SCP-6819-1.

Item #: SCP-6819

Object Class: Keter/Uncontained

Special Containment Procedures: Research into the causes and effects of SCP-6819 and possible preventative measures are ongoing. Currently, Foundation protocol discourages travel from the hours of 11 PM to 4 AM unless absolutely necessary, in which case a party of four or more is strongly encouraged. If an SCP-6819 event is triggered, the driver should maintain a fast but safe speed and not attempt a U-turn or to otherwise change direction. After the building is sighted, confirming presence in SCP-6819-1, driver should switch lanes or otherwise maneuver around any obstructions in the road. In the event of humanoid presence in the road, personnel are authorized to accelerate to a ramming speed.

Under absolutely no circumstances are personnel to ever stop, exit the vehicle, or approach the building.

Description: SCP-6819 is a phenomenon occurring on highways in the United States Numbered Highway System in the contiguous United States. SCP-6819 involves the sudden translocation of a vehicle driving on a U.S Highway to SCP-6819-1, an extradimensional region of unclear bounds, and its subsequent return.

SCP-6819-1 resembles a U.S highway with all identifying signage removed and no natural illumination. The surrounding area is difficult to see and variable, but the area to the right will always be a gently sloping rocky hill. At the top of the hill, an unclear distance away, a large building is present. The exact physical characteristics of this building change, but all subjects report it as imposing or intimidating, with high walls illuminated by floodlights. Descriptions range from a prison to a castle to a military base and similar facilities.

The requirements for triggering SCP-6819 are unclear, but a few prerequisites have been ascertained:

The driver of the vehicle must be currently or formerly employed by the Foundation. The vehicle must be moving independently (not towed or transported on a truck bed). The time must be between 11:00PM and 4:00AM, local timezone. The moon must be in a waning period. There must be no more than three passengers inside the vehicle, including the driver.

SCP-6819-1 always contains an event forcing or incentivizing the driver to slow down or stop and exit the vehicle. The specifics of the event are never consistent.

Instance: #056

Circumstances: 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe (Foundation-issue), driver was Agent Myla Barrow. No passengers. U.S 49 in Missouri.

Observations: SCP-6819 triggered at 12:17 AM local time. Agent Barrow reports she noticed the sudden absence of other vehicles, but did not consider it a point of concern and continued driving. A few minutes later, she realized her dashboard clock had stopped displaying and her phone was no longer in service, and grew concerned at the continued lack of human presence. At this point, the building ("It must've been miles away on that hill. I could barely make it out through the treeline.") became visible. Agent Barrow continued driving, but prepared her service weapon ("I'm not sure why. I was in a locked car with bulletproof windows and there wasn't anything overtly dangerous around.").

Several minutes later, the right lane was obstructed by the corpse of a large elk or moose, being feasted upon by significantly larger animal, possibly a bear. The bear's fur was extremely dark to the point of absorbing light around it, and had morphological alternations ("Its arms were distinctly thin and long compared to the rest of it. Like human arms."). The prey was still alive despite the surrounding asphalt being coated with its blood, and continued to thrash and emit guttural screams as Barrow changed lanes and accelerated past it. In her rearview mirror, she reported the predator sitting on its hind legs and staring at her vehicle with glassy white eyes. Barrows exited back into local reality at 12:38AM and immediately reported the incident.

Instance: #165

Circumstances: 2004 Toyota Sienna, driver was Doctor Adam Mackowitz with his wife Dana Mackowitz in the passenger seat. U.S 82 in New Mexico.

Observations: SCP-6819 triggered at 11:34 PM local time. Doctor Mackowitz immediately registered the sudden change in surrounding landscape despite the darkness and attempted to check their location on his phone GPS, which did not work. The building became visible at the top of the rocky hill ("It reminded me of [Site] 16, a little bit. These huge concrete walls built into the cliffside, and the big spotlights along the walls."). Not wanting to wake his wife, Mackowitz continued driving for several minutes. The building stayed at a static position ("With the angle and my speed, it should've been getting closer, but it wasn't. Like it was moving parallel - though obviously it wasn't."), with its spotlights panning over the hillside.

Mackowitz suddenly became aware of a movement to the left of the vehicle. Per testimony: "It was a dark blot out in the desert, angled in such a way that I could see it for several seconds as we sped by. From everything around it, it was obviously a three dimensional object, but since it reflected no light, you couldn't really tell. A couple miles later, I saw it again but it was farther out so I could see it longer. It was moving at a constant speed, not the intermittent gait of something on legs, but the smooth pace of a wheeled object. It was moving parallel to the interstate at a much lower speed and we shot by pretty quickly. I thought I was hallucinating."

Mackowitz then reports that the object reappeared ahead of them, moving perpendicular to the interstate - it crossed into their path and Mackowitz rapidly braked to avoid colliding with it, waking his wife. The object was no longer present and his wife suggested she drive: ("I was tired and a little terrified, but something in me was screaming not to get out of the fucking car."). They continued and the building disappeared from view at 12:09AM local time, signalling their exit from SCP-6819-1.

Instance: #306

Circumstances: 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, driver was Site Director Paul Lague. No passengers. U.S 120 in Pennsylvania.

Observations: SCP-6819 triggered at 2:03AM local time. Director Lague immediately noticed the sudden disappearance of other vehicle lights ("It was a pretty empty road, but I could still see the tail lights of people way ahead of me and the headlights of oncoming traffic. One by one, they just winked out, like candles getting snuffed out.") and attempted to call a colleague on his phone, but could not get a signal. Lague was suddenly temporarily blinded by a bright light - a spotlight followed his vehicle for a few seconds before drifting away. Lague regained control of the vehicle and looked up at the building on his right ("Between the barbed wire, the guard towers, and the spotlights, it looked like a fortress."). Believing he had taken a wrong exit, he made a U-turn and began accelerating in the opposite direction until the building disappeared from sight.

After only 2-3 minutes, the building again appeared ahead of Lague, once again on his right. However, the tail lights of other vehicles were visible ahead of him, as well as the honking of horns. He registered the lights were not moving; the cars were all stopped in the right lane, causing him to switch lanes to drive past them. As he drove past, he slowed to take note of the traffic jam: "All the cars were jet black and looked brand-new. All of them had their hazards on, and were honking at each other. I was wondering why the hell none of them just switched to the other lane until I drove past. All of them were empty. Must've been thirty or forty cars, backed up and honking at each other with their windows down, and not a single person inside any of them."

Lague accelerated to 130MPH and exited SCP-6819-1 at 2:25AM local time.

Instance: #398

Circumstances: 1999 Honda CRV. Driver was Agent Alice Sterling, only passenger her pet Golden Retriever. U.S 95 in Nevada.

Observations: SCP-6819 triggered at 1:15AM local time. Agent Sterling does not immediately notice, but reports her dog immediately began to behave strangely and restlessly. The building does not become visible for several minutes, but Agent Sterling notes she began to hear a soft but high-pitched buzzing ("I figured that was what was making Cain nervous. It sounded like a snake rattle, almost.") from outside the vehicle. Her dog began to whine from the backseat.

Sterling noticed a discoloration on the road ahead and slowed her vehicle down as she approached. She noted a number of black cars stopped in a row in the left lane, similar to Instance #306. However, all the asphalt, guardrails, cars, and nearby rocks were coated in a greenish, shifting substance. As Sterling shifted to the right lane and slowly drove by, she was able to inspect them closer: "Cicadas. Hundreds of thousands of them, at the very least. They were everywhere, buzzing and screaming and making the air shimmer. I don't think cicadas ever come out this far west. Not in those numbers. My car left a smashed trail of them and they didn't even seem to care."

The brood of cicadas continued for almost a mile and a half, during which the building became visible, much closer than in previous instances ("It seemed… safe. Strong. I didn't see any cicadas on those walls, despite the lights."). She also noted an unpaved road diverging from the highway that led up the hill to the building, and moved to take it. At this point, her dog began to loudly and insistently bark, and she missed her turn. Sterling continued and exited SCP-6819-1 at 1:38AM local time.

Instance: #434

Circumstances: 2017 Ford F-150. Driver was Researcher Samuel Sibar. No passengers, but Sibar was transporting a whole hog in the bed of the truck. U.S 123 in Kentucky.

Observations: SCP-6819 triggered at 12:56AM. Sibar immediately noticed and unsuccessfully attempted to establish a radio connection with Command, then rapidly accelerated in an attempt to exit SCP-6819 as fast as possible ("I figured that since turning around doesn't work, the fastest way out is directly through."). The building became visible within 1-2 minutes due to the speed Sibar was traveling at — uncharacteristically, its spotlights were all fixed on a singular point down the road, instead of wandering across the area as usual. As Sibar approached the point, he noted an obstruction in the road, and was forced to slow down.

The twisted, flaming wreckage of a black SUV was strewn across the road ("It was gruesome. I think it had crashed into the guardrail but the car was totalled. They'd been thrown through the windshield. Jesus fucking Christ."), illuminated by the spotlights. A number of small fires were present throughout the crash scene, as well as a number of partially burned bodies lying facedown on the ground. Sibar took the truck partially offroad to avoid the crash. One bloodied figure was lying several dozen meters away from the spotlights and wreckage, at the end of a long trail of blood and viscera. As Sibar returned to the road, he did not register this figure's presence in the darkness, and crushed them under the wheels of the truck.

The sudden jolt panicked Sibar ("I thought somebody had jumped on the fucking truck. I thought I was going to die."), and he accelerated to 110MPH until he exited SCP-6819-1 at 1:09AM local time. After establishing a radio connection and reporting the incident to Command, Sibar stopped at a gas station and noticed the raw hog in the bed of the truck now had large chunks torn out of its flesh.1

Interviewer: Doctor Seth Saner

Subject: Agent Barry Novak

SANER: Hey, Barry. Sorry about the wait.

NOVAK: It's fine. Not exactly a lot going on here.

[EKG beeping in background.]

SANER: Just for the record, can you recount what happened one more time?

NOVAK: Again?

SANER: You don't have to go into too much detail, we just want it on tape.

NOVAK: Alright.

[EKG beeping in background.]

NOVAK: I was driving down 160 near Cortez. It was like two in the morning - there were some other cars around but it was mostly dead.

SANER: When did you notice something had changed?

NOVAK: I have a little compass on my dash - it started freaking out. Then I noticed I couldn't see… anything. It's a dark highway anyway but there weren't tail lights, headlights, I couldn't even see the moon. Utter pitch blackness beyond my high beams.

SANER: And the-

NOVAK: It wasn't even… I'm not afraid of the dark.

SANER: Never said you were.

NOVAK: I was. As a kid. Always slept with a nightlight on in the corner of my room. Made me feel safe.

[EKG beeping in background.]

NOVAK: Anyway, that's when I saw the building.

SANER: Can you describe it to me?

NOVAK: It was perched on the cliffside. It was… imposing. These huge flying concrete walls, and the big guard towers. It was bright, too. The only source of light in the area were those huge spotlights and floodlights.

SANER: And you kept driving.

NOVAK: Sure. At this point I knew where I was, and what was happening, and what to do. So I- (coughing) - I continued driving.

SANER: Okay.

NOVAK: The spotlights followed me. Followed my car, I mean. Do they always do that?

SANER: It's not exactly common but we've seen it happen.

NOVAK: Mm. It scared me, so I sped up. I was waiting to see what was going to be in the road. In the dark.

SANER: You saw… figures?

NOVAK: Yeah. Maybe… four or five people, it's hard to remember. Standing in the middle of the road, facing me.

SANER: Could you describe them?

NOVAK: They were white. Naked. Masks. Black masks, covering their entire heads. They were holding things - either guns or bats, its hard to say.

SANER: Doing anything?

NOVAK: Just standing there.

SANER: As you know, the absence of living people in SCP-6819-1 is usually an important signifier. Are you sure they were people?

NOVAK: They looked like people. I don't know if they were actually alive, or actually human. But they looked it.

SANER: What did you do?

NOVAK: I wasn't prepared for a fight. It's a shitty little Prius, I can run someone over but if someone smashed in the window I was done for. I saw the road.

SANER: The road?

NOVAK: The dirt path going off, up the hill. To the building.

SANER: And you followed this path.

NOVAK: Yeah. Figured it was a better option than playing chicken with some gunmen.

SANER: Can you describe to me the uphill drive?

NOVAK: The road was bumpy but it was drivable. Switched into second gear and started going up. The headlights chopped through the brush. Then the spotlights fell on me. All of them, shining down on the roof of the car, blinding me.

SANER: You stopped the car.

NOVAK: Yeah. Then they wandered off me. Formed a line, leading to one of the walls of the fortress. Shining on a big door.

SANER: What kind of door?

NOVAK: It looked like a blast door, almost. The whole affair looked like…. a bunker.

SANER: How did you feel?

NOVAK: Weird. A blend of scared and safe.

SANER: Safe?

NOVAK: The light was… comforting. And the walls looked very safe. I started driving up to it.

SANER: And you saw the door opening?

NOVAK: Yeah. Just as the door started to open- everything went dark again.

SANER: You passed out behind the wheel. The airbags were deployed when we found you in a ditch by the highway. Like…. this.

[EKG beeping in background.]

SANER: They're probably gonna pull the plug sometime tomorrow. Your family'll be taken care of. I'm sorry, Barry.

NOVAK: Not your fault. Should've plowed through those masked fucks, hah- (coughing).

SANER: Killing people isn't natural instinct.

NOVAK: That's the thing, isn't it? Instinct. You're driving through the dark. You see a bright light, you assume safety.

SANER: A nightlight.

NOVAK: Yeah, it shows you're not alone. Shining through the dark and calling you closer.

[EKG beeping in background.]

NOVAK: Like an anglerfish.

Footnotes

1. Due to the particularly traumatic nature of this incident, Sibar was amnesticized upon request.