Item #: SCP-2861

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Instances of SCP-2861-1 are to remain on the premises of the cemetery. A perimeter has been established around said premises and is to be patrolled hourly by Foundation security personnel on rotating 8-hour shifts. Any unauthorized individuals attempting to enter the cemetery are to be turned away and given the explanation of an ongoing grounds refurbishment project.

The groundskeeper's cottage and visitor center on the cemetery premises have been re-purposed for Foundation use. At least three Level-3 containment specialists are to remain on the cemetery grounds; additional personnel and heavy equipment vehicle support may be requested from any nearby Foundation sites. All personnel assigned to SCP-2861 must have prior training for administering emergency treatment of psychological trauma.

As of ██/██/████, all interred coffins on the cemetery premises have been equipped with digital pressure sensors and are under observation via an infrared camera network. Upon either of these systems indicating atypical activity below-ground, personnel are to immediately exhume the coffin at the corresponding location. Any individuals, alive or dead, recovered as a result are to be transported to the medical section of the Foundation-modified visitor center for further inspection and care.

Description: SCP-2861 is a phenomenon affecting the ████████ Cemetery located in ██████, the Netherlands, involving living human individuals spontaneously appearing in coffins buried at the graveyard. Affected coffins are designated as instances of SCP-2861-1, and are noted to cease exhibiting SCP-2861 effects upon removal from their corresponding gravesite.1

Carbon dating indicates that SCP-2861-1 instances were created during the 18th and 19th centuries. The coffins are plainly-crafted from oak and pine wood, and possess no external ornamentation; the interior of the coffins are similarly plain and have no cushioning material. All SCP-2861-1 instances have been noted to be stamped with icons imitating existing commercial leisure travel agency logos. None of the agency names present on these icons are consistent with any known travel companies.

The first five SCP-2861-1 instances were initially retrieved after a cemetery caretaker contacted local police authorities to report hearing "yelling and banging" from certain gravesites. In the following Foundation intervention, containment specialists discovered an extremely distressed, though medically stable, woman2 within one of the coffins. The remaining reported gravesites were searched, and four bodies of recently-deceased individuals were recovered from coffins also containing partially-decomposed remains of those originally interred. To determine the extent of the anomaly manifestation, █ additional gravesites were exhumed, but the coffins removed possessed no remarkable contents.

Since the Foundation's initial observation of the SCP-2861 anomaly in 1980, human individuals have continued to spontaneously appear within instances of SCP-2861-1, often exhibiting various levels of mental distress. All of the individuals involved report having no memory of the circumstances preceding their appearing in SCP-2861-1, though in nearly every recorded case, the individuals involved were clothed in sleepwear or similarly light garments. Additionally, in some instances, small objects similar to free hotel amenity items3 have been discovered tucked into SCP-2861 victims' clothing. Attempts to trace these products to a supplier are ongoing.

Addendum 2861-1: Of all current survivors4, Mr. Jacob Van Dijk (34 years old at time of recovery) has been deemed the most lucid. Mr. Van Dijk was recovered from the seventh instance of SCP-2861-1 to manifest, and was noted to have possessed an unusually calm demeanor during the initial extraction from the SCP-2861-1 instance, despite his having been transported into a coffin already occupied by a newly-buried corpse.

Dr. de Graaf, the medical personnel member assigned to oversee Mr. Van Dijk's therapy sessions, is currently researching Mr. Van Dijk's atypical restraint in relation to other case studies involving SCP-2861.

Addendum 2861-2: Currently, all known survivors of SCP-2861 anomaly manifestations have exhibited behaviors believed to be consistent with DSM-5 diagnoses of Schizotypal personality disorder5. While attempted regularly, interviews with survivors capable of coherent speech do not often yield actionable data. (See Interview Log 2861-██-████ for a case excerpt.)

Interview Log 2861-██-████

Note: This interview was conducted in Dutch and has been translated into English.

Interviewer: Dr. Martijn de Graaf

Interviewee: Mr. Jacob Van Dijk, retrieved from SCP-2861-██ on ██/██/████

Dr. de Graaf: Is the level of light to your preference, Mr. Jacobs?

Mr. Van Dijk: It is a little too bright.

Dr. de Graaf: If the lights are any dimmer you will not be able to see anything.

Mr. Van Dijk: Yes. I miss that, truthfully. Closing my eyes helps me remember, but it is not quite the same.

Dr. de Graaf: The same as what?

Mr. Van Dijk: The same as sleeping like the dead. It was an experience. Like the most expensive spa.

Dr. de Graaf: What do you think about when you close your eyes?

Mr. Van Dijk: The graveyard.6

Dr. de Graaf: You wish to return there?

Mr. Van Dijk: It is the most peaceful place that I know of. I am not surprised they were upset if some people did not like it. Maybe I will return on the next holiday.

Dr. de Graaf: I understand. We will do our best to accommodate you.

Mr. Van Dijk: Please put me back there sometime. It was so comfortable and quiet.

+ Authorized personnel only.

- Security clearance accepted.

When the cemetery premises' basement used for embalming no longer offered sufficient space for the number of individuals affected by SCP-2861, a new facility was constructed to serve as a space for psychiatric treatment. To the public, this building is explained as being a private crematorium for members of an undisclosed family.

Thus far, no common or Foundation-developed treatments have permanently improved the mental health of SCP-2861 victims. Currently, the method that has received the most consistently positive reaction involves allowing the patients to sleep in specially-designed wall cavities lined with dirt.

Note from Dr. de Graaf: The patients seem to respond best to someone else (or an automated system) letting them out after they are done sleeping. They prefer not to rely on themselves to choose when to get up.

Addendum 2861-3: Trace samples of DNA, most commonly bloodstains and fragments of human fingernails, have been recovered from the woodwork of SCP-2861-1 instances. Carbon dating of these remains reveals that the oldest samples are estimated to be nearly 200 years old, while the most recent are dated at approximately 1970. In █ cases, genetic material from more than one individual was recovered from a single instance of SCP-2861-1.

As of ██/██/████, the Foundation has recovered ██ individuals, living and newly-deceased, from SCP-2861-1 instances. It has been noted that consistently throughout these cases, those who suffered asphyxiation had panicked and damaged the corresponding coffin, while the survivors left the contents of their coffins undisturbed.

Words carved into the coffin wood by victims of SCP-2861 have, as recently as ██/██/████, been accompanied by text etched into the wood reading, "Uw zorgen zijn genoteerd."7

Footnotes

1. Experimental data indicates that re-interring formerly-exhumed SCP-2861-1 instances does not cause the anomalous effects to re-manifest. Discussion is ongoing regarding the feasibility of removing all coffins from the cemetery.

2. Later confirmed to be 21-year-old Lily ████████. Further information on the individual's psychological state is currently unavailable, pending psychiatric treatment at the ████ clinic and Ms. ████████ regaining her ability to communicate verbally.

3. Examples include small bottles of garlic-scented liquid soap, packets of unbranded tea mixed with leek stems, and cellophane-wrapped mints containing pieces of fennel.

4. In the majority of recorded cases, victims of SCP-2861 expired from asphyxiation before Foundation personnel were able to reach them, despite all efforts to exhume graves quickly.

5. Characterized by, among other symptoms, strange beliefs or magical thinking and abnormal perceptual experiences.

6. Translated from "De begraafplaats", though the semantic equivalent is, "the place in which people are put underground".

7. Rough translation from Dutch, "Your concerns are noted."