Photograph taken on an SCP-1572 route.

Item #: SCP-1572

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1572 is to be held in a standard containment chamber, located within Site-77. No personnel are to come into direct eye contact with SCP-1572, and any subjects found to have viewed it are to be quarantined until SCP-1572 ceases to affect them. Testing of SCP-1572's different routes is currently ongoing. All testing has been discontinued due to continued loss of D-Class personnel.

Demolition of these locations before the subject can reach them will cause SCP-1572's effect to immediately cease, however this method has been discontinued as a waste of resources.

Description: SCP-1572 is an orange sheet of children's construction paper, 28x43 centimeters in diameter. It appears heavily worn, although it bears no rips or tears. The words "Secret Spesial[sic] Map of Backroots" has been written on one side of SCP-1572.

SCP-1572-induced entity.

Any human subject viewing SCP-1572 will see it as a map, leading to a location the subject sees as significant. These locations will be places the subject identified strongly with from their childhood. These locations have ranged from places the subject has fond memories of, such as carnivals or playgrounds, to more abstract ones. Subjects will report the map as appearing to be crudely drawn, with crayons or markers, and in child-like handwriting. If the location has been altered or changed since they last saw it, the subject will claim it has always been in its current state. Only one person will be affected by SCP-1572 at a time.

Subjects can attempt to use SCP-1572 to reach this area, claiming that it is important that they re-visit the location. Subjects will claim recollections of the area which they had no way of knowing prior to viewing SCP-1572, such as the current status of the location and the exact method by which they can travel from their current position to the area shown on SCP-1572. Subjects can be persuaded out of attempting this, and SCP-1572 will cease to affect them if they are removed from it for more than 46 hours.

As the subject moves closer to the area, they will begin hearing a voice they claim originates from SCP-1572, saying that the subject has to reach the location before the sun sets, or else they may "remember". After a day has passed, subjects will claim to see entities observing them from a distance, which subjects will describe as being related to the area they are attempting to reach. As the subjects get closer to their destination, these creatures will be visible as incorporeal objects. All manifestations created by SCP-1572 have been incorporeal, but visible to anyone capable of viewing the subject. These persons may also be able to photograph and videotape SCP-1572 entities.

Manifestations created by SCP-1572 exposure will follow the subject until they reach their destination, changing their shape based on locations the subject is in proximity to and the memories they evoke. Entities may appear as neighbors, childhood pets, or forms based on their experiences. For example, a subject who was attempting to reach a childhood home claimed to see reptilian humanoids resembling their deceased younger sister. The subject's sister had died at the age of 4, after being bitten by a snake. Entities may also take on abstract forms which have meaning only to the subject. Testing has shown these forms are not intelligent, changing purely based on the memories and reactions of the subject.

Once reaching their destination, subjects will begin to interact with the area as they did when they were children, usually displaying euphoria and sudden athletic ability. If the subject is not viewed while in this area, they may suddenly disappear. For more detail, see SCP-1572's testing log. No subjects lost due to SCP-1572 exposure have been recovered as of 11/16/1987.

SCP-1572 was discovered during investigation into "█████ ███", a person of interest connected to SCP-1967. SCP-1572 was located inside his home, locked in a wall safe. As of 11/16/1987, SCP-1572 has been classified as Safe.

Addendum: SCP-1572 testing log.

SCP-1572 Testing Log

Access Granted

Test A

Subject: D-3246

Procedure: SCP-1572 showed directions to an abandoned building, which the subject claimed to have explored when they lived in the area.

Activity: Subject was allowed to reach the area within 3 hours of being exposed to SCP-1572. Once within the area, D-3246 attempted to enter the building through several side entrances, before entering through the unlocked front door.

Status: Subject was lost after entering the building.

Test B

Subject: D-1055

Procedure: Subject led personnel to a forest in [REDACTED], personnel noted an abnormally large number of trees with low-hanging branches.

Results: D-1055 immediately began to climb through the trees, moving with speed and agility not seen prior to reaching the area.

Status: Subject was lost after trailing agents were unable to view them through the vegetation.

Test CC

Subject: D-0935

Procedure: D-0935 led agents to a crawl space under an uninhabited residential home, identified by the subject as the place they would hide when their father, an alcoholic, was inebriated.

Results: Subject immediately began crawling into the space once they were released by agents. Agent Ekblad attempted to follow D-0935 into the space. Agent Ekblad was equipped with video recording equipment

Status: Both Agent Ekblad and D-0935 were lost after entering the space. Footage was not recovered.

Test F

Subject: D-3246

Procedure: After two days of travel, D-3246 reached a jungle gym built into the back of an abandoned apartment complex where they grew up. On the trip, D-3246 refused to sleep, claiming it would be crushed to death by "stompers". D-3246 refused to elaborate, but claimed to be able to hear this creature behind any locked door she could view.

Results: Subject immediately began to climb into the gym once she viewed it, despite having to be carried to it by agents due to exhaustion.

Status: Agents testified that the jungle gym began extending into the graffiti found on the walls of the apartment complex. Subject appeared to climb into the walls of the building, and was lost.

Test ZA

Subject: D-9026

Procedure: Subject reached a small cave system in [REDACTED], which appeared to be almost entirely caved in.

Results: D-9026 reached the cave by climbing a tree located by a cliff face, where an entrance to the system was located.

Status: Subject was lost after entering the cave. Agents reported seeing D-9026 begin falling out of the cave, before a human hand reached out of the cave and pulled them inside.