Item#: 5142

Containment Class: safe

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: vlam

Risk Class: caution

SCP-5142 being performed live

Special Containment Procedures: Foundation media crawlers have been disseminated to search for possible occurrences of SCP-5142. If found, the nearest available personnel will be alerted and necessary information and materials for containing the incident will be provided if necessary. Teams dispatched in this way generally only require one person unless a significant amount of time has passed.

When an incident is confirmed, personnel are instructed to seek out those affected and activate the countermeme. Light amnestic use is authorized and advised in containing SCP-5142. If, for some reason, this approach fails, use of force in containing those affected is authorized, and in the most severe cases (usually 15 to 20 days after original occurrence), lethal force may be authorized.

The materials necessary in containing an occurrence of SCP-5142 are:

1. A device capable of producing sound (eg, a speaker or headset), and

2. Any copy of the song Fruit Salad by The Wiggles, or a copy of the lyrics to said song.

Usually, a personal cell phone with internet capabilities will suffice. In some situations, personnel may be required to sing the song aloud.

Description: SCP-5142 refers to the memetic hazard inherent to the song Fruit Salad by The Wiggles and its related countermeme. Specifically, the hazard exists within the chorus of the song and is repeated 14 times as the phrase "fruit salad." The effects will generally begin to manifest in those who hear the phrase within several minutes.

The development of these effects takes place over a period of 30 to 35 days in total. It begins as a "slight craving" for fruit salad, regardless of whether the subject had ever eaten or enjoyed fruit salad beforehand. The preferred ingredients are those specifically mentioned within the song: grapes, bananas, melon (type varies), and apples. Following initial occurrence to approximately 2 hours later, this effect will spread to any noun the subject hears or believes they have heard; that is, any noun heard within this period is added to the "list" of things which the subject feels a craving to eat. This includes objects and materials which are otherwise unpleasant, harmful, or impossible to consume, such as "skin," "house," or "the universe." It may also include proper nouns, but does not include pronouns.

Following this initial period, nouns are no longer added to this "list." Instead, from 2 hours to approximately 7 days, the subject will seek out and attempt to consume the objects, but will not do so if it poses a risk to their health or is otherwise seen as inappropriate. For example, an affected person who had heard the word "house" within the initial two hours would not attempt to eat a house during this period. Following a week from initial occurrence, subjects will attempt to eat things which pose significant risks to themselves or others around them.

At 10 to 15 days from initial occurrence, the subject will refuse to eat anything other than the objects on their "list," and fruit salad seems to be removed from the "list" unless no other nouns have been added. The subject will become desperate, often violent or self-harming in an attempt to acquire what they wish to consume. If they succeed in acquiring the objects, they will invariably also succeed in consuming the object, often through anomalous means.

If the subject is still alive following 15 to 20 days, they will begin to exponentially accumulate muscle mass and an anomalous amount of strength. The subject's skin will often change to a blue-grey hue. At this stage, the subject becomes extremely violent and will attempt to destroy anything that prevents it from consuming the objects on their "list." Muscle mass will continue to accumulate until 30 to 35 days after the initial occurrence, at which point growth ceases, marking the end of the effects of SCP-5142. Past this point, the countermeme becomes ineffective and there is no known way of reverting a subject to their original state or to previous stages.

The countermeme to SCP-5142 is also inherent to Fruit Salad and exists as the phrase "yummy, yummy." Similarly, it is repeated 14 times throughout the song due to the "call-and-response" nature of the piece. In all stages except the last of SCP-5142 occurrence, this countermeme will effectively neutralize SCP-5142's anomalous effects, ceasing all cravings and attempts to consume objects which are otherwise not consumable. Accumulated muscle mass is not removed, but anomalous growth ceases.

SCP-5142 is effectively self-containing, as the only cases in which the meme will not be immediately neutralized are those in which the subject does not listen to a specific portion of the chorus of the song.

Of note is that both the meme and countermeme must be heard in the form of the song by The Wiggles in order for either to take effect. This is the only such restriction, as any methods of producing SCP-5142 this way will produce the effects, and in fact the song does not even need to be sung by The Wiggles themselves.

History: SCP-5142 was first discovered by Researcher Stacy Isolde during her maternity leave in 2014, and was given classification after being confirmed shortly thereafter. Below is a transcription of an interview regarding this initial incident.

+ Addendum 5142-A - Initial Interview

- Close Addendum

Interview 5142-A

Participants: Dr Stacy Isolde, Dr Robert Hughes (Site 73 Psychological Specialist)

Date: June 19th, 2014

<Begin Log>

Hughes: Hello Stacy, nice to see you again. How're John and Albert?

Isolde: Oh, they're doing fine now, thanks for asking. Should we just get the interview started?

Hughes: Right, I'm sure this is a difficult topic for you, considering…

[Dr Hughes clears his throat and adjusts himself in his seat.]

Hughes: Well, I'll guess I'll just start with the main question. How did you discover SCP-5142?

Isolde: It was a little after Al was born, I think a month? But either way, I had just put him to bed for the night. And sometimes before bed I like to put old Wiggles DVDs on for him. He likes the colors and dancing. [She gives a small laugh.] Anyways, right as I came back, that damn fruit salad song that would always get stuck in your head was on, so I turned it off, and it happened to be right in the middle of the chorus, and now we know what that means, so, yeah.

Hughes: Did you feel the effects immediately?

Isolde: Yeah, well, it took a few minutes. Then I started really wanting fruit salad, but I thought that was just, y'know, some psychological thing about just having heard it repeated 10 times. So I made some with what I had in the house - it didn't really scratch the itch, though. While I'm eating, I get a call from John, my husband, who's heading back from work. The first thing he says is, um… 'hey, honey, how's Albert doing?' I think. Something with 'honey' and 'Albert' in it.

[Isolde coughs into her hand and takes a breath before continuing.]

Isolde: I get this craving right then for honey, so I ask him to pick some up on the way home. He says he's in traffic, so he hangs up. That's when I first felt something off. I found myself going into Albert's room and I… I just stood there, looking, above his crib. I don't know what I was thinking then, I-I must have repressed it.

[Isolde becomes visibly upset. Her voice begins to waver.]

Isolde: When-when John got home, it must have been a few hours later, he comes back with the honey. But I'm still in Al's room, staring at him. He finds me and asks what I'm doing, and hands me the honey. Immediately, I opened the bottle and started eating it. As much as I could. I must have emptied the bottle right there, and John just looks at me in disbelief. I never stopped staring at Al, and - God, I remember one thing I thought right then.

[Isolde clasps her face into her hands and rests her elbows on her knees. There's a short period of silence before Isolde sniffles and begins speaking again.]

Isolde: I thought… I thought, 'Wouldn't Al taste good with honey?'

<End Log>

After this discovery, current containment procedures were enacted. One other instance of SCP-5142 occurring was immediately discovered: an unaired episode of the television series Freaky Eaters in which the subject of the episode became extremely violent after they were unable to find any remaining fruit salad within their household. Subject was fortunately apprehended shortly after and, by coincidence, managed to hear the countermeme playing from within the county jail they'd been relocated to. In addition, a copy of the album Yummy Yummy by The Wiggles that had been received by Foundation personnel mailboxes in May 2008 was found to include an altered version of Fruit Salad which contained no instances of the countermeme. This copy had included a sticky note on the inside cover that read, "do ya like jazz?" which possibly implicates an anartist group in the creation of the meme. Before discovery of SCP-5142, the CD had been left in low-level containment and has since been destroyed.

+ Addendum 5142-B - Testing Log

- Close Addendum

A single testing log has been included in order to fully represent the effects of SCP-5142.

Testing Log 5142-1

Date: 10-13-2016

Procedure: A single D-class personnel was presented with SCP-5142 without the countermeme and monitored over a period of 40 days in isolated confinement.

<Begin Log>

Day 1: Subject functions normally for majority of the day. Occasionally requests fruit salad with increasing frequency.

Day 9: Subject repeatedly requests fruit salad. Barely consumes any of his standard allotted rations throughout the day.

Day 13: Subject refuses to eat normally allotted rations. Security personnel must enter the room and forcefully feed him. Subject screams several times throughout the day for fruit salad.

Day 17: Subject begins slamming his head against the door to the point of drawing blood. Repeatedly exclaims for fruit salad, especially when being fed.

Day 20: Muscle mass accumulation begins. Subject ceases to say anything other than "fruit salad." Subject no longer sleeps at night, instead stares directly into surveillance camera for 8 hours every night.

Day 24: Subject manages to escape by resisting security personnel during feeding. Countermeme distributed via Site-wide loudspeaker system. Subject shortly apprehended; muscle mass accumulation ceases.

<End Log>