Item#: 2359

Containment Class: keter

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: ekhi

Risk Class: danger

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-2359 should be held within a standard humanoid containment cell lined with soundproofing materials. The cell must not contain media with which SCP-2359 could record information. SCP-2359 must be observed neither directly nor by live camera feed. Observation must be performed by binary positive-negative detection of motion within SCP-2359’s containment cell.

All direct documentation of SCP-2359 – articles such as video recordings, audio recordings and transcripts, and photographic images – are to be classified as SCP-2359-A and stored in a reinforced secure locker. Access to these materials is restricted at all clearance levels, with exceptions subject to approval by O5-14.

In-person interaction with SCP-2359 and examination of previous interactions are forbidden at all security levels.

All research into SCP-2359’s anomalous properties is suspended indefinitely. Security staff assigned to monitor SCP-2359 must undergo fortnightly psychiatric evaluation. Any indicators of cognitohazardous infection will result in treatment with Class-C amnestics and rotation to other duties.

SCP-2359 must not be relocated for any reason.

+ Show Original Containment Procedures

- Hide Original Containment Procedures

Item#: 2359

Containment Class: euclid

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: keneq

Risk Class: danger

SCP-2359 should be held within a standard humanoid containment cell lined with soundproofing materials. The cell must not contain media with which SCP-2359 could be able to record information. SCP-2359 must be observed neither directly or by live camera feed. SCP 2359 must only be observed via an animation of motion within its containment cell, as captured by a set of motion-mapping cameras. Observation of live camera feed is prohibited at all security levels.

All direct documentation of SCP-2359 – articles such as video recordings, audio recordings and transcripts, and photographic images – are to be classified as SCP-2359-A and stored in a reinforced secure locker. Access to these materials is restricted at all clearance levels, exceptions subject to approval by Senior Researcher Gillard.

SCP-2359’s responses during interviews must not be recorded. Interviewers and subjects will be recorded by laryngophones1 and automatically transcribed by dictation software. Any understanding of SCP-2359’s contributions to the interaction must be extrapolated from these transcripts and no other sources.

As a preventative measure, research and security staff assigned to monitor SCP-2359 must undergo monthly psychiatric evaluation. Any indicators of cognitohazardous infection will result in treatment with Class-C amnestics and rotation to other duties.

Relocation of SCP-2359 should be avoided if at all possible, due to the high risk of cognitohazardous infection and containment breach during transit. If relocation is unavoidable, SCP-2359 must be confined to a mobile sensory-depriving transit casket before exiting its containment chamber, and must not exit the casket for any reason until it has arrived in its new containment chamber. The process is to be handled by a full response team equipped with sound-proof ear protection and motion-mapping closed helmets.

See Addendum 2539-Gamma for relevant documentation on SCP-2359’s revised classification and containment procedures.

Description: SCP-2359 is a humanoid of 1.76 meters in height and 75.2 kilograms in weight. All further physical description of SCP-2359 is impossible. There is no method of observation that would perceive the entity's identifying characteristics without being exposed to its cognitohazard, and hence having the viewer’s perceptions altered. While humanoid in shape and proportion, SCP-2359 does not need to eat, drink, or sleep, and only does so when directly observed.

SCP-2359’s primary anomalous property is a cognitohazard that propagates to anyone who makes visual, auditory or informational contact with it.2 The infection impresses a false identity and memories of SCP-2359 onto the mind of the affected subject. As a result, the subject believes SCP-2359 to be a person with whom they have been acquainted with for most of their lives, such as a close family member or childhood friend. The implanted identity is a person whom the subject trusts innately and – in a large majority of documented occurrences – would go to great lengths to assist, including committing acts of violence. Interviews with multiple infected subjects have indicated that the infection does not make the victim believe SCP-2359 is a person already known to them, but inserts an entirely new person and set of experiences into the victim’s memories. Complete removal of the infection necessitates precision application of Class-C amnestics.

SCP-2359’s cognitohazard propagates through all current forms of media with the capacity to distinguish identifying characteristics. Class-D test subjects have displayed recognition of SCP-2359 when exposed to Polaroid photographs or digital images; film or digital videos; analogue or digital audio recordings; and software-dictated transcriptions of audio recordings.

After initial exposure to SCP-2359 or an instance of SCP-2359-A, the effects of the cognitohazard can take between a few seconds and up to several minutes to fully manifest. During this period the affected subject will display extreme confusion to the point of debilitation. The time required for indoctrination seems to be shortened by continued exposure to the cognitohazard and lengthened by immediate separation from the source, but there is no known way to stop the infection without the application of amnestics.

It is impossible to communicate with SCP-2359 through any medium without becoming indoctrinated by its cognitohazard. Likewise, it is impossible to visually observe SCP-2359 or any visual captures of it – including abstracted renders such as software-resolved radar imaging – without becoming infected. The only current method of observation that has not been evidenced to result in infection is a system of motion-mapping cameras that construct a representative animation of motion within SCP-2359’s containment cell. The entity’s cognitohazard also cannot propagate through second-hand documentation, description or repetition of what subjects believe SCP-2359 has said.

If contradicted, SCP-2359’s cognitohazard functions as a latent kill agent. When presented with evidence that contradicts the memories inserted by the infection, the resulting dissonance experienced by a victim or subject cascades into a infohazardous kill agent.3 See Addendum 2359-Alpha for relevant details.

Addendum 2359-Alpha: Transcript of Senior Researcher Gillard’s Debriefing Interview with Agent Shaw

+ Show Interview Log 2359-Alpha

- Hide Interview Log 2359-Alpha

Interviewed: Field Agent ███ Shaw

Interviewer: Senior Researcher Dr ██████ Gillard

<Begin Log>

Dr Gillard: Good morning.

Agent Shaw: Good morning.

Dr Gillard: For the record, please state your name and position.

Agent Shaw: ███ Shaw, Nashville office Field Agent.

Dr Gillard: And you understand that this debriefing pertains to the recent containment of SCP-23… uh… 2359, yes?

Agent Shaw: Yes, ma’am, I do.

Dr Gillard: Alright. Just so you know, we have all the documentation we need on the procurement of 2359. This is a testimonial for our research into its anomalous properties.

Agent Shaw: I understand.

Dr Gillard: Then that’ll do for the pleasantries. Now… can you tell me about your involvement in the operation?

Agent Shaw: I… I don’t really remember all of it.

Dr Gillard: That’s fine, just tell me what you can recall. From the beginning, if you don’t mind.

Agent Shaw: Okay, well… I was dispatched from Nashville to Buxton County – uh, that’s Nashville, Tennessee, by the way.

Dr Gillard: Yes, ███. Please continue.

Agent Shaw: So I was dispatched to Buxton County with Hereford and Dietrich. There’d been a lotta stroke victims in the county morgue last month, and our supervisor wanted us to sweep for anomalies. Honestly, I expected that we’d just tell the locals to cut back on the salt and that’d be it.

Dr Gillard: But it wasn’t.

Agent Shaw: ’Course not. We poked around Buxton proper for a few days; interviewed the next of kin and so on, but there were no leads on any sort of anomaly. Not until we started talking to the rural residents. One guy… uh… Henry Sturman, I think it was, said that his brother had come home from town talking about having seen the Mayor. The thing was, he’d called the mayor by the wrong name. I’m a little fuzzy on the details – I’ll have a proper report around my desk, somewhere – but the guts of it is that they got into an argument, and Sturman ended up showing his brother a photograph of him meeting the actual mayor. Sturman’s brother gets woozy, and half an hour later he’s dead of a stroke. Sturman thought the confusion was just a symptom.

Dr Gillard: And that was your lead?

Agent Shaw: It was. We tracked back to some of the other families, and that was our link. All of the victims had died just a while after talking about the mayor.

Dr Gillard: That was when you knew you were dealing with an anomaly.

Agent Shaw: Yeah, that’s right. We kept talking with the locals, and something else came up. Most of the rural residents said that their mayor was a white guy, [REDACTED], but every last townie was sure to the bone that their mayor was a biracial guy called Edward Nimitz. One call to the Nashville office and we knew that Nimitz wasn’t on any registries.

Dr Gillard: When was it that you began to suspect that the anomaly was cognitohazardous – or memetic – in nature?

Agent Shaw: I feel a little dumb to say it, but it hadn’t really clicked for me yet that it was all down to a mindfuck. I think I had a… well, an inkling of some sort. It just wasn’t quite there yet.

Dr Gillard: So what happened next?

Agent Shaw: Dietrich set up a temporary monitoring post outside the township. Hereford and I went back to Nashville for a debrief. Do I need to talk about that?

Dr Gillard: We have the transcript already.

Agent Shaw: Okay. Well, while the MTF was being assembled our supervisor decided to send us back to Buxton, to case the town hall for the procure-op. I remember… Hereford and I were finishing our debrief docs at our desks when we got word… and… and that was the last time I saw Hereford.

Dr Gillard: The last time that you can recall.

Agent Shaw: Yeah. Uh… I don’t remember leaving. I don’t remember anything after I handed in my docs.

Dr Gillard: You’ve been briefed, though.

Agent Shaw: Yes.

(There is a brief silence)

Dr Gillard: For the record-

Agent Shaw: Oh, right. Well, Uh… they told me that Hereford and I arrived back in Nashville at the end of the day, but we were messed up.

Dr Gillard: Infected.

Agent Shaw: We both thought that Nimitz was the mayor. We didn’t even remember why we’d been worried about him. They separated us, questioned us about what we did. Do you-

Dr Gillard: We have that documentation, too.

Agent Shaw: ’Course, right. They… uh, they told Hereford that Nimitz wasn’t meant to exist. They showed him the state registry, and… and it killed him. Uh… a ‘hemorrhagic stroke’; same as the civs in Buxton. I was dosed with amnestics, the MTF deployed the next morning – yesterday – and… well, that’s it, right?.

Dr Gillard: I think so, yes. Thank you, ███.

Agent Shaw: Was it anything you didn’t already know?

Dr Gillard: No, but it gives context. Hopefully, we’ll soon be able to understand what exactly 2359’s anomaly is.

Agent Shaw: Okay. Do… uh, sorry.

Dr Gillard: Go on.

Agent Shaw: I was just wondering if I could ask a question.

Dr Gillard: Of course.

Agent Shaw: The task force. Did it affect them as well?

Dr Gillard: All of them, we’re fairly sure. Uh… we haven’t finished the debriefings yet, but it’s shaping up to be a motherlode.

Agent Shaw: The thing got to them, and they still bagged it?

Dr Gillard: There were some… some internal complications, but yes, the operation was a success. They did have orders, after all.

<End Log>

Closing Statement: Agent Shaw, along with all other staff involved in the procurement of SCP-2359, was placed on psychiatric probation and rotated to clerical duties for a period of six months. Agent Shaw completed his probation without indicating any lingering cognitohazardous effects, and resumed his duties as a field agent at the Nashville office.

Addendum 2359-Beta: Transcript of Assistant Researcher Mayhew’s First Interview with SCP-2359

+ Show Interview Log 2359-Beta

- Hide Interview Log 2359-Beta

Interviewed: SCP-2359

Interviewer: Assistant Researcher Dr █████ Mayhew

<Begin Log>

Dr Mayhew: Uh… h-hello.

(Dr Mayhew pauses. SCP-2359 seems to return the greeting, and/or enquire the reason for his presence.)

Dr Mayhew: I’m… I’m here to ask you some questions.

(SCP-2359 seems to invite Dr Mayhew to continue.)

Dr Mayhew: I have them here. Just… well, why are you here?

(SCP-2359 seems to ask for clarification.)

Dr Mayhew: I mean… uh… why-

(SCP-2359 interrupts Dr Mayhew.)

Dr Mayhew: But I… they-

(SCP-2359 interrupts again. There is thirty-two (32) seconds of silence before Dr Mayhew speaks again.)

Dr Mayhew: So… s-so why are you here?

(SCP-2359 seems to ask for clarification, or Dr Mayhew pauses before continuing.)

Dr Mayhew: Why did they bring you here, Nora? D-do they think you’re anomalous?

(SCP-2359’s reaction is unclear. It appears to further conflict or confuse Dr Mayhew.)

Dr Mayhew: I think I remember… no… w-what were you-

(SCP-2359 seems to ask Dr Mayhew for assistance in breaching its containment.)

Dr Mayhew: I… I don’t know if I can. They’re recording me.

(SCP-2359 seems to ask if it is also being recorded.)

Dr Mayhew: No, not you. I don’t think they want to.

(SCP-2359’s reaction is unclear. It appears to give Dr Mayhew conviction to assist it in breaching its containment.)

Dr Mayhew: I can’t let them keep you here. I-I don’t know what they think you are, but they’re wrong. I know you too well.

(SCP-2359 seems to encourage Dr Mayhew.)

Dr Mayhew: I’ll try my best. I… I love you, Nora.

<End Log>

Closing Statement: Dr Mayhew was debriefed by his colleagues after exiting SCP-2359’s containment, but feigned ignorance as to the nature of his responses and suggested that SCP-2359 had somehow altered the recordings. Dr Mayhew became violent when Senior Researcher Gillard requested that he submit for psychiatric evaluation. He attacked his colleagues and attempted to tamper with research equipment before being apprehended by a response team and treated with Class-C amnestics.

SCP-2359 breached containment at 1822 hours the following day, and was later recaptured. Access logs indicated that, for eighty-six (86) seconds, Dr Mayhew had access to a research terminal with necessary clearance to allow a containment breach. This has been identified as the most likely source of the programming script that opened SCP-2359’s containment cell door.

Dr Mayhew displayed no indicators of lingering cognitohazardous effects during or after recuperation, and was rotated to other duties.

Addendum 2359-Gamma: Revisions to Containment Procedures for SCP-2359

In response to SCP-2359’s long history of manipulating staff and subsequently breaching containment – and with special regard to its most recent containment breach, during which SCP-2359 successfully contacted SCP-████ – SCP-2359’s classification has been upgraded from Euclid to Keter. Subsequently, SCP-2359 will now be kept under revised containment procedures, as follows:

Due to the length of SCP-2359’s most recent containment breach, during which its movements were unaccounted for over a period of several days, it is unknown how many foundation staff have been exposed to its cognitohazard and may be subsequently conspiring to free it from containment. To safeguard against this, current research programs involving SCP-2359 have been suspended indefinitely and interaction with SCP-2359 is now prohibited at all Security levels. Exemption applications are to be submitted to O5-14 for approval. Repeated applications for exemption will result in psychiatric evaluation.

With respect to SCP-2359’s current feigned comatose state and Senior Researcher Gillard’s current hypothesis that its cognitohazard may be able to propagate through motion-mapping cameras, live observation of SCP-2359 is to be filtered into binary detection of movement. As a precautionary measure, still frames captured from the digitized motion feed of SCP-2359 have been expunged from its documentation. Access to SCP-2359’s live camera feed remains prohibited, and applications for access to the digitized motion feed are now subject to approval by O5-14.

SCP-2359 is not to be relocated for any reason. Exceptions are now subject to approval by O5-14.

The above procedural revisions are effective 22/01/2016

– From the desk of O5-14

Our research logs have been edited by someone with O5 clearance, but the changelog is classified. The others say there is a staff notice from O5-14. They say that the containment for 2359 has been revised; that our project has been shut down, and we’re being reassigned.

If there is one thing I know, it is that there are only thirteen. There has only ever been thirteen.

I am certain that this time tomorrow, I will know that there have always been fourteen.

What do I do? There's no protocol for this. How am I meant to stop it?

I don't think I can.

– G

Footnotes

1. Colloquially in English; a throat microphone.

2. Similar to SCP-1500.

3. Death occurs almost invariably as result of cerebral hemorrhaging, which precipitates into a hemorrhagic stroke.