Item #: SCP-4093

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: A team of ten researchers, aided by Foundation webcrawlers, is to regularly monitor online and televised media for mentions of SCP-4093. Any news broadcasts involving SCP-4093 that receive unusually high viewership or attention are to be documented and investigated for any anomalous individual or Group of Interest involvement. Locations frequently associated with SCP-4093 are to be evaluated yearly for any patterns of anomalous behavior exhibited by the civilian population.

A disinformation campaign is to maintain the public explanation of SCP-4093 as a recent trend inspired by “secret handshakes” between high school friends and sweethearts of various rural American towns.

Additional support may be requested should international manifestations or additional variants of SCP-4093 be discovered.

Description: SCP-4093 refers to an anomalous sequence of hand gestures, used while signaling a pedestrian or driver from the driver’s seat of a motor vehicle. While the exact pattern of motions is not confirmed, the current series1 of gestures attributed to SCP-4093 are as follows:

Driver waves (greeting wave hand shape) and attracts the attention of the target

Driver adjusts rearview mirror, sun visor, decoration hanging from either, or otherwise touches some part of the car on or near the ceiling

Driver holds hands upright, palms resting on the steering wheel, and wiggles their fingers for approximately three seconds

Driver waves again (“move on”/“go on” wave hand shape) while simultaneously nodding head

Driver mouths or says aloud the phrase “have a nice day” while tapping rapidly on the top of the steering wheel, alternating between both hands (hands must lift off the wheel in between each tap)

Driver lightly touches the driver's side window (or space where the window would be) with an open-palm hand, mimicking a “high-five”

Based on Foundation trials staged at local private roads, it is believed that SCP-4093’s primary anomalous effect will only manifest when both the signaler and the target are both stopped at an intersection with no traffic signal. Should this condition be met, the following results may occur:

(observed in 85% of trials) The target’s cortisol2 levels will drop, blood pressure will stabilize, and dopamine3 levels increase. All of these changes, while markedly unnatural, appear to improve a target’s overall health rather than worsen it.

(observed in 60% of trials) The target will able to better distinguish signs and words at a distance than before observing SCP-4093.

(observed in 43% of trials) The target becomes less responsive to ambient noises considered to be annoying or disruptive.

(observed in 7% of trials) For targets who are similar in age to the signaler (age difference < 5 years), targets will feel a sudden and inexplicable sense of kinship and camaraderie with the signaler.

Results collected are not mutually exclusive. Of all test subjects, approximately 50% experienced at least two of the determined effects, while 40% experienced three effects.

Of note, the results collected are based on non-intensive scales designed for SCP-4093 experimentation, and as such are very likely not comprehensive. Supplementary trial designs involving an increased number of recorded measurements are currently in development.

Addendum SCP-4093-1: The existence of SCP-4093 was first brought to Foundation attention when security cameras in a private office block recorded footage of an unidentified driver in Seattle, Washington, apparently using SCP-4093 to prevent a car accident that would have involved a small luxury vehicle and a pedestrian. The driver of the vehicle in question had appeared to be extremely irate, and was also attempting to use a mobile phone and eat from a small container at the same time.

After witnessing SCP-4093, the luxury vehicle driver was observed to suddenly change expression, place both the phone and container of food aside, and allow the passenger to exit the crosswalk before proceeding into the intersection themselves. Foundation personnel later interviewed the individual; no meaningful data was collected.

Attempts to locate the driver that enacted SCP-4093 have proven unsuccessful. However, for a brief period of time, Foundation webcrawlers identified social media accounts of Washington state residents that occasionally mentioned observing “drivers making the same strange hand game motion”. The posts appeared to be deleted shortly after they were recorded by Foundation analysts; investigation into the disappearance is underway.

Footnotes

1. Experimental trials using this series indicate standard progression of the anomaly in 98% of cases. Circumstances that may negatively affect successful SCP-4093 execution may include the presence of distractions in the vehicle, inclement weather conditions, and intoxication levels of the individuals involved in the SCP-4093 gesture exchange.

2. a steroid hormone associated with stress and many negative side effects when present in chronically elevated quantities

3. a neurotransmitter associated with reward-motivated behavior and desire