Item #: SCP-1340-RU

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: No methods of anomaly capture and containment have been developed as of yet; research efforts are currently ongoing. Anomaly witness identification and capture is to be performed according to standard Foundation search protocols. All circumstances of contact with the anomaly are to be ascertained on successful capture. If the first contact with SCP-1340 has been broken prematurely, it is required to perform a second test contact attempt. If the test proves negative, the subject is to be administered class B amnestics and released (with a week-long period of observation). All other subjects are to undergo comprehensive treatment procedures1 and be administered class D amnestics. Should treatment fail, false memories of their personality and a dislike to television technologies should be implanted as per the "Second Life" protocol. Such subjects are then to be relocated to closed communes under Foundation control2 (in particular, those lacking access to television), where they can be used in covert safe research experiments amidst routine tasks.

Description: SCP-1340 is a phenomenon consisting of spontaneous appearances of an image of a human eye on CRT-based TV screens; said image takes up the majority of the kinescope's visible area. Despite apparent lack of consistency between cases of the phenomenon's appearance, certain patterns have been deduced as intrinsic, such as:

SCP-1340 appears exclusively on cathode-ray tube-based devices (though implementation of this technology may vary) connected to analog television antennas;

SCP-1340's periods of activity fall between 23:00 and 02:00 on local time; all registered incidents involving SCP-1340 are localized to the northern hemisphere (between 45° and 75° latitude);

Each particular registered incident has involved only a single witness (hereafter referred to as 'observer'). Possibility of concurrent observation in different locations has been confirmed by experiment; as such, the anomaly cannot be contained through observer isolation.

General analysis of anomaly witness reports as well as replicated contact efforts have permitted to pinpoint the course of SCP-1340's activity. During first contact the anomaly manifests on active television screens that have been showing "white noise" for extended periods of time. During subsequent contact events the anomaly is capable of overriding low-quality transmissions. Presence or absence of audio transmission has no effect on contact probability. Upon manifestation the device begins showing an image of a human eye which takes up the majority of the screen. Said eye is blue and belongs to a man; the image is clear and free of any effects that hamper overall perception of the contents.

Analysis of the eye's sclera has confirmed that all instances of the anomaly transmit the image of the same man. The eye is always wide open (slowed and infrequent blinking is present), the pupil is dilated, and the eye often reacts (with delay) to the observer's movement, tracking them. If the affected device has audio enabled, upon manifestation the sound volume will be reduced to 25 dB, and it will consist of weak "white noise" static along with intact and fragmented words, distorted and pronounced with apparent difficulty.

Should the observer shut off or destroy the device during first contact with SCP-1340 (destruction of the kinescope is sufficient in the latter case), the anomaly will no longer manifest in front of that observer. Otherwise the anomaly will continue manifesting itself on the device every time under the described requirements (even without the observer present). Under continued observation SCP-1340 expands its sphere of influence and begins to appear not only in the location of first contact, but also in other places where the observer is present.

It has been noted that in 65% of registered cases during repeated contacts the anomaly brings into existence an unlimited number of CRT television devices of various kinds and models (exclusively within the locale of first contact), which seem to operate without any apparent power sources. The TVs are placed on the floor, on various furniture present and on each other, and vary in size substantially. During the anomaly's active periods all devices transmit the same image of SCP-1340, and the anomaly's eye is not able to track the observer (instead chaotically looking from side to side), while the sounds' volume (despite a considerable number of additional speakers) increases by only up to 10 dB. The TV devices are off while the anomaly is inactive.

Observers rarely disclose the occasion and usually consider it a sign of psychological illness. In rare cases the subjects have been able to get rid of SCP-1340's presence through prolonged medical treatment; in addition, the observers develop phobias towards watching television, which prevent further contacts with the anomaly. Due to the circumstances above the Foundation is currently unable to discern the periodicity of manifestations or the overall ammount of contact cases.

All experiments with SCP-1340 have been classified by the Ethics Committee.

The Foundation has successfully recovered several documents that explain the anomaly's appearance from internal GoI archive records; the addendums are available with clearance level 4.

Addendums to the SCP-1340 document:

+ Suicide letter belonging to ███████ █. █. 11.01.1969

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Suicide letter belonging to ███████ █. █. 11.01.1969

My name is ███████ ███████, I am an accountant at ████████████, and this will be my suicide note. I have no relatives or loved ones, so I write to you, prosecutors and officers.

I am haunted by hallucinations related to TVs. It must be because of my trauma and several months of coma. It happened first when I fell asleep after the show ended. I woke up to the sound of my cat screaming and saw an enormous eye staring directly at me from the screen. I was half asleep and didn't understand what was going on, but then realized that the broadcast has long since ended (it was about 1 hour past midnight on the clock). The eye was just staring at me, and then… blinked. I screamed, threw something at it and ran to the bathroom. When I caught my breath and calmed myself enough, I looked back. The eye was still there, and it only turned to stare at me again. I couldn't muster the courage to shut it off, and as such stayed awake in the bathroom, shutting it down when sunrise came and when there was only static on the screen.

I've witnessed that eye time and time again after that, I stopped panicking in front of it and learned to withstand its gaze. At some point I thought that it was my own eye. It looked scary, but it didn't want to scare. I brought myself closer to it and tried to hear what it speaking to me. It was quiet, even on full volume, and I decided to buy another TV for it. Then another. I wanted to hear what it was saying. I wanted to help it.

I started stealing, and for that I am sincerely sorry. All the money I got that way I've spent on travelling around the Soviet cities and buying out old TVs. I have collected 18 in total, different ones, small and big. Maybe that was me hypercompensating for the fear, and maybe my attempts to find the truth are just justifications. I don't know.

Every night I closed the blinds to prevent my neighbors from seeing this bright blue light, and listened. It didn't get much louder, but I managed to discern some of the words. I didn't understand much, but what I did finally did me in. I'm insane.

I've recorded all my stealings on the backside of this note and request to repay them through selling off my car. I will break the TVs, there is no other way. I bequeath my brain to scientific purposes so that they can help those like me.

I request not to blame anyone for my death.

███████ █. █. 11.01.1969

Classified

Krivopalov

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+ Research Institute «Progress» internal report, 14.08.1967

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To: «Progress» Research Institute director

Kovalev V.G.

From: Bureau №4 Director

«Mind and consciousness»

Krivopalov A.C.

№: I-1/12/B-4/318/67

14.08.1967

Internal report

Per Bureau №4's current directives I am informing you of a suggestion to use the developments of the «Mind-64» project to study transmission methods for discrete thoughtforms and, further on, main cerebrum portion impulse flows through inclusion in infocode arrays designed to adapt the technology to television methods of information playback.

As you know, the «Mind-64» project has advanced significantly since integration of [REDACTED]. Currently we are able to record and seamlessly transmit neural impulses, but the Institute still does not possess a suitable storage device for such vast quantities of information. The only currently known storage sufficient for human mind conservation is the infosphere itself.

There are other difficulties as well. Out transmission capabilities significantly outpace our recording capabilities. The speed of processes running within a human brain is too high, far higher than our current speed of impulse recording, which means that we cannot adequately record and transmit the full thoughtform of a person without disrupting its connections and, as such, without degrading their consciousness and memory. Unfortunately, this lag does not allow us to experiment with copying a healthy person's personality; however, the Bureau members have found an alternative method.

It has been proposed that we use a comatose source in the experiment. I have taken responsibility and have found a suitable candidate for such a role. Under medical attention in municipal hospital №██ currently lies patient ███████ █. █., in a state of coma after a tragic accident. We hereby request your assistance in arranging a classified experiment on transmitting their personality into the infosphere through our Bureau's newest antenna and receiving the resulting signal on the Chukot station. The process will take approximately two hours; chemical treatments developed by Bureau №█ are proposed to be used to slow the brain's activity as much as possible. Yes, we will be unable to halt the cerebral processes completely, but the estimated damage to the consciousness thoughtform is expected to be minimal.

Now onto the practical side of this research project. We expect the Chukchi Peninsula radio station personnel to receive the information of this person in format close to television standards. At this point we can only guess what it will look like, and whether such a transmission will bear any significance for further research. In overall, however, I foresee use of this technology applied to being able to transmit a speaker or presenter directly into every house, every particular receiver. The viewers will gain access to actual talk partners competent in various topics, who will be able to convey useful information more concretely to every particular listener. Just imagine: you turn on the TV, and the athletic show host does not only show you the exercises and keep count, but also points out mistakes and gives professional advice. Educational shows for children and adults, news reports, sport shows, travel and history documentaries etc. will grow to a new level, open the path to fully-fledged connection and feedback.

I would like to specifically address any possible concerns about the experiment's ethical side. The operations involved will cause no physical consequences or even discomfort to the test subject. All records of this intervention will be kept secret. I would also like to point out the fact that the resulting information model of a human ("phantom", thoughtform, or "mind mold") is not human in the word's common meaning, and exists only as an idea, a information current, which puts it closer to a soulless computer.

Bureau №4 Director

«Mind and consciousness»

Krivopalov A.C.

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+ Transcription of SCP-1340's speech pattern analysis

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The following transcript has been procured through the Foundation's speech recognition hardware from registered occurrences of the anomaly. The object transmits words and phonemes in a chaotic manner; the following text has been generated based on possible meaning, registered intonation and other factors, though it remains distorted. Italics denote portions that differ in pronunciation or intonation, but that are still considered valid (based on the machine's output). Uppercase text denotes more expressively pronounced phrases (note that the level of volume remains within the 25-35 dB range).

Batch 1: Snow… white mess… flies everywhere… fly… into my mouth… blizzard blinding siiiiiiight… don't know… can't see… anything… where are they? … alone… glimmering… my eyes… eyes… I see light… shut off the noise… can't stand it… can't hear… my thoughts… where am I… I'm here? … I'm? I can't breathe… help… flies all around… mouth filled with snow… in my throat… hands… where… I can't see… they carve me… white strings… endless… clotheslines… up-down, up-down…

Batch 2: Where to go… was there… same… white-black world… is there a ceiling… IS THERE A FLOOR!? … I need to go to work… come back… I didn't feed the cat… where is he? … who'll feed… the balance sheet… and the bills? … help me… snow's too loose… I can't stand… could crawl… swim… it doesn't stick… where's the light? … there's night here… white-blue-black world… a web of strings… AT LEAST GIVE ME THE CAT… I forgot how to breathe… live… please live…

Batch 3: I hear through vibrations of strings… endless noise… deafening… forever… what are you? I'm not alone… ran… white static man… where are you… come back… I can't scream…

Batch 4: Dark again… between strings… there's someone there… too tight… pry apart like… bars of a cage… can manage without arms… just a look… just with an eye… I'm so close… on the line… just one eye… who are you? … I feel you… I see… get me out… that's my cat… don't be afraid… wake the owner… my kitty… help… wake the owner… my cat… mouth full of fleas and snow… help me… why do I feel… we know each other… my eye… you could have plucked… don't leave me… I can't see you… don't leave me alone… here you are again… I didn't… DON'T SWITCH AWAY!

Batch 5: It's me… I… I see better now… can't pull the strings further… STOP FLICKERING… it's me… why is he there… and I'm here… what are these light boxes… can't speak… try looking lower… lips there… must be there… read them… without end… vomiting flies… don't look at me… like that… break the wall… I know… you can see… help… what are you writing… must get out… my eyes… leave at least one… I know, you want to kill yourself… where do I go now…

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Footnotes

1. including shock therapy, use of psychotropic substances and neuroprogramming video recordings

2. No restrictions on sharing living space with victims of interaction with other anomalies are necessary (under authorization by community curator).