Item#: 7232

Containment Class: euclid

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: dark

Risk Class: notice

SCP-7232-A

Special Containment Procedures: Agents have been placed around the SCP-7232-1 event site to monitor the actions of SCP-7232. Research within the Department of Spectral Phenomena to search for a method of neutralizing future SCP-7232-1 events is ongoing.

At this time, the SCP-7232 entity has been relegated to being an urban legend for the region. Threat to the veil of secrecy is minimal.

Description: SCP-7232 is a Class 2-1-Null Spectral Entity (Poltergeist - Preta - Anchored), which has anchored to SCP-7232-A. The entity responds to the name 'Áine McGuinness' and research has shown this specter to be a young girl whose death was suspected of involving foul play. Researchers from the Department of Spectral Phenomena agree this was most likely the case due to the state of the -A entity’s appearance and the esoteric markings found etched into her incorporeal form. Through further study of those symbols by Foundation researchers, it has been concluded that 7232 had been involved in some form of ritual death.

SCP-7232-A is a member of the Quercus Robur species of deciduous trees found heavily within the Appalachian mountain range–colloquially known as ‘The English Oak’. The object is located in the dilapidated remains of a small mountain community from the early 19-century. Research indicates a small, rural community was established near 7232-A, dating puts the founding to the mid-18th-century, and collapsed shortly after the origination of the 7232-1 manifestation events, dated to 1886. While the town itself is deserted, SCP-7232-A has been a popular location for children and young adults from the surrounding area to venture into due to its ‘haunted’ nature. While SCP-7232-A appears to be completely non-anomalous, it annually becomes the site of a level 2 incorporeal manifestation event on the night of October 31st.

Two journals have been recovered from the town. The first is weather-worn and has been rendered mostly illegible. Careful study has revealed it belonged to 'Father Whatley' and contains a few mentions of ‘The Children’, but no further useful information has been found.

Due to being bundled and hidden in a nook, the second journal was protected from the elements and proved far more valuable. Research has gleaned it belonged to a villager only known as ‘Lady Agora’. Here we find our only account of the events that lead to the manifestation of SCP-7232.

Journal of Lady Agora, 31st of October, In The Year of Our Lord, 1886

This night, the Devil and his horde truly were free to have their way with our small town. It began with shouting from within the church, followed by the sounds of a scuffle, and finished with gunfire on those holy grounds. Sheriff Drake was the first to enter the church, and there he found the beaten, bloody, and broken bodies of Father Whatley and those Thomas boys, James and John, resting at the foot of the steps up to the chancel. Above them, at the altar, Gofraidh McGuinness was kneeling and deep in prayer. Rumors have been abuzz in the community that those Thomas boys were involved in those evil acts done upon Gofraidh’s daughter, that darling Áine. And that new preacher, Father Whatley, certainly is no stranger to gossip. But those rumors were nothing in the face of the truth of what Gofraidh had done this night, right in the house of God Himself.

Gofraidh had offered no resistance when he was taken, bound, and hauled out of the church. The mob proceeded to escort Gofraidh down the main street and up that hill at the edge of town, where that lone oak tree stood as if a guardian over our small community. This night, the mighty tree was defiled as Gofraidh was summarily judged and sentenced to such a cruel death. As a noose was fitted around his neck and the method of execution was prepared, Gofraidh appeared resolute in the face of death, as if not even our Lord would judge him for his brutal actions. Gofraidh only broke his stoic manners when his wife, Fionnuala, came upon the scene and was pointed out by Edith Thomas, who, in her grief, was hollering for the poor woman's death as well. It was then that Gofraidh finally spoke, screaming to all gathered that Fionnuala was innocent and the crime solely his. His pleas fell upon deaf ears as the crowd turned on Fionnuala, with Gofraidh crying out for her to flee.

With the mob moving to descend upon Fionnuala and the proceedings turning to pandemonium, Sheriff Drake decided to end the spectacle with a sharp kick to the barrel where the weighted end of the rope had been placed. As the line drew taut, the last words to come from Gofraidh’s living body was a cry to Heaven for his wife to be guided well as she fled the town. If she truly is innocent, may the Lord guide her to safety, for tonight, the Devil offers none. Nor does he offer mercy, for Gofraidh struggled just over eleven minutes of an agony I do not wish upon the worst offenders in Perdition.

The town finally settled now that the deed was done, and Fionnuala had fled into the forest with the town’s best trackers in pursuit. But, as Sheriff Drake went to take down Gofraidh’s body, the dead man’s lips moved. And Gofraidh spoke to us. He spoke of what Father Whatley and the Thomas boys had been up to, where folks had been disappearing to, and how tightly the Devil himself was gripping all our souls.

It was clearly The Devil’s influence over Gofraidh’s body which was at work, taunting us for what we had done. The body hung there all night, for not a soul would get near the foul corpse until All Saints Day. But, while The Devil has been at work within this town tonight, a sight of the Divine did descend upon us when the moon was at its peak.

Gofraidh's body was visited by an angel. She may have appeared beaten, covered in strange symbols, and wore ugly rope burns around her neck, but you mark my words that it was Áine herself who appeared at the witching hour.

Once more that night, the town was in a state of panic as the poor child’s specter had appeared beneath the body of her deceased father. The simple appearance of the deceased girl surely was enough to shake any of us to the bone, but our souls truly quaked when she began to sing about the strange things that did happen here. It was eerie. She was singing softly, but no matter where in the town a person was, it was as if Áine was standing right next to you, weeping and wailing at the loss of her father because wicked men did wicked things, and Gofraidh had sought justice for her.

That gentle child sang her father's dirge, and once more, all of us were taunted. Not by the Devil, no, but by the Host of Heaven for killing a man whose actions were just. With that act, all our souls were lost and destined to Perdition. Damned to feed the Scarlett Demon.