Item #: SCP-1303

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1303's location is to be cordoned off with a standard security fence, cameras, and no-trespassing signs at a distance of one (1) kilometer from the entrance. A team of four (4) agents should remain on duty near SCP-1303's entrance at all times in National Park Service Ranger uniforms to intercept approaching civilians and direct them away from the site. Should containment be breached and an unauthorized individual obtain access to SCP-1303, two of the four agents should enter the site on tethers and attempt to retrieve the trespasser alive. Upon successful retrieval, Class-B amnestics should be administered and the individual relocated to a safe distance.

Description: SCP-1303 is a linked set of eleven (11) natural caverns, located in [REDACTED], with one known surface entrance and a series of interconnecting passages. The caverns' sizes range from ten (10) meters across to approximately thirty-seven (37) meters across, reaching a maximum depth of one hundred and twenty (120) meters below ground level. The location is host to two potentially related phenomena, designated SCP-1303-1 and SCP-1303-2, that constitute the location's anomalous properties. Through the entire period of Foundation ownership of the site, SCP-1303-1 and 1303-2 have never been observed to overlap their areas of effect.

SCP-1303-1 is an intermittent effect that consists of the total absence of acoustic transmission within its area. It has been known to occur in every cavern connected to the SCP-1303 network, including the entrance cavern, though it exhibits no discernible pattern for manifestations. The phenomenon persists for a variable amount of time, ranging from five minutes to a record of four hours, and its boundaries never extend past those of the cavern it is currently affecting. Within SCP-1303-1's area, no sound waves of any sort can be generated or detected, regardless of whether they would be generated by a source inside the area travelling outward or vice versa. The effect extends to both mechanical devices and living subjects, though it is only known to manifest when a living subject is present. Affected mechanical devices exhibit all signs of perfect functionality except for their inability to transmit or detect sound waves. Personnel within SCP-1303-1's area of effect have persistently reported a sensation of being stalked or followed, catching glimpses of something moving out of the corner of their eye and a heightened urge to either flee or turn and confront whatever is there. In all such cases, electronic media and other personnel regularly fail to sense or detect the supposed 'stalkers', though multiple personnel within an affected area each experience such feelings independently. Due to dependency on minor echoes for balance and orientation, individuals who attempt to flee put themselves at high risk of injury.

SCP-1303-2 is an effect similar to SCP-1303-1, though instead of actively suppressing sound waves, the phenomenon completely inhibits any production or detection of visual, infrared, or ultraviolet light. It manifests in any of the SCP-1303 caverns except for the entrance cavern, and persists for anywhere from five minutes to over nine hours. Like SCP-1303-1, it affects both living subjects and mechanical devices without otherwise impeding their operation, and only manifests when a living subject is present, though its effects remain for a variable duration after the subject has left its area of effect. From the 'outside', the phenomenon appears to be a solid, opaque black wall, though it has no physical permanence and can be crossed freely. From the 'inside', no visual input of any kind registers, regardless of the location of the source. While inside an instance of SCP-1303-2, personnel have reported hearing, over the background noise of the cavern, noises that indicate an approaching creature or object of some kind. The exact details of the sounds vary, but in all cases exhibit traits of something or someone approaching the subject at a slow, deliberate pace, and in no instance has any such sound been registered or detected by recording equipment. As with SCP-1303-1, exposure to this effect triggers an anomalously strong fight-or-flight urge in affected subjects, which can lead to significant personal injury in the rough terrain of SCP-1303.

Addendum:

Interview Log 1303-1

Interview Log 1303-1

Interviewed:C████ B█████, one of the civilians found outside SCP-1303.

Interviewer: Dr. █████, Foundation researcher.

Foreword: Purpose of interview was to acquire a first-hand account of SCP-1303 before its identification and containment by the Foundation, and for additional data regarding concurrent exposure to SCP-1303-1 and SCP-1303-2.

<Begin Log>

Dr. █████: Mr. B█████, please tell me again why you and your friends were in that cave?

Mr. B█████: Because, sir… it was supposed to be fun… we're cavers, all of us. Me, J███, F██████, K███, card-carrying Society members - we call…..called…our grotto the Mole Rats. There's nothing quite like going underground, somewhere humans haven't torn up and remodeled yet. J███ called everybody up last week, said he'd heard about a cave not far from here on the Society forums that we could go check out.

Dr. █████: And you decided to go spelunking there?

Mr. B█████: Caving, sir, if you don't mind. Spelunkers are the amateurs, the newbies. Cavers know what they're doing, bring the right stuff for the job.

Dr. █████: Caving, then.

Mr. B█████:…Yeah. We got all our stuff together - helmet lamps, backups, even had some of those chemical glow sticks. Padded pants, brought our wetsuits along just in case, ropes and food. The sleeping bags stayed in the car, with the wetsuits, in case we needed them. J███ drove us out there. It looked like a pretty ordinary cave to us, sir, set in the hillside. No one around for miles, no sign anyone had ever been there, not even hazard markings.

Dr. █████: Please continue, and describe what happened inside.

Mr. B█████:… Yes, sir. It was… just a cave, really. Some pretty rock formations, nothing extraordinary - no Mammoth, or Peppersauce, but a nice little place. K███ found a stream coming out of the wall that led down a tunnel, must have been a few hundred feet or so into another cavern, bigger one. Had a couple of ways to go, so we flipped a coin and went right. That third cave was the biggest yet, but halfway across… (subject stops speaking, begins to look ill)

Dr. █████: Continue, Mr. B█████.

Mr. B█████:… sir. We were right about in the middle, when I went deaf. At least, that's what I thought happened. J███ was talking to me, then stopped mid-sentence. I thought he'd seen something, so I stopped and looked at him - he was looking back at me, and neither of us could hear anything. His lips moved, but nothing came out, like one of those old-time movies. F██████ and K███ were the same way - none of us could hear anything, even each other - it was weird as [EXPLETIVE], pardon my French, sir. We were about to turn around and get out of there, when J███ started and spun around, looking at the wall like he'd seen a ghost or a bear or something. Whatever it was, though, it must have gotten behind me, because I saw… something.

Dr. █████: Can you describe it?

Mr. B█████: Never got a good look at it, sir. It was big, and moving, but only out of the corner of my eye, and there wasn't anything there when I turned to stare. I couldn't hear her, but F██████ looked like she was screaming, looking around all over the place on the edge of panic. K███ bolted back for the entrance, and it was like she was drunk - stumbling, staggering, slipping on bits of gravel. When I followed… you ever tried running when you can't hear your own footsteps, sir? It's freaky, and turns out it's really d—— hard. I was sober as a churchman and tripping over myself worse than she was, and that… whatever it was… was still there, always at the corner of my eye. We made it to the tunnel, and all of a sudden I could hear again, like nothing had ever been wrong - crunching of feet on rock, everyone gasping for breath, the works, and whatever that thing had been, it was gone. K███ had bruised her ankle a bit, but she could walk and we had a first aid kit in the car. We made it back to the second cavern, but then the lights went out.

Dr. █████: The lights went out? Please clarify.

Mr. B█████: Mean just what I said, sir. Like the first time, only this time I was blind. At first, I thought my headlamp had shorted out, but I couldn't see the others' helmets either, and the glass was still hot. Sure enough, the others were blinded too - we could talk now. Couldn't have been more than fifty feet to the other side, from what I remembered - dangerous to travel in the dark, but if we took it slow and careful… but then I heard it. Maybe it was that thing from before, but it was coming up the tunnel behind us. Noises, like claws on stone - not loud, but they were getting louder, and we couldn't see a thing. J███ started panting then - said he could hear someone with big, heavy boots coming up the tunnel… K███ just screamed 'SNAKE' and started scrambling across towards where she thought the other side of the cavern was. J███ was next, yelling and crawling after her in the dark, and I was right on his heels. That thing was in the cavern, I could hear it, and getting closer - all that was on my mind was getting away. F██████ was behind me, at first, but then I… we all heard her scream, and that…crunching. I knew it had gotten her, whatever it was, but - God, sir, all I could do was run for my life, I didn't even stop. Ran into the wall and started feeling my way along it - J███ made it out first and was shouting out where the exit was for us. I swear, that thing was right behind me when I ran into J███ and I could see again.

Dr. █████: And behind you?

Mr. B█████: Blackness. Just a solid sheet of black, like someone had hung a curtain from the roof of the tunnel. The helmet lights just stopped when they hit it, but I didn't stop to check it out - we ran like rabbits through that first cave and outside.

Dr. █████: Thank you, Mr. B█████. The medic outside would like to examine you again now.

<End Log>

Closing Statement: Mr. B█████, Mr. N████, and Ms. M████████ were given Class B amnestics and returned to their homes after a brief recovery period in a local hospital. Ms. L██████'s remains were recovered from Component 3 of SCP-1303 and autopsied; cause of death was determined to be cranial trauma caused when Ms. L██████ tripped and struck her head against a protruding stalagmite, despite her protective headgear. The body was returned to its family to maintain the cover story of a tragic cave-diving accident, and SCP-1303's current isolation and containment procedures were implemented. Investigation of the National Speleological Society's discussion forums revealed no trace of any post describing the location of SCP-1303.