Item #: SCP-1044

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1044 is to be surrounded at all possible access points by signs in English and French warning of falling rocks, avalanches, landmines and dangerous animals. The area should be kept under periodic aerial surveillance and at least one member of personnel will be available on short notice to further discourage any non-personnel who choose to ignore the warnings.

Description: SCP-1044 is located in a small, uninhabited valley in the Alpine region of France, located at ██████°N, ██████°E and measuring approximately 1.2km across and 0.6km wide at its broadest point.

The properties of SCP-1044 were first encountered in 1968, after rumours of unusual sounding echoes began to spread through the local area. These reports ranged from the valley producing echoes that talked back, to [DATA EXPUNGED].

While the reported phenomena were widely dismissed as urban legend by local authorities, researchers were dispatched on 03/06/20██ to determine their veracity. The following are partial transcripts of the three investigations carried out over the course of the following two years:

Experiment 1044-1

Researcher A███: How should we begin?

Researcher F██████: Perhaps 'hello?'

Researcher A███: [speaking loudly] Hello?

Researcher F██████: I didn't get that. Try louder.

Researcher A███: [shouting] Hello?

SCP-1044: [Researcher A███'s voice, in a manner resembling an echo] Goodbye.

Researcher F██████: Did you hear that? That was 'Good-'

Researcher A███: I got it. Let me try something else. [shouting] Is anybody down there?

SCP-1044: [In the same manner as previous] Is anybody up here?

Researcher F██████: [shouting] Yes.

SCP-1044: [As an echo of Researcher F██████'s voice] No.

Researcher A███: Hold on. Try that again, as loud as possible.

Researcher F██████: [shouting louder] Yes.

SCP-1044: No.

SCP-1044: [identically to Researcher F██████'s shout] Yes.

Researcher A███: If the first echo is contradicting you, is the second echo contradicting the first echo?

Researcher F██████: Or the second echo was just my own echo, coming through late.

Researcher A███: Let's continue.

Experiment 1044-2

Note: Henceforth it can be assumed that the responses of SCP-1044 are heard in the form of an echo, in the same voice as the person who made the initial statement.

Researcher F██████: [shouting] Dog.

SCP-1044: Dog.

Dr. C████: I suppose there is no opposite statement to dog.

Researcher F██████: Cat?

Dr. C████: Not a true opposite. The phenomenon appears to follow a consistent logic. Observe: [shouting] I am a man.

SCP-1044: I am not a man.

Researcher F██████: And so, rather than echoing 'I am a woman,' it attempts to relay the logical opposite.

Dr. C████: It is not yet clear that it has the awareness required to attempt anything.

Researcher F██████: What about the 'hello?' from the previous experiment? The echo said 'goodbye.'

Dr. C████: It would make sense, possibly, that a statement of parting ways is logically opposite to a statement of greeting.

Researcher F██████: Maybe. Or it is not as logically infallible as we think.

Dr. C████: Suggesting what, precisely?

Experiment 1044-3

[DATA EXPUNGED]

Analyses of the audio transcripts of the experiments all conclude that SCP-1044 is an echo, localised to a single valley, that directly contradicts the speaker wherever logical contradiction of a statement or question is possible. Where multiple echoes are heard, each subsequent echo will contradict the previous.

In the later experiments, attempts were made to test SCP-1044 by calling out self-contradictory statements such as 'This sentence is false.' This invariably resulted in [DATA EXPUNGED]. Future experiments are to avoid such attempts.