Item#: 3503

Containment Class: keter

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: keneq

Risk Class: caution

Special Containment Procedures: Foundation webcrawlers are to monitor social media, online support groups and discussion boards for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and correspondences between psychiatrists and therapists (particularly those involved in the treatment of PTSD) for evidence of SCP-3503 infection. Foundation assets embedded in psychiatric circles are to do the same. News and police reports concerning domestic abuse, sexual assault, and acts of mass violence are to be monitored for indicators of stage 3 SCP-3503 infection.

The Foundation has commissioned Mobile Task Force Rho-93 "Goatbusters" to combat and contain the influence of SCP-3503.

If an SCP-3503-positive individual is identified, MTF R-93 is to deploy to the individual's location and perform Procedure 701-Crafty.

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The affected individual (Henceforth referred to as "the focus" for clarity) is to be administered Memetic Agent 3503-Man-About-Town (Henceforth referred to as Meme MAT for clarity), after having been interrogated for intelligence that could be useful to the rest of the procedure. Subsequently, the focus's family, friends, co-workers, and anyone else who they were in the vicinity of on a regular basis (Such as sexual partners, therapists, teachers, etc.) are to be evaluated for possible SCP-3503 infection. Then, anyone who lives or works within a 70 meter radius of the focus's residence and workplace are to be similarly evaluated, as are people who work at or frequent other locations frequented by the focus, such as bars or hobby shops. If the agent performing the evaluation of any individual believes there is a reasonable suspicion that the person they are evaluating may be SCP-3503-positive1, that person is to be administered Meme MAT. All responding MTF R-93 agents are also to be administered Meme MAT. Finally, the focus's community will be placed on a watchlist of communities with a high risk of SCP-3503 infection.

If the focus is in stage 3 of infection and has committed an act of SCP-3503 motivated violence, the step in which the focus is administered Meme MAT may be skipped so that the focus can be contained by the foundation for research purposes, at the discretion of the SCP-3503 containment lead. Misinformation is to be spread that the focus died as a result of resistance to their crimes. All parties involved are to be amnesticized and given false memories supporting this account.

In recognition of the great difficulty of containing SCP-3503, and the danger it poses, the O5 Council and Ethics Committee have authorized the use of Blarney Stone Class Memetic Agents (Sometimes colloquially referred to as a memetic "truth serum" by Foundation personnel.) to compel full cooperation in the process of identifying SCP-3503-positive individuals or the administration of Procedure 701-Crafty. Non-Foundation personnel who are administered a memetic agent in the process of SCP-3503 containment efforts should be amnesticized.

The Foundation currently has 14 Stage 3 SCP-3503 patients in containment for research purposes. They are contained in a Site-172 satellite facility, constructed 120 meters away from the nearest point of the primary Site-17 complex3. Any or all of these infected individuals can be terminated at any time if the current SCP-3503 containment lead feels they pose a threat to Foundation personnel or the other anomalies contained at Site-17.

Personnel working on SCP-3503 containment or research must disclose any potentially traumatic experiences they have during their work on SCP-3503 or have had prior.

Description: SCP-3503 is a contagious form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). SCP-3503 has all the symptoms of standard PTSD, such as dreams or intrusive memories related to traumatic events, great distress in response to trauma related cues or triggers, and an amplified "fight or flight" response. However, SCP-3503 patients also exhibit a set of additional symptoms that manifest over time. SCP-3503 infection can be roughly categorized in 3 stages.

Stage 1: Stage 1 lasts an average of 5 to 6 years, with a standard deviation of about 2 years. Stage 1 is almost indistinguishable from non-anomalous PTSD. The only distinguishing feature of stage 1 is that patients often have dreams involving satyrs4, or creatures similar to satyrs. Often, the satyrs seem out of place in the dreams they appear in. Stage 1 patients with high dream recall report as many as 40% of their dreams involve satyrs in some way. Satyrs are rarely the focus of these dreams. Dreams that recreate the traumatic experience that led infected individuals to contract SCP-3503 almost always include satyrs.

Stage 2: Stage 2 lasts an average of 2 to 3 years, with a standard deviation of about 8 months. In stage 2, infected individuals begin to develop a positive opinion of their PTSD, feeling that having PTSD positively affects their psychological state. When questioned about this unusual opinion, SCP-3503 patients are generally entirely unable to explain why they feel this way. Some exceptionally articulate patients can describe that PTSD feels "correct" or "natural," but are unable to give a more detailed explanation. There is only one known SCP-3503 patient capable of explaining the rationale behind this symptom in detail, see Document-3503-A. Satyr dreams increase in frequency during stage 2.

Stage 3: In stage 3, the infected individual's positive opinion of their PTSD becomes much stronger than in stage 2. As a result, the majority of stage 3 SCP-3503-positive individuals come to believe that it would be moral and desirable to give others PTSD. Stage 3 patients gain a vague, intuitive understanding of how SCP-3503 is transmitted (see below). Most begin exhibiting uncharacteristically abusive behavior towards family and close friends5, and some even attempt to commit acts of mass violence, such as a mass shooting or public bombing. These acts of mass or individual aggression are generally planned in a manner which avoids fatalities but focuses on injuries, induced panic, and overall stress. Stage 3 patients also gain the ability to rapidly (within a few days) advance stage 1 or 2 patients to stage 3 by discussing PTSD with them. About 30-40% of stage 3 patients develop uncharacteristically misanthropic beliefs and become sympathetic to or supportive of anarcho-primitivist ideas. Satyr dreams increase in frequency and intensity during stage 3, with satyr dreams where the satyrs are the dream's focus becoming common. A small (<6%) amount of stage 3 infected individuals report briefly seeing satyrs while awake, usually in their peripheral vision, in mirrors, or just after waking up.

Each SCP-3503-positive individual has a transmission radius. The exact size of the radius varies from individual to individual, but the great majority (>90%) of infected individuals have a radius that is between 50 and 60 meters. If an individual experiences a traumatic event while within the transmission radius of an SCP-3503-positive individual, or had experienced a traumatic event in the recent past6 and then entered said transmission radius, that individual may contract SCP-3503. Testing7 has indicated a susceptible individual must spend approximately 20-30 continuous seconds inside a transmission radius to be infected.

There have been numerous documented cases of susceptible individuals who spent time inside a transmission radius, but who did not contract SCP-3503, just as not all who experience a traumatic event get PTSD. However, there have been no documented cases where an SCP-3503 susceptible individual spent time in a transmission radius and then contracted non-anomalous PTSD. It is therefore believed that the SCP-3503 contagious agent "modifies" typical PTSD into SCP-3503.

Though the conditions for the spread of SCP-3503 are fairly well understood, the mechanism by which SCP-3503 spreads is very poorly understood.

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The current best model the Foundation has for the spread mechanism of SCP-3503 is that it spreads via 2 or more sub-mechanisms working in tandem. One of the mechanisms is psionic in nature, the other or others are unknown. Further, the psionic mechanism is not essential to the spread of SCP-3503, but serves to "bolster" the other mechanisms in some way.

Pertinent Evidence:

An individual who contracts SCP-3503 does not need to be able to see, hear, or perceive the relevant SCP-3503-positive individual to become infected, nor do they even need to be aware of the existence of the person infecting them. Therefore, SCP-3503 cannot be memetic or cognitohazardous in nature.

SCP-2608 is vulnerable to the transmission radius of an SCP-3503 patient.

Prior to recent developments which indicated its total unsuitability for use in containment or research, SCP-148 was tested on SCP-3503. It did not nullify SCP-3503 entirely, but did demonstrate an ability to reduce the transmission radius of infected individuals by an average of 61%.

The size of an SCP-3503-positive individual's transmission radius is proportional to their psionic aptitude. The largest transmission radius ever discovered by the Foundation (71 meters) was that of Jennifer M█████, who scored in the 98.5th percentile on a psionic aptitude test. The smallest known (36 meters) was that of D-207-8649-3307, whose psionic aptitude was pushed below the typical range for humans by exposure to SCP-████.

When initially discovered, containment was focused on quarantining affected individuals. However, inspired by research done in the process of containing SCP-████8, a Memetics Department research team created Memetic Agent 3503-Man-About-Town (Meme MAT), which is capable of converting SCP-3503 into non-anomalous PTSD. Unfortunately, Meme MAT is reliant on the subject believing that Meme MAT is being administered to them specifically in order to function, so it cannot be spread across mass media to cure SCP-3503 infectees automatically.

Document-3503-A: The following is a transcript of a video made by Private Morton Baker of the United States Army. After being deployed to Afghanistan in 2002, he served a single, full tour of duty before returning to the US. He was clinically diagnosed with PTSD in 2007. In 2011, he attacked the life insurance company where he worked; there were no fatalities, but 34 serious injuries. When questioned by police as to the motivation behind his crime, he directed them to the video. Based on the content of the video, and analysis of the spread patterns of SCP-3503, Morton Baker is believed to be SCP-3503's patient zero.

Video Transcript

Subject: Private Morton Baker, describing SCP-3503.

[BEGIN LOG]

The camera is in a room in Baker's apartment, recording a wall. Baker steps into frame and sits down.

If you're watching this, you're probably wondering "Why'd he do it?" Well I'll tell you why, but first, you need some backstory.

Way back when, after spending only five or six months in Afghanistan, me and my squad were moving along a hillside east of [DATA REDACTED]. I was third in line when an IED went off in front of us. Schneider died. Owens lived, but I heard they had to take out one of his kidneys. I didn't get any shrapnel, but I wasn't on super secure footing when the bomb went off, so the blast wave and the surprise knocked me on my ass and I started tumbling down the hill. I was tumbling fast too, this was a pretty steep hill, you see?

As the world spun, it seemed to get darker, which didn't make much sense. When I came to a stop and looked up, I was in a damn jungle. Or maybe a forest? It doesn't seem quite right to call it either, sort of a mix between the two. Point is, there weren't any forests or jungles around. But the scenery wasn't the main attraction: there was someone there. He was about nine feet tall, and he had goat legs and horns. The rest of him looked… almost like a human, for the most part. Except his skin didn't look like skin, it looked like scar tissue. And I don't think English even has the words to describe what his dick looked like, so I won't try.

What happens next is tough to describe. A bunch of things happened to me at the same time that couldn't happen at the same time. Like, imagine you have a projector, but instead of playing one slide at a time, you jam ten in there, and they all get projected on top of each other.

The wild god, that's what I call the goat man these days, he pounced on me and started eating me. Just bit right through my skin, started eating my guts. At the same time, he was kicking the crap out of me with his hooves, in my stomach, which didn't have a big bite hole in it. He touched my chest and my insides started hurting, think he might've been giving me some kind of cancer in that one. He touched my face and I just got so thirsty, thirstier than I'd ever been in my life. He did… a few other things, which I don't care to talk about in detail. But one time, in one "slide," he didn't really do anything to me. He looked at me for like half a second, then he turned around and walked off.

Somehow that was worse than getting eaten.

The pain and fear was so bad, I just screwed my eyes shut and waited to die. When I opened my eyes, I was at the bottom of the hill, a few of my buddies around me. They said I had cracked my forehead on a rock on the way down. I could see the bruise in a mirror for months, but it never hurt. Never told anyone about what I'd seen. I thought it was the worst day of my life. I was so damn stupid back then. It wasn't until years later I started to realize the god did me a huge favor. He opened my eyes.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Disorder, loaded with the implication that it's bad, that the order we've created is what's desirable. When you have PTSD, you're always on edge, always on the lookout. Your enemy is always around the corner. People think that's wrong, we shouldn't be like that. The wild god showed me that that's exactly how we should be. People say technology is unnatural, and they're right, but for the wrong reasons. Technology isn't unnatural for what it is, but what it does. It gives us comfort, security, knowledge, prosperity. These things are aberrations against nature, true nature, which is a brutal, chaotic, painful, struggle. Machines give humans a buffer to protect them from the universe, and it makes me sick. Nowadays, we have ideas like "Wholesome All-Natural Foods!" and "We have to take care of Mother Nature!"

Baker pulls at his hair and screams.

You dumb fucks! Nature doesn't give a shit about you! Mother Nature is a cold, neglectful bitch who puts cigarettes out on your arms! And that's good!

Baker takes a deep breath.

People only romanticize nature because they don't have to deal with it, like a rich kid or dumbass academic glorifying being poor. The wild god taught me how to go green and love nature for real. And by the time you watch this, I'll have helped at least a few more people see the truth too.

Baker starts to get up from his chair but pauses, and turns back to the camera.

You know, I was brought up Baptist. For years I thought I had encountered the Devil himself on that hill. But the guy I met was made of flesh and blood. And I know, just as sure as I know the sun rises in the morning, that the Devil is a machine.

[END LOG]

27 days after Baker's arrest, the jail he was being held in was broken into by a group with anomalous capabilities associated with GoI-004 ("The Church of the Broken God"), and Private Baker was captured by the group. Security camera footage shows the agents binding Private Baker in handcuffs and rope before carrying him out of the jail and escaping. Foundation agents investigated the hill Baker referred to, no anomalous activity was found. SCP-3503 was discovered during the Foundation's investigation of the break-out, after having gone uncontained for nearly 9 years.

Footnotes

1. The most commonly used criteria for "reasonable suspicion" are if the person has had a traumatic experience of any kind while the focus was contagious, the heightened "fight or flight" response characteristic of PTSD, or the presence of dreams consistent with SCP-3503 infection (see description).

2. Site-17 specializes in the containment and study of low-risk humanoid anomalies.

3. Some researchers have questioned why the infectees are contained at Site-17, rather than some highly remote location. The reason is logistical, Site-17 has a well developed supply chain for the needs of humanoids, and many personnel experienced with humanoids. We wanted to take advantage of these resources for the highly important research we do on SCP-3503. Also, as the anomalies contained at Site-17 are mostly low-risk, there is a reduced chance of Foundation personnel having a traumatic experience in the line of duty here. - Dr. Julia Rodriguez, SCP-3503 Containment Lead.

4. Creatures prominent in Greek mythology, they resemble humans with goat legs, goat horns, and a goat tail. They are associated with Pan, the Greek god of the wild. Fauns are a similar creature in Roman mythology.

5. This is a highly effective method of spreading SCP-3503 as traumatic events inflicted by familiar individuals is more likely to cause PTSD than similar traumatic events inflicted by strangers

6. Individuals are thought to be susceptible to SCP-3503 infection for 2-3 weeks after a traumatic event, but this period is poorly characterized at this time.

7. Testing on SCP-3503 is generally performed by exposing D-Class personnel to a memetic agent simulating a highly traumatic experience, and then having them interact with Stage 3 infectees to quickly determine if they've been infected.

8. See: Saxon, Z. (2006). Fighting Fire with Ideas: Using Memetics to Contain Non-Memetic Anomalies. Memetics, an SCP Foundation Journal., 78(4), 22-34.