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Item#: 6624

Containment Class: neutralized

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: keneq

Risk Class: caution

Special Containment Procedures: As of 01/04/2000, SCP-6624’s inert remains have been dismantled and delivered to Storage Site-77 for safekeeping. Despite the neutralization of SCP-6624, the town of Gesualdo is to remain under close observation.

+ Display Rescinded Containment Procedures

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Transporting SCP-6624 to a pre-existing containment site was deemed impractical due to the object’s size, present location, and level of complexity. Provisional Containment Site-84 was constructed around the object in Gesualdo, Italy, incorporating several buildings, along with 85% of the town’s subterranean infrastructure (sewers, cisterns, and aqueducts). The Castle of Gesualdo is to remain open to tours but all areas connecting to the town’s underground network must remain hidden from public view, necessitating the use of secret passages and disguised entrances.

Experiments involving SCP-6624 reproduced music are to be conducted on D-Class personnel. All other personnel are to remain within a soundproof chamber for the duration of testing. Accidental exposure to SCP-6624’s primary anomaly may require immediate amnesticization, hospitalization, or potentially even termination depending on the severity of the resultant reaction and at the discretion of the acting Site Director.

As of 08/07/1997, all further testing of SCP-6624’s anomalous musical capabilities is forbidden.

Description: SCP-6624 is an apparatus capable of producing vocal music possessing distinct anomalous attributes related to its composition. The apparatus incorporates 124 preserved human bodies, a system of bronze pipes, and bellows crafted from the stomach and lungs of a large whale. SCP-6624 is controlled via 12 attached keyboards, as well as a number of levers, pulleys, and pedals. Based on this setup, it is speculated that SCP-6624 is, in its current state, unplayable by baseline, non-anomalous humans. The bellows are manipulated through the rhythmic pulling of 3 bronze chains, delivering air to the human components via the system of pipes. 6 levers are used to alter the pipes, causing them to expand or restrict airflow to varying degrees. 48 pedals, 4 located beneath every keyboard, are used to control which human components are receiving air. Each keyboard includes 88 keys, which are themselves used to modify the mouth, tongue, throat, and larynx of the human components.

Operating SCP-6624 will cause steam to release from vents hidden throughout the town, along with the steady sound of moving gears. This implies that steam-power and cog-work play a role in the overall apparatus but the unusual acoustics of SCP-6624's chamber has rendered it difficult to track their source. Further information regarding SCP-6624 and its mechanics would ultimately require dissection/disassembly but such actions could potentially damage or even destroy SCP-6624 and are thus prohibited.

SCP-6624's human components were initially recorded as deceased but electroencephalographic (EEG) scans have revealed the continued presence of brain activity. After significant examination of stimulus response, brainwave activity1, and endorphin levels, it was concluded that these components are self-aware and suffer considerable distress. How this was achieved remains poorly understood but likely involved the unidentified chemical agent responsible for their preservation.

SCP-6624 was discovered beneath the Castle of Gesualdo2 at Gesualdo, Italy during a 1953 kidnapping and mass murder investigation. Isabella Colasanti, a talented but little-known 27-year-old singer from Venice, was violently kidnapped at a 12/25/1953 recital in Gesualdo by a group of masked assailants dressed in unusual, seemingly ceremonial garb. It is presently hypothesized that Colasanti’s invitation to Gesualdo was extended by those who orchestrated her capture.

Survivors reported that the attackers appeared on stage in a cloud of black smoke and many admitted that they did not immediately react in the belief that it was part of the performance. The attackers rendered Ms. Colasanti unconscious and terminated those who attempted to intervene. Silvestro Criscione, a professional photographer hired for the event, was able to capture a picture of the masked figures during their escape with the body of Colasanti. The incident resulted in 34 casualties, as well as 12 fatalities (including Mr. Criscione), with all victims suffering either perforation from daggers or strangulation via some manner of garrote.

Local law enforcement proved ineffective; though initially dismissed as a problem of incompetence, they were later identified as collaborators in league with the assailants. Frustrated with the lack of progress, families of the victims issued complaints to the state, which quickly responded (presumably due to the unusual number of casualties) by sending a team of investigators to Gesualdo from Rome. Investigator Armando Francesco took over the case, discovering a significant amount of ignored or disregarded evidence, as well as an apparent effort to cover up the attack. It was found that local law enforcement oversaw the destruction of physical evidence (including the deliberate cremation of bodies without providing autopsies) and the unlawful execution of "communist partisans" - three men between the ages of 16 and 20 who were framed for the massacre.

State investigators ultimately uncovered a secret society operating in Gesualdo. Known as La Mascherata (“The Masquerade”), the cell in Gesualdo was found to include a disproportionate number of artists, writers, and musicians, along with several town officials and senior members of the police force. Interrogation of the lowest ranked members (typically the youngest) directed detectives to a Roman Era cistern beneath the Castle of Gesualdo, a location otherwise unknown to the general public. Discovered within was SCP-6624, along with a number of cult-related artifacts and documents. Also found was the body of Isabella Colasanti, which had been partially treated with an unknown chemical compound. Evidence indicates that she was incapacitated (originally recorded as killed) at 22:40 hours on 12/30/1953 as part of a ritual designed to coincide with Aldebaran's3 zenith.

Germano D'Orazio, an investigator working with Francesco and an embedded agent of the Foundation, reported these findings. Foundation operatives disguised as members of the Italian Armed Forces seized control of the town and amnesticized its population. Most members of La Mascherata self-terminated when cornered, while those who were successfully captured chose to bite off and swallow their own tongues. The surviving cultists were transferred to Site-██ for interrogation and termination.

Eight anomalous entities, since classified as SCP-6624-1, resembling those involved in the 12/25/1953 attack were discovered in an immobile, possibly inactive state. These bodies were analyzed and found to be genetically normal humans; however, their porcelain-like4 masks had been fused to their faces via a viscous, black substance. Efforts to test the adhesive material have failed due to its rapid evaporation when removed from its host and X-ray imaging suggests that it has consumed much of the skull, including the entire brain. Though technically alive, they neither speak nor move, nor do they appear to require any sustenance. These entities were transported to Site-17 where they remain in secure containment.

Letters between anonymous5 cultists indicate substantial influence over European political, cultural, and religious authorities. These letters contain references to SCP-6624, known to the cult as “Il Coro” (“The Choir”), noting that it cannot be played until the arrival of Il Maestro del Rancore (“The Maestro of Rancor”), a prophesied entity of apparent importance6. Surviving members were found to be low-level and ignorant, ultimately serving the interests of an unidentified inner circle whose true motivations remain unclear.

Additionally discovered among these documents were seven abnormally complex musical compositions and a journal. These manuscripts have been dated to the late 16th and early 17th centuries and bear the signature of nobleman and composer Carlo Gesualdo.

+ Carlo Gesualdo: Biography

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Portrait of Carlo Gesualdo, artist unknown (16th century).

Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (8 March 1566 – 8 September 1613) was Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza. A composer, he is best known for his expressive madrigals and sacred music pieces that employed a distinctive chromatic language7. He was born at Venosa, then part of the Kingdom of Naples, though little else is known about his early life. His mother died when he was young and he was sent to Rome to begin an ecclesiastical education under the guidance of his uncle, Carlo Borromeo. After the death of his elder brother Luigi in 1584, he became the designated successor for the principality of Venosa.

In 1586, Carlo Gesualdo married his first cousin, Donna Maria d'Avalos. Two years later, Donna Maria began an affair with Fabrizio Carafa, the third Duke of Andria and the seventh Count of Ruvo. This affair continued until 1590, when Carlo discovered the pair in flagrante delicto8 at the Palazzo San Severo and immediately murdered both. The bodies of his wife and her lover, both nude and mutilated, were dragged outside, in front of the palace, to be exposed for everyone to see. Due to his status as a noble, he was not found criminally liable for the killings. Approximately a year after the murders, Carlo became the third Prince of Venosa and the eighth Count of Conza following the death of his father.

Throughout much of 1594 and 1595, Carlo Gesualdo lived in Ferrara, regarded as one of the primary musical centers in Italy. It was during this time that he would engage in a great deal of composing, resulting in the publication of his first book of madrigals. The atmosphere of Ferrara helped to further cultivate a singular devotion to music and upon his return to his castle at Gesualdo, he used his wealth to transform his estate into a similar center of music-making, filling his court with singers and instrumentalists.

Carlo Gesualdo died in isolation under mysterious circumstances on 8 September, 1613, raising speculation that he had been murdered, and is entombed at Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo in Naples.

The existence of SCP-6624 and its related documents indicate that Carlo Gesualdo's publicly accepted biography represents an incomplete chronicle. Translations of his most relevant manuscripts are provided in the following collapsible:

+ Carlo Gesualdo: Journal

- ACCESS GRANTED

The following has been translated from 16th century Italian. Please note that these manuscripts have been modernized for the greatest possible clarity. Many pages are missing and some have been rendered illegible by mold damage. Access to the original texts will be granted upon request.

October 28, 1590:

Alberighi [unknown; possibly a courtier] spoke to me of regret. Such audacity! I am no murderer, for honor dictates my actions and they [Donna Maria d'Avalos and Fabrizio Carafa] were dead the moment they betrayed me. What followed, be it doom or destiny, was set in stone by God himself. To them, I owe naught but contempt.

Yes, I am unwell, but it is not remorse I suffer!

Something changed in me that day. Something elemental to my being. In my surrender to the wondrous fury of rage, it was as if the gate to my soul was torn from its hinges and a stranger entered uninvited. But such cannot be, for my soul is protected by the Lord's unyielding bulwark. Truly, the mind is an imaginative thing when left to its own devices.

Regardless, I sought an opinion outside my own and my physician has diagnosed me as choleric, concluding that I merely suffer the symptoms associated with an overproduction of yellow bile. Long have I been blighted by an excess of black [bile], but rather than bring balance to my wretched humors, the two instead share a morbid alliance - becoming, as if through alchemy, an affliction greater than the sum of their parts.

I know little of medicine or its application, but I trust Calandri [presumably the name of Gesualdo's physician]. God may hold my soul but my health is in the good doctor's hands. He urges me to transcribe my thoughts and emotions so as to track my journey to physical harmony.

November 6, 1590:

Last night I dreamed of a strange city, raised from a sea as black as forgotten memories. A realm where ebony stars burned dark across miasmal skies and red liquid, neither blood nor wine, flowed up and down from alabaster edifices. Its architecture displayed the ungodly hubris of Babylon, both in scale and through its defiance of natural law - a maddening show of mathematical impossibility!

These were the only universal constants of that mercurial metropolis, whose labyrinthine structures shifted from the splendors of the ancients to places only glimpsed in fevered delusion. Did this city, whose baleful towers and impossible geometry, seek to make itself familiar? Or was it an illusion of my own mind's creation, protecting me from the inconceivability of its nature, much as angels are wont to do?

When I awoke, there lingered a most peculiar song. Before I had the chance to appreciate it, the fleeting harmony disappeared. Only dread remained.

November 13, 1590:

I awaken, drenched in a cold sweat; with shivering hands, I endeavor to elucidate this night-born terror. Though ensnared by the throes of fever and fatigue, I recollect the experience with harrowing clarity. Verily, I found myself unable to distinguish the phantasmagorical from mundane, as if the dream was more real than the waking world.

I was within my own grand hall, yet found it full of unfamiliar people. Though they hid their faces with masks, I knew they had no place among my lonely court. I observed their profane behavior and satyric displays with disgust and, to my shame, a degree of grotesque fascination.

And within the center of that blasphemous orgy, engaging in the most unspeakable of acts, is a woman - her mask! Dear God, her mask! She mocks me still, that queen of whores! Even in death does she humiliate me! Her orifices overflowed with the seed of a hundred-thousand devils and when her body could not accommodate more, she tore open her own flesh to sate their debauched demands. Despite her self-destruction, she moaned with an ecstasy I have never known. I cannot write more, for this visage of hell grew ever darker - revealing satyric perversions beyond the ken of mortals.

The crowd turned to face me, cackling with focused, derisive laughter. I’ve been made a cuckold, again and again! Their ridicule tore the flesh from my bones, exposing my soul to a maelstrom of emotions. I called for help but the mob was upon me. As I braced for defilement, I was roused from sleep by Alberighi, who had heard my anguished cries in the night.

I wish never to sleep again but Calandri forbids it. He now feeds me bitter tinctures and herbs from the Orient before I sojourn for bed. He assures me that they will give me the strength to endure. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, deliver me from this evil. Amen.

November 25, 1590:

Despite Calandri’s medicine, the nightmares have grown increasingly prevalent and ever more grotesque. It so often begins the same, as I descend those ancient stone steps, my body ignoring my own mind’s protest. I enter the Grand Hall, always to find the Masquerade. Black and white, red and yellow.

Calandri speaks frequently of these colors and has shown me how often they appear in nature and miracles, from the four humors to the magnum opus of alchemical pursuit. Though ignorant of the natural sciences, I listened to his musings utterly entranced. Black, white, yellow, red, black, white, yellow, red… Here is what I remember:

Nigredo - the magnum opus begins with putrefaction; heat is used to accelerate the process, until all materials are black. This is the stage of chaos.

Albedo - the materials must be cleansed of impurities.

Xanthosis - this is where he lost me and he understood this, telling me that this is where most alchemists fail. The materials must undergo transmutation but the process requires the drawing out of inner light - the undying spark of the divine found within all God's children. But how does man unleash this light, without losing his soul? Might it be stolen from another?

Rubedo - the end, everything ends in red. He spoke to me of blood but his voice grew distant and droning, as if my head was submerged in water.

No longer listening, my attention was drawn to the far end of my bed-chamber, where a jester dressed in many colors danced and capered. I watched, mesmerized by his merrymaking, as Calandri continued to vomit noise. The jester removed his bell-adorned hat and reached inside, pulling out a length of rope. I continued to watch, my eyes wide and unblinking, as he knotted the rope into a noose. My voice was stolen, my body paralyzed. I could not close my eyes. I could not even look away. The jester placed the noose around his neck and tied the other end to my bedpost. He removed a dagger from his belt and raised it in the air before plunging the blade deep within his abdomen. Slowly, gently, he disemboweled himself. When the last of his organs spilled upon the floor, the jester bowed with a flourish and hurled himself through my window.

I screamed and jumped from my bed. By the time I reached the window, there was no sign of the fool. The nightmare is no longer bound to sleep alone, God help me! Calandri fears that my affliction may be beyond his help. Might these horrors be demonic in origin? I will send a request to the Bishop of Avellino at dawn, for I now have little doubt that something wicked haunts my castle - an evil which seeks dominion over my very soul.

December 3, 1590:

I received a curious letter today; a reply to a missive I have no recollection of ever sending. The script is strange, shifting between recognizable words and utterly foreign symbols. I could not look upon it long and asked Alberighi if he would attempt to read it. He tells me that it is written in plain Italian and that it contained nothing strange or remarkable save its exquisite calligraphy and general penmanship.

The letter was from the Ambassador of Alagadda, a faraway kingdom I had never before heard of. The ambassador was evidently thanking me for my invitation, informing me that he would arrive no sooner or later than the 30th of this month. This news filled me with an inexplicable dread, well beyond my usual unsociable reflex. Alberighi assured me that I sent the invitation in October. Why does memory fail me?

December, 10, 1590:

The masked fiends are everywhere, stalking me in the night and escaping into the mirrors. My courtiers tell me that it is all just a trick of the mind. No longer am I able to discern reality from fantasy. To be safe, I've shattered every looking-glass in my estate.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, it is now, and ever shall be, a world without end. Amen.

December 16, 1590:

Today I received a missive from the Bishop of Avellino. The Bishop proves sympathetic and vows to send a number of his finest prelates to investigate my estate. An ember of hope now burns against the darkness; I will try to take comfort in its light, however faint its flame.

I've not forgotten that other letter - a reply to an invitation never sent. The fated day draws nigh as fear coils around my heart. It is content to feast slowly, savoring my suffering as it devours its way to my soul.

December 18, 1590:

My world vibrates with the most cacophonous of music! The servants claim they hear nothing but even the wine trembles within my cup! The noise grows ever louder, ever deeper, with the progression of the day. Blood flows from my ears and I feel as though my bones have begun to fracture.

Perhaps it is a blessing disguised as a curse, for it helps rebuff the cruel embrace of sleep. I cannot face those dreams again! They fill my soul with ungodly urges and a singular, self-destructive instinct. O, how I long for the sweet release of death! God, have mercy!

Where are the priests? I call on every saint and every angel, deliver me from madness!

December 23, 1590:

The prelates arrived at noon. Having thoroughly inspected my estate, they determined the presence of something unholy. Their leader informed me that my suffering was not merely the work of spirits or minor devils but showed signs of Satan's direct interference and that I was undoubtedly targeted for my years of piety.

As I write this, they consecrate my halls with holy water and replace that abhorrent cacophony with the hallowed sound of chimes and prayer.

Tonight they intend to exorcise the evil from my body. By the grace of God, I will be saved!

December 25, 1590:

On this Holy Day, I am saved! Though their work was arduous, they restrained my body and expelled Satan through the righteous mortification of the flesh. I see little reason to continue this journal. My grace renewed, I can return to the joy of my music.

Curious still is the letter from Alagadda. I assumed it was another delusion yet here it resides atop my writing desk. Though I try to ignore it, my gaze repeatedly gravitates to its peculiar seal. I dare not read it again, for its very existence is an obstacle to my recovery.

I vow to burn it tonight.

December 26, 1590:

This cannot be possible.

It turned to ash before my eyes.

Yet here it is, returned to my desk. Undamaged. Pristine.

I fear what this day shall bring.

December 29, 1590:

The Church has failed. God has abandoned me. Hope, it seems, was always an illusion. No longer can I trust the members of my court. They conspire against me in some unknowable but nonetheless nefarious plot. I am, and have always been, completely alone.

Though I do not sleep, the nightmare remains. It engulfs my estate, infecting all with its delirium. Darkness gathers at the windows, blinding me from the world outside. The walls bulge and crack, bleeding black oil strewn with entrails and drowned rats. The halls contort, perverting any distinction between up and down. My ancestors writhe within the frames of their portraits and in unison shriek laments.

I seek to escape but find egress barred by forces beyond my strength. I was too weak. I have always been too weak.

The power destroyed me, purged me of agency, and lit my path with false hope and foolish faith.

I cannot fight this any longer and welcome obliteration. The fated day is here.

December 30, 1590:

Impossible music reverberates from below. Alberighi stands at my doorway, his face erased by a porcelain disguise. His movement and poise resemble that of a marionette. I fear a stranger now moves his bones. His voice is wrong; I know in my heart that this man has no soul.

He informs me that the Ambassador has arrived. God have mercy.

January 12, 1591:

[The journal suddenly displays significant improvements in penmanship, including master quality calligraphy despite it being unlikely intended for the viewership of others.]

I was a fool to dread their arrival. My suffering was not without purpose, for what I endured was merely the birthing pangs of an awakened soul. Initiated into the secret rites of Alagadda, I have become one of a chosen few.

To my initial surprise, Calandri was among them. Though unrecognizable in his disguise, he approached me openly and eased my concerns with his calming familiarity. He gave me a mask and told me to wear it, citing the customs of Alagadda. I now understand his part in my awakening. He is to become my mentor, guiding me to the truth as Virgil did Dante through the bowels of Hell.

The Ambassador entered my court with unrivaled splendor, an entourage of tumblers and jugglers, bards and balladeers following in his wake. He bestowed a gracious bow and introduced himself by title, never divulging his true name throughout the entirety of his stay. Dusk-colored silk was wrapped around his entire body, from his curiously heel-centric chopine9 to his pointed hood - the fabric bound taut like the bandages of long-dead Egyptian kings. It was an unexpectedly drab attire compared to the luxurious garb of his attendants, with their alabaster masks, ruby-encrusted golden jewelry, and ink-dyed doublets and pantaloons.

We discussed a multitude of subjects, exploring the hidden depths of art, music, and philosophy. Though much was beyond my comprehension, I listened with fascination and savored every forbidden word. He finally spoke of the Hanged King, his mystery and supreme power.

I remember his visit as one remembers a lingering dream. When he was gone, he left something of himself with me and I gave him something in return. I do not recollect the exact nature of our bargain but it doesn't matter. I would have surrendered anything for this. He has marked me with their Sign.

The tears that stain this page are testament to his glory, for he has carved the musica universalis10 upon my soul. I must find the voices and show mankind the true harmony of the spheres!

February 7, 1591:

O ignorance! I see now, through the eyes of true lucidity, the deception of your bliss! What we call reality is nothing more than a tightly controlled performance. Life was one of anguish and pain, suffocated beneath the unnumbered falsehoods of this world.

But no longer will I suffer the Church and its lies, their poison fed to me since infancy.

I hear the music with such clarity now. It is the only truth I require.

February 24, 1591:

Though I have always known him to be intelligent, Calandri proves more learned than ever suspected. My lessons have begun with forbidden astrology, cosmic secrets long suppressed by the Church. O how they fear the Stars, their dread portents and infinite incomprehensibility!

We spend these nights operating strange tools composed of bronze and polished glass, optical instruments that Calandri assures will be common in the years to come. Through this apparatus we search for the doomed worlds and chart the flourishing of the Void. He speaks often of Alagadda, the Sleeping City, whose Black Stars scream their secrets for all eternity.

Our brotherhood is one of many, our sovereign a King whom even emperors have humbly served.

April 6, 1591:

Calandri proves a masterful tutor and I've learned my lessons well. His grimoires are incalculably old, their pages bound by iron locks and shackles.

Today I asked my teacher about lofty Alagadda and of whence it was raised.

He told me that the Sleeping City predates all creation, its high fanes already ancient when the gods were not yet more than a dream.

May 15, 1591:

I have completed the first composition of what is to be my magnum opus. In my excitement, I summoned the greatest singers of my domain. The anticipation is almost more than I can endure!

May 17, 1591:

[Entry displays frenzied penmanship] All have failed me. Did these fools seek to mock me or were they always this incapable? They protested against my demands, claimed that my instructions were indecipherable - that what I desired was simply impossible!

I had them tortured for their lack of talent and lo! From their anguished cries, I produced the sweetest melody! From the wheeze of a punctured lung to the death rattle of the disemboweled! The words and notes flowed from their broken bodies until there was nothing left of them to take! The music! The ecstasy! Man, woman, or child - it mattered not as I exalted in their destruction!

In the end I was breathless, covered in blood and bile - O, what a grand and intoxicating symphony!

[The following had been intentionally blotted out with ink but has been restored through modern image retrieval scans] I never meant to hurt them but they had sinned against the universe itself. Were these thoughts truly mine? I felt the Ambassador at my side, caressing the darkness within me. There is another. Such hatred! An odium so great it reaches the sun.

June 20, 1591:

I was lost but Calandri found me and returned me to the fold. I surrendered to foolishness, born from a disease of guilt. Through violence, he has cured me. Guilt, mercy, compassion - each a tether on my soul from which I must be torn.

Suffering is necessary. What I intend to create will be worth every sacrifice. I must not question what our King intends. Even Judas had his role to play.

The music grows within me, like a deflowered womb. But the wombs of flesh spawn such ugly things, such polluted vermin.

But I will birth a god. My pain has purpose.

June 25, 1591:

The Ambassador visits me in my dreams. He has promised me a patron - one who has watched me with great curiosity.

I continue to be haunted by visions and other phantasms. I had no idea that the veil hid such monstrous things. Calandri explains that I am a Witness, one who has gazed upon the truth of our reality. There is a strange beauty to these horrors and I cannot look away. The world must see as we do. It would be good to tear this veil to shreds.

The music becomes me. When I cut the flesh, I bleed the words. Like a warsong, it cultivates rage. My soul burns with such fury. This is what it is to be alive! Alas, I am surrounded by dreamless, shuffling corpses!

The world festers with so many unnecessary people. They are but tinder for my pyre.

August 4, 1591:

I was seated at my throne when he entered. Locust swarms and fetid miasma followed in his wake, gracing my courtroom with his divine pestilence. I knew him by his mask.

The Seething Prince, Lord of the Yellow Court.

He offered me his patronage and I gladly accepted. Though I recoiled from his tainted touch, it filled my mind with such wondrously perverse designs.

Yes. I see it now. An infernal machine of flesh and bronze. A composition in the language of the cosmos.

No more words. The human tongue and script are worthless to me now. I am beyond them. The stars sing of my ascension and I will burn as bright as one.

I will burn away the impurities.

I will burn away the foul substance of creation.

The rest of the pages contain indecipherable notes and diagrams related to SCP-6624. The script matches no known writing system and has been shown to contain subtle cognitohazardous elements.

Carlo Gesualdo refers to his anomalous compositions as madrigals but their only similarity is the use of human vocalizations. Due to their complexity, they require the use of an entirely new musical notation system either invented by Gesualdo or adopted from some unidentified source. These compositions do not contain written lyrics but instruct a user in the playing of SCP-6624, which itself produces sounds resembling words. Though the titles are in Italian, the words produced by SCP-6624 do not coincide with any known language.

Foundation researchers, led by musicologist Dr. Lorenzo Martinelli, attempted to operate SCP-6624 with little success. Though multiple players were employed, it was ultimately determined that the apparatus required preternatural ability (primarily related to speed and coordination) which discounted the possibility of human interface.

Inspired by the player piano11, Dr. Martinelli began work on a mechanical means of bypassing SCP-6624's unprecedented complexity. His invention, the automatic corpolliope12, was completed in 1985 - finally allowing the Foundation to test the extent of SCP-6624's anomalous capabilities. Initial experiments were conducted on D-Class personnel and observed by researchers via a soundproof chamber, who would later directly analyze and interview test subjects (when possible) when SCP-6624 finished playing. The results of these experiments are summarized below:

+ SCP-6624 Test Log: Madrigals 1-7

- ACCESS GRANTED

Composition #
Title
Effect
Note

#1
Angoscia in esilio (English: “Anguish in exile”)
Listeners develop depressive psychosis, ultimately progressing to catatonia. Afflicted individuals will come to regard themselves as deposed nobility, the delusion growing more elaborate (and universal between subjects) until the subjects are rendered catatonic between 2-5 days after exposure. Following catatonia, subjects will begin to undergo heterotopic ossification (calcification) of the muscle and skin, causing the lips to grossly contort into a frown and the entire body to develop a doll-like appearance. Despite their inaction, they remain self-aware, perpetually weeping to the point of dehydration.
Subjects were kept alive via force-feeding and intravenous hydration but were terminated following a year of observation and no signs of change.

#2
Vangelo di rabbia (English: “Gospel of rage”)
Listeners show signs of growing agitation and aggression. As the music progresses, afflicted individuals will display increasingly violent tendencies and preternatural strength and/or pain tolerance. Subjects will initially attempt to attack non-afflicted humans before ultimately turning on each other. The last remaining subject will undergo spontaneous human combustion, converting their body to yellow ash.
The first test subject, D-02197, took the Foundation by surprise during a solo experiment. The 28-year-old male used its considerable strength and bulk to breach the research station, exposing 2 personnel to SCP-6624's playing of #2 and causing them to undergo similar psychological changes. This resulted in 25 casualties and 7 fatalities (including D-02197 and afflicted personnel) before the experiment could be prematurely ended. Testing was on hold until repairs and improvements were made to the containment unit.

#3
O l'estasi dell'agonia (English: “O the ecstasy of agony”)
Triggers self-destructive behavior in listeners, compelling them to repeatedly injure themselves while in an apparent state of manic euphoria. If unarmed, self-harm includes the forced removal of eyes, tongues, and genitals. Access to objects, such as a knife or hammer, can result in broken bones, disembowelment, and even the complete removal of the epidermis. As long as the music continues to play, subjects will not appear hindered by their injuries but will immediately experience pain, loss of consciousness, or death upon its completion.
Surviving test subjects claim that the song is the most beautiful they've heard and that they are able to remember it perfectly. As a result, afflicted individuals will attempt to constantly replicate it using their own voices or through other means, such as the tapping of fingers, hands, and feet. These subjects eventually stop responding to communication, incapable of focusing on anything other than the song.

#4
Stelle nere tra il crepuscolo giallo (English: “Black stars among the yellow twilight”)
Produces a spatial illusion within the containment chamber, observable to both listeners and non-listeners. As the music does not require audibility to produce its anomaly, it has been hypothesized that the illusion is triggered by SCP-6624's very vibrations. The illusion, unsurprisingly, resembles a yellow sky with black celestial bodies (stars, presumably, but possibly planetary objects) radiating darkness as a baseline star would with light (creating auras and beam-like structures)13 Observers report conflicting feelings, including "wondrous dread" and "familiar inconceivability". The illusion disappears when SCP-6624 ceases playing.
"I do not regard the feelings invoked by #4 or its accompanying illusion as part of the anomaly itself. Good art is capable of inspiring a plethora of emotions; weaving a tapestry from uncommon threads is a sign of a true maestro." Dr. Martinelli

#5
Il caos adorava, indossando nient'altro che gioia e follia (English: “Chaos adored, wearing naught but joy and madness”)
Listeners will vanish for the duration of #5 and return upon its completion. Subjects have no signs of physical injury but display symptoms of dementia and post-traumatic stress above and beyond those recorded among the casualties of war and disaster. It is unknown how this occurred within such a short time frame but interviews suggest that subjects perceived time at a decelerated speed wherever they were. Subjects are either unable or unwilling to divulge details about their experiences. Though still fully capable of speech (save for the common development of severe stuttering), most will only speak to themselves and what they say is generally incoherent.
Subjects would go on to display acute hypnophobia, eventually dying after months without sleep. The actual cause of death in cases of fatal insomnia, a rare but otherwise non-anomalous condition, is still debated.

#6
Dolori di un re torturato (English: “the Sorrows of a tortured king”)
Causes the manifestation of porcelain-faced entities wearing the garb of 16th-century Italian actors, along with period-appropriate props. The actors will begin a performance and appear to invite listeners to their makeshift stage. Subjects display unexplained awareness of their script and role, immediately acting out their part. Manifestations disappear whenever the music ends and test subjects display no memory of their performance.
1-3 days following exposure, test subjects began to display behavior indicative of hypergraphia14 - specifically, the writing of plays. Plays written this way are often incoherent in plot and structure, though they frequently bear a passing resemblance to SCP-701.

#7
Il mio cuore annerito, come è dolce il suo decadimento (English: “My blackened heart, how sweet its decay”)
Triggers various forms of degeneration within listeners' bodies, including opening holes and empty cavities. This all serves to amplify the noises made by the body, while causing the listener extreme pain as their heartbeats begin to reverberate like a drum from within. Afflicted subjects must keep moving and producing noise, lest they dissolve into a viscous substance. If they fail, all that remains is a blackened heart, still beating on its own to the rhythm of #7. Listeners display extreme duress, frequently screaming and weeping until their bodies are no longer able to move, resulting in immediate deterioration.
The locations where each test subject dissolved have developed a unique species of fungus not found anywhere else in baseline reality. Though testing was conducted in the 1960s, as of 2019, all remaining hearts continue to pulsate and do not appear to experience decay.

During an unrelated 1997 investigation of the Vatican Secret Archives, Foundation operatives recovered evidence of an otherwise forgotten conspiracy to cover up a major incident in the Province of Avellino. Though there was no mention of SCP-6624 itself, letters between members of the College of Cardinals show frequent, albeit vague references regarding Carlo Gesualdo and his eccentricities. Also found were a number of the composer's belongings evidently seized from his estate, including an untitled document and four more compositions displaying a level of complexity considered beyond human recitation. These compositions are titled Strappato dalle guglie del sacrificio (“Torn from the spires of sacrifice”), Il mio ossario trabocca (“My ossuary runneth over”), Dai sogni di febbre dei bambini (“Drawn from the fever dreams of infants”), and La marcia dei maiali (“The March of the pigs”). Further investigation ultimately led to the discovery of a Church-sponsored military effort to purge Avellino of anomalous activity in the year 1613.

Vatican Archive Documents:

+ Untitled Document - Date Unknown

- ACCESS GRANTED

The moment of truth is upon us and warrants this final record. Let it serve as a testament to who I was.

For over twenty years I have faithfully served and my invention nears completion. I am in contact with our allies in the shadows, who provide me with only the finest materials, while Calandri continues to perfect the preservative agent, creating a facsimile of the Philosopher's Stone. The machine must be eternal, for my Prince has told me so. He sees what mortals cannot; one piece moves the other and I will not live to see its fruition.

Let the Choir sing my apocalypse! When the Maestro of Rancor comes, even the dead will hear.

+ Roman Inquisition: Report on the Cleansing of Conza and Venosa, 19 August, 1613

- ACCESS GRANTED

Your Holiness [Pope Paul V],

We have traced the evil to Castle Gesualdo, verifying the Witchfinder’s suspicions [regarding the Prince of Venosa]. An accursed yellow miasma corrupts flora and fauna alike, perverting the natural laws of God himself, sparing neither flora nor fauna, nor even the artifice of man. The sky glows with the sickly colors of infected pus while the land has taken on a form most terribly rotten.

Monsters prowl the fields, demons whose shapes flicker and change before our very eyes. We have stood at the feet of giants, whose shadows stretch for miles. Blighted trees scream with the tongues of men and plead for the release of death. Buildings once familiar now display impossible geometry, transforming urban centers into inescapable labyrinths. Satan left his mark here; as it were, churches suffered the most grotesque transformations.

Once, in order to escape a maze with no apparent exit, we tried to break down a wall, only to find the interior full of blood, sinew, and lined with eyes. My words fail to capture what we encountered but it was as if the distinctions between substances - animal and vegetable, mineral and artificial - were utterly blurred.

Despite all these evils, the unending music proved our greatest foe.

Those not dead [fragment illegible] …forming instruments from their bones and flesh. They dance and sing with such beauty. It will be merciful to slay them all.

[Mold damage has rendered the rest of the letter illegible]

+ Roman Inquisition: Report on the Cleansing of Conza and Venosa, September 8, 1613

- ACCESS GRANTED

Your Holiness [Pope Paul V],

The Order triumphs through the Grace of God, though our victory was not without considerable sacrifice - for of the two-hundred sent to Campania, only eleven of us return with our lives. We were not prepared to combat this form of devilry and were forced to conscript from those few unpossessed. Verily, the Order itself has not encountered the musica diabolica since the Hamelin tragedy of 1284.

Hundreds are dead; the rest have gone mad.

We fought through the demons and possessed, even as the land itself conspired against us. To survive the musica diabolica, we had no other choice but to deafen ourselves. Simply covering or plugging our ears was not enough; they had to be destroyed. Thus we cut off our ears and cauterized the bloody holes.

It was a terrible sacrifice from which we will never recover.

For weeks we laid siege on Gesualdo, the source of this chaos, and finally breached the castle yesterday. What we found within was beyond description. Despite the horrors we already endured, my men were immediately stricken. It was as if Hell itself had been pulled into God’s Creation. Some lost consciousness, others took sick, while a few felt they had no choice but to fall on their swords.

Those that remained in control of body and mind delved into the darkest reaches of the castle. There we confronted a terrible fiend and its demon altar15. It swayed violently but ignored us, too enraptured by the musica diabolica. I knew this to be our only chance and plunged my blade into the demon’s blackened heart, ending its curse upon our land. Though it had a body like a serpent and limbs numbering in the hundreds, I recognized what lay before us. The Dark Powers had changed him but his familiar face remained. We feared the Prince was slain but I swear before God, this monster was the Prince himself!

We tried to burn the body but it would not succumb to flame. Exhausted from battle, we conscripted the surviving peasants to use their tools to cleave where the flesh was soft, dismembering it piece by piece. After purifying the remains with holy water, we interred what we could in the fields and left the rest for the rats.

As for that horrid altar? We dared not look upon it and instead chose to collapse the way. With the aid of black powder, we brought ruin to the Mad Prince’s sanctum. The castle still stands but I would not blame you if you chose to raze it to the ground, and perhaps the town with it.

Christendom must not know what transpired.

Respectfully yours in Christ,

Urbano Fiorensi, Grandmaster of the Unseen Order of St. Jude16

Due to the extreme nature of the anomalies described by Vatican documents, Overwatch has deemed it necessary to cease all further testing of SCP-6624 anomalous musical capabilities. Agents were sent to Carlo Gesualdo’s tomb in Naples and discovered that, rather than human remains, the tomb contained the bones of a pig.

Addendum 6624.1:

+ Access Appeal

ACCESS GRANTED

A Message from Dr. Lorenzo Martinelli:

I wish to make public my disagreement with this course of action and appeal Overwatch to undo their decision. It is my understanding that this vote was hardly unanimous and if I can change the minds of at least a few of you, it will all be worth it.

SCP-6624 has been my life’s work. While not every experiment has gone smoothly, I wish to assure you all that I have perfected my safety procedures. Whatever happened in Gesualdo 400 years ago was likely done with destructive intent. You’ve no doubt read his ravings and I can assure you that everyone on my research team is perfectly sane.

There is still so much that we do not understand. SCP-6624 isn't simply an instrument of anomalous music. There is a purpose - a method to the madness. All our efforts, all our sacrifices, will be rendered meaningless if we cannot solve this mystery.

A Response from O5-12:

Your appeal has been considered and rejected. SCP-6624 has been deemed too unpredictable for further experiments. The anomaly presents no threat to normalcy as long as it remains safely secured and unused. Resuming studies, for the sake of curiosity, is not worth the clear and evident risk. We thank you for your years of research but believe that you have established the parameters of SCP-6624’s anomalous capabilities to the satisfaction of the Foundation. You and your team will be properly reassigned to another project in the near future.

Addendum 6624.2:

+ Access Incident Report (12/30/1999)

ACCESS GRANTED

At 22:33 Central European Standard Time, all instances of SCP-6624-1 entered an active state and breached containment at Site-17 through unknown means, appearing on video as if sinking through the floor of their containment unit before disappearing entirely. Seconds later, surveillance footage depicted all instances of SCP-6624-1 reappearing at Provisional Containment Site-84, hundreds of kilometers from their original location. As SCP-6624 was no longer being actively tested, Site-84 was provided with minimal security, with 9 of 12 security personnel asleep at the time of the breach. After several minutes of conflict, all 12 personnel had been terminated by hostile SCP-6624-1. In response, all relevant non-active Mobile Task Forces within or adjacent to the Italian Peninsula were ordered to converge on Site-84 in Gesualdo.

Live surveillance footage from Site-84 depicted SCP-6624-1 accompanied by a nude elderly male. The subject was alive and standing but appeared disoriented, possibly in a somnambulist state. SCP-6624-1 would go on to manipulate their human captive to bypass biometric security parameters. This human captive was subsequently identified as Dr. Lorenzo Martinelli, formerly the head researcher of SCP-6624.

By 22:40, it had become apparent that instances of SCP-6624-1 treated Dr. Martinelli with unusual deference, frequently holding his hand or kneeling at his feet. Dr. Martinelli’s actions became increasingly involved, employing his knowledge of Site-84 to deactivate all SCP-6624 related safety protocols and activating the facility’s automatic defense system. Though evidently cognizant, his behavior was erratic and included fits of laughter, dancing, singing, and crying. Curiously, instances of SCP-6624-1 appeared to be dismantling SCP-6624’s automatic player system, reverting SCP-6624 to its otherwise unplayable, manual setting.

Reports and images of masked musicians and entertainers in Gesualdo were posted on Italian social media platforms. Locals were evidently under the impression that an impromptu event in celebration of the upcoming New Year was taking place and began to join others in the streets. In response, the Foundation initiated Blackout Protocols, disabling the region’s power grid. By the time military operatives arrived, the number of SCP-6624-1 throughout Gesualdo appeared to number in the hundreds.

At Site-84, Dr. Martinelli displayed symptoms of disease, such as jaundiced skin and open sores, which themselves produced a black discharge. This unknown substance permeated throughout the entire chamber, moving seemingly by its own volition. Minutes later, Dr. Martinelli collapsed; though his body appeared lifeless, his head began to swell and spasm, and by 22:58, had grown to quadruple the size of his body.

At 00:00, an entity erupted from Martinelli’s expanded cranium. The anomalously spawned aberration uncoiled, revealing its approximately 9 meters long centipede-like body and over 80 spindly humanoid arms and hands. Classified as SCP-6624-2, the entity was primarily composed of a semi-viscous black substance, except for its cadaverous limbs, prominent yellow vertebrae, and a number of pale mask-like faces covering its bulkier front. At 00:02, SCP-6624-2 crawled to SCP-6624 and proceeded to operate it.

As the first wave of military operatives arrived, aberrant music resembling SCP-6624’s frequency had become audible throughout the town and neighboring communities. The music was soon followed by earth tremors and hysteria, with SCP-6624-1 inciting locals to assault Foundation agents. Mission Command ordered operatives to activate the noise-canceling setting of their radio headgear, though a few failed to react in time and were anomalously compelled to join the violent throngs. Buildings burned and the streets were strewn with mutilated bodies as the enraged mob turned on itself. In response, Mission Command authorized the use of deadly force to reach SCP-6624, though SCP-6624-1 proved unusually resistant to ballistic damage.

By 00:10, a number of other anomalies began to manifest, with white tendrils/roots erupting from the ground and yellow gas flooding the streets. A storm appeared, unleashing strong winds and black rain. Artificial structures grew increasingly non-Euclidian as the impacted area severely deviated from Earth’s natural gravity, rendering navigation infeasible.

Unidentified entity, presently classified as SCP-6624-3

Operatives breached Site-84 at 00:22, but suffered heavy casualties from a number of variables, including the mob, SCP-6624’s music, and the facility’s own auto defense system. Reinforcements arrived at 00:26, though they found the town transformed to the point of incomprehensibility, ultimately disorienting pilots and causing several helicopters to crash. By 00:30, Mission Command had lost contact with all field operatives at Gesualdo. With control of the situation completely lost, Overwatch ordered the immediate destruction of SCP-6624, flooding Site-84 with chlorine trifluoride and eliminating all organic material, including SCP-6624’s human components. Before the video feed ended, an unknown entity or force appeared in SCP-6624’s chamber and has since been classified as SCP-6624-3. As SCP-6624-2 rapidly deteriorated and ceased playing, SCP-6624-3 continued to linger for several minutes. During this time it appeared to stare into the last operating video camera, perhaps knowingly, before dissipating. As the chlorine trifluoride had no effect on SCP-6624-3, it is hypothesized that the entity lacked (or had yet to fully achieve) a corporeal form.

In the aftermath of the 12/30/1999 incident, the Foundation had suffered 84 casualties, including 58 fatalities. 23 survivors suffered permanent psychosis and these individuals would undergo total amnesticization before being discharged to civilian life at a high-quality care facility. Though the town returned to physical normalcy, it is estimated that over half of Gesualdo’s population had been terminated; those that remained were found to suffer psychosis similar to surviving operatives and were ultimately deemed no longer fit to live in society. These individuals were also amnesticized and released to different psychiatric hospitals throughout Italy.

Though costly, the population of Gesualdo was replaced. These new residents had their memories altered to believe themselves lifelong residents of the area. Damage to the town was blamed on naturally occurring earthquakes. Site-84 was deemed a complete loss and decommissioned. The current whereabouts of SCP-6624-1 instances remains unknown.

Security personnel were sent to investigate Dr. Martinelli’s apartment in Naples, finding it in a state of disarray. Furniture had been overturned, windows smashed, and the walls were covered with unusual graffiti. This graffiti included musical compositions bearing Carlo Gesualdo’s special notations for SCP-6624, as well as images of black stars, a crowned figure seated upon a throne, and what appeared to be a stereotypical jester impaled by a spear or stake.

Martinelli’s bedroom was found to contain a blackened body hanging from a noose, encircled by unidentified ritual symbols and melted candles. The heavily charred cadaver proved unusually brittle and began to break apart during removal. An autopsy was performed and revealed that the subject’s interior organic tissue had been partially converted into a crumbling yellow substance resembling sulfur. Efforts to retrieve a DNA sample failed, as the subject had been damaged at a genetic level. Such damage would normally be indicative of acute radiation poisoning yet Geiger counters failed to detect a significant presence of ionizing radiation.

The wall facing the cadaver had been inscribed with a message, scrawled boldly over layers of composition. It read (translated from Italian):

Woe betide those

Who would silence our rapture

The Choir must sing

And eternal dream

Of Lost Alagadda

Footnotes

1. Most activity was found to radiate from the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex has been positively related to self-reported feelings of anger and individual differences in general aggression.

2. The Castle of Gesualdo was founded by the Lombards in the 7th century and enlarged in the 15th. It was transformed by Carlo Gesualdo in the 16th and by the Cacceses in the 19th.

3. Aldebaran, designated Alpha Tauri (α Tauri, abbreviated Alpha Tau, α Tau), is an orange giant star located about 65 light-years from the Sun in the zodiac constellation Taurus. It is the brightest star in its constellation and usually the fourteenth-brightest star in the night sky, though it varies slowly in brightness between magnitude 0.75 and 0.95.

4. The material appears to be more closely related to chitin.

5. Members of La Mascherata employ pseudonyms evidently drawn from Commedia dell'arte, such as “Il Dottore”, “Pantalone”, and “Pierrot”. Commedia dell'arte (comedy of the profession) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italy, that was popular in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century and characterized by masked "types" - exaggerated characters reused in various different plays and skits.

6. ”Why construct an instrument so complicated that no human could ever hope to play it? There is no information available about this so-called ‘Maestro’. Their identity remains a subject of frustration and fascination to me.” Dr. Lorenzo Martinelli

7. Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. It involves the modification of the normal scale by the use of accidentals (indicating sharps, flats, or naturals).

8. In flagrante delicto (Latin: "in blazing offense"), or simply in flagrante, a legal term, indicates that a criminal has been caught in the act of committing an offense (compare corpus delicti).

9. A chopine is a type of platform shoe that was popular in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Chopines were originally used as an overshoe to protect the shoes and dress from mud and filth.

10. Musica universalis (literally universal music), also called Music of the spheres or Harmony of the Spheres, is an ancient philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies—the Sun, Moon, and planets—as a form of music. This "music" is not usually thought to be literally audible, but a harmonic, mathematical or religious concept.

11. A player piano (also known as pianola) is a self-playing piano, containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism that operates the piano action via pre-programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls.

12. A portmanteau of corpus (body) and calliope (a musical instrument that produces sound by sending gas through large whistles). The term is interchangeable with SCP-6624 and any similar instruments, if similar instruments exist.

13. "I cannot help but be reminded of a certain passage from Milton's Paradise Lost: No light, but rather darkness visible." Dr. Martinelli

14. Hypergraphia is a behavioral condition characterized by the intense desire to write or draw.

15. The “demon altar” is believed to be a reference to SCP-6624.

16. The Unseen Order of St. Jude was a secret military order of Christian Knights. Little is known about the organization but they appear to have served the Pope directly and were trained for the elimination of anomalies (then perceived as demons and witchcraft).