PeppersGhost

SCP-5704 - Digital Corruption by PeppersGhost

Item#: 5704

Containment Class: euclid

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: keneq

Risk Class: danger

Photograph taken at the moment SCP-5704 was bound to its current host.

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5704 is to remain bound to its current host, Walter Scheefer, who is to reside at Site-181. Mr. Scheefer has been granted provisional access to unrestricted areas of the facility, but must provide advance notice so as to ensure personnel are vacated from the requested location. A suitable replacement host is to be kept on-site at all times in the event Mr. Scheefer should expire.

SCP-5704 must be further confined in no fewer than three layers of cotton socks, replaced daily. For their own physical and spiritual wellbeing, personnel are to maintain distance from Mr. Scheefer's quarters while SCP-5704 is redressed.

Description: SCP-5704 is an intelligent spectral entity composed entirely of coalescent human malice. SCP-5704 induces instantaneous and irreversible psychosis in living subjects who view it directly; however, it is safe to view SCP-5704 indirectly via recorded media, in which it visually presents as an undulating cloud of fuchsia mist.

SCP-5704 exudes an invisible aura of malevolent energy which inspires fear and dread among living beings. These sensations escalate proportionally with proximity: a distance of ~50m rarely provokes more than an underlying sense of uneasiness, whereas subjects within <5m are likely to respond with abject terror.

SCP-5704 is generally intangible, but may condense itself at will and merge with the flesh of a living creature. Any biological matter corrupted by the presence of SCP-5704 will fall under its control and exhibit the same mind-affecting properties as its intangible form. Thaumaturgic markers indicate that SCP-5704 will only revert to incorporeality after the death of the flesh it is bound to.

SCP-5704 was ritually awakened in 2011 by a religious cult known as the Children of Carfax1 who had intended to harness its power to achieve global conquest. Upon its invocation, SCP-5704 entered the body of Walter Scheefer, a non-cultist who had been kidnapped to serve as an unwilling host. However, the condensed mass of SCP-5704 only sufficed to possess the outermost toe of Mr. Scheefer's left foot. Beset with disappointment and inadvertently-induced madness, the cult quickly collapsed. SCP-5704 and the remaining cult members were taken into Foundation custody shortly thereafter.

Addendum: Excerpt from Mr. Scheefer's most recent psychiatric evaluation, conducted via Zoom.

[BEGIN LOG]

Dr. Loehr: You seem to be doing well. Are you no longer affected by the entity's aura?

Scheefer: Oh, it's still there. Definitely still there. Yeah. I'm just getting used to it. The first few nights, I think— I don't think I slept. Every day I just thought, "this is bad." But now when I feel all the, uh, the evil comin' off it, it's just— I think, "well, this is the way it is."

Dr. Loehr: I'm glad to hear you're coping. Sleeping any better now?

Scheefer: Oh yeah. Yeah. I sleep decent these days. Course, the thing's up all hours wiggling. Little britches got a mind of its own, you know. But now with those— those straps I got for it, it's just a little wiggle. Little twitch. Little spasm. Can't complain. The, uh, the evil is worse, but I sleep. I sleep fine. It's… it is how it is.

Dr. Loehr: Sometimes a good night's rest can work wonders. How are your dreams?

Scheefer: I don't dream much. Haven't ever dreamed much though, so that's not unusual. Sometimes I think I can hear it, the toe, a-whisperin' out in the dark. You know, at night. When I'm tryin' to sleep. Or maybe it's all in my dreams. Maybe not. But it whispers.

Dr. Loehr: What kind of things does it whisper to you?

Scheefer: Just… nasty things. Evil things.

Dr. Loehr: Could you give me an example?

Scheefer: Not really. See, it's more of the tone of the whisperin'. The attitude. Can't actually make a word out through all those socks. But 'sides all that, uh, life as usual, I suppose.

[END LOG]

Footnotes

1. According to the cult's religious texts, Carfax is the true name of SCP-5704. The fact SCP-5704 shares its name with a popular automotive data service is generally believed to be a coincidence, though a possible connection between the company and the cult continues to be the subject of investigation.