SCP-2951 - 10,000 Years

Item#: 2951

Containment Class: euclid

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: vlam

Risk Class: warning

Collapsed entrance of SCP-2951.

Special Containment Procedures: Access to the Lemon Quarry is prohibited to unauthorized personnel, and Foundation personnel posing as local law enforcement are to maintain a perimeter around the site. Individuals who breach the perimeter are to be administered a suitable amnestic and turned over to the local authorities.

Exploratory missions into SCP-2951 are currently forbidden.

Description: SCP-2951 is an abandoned limestone mine near Guthrie, Indiana. The mine was originally owned by the B.G. Hoadley Mining Group until an incident that occurred in 1944. The remote location of the quarry, as well as the deteriorated nature of its structure, have limited civilian trespassing. Due to this, the area is mostly undisturbed.

The interior of SCP-2951 is subject to irregular spatial and temporal anomalies. Exploratory teams have also reported the existence of unknown anomalous entities within SCP-2951. These entities are likely connected to the 1944 incident, more information on which is available below.

The primary entrance of SCP-2951 collapsed during the 1944 incident, and is inaccessible. A secondary shaft, located in a dilapidated storage building, remains accessible.

Building containing secondary access shaft to SCP-2951.

Addendum 2951.1: 1944 Incident and Collapse

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Note: The following information was gathered from the personal office of J. Howard Barnes, a Kervier administrator and Global Occult Coalition informant. After his death, the Foundation seized many of his assets, including information regarding the 1944 Lemon Quarry collapse which was thought to have been destroyed.

On August 23rd, 1944, seismic activity below the Lemon Quarry prompted quarry supervisors to send an exploratory team into the limestone mine to assess damages to structures therein. After three hours, the initial team returned to report that an important access tunnel had collapsed.

After some deliberating, quarry supervisors assembled a larger team of workers to clear the debris. These workers descended to the collapse point and began to move the fallen stone out of the way, in order to bring in larger machinery. However, during this attempt additional seismic activity occurred1, triggering a tunnel collapse behind the crew clearing the access tunnel.

For the next several hours, teams worked on both sides of the blockage to remove the debris and free the clearing crew. At approximately 4:00PM EST, the blockage was removed and the initial clearing crew emerged from the mine. This crew reported that the primary access tunnel remained blocked, but a new tunnel, one that had not been cut by the mining group and was not charted, had been opened by the second round of seismic activity. Another small team was dispatched to gather information about this tunnel.

Primary access tunnel blockage. Image taken from Kervier incident logs.

The second tunnel was described as cut smooth, though not unnaturally so, and descended towards the northwest at a slight decline. Supervisors for the group hypothesized that this was an original access tunnel, potentially one that had been cut near the mine's conception (before it was purchased by B.G. Hoadley) and simply not properly recorded. Hoping that this access tunnel would connect around to the primary, blocked tunnel, quarry supervisors gathered another team of 23 men. Their assignment was to use this secondary tunnel to access the rear of the blockage, assess the structure there, and determine whether the use of explosives was justified to clear the tunnel.

After this team was sent into the mine, very little else of note is recorded. Sometime afterwards there was a third round of seismic activity, severe enough to collapse the entrance tunnel to the mine. Over the course of the next three days, teams above ground worked to remove the rubble covering the entrance, while supervisors and additional workers attempted to contact the team through a telephone cable line run down the secondary access shaft in the maintenance building. On the evening of the third day, just as B.G. Hoadley administrators were preparing to request assistance from other nearby mining groups, an unknown individual emerged from the secondary shaft. The only note made of this event was the following, a telegraph wired to B.G. Hoadley offices in Louisville:

26 8 1944

Mine abandoned. Tunnels remain collapsed. 23 lost.

One of them came up the shaft. We tossed it back down. Wasn't right.

GPE

Addendum 2951.2: 1998 Incident

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On June 4th, 1998, low level seismic activity was detected south of Site-81. A team of Foundation geologists were dispatched to gather more information relating to the event, but were unable to pinpoint the exact location of the disturbance. Anticipating aftershocks, several seismographs were installed in neighboring towns.

On June 16th, a missing person report was filed with local police for Tevin Napier, a 15-year-old student who had disappeared after he and his friends had been trespassing in the abandoned Lemon Quarry. Teams searched the quarry for any sign of Napier, eventually discovering the now unsealed secondary access shaft beneath the dilapidated maintenance building within the quarry.

Secondary access shaft beneath maintenance building.

A search and rescue team was lowered into the shaft, expecting to recover Napier's body. However, initial attempts were unsuccessful due to the sheer depth of the shaft, and teams had to be recalled until longer safety equipment could be obtained. At the time, no records of the depth of the shaft were available, and crews were unaware of the original recorded depth of ~120m. This was disparate from the estimated depth of this shaft by rescue crews, who estimated a depth of ~240m.

When rescue crews eventually descended the full length of the access shaft, there was no evidence of Napier's body. However, crews quickly reported agitation, and a feeling of doubt about their perception of the mine around them. During this expedition, the five-man rescue crew occasionally reported there being seven or eight members of the team, and one member reported that they were in the mine "looking for gold". After 43 minutes within the mine, the team stopped responding to radio communications. Above ground teams quickly began to retract their tether, but found that more tether was being retracted than had gone into the mine. After retracting 400m of tether, the winch was no longer able to do so and was stopped.

At this point, Foundation crews were alerted to the possibility of anomalous activity at the Lemon Quarry, and took control of the rescue efforts under the guise of a federal search and rescue team. Using a more powerful winch system, Foundation personnel were able to retrieve two of the five men, both of whom were still connected to their tethers. The first man, Able Parker, became increasingly agitated and violent above ground, convinced he was still within the mine. The second man, Greg Hamilton, was initially thought to be comatose, but began speaking unintelligibly after twenty minutes above ground. However, the initial rescue team confirmed that the voice Hamilton was speaking with was not his own, but the voice of Jeremy Livingston, another one of the men in the mine. Both men were sedated and moved to Site-81 for analysis.

Of the three other tethers, two returned with clean cuts at their end. The third appeared to have been cut with jagged pieces of rock, and was covered in human blood for 13 meters.

After recovering Parker and Hamilton, Foundation personnel quickly moved to administer amnestics to all involved non-Foundation personnel, as well as develop a cover story for the events which occurred within the mine. Site-81 requisitioned an immediate classification for the mine as SCP-2951, which was granted by the Classification Committee on the 18th of June.

Addendum 2951.3: Exploration Log

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Note: Following the events of June 16th, 1998, Mobile Task Force Trotter-5 "Hell's Heroes" was assigned to further analysis of SCP-2951. Their assigned goals were to assess the anomalous nature of SCP-2951, as well as search for the additional three lost search and rescue crew members and Tevin Napier, who was still missing. The four-man team was to enter SCP-2951 through the secondary access shaft, and spend no longer than forty minutes within the mine.

Picture taken by member of MTF Trotter-5.

[BEGIN LOG]

T5-1: Mics are on.

T5-4: On.

T5-2: Check.

T5-3: On here.

T5-1: Alright. Let's head down. (Pauses) Be careful right here, don't put your foot on that. It's loose.

T5-3: You guys aren't going to let us loose on our way down, are you? (Off-mic laughter, T5-3 laughs) Your paperwork to file, I mean.

T5-2: Come on, Kevin, for fuck's sake.

T5-3: Alright, alright.

(T5 team descends shaft. T5-4 notes depth as they descend. Upon reaching 120m, T5-1 stops.)

T5-2: What's wrong?

T5-1: This is it. What's our depth?

T5-4: 120m.

T5-1: That ain't right. Those state guys said this was more than 200m deep.

T5-2: Maybe there's a jog? Just around that bend over there, maybe it descends some more.

T5-1: You'd think we'd see some hooks around here though, right? From the last guys.

T5-3: Nothing like that. Footprints though, so this is definitely where they were.

T5-1: Turn on your lamps, let's see what's around the corner here.

(Team detaches from tethers, moves to corner away from shaft.)

T5-1: Davies, did you start our clock?

T5-2: I did, back when we hit dirt.

T5-1: Good to hear. Let me know every ten minutes.

T5-2: Yep.

T5-4: Cap, over here. Something on the wall.

T5-3: Tether lines. From where they were rubbing up against the rock. How many are there?

T5-4: Just two.

T5-2: That's weird.

T5-1: Get some pictures, and let's keep going. We don't have a lot of time.

(Team descends lower into the mine. Extraneous dialogue removed from log.)

T5-2: Ten minutes.

T5-1: Huh.

T5-2: What?

T5-1: Feels like it's been longer than that.

T5-2: (Pauses) Clock is working fine, batteries are all juiced up and everything.

T5-1: Just imagining it.

T5-3: Man, it gets really tight up there. This is an access shaft?

T5-1: Yeah. Supposed to connect with the rest of the mine, but it's just an emergency exit. We'll have more room to breathe once we reconnect.

T5-4: We're going to need to go single file.

T5-1: I'll take the head. File in.

(Team begins to move single file through a section of tunnel. Significant time passes, but little discussion is had between team members.)

T5-1: Where are we at on the clock?

T5-2: (Pauses) 17 minutes.

T5-3: That definitely isn't right.

T5-4: Is this a temporal anomaly?

T5-1: By the looks of it. (Pauses) You guys see that?

T5-5: What?

T5-2: Light?

T5-1: Bet that's the rest of the mine. Not much further to go now.

T5-4: I hear something.

T5-3: Probably the wind.

T5-4: No, it's below us. Deep.

T5-2: Might be more seismic activity.

T5-5: That definitely isn't right.

T5-1: Let's get out of this hole, then. A cave in here and we're toast.

(Team moves quickly towards the light in front of them. Passageway begins to open slightly.)

T5-2: Why would there be light down here?

T5-4: Maybe the other rescuers? They had lamps, I think.

T5-2: Yeah, but it's been a few days. They can't be rated for that long.

T5-6: Where are we at on the clock?

T5-2: Uh… 17 minutes.

T5-3: Fuck.

T5-2: This isn't right.

T5-4: How much further?

T5-5: No, it's below us. Deep.

T5-1: Yeah, maybe another twenty meters.

T5-2: Move your asses, boys. I feel funny.

T5-3: If you're gonna throw up, keep it back—

T5-4: Shut up, man.

T5-7: Where are we at?

T5-1: 10 meters.

T5-2: It's like we're getting pinned in—

T5-5: How much further?

T5-3: Fuck!

T5-4: Where are the lights?

T5-1: Hang on. My lamp is out too.

T5-6: Fuck!

T5-2: Something is moving.

T5-5: It's below us. Deep.

T5-1: Can you all calm the fuck down for five seconds.

T5-3: Can't see in the dark, Cap.

T5-1: I've got a lighter.

(Silence. Lighter flickers on.)

T5-1: Alright. This tunnel is blocked.

T5-2: Might be from the seismic activity.

T5-4: No, it's settled. This has been here a while.

T5-1: This tunnel, though—

T5-5: No, it's—

T5-1: This looks pretty clean cut. What do you see down that way?

T5-3: Not much. It just keeps going down.

T5-2: I smell something. Ozone.

T5-1: Yeah, me too. What's our clock at?

T5-3: Something written on the wall here, I can't make it out.

T5-2: 13 minutes.

T5-1: We've been down here too long already.

T5-5: Too long.

T5-3: You want to head back?

T5-1: I'm thinking we need more equipment, maybe more—

T5-6: Too long.

T5-2: I'm fine with that. I don't want to go down there yet.

T5-4: I'll go first this time. Everybody squeeze in.

T5-7: Too long in the fire.

T5-1: Let's go.

(Time passes. Extraneous dialogue removed.)

T5-2: Thank god, I can see again.

T5-3: There's the access shaft.

T5-4: Hang on. Did you say something?

T5-3: No?

T5-4: Who— shit! What are you?

T5-2: There were only four of us, right?

T5-6: There were only four of us, right?

T5-1: Jesus fucking—

T5-7: There were only—

(Gunshot)

T5-5: Too long in the fire, too long in the fire, too long in the fire, too—

T5-1: Fucking shoot the goddamn gun, Daniel, I don't care who it sounds like.

(Gunshot)

T5-6: We've been down here too long already.

(Gunshot)

T5-1: Who the fuck—

T5-3: They're wearing our uniforms, how—

T5-4: That one is smoking, it's on fi—

T5-1: Stand back!

(Violent combustion)

T5-2: What's it saying?

T5-1: Get the fuck do—

(Violent combustion. All recording devices cease function.)

[END LOG]

Note: Following these events, MTF T-5 was removed from the access shaft and given a physical and psychological evaluation. T5-1, -3, and -4 suffered minor lacerations and burns as a result of the explosion, and T5-2 was moved to Site-81 for his injuries.

The three unidentified individuals who attacked the members of MTF T-5 all wore the exact same uniforms and equipment as the other members of the unit, and were confirmed to have exactly mimicked the voices of other team members. This, combined with the low lighting and tight quarters is believed to have contributed to the team members' inability to distinguish exactly how many individuals were with them at the time.

Psychological Evaluation Audio Transcript

Note: The following is the audio transcript from the psychological evaluation of MTF T-5-3.

Dr. Rosstetler: In our analysis of the audio files, we noticed that several times your teammates made note of the anomalous passage of time. Can you confirm this?

T5-3: Yeah, I can. I've been in similar situations, temporal dilations and stuff like that. You start to lose track of time, even when you know a bit is passing by. I don't know how long we were down there, but I think… maybe four hours?

Dr. Rosstetler: Your recorders were active for five hours and thirty-three minutes, agent.

T5-3: Time I'm not going to get back, yeah. How long were we down there up here?

Dr. Rosstetler: Nineteen minutes.

T5-3: Jesus Christ. I take that back, then, I haven't ever been in anything like that.

Dr. Rosstetler: Did you feel any adverse effects, mentally, from the time dilation?

T5-3: Sort of. It's like, soup, I think, when you're in one of those. Your mind starts to feel kind of thick, right? Things happen and they're not really clear, you can't recall exactly when they happened even if they just did, stuff like that. It's disorienting.

Dr. Rosstetler: I see. Did you at any point notice the three individuals we recovered before you reached the access shaft?

T5-3: Recover is a strong word.

Dr. Rosstetler: Their remains, I mean.

T5-3: I still don't get how they got that stuff. They had the name badges and everything, just with the identification scorched off. That's real strange. (Pauses) Notice them… no. In the dark, you know, it was just single file. I was lookin' at Daniel… I mean, I thought I was. But the acoustics were real bad too, couldn't tell where the sound was coming from. Kept hearing him behind me. I guess I was. I don't know, it's like I said; you know things are happening around you and you react to them, but they all just feel… wrong.

Dr. Rosstetler: I see.

T5-3: They never found that kid, did they? He never came out later?

Dr. Rosstetler: No.

T5-3: Ah, shit. (Pauses) What about Davies?

Dr. Rosstetler: (Silence)

T5-3: Armin, come on, you know—

Dr. Rosstetler: He still hasn't said anything, Kevin. Opened his mouth a few times, but nothing's come out. Doesn't even look at you.

T5-3: Goddammit.

Dr. Rosstetler: (Pauses) Do you want an amnestic? I can have something ordered for you, or—

T5-3: Nah. If I'm still dreaming about that thing screaming at me with my own voice in a month, I'll let you order it.

Addendum 2951.4: Interview with Gorman P. Ellis

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Following the events recorded in Addendum 2951.3, Foundation research personnel began to collect data about the Lemon Quarry and the mine there. This proved to be difficult, as the original B.G. Hoadley company had folded nearly forty years prior and all company records were presumed destroyed. Additionally, the potentially anomalous nature of Kervier International2 made accessing their records difficult. However, a recovered contact list within an abandoned B.G. Hoadley office in nearby Bedford allowed Foundation investigators to contact a Mr. Gorman P. Ellis, an elderly and retired B.G. Hoadley investigator.

Mr. Ellis was cooperative when contacted, and met with Foundation investigators. It was during this interview that Foundation personnel were alerted to the information held by Kervier administrator J. Howard Barnes, which was later collected and assessed as part of the investigation. The following is the audio transcript of an interview conducted by Agent Young with Mr. Ellis.

[BEGIN LOG]

Young: We appreciate you meeting with us, Mr. Ellis. We promise we won't take much of your time.

Ellis: That's fine, that's fine.

Young: What can you tell us about your time at B.G. Hoadley?

Ellis: Well, I hired in as a day laborer, just like my father had. He was a foreman with the company when I was a boy, so was my uncle, James Ellis. My uncle was an associate of Mr. Hoadley and Mr. Hedgewater, both big limestone men back in the 30s and 40s. I worked for Hedgewater for a while at United Limestone, and transferred to Hoadley just before my father retired, as a foreman myself.

Young: Which sites were you assigned to during your time with the company?

Ellis: Well let's see… there was the Springville site up north, and another near Orleans off of 37. Worked both of them for a fair few years. Then we opened up the big site west of Mitchell, and I was there until I retired.

Young: Do you know anything about the Lemon site, in Guthrie?

Ellis: I suppose I do.

Young: Did you ever work there?

Ellis: No, can't say I did. That was, ah… Ron Pitts, I think. Just an acquaintance, not somebody I knew all that well.

Young: Do you know—

Ellis: Actually, now that you mention it, I did spend some time at Lemon. Just… hard to remember. I went with a team of boys to clean up after they shut it down. There was an earthquake, see, collapsed some of the tunnels. Said it wasn't geologically sound.

Young: Something wrong?

Ellis: I always thought that was a bit queer. We don't get earthquakes around here. All that limestone, you know, dampens the shakes from down south or somewhere else.

Young: Did they tell you anything else about that mine?

Ellis: Oh, it was such a long time ago now. We just had to move some machinery, load it onto trucks and move it down south. I don't think I ever spoke to any of the foremen there. They were mostly outside men at that point anyway, just using Hoadley equipment.

Young: I see. What about the collapse? Were there ever any casualties?

Ellis: I think they, uh… lost a few boys, but I can't say for sure. That would happen then, you know. Weren't as careful as they are now, I reckon. Even so, it wasn't something that was talked about much.

Young: Our records indicate that B.G. Hoadley sold that mine to Kervier shortly after the collapse. Is there any reason you can think of why they'd do that?

Ellis: Hmmmmm… no, can't say why. United had bought a few, but usually part of some deal to open up another mine. Kervier wasn't from around here, they were out of state. Not real common for a group like that to buy up a mine, especially one as small as Lemon.

Young: I see. Anything else you'd like to add, Mr. Ellis?

Ellis: See if you can get a hold of a gentleman named… ah, let me think. Was it Jim? Jeff? Anyway, Barnes was his last name. He was a bit older than me, so he might've passed away by now, but he was involved in that cleanup, I think. He was Hedgewater's contact with Kervier when I worked for them, and I'd spoken to him a few times. Decent enough fellow, he might be able to tell you a little more.

Young: Thank you sir, I—

Ellis: You know… I've been thinking. There was something else about that cleanup that seemed so peculiar. We came in with about a dozen guys to get those machines loaded up, but there were another dozen or so there from Kervier who were cleaning up their stuff, and maybe five or six more Hoadley men doing the same. Quietest job we ever worked. I don't know if a single one of them said anything to us the entire time we were there.

[END LOG]

Addendum 2951.5: Collected Personal Correspondence of J. Howard Barnes

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Close Addendum

Jeremiah,

I don't know if you've heard yet, but there was an incident at the Guthrie mine. A cave in triggered by some earthquake. There are twenty or so boys trapped down in there. They're trying to get a team to move the rubble, but it's not going well.

Thought you should know, in case you need to call the lawyers. I'll try to call out of the office tomorrow.

Best,

Trent

Jeremiah, a bunch of suits showed up today asking about the cave in. We don't know if they're lawyers or what, but they kept asking real queer questions. Wanted to listen to the rocks and stuff at the cave in, like they was trying to hear something. You know anything about this?

Nate Wabash

Mr. Barnes,

Our organization has recently purchased the rights to the Guthrie Lemon Quarry, and are interested in any information you might have about it. A representative of ours will be in your area within the next week, and would love to speak with you about it, as well as about opportunities within our organization you may be interested in.

Yours truly,

David P. Whitinger

Kervier International

I saw it myself, Jeremiah. I saw something that was like a man crawl out of that hole. It smoked and burned and cried out in another's voice. It was a thing pulled straight from the Pit itself, I have no doubt.

That man from Geist said as much himself, that the pillars that support the world will crack and crumble, and the foundation will become loose. What lies below will become accessible, and its might will fall upon the meek. I saw it with my own eyes, I know it is true.

I still hear its words, Jeremiah. "Ten thousand years." Screaming like a wild dog, shrieking like it was cornered. "Ten thousand years in the fire."

Addendum 2951.6: Collected Correspondence from Gorman P. Ellis

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On April 19th, 2003, the aforementioned Mr. Gorman P. Ellis passed away. Due to his person of interest status, Foundation personnel moved to seize his assets for further analysis. The following is a letter, believed to be penned by Mr. Ellis, to an unknown recipient concerning SCP-2951.

It was twenty-three in total. Twenty-three of those poor boys got stuck behind that wall. We could hear them for days, shouting behind those rocks while we sat around on our asses and did nothing.

Have you ever been down in a mine during a blackout, Kim? Let me tell you about it. First there is a moment of panic, when everybody scrambles to figure out what's going on. Then, as things calm down, you try to get your eyes adjusted to the dark around you. But you never get adjusted, because there's nothing to see. It's not like dark at night, where you can see stars and the moon, or a streetlight. There is no light in a mine during a blackout. There's nothing to see down there.

Then you start to hear things. Some boys will hear voices, or animals, or any number of things that just aren't there. Some will wander off and get lost, they won't follow the ropes back up. Some will fall in a shaft or into a crevice, and you'll never see them again. Then it gets real quiet.

I got to see that tunnel they found before the cave-in. Very queer, Kim. Didn't look dug by tools, not proper. Didn't even have time to string up lights in it, to see where it went. I don't know what's down there. Anyway, all I'm saying is, I haven't thought much about Hell but I sure think we deserve it. Whatever happens to those boys, as long as they’re down there, is our fault. It's our fault for doing nothing.

And the dark changes people.

Footnotes

1. Which is uncommon in southern Indiana, largely due to the solid limestone foundation and lack of fault lines in the area.

2. Who was under investigation for possible Group of Interest status at the time.