SCP-3129-1

Item #: SCP-3129

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Conventional containment of SCP-3129 is not possible as it is not clear whether or not the phenomenon has a tangible source. However, suppression of SCP-3129 can be achieved through disruption of Stage 1 phenomena. During state and local election cycles television broadcasts are to be monitored for occurrences of SCP-3129. Should a positive identification of SCP-3129 occur, MTF Tau-3 ("Cable Guys") are to be dispatched to the area.

MTF Tau-3 has been outfitted with formerly civilian broadcasting engineers trained specifically in the disruption of SCP-3129 infected transmissions. MTF Tau-3 are to infiltrate, interrupt, or otherwise prevent further occurrence of SCP-3129 until such a time as Stage 1 phenomena cease in the area.

Stage 2 or higher occurrence of SCP-3129 may require the widespread application of amnestics via local water utility.

Description: SCP-3129 is a cognitohazardous phenomenon with no known or apparent source. SCP-3129 phenomena manifest as television and radio commercials in areas holding local or state elections. These broadcasts can run for any length of time between a few weeks to several months. Television appearances of SCP-3129 have been limited to locally-owned and operated stations. No abnormalities are apparent from the broadcaster's side.

SCP-3129 phenomena invariably focus upon a human male, aged somewhere between 40 and 50, hereafter designated SCP-3129-1. SCP-3129 transmissions can vary in presentation and length wildly but invariably remain on the topic of SCP-3129-1's apparent election bid. No instances of SCP-3129 have been found outside of the continental United States or presenting in any non-English languages. This is considered Stage 1 phenomena.

Stage 2 begins after two to four weeks of exposure to Stage 1 phenomena. Up to 8% of viewers will become fixated upon SCP-3129-1. Civilians more politically aligned with the ideas presented in SCP-3129 commercials are more susceptible to infection. SCP-3129 adverts have not shown an overall political bias. Class B amnestics are effective at treating Stage 2 infection.

Stage 2 infections left untreated for over a month progress to Stage 3 symptoms. Individuals under the influence of Stage 3 infection display fanatical devotion to SCP-3129. They argue with open hostility against opposing viewpoints and ideologies. Stage 3 infected tend to seek out other infected in person and by way of online message boards and communities.

It is not presently clear whether or not SCP-3129-1 actually exists. Foundation officials have been unable to make a positive visual identification of SCP-3129-1 nor have officials ever encountered it in public.

Addendum 3129.1: Interview 3129-1-ASH

A Stage 3 infection of SCP-3129 occurred in Asheville, North Carolina during its 2013 election. Of its 89,000 residents, at least 7,000 were compromised.

Foundation officials along with MTF Tau-3 were deployed to the area with directions to suppress the spread of SCP-3129. Widespread amnestic dosing via Asheville's three water treatment plants was successful in preventing SCP-3129 infection from continued growth. However, interaction with Stage 3 infected individuals prompted an official debrief for MTF Tau-3 agents Mayfield and Haas.

Interviewed: MTF Tau-3 Agents Rory Mayfield and Kennen Haas

Interviewer: Dr. April Oliviera, Project Lead

Foreword: The following debrief has been included for insight into extreme behavior of SCP-3129 Stage 3 infection.

[Begin Log]

Dr. Oliviera: Please repeat once more what you encountered in Asheville.

Haas: Okay, so, the operation was a success. Asheville was nice and ignorant again. Mayfield and I were doing a routine Normalcy Check.

Mayfield: Tau-3 had split into five groups of two. Each team was to canvass the downtown metropolitan area. Just to be sure.

Haas: So we're walking around for a while and suddenly Mayfield stops. Dead in his tracks. Grabs my shoulder and tells me to look. He's pointing inside some sort of convention center. I go over and look. And there's thirty or forty civilians inside.

Dr. Oliviera: This struck you as odd?

Haas: At three AM in the morning, yeah it did.

Dr. Oliviera: Continue.

Haas: So Mayfield and I go in. Door wasn't locked or anything. Again, three AM. So we go in and like I said there were roundabout thirty to forty people in there. And they're all deathly silent. I've never witnessed such an uncomfortably quiet group of people in my life.

Mayfield: I almost called it in then and there. I thought we had something in the wild here.

Haas: And they're all facing the same direction. Toward a stage at the far end of the building. Lit like there was someone up there. With spot lights and what not. But there wasn't anyone up there. It was completely empty.

Mayfield: It looked like they were all hypnotized or something. Maybe by the pulpit.

Haas: But then everyone explodes! From quiet as the dead to the loudest damn thing in the universe. They're waving their hands, jumping up and down, losing their shit all over the place. And they're screaming at the empty stage.

Dr. Oliviera: Go on.

Mayfield: Then they go quiet again.

Haas: Yeah. Every single one of them. Quiet as humanly possible. For forty-five seconds, maybe a minute. And then they all go ape shit again. This goes on for over an hour. Back and forth. They'd get real quiet, watching the stage like it was the most important thing in the world, then they'd erupt like Oprah had just walked in. Mayfield and I never got so much as a glimpse of what the hell they were looking at or hearing.

Mayfield: We checked after the thing dispersed. Everyone filed out of the room like zombies but Haas and I hung back. We went up to the stage, looked around. Checked around and behind it. Nothing. Just a brick wall. If they were using smoke and mirrors I have no earthly idea of where they kept them.

Dr. Oliviera: Did you attempt to interact with any of the individuals in the crowd?

Haas: No. We had reason to believe they might be hostile due to SCP-3129.

Dr. Oliviera: And you both are absolutely sure you saw nothing on the stage?

Mayfield: Not a damn thing. I don't know what was talking to them but we couldn't hear it.

[End Log]

Closing Statement: Examination of the building in question revealed no capability to hold such an event. Said building is currently the offices of a now-defunct financial institution and its internal layout is inconsistent with the description of agents Haas and Mayfield. Investigation of this incident is ongoing. Agents Haas and Mayfield are currently on medical leave, pending psych evaluation.

Addendum 3129.2: Experiment 3129/34-Gamma (Operation "CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT")

Following the incident in Asheville and with the evaluations of Mayfield and Haas showing no signs of compromise it was decided that further study of the Stage 3 phenomenon was required. Investigation occurred during the 2015 election cycle. This project took place as a joint operation between Foundation researchers and MTF Tau-3.

It was determined that study of Stage 3 infected could only be performed with a controlled outbreak of SCP-3129. Temporary Site 34-Gamma was created to allow for this. Temporary Site 34-Gamma was a Foundation-controlled and contained small town in Washington State found to be a target of SCP-3129. This operation was performed under the pretense of government quarantine.

The project met almost immediate opposition from what is assumed to be SCP-3129-1 and was forced to conclude prematurely. The following information is considered incomplete. More inauspicious study of SCP-3129 is being planned.

+ Open Attachment

- Close

Experiment: 3129/34-Gamma

Duration: 09/12/15 to 11/14/15

Location: Bremerton, Washington (Temporary Site 34-Gamma)

Project Lead: Dr. April Oliviera

Audio Transcript

The following is an audio log of a Stage 3 infected civilian conversing with an as of yet unknown entity, presumed but not confirmed to be SCP-3129-1. This recording was achieved through selective electronic surveillance of civilian residences. Subject is an African-American female, age late-twenties.

Subject: Yes, I see you.

Subject: Yes, I hear you.

Subject: I won't look away.

Subject: I won't close my eyes.

Subject: I will.

Subject: My TV is on.

Subject: I'll keep it on.

Subject: I will.

Subject: Yes, I see you.

Subject: Yeah, I can hear you.

Subject: I'll keep watching.

Subject: I'll keep it on.

Subject: I will.

Subject: It's on.

Subject: I will.

Subject: I won't turn it off.

Subject: I'll stay here.

Subject: I will.

Subject: Yes, I saw them.

Subject: It's on now.

Addendum: Similar recordings were made in the homes of five other individuals. In each of the encounters the subject spoke with the unseen entity for a period of up to 45 seconds, referring to their television sets several times each. During this time the television displays static to all outside observers. The subject spends the duration of the encounter standing in front of their television similarly to how a soldier might stand "at attention." At the end of each encounter the television returns to previous broadcast and the subject returns to their seat. All six events occurred within eight minutes of a Stage 1 transmission occurring on the subject's television.

Observation of Aberrant Behavior in Stage 3 Infected

Personal observations made by Dr. Oliviera during discreet surveillance of Stage 3 infected civilians.

Stage 3 infected individuals periodically display an almost hive mind-like behavior. To wit, these individuals will frequently and without warning gather around televisions and computer screens for periods of up to forty minutes. Any gesticulation or exclamation is made by all members of the group and in perfect unison. There is no communication made between members of the group to coordinate this or anything else whatsoever. Following these events the individuals will return to whatever they had been doing before without so much a word inquiring as to what had just occurred. As for what they were watching, I could not tell. As far as I was able to see the screens were either static or displaying what would be called a "blue screen" error. Following the event televisions returned to erstwhile programming while computers rebooted without further error.

With a little eavesdropping I have gathered a basic impression of the cult of personality surrounding the 3129 entity. In-between the aforementioned hive mind events behavior of the Stage 3 infected seems to be relatively mundane. Life goes on, I guess you could say. Except when the topic of the 3129 entity arises. It appears to be a memetic trigger of some sort for persons under 3129's influence. I have personally witnessed groups as large as thirty-two individuals form as a result of one mention of the entity's pseudonym. The pseudonym is heard, repeated, heard again, and repeated again. Causing more and more individuals to crowd around voicing their support of the entity. These groups can take hours to disperse. Furthermore the infected aren't even communicating with each other: they talk over one another, almost as if competing for who can appear the most fanatical. As you might imagine it can get quite loud.

Observation of Stage 3 "Gathering" Events

Over the course of the experiment in Bremerton three events matching the description of what agents Haas and Mayfield encountered in Asheville were observed.

Date: 09/30/15

Witness: Connor Beach (MTF Tau-3)

Statement: On the 30th of September, roundabout 2100 hours, I witnessed a large number of civilians entering a private dining establishment. After watching this for a moment I realized that there was no way that many people could fit inside of a Chinese carry-out. I waited for a little while longer so as to not disturb what was then suspected to be a group of Stage 3 then brought up the rear of the line. As I had assumed the inside of the restaurant had expanded to accommodate the crowd. Furthermore there were no tables nor front counter nor observable kitchen. Just an empty room with a stage. The event went down same as what Ken and Rory saw, then dispersed without incident.

Date: 10/10/15

Witness: Jeanie Green (MTF Tau-3)

Statement: I was in a gas station purchasing fuel for the company car when all of a sudden a flood of civilians begins filing in. I mean a ridiculous amount of people for this little mom-n'-pop shop on the edge of town. I watched them totally bewildered for a while until I realized the building was getting bigger around me. Slowly, but surely, the walls were expanding outward. And every time I turned my back to something it disappeared. Just vanished. The coolers, the food racks, the front counter, the displays. One at a time until the place was just four walls, a ceiling, and a floor. Then I heard something that made me turn toward the back of the store. Not sure what it was. None of the civilians were saying a damn thing. They were all as quiet as death. I'm not even sure I heard anything. But sure enough I turn around and there's a stage. I was stuck in that gas station for a hour until everyone filed out and I was able to reach the door. Upon leaving and going back in, it was completely back to normal. Damndest thing.

Date: 11/12/15

Witness: Dr. April Oliviera (Project Lead, Experiment 34-Gamma/SCP-3129)

Statement: I ingratiated myself with the locals over the course of around 45 days. It was during this time that I was able to make a number of discrete observations of their behavior in regard to 3129. It was also during this time that I was unfortunately involved in a bit of a situation.

I had spent most of my time around among a group of students. As Seattle is a mere 45-minute ferry ride from here and living expenses are relatively cheap, this group had established themselves here as a means to get by while they worked on getting their degrees. I admit I grew fond of them, perhaps a little too much so seeing as they were compromised civilians in the midst of a memetic infection that I was personally overseeing the study of. Yes, it was a conflict of interest. I admit that. I let my empathy for their struggle get the better of me. However let me be clear that I never lost sight of why I was there in the first place. My goal first and foremost was always to study 3129.

That being said, I was invited by one of the students I had been observing to an event. A party, I think he said it was. Against my better judgment I acquiesced and accompanied him and three other individuals to a club. Except when we arrived there wasn't so much a party as a rally. There must have been hundreds upon hundreds in that room. As you may have guessed it was much bigger on the inside. It extended well past the observable dimensions of the building and somehow, I suppose, moved the buildings behind and beside it out of the way. It wasn't loud like one of the "cult of personality" events I had witnessed before. Rather, it was deathly quiet.

They were all watching the back of the room. There was a stage and a pulpit there, in line with what had been observed by Tau-3 in North Carolina. I asked the students I was accompanying about it but nobody acknowledged me. Nobody in the room did, in fact. No matter how many people I jostled or shoved. I couldn't reach the door due to the number of people behind me. Believe me, I tried my damndest to get out of there but everyone was basically frozen in place. Completely unmovable and unassailable and far too numerous to squeeze through. I gave up when I noticed the walls were still moving outward to accommodate more.

So I was stuck there. In the middle of what must have been a thousand people. All silent, all staring at the far end of the room, none of them acknowledging the screaming, crying woman in the center desperately kicking and shoving those around her. Once I had tired myself out and was reduced to whimpering I heard something. It was faint, as if far off in the distance, but I heard it, and it was coming from the stage. Then all of sudden the most ungodly rapture happened all around me. Everyone who had been previously silent was now as loud as they could possibly be. I covered my ears and screamed back at them.

Then everyone was silent again and I heard the voice once more. Well not so much heard it as thought I heard it, I guess you could say. I tried to locate the source of what I thought I had heard until the crowd exploded once again and I was stymied. This went on for a long time. Hours upon hours, I think. I was fairly certain I had located the source of the voice by the time the crowd had begun to file out. My male friend saw the state I was in however and insisted on taking me home. I insisted myself that I be allowed to look around but the more I resisted the more insistent he became. I think it wanted me to leave.

I returned to base of operations as soon as I could to report the incident. I believe this event to have been orchestrated by SCP-3129. If it wasn't already aware of who we are and what we're doing, it is now. The voice I heard was my own. And I told it everything. I recommend immediate termination of 34-Gamma.

Addendum: Following this event, Dr. Oliviera was promptly relieved of duty and was allowed to return to her residence at Site 81.

Incident 3129/34-Gamma

Following 63 days of SCP-3129 observation, resistance from SCP-3129-1 and Stage 3 infected civilians required the cessation of further operation. The following is a statement given by MTF Tau-3 captain Arin Bose regarding the events of 11/14/15 and the early completion of Experiment 3129/34-Gamma.

Okay, so, here's what went down:

We started the night off all right. All quiet on the western front as they say. Myself and the rest of Tau-3 were doing routine rounds of the city. Just looking around. We were all driving unmarked, civilian cars. How they knew who we were is beyond me, honestly. But sure enough they did. Each and every one of us. The civvies turned on us almost in unison. All over the city. Happened so quickly I can't possibly imagine how it was organized. But it was. All of a sudden the entire city of Bremerton, Washington turned on us and tried to tear us limb from limb. Like some sort of Invasion of the Body-Snatchers sort of deal. It was a damn miracle we didn't lose anyone. They were ramming their cars into ours, trying to break the windows and I assume drag us out. I had to authorize use of non-deadly force for the guys on foot. Poor sobs. Thank god we got word to headquarters so they could hit the lights. For whatever reason the blackout stopped 'em dead.

It was then and there that we filed out. Everyone, not just Tau-3. The project was over.

Addendum 3129.3: Catalogued Recording

The following is an instance of a Stage 1 phenomenon recorded from the home of ████ ███████ during the operation in Washington State. Note that the anomalous effects of SCP-3129 do not manifest in analogue or digital recordings.

[BEGIN RECORDING]

Recording begins with a daytime shot of SCP-3129-1 standing outside. It has one foot elevated onto a large rock positioned to its right.

3129-1: Hi, I'm Norman Mann, and I'm running for governor of the state of Indiana.

SCP-3129-1 approaches the camera. It gestures with its right hand while keeping its left in its trouser pocket.

3129-1: My opponents would like you to believe that I'm not a legitimate candidate for your governor. I'd like to take a moment here to convince you otherwise.

The recording transitions to SCP-3129-1 being observed from afar. SCP-3129-1 is walking through a suburban neighborhood and is greeted by bystanders. Bystanders do not appear to look directly at SCP-3129-1 or otherwise focus their attention on what they are doing.

3129-1 [VOICEOVER]: Together, I believe we can do so much more than individually. As your governor, with your help, I will be able to do anything.

SCP-3129-1 smiles and waves back to bystanders.

3129-1 [VOICEOVER]: I believe in community first and foremost.

SCP-3129-1 continues down the street. A male and female bystander are kneeling beside a child. Upon noticing SCP-3129-1, they stand and begin waving. The child begins waving as well, in perfect synchronicity with the adults.

SCP-3129-1 [VOICEOVER]: Community, family, and togetherness.

Scene transition. It is now nighttime. The camera is trained on the outside of a house. Three individuals can be seen, dressed in black, attempting to break into the home by using a crowbar to pry open a window. The shot changes to a closer view while there three individuals gain entry.

SCP-3129-1 [VOICEOVER]: There are people out there that want to destroy our community.

The three individuals successfully open the window and begin climbing through.

SCP-3129-1 [VOICEOVER]: A vote for me is a vote for a safer community. I will not be soft on the agents of fear that would seek to separate us.

Scene transition. SCP-3129-1 is walking through the previous neighborhood once again. Bystanders stand and greet it as it walks by. Bystanders continue to greet SCP-3129-1 long after it passes them by.

3129-1 [VOICEOVER]: As your governor I know it's going to be "all eyes on me." But that's the way I like it. The more of you I have watching me the better. I'll never back down from public scrutiny.

Scene transitions to images of common electronic technology such as televisions, computers, and the like. As well as people in groups and people giving speeches.

3129-1 [VOICEOVER]: In this day and age there's so many voices out there trying to lead the voters astray. My voice is a voice you can trust. Listen to my voice.

Scene transitions back to SCP-3129-1 speaking directly to the camera. It is the same shot that began the recording but focused closer on SCP-3129-1. Only its top half is visible.

3129-1: With your help I can be a force of change in this great state of Indiana. Without it, I can't so much as lift a pebble! Please, lend me your support.

Shot transitions to one further away and turned to SCP-3129-1's right. SCP-3129-1 turns to regard the camera directly once again.

3129-1: Make the right choice. Together we can be a part of something bigger, something greater. Together we can do anything. Together nothing will stop us. Together. Not alone.

Recording ends with a still of SCP-3129-1 smiling. At the bottom of the screen a note reads 'PAID FOR BY THE COMMITTEE TO ELECT NORMAN MANN.'

[END RECORDING]

Closing Statement: Following the completion of the operation in Washington, widespread blackouts were orchestrated to cease transmission of SCP-3129. Widespread amnestic dosing was successful in reversing all infection. Dr. Oliviera has been disqualified from further field work.