

SCP-5141: Studebaker Special Six

Author: The Great Hippo

Images: Link.

Music: Fire and Brimstone (Mark Lanegan)

More by The Great Hippo:

SCPs

– hide block

SCPs

[SCP-3034]
The Counting Station

DO NOT LET HER FINISH

[SCP-3035]
Science Bugs

case_of_the_mondays.png, case_of_the_mondays (1).png

[SCP-3054]
Cragstaff Sanitarium

You are sick. You are broken. We will fix you.

[SCP-3045]
bzzip.exe

HAMLET: I am no longer moody.

[SCP-3043]
Murphy Law in… Type 3043 — FOR MURDER!

Forget it, Fred. It's Chinatown.

[SCP-3057]
Fossil Fuels

…witnesses provided confirmation that instances of SCP-3057-4 did, in fact, have feathers.

[SCP-2639]
Video Game Violence

i need to know how many people i've killed

[SCP-437]
Summer of '91

That was a pretty crazy summer, y'know? Sometimes I really miss that place.

[SCP-3079]
300 Tricks: Stage Magic Made Easy

NOTE: No method for accomplishing this trick is provided.

[SCP-2753]
Let's Play Jenga!

High art carries high risk!

[SCP-2679]
The Many Graves of Jeannette Parslov

Whatever it takes, do what you must; whatever the cost, come back to us.

[SCP-3074]
Kafka's Parking Garage

Thank you for choosing Izatova Parking Center. Have a pleasant day.

[SCP-2571]
Cragglewood Park

Mr. Blair, have you always been an only child?

[SCP-2419]
The Laughing Men

Throw them back into the incinerator where you found them.

[SCP-3143]
Murphy Law in… The Foundation Always Rings Twice!

When it comes right down to it, me — them — hell, even you — we're all just characters in that trashy dime-store novel called life.

[SCP-3089]
That Old Time Religion

Remember how we explained that successful people don't actually need any of their toes to walk? Well, that's going to come in handy for Secret Number Six.

[SCP-3117]
A Monster-Shaped Hole

I'm not talking to you.

[SCP-3128]
Let's Play Monopoly!

Hey, guys? I'm, uh. I'm using this.

[SCP-3138]
A Sepulcher by the Sea

Should it prove feasible, all non-canonical corpses are to be extracted, examined, and catalogued.

[SCP-3241]
The SS Sommerfeld

It makes me wonder what an old monster like myself is even doing here, anymore. And then? Someone special comes along and reminds me.

[SCP-3219]
This Sour Earth

Notably, no reports describe any attempt to examine the residence's storm cellar.

[SCP-4028]
La Historia de Don Quixote de la Mancha

Justine eventually re-unites with her sister, Juliette. Alonso strikes down a lightning bolt intended for them both, then challenges the narrator to a duel.

[SCP-3546]
Doggone it, I Fold!

Specifically, fan-art of Sonic the Hedgehog, a video-game character produced by Sega in 1991.

[SCP-3561]
An Unfinished Work

Despite multiple reports from neighbors who claimed to have witnessed members of his family standing at the windows, no trace of Theodore Holdstock's wife and children could be found.

[SCP-4054]
The Seventh Door

SCP-4054 is The Seventh Door, an unlicensed platform adventure game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988.

Item#: 5141

Containment Class: euclid

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: vlam

Risk Class: notice

SCP-5141, circa 1937.

Special Containment Procedures: As a consequence of mounting costs and budgetary constraints, containment of SCP-5141 is now focused on mitigation and cooperation.

MTF Gamma-1 ("Sutton's Moonshiners") are to work with local law enforcement agencies to suspend all traffic along SCP-5141's route during its annual transit. Foundation vehicles are to accompany SCP-5141, clearing the road ahead. Vehicles are to maintain a distance of 5 meters from SCP-5141 at all times.

Personnel are to be reminded that no attempt to slow down, stop, or otherwise interfere with SCP-5141 is to be made.

Description: SCP-5141 is a black customized 1924 Studebaker Special Six.

At approximately 12:30 pm (UTC) on March 16th of every year, SCP-5141 emerges at some point within Maggie Valley, North Carolina. It then travels along the shortest available route to Cocke County, Tennessee; upon reaching the county, it gains significant speed and vanishes down one of several local roads.

Outside of demonstrating considerable driving expertise and knowledge of local geography, no other anomalous properties have been observed.

Discovery: On February 26th, 1951, the UIU1 turned over several case-files to Foundation operatives as part of the MJ-12 Act2. This included reports of a 'driverless ghost-car' active in the Appalachian region. During this transition, William Summers (a veteran Foundation operative) conducted an interview with Daniel Martindale (a UIU field agent and former agent of the Bureau of Prohibition) regarding the nature of SCP-5141.

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

Date: 26 February, 1951

Summers: So, let me know if I've got this straight.

Martindale: Fire away.

Summers: This thing… it's one of those old-timey cars, right? Like a Ford Model T, or —

Martindale: She ain't no tin lizzie, son. It's a Studebaker.

Summers: Right. So, I'm guessing it tops out at, what… forty miles an hour?

Martindale: About fifty.

[Silence.]

Summers: My wife's beetle can hit a clean 80.

Martindale: Well, good for her. Germans made a damn fine car.

Summers: Christ. You've been on this thing's ass for eight years, and you've never once caught up to it?!

Martindale: Son, you ever try to out-run a one-legged man in his own backyard?

Summers: I — Excuse me?

Martindale: She's been running moonshine down these back-roads for over three decades. Before we chased her, it was the prohees3. I'm gonna tell you the same thing they told us: Leave it be. You ain't catching her, and she ain't doing no harm. Not unless you're dumb enough to get in her way.

Summers: We're the Foundation. I think we'll manage.

REQUISITION REQUEST

DATE: 3 March, 1952

REQUESTER: Field Agent William Summers

PURPOSE: Containment of SCP-5141.

On March 16th of last year, we observed SCP-5141 driving along I-40 West. After a ten minute pursuit, Agent Blackwell attempted to disable its tires with his service pistol. The vehicle immediately swerved into us and ran our vehicle off the road.

I'd like to take another crack at it. For this, I'll need two sedans and an agent with significant driving experience.

ESTIMATED COST: $4k

STATUS: APPROVED

RESULT: Both sedans forced off the road. Personnel sustained minor injuries.

REQUISITION REQUEST

DATE: 2 March 1953

REQUESTER: Field Agent William Summers

PURPOSE: Containment of SCP-5141.

After discussing SCP-5141 with retired Prohibition agents who have pursued it in the past, we realized it always follows the same route. We just need to barricade the road. I'll need four men with shotguns, three sedans, two concrete barriers, and a strip of road spikes.

ESTIMATED COST: $8k

STATUS: APPROVED

RESULT: SCP-5141 shifted gears, performed a power-slide4, then drove away. Agents later determined it used an alternate route. Agent Summers was reprimanded for discussing SCP-5141 with non-Foundation personnel.

REQUISITION REQUEST

DATE: 22 February 1954

REQUESTER: Field Agent William Summers

PURPOSE: Containment of SCP-5141.

Maggie Valley isn't very large. It only has a few roads leading in and out of it. Let's just barricade them all.

I'll need twenty sedans, twenty men with shotguns, twelve concrete barriers, and six strips of road spikes.

ESTIMATED COST: $35k

STATUS: APPROVED

RESULT: SCP-5141 did not appear at the barricades. On further investigation, tire tracks were found matching its make and model along a previously unknown back-road leading out of Maggie Valley and onto I-40 West. Agent Summers has received two weeks mandatory vacation.

REQUISITION REQUEST

DATE: 10 February 1955

REQUESTER: Field Agent William Summers

PURPOSE: Containment of SCP-5141.

Six customized trucks and five of the best drivers we've got.

ESTIMATED COST: $20k

STATUS: APPROVED

RESULT: All six trucks forced off the road. Foundation personnel sustained minor injuries. Agent Summers has received a year-long mandatory sabbatical.

REQUISITION REQUEST

DATE: 8 January 1956

REQUESTER: Field Agent Richard Carter

PURPOSE: Containment of SCP-5141.

After reviewing the documentation and conferring with my colleagues, I'm confident that I can contain SCP-5141.

I worked in law enforcement for twenty-five years before I joined the Foundation. I've been personally involved in over sixty high-speed chases. In my opinion, the best approach is a comprehensive one: Clear the area. Barricade every road out of Maggie Valley (including the back-roads). Have trucks and cruisers standing by to force it off the road — and men stationed at checkpoints ready to shoot out its tires and engine.

Here's what I'll need:

Twenty concrete barriers.

Twelve strips of road spikes.

Twenty modified police cruisers.

Ten modified police trucks.

Thirty veteran drivers.

Thirty men who know how to use a rifle.

Evacuate the surrounding area for one day.

It sounds excessive, but trust me: This is a one-and-done deal. Give me what I'm asking for and I'll have it contained by lunch.

ESTIMATED COST: $320k

STATUS: APPROVED

RESULT: In the resulting chaos, seven trucks and twelve cruisers were totaled; one cruiser remains missing. Seven personnel sustained severe injuries, twenty six sustained serious injuries, and fifteen sustained minor injuries. Local property damage is estimated to be over a hundred thousand dollars.

Field Agent Richard Carter has formally submitted his resignation.

REQUISITION REQUEST

DATE: 1 January 1957

REQUESTER: Field Agent William Summers

PURPOSE: Containment of SCP-5141.

Three M103 tanks.

ESTIMATED COST: $550k

STATUS: REJECTED

NOTE: In light of repeated failures, new containment procedures focused on mitigating and cooperating with SCP-5141 are now in development.

Addendum: On February 3rd, 1958, Field Agent William Summers was involved in a fatal car crash while practicing on a training track in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Five weeks later, SCP-5141 failed to appear along its typical route.

On March 17th, Mr. Summers' widow reported that, while visiting her husband's grave, she discovered several tire-tracks and an empty jug laid besides his tombstone. An exhumation found that Mr. Summers' stomach now contained several liters of 120 proof Appalachian moonshine.

Footnotes

1. Unusual Incidents Unit.

2. Majestic-12; a committee formed via executive order by Harry S. Truman in 1947 to oversee cooperation between the Foundation and the US Federal Government.

3. Slang for agents in the Bureau of Prohibition (active from 1920 to 1937).

4. Otherwise known as a 'bootleg turn'; a maneuver in which a forward-moving vehicle rapidly reverses its heading within the space of two lanes.