by tawnyowljones and Kothardarastrix

Tazewell High School in 1976

Item #: SCP-6976

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-6976 is stored in a Safe-class containment locker at Site-23.

Description: SCP-6976 is a single human heart comprised of the wood of a red maple tree (Acer rubrum). It is the result of an anomalous phenomenon that affected SCP-6976-1 and -2 forty-five years after their original formation. On 14/02/2021, SCP-6976-1 and -2 were moved into the same containment locker to create storage space for an unrelated object. It was later discovered that the objects had fused together, creating the entity now designated SCP-6976. Despite external factors, SCP-6976 remains at a constant 37 degrees Celsius.

SCP-6976-1 was the heart of Nathan Allison. All cardiac muscle tissue in the object was spontaneously transmuted into the wood of the red maple tree at 1:51 PM on April 12th 1976, resulting in Allison's immediate death. SCP-6976-2 was the heart of Ernest Calderman, which experienced an identical transformation simultaneously with SCP-6976-1 and had identical properties. Both Allison and Calderman were seniors at Tazewell High School in Tazewell, Virginia when this occurred.

Addendum 6976-1: Suspected Relationship to Other Anomalies

Since the inception of the Foundation, the rate at which new anomalous objects arise has been relatively easy to predict. It doesn’t necessarily correlate to the rate at which they’re discovered, since improved technology and research tend to uncover old anomalies that went unnoticed before, but most years we can pretty reliably estimate how many new anomalies are going to come into being, so we know how many to look for.

1976 was not one of those years. Really, it started in the fall of ’75, but it wasn’t until school started back in the spring that we began to notice it. There was a sudden spike in new anomalies. That wasn’t incredibly weird, in and of itself, because that sometimes happens on conceptually significant years like the bicentennial. That alone wasn’t sufficient to explain the spike, though, because there were unusual statistical correlations between many of the new anomalies. Most of them were in the Appalachian region, and they mostly happened to high schools or their students. A statistically abnormal number involved bodies of water, particularly lakes, in some way. Summer camps were another unusual correlation, and music was also a significant element in several of the new objects. We eventually traced some of these incidents back to a new Group of Interest called the Syncope Symphony operating in the area, but not all of them.

By the time 6976 happened, we’d already documented close to a dozen of these things. Most of them were harmless, but not all. A fourth of Kirk Lonwood's senior class got stuck in a marching band forever. A whole town in Indiana had to be evacuated, and everybody in it amnestized, with all the nasty side effects that entailed back then. And I know there was another really bad one, but it must have been a cognitohazard or something, because I don't remember it anymore. But I still remember how the children used to sing. So when 6976 killed two Appalachian band kids, we didn’t take any chances. I couldn’t let that happen again.

- [DATA EXPUNGED], Appalachian regional containment director 1969-1976

Tazewell High School was closed early in 1976 and students in its senior class, especially surviving band members, were placed under covert observation while possible ties between SCP-6976 and other phenomena were investigated. To reduce the risk of triggering further incidents, significant school functions1 at THS were canceled. As an additional precaution, all public swimming pools, lakes, and other recreational water facilities within Tazewell County were closed for the summer under various false pretenses. All recreational summer camps in Tazewell County were likewise closed, and the THS marching band was persuaded to practice at the local park instead of attending its normal weeklong training camp. Possibly as a result of these precautions, no few anomalous events occurred in Tazewell County over the summer of 1976.

After investigations failed to determine a clear relationship between SCP-6976 and any other anomalies, students were allowed to return to school for the '76-'77 school year as normal. The resumption of classes was not accompanied by any further anomalies. It was therefore assumed that either the formation of SCP-6976 was a unique occurrence, or that further incidents had been successfully prevented by the precautions listed above. Further investigation into SCP-6976 was deemed unnecessary, as was the continuation of containment protocols in Tazewell.

Addendum 6976-2: Background Information

Nathan Allison and Ernest Calderman were both Tazewell natives. They previously attended Tazewell Elementary and Middle Schools.

Nathan Allison was set to graduate eighth in his class. He had been accepted into William & Mary University and was planning to pursue a degree in English, after which he intended to obtain a job teaching English as a second language in a foreign country. Allison's friends reported that he "hated" living in Tazewell and did not plan to return there after graduation. Ernest Calderman had planned to attend Radford University, in Virginia. Shortly before his death, Calderman's parents experienced sudden financial hardship and Calderman decided that he would remain in Tazewell for the following year and work to support his family. His parents stated that he had wanted to return to Tazewell following his degree and that he hadn't considered the prospect of remaining there an extra year to be a burden.

Both individuals were members of the Tazewell High School marching band. Allison played flute; Calderman played clarinet. This is the only known connection between the two individuals. When questioned about the victims, the band director remarked that they were very close friends. Other band members declined to comment.

Addendum 6976-3: Results of Further Investigation

On 22/08/2021, it was suggested that red maple trees at locations Allison and Calderman were known to frequent be examined for possible anomalous influence. On one of the trees at Tazewell High School, the following carving was discovered:

Footnotes

1. sporting events, senior prom, graduation ceremony, etc.