 02:52:34.020 The creature’s chest bursts open, sending worms flying through the air. 02:52:34.020 --> 02:52:36.360 Something red falls out onto the carpet. 02:52:36.359 --> 02:52:40.920 A baseball cap - a child’s baseball cap, half-digested. 02:52:41.520 --> 02:52:44.041 The Old Man gasps and puts a hand to his mouth. 02:52:44.040 --> 02:52:48.240 The worms splattered against the wall start to slide down towards the carpet, eating through 02:52:48.240 --> 02:52:49.319 the wallpaper as they go. 02:52:50.040 --> 02:52:54.420 Once on the ground, they start to crawl and wriggle back over to their body, reabsorbing 02:52:54.420 --> 02:52:55.500 into the mass from the feet. 02:52:55.500 --> 02:52:58.260 The creature straightens up like nothing ever happened. 02:52:58.260 --> 02:53:00.600 He’s going to need more than books. 02:53:01.260 --> 02:53:01.680 ‘Hello?’ 02:53:01.680 --> 02:53:03.360 It's the mom from next door. 02:53:03.359 --> 02:53:05.339 The Old Man’s eyes widen further. 02:53:05.340 --> 02:53:08.880 ‘I saw your door was still open, I was just wondering if you’ve seen…’ 02:53:08.880 --> 02:53:13.440 The Mom appears in the front doorway just behind the monster, takes one look up at it, 02:53:13.439 --> 02:53:14.219 and freezes. 02:53:14.220 --> 02:53:17.400 She has a rusty old zippo with a dim flame to light her way. 02:53:17.399 --> 02:53:19.679 The wormed mass turns round to her. 02:53:20.340 --> 02:53:24.540 In the same rasping voice that it laughed with earlier, it says one word. 02:53:24.540 --> 02:53:25.800 Her name. 02:53:26.460 --> 02:53:28.920 Then it notices something and flinches slightly. 02:53:28.920 --> 02:53:30.300 The lighter in her hand. 02:53:30.300 --> 02:53:35.760 For a second, the Old Man, the Mom from next door, and the giant worm monster all look 02:53:35.760 --> 02:53:37.020 at the tiny little flame. 02:53:37.020 --> 02:53:38.640 Then it goes out. 02:53:38.640 --> 02:53:42.780 The creature lunges at her, grabbing her by the shoulders and wrenching her into a ferocious 02:53:42.779 --> 02:53:43.019 hug. 02:53:43.020 --> 02:53:47.581 The smell of dissolving flesh fills the hallway as she screams in agony. 02:53:48.359 --> 02:53:51.000 The Old Man does everything he can not to throw up. 02:53:51.000 --> 02:53:52.620 He needs to get out of the house. 02:53:52.620 --> 02:53:55.319 The back door, he’ll go out the back while the creature eats. 02:53:55.319 --> 02:54:00.120 Step by step, he creeps away from the distracted monstrosity next to his coat rack, trying 02:54:00.120 --> 02:54:01.140 his best not to be heard. 02:54:01.859 --> 02:54:05.040 He slides the kitchen door closed and puts a chair against the handle. 02:54:05.040 --> 02:54:07.560 It’s not much, but it’ll buy him a few seconds. 02:54:08.399 --> 02:54:12.540 He turns, rushing to the glass sliding doors at the back of the house, and reaches for 02:54:12.540 --> 02:54:13.260 the key on the side. 02:54:13.859 --> 02:54:15.059 Only it’s gone. 02:54:15.060 --> 02:54:16.081 Of course. 02:54:16.080 --> 02:54:18.300 He left all the keys under his pillow. 02:54:18.300 --> 02:54:20.700 The pillow in the bedroom that’s right next to… 02:54:20.700 --> 02:54:22.559 His shoulders slump. 02:54:22.560 --> 02:54:25.680 He turns back around and sees a crack of light under the kitchen door. 02:54:25.680 --> 02:54:30.420 A couple of worms are crawling their way under it, gathering together and starting to form 02:54:30.420 --> 02:54:31.200 on the tiles. 02:54:31.740 --> 02:54:32.700 That’s it then. 02:54:32.700 --> 02:54:33.840 It’s all over. 02:54:33.840 --> 02:54:35.819 Nothing left for it. 02:54:35.819 --> 02:54:38.099 The Old Man lets his eyes wander around the room. 02:54:38.100 --> 02:54:41.460 That creature is making its way into this kitchen no matter what he does. 02:54:41.460 --> 02:54:45.899 All he has are a few precious seconds until those worms are big enough to come after her. 02:54:45.899 --> 02:54:48.420 He wants to spend those seconds the right way. 02:54:49.140 --> 02:54:53.280 Feeling his ragged breathing starting to find a steadier rhythm, he walks over to that old 02:54:53.279 --> 02:54:54.120 picture on the wall. 02:54:54.120 --> 02:54:59.040 Him and his crew, all his best friends, standing young and proud in front of their bomber. 02:54:59.640 --> 02:55:02.161 He’d experienced this feeling before, this moment. 02:55:02.160 --> 02:55:06.120 When you know that your demise is guaranteed, it removes some of the panic. 02:55:06.120 --> 02:55:08.519 The uncertainty of ‘Will I make it? 02:55:08.520 --> 02:55:09.420 What can I do? 02:55:09.420 --> 02:55:10.260 Do I have a chance?’ 02:55:10.260 --> 02:55:11.940 It’s a sickly thing. 02:55:11.939 --> 02:55:15.540 It leaves you in the lurch, trying desperately to battle against your own nerves. 02:55:15.540 --> 02:55:17.580 Once it’s decided, however. 02:55:17.580 --> 02:55:20.640 Well, then everything becomes a lot clearer. 02:55:20.640 --> 02:55:25.260 He’d felt this way in the war when their bomber was shot at while flying over occupied 02:55:25.260 --> 02:55:25.680 France. 02:55:25.680 --> 02:55:30.060 They were steadily losing altitude and airspeed as they crossed back over the channel. 02:55:30.060 --> 02:55:35.161 The seven of them had each taken a quiet moment to say their prayers and look out at the stars 02:55:35.160 --> 02:55:35.939 flitting above them. 02:55:35.939 --> 02:55:38.099 Only they hadn’t died. 02:55:38.100 --> 02:55:40.980 In fact, they were all being incredibly foolish. 02:55:40.979 --> 02:55:45.479 The solution was so simple that when the Old Man’s rear gunner suggested they just drop 02:55:45.479 --> 02:55:49.439 all their remaining bombs into the water to save weight, the group of them had all burst 02:55:49.439 --> 02:55:50.040 out laughing. 02:55:50.040 --> 02:55:53.279 One by one, the bombs dropped silently into the sea. 02:55:53.279 --> 02:55:55.439 They are probably still down there to this day. 02:55:55.439 --> 02:55:57.000 No explosions… 02:55:57.000 --> 02:55:58.560 Explosions. 02:55:59.160 --> 02:56:00.660 The Old Man smiles. 02:56:00.660 --> 02:56:02.819 Maybe it’s not quite over after all. 02:56:03.540 --> 02:56:06.600 He looks back at the ball of worms assembling on his kitchen floor. 02:56:06.600 --> 02:56:11.580 As more worms crawl under the door and join the mass, it takes on different strange shapes. 02:56:11.580 --> 02:56:16.979 First a mouse, then a rabbit, a cat, dog, in a moment, it will be the size of a hog. 02:56:17.880 --> 02:56:22.140 Rushing over to his gas stovetop, he twists all four of the dials all the way up. 02:56:22.140 --> 02:56:25.800 They whine and hiss at him, spewing acrid-smelling gas into the air. 02:56:25.800 --> 02:56:28.020 Already his head starts to swim. 02:56:28.020 --> 02:56:30.060 He’ll have to time this just right. 02:56:30.840 --> 02:56:35.220 He snatches the trowel and a box of matches up off the countertop and goes to the sliding 02:56:35.220 --> 02:56:35.700 glass door. 02:56:35.700 --> 02:56:36.720 This is it. 02:56:37.319 --> 02:56:42.420 Rasping laughter fills the room as the creature stands to its full height, head almost brushing 02:56:42.420 --> 02:56:43.260 against the ceiling. 02:56:43.260 --> 02:56:46.920 The Old Man can feel himself losing consciousness from all the gas in the room. 02:56:47.520 --> 02:56:48.300 Bang! 02:56:48.300 --> 02:56:50.580 He slams the trowel against the glass door. 02:56:50.580 --> 02:56:51.540 Nothing. 02:56:51.540 --> 02:56:52.500 Bang! 02:56:52.500 --> 02:56:53.640 He does it again. 02:56:53.640 --> 02:56:54.780 Still hopeless. 02:56:54.779 --> 02:56:58.439 The laughter grows louder as he hears squelching footsteps behind him. 02:56:58.979 --> 02:56:59.580 Bang! 02:56:59.580 --> 02:57:01.380 This time there’s a slight chip. 02:57:01.380 --> 02:57:02.940 He hits it again and again. 02:57:02.939 --> 02:57:07.559 Trying his best to shatter it, but while the little chip grows into a crack it’s not 02:57:07.560 --> 02:57:07.800 working. 02:57:08.580 --> 02:57:10.979 A warm squishy mass smothers his shoulder. 02:57:10.979 --> 02:57:14.700 Worms burrow into his flesh, seering white hot pain throughout his body. 02:57:15.420 --> 02:57:16.500 That’ll have to do. 02:57:17.100 --> 02:57:18.840 The Old Man strikes the match. 02:57:19.500 --> 02:57:20.399 BOOM! 02:57:20.399 --> 02:57:25.139 Glass shatters, flames bloom out of the house, licking the last remaining healthy flowers. 02:57:25.979 --> 02:57:30.660 Burning worms fly in all different directions, scattered across the lawn, the back fence 02:57:30.660 --> 02:57:31.260 and beyond. 02:57:31.260 --> 02:57:36.600 The Old Man thuds onto his back, looking up at the billowing smoke making its way up towards 02:57:36.600 --> 02:57:40.260 the stars, as the scared worms burrow their way back into the ground. 02:57:40.920 --> 02:57:43.920 He would never understand the monster that attacked him that night. 02:57:43.920 --> 02:57:46.260 Thankfully, this is where I come in. 02:57:46.260 --> 02:57:51.240 There is something about fire that unlocks this primal fear in almost all living creatures, 02:57:51.240 --> 02:57:53.819 and SCP-906 is no different. 02:57:53.819 --> 02:58:00.960 Nicknamed the Scouring Hive, SCP-906 is the blanket designation for a supercolony of worm-like 02:58:00.960 --> 02:58:04.020 invertebrates that appear to share a semi-advanced ‘hive mind’. 02:58:04.800 --> 02:58:07.500 The individual worms are dark brown in color  02:58:07.500 --> 02:58:09.840 and appear to have some  level of shared intelligence. 02:58:09.840 --> 02:58:14.640 When separated from the colony, the worms will crawl towards its general direction but 02:58:14.640 --> 02:58:17.161 demonstrate a reduced level of problem-solving capabilities. 02:58:17.160 --> 02:58:22.439 However, once they are back as part of the group, the Scouring Hive is a formidable predator. 02:58:23.220 --> 02:58:29.100 When hungry, this SCP becomes acutely aggressive, secreting a viscous, highly corrosive acid 02:58:29.100 --> 02:58:33.241 that can eat through flesh, hair, bones, and clothing, alarmingly quickly. 02:58:33.899 --> 02:58:39.000 Capable of adapting its form to mimic other animals and humans, this SCP seems to find 02:58:39.000 --> 02:58:40.380 a level of thrill in the chase. 02:58:40.380 --> 02:58:46.080 Able to parrot a very rudimentary estimation of human speech, it can say names and even 02:58:46.080 --> 02:58:48.720 laugh, which it often does while pursuing its prey. 02:58:49.560 --> 02:58:54.661 It is theorized that this ability to impersonate others is used to lure subjects into dangerous 02:58:54.660 --> 02:58:55.080 situations. 02:58:55.080 --> 02:58:59.700 Like young children playing alone in their garden hearing a strange noise from over the 02:58:59.700 --> 02:58:59.880 fence… 02:59:00.720 --> 02:59:05.760 While it can take various forms, the Scouring Hive is at its most lethal when it chooses 02:59:05.760 --> 02:59:06.660 to attack directly. 02:59:06.660 --> 02:59:11.099 Taking the form of a kind of ‘carpet’ of worms, it flows across the ground quickly, 02:59:11.100 --> 02:59:16.080 climbing surfaces, squeezing through narrow gaps, and finding creative solutions to stalk 02:59:16.080 --> 02:59:17.880 otherwise inaccessible targets. 02:59:17.880 --> 02:59:22.140 It has been known to swarm through various circuitous routes like drainpipes and air 02:59:22.140 --> 02:59:23.161 vents while on the hunt. 02:59:23.160 --> 02:59:28.200 Once it has reached its prey, it envelopes them, coating them in that acidic secretion 02:59:28.200 --> 02:59:31.859 that rapidly breaks down living tissue into a slurry for the worms to consume. 02:59:31.859 --> 02:59:37.080 While it is unclear whether this is a genuine reaction or just another instance of parroting, 02:59:37.080 --> 02:59:40.319 this SCP seems to enjoy gloating at this stage. 02:59:40.319 --> 02:59:43.380 Laughing at and mocking its prey as it consumes it. 02:59:43.380 --> 02:59:47.460 How a colony of worms has reached this level of cognition is unknown. 02:59:48.120 --> 02:59:52.500 While tougher than your average garden worms, the Scouring Hive is not invincible. 02:59:52.500 --> 02:59:55.140 Susceptible to incineration, freezing, and  02:59:55.140 --> 02:59:58.800 full-body disintegration,  SCP-906 can be neutralized 02:59:58.800 --> 03:00:00.120 if the need should ever arise. 03:00:00.120 --> 03:00:02.519 When under existential threat, the colony  03:00:02.520 --> 03:00:04.860 will begin to undergo a  period of rapid reproduction. 03:00:04.859 --> 03:00:09.899 As long as just a handful of worms survive, the colony is able to rebuild itself quickly. 03:00:09.899 --> 03:00:17.460 That is why SCP-906 is currently held in secure storage in a 3x3m, fully airtight, acid-resistant 03:00:17.460 --> 03:00:17.760 box. 03:00:17.760 --> 03:00:20.700 It is kept at a constant 5 degrees celsius. 03:00:20.700 --> 03:00:25.800 At this cool temperature, SCP-906 operates at a much-reduced capacity. 03:00:26.460 --> 03:00:30.480 Consuming less food, reproducing at a reduced rate, and moving slowly. 03:00:30.479 --> 03:00:35.219 Should that temperature ever increase, all SCP personnel are to evacuate immediately 03:00:35.220 --> 03:00:40.020 and ready themselves to terminate any worms they see with flamethrowers and liquid nitrogen. 03:00:40.020 --> 03:00:45.420 While this supercolony is currently contained, it is unknown whether more instances of these 03:00:45.420 --> 03:00:47.760 worms exist outside of the Foundation walls. 03:00:47.760 --> 03:00:51.900 Slowly burrowing their way through the dirt towards one another, until they have enough 03:00:51.899 --> 03:00:53.219 to start to feed. 03:00:53.220 --> 03:00:57.840 It is November of 1966, in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. 03:00:57.840 --> 03:01:03.420 It's a crisp, clear night, the kind of natural beauty only Autumn in Appalachia can bring. 03:01:03.420 --> 03:01:08.940 The lush green mountain sides have gone fiery as the season changed from Summer to Fall, 03:01:08.939 --> 03:01:14.759 vivid oranges, reds, and yellows flooding the landscape and turning the hills into a 03:01:14.760 --> 03:01:15.180 sunset. 03:01:15.180 --> 03:01:21.241 Now, in the dim light of the moon, the colors are muted but still glorious, dancing in a 03:01:21.240 --> 03:01:22.380 silvery blue glow. 03:01:22.380 --> 03:01:27.779 The spooky fun of Halloween has come and gone, leaving the warm, cozy feelings of the harvest. 03:01:27.779 --> 03:01:32.939 Of fresh-pressed apple cider, corn mazes filled with happy families, cuddling up around a 03:01:32.939 --> 03:01:35.939 fire with a flannel blanket and a mug of something hot and sweet. 03:01:36.479 --> 03:01:41.399 Some people think Christmas is the most romantic time of the year, or Valentine's Day, or Spring, 03:01:41.399 --> 03:01:45.059 when the wildflowers bloom and the breeze carries their perfume through the town. 03:01:45.060 --> 03:01:49.860 But to at least one happy couple, this is the most romantic thing they could possibly 03:01:49.859 --> 03:01:50.040 imagine. 03:01:50.040 --> 03:01:55.260 They're a young man and a young woman, driving down the winding country road, they're so 03:01:55.260 --> 03:01:58.980 in love, and they feel like the only two people in the entire world. 03:01:58.979 --> 03:02:02.339 At this moment, life is good. 03:02:02.880 --> 03:02:07.859 They're driving just to drive, to crank up the radio and enjoy being alone together, 03:02:07.859 --> 03:02:12.479 but after a long stretch of road with nothing much in sight, they decide to drive a little 03:02:12.479 --> 03:02:17.939 bit further away from town, over toward an area nicknamed "The TNT Area" for its former 03:02:17.939 --> 03:02:20.219 life as a World War II munitions plant site. 03:02:20.220 --> 03:02:25.320 Now, of course, it's just mostly wildlife out there, but it'll look beautiful at night, 03:02:25.319 --> 03:02:27.179 and it should be completely private. 03:02:27.840 --> 03:02:31.860 As the car winds around a curve in the road, the woman thinks she sees something out of 03:02:31.859 --> 03:02:35.639 the corner of her eye, and her heart skips a beat, taking her back to long-forgotten 03:02:35.640 --> 03:02:36.480 childhood fears. 03:02:36.479 --> 03:02:41.339 As a little kid, she always used to get nervous driving at night, imagining a monster running 03:02:41.340 --> 03:02:43.680 alongside the car as it went, trying to catch her. 03:02:43.680 --> 03:02:49.020 She used to picture long pale limbs and big eyes, something loping along on all fours, 03:02:49.020 --> 03:02:51.720 dipping in and out of sight between the moonlight and the shadows. 03:02:52.439 --> 03:02:55.919 She would have nightmares about what the creature might do if it ever caught up to the car, 03:02:55.920 --> 03:02:59.040 if it ever reached through the window and pulled her out into the darkness. 03:02:59.640 --> 03:03:04.201 But of course, that was just a flight of fancy, the sort of thing a bored child's mind cooks 03:03:04.200 --> 03:03:09.479 up on a long drive, imagining monsters where there are just dead tree branches or nocturnal 03:03:09.479 --> 03:03:09.899 animals. 03:03:10.560 --> 03:03:15.661 But now, seeing motion in the forest out the window, she feels that same breathless terror 03:03:15.660 --> 03:03:16.680 she felt as a little girl. 03:03:16.680 --> 03:03:20.760 She doesn't even realize she's squeezing her boyfriend's hand too tight until he pulls 03:03:20.760 --> 03:03:21.660 it away with a wince. 03:03:21.660 --> 03:03:23.460 "Easy, before you crush me." 03:03:23.460 --> 03:03:25.740 He laughs, but there's worry in his eyes. 03:03:25.740 --> 03:03:26.819 "You okay?" 03:03:26.819 --> 03:03:28.979 She nods, shaking off the feeling. 03:03:28.979 --> 03:03:30.359 "Sure, I'm fine." 03:03:30.359 --> 03:03:34.679 She privately chides herself for being so silly, for letting her own imagination get 03:03:34.680 --> 03:03:35.340 the better of her. 03:03:35.939 --> 03:03:39.419 She's lived in Point Pleasant all her life, she's no stranger to wildlife. 03:03:39.420 --> 03:03:43.440 Animals come out at night sometimes, it's just as much their world to live in as it 03:03:43.439 --> 03:03:44.879 is hers, she reminds herself. 03:03:44.880 --> 03:03:49.200 She's just starting to settle in, to let herself relax, when she sees it again. 03:03:49.200 --> 03:03:54.420 A fluttering motion, like great big dark wings, flapping at the edge of the area illuminated 03:03:54.420 --> 03:03:55.260 by the headlights. 03:03:55.260 --> 03:04:00.180 Something about it, the way it moves, the way it shimmers in the light that seems to 03:04:00.180 --> 03:04:03.600 shine right through it like black mist, it feels deeply wrong. 03:04:03.600 --> 03:04:07.860 Like the old stories her grandfather used to tell her about the things you see in the 03:04:07.859 --> 03:04:10.620 mountains late at night, things you never want to come close to. 03:04:11.399 --> 03:04:15.420 He'd once told her about a mountain lion with the face of a woman, or a deer he watched 03:04:15.420 --> 03:04:16.859 stand up on its hind legs. 03:04:16.859 --> 03:04:21.179 She'd never seen anything quite like that, but the feeling he described, the deep sense 03:04:21.180 --> 03:04:26.340 of the unnatural, the way her mind and body recoil instinctively from this sight, feels 03:04:26.340 --> 03:04:26.640 the same. 03:04:26.640 --> 03:04:28.201 "Did you see that?" 03:04:28.200 --> 03:04:31.439 She asks, her throat so tight that her voice comes out in a whisper. 03:04:31.439 --> 03:04:33.120 Her boyfriend shakes his head. 03:04:33.120 --> 03:04:34.140 "See what? 03:04:34.140 --> 03:04:35.280 Are there deer out here? 03:04:35.279 --> 03:04:38.519 You know a deer completely wrecked my last car, ran right into me. 03:04:38.520 --> 03:04:40.920 He was fine, got up and walked off like nothing happened! 03:04:40.920 --> 03:04:42.000 Me, on the other hand..." 03:04:42.000 --> 03:04:43.560 "No, it wasn't a deer." 03:04:43.560 --> 03:04:44.640 She shakes her head. 03:04:44.640 --> 03:04:46.800 "Never mind, it's silly." 03:04:46.800 --> 03:04:49.080 But the little break in her voice makes him pause. 03:04:49.080 --> 03:04:52.920 He turns the wheel, pulling the car over by the side of the road, and parks there. 03:04:52.920 --> 03:04:54.120 "Hey, look at me. 03:04:54.120 --> 03:04:55.620 What's got you so shaken up?" 03:04:55.620 --> 03:04:58.620 He puts a hand on her shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. 03:04:59.279 --> 03:05:00.960 "I just...I thought I saw something." 03:05:00.960 --> 03:05:03.779 She sighs, feeling absurd as she says it out loud. 03:05:04.740 --> 03:05:07.139 "You probably did, all kinds of animals out here. 03:05:07.740 --> 03:05:11.219 But it's fine, they're more scared of us than we are of them," he reassures her. 03:05:11.220 --> 03:05:13.080 She shakes her head, frowning. 03:05:13.080 --> 03:05:14.399 "No, I know that. 03:05:14.399 --> 03:05:15.839 It wasn't an animal. 03:05:15.840 --> 03:05:16.380 I think. 03:05:16.380 --> 03:05:19.800 I couldn't quite see it, but I got this awful feeling. 03:05:20.340 --> 03:05:22.260 All the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. 03:05:22.979 --> 03:05:27.899 Whatever I got a glimpse of...I can't explain it, I just feel like there was something wrong. 03:05:27.899 --> 03:05:29.519 Like it wasn't supposed to be here." 03:05:29.520 --> 03:05:32.760 She rests her face in her hands, struggling to find the words. 03:05:32.760 --> 03:05:36.540 He rubs her back, unsure what else to do, what else to say. 03:05:36.540 --> 03:05:40.740 They sit like that for a long while, before she finally sits back up. 03:05:41.340 --> 03:05:42.060 "Wanna go home?" 03:05:42.060 --> 03:05:42.780 He asks. 03:05:42.779 --> 03:05:44.219 She nods, weakly. 03:05:44.880 --> 03:05:45.420 "I'm sorry. 03:05:45.420 --> 03:05:47.580 I know you wanted to go driving more, it's a new car..." 03:05:47.580 --> 03:05:48.779 He cuts her off. 03:05:48.779 --> 03:05:50.580 "I want to do what you want to do. 03:05:51.120 --> 03:05:54.779 Come on, let's go by the diner and get a couple burgers, see if they've got any cherry pie 03:05:54.779 --> 03:05:55.080 left. 03:05:55.080 --> 03:05:56.519 Sound good?" 03:05:56.520 --> 03:05:57.720 She nods. 03:05:57.720 --> 03:05:58.320 "Sounds great." 03:05:58.319 --> 03:06:02.939 The young man is just about to put the car back in "drive," when there is a sudden fluttering 03:06:02.939 --> 03:06:04.979 motion, something moving through the headlight's beam. 03:06:04.979 --> 03:06:09.779 This time, they both see it, and they can only watch, wide-eyed, as it settles to a 03:06:09.779 --> 03:06:11.519 stop, directly in front of their car. 03:06:11.520 --> 03:06:17.280 There, the size of a grown man with a ten-foot wingspan, is something unlike anything they 03:06:17.279 --> 03:06:18.059 have ever seen before. 03:06:18.060 --> 03:06:23.940 It's massive, dark gray, its face shielded from view by the limited light, with one notable 03:06:23.939 --> 03:06:24.479 exception. 03:06:24.479 --> 03:06:30.419 Boring into them are a pair of glowing red eyes, wide and piercing. 03:06:31.080 --> 03:06:35.819 Then, with a flap of its wings, as quickly as it appeared- the strange thing is gone 03:06:35.819 --> 03:06:36.059 again. 03:06:36.660 --> 03:06:40.800 The couple sit in complete silence for a long time, before they turn to look at each other. 03:06:40.800 --> 03:06:46.200 They don't speak, but their expressions both say the same thing: you saw that too, right? 03:06:46.979 --> 03:06:50.939 Still too shocked to speak, the young man cranks the engine with trembling hands and 03:06:50.939 --> 03:06:53.519 the two speed off back down the deserted road toward town. 03:06:53.520 --> 03:06:57.420 They have to get back, they have to call the police, and tell them...what? 03:06:57.960 --> 03:07:00.779 That they saw a monster, a flying man with glowing eyes? 03:07:00.779 --> 03:07:02.340 Will anyone even believe them? 03:07:02.340 --> 03:07:05.760 Suddenly, the young woman's voice breaks through the tense quiet in the car. 03:07:05.760 --> 03:07:06.600 "Behind us!" 03:07:06.600 --> 03:07:07.560 She cries out. 03:07:07.560 --> 03:07:12.300 The man glances in the rearview mirror, and sees what he would assume were red headlights 03:07:12.300 --> 03:07:14.100 if he didn't already recognize them. 03:07:14.100 --> 03:07:18.720 Sure enough, the massive thing is flying behind their car, following them along the road. 03:07:18.720 --> 03:07:21.780 The car takes a turn, and so does the creature. 03:07:21.779 --> 03:07:24.960 The car speeds up, and it flaps its wings to catch up to them. 03:07:24.960 --> 03:07:29.399 It doesn't do anything else, doesn't try to grab them or break the back windshield, it 03:07:29.399 --> 03:07:33.719 just follows them, watching with an expression that he could almost call curiosity. 03:07:33.720 --> 03:07:39.780 Then, after five tense miles, it just disappears again, and they're alone. 03:07:39.779 --> 03:07:41.219 Truly alone. 03:07:41.220 --> 03:07:45.660 That chill on the back of their necks is gone, and they know that wherever that creature 03:07:45.660 --> 03:07:47.399 came from, it's gone back there. 03:07:47.399 --> 03:07:49.139 At least for now. 03:07:49.680 --> 03:07:53.160 When they make it back to town, they pull into the police station and rush inside. 03:07:53.160 --> 03:07:57.120 They can hardly get their words out as they try to tell the officer on duty what exactly 03:07:57.120 --> 03:07:57.540 they saw. 03:07:57.540 --> 03:07:59.399 He's skeptical, of course. 03:07:59.399 --> 03:08:02.339 Two scared kids seeing things that aren't there, he assumes. 03:08:02.340 --> 03:08:05.940 But they insist, again and again, that they know what they saw. 03:08:05.939 --> 03:08:10.859 He humors them, listens to their story, and suggests that it was some sort of large wild 03:08:10.859 --> 03:08:11.219 bird. 03:08:11.220 --> 03:08:13.560 Animals' eyes reflect light, he reminds them. 03:08:13.560 --> 03:08:17.701 And everything looks worse at night, especially when someone is already all worked up. 03:08:18.240 --> 03:08:22.380 Realizing they won't be believed, the couple head home and get ready for bed. 03:08:22.380 --> 03:08:23.819 But they don't sleep. 03:08:24.420 --> 03:08:25.200 They can't. 03:08:25.200 --> 03:08:31.620 All they can think about is that massive figure, landing right in front of their car and staring 03:08:31.620 --> 03:08:32.580 directly at them. 03:08:32.580 --> 03:08:37.680 Its unbelievable wingspan, its speed, the strange interest it had shown in following 03:08:37.680 --> 03:08:40.140 them home until it disappeared without a trace. 03:08:40.140 --> 03:08:41.701 What did it want? 03:08:41.700 --> 03:08:43.139 Will it ever come back? 03:08:43.140 --> 03:08:47.820 As they lie in bed, staring up at the ceiling and replaying the events of the night again 03:08:47.819 --> 03:08:52.019 and again in their minds, they wonder if they'll ever get the answers to those questions. 03:08:52.020 --> 03:08:58.680 One thing is for certain, though: they'll never forget those eyes as long as they live. 03:08:59.460 --> 03:09:03.540 Contrary to what the police officer thought about their story, this pair of young lovers 03:09:03.540 --> 03:09:07.200 were not the only ones to see the strange winged figure around Point Pleasant. 03:09:07.200 --> 03:09:12.420 Over the next month, others reported seeing similar things, and soon, eyewitness accounts 03:09:12.420 --> 03:09:13.980 were pouring in on a regular basis. 03:09:13.979 --> 03:09:18.719 A pair of volunteer firemen saw it while on duty, describing a massive bird with bright 03:09:18.720 --> 03:09:19.200 red eyes. 03:09:19.200 --> 03:09:24.359 A police officer reported seeing an unusually large bird-like animal with eyes that reflected 03:09:24.359 --> 03:09:25.200 the glow from his flashlight. 03:09:25.200 --> 03:09:30.300 A group of gravediggers doing their work looked up from their shovels to see something large, 03:09:30.300 --> 03:09:34.620 dark, and winged fly through the sky overhead, temporarily blotting out the moon. 03:09:34.620 --> 03:09:37.800 It soared overhead, then landed in a far-off tree. 03:09:37.800 --> 03:09:42.720 All over town, people reported sightings of the creature, and the story grew and grew. 03:09:42.720 --> 03:09:46.800 The Sheriff tried to calm the townspeople down, positing that it was just a sandhill 03:09:46.800 --> 03:09:50.760 crane, a large bird with a seven-foot wingspan and reddish coloring around its eyes. 03:09:50.760 --> 03:09:55.020 But the reports kept coming in, and they only got more bizarre. 03:09:55.740 --> 03:10:00.120 Some said it could fly over one hundred miles per hour, others said it could appear and 03:10:00.120 --> 03:10:00.960 disappear at will. 03:10:00.960 --> 03:10:05.279 A man in Salem, West Virginia blamed the creature for strange patterns appearing on the screen 03:10:05.279 --> 03:10:09.479 of his television set, and for strange noises he heard outside of his home at night. 03:10:09.479 --> 03:10:12.719 Then came the strange being's most infamous appearance. 03:10:12.720 --> 03:10:18.900 Eyewitnesses saw it, a massive, shadowy winged figure, on the night of December 15, flying 03:10:18.899 --> 03:10:22.139 over the Silver Bridge, a suspension bridge over the Ohio River. 03:10:22.859 --> 03:10:28.500 Soon after this sighting, the bridge collapsed, and 46 people lost their lives. 03:10:28.500 --> 03:10:32.399 Though a fracture in the suspension chain was the culprit, people whispered around town 03:10:32.399 --> 03:10:34.799 that this mysterious creature was somehow responsible. 03:10:34.800 --> 03:10:38.400 If not responsible, then the monster was at least connected. 03:10:38.399 --> 03:10:41.219 It had to be, how could it be a coincidence? 03:10:41.220 --> 03:10:47.880 This mysterious apparition grew to be known as The Mothman, or simply, Mothman, but to 03:10:47.880 --> 03:10:52.080 the SCP Foundation, it had a different name: SCP-2901. 03:10:52.080 --> 03:10:57.120 And according to their findings, there wasn't just one Mothman, but an entire species. 03:10:57.120 --> 03:11:01.080 SCP-2901 refers to a species of carnivorous  03:11:01.080 --> 03:11:03.779 scavenger creatures that,  thus far, have demonstrated 03:11:03.779 --> 03:11:04.800 limited intelligence. 03:11:04.800 --> 03:11:09.960 They stand at an average height of 1.7 meters, and generally appear to have an ellipsoidal 03:11:09.960 --> 03:11:13.319 shape, with two large red eyes covered in photophoric tissue. 03:11:13.319 --> 03:11:15.840 Their bodies are covered in tiny iridescent  03:11:15.840 --> 03:11:18.600 scales, similar to those  found in moths, butterflies, 03:11:18.600 --> 03:11:21.840 and other insects belonging to the Lepidoptera order. 03:11:21.840 --> 03:11:26.940 They are not bound by standard rules of space or time, and are able to move through both 03:11:26.939 --> 03:11:27.479 at will. 03:11:27.479 --> 03:11:33.059 This gives them seemingly impossible abilities such as levitation, flight, teleportation, 03:11:33.060 --> 03:11:37.201 and the emission of an acoustic cancellation effect thought to help them avoid detection. 03:11:37.200 --> 03:11:42.120 In spite of these talents, they are still impervious to some ordinary forces, such as 03:11:42.120 --> 03:11:43.260 standard firearms. 03:11:43.260 --> 03:11:48.120 Due to their unique abilities making them especially elusive, these creatures have proven 03:11:48.120 --> 03:11:50.340 difficult to contain using conventional methods. 03:11:50.340 --> 03:11:54.900 Not only that, but it has become increasingly difficult over time to keep the general public 03:11:54.899 --> 03:11:57.179 from discussing the  possibility of their existence. 03:11:57.180 --> 03:12:03.780 The first appearance of SCP-2901 on record occured in West Virginia in 1967, shortly 03:12:03.779 --> 03:12:06.179 before the catastrophic collapse of the Silver Bridge. 03:12:06.899 --> 03:12:10.439 Since then, SCP-2901 instances have gone out  03:12:10.439 --> 03:12:12.719 of their way to avoid  humans, keeping to themselves 03:12:12.720 --> 03:12:15.660 as much as possible and vanishing from sight when approached. 03:12:15.660 --> 03:12:20.639 However, they have continued to manifest near the sites of various disasters, appearing 03:12:20.640 --> 03:12:25.201 to a handful of eyewitnesses in the location approximately a week to a month before something 03:12:25.200 --> 03:12:26.279 terrible occurs there. 03:12:26.819 --> 03:12:31.920 Somehow, through a predictive ability compared by some researchers to a sense of smell, they 03:12:31.920 --> 03:12:35.340 are able to detect when an event resulting in multiple fatalities will occur. 03:12:35.340 --> 03:12:39.480 Once they have first appeared in an area, the creatures will remain there and guard 03:12:39.479 --> 03:12:41.219 it until the disaster comes to pass. 03:12:41.220 --> 03:12:46.320 They are extremely territorial, fighting with each other for dominance over the area, and 03:12:46.319 --> 03:12:49.559 even changing their shapes to frighten humans that wander into their territory. 03:12:49.560 --> 03:12:55.380 Once the disaster has occurred, the instances of SCP-2901 in the area will scavenge the 03:12:55.380 --> 03:12:57.600 dead until there is no more food left for them. 03:12:57.600 --> 03:13:02.040 Then, they will disappear once and for all, leaving no trace behind. 03:13:02.939 --> 03:13:08.759 Because SCP-2901 cannot be physically contained, the SCP Foundation has instead put guidelines 03:13:08.760 --> 03:13:13.140 in place for managing the creatures' appearances, as well as what to do if an agent encounters 03:13:13.140 --> 03:13:15.000 one of these ethereal beings in the field. 03:13:15.000 --> 03:13:21.960 Cases involved SCP-2901 are assigned to Mobile Task Force Phi-5, also known as the "Twilighters" 03:13:21.960 --> 03:13:26.580 - not to be confused with fans of a certain young adult vampire romance series. 03:13:27.420 --> 03:13:32.700 Any civilian encounters with SCP-2901 should be addressed with standard amnestic procedures, 03:13:32.700 --> 03:13:37.019 and any media leaks regarding the creatures such as social media posts, YouTube videos, 03:13:37.020 --> 03:13:41.820 or local news reports, will be deleted or otherwise countered by the Information Detraction, 03:13:41.819 --> 03:13:43.740 Censorship, and Rescission Division. 03:13:44.279 --> 03:13:49.620 Field agents have been instructed to avoid SCP-2901 if possible, and carry mobile devices 03:13:49.620 --> 03:13:54.059 capable of SMS messaging in the event of one of the creatures using acoustic cancellation. 03:13:55.020 --> 03:13:59.701 If an operative comes face to face with an instance of SCP-2901, and there is no way 03:13:59.700 --> 03:14:04.319 to avoid a direct confrontation, there are specific steps that they must follow in order 03:14:04.319 --> 03:14:05.460 to minimize casualties. 03:14:05.460 --> 03:14:09.899 First, do not attempt to run away from the creature, lest it be provoked to chase after 03:14:09.899 --> 03:14:10.139 you. 03:14:10.800 --> 03:14:15.120 Second, hold your ground and maintain eye contact, do not show weakness. 03:14:15.120 --> 03:14:20.279 Third, make a threat display, similar to the display the creatures use to frighten civilians 03:14:20.279 --> 03:14:20.399 away. 03:14:20.399 --> 03:14:24.779 Use your clothing to make yourself look bigger, stand on your tiptoes, and spread your arms 03:14:24.779 --> 03:14:25.139 wide. 03:14:25.140 --> 03:14:31.860 Continue this step until SCP-2901 either loses interest or is intimidated into standing down. 03:14:32.580 --> 03:14:35.939 If the creature approaches, do whatever you can to keep from touching it. 03:14:35.939 --> 03:14:38.879 Throw objects or brandish a makeshift weapon if you must. 03:14:39.660 --> 03:14:43.979 Though they do not tend to deliberately harm living humans, the fluctuating nature of the 03:14:43.979 --> 03:14:48.059 creatures' position in space and time causes direct physical contact between them and a 03:14:48.060 --> 03:14:49.680 human to result in a dermal fusion. 03:14:49.680 --> 03:14:54.780 Essentially, they become stuck together, but the creature does not realize this. 03:14:54.779 --> 03:15:00.300 When they then attempt to flee and leave the human behind, the results are...painful, to 03:15:00.300 --> 03:15:00.840 say the least. 03:15:00.840 --> 03:15:03.840 Imagine the feeling of ripping off a large bandaid. 03:15:03.840 --> 03:15:05.819 Now multiply that by a thousand. 03:15:05.819 --> 03:15:07.080 And multiply again. 03:15:07.080 --> 03:15:08.399 One more time? 03:15:09.000 --> 03:15:10.319 That's what it feels like. 03:15:10.979 --> 03:15:14.519 Though these guidelines were put together with Foundation field operatives in mind, 03:15:14.520 --> 03:15:19.680 they may come in handy for any civilian who accidentally crosses paths with SCP-2901. 03:15:19.680 --> 03:15:24.060 Should you find yourself in that unfortunate position, I hope that this information will 03:15:24.060 --> 03:15:26.460 help you avoid unnecessary trauma and pain. 03:15:27.240 --> 03:15:31.139 One more thing...I initially believed the preceding information to be all the available 03:15:31.140 --> 03:15:33.720 research into the nature of SCP-2901. 03:15:33.720 --> 03:15:38.580 However, after obtaining some additional security clearance through methods I won't detail here 03:15:38.580 --> 03:15:42.899 out of concern for the safety of all involved, I was able to locate this classified entry 03:15:42.899 --> 03:15:43.920 into its official file. 03:15:43.920 --> 03:15:48.779 It is a missive from the Information Detraction, Censorship, and Rescission Division., and 03:15:48.779 --> 03:15:53.700 details a practice of containment known as "Operation: Surgeon's Photograph," intended 03:15:53.700 --> 03:15:58.019 to act as a public disinformation campaign regarding the nature of SCP-2901. 03:15:58.020 --> 03:16:03.300 The purpose of this operation is not to conceal information about SCP-2901 from the public, 03:16:03.300 --> 03:16:06.480 but rather to control the information they have access to. 03:16:06.479 --> 03:16:12.120 A summary of the operation's methodology and ongoing success was included, and reads as 03:16:12.120 --> 03:16:12.479 follows: 03:16:13.140 --> 03:16:18.900 "SCP-2901's current evolution is the sum of Foundation efforts in manipulating its existence 03:16:18.899 --> 03:16:20.040 through public perception. 03:16:20.040 --> 03:16:26.399 SCP-2901 are a group of extradimensional entities that lack a stable cohesive form and purpose 03:16:26.399 --> 03:16:28.859 that only coalesces through  continued observational  03:16:28.859 --> 03:16:29.759 reconciliation. 03:16:29.760 --> 03:16:36.120 For SCP-2901 to maintain a stable physical mass, approximately 75% of the nearby human 03:16:36.120 --> 03:16:42.599 populace within 500km need to be congruent on a singular concept of what SCP-2901 is 03:16:42.600 --> 03:16:43.621 and what it does. 03:16:43.620 --> 03:16:50.040 SCP-2901 were first discovered and categorized as highly unstable Keter-class entities capable 03:16:50.040 --> 03:16:53.340 of producing localized CK-class scenarios at random. 03:16:53.340 --> 03:16:59.880 Further research into SCP-2901's unstable manifestations proved to be futile as, unbeknownst 03:16:59.880 --> 03:17:06.120 to Foundation scientists at the time, SCP-2901 would involuntarily change during each subsequent 03:17:06.120 --> 03:17:06.660 observation. 03:17:06.660 --> 03:17:11.279 During a containment breach into the civilian populated areas within the Appalachian region 03:17:11.279 --> 03:17:16.979 of the Southern United States, SCP-2901 began gradually condensing into a singular manifestation 03:17:16.979 --> 03:17:18.779 the more it was exposed to humans. 03:17:18.779 --> 03:17:25.679 Civilians began conceding to the idea that SCP-2901 was a dark winged-like humanoid with 03:17:25.680 --> 03:17:29.160 large red eyes, which corresponded to pre-existing local folklore. 03:17:29.760 --> 03:17:35.820 SCP-2901 also began to evolve predatory-like behaviors and anomalous acoustic effects that 03:17:35.819 --> 03:17:39.299 conceptualized due to the mass fear generated within the surrounding communities. 03:17:40.080 --> 03:17:45.779 Foundation researchers recognized the effects and began isolating SCP-2901 as much as possible. 03:17:45.779 --> 03:17:51.960 However, deprived of regular perceptual input, SCP-2901 began to devolve into its initial 03:17:51.960 --> 03:17:54.000 highly unstable manifestations once again. 03:17:54.000 --> 03:17:59.760 The decision was made to maintain SCP-2901 in a functioning manageable state through 03:17:59.760 --> 03:18:05.280 continued exposure to human perceptual belief that SCP-2901 is a tangible creature of local 03:18:05.279 --> 03:18:08.279 folklore: another Bigfoot or Loch Ness Monster. 03:18:09.180 --> 03:18:15.241 The nearby Silver Bridge collapse of 1967 and the SCP-2901 Appalachian Incursion in 03:18:15.240 --> 03:18:20.160 reality have no connection with one another; however, public opinion strongly disagreed, 03:18:20.160 --> 03:18:25.260 and henceforth SCP-2901 began to appear at other future disaster events. 03:18:25.859 --> 03:18:30.420 This was the precursor of the precognitive scavenging animal-like behavior that is observed 03:18:30.420 --> 03:18:30.600 today. 03:18:31.260 --> 03:18:35.760 Efforts are to continue gradually introducing notions developed by the Foundation as to 03:18:35.760 --> 03:18:40.380 further SCP-2901's evolution into a more docile and manageable concept." 03:18:41.040 --> 03:18:45.899 I'm not sure I appreciate the implication that Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster don't 03:18:45.899 --> 03:18:46.200 exist. 03:18:46.200 --> 03:18:48.540 I, for one, am still holding out hope. 03:18:48.540 --> 03:18:50.939 But this finding still does compel me. 03:18:50.939 --> 03:18:56.160 Belief is a powerful thing, it can shape the world around us in unexpected ways, and apparently 03:18:56.160 --> 03:19:00.240 can even shift the nature of an entire race of creatures that otherwise refuse to abide 03:19:00.240 --> 03:19:02.519 by our rules, and our understanding. 03:19:02.520 --> 03:19:06.780 Who knows what these beings will look like, how they will behave, a few years down the 03:19:06.779 --> 03:19:06.960 line? 03:19:06.960 --> 03:19:12.420 For now, they are shadowy precognitive scavengers, waiting in the wings for humanity to encounter 03:19:12.420 --> 03:19:15.060 disaster, then picking up the leftovers for themselves. 03:19:15.779 --> 03:19:20.819 They may not mean us any harm, but the sight of them can, and should, still strike terror 03:19:20.819 --> 03:19:21.420 into the heart. 03:19:22.020 --> 03:19:26.100 If you're ever out on your own and you spot a wide pair of glowing red eyes in the darkness, 03:19:26.100 --> 03:19:30.300 hear the rustle of leaves, of something floating through the trees like a cloud of black mist, 03:19:30.300 --> 03:19:32.640 you should probably leave that place immediately. 03:19:32.640 --> 03:19:37.380 You won't want to be there for what's coming next, because whether it takes a day or a 03:19:37.380 --> 03:19:42.120 month, SCP-2901 only goes where it knows it will be fed.