by Quicksilvers

Anomaly №: SCP-6257

Anomaly Class: Neutralized-provisi

Anomaly Containment Procedures: Foundation webcrawlers and various AICs are to consistently analyze and scan various public internet forums regarding conspiracy theories and supernatural phenomena, including but not limited to 4chan's /x/ board, various Reddit sub-forums, and the Parawatch.net forum system.

Researchers are to manually analyze archived Parawatch correspondences in order to attempt to pinpoint the exact vector in which SCP-6257 spreads, as well as attempting to discover SCP-6257 itself.

Staff involved in studying and reconstructing events regarding SCP-6257 are to have counselling and therapy readily available if needed. Out of respect, the candles are to remain lit.

Anomaly Description: SCP-6257 is currently hypothesized to be a memetic or cognitohazardous antimeme that deletes itself after reaching a currently unknown threshold of infected humans. When SCP-6257 is perceived by a human subject, said subject's neurological makeup will undergo a painless, instantaneous restructuring that will make them permanently resistant to all methods of invasive memory-alteration.1 Once SCP-6257 deletes itself, those who perceived it become unable to recall what SCP-6257 itself consists of, with memories of its makeup being either missing or unattainable. SCP-6257's effects do not alter the natural pliability of one's memories over time by organic internal means, such as general forgetfulness and neurodegenerative diseases.2

Addendum 6257.1: Initial Infection and Discovery

Due to the transpiring of significant world events, along with moments of global economic instability, Foundation staff had been unable to consistently update and maintain the security and encryption of SCiPNET servers. On 8 June 2020 at 5:04 AM, an unauthorized entity was able to bypass multiple firewalls and security protocols, granting them access to a cache of SCP files that were backed up onto several isolated servers. Most documents on these servers consisted of SCP files that were written and catalogued during the Foundation's former "Information Lockdown" period,3 though there were three files that were of Level 4 clearance.

The entity was quickly isolated and locked out of the database, with a small team of agents and computer scientists being tasked to determine the origin of the attack and the identity of the entity itself. Before the source could be located, the series of SCP files that were accessed were all posted to the Parawatch forums. The mass post remained online for 28 minutes and 41 seconds before being removed by Foundation webcrawler Watchman.aic.4 The exact number of subjects that witnessed the information breach is still currently unknown, estimated between 30 and 60 individuals.

The research team assigned to identify the threat quickly changed objectives, now attempting to locate and identify as many exposed Parawatch members as possible. Within the span of two days, 25 forum members that viewed the information breach were located, with amnesticization teams dispatched to each of their residences. It was swiftly discovered by the deployed MTFs that none of the subjects were responding to the administered amnestics, leading to the detainment and interviewing of the 25 individuals. The interviews conducted along with amnestic treatments revealed that they had all been exposed to SCP-6257 when it had been uploaded to a significant main thread in the Parawatch forums on 29 February 2020. Foundation analytical models estimate that between 1,500 to 3,000 individuals across the globe were exposed to SCP-6257.

Those detained were given a cover story of a mass-media alternate reality game before being released.

Addendum 6257.2: Meeting Tapes

Three members of the Parawatch forums were able to evade Foundation containment efforts, organizing in secret in an empty warehouse on the outskirts of Potsdam, New York. These members were Michael Dodderson, Caitlin Reed, and Jacob Sato, with Sato recording their sessions on a Jensen portable cassette recorder. Important undamaged segments have been provided below.

+ TAPE 01

- Hide transcript

Dodderson: -don't really understand why we even have to wear them. If anything, it's just the government's attempts to muzzle us and shut us up from speaking out against their regime.

Reed: Oh, just shut the fuck up about it for once and wear it. I, for one, don't want your stupidity to get me thrown in an ER unit, and besides, this is infinitely more important than that.

Dodderson: Ugh, Christ, alright, alright, I'll put it on. But the moment that we all get out of here I'm tossing this in the trash.

Sato: Both of you, please, just calm down. We need to try and make sure that this shit isn't some sort of practical joke or stupid ARG.

Reed: Well, there isn't a lot to go off of, really. You both saw how much of the files were completely blacked out. Makes sense, too - if I were these guys, I'd also be snipping out as much info as possible to make this stuff basically untraceable.

Dodderson: So you didn't find anything? Then why are we even here?

Reed: Well, that's the thing. I did find something.

(Pause.)

(There's a rustling of paper.)

Reed: In mid-March of 2009, a series of massive highway pileups were reported, claiming the lives of around 140 people. Despite the grizzly photos of each scene, there wasn't actually many traces of blood in any of them. Add onto that that no matter how hard I searched, I couldn't find a single photo of a victim's body, and believe me, I looked. They're all listed as deceased but there isn't evidence that any of their remains were recovered.

Sato: So you're saying that all these people just vanished?

Reed: Don't worry, I'm getting to that. So, these pileups all happened on the same day and they have all the same traits - no bodies but massive amounts of detritus. I decided to try mapping it all out and it turned out that it's all in a straight fucking line, heading from the Nevada desert straight into rural fucking Louisiana.

Dodderson: Holy shit… do you think it's…

Reed: It might be. The line ended at where a town used to be - again, the news stated that it was destroyed in some kind of gas leak that basically blitzed the entire area, upping the total body count to around 310, but when I looked into it-

Dodderson: -there were no bodies.

Reed: Exactly.

(Pause.)

Sato: It's really out there, but… we're all on the same page with… with this… right?

(Pause.)

+ TAPE 02

- Hide transcript

Dodderson: So, with what other people mentioned on the subreddit for the college, there have been reports of the entire hallway being cleared out for repairs, though this happens way more often then repairs could call for. The college board claimed that it was due to that wing falling into disarray and structural collapse, but locals say that it was built in the 80s, meaning that it should for all intents and purposes still be structurally safe. Hell, there are people in the town that worked on the building themselves, and they claim that the plans were just fine at the time.

Reed: Mike, are you really sure that this isn't just about some stupid code violation that was underlooked?

Dodderson: Well, if it was that, then how would it explain the sightings of men in black? They're usually spotted with someone in orange janitorial gear-

+ TAPE 03

- Hide transcript

Reed: -anything about the oozeball?

Sato: Well I did look through funeral home records at the time, and I couldn't find much? What was interesting is that one funeral home in Oakland burned down after, again, some sort of gas main exploded.

Reed: Anything significant that could tie the incident back to the thing?

Sato: Well, officials did say that some of the survivors showed signs of what appeared to be shell shock? That and there was a small detail, something about a kid and his toy being lost in the blaze?

(A long pause. It lasts for over a minute.)

Dodderson: None of them really deserved what they got, didn't they.

Addendum 6257.3: Journal Entry

Found on the personal blog of Jacob Sato.

9/30/2020

I don't really know what to think. There's this chance that we've all found something so much bigger than all of us, and I don't really know what to think.

Mike is over the moon - he's overjoyed that there's a chance that the theories he bought into his whole life all have ground now. Caitlin is anxious. I can see the cogs in her brain turning whenever we talk about our investigations, but there's this underlying anxiety that is bubbling behind her eyes. She's afraid. She's afraid that we've crossed the point of no return.

Mike keeps saying that we have to tell someone, that we have to go out there and show the world the reality of everything. He speaks in this grandiose way that sounds like a presidential speech, and while I can fully admire his courage, we always have to talk him down. None of us want to be hunted down for this, and even then, nobody will really believe us.

At least, I hope they won't believe us.

Caitlin is afraid, Mike is excited, and I feel nothing. How novel.

Mike found a building that he fully thinks might be an old facility run by these people. He says it was abandoned in 1998 and that there might be a chance that there are old files left behind that we can look into. His reasoning is that if they were so sloppy with their coverups, they have to have been a little sloppy with their evacuation. Caitlin and I keep saying that going in there is a bad idea, but I think we both know that there's no way we can hold back Mike. That and we both know that we really do not want him going there alone. We convinced him to wait a little so we can prepare ourselves.

I haven't told Erin any of this. It's not worth getting him involved. I just hope it will all be over soon.

Addendum 6257.4: Recovery

On 15 October 2020, a 911 call was dispatched from the cell phone of Caitlin Reed. The call was intercepted and recorded by Earworm.aic due to a geographical trigger. It is transcribed as follows:

Operator: 911, what's your emergency?

Reed: Yes! Yes, it connected - we need help, we need people here right now, PLEASE!

Operator: Alright, ma'am, where are you?

Reed: We're in the old Dawson complex near Adirondack Park! Ambulance, police, please anyone you can! (Voice distant, as if farther away from the receiver) Stay with me, for god's sake Jacob stay with me.

Operator: Ma'am, is someone injured?

Reed: Yes, yes, we have an injury, his name is Jacob Sato, and he got bit by that fucking, the- he's-

Operator: Okay miss, deep breaths for me. Where is the wound?

Reed: (Frantic) He's bleeding, there's an open wound on the side of his neck - there's so much blood and I think he's having trouble breathing.

(There is a growl heard nearby.)

Reed: (Whimpering) Oh god. It got back up.

(There is a shrill scream followed by a crash.)

Operator: Miss? Miss, are you there?

[CALL ENDS]

Sato's tapes were discovered at the scene, with the tape transcribed below found inside his damaged cassette recorder.

+ TAPE 04

- Hide transcript

Dodderson: L-listen, I know that you're probably going to find this, and that means you're probably going to listen to this, and that m-means… well fuck, I don't know what that means. All I know, all that w-we know is that you're watching, you're always watching, and you know about the things in the world that we shouldn't know about a-and you hide them away and you rewrite our thoughts an-and you make sure that we-

(There is a shrill scream and a loud crash.)

Dodderson: (Calling out) CAITLIN?! CAIT, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!

(There is a wet tearing sound.)

Dodderson: (Hyperventilating, whispering) H-her name is Caitlin Reed. She was married to a man named Richard Franke, they have a daughter, sh-she's only three and her name is Riley and Cait always talks about how much she loves her and how she can't wait to see her go to kindergarten. Her favorite TV sh-show is Law and Order SVU and she goes out shopping every Friday.

(There's a shuffling in the background. It is quiet, almost calculated.)

Dodderson: His name is Jacob Sato. He's a college undergraduate at Columbia University studying physics. He's going to go on a date t-tomorrow with his boyfriend, out for Thai food, he's really happy about it. He says it's going to be their one-year anniversary. He hopes that they'll move in together soon. His favorite color is green, like pine needles.

(The shuffling sound grows louder. There are multiple sets of clicks on the floor, sounding like claws.)

Dodderson: M-my name is Michael Dodderson. My mom and dad died three years ago. I have an older sister that lives in Michigan and my favorite food is… is…

(The shuffling sound stops.)

(Silence.)

Dodderson: I don't want to die.

(There's a loud crash as the tape recorder is thrown against a hard surface. The rest of the audio is irretrievable.)

When the authorities arrived, they were able to successfully kill the American black bear that attacked the three. The victims were lost in the process.

The former Site-11 has been fully decommissioned and destroyed, with many others across the world being decommissioned as well for the safety of the public.

Jacob Sato, Caitlin Reed, and Michael Dodderson each have a plaque that hangs in the Site-19 memorial wing. There is a single candle underneath each plaque that is not allowed to go out, and the candles are to be replaced regularly. There is a handwritten note taped to the wall next to one of the candles. It reads as follows:

For those we failed to protect.

Footnotes

1. This includes but is not limited to all currently-known amnestic treatments, anomalous memory implantation, and anomalous memory removal.

2. It is currently unknown if SCP-6257 infection affects memories when a subject suffers head trauma and/or various concussive brain injuries. Requests for experiments regarding this query have been permanently denied by the Ethics Committee.

3. An unofficial label coined by Senior Researcher Edwin Ergot, the Information Lockdown period occurred from approx. 1979-2011, in which the Foundation would commonly censor, redact, or remove significant information, details, and locations in order to preserve both essential knowledge and remove key identifiers that could result in an informational breach.

4. The delayed response was due to multiple Foundation AIC servers being put on standby, with those left working at 65% efficiency. This was once again due to the reasons stated above.