WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:03.179 First of all, let’s get one thing straight. 00:00:03.179 --> 00:00:06.560 He had never wanted to be a police officer. 00:00:06.560 --> 00:00:11.290 All the way through school, while the other boys were playing ‘Guardi E Ladri’, or 00:00:11.290 --> 00:00:15.099 Cops and Robbers in English, he had been inside reading. 00:00:15.099 --> 00:00:19.460 Forget playing games about criminals and pretending you’re in a 50s movie, the man had always 00:00:19.460 --> 00:00:21.650 been obsessed with all things ancient. 00:00:21.650 --> 00:00:26.449 Artifacts and archeology, that was where his imagination lived. 00:00:26.449 --> 00:00:28.399 And yet now he is one of them. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:30.289 A police officer. 00:00:30.289 --> 00:00:34.370 Standing in a sweltering uniform under the baking Italian sun, staring at fishing boats 00:00:34.370 --> 00:00:36.030 through a pair of binoculars. 00:00:36.030 --> 00:00:40.060 ‘Just get a degree in Latin and move to Rome, you’ll be a historian in no time! 00:00:40.060 --> 00:00:41.320 What could be easier?’ 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:42.960 Yeah right. 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:45.960 After two years of job searching, he’d given up. 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:48.620 The police were hiring and said they liked the look of him. 00:00:48.620 --> 00:00:52.510 What they’d failed to explain was that he’d be trained in the Polizia Provinciale. 00:00:52.510 --> 00:00:54.280 His primary duties? 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:56.830 Enforcing regional fishing laws. 00:00:56.830 --> 00:00:59.650 The man sighs and lowers his binoculars. 00:00:59.650 --> 00:01:01.900 The job wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the uniform. 00:01:01.900 --> 00:01:06.950 Who was il genio who thought that a black uniform would be a good idea in this heat? 00:01:06.950 --> 00:01:09.280 The Police Officer’s walkie-talkie crackles. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:10.890 Someone’s requesting him specifically. 00:01:10.890 --> 00:01:13.009 He doesn’t recognize the voice. 00:01:13.009 --> 00:01:14.950 Must be a mistake, or another prank. 00:01:14.950 --> 00:01:18.149 He’s definitely running out of patience for those. 00:01:18.149 --> 00:01:20.060 It is his job though. 00:01:20.060 --> 00:01:21.960 He pushes the button down and responds. 00:01:21.960 --> 00:01:26.899 Reports of a dangerous individual wandering around in Central Rome, near the Colosseum, 00:01:26.899 --> 00:01:29.939 threatening members of the public and acting erratically. 00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:33.219 The Police Officer replies, checking they’ve got the right person. 00:01:33.219 --> 00:01:35.310 What’s this got to do with fishing law? 00:01:35.310 --> 00:01:39.030 He isn’t even in Rome right now, it’ll take him almost an hour to drive back to the 00:01:39.030 --> 00:01:40.030 city. 00:01:40.030 --> 00:01:43.409 There’s a pause from the other end, then the voice crackles back through. 00:01:43.409 --> 00:01:45.140 ‘You speak Latin, right?’ 00:01:45.140 --> 00:01:48.869 It was only a little thing but it annoys the Police Officer for the whole drive back to 00:01:48.869 --> 00:01:53.109 Rome, his beat-up hatchback winding its way through the traffic with the siren blaring. 00:01:53.109 --> 00:01:56.649 You don’t ‘speak’ Latin, no one speaks it. 00:01:56.649 --> 00:01:58.539 It is a dead language. 00:01:58.539 --> 00:02:02.979 You study it, you read it, you can write it, you can speak it if you want, but no one speaks 00:02:02.979 --> 00:02:04.999 Latin like they speak Italian. 00:02:04.999 --> 00:02:07.579 Nice to use the siren for once though. 00:02:07.579 --> 00:02:11.290 But sure enough as he pulls up the handbrake, parking down a crowded side street - thank 00:02:11.290 --> 00:02:16.270 God for Polizia parking privileges - the voice he can hear yelling from nearby does appear 00:02:16.270 --> 00:02:18.090 to be speaking in Latin. 00:02:18.090 --> 00:02:22.270 The man must be very agitated, the Officer can hear the shouts quite clearly even through 00:02:22.270 --> 00:02:23.300 his rolled up windows. 00:02:23.300 --> 00:02:26.410 It doesn’t take long at all to locate the disturbance. 00:02:26.410 --> 00:02:31.070 Polizia vehicles, much shinier and bigger than his own, block off the entrance to the 00:02:31.070 --> 00:02:32.320 square. 00:02:32.320 --> 00:02:36.110 Officers with colorful berets stand shoulder to shoulder, blocking off members of the public 00:02:36.110 --> 00:02:40.610 and tourists who all swarm close, trying to get an eye on the commotion. 00:02:40.610 --> 00:02:43.830 The Police Officer wearily pushes his way through the throng. 00:02:43.830 --> 00:02:47.650 The officers blocking the way smirk at his uniform and point at his car parked down the 00:02:47.650 --> 00:02:48.650 road. 00:02:48.650 --> 00:02:51.660 The longer he tries to persuade them to let him through, the more he feels like he’s 00:02:51.660 --> 00:02:56.980 being pranked, until suddenly a senior officer with an even more colorful beret appears behind 00:02:56.980 --> 00:02:59.790 them and barks for them to let him through. 00:02:59.790 --> 00:03:03.540 The Constable leads the Police Officer through the row of cars and into the square. 00:03:03.540 --> 00:03:05.180 It is mostly deserted. 00:03:05.180 --> 00:03:10.220 A few officers armed with tasers stand nervously in front of the various cafes and gelaterias. 00:03:10.220 --> 00:03:14.430 But everyone has eyes only for the man in the middle of the square. 00:03:14.430 --> 00:03:17.960 Brandishing a shovel, the man is yelling at the top of his voice. 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:22.440 He swings it wildly at any little movement and every few seconds looks down at his body 00:03:22.440 --> 00:03:24.660 in a state of total confusion. 00:03:24.660 --> 00:03:29.600 His face contorts constantly, fluctuating between savagery and utter fear. 00:03:29.600 --> 00:03:34.390 What is most strange about this man, however, is what is sitting on his head: an Ancient 00:03:34.390 --> 00:03:36.170 Roman Centurion’s helmet. 00:03:36.170 --> 00:03:38.890 The Police Officer recognizes the helmet almost straight away. 00:03:38.890 --> 00:03:41.760 He remembers it from one of his textbooks at university! 00:03:41.760 --> 00:03:45.330 It looks to be one from the Marian Reforms, roughly 100 years BCE. 00:03:45.330 --> 00:03:47.120 ‘Go on, talk to him!’ 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:49.160 the Constable hisses in the Police Officer’s ear. 00:03:49.160 --> 00:03:51.190 ‘He’s speaking Latin, isn’t he? 00:03:51.190 --> 00:03:52.480 Speak to him.’ 00:03:52.480 --> 00:03:55.010 Sure enough, the crazed man is speaking Latin. 00:03:55.010 --> 00:03:57.450 His accent is rough but totally natural. 00:03:57.450 --> 00:04:01.980 The words flow from his mouth as if he’s been speaking the language all his life. 00:04:01.980 --> 00:04:03.240 But that wouldn’t make sense. 00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:05.090 No one ‘speaks’ Latin. 00:04:05.090 --> 00:04:07.690 The Police Officer steps forward and clears his throat. 00:04:07.690 --> 00:04:10.180 A megaphone is shoved into his hand. 00:04:10.180 --> 00:04:13.210 He raises it to his mouth and speaks into it. 00:04:13.210 --> 00:04:17.310 Immediately the crazed man turns towards him and starts brandishing the shovel, wild panic 00:04:17.310 --> 00:04:19.260 distorting his face. 00:04:19.260 --> 00:04:21.680 The Officer instinctively lowers the megaphone. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:23.670 The man’s eyes follow the device. 00:04:23.670 --> 00:04:25.800 That was clearly a non-starter. 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:30.150 The Officer slowly lowers it to the floor and raises his hands, palms out to the man. 00:04:30.150 --> 00:04:31.880 He tries again. 00:04:31.880 --> 00:04:36.530 His Latin is rusty, very rusty, but he manages to introduce himself. 00:04:36.530 --> 00:04:38.410 The man’s eyes meet his. 00:04:38.410 --> 00:04:40.600 The shovel stops swinging for a moment. 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:43.900 When he speaks, his voice is a notch calmer. 00:04:43.900 --> 00:04:45.500 Only a notch. 00:04:45.500 --> 00:04:50.160 ‘Publius Carthephilus Aetius, Roman Centurion, hero of the Jugurthine War. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:53.690 I serve under the command of the Consul Gaius Marius.’ 00:04:53.690 --> 00:04:56.550 The Police Officer lets out a long breath. 00:04:56.550 --> 00:04:58.550 This is going to be an interesting day. 00:04:58.550 --> 00:05:02.630 He isn’t sure what kind of drugs this grad student has been taking but this level of 00:05:02.630 --> 00:05:07.570 delusion can’t have just come from one too many all-nighters in the university library. 00:05:07.570 --> 00:05:11.460 The Officer, hands still raised, holds eye contact with the man. 00:05:11.460 --> 00:05:16.120 He politely explains that Consul Gaius Marius is not here right now in what must be very 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:17.670 formal Latin. 00:05:17.670 --> 00:05:21.930 That only seems to distress the man, he swings the shovel wildly round again, pointing it 00:05:21.930 --> 00:05:24.930 at the ruins of the Colosseum standing proudly over him. 00:05:24.930 --> 00:05:27.400 ‘What has happened to my city? 00:05:27.400 --> 00:05:29.830 Which barbarous nation is responsible? 00:05:29.830 --> 00:05:34.730 I will slay every new born male and have the mothers stitch their scalps into a cloak. 00:05:34.730 --> 00:05:39.130 I shall wear it as I parade the streets of their capital!’ 00:05:39.130 --> 00:05:40.750 Maybe slight overkill. 00:05:40.750 --> 00:05:44.100 It was mostly just a few earthquakes that had toppled the Colosseum. 00:05:44.100 --> 00:05:46.790 Not entirely sure who he could take that up with. 00:05:46.790 --> 00:05:47.790 God maybe? 00:05:47.790 --> 00:05:51.340 But the Romans had already had a go at slaying his offspring. 00:05:51.340 --> 00:05:54.740 What is so confusing about this man finally registers with the Police Officer. 00:05:54.740 --> 00:05:57.070 Well, aside from the obvious. 00:05:57.070 --> 00:05:59.040 The man is dressed in modern clothes. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:03.470 He talks like an Ancient Roman, brandishes the shovel like a sword, is wearing a Centurion’s 00:06:03.470 --> 00:06:08.650 helmet, and yet from the neck down he’s dressed in khakis and a polo shirt. 00:06:08.650 --> 00:06:11.770 The Police Officer asks the man where he’s come from this morning. 00:06:11.770 --> 00:06:15.220 The man looks stumped by the question, the more he thinks about it, the more agitated 00:06:15.220 --> 00:06:16.630 he seems to become. 00:06:16.630 --> 00:06:20.240 The Officer is about to divert the man’s attention when he spies a pair of military 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:24.150 police personnel approaching the man from behind, tasers at the ready. 00:06:24.150 --> 00:06:26.590 The Officer cries out a warning but it’s too late. 00:06:26.590 --> 00:06:30.260 The barbs sink into the man’s flesh and the current flows through him. 00:06:30.260 --> 00:06:35.401 His muscles seize up, his body convulses and he collapses to the ground. 00:06:35.401 --> 00:06:38.720 A sea of dark uniforms descend on him, obscuring him from view. 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:42.490 All that can be heard are his screams. 00:06:42.490 --> 00:06:46.500 Several hours pass before the Police Officer gets a call back on his walkie-talkie. 00:06:46.500 --> 00:06:50.520 He spends the afternoon checking in with the station repeatedly about the strange man’s 00:06:50.520 --> 00:06:51.520 situation. 00:06:51.520 --> 00:06:54.370 Before long his requests are met with radio silence. 00:06:54.370 --> 00:06:58.910 But that evening, just as he is finishing up his shift, a call comes through. 00:06:58.910 --> 00:07:02.640 It is brief and tired sounding but it tells him what he needs to know. 00:07:02.640 --> 00:07:04.900 The man is being held in a station nearby. 00:07:04.900 --> 00:07:08.930 By the time the Police Officer sits down across from the Centurion again, it’s clear that 00:07:08.930 --> 00:07:10.280 the man is exhausted. 00:07:10.280 --> 00:07:14.530 Bruises cover his arms, his lip is busted, and he has a nasty swelling pushing against 00:07:14.530 --> 00:07:16.100 the inside of his helmet. 00:07:16.100 --> 00:07:19.380 Apparently the guards had tried to remove the helmet earlier but the man had grown so 00:07:19.380 --> 00:07:22.280 violent that they’d decided it wasn’t worth the effort. 00:07:22.280 --> 00:07:24.300 ‘Where did you get that helmet?’ 00:07:24.300 --> 00:07:26.150 the Officer asks, nodding to it. 00:07:26.150 --> 00:07:29.870 ‘Barracks Commander Quintus Sextus Caeso gave it to me.’ 00:07:29.870 --> 00:07:31.940 That wasn’t particularly helpful. 00:07:31.940 --> 00:07:35.490 The Officer wracks his brains, trying to think of how to get through to this man. 00:07:35.490 --> 00:07:39.340 He notices the soldier across from him keeps glancing up at the ceiling. 00:07:39.340 --> 00:07:42.790 He follows the man’s eyeline and realizes he must be looking at the fluorescent tube 00:07:42.790 --> 00:07:44.870 light flickering slightly above them. 00:07:44.870 --> 00:07:48.290 The soldier is muttering something under his breath about dark magic. 00:07:48.290 --> 00:07:51.780 The Police Officer tries to explain that the light is essentially just a different kind 00:07:51.780 --> 00:07:53.090 of oil lamp. 00:07:53.090 --> 00:07:54.950 The soldier snorts derisively. 00:07:54.950 --> 00:07:57.720 He knows a cursed object when he sees it. 00:07:57.720 --> 00:07:58.970 Cursed object? 00:07:58.970 --> 00:08:01.210 The Police Officer studies the helmet more closely. 00:08:01.210 --> 00:08:04.009 It can’t be a replica, there’s no way. 00:08:04.009 --> 00:08:08.530 The nicks on the sides, the rusting around the edges, the oxidation of the bronze elements. 00:08:08.530 --> 00:08:12.780 It looks utterly authentic to what a 100 BCE helmet should look like. 00:08:12.780 --> 00:08:15.259 ‘You have told me where you got your helmet. 00:08:15.259 --> 00:08:16.770 Where did you get your clothes?’ 00:08:16.770 --> 00:08:18.520 The soldier stops grumbling. 00:08:18.520 --> 00:08:19.730 His jaw clenches slightly. 00:08:19.730 --> 00:08:22.210 He does not answer for a long time. 00:08:22.210 --> 00:08:25.770 When he does, his voice has lost some of its bravado from before. 00:08:25.770 --> 00:08:28.090 ‘These garments are not my own. 00:08:28.090 --> 00:08:29.830 I awoke wearing them. 00:08:29.830 --> 00:08:31.230 This body…’ 00:08:31.230 --> 00:08:35.110 The Officer can piece together the rest of the sentence without the man saying it. 00:08:35.110 --> 00:08:39.120 This delusion must be running so deep that the man has completely disassociated from 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:40.300 his own body. 00:08:40.300 --> 00:08:43.760 Then, all of a sudden, the soldier starts talking. 00:08:43.760 --> 00:08:47.290 He talks for several minutes without stopping for breath or interjections. 00:08:47.290 --> 00:08:52.080 At times his voice swells with pride, at other times it cowers with fear, but he speaks with 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:55.350 a clarity and determination that goes beyond delusion. 00:08:55.350 --> 00:08:59.529 However impossible it may seem, the Police Officer has no choice but to believe that 00:08:59.529 --> 00:09:03.910 the man sitting across from him was in fact Publius Carthephilus Aetius. 00:09:03.910 --> 00:09:10.990 He’d fought in the Jugurthine War, a battle which the Romans had won, capturing King Jugurtha. 00:09:10.990 --> 00:09:15.640 Publius had been one of the Centurions tasked with escorting the captured king back to Rome 00:09:15.640 --> 00:09:16.880 in chains. 00:09:16.880 --> 00:09:20.920 The soldiers had all drawn lots to determine who’d be on guard duty on which night. 00:09:20.920 --> 00:09:25.650 Publius had drawn the shortest straw and ended up guarding the King on the last night, the 00:09:25.650 --> 00:09:27.290 night of the triumphus. 00:09:27.290 --> 00:09:31.100 The Police Officer took a second to remember what the triumphus was. 00:09:31.100 --> 00:09:35.290 After a battle, on the final night, the Romans would throw a huge party, celebrating their 00:09:35.290 --> 00:09:36.460 victory. 00:09:36.460 --> 00:09:40.620 While all of the other soldiers were out drinking and sleeping with the local women, Publius 00:09:40.620 --> 00:09:43.580 stayed up all night watching the King in silence. 00:09:43.580 --> 00:09:48.020 The King spent the night trying to bribe him, persuade him, flatter him, say anything to 00:09:48.020 --> 00:09:50.040 try and win his freedom. 00:09:50.040 --> 00:09:53.720 When nothing worked, the King grew frustrated, then angry. 00:09:53.720 --> 00:09:57.571 In a spitting rage he started to curse the Centurion. 00:09:57.571 --> 00:10:01.490 The soldier recounts the curse word for word to the Police Officer who sits in stunned 00:10:01.490 --> 00:10:02.490 silence. 00:10:02.490 --> 00:10:04.620 A chill comes over the room as he speaks. 00:10:04.620 --> 00:10:10.950 "Spirits of the underworld, I consecrate and hand over to you, if you have any power, Publius 00:10:10.950 --> 00:10:12.100 Carthephilus Aetius. 00:10:12.100 --> 00:10:16.920 Whatever he does, may it all turn to ash. 00:10:16.920 --> 00:10:23.020 Spirits of the netherworld, I consecrate to you his limbs, his head, his shadow, his brain, 00:10:23.020 --> 00:10:28.990 his mouth, his nose, his speech, his breath, his liver, his heart, his lungs, his intestines, 00:10:28.990 --> 00:10:35.910 his stomach, his arms, his hands, his knees, his calves, his heels, his toes. 00:10:35.910 --> 00:10:41.170 Spirits of the netherworld, if I see him wasting away, I swear that I will be delighted to 00:10:41.170 --> 00:10:45.360 offer a sacrifice to you, a king's sacrifice." 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:47.459 Publius punched the King square in the face. 00:10:47.459 --> 00:10:50.820 But a sense of unease came over him over the coming days. 00:10:50.820 --> 00:10:55.480 As the King was dragged through the streets of Rome, humiliated publicly and executed, 00:10:55.480 --> 00:10:57.670 he had remained utterly calm. 00:10:57.670 --> 00:11:00.680 Staring at Publius whenever he had the chance. 00:11:00.680 --> 00:11:04.480 Desperate to clear his mind, Publius went out drinking with his fellow soldiers. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:09.520 They had a raucous night, feasting, sleeping around, steadily losing consciousness, until 00:11:09.520 --> 00:11:11.780 Publius passed out in an alleyway. 00:11:11.780 --> 00:11:13.590 The centurion stops talking. 00:11:13.590 --> 00:11:16.910 His hands begin to shake and his face contorts again. 00:11:16.910 --> 00:11:20.480 The Police Officer waits patiently, but the man does not continue his story. 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:25.830 A single tear streams down the man’s cheek, followed by a second on the other side. 00:11:25.830 --> 00:11:29.339 Then suddenly both eyes are streaming and he is shaking uncontrollably. 00:11:29.339 --> 00:11:32.170 A guttural cry fills the room. 00:11:32.170 --> 00:11:35.220 The Police Officer reaches across the table to take the soldier’s hand. 00:11:35.220 --> 00:11:37.000 It’s the wrong move. 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:41.110 The soldier jerks back away from him, straining at the handcuffs holding him to the table. 00:11:41.110 --> 00:11:44.899 Panic fills his face again, the same panic that had torn at his face in the square earlier 00:11:44.899 --> 00:11:45.920 that day. 00:11:45.920 --> 00:11:48.670 He lunges for the Police Officer to attack him. 00:11:48.670 --> 00:11:53.149 At that moment, the door bursts open and a group of men charge in, restraining the soldier. 00:11:53.149 --> 00:11:56.050 They push the Police Officer back so hard he falls on the floor. 00:11:56.050 --> 00:12:00.390 The men aren’t dressed in Polizia uniforms at all, they’re wearing totally unremarkable 00:12:00.390 --> 00:12:02.110 black suits. 00:12:02.110 --> 00:12:05.529 One of them removes the helmet from the man’s head and shoves it into a containment box 00:12:05.529 --> 00:12:09.140 with the words ‘SCP Foundation’ printed on the side. 00:12:09.140 --> 00:12:12.709 The others restrain the man, but he’s suddenly stopped resisting. 00:12:12.709 --> 00:12:17.450 In a daze the man looks around the room, his face utterly bewildered but harmless. 00:12:17.450 --> 00:12:19.250 There’s no fight left in him. 00:12:19.250 --> 00:12:20.300 No soldier. 00:12:20.300 --> 00:12:23.080 The Police Officer clambers to his feet and approaches the man. 00:12:23.080 --> 00:12:26.930 ‘Publius, are you okay?’ the Police Officer says in Latin. 00:12:26.930 --> 00:12:28.380 The man stares blankly back at him. 00:12:28.380 --> 00:12:32.959 ‘Where the hell am I?’ he says in perfect Italian. 00:12:32.959 --> 00:12:39.080 That helmet, referred to herein as SCP-1510, now lives in a much more secure box in the 00:12:39.080 --> 00:12:41.490 Artifact Containment section of Site 19. 00:12:41.490 --> 00:12:45.890 In order to prevent the helmet from rusting or undergoing any significant wear, it is 00:12:45.890 --> 00:12:48.230 kept in a waterless environment. 00:12:48.230 --> 00:12:52.560 The layer of blue-green oxidized bronze is not to be removed as it acts as a protective 00:12:52.560 --> 00:12:55.300 layer for the unoxidized bronze underneath. 00:12:55.300 --> 00:12:58.959 As the Police Officer observed, the helmet bears no distinctive features at all that 00:12:58.959 --> 00:13:02.540 would distinguish it from any other artifact helmets from the same era. 00:13:02.540 --> 00:13:06.970 The notable exception of course being that the helmet is inhabited by the former Centurion 00:13:06.970 --> 00:13:13.680 Publius Carthephilus Aetius, also known as SCP-1510-1. 00:13:13.680 --> 00:13:17.180 When the helmet is placed on one’s head, the wearer’s consciousness and body will 00:13:17.180 --> 00:13:21.690 be ‘taken over’ by the soldier who gains total control over their motor functions, 00:13:21.690 --> 00:13:24.070 thoughts, feelings, everything. 00:13:24.070 --> 00:13:26.930 However, this effect is not universal. 00:13:26.930 --> 00:13:33.540 Only males can be affected by SCP-1510 and they have to be aged between 28 and 35. 00:13:33.540 --> 00:13:39.190 It is theorized that this is to approximate the age and gender of SCP-1510-1 when he was 00:13:39.190 --> 00:13:41.459 alive in Ancient Rome. 00:13:41.459 --> 00:13:45.560 Historical accounts seem to verify the account that this SCP gives of its life. 00:13:45.560 --> 00:13:51.060 While there are obviously few records remaining of 107 BCE, those that do exist align with 00:13:51.060 --> 00:13:55.310 his version of events and nothing it has reported during interview sessions have seemed historically 00:13:55.310 --> 00:13:57.230 inaccurate as of yet. 00:13:57.230 --> 00:14:00.580 Interview sessions are held using D-class personnel who don the helmet. 00:14:00.580 --> 00:14:03.931 While no noticeable long term effects have been observed from wearing the helmet, long 00:14:03.931 --> 00:14:06.950 term studies on the health consequences are ongoing. 00:14:06.950 --> 00:14:09.520 Initial interviews proved futile. 00:14:09.520 --> 00:14:14.180 SCP-1510-1 was immediately distressed to the point of aggression and violence for the first 00:14:14.180 --> 00:14:19.010 five sessions, attempting to attack the interviewers and fight its way out of the containment facility. 00:14:19.010 --> 00:14:26.070 However, upon the commencement of interview 7, SCP-1510-1 was noticeably calmer. 00:14:26.070 --> 00:14:30.670 After apologizing for its previous behavior, the SCP was willing and able to share its 00:14:30.670 --> 00:14:35.560 life story and how it found its way onto the head of a graverobber in modern day Italy. 00:14:35.560 --> 00:14:38.950 The first part of the story is the same as that told to our Police Officer earlier. 00:14:38.950 --> 00:14:45.050 The point where SCP-1510-1 grew upset and violent with the Police Officer roughly corresponds 00:14:45.050 --> 00:14:51.269 to the ending of interview log SCP-1510-1-6 where the SCP requested a break to gather 00:14:51.269 --> 00:14:52.420 its thoughts. 00:14:52.420 --> 00:14:57.180 The next day, during interview number 7, the SCP told the rest of its story. 00:14:57.180 --> 00:15:01.200 It awoke in the alleyway after an indeterminate amount of time, still inhabiting the body 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:03.529 of Publius Carthephilus Aetius. 00:15:03.529 --> 00:15:08.540 However, that body was now a corpse having died in the street from unknown causes; possibly 00:15:08.540 --> 00:15:12.470 alcohol poisoning, choking on vomit, or a head injury. 00:15:12.470 --> 00:15:18.350 In a state of distress, SCP-1510-1 was conscious as its body rotted away. 00:15:18.350 --> 00:15:22.600 Fully sentient and aware of everything that was happening as its body deteriorated before 00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:24.370 its failing eyes. 00:15:24.370 --> 00:15:28.829 The corpse was soon discovered by a pair of local beggars who, noticing it was still alive, 00:15:28.829 --> 00:15:29.870 summoned a haruspex. 00:15:29.870 --> 00:15:34.350 A haruspex was a person trained in the art of divination who would study the entrails 00:15:34.350 --> 00:15:37.149 of deceased animals to find meaning. 00:15:37.149 --> 00:15:41.850 Upon examining and cutting apart the corpse of Publius Carthephilus Aetius, the haruspex 00:15:41.850 --> 00:15:47.700 concluded that the body was marked by the Furies, and was a herald of tyranny reborn. 00:15:47.700 --> 00:15:51.980 The beggars quickly carried the body away and buried it outside of the city in an unused 00:15:51.980 --> 00:15:53.639 grave. 00:15:53.639 --> 00:15:59.450 SCP-1510-1 describes the experience that followed as a kind of ‘fading’. 00:15:59.450 --> 00:16:03.880 The helmet remained on the body but the body deteriorated over time, steadily sapping the 00:16:03.880 --> 00:16:06.270 SCP of any sensations or stimuli. 00:16:06.270 --> 00:16:11.560 It appears the helmet needs a host in order to see, hear, smell, taste, and otherwise 00:16:11.560 --> 00:16:14.440 react or interact with the world. 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:18.720 Removed from a host, it enters what is refers to as ‘darkness’, a time where it hovers 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:21.339 between consciousness and unconsciousness. 00:16:21.339 --> 00:16:26.500 Aware and thinking but simultaneously resting in a kind of void, unable to observe the world 00:16:26.500 --> 00:16:28.389 or interact with it. 00:16:28.389 --> 00:16:34.360 For over 2,000 years, SCP-1510 remained in this state until a sudden ‘awakening’. 00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:38.530 A grave robber in Italy, the man brandishing a shovel in khakis and polo who ended up sitting 00:16:38.530 --> 00:16:41.980 confused in the police station, was responsible. 00:16:41.980 --> 00:16:45.570 Local police interviews reveal that the man has a history of digging around Rome and across 00:16:45.570 --> 00:16:49.829 Italy, looking for ancient artifacts to sell off to the highest bidder. 00:16:49.829 --> 00:16:55.380 Upon discovering SCP-1510, this man had proudly put the helmet onto his head, not realizing 00:16:55.380 --> 00:16:58.160 the effect that it would have on him. 00:16:58.160 --> 00:17:04.130 Almost instantaneously, the man’s body was taken over by SCP-1510-1 who, after centuries 00:17:04.130 --> 00:17:09.490 of darkness, now suddenly found itself in the bustling heart of Italy’s biggest city. 00:17:09.490 --> 00:17:15.589 Electric lights, smartphones, cars, sirens, tourists, everywhere SCP-1510-1 looked it 00:17:15.589 --> 00:17:20.720 saw technology totally alien and otherworldly, overlaid and built into a city it had once 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:21.720 known. 00:17:21.720 --> 00:17:25.970 In a state of utter panic the SCP grabbed the nearest weapon it could find, the shovel 00:17:25.970 --> 00:17:29.490 used to excavate it, and started to attack those around it. 00:17:29.490 --> 00:17:31.750 Not exactly the best wake up call. 00:17:31.750 --> 00:17:36.400 Nowadays, however, SCP-1510-1 is highly cooperative. 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:40.030 Having had time to process the world that it has awoken into and the loss of the world 00:17:40.030 --> 00:17:44.710 it left behind, it holds onto a soldier-like sense of duty. 00:17:44.710 --> 00:17:50.669 SCP-1510-1 still worships the Ancient Roman gods and as such believes earnestly that Jupiter 00:17:50.669 --> 00:17:53.150 and Juno have a hand in keeping it ‘alive’. 00:17:53.150 --> 00:17:57.500 It has explained to interviewers on multiple occasions that there must be a purpose behind 00:17:57.500 --> 00:18:02.299 its continued existence and that it is keen to work with SCP personnel in any way it can 00:18:02.299 --> 00:18:04.429 so as to achieve that purpose. 00:18:04.429 --> 00:18:10.450 While still being held in Latin, conversations with SCP-1510-1 are positive and at times 00:18:10.450 --> 00:18:11.580 jovial. 00:18:11.580 --> 00:18:15.440 It has a keen memory of its life in Ancient Rome and can give very valuable insight into 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:17.490 events that occurred at the time. 00:18:17.490 --> 00:18:21.870 This gives the foundation vital intelligence in uncovering and tracing the origins of further 00:18:21.870 --> 00:18:26.220 SCPs that were theorized to have been present during the Jugurthine War in what is present-day 00:18:26.220 --> 00:18:27.220 Algeria. 00:18:27.220 --> 00:18:32.080 if you want to support this important mission, while also getting influence over the anomalies 00:18:32.080 --> 00:18:36.480 we cover and an exclusive look behind the scenes, check out the Dr. Bob patreon and 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:39.990 become a junior researcher today 00:18:39.990 --> 00:18:45.970 Now go and watch another entry from the files of Dr Bob, like SCP-2678 A City All of Blood 00:18:45.970 --> 00:18:48.299 for another haunting Italian anomaly. 00:18:48.299 --> 00:18:52.370 And make sure you subscribe and turn on notifications, so you don’t miss a single anomaly, as we 00:18:52.370 --> 00:18:56.210 delve further and further into the SCP Foundation’s classified archives.