Item #: SCP-5418

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5418 is to be kept within a standard containment chamber and lain horizontally on a 1.8 metre plinth at all times. As an incentive for further cooperation, SCP-5418 has been given limited access to amenities following staff review. As of 01/01/21, the current provisions are:

A voice controlled audiobook system with a curated library of influential works.

A voice controlled, roof mounted television with access to local televised broadcasts.

Weekly visits from an on-site Rabbi.

Description: SCP-5418 is the skeleton of an adult male of Middle Eastern descent. The subject's bones are covered in flakes of gold, which has been affixed via the use of beeswax. SCP-5418 is adorned with a number of gold pieces of jewellery in the form of serpents, the largest of which are coiled around both arms and legs. Also present is a rope made from hemp fibre, which has been wrapped around the subjects neck, and a white robe. Dating has shown that both the rope and skeleton date to within the 1st century CE, while all other decorative items date to the 2nd century CE.

SCP-5418 was recovered from a crypt discovered approximately half a mile beneath the Catacombs of Callixtus in Rome, Italy. The passage to the crypt was uncovered following restoration efforts, which was followed by an archaeological study of the site. As efforts continued, reports of supernatural events within the crypt escalated, primarily records of an unknown voice. SCP-5418 entered containment following Foundation investigation. Early investigation has suggested the crypt itself is non-anomalous. Observation is ongoing.

SCP-5418 is capable of vocalisation despite lacking organs. These vocalisations manifest as male, and speak fluent Classical Hebrew. Though willing to engage in interviews with staff, the subject seems to be unable, or unwilling, to identify themselves, and claims to have forgotten who they were. Nevertheless, the subject has offered multiple variations of events within their life. Though variable, several consistent elements have been identified:

The subject was once a young warrior1 who lashed out at an occupying force in their homeland.

They lost this spark with age, and instead began to follow a local Rabbi.

The Rabbi sought the aid of the subject for a ceremony.

The subject did the 'unthinkable' avoided doing the 'unthinkable' (See Addendum-01)

For this, the subject was punished by 'HaShem'2. Following his death, they resuscitated, incapable of anything but thought and speech.

SCP-5418 shows no sign of further anomalous ability beyond their continued vocalisations. Due to dialogue with the subject suggesting a duplicitous nature, observation and studying of cell samples are to continue unless further anomalous activity is definitively proven absent.

ADDENDUM-01

On ██/██/██, an interview was conducted by Dr. ██████ Kohen. He was instructed to identify further information on 'HaShem', and was encouraged to pursue the question of the subject's continued faith. This interview is logged below, translated to English:

[BEGIN LOG]

Dr. Kohen: Good afternoon, 5418. How are we feeling today?

SCP-5418: The same as ever, doctor. I have been listening to… Nietzsche in the past day. A rather incendiary man.

Dr. Kohen: I'm glad to hear that you are keeping yourself stimulated. You'll be pleased to hear that I don't believe your studies will be disrupted for long then. My superiors would just like me to go over a couple subject areas with you again.

SCP-5418: I am doing nothing else, doctor. Out with it.

Dr. Kohen: Right. In prior interviews, you've discussed your relationship with a Rabbi. You note how it ended poorly and led to HaShem cursing you. Yet you continue to ask for sermons from ██████ each week. If your last experience with the faith went so poorly, why do you continue to follow HaShem?

SCP-5418: I do not follow HaShem.

Dr. Kohen: This would be contrary to information you've given us before. Now I know we've allowed you to have some quality of life items, but lying is an easy way to-

SCP-5418: I do not lie, doctor. I do not follow HaShem, I follow Jah. Once I followed HaShem. Now I do not.

Dr. Kohen: 5418, Jah and HaShem are one and the same according to scripture. I don't exactly believe-

SCP-5418: Has knowledge withered this much? Yahweh, the lord that your rabbi preaches of, He is a different thing. But the Rabbi, the man I followed in Jerusalem, he did not preach such things. He preached of HaShem, one of the seven faces.

Dr. Kohen: … Could you elaborate?

SCP-5418: The Rabbi… He preached of seven great beings, that each were a face of another, The Father. They were 'Ila, Eloah, Elohim, Shaddai, Ehyeh, Tsebaoth, and HaShem. The seven… I do not know if they were, or if they were to be. But in worship of them, you worshipped The Father. I do not think it matters if they had came to be yet.

Dr. Kohen: I see. This worship was part of the Rabbi's… 'plan', then?

SCP-5418: It was. He wanted me to participate. To do… terrible things in HaShem's name. Unspeakable things.

Dr. Kohen gestures for the subject to continue.

SCP-5418: I could not. I turned him over to the law, and they sentenced him to death. They drew it out, to make the punishment more fitting for what he had done, and for what he had proposed. It took days for him to die. He spent his last breaths cursing my name.

Dr. Kohen: I see. If it's alright with you, I'd like to take the conversation back to these deities. I notice their name's are identical to titles for Yahweh. Are you saying that-

SCP-5418: Yahweh is younger than They are. He was born from Them, though. Good men could not accept the evils of the Father, and so sought something good from Him and his Faces. They coexist, an ugly truth and a beautiful lie. Yahweh is good, but The Father is terrible. I choose to follow Yahweh because I have rejected this truth I once followed.

Dr. Kohen: T-

SCP-5418: I am done speaking. I have spoken of Them too much. Names have power, ██████. More than you know.

Dr. Kohen: … Thank you for your cooperation. I think we're done here.

[END LOG]

Further interviews were conducted with the subject, asking near identical questions as to the above. The subject responded in similar ways each time, with little to no deviation of information. Future interviews should focus on gathering more information on the worship of the 'Faces' and 'The Father'.

Footnotes

1. Ostensible; the subject has also consistently stated they were a freedom fighter, murderer, and soldier, amongst a number of other vocations.

2. Translated as 'The Name'. Used by certain Jewish groups to refer to Yahweh outside of liturgical context.