Item #: SCP-2172

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-2172 has been marked with a sign indicating its nature and has been the subject of a campaign of disinformation by the Regional Press Office, with an effort to ensure its status as a “local oddity” and tourist attraction to prevent its disturbance. Local Foundation assets are instructed to monitor the traffic camera at the location of SCP-2172. In the event SCP-2172 turns yellow or green, or any attempt is made to disturb it, Local Mobile Task Force 352-Dalet (“Dixieland Nightmare Magic”) is tasked with immediate investigation and revision of containment procedures, if necessary. SCP-2172-1 is kept in a standard containment locker at Regional Headquarters-352.

Description: SCP-2172 is a stoplight on northbound Perry Avenue in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., that exclusively shines its red signal. No attempt, either through traffic control systems or rewiring, has enabled researchers to disable the red signal or activate the yellow or green signals. SCP-2172’s signal shines regardless of powered status, and removing SCP-2172 from its place at the intersection of Perry Avenue and U.S. 98 causes a sharp and immediate drop in localized reality levels, which remains until SCP-2172 is returned to hang at the intersection.1

SCP-2172-1 is a Field Notes brand 64-page notebook, gray in color. Recovered from the home of Warner Davis, a deacon in the Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, after his death by suicide, SCP-2172-1 contains a marking of Deacon Davis’s blood and, on the adjoining page, a message written by him:

SCP-2172-1 upon recovery.

Asmodei,

With this blood I
seal our pact.

May my soul be
yours in the
Second Circle, and,

In exchange, grant
my Order an eternal
flame, a never-extinguished
light, ensuring the
victory of the Vatican
in all wars.

-Warner Davis

The date of Deacon Davis’s suicide is concurrent with the first recorded manifestation of SCP-2172’s anomalous properties in 19██.

Addendum: After an extensive internal debate,2 the Foundation began the pursuit of testing SCP-2172’s potential secondary effect. After over four years of negotiation with the Horizon Initiative and the governments of the Holy See and Eswatini, a test has been arranged in the Vatican for December 1st, 20██. During the test, Swazi King ██████ ███3 will declare war on Vatican City. He and Pope █████ will immediately attempt to sign a peace treaty ending the war, with no terms beyond an admission of defeat by the Holy See. The success or failure of this attempt will indicate whether SCP-2172 has any impact on the Vatican’s capability to lose a war.

Footnotes

1. See attached document “Region 352-ד Hume Readings 0700 EST SEP 16, 2004,” for an example of the effects of the last Beacon Disturbance event, when SCP-2172’s line was severed by high winds during the landfall of Hurricane Ivan.

2. Evans, Nathaniel, “Holy War: We Can’t Test Papal Infallibility, But We Can Test Vatican Invincibility.” Theography: An SCP Foundation Journal (2013): 558.

3. Eswatini was selected for its strong governmental connections with the Foundation and its status as an absolute monarchy, making the process of officially having the nation declare war require limited coordination.