Item #: SCP-3000-EX

Object Class: Explained

Special Containment Procedures: Containment is no longer required as of 10 April 1987. The items previously designated as SCP-3000-1 through -4, together with related materials, have been returned to civilian authorities.

Description: SCP-3000-EX is the collective designation for a set of four modified hospital beds and other items which were originally hypothesised to have mind-affecting properties. Comprehensive testing of SCP-3000-EX, PoI-3000-1 and all other materials recovered in conjunction with SCP-3000-EX, have confirmed that they are not anomalous.

A full list of SCP-3000-EX items is set out below:

4 x hospital beds (date of manufacture no later than 1975). The beds have been modified by the attachment of short lengths of metal pipe of various sizes and configurations. The pipes are attached to the side rails of the beds by metal clamps, or have been imprecisely welded in place.

7 x IKEA-brand directional floor lamps (2 without bulbs) together with extension leads and power strips.

12 x bottles of sleeping pills

9 x pairs of handcuffs, together with several sets of what appear to be improvised manacles. Several of these were attached to the metal pipes on the hospital beds.

6 x steak knives

1 x knife sharpener

1 x chest freezer containing multiple cuts of red meat. Meat was later identified as beef.

3 x eviscerated human corpses (all teenaged males). The bodies were later identified as those of Gavin Staub, Mitchell Clark and Jerome Simmons, noted in Texas state records as missing persons.

SCP-3000-EX was recovered on 4 April 1987 following interception of Tarrant County police communications with a high incidence of trigger phrases. Key phrases included "murder", "ritual", "kids", "flesh", "speaking in tongues" and "cult-like". Agents from Site-73 were deployed to the crime scene, a suburban house in Arlington, Texas owned by Carl Fraser (designated PoI-3000-1). PoI-3000-1 had been arrested by county officers.

All SCP-3000-EX items were located in the basement of the house. The bodies were handcuffed or manacled to hospital beds by the wrists and ankles, and had been dead for between five days and three months before discovery. All three corpses were emaciated and showed signs of malnutrition and starvation over a period of at least four weeks. Their torsos were smeared with a combination of human and animal blood. Cause of death was determined to be severe internal bleeding, organ damage and disembowelment, likely with the steak knives found at the scene. Each of the bodies was found holding a steak knife in its right hand.

Further investigation uncovered a pit dug beneath the garage, filled with quicklime and containing body parts from at least ten unidentified individuals.

Based on the use of animal blood and the apparent self-inflicted wounds, Foundation agents suspected the possibility of a compulsion effect generated by the hospital beds or other SCP-3000-EX materials. All items were removed by the Foundation for testing, and PoI-3000-1 was taken into Foundation custody, with local law enforcement amnesticised as necessary.

+ Addendum 3000-EX-A - Interview with PoI-3000-1

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Addendum 1: Interview SCP-3000-EX-A

Interviewed: PoI-3000-1

Interviewer: Agent Curtis

Date: 5 April 1987

Foreword: Relevant extracts of this interview are set out below. The full interview logs (275 minutes) are available at Document 3000-EX/084. PoI-3000-1 was fitted with a polygraph for the final portion of the interview.

Agent Curtis: Please confirm your name and address?

PoI-3000-1: Carl William Fraser, 17 Old Grove Drive, Arlington, Texas, United States of America. It was my grandma's house.

Agent Curtis: Do you know why you're here, Carl?

PoI-3000-1: Yes, I am here because the policeman came to my house and he went down into my basement and he found those boys laying there dead.

Agent Curtis: Did you kill those boys, Carl?

PoI-3000-1: Yes I did, I killed them or at least I had to help kill them.

Agent Curtis: Who helped you kill them, Carl?

PoI-3000-1: They did. Those boys themselves did. I had to help.

Agent Curtis: Tell me how you met those boys.

PoI-3000-1: Most of them were at the bus station in Fort Worth, and …

Agent Curtis: Where did you get the hospital beds?

PoI-3000-1: I bought them. My grandma had one and she died but I liked how the mattress felt when I lay down on it, so I bought some more and they were the same type but they didn't feel the same.

Agent Curtis: Where did you buy them from?

PoI-3000-1: From a store in Fort Worth, Jackson's Bric-a-brac. They have old things there.

Agent Curtis: Did you change the beds after you bought them?

PoI-3000-1: I put the metal on them so their arms could reach. I tried it without but it didn't work, the handcuffs were too short. And I jammed the backs so they were sitting up a little bit. So they could lean forward.

Agent Curtis: Did you do anything else to the beds, Carl?

PoI-3000-1: No.

Agent Curtis: Do you know what magic is?

PoI-3000-1: Yes, like Siegfried and Roy.

Agent Curtis: What about real magic, Carl?

PoI-3000-1: There's no such thing as real magic, just stories and illusions, it's not real.

Agent Curtis: Can you do illusions, Carl?

PoI-3000-1: No.

Agent Curtis: Did you do an illusion with the beds?

PoI-3000-1: No. What do you mean?

Agent Curtis: Did the beds make those boys hurt themselves? Did the beds speak to the boys in their minds?

PoI-3000-1: I don't understand what you mean, I think you're trying to trick me and I don't like it when people trick me.

Agent Curtis: Okay, Carl, I'm not trying to trick you. I just want to ask questions. Would you like some more water?

PoI-3000-1: I don't like it when people trick me.

Agent Curtis: Did you put the animal blood on those boys, Carl?

PoI-3000-1: It came from the meat. From the freezer.

Agent Curtis: Did you spread the blood in a pattern?

PoI-3000-1: No, it was them and it was just messy, not a pattern.

Agent Curtis: Are you saying the animal blood was an accident?

PoI-3000-1: Yes, it was an accident, why are you asking me -

Agent Curtis: But killing the boys wasn't an accident, was it Carl?

PoI-3000-1: No, no it wasn't an accident, but -

Agent Curtis: Why did you kill them, Carl?

PoI-3000-1: I didn't kill them! I told you, I didn't kill them, I just helped.

Agent Curtis: Okay, then -

PoI-3000-1: I killed the other ones, the first ones, but I didn't know any better and I was funny from the beer and I just grabbed his neck to stop him leaving and then when I woke up he was dead. I didn't mean to but he was so pretty and I didn't want him to leave and I tried to keep him but after he was dead he began to rot and I had to get rid of him so I -

Agent Curtis: What about later on, Carl? What about Gavin Staub?

PoI-3000-1: Gavin, Gavin, yes I remember he had a strong face and bright eyes but he got too weak.

Agent Curtis: What do you mean by weak?

PoI-3000-1: I tried feeding them, after the first ones, once I got the handcuffs and the basement arranged, but they didn't want to eat, they were beautiful but the food was making them less beautiful and then they died so I realised that there was another way, that the only way they could stay beautiful was if they ate themselves.

Agent Curtis: If they ate themselves?

PoI-3000-1: Yes, you see it's like a beautiful loop and the beauty goes around and around and never wears off and they would be able to stay, but I couldn't make them understand even though I gave them the knives and told them but they wouldn't do it, so for Gavin I had an idea.

Agent Curtis: What was your idea, Carl?

PoI-3000-1: After he woke up and he was on the bed and he was yelling, I told him that he had to eat himself, and he said no, so I said he couldn't have any food, and every day I told him and I could see he was hungry but he still said no so I waited and waited and then I gave him the steak.

Agent Curtis: This is one of the steaks you were keeping in the freezer?

PoI-3000-1: Yes, I put it on his belly and told him he could eat it and the freezer is good because the cold numbs the belly and it makes the meat harder and slippery for the knife and I knew how sharp the knife was, it was like a trick but it wasn't a mean trick and if he could only start cutting he would smell his body and he would be so hungry and the beauty would go on and on forever. But he was too weak, he couldn't hold the knife steady enough, so I had to help him.

Agent Curtis: <silence, 5 seconds> So what happened -

PoI-3000-1: I always had to help them, it never worked! I didn't want to but I had to, there was no other way. And the beauty always went out of them, afterwards.

Agent Curtis: I'm going to tell you some names now, Carl, and you tell me if you have heard of them, okay?

PoI-3000-1: Okay.

Agent Curtis: Adytum's Wake.

PoI-3000-1: No.

Agent Curtis: Ion.

PoI-3000-1: Like in chemistry?

Agent Curtis: No, it's a name. Do you know Ion?

PoI-3000-1: No. That's a strange name.

Agent Curtis: The Order of the White Worm.

PoI-3000-1: No.

Agent Curtis: The Fifth Church.

PoI-3000-1: No. There is a Catholic church off Debbie Lane, I think.

Agent Curtis: Tlaol.

PoI-3000-1: No. That's not a word. Are you trying to trick me again?

Agent Curtis: No, Carl, I'm not. I'm just asking whether you know it.

PoI-3000-1: That's not a real word.

Agent Curtis: Okay. The Veldt…

Afterword: Polygraph results were negative for all anomalous connections and groups of interest.

Further testing confirmed that neither PoI-3000-1 nor any of the SCP-3000-EX items had any anomalous properties. PoI-3000-1 was amnesticised and returned to Tarrant County Jail.

+ Addendum 3000-EX-B - Local media report

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Source: "Arlington Voice" Newspaper, page 3

Date: 12 August 1987

Headline: "Murder Trial Collapses"

The murder trial of the "Arlington Cannibal" was thrown out of court yesterday, when the District Attorney's case collapsed in spectacular fashion. The alleged murderer, Carl Fraser, 38, has been released from custody, and the DA would not confirm whether further charges would be filed.

Fraser was accused of the gruesome murders of three young men allegedly found dead in his Arlington home. Tarrant County officer Shawn Douglas had told the court the shocking details of his discovery of the bodies in the basement of the house, provoking gasps from the packed courtroom. However his testimony faltered during cross-examination by Defence Attorney Peter Ridley.

Mr Ridley repeatedly queried Officer Douglas' recollection of events, with the officer pressed for information about the circumstances of the search of Mr Fraser's house. Under a barrage of questions, Officer Douglas admitted that he could not clearly remember his actions for a significant period immediately after discovering the bodies, and he could not explain this confusion.

Mr Ridley then presented police records for the case, showing gaps in the custody of the alleged murder weapons and other evidence, which Officer Douglas could not explain. Officer Douglas was adamant that he had nothing to hide, but admitted that he could not rule out tampering with the crime scene or the evidence during the alleged gaps.

Following this answer, the District Attorney immediately asked the judge's permission to withdraw charges. Amid uproar in the courtroom, the trial was discontinued and Mr Fraser released.

After the trial, Mr Fraser was not available for comment. Mr Ridley gave a short statement to reporters gathered outside the courthouse, noting that his client had been exhausted by the proceedings, and wished to be given privacy on his return home.

Update - 15 August 1987: Foundation standard procedures for the use of amnestics have been amended. The Ethics Committee is currently deliberating on a proposal related to SCP-3000-EX - please see Document EC/87-054.