P: Nah, we're good here. Just turn off the 
lights when you leave. It gets so bright when | 
close my eyes. 


<End log> 
Interview-2696- 1987051 3/Carrington-Lim-27 


<Begin log> 


Specialist Carrington: How it went? Cut to 
the chase, you're just looking for the soundbite 
on how being mindfucked by the house feels 
like. 


Dr. Lim: I'd prefer we call this an interview, 
thank you very much. 


C: Right you are, sir. So where'd you want me 
to begin? 


L: On the record, your team was deployed 
after 2696-1 activated and blew the seals off 
two of the arrays in the library. There was 
another burst of ARad, and your team went 
dark. We want to know what happened next. 


C: Alright. | remember - | remember we'd 
made it to the damaged arrays without any 
issue - numbers LO3 and LO5, if I'm not wrong. 
Jorge and | held the thing steady while Molly 
traced back the runes, and we got LO3 up just 
fine. We'd just begun working on LO5 when our 
comms start to flicker, and the alarm starts 
blaring from outside. And | think to myself, 
well, shit, that's not good. We'd been first 
responders before, but none of us had really 
been caught inside the house when it went 
live, y'know? 


C: So we pack up our gear nice and easy, try 
not to make any sudden movements, and 
creep our way back to the library entrance 
when all of a sudden my ward just goes 
fsshhht and sparks out. Then Molly's ward 
goes, then Jorge's too. We were carrying 
Class-5's, for God's sake. You've seen them 
before - they're heavy, powerful stuff, no joke. 
So when this happens, that's when we 
dropped everything and ran. But we were too 
slow. | saw her, dash-one, moving down the 


tower stairs. She was moving, not really 
floating, just - moving. Then bam, she was 
right in front of me. 


C: One moment | was staring into her eyes, 
the next moment Jorge is pulling me out by my 
armpits, dragging me down the stairs, and 
that's when | realised the screaming was my 
own. Then the side effects kicked in. It's like - 
you ever met a psychic, Dr. Lim? It's not 
pretty, the way it feels, that drinking-straw 
butterfly-proboscis feeling you get inside your 
head, sloshing up your insides. No, this is 
different. Dash-one is something else entirely. 


M: Tell me about it, Carrington. | am here to 
listen. 


C: It's like... a flood. Almost profound. And 
that's how she gets in, that's her, slipping into 
the grooves and crannies of your brain, getting 
in between the folds, and you remember. You 
remember what it's like to be her, like you've 
never been anything else. Everything comes at 
once - the smell of her hair, the touch of her 
voice on your skin, gently up the cleft of your 
cheek - it's her, she's the real deal, she's 
everywhere and anywhere at once in your 
mind. But she doesn't come in one piece, she 
comes in shards and ashes that don't quite 
seem to fit together as she does, as she 
should. | cried, you know. She could've been 
so, SO much more. 


C: She's broken. That's what she is. Whatever 
he did to her to try and bring her back, that's 
not her. Bits and pieces suspended in time, 
bound to a crumbling frame of whatever's 
beneath that skin - and behind it she's roaring 
and bursting and raging with the force of a 
dying star, spitting out the pieces of herself 


that don't fit, that can't fit. And for a moment, 
when you look into her eyes, you are her, and 
you feel her pain and rage and ten thousand 
other things that you don't have a word for, 
because she's got nothing inside to feel in the 
way that you or | do, nothing left but a 
whirlwind of shattered glass and memories. 


M: | think | understand. Is there anything 
more? 


C: No, I'm - | think I'm done here. (Subject 
pauses.) I'd like to take the meds now, if you 
please. 


<End log> 


Addendum-2696-04: Incident log of activation event, 
06/12/1990 


<Begin log> 


[00:00:06] Thunderstorms begin to form in the 
Dark Peak region. 


[00:12:52] SCP-2696 begins to exhibit 
increased aspect radiation levels, with local 
readings outside SCP-2696 registering a peak 
of 0.87 kilocaspers. All personnel are 
evacuated from within SCP-2696. 


[00:30:20] Lightning strikes SCP-2696 in 
several places in quick succession. Surge 
protection fails, and 55% of the electrothaumic 
arrays in SCP-2696 are damaged beyond 
repair. The remaining arrays soon become 
overloaded and fail in the resultant cascade 
effect. Almost immediately, aspect radiation 
levels within SCP-2696 spike above 2.0 
kilocaspers. Backup electrothaumic arrays are 
powered on, and MTF Theta-77 is scrambled. 


SCP-2696-1 is noted to change form into a 
swirling, floating mass of tattered white lace 
emitting a loud screeching sound. 


[00:35:11] Backup electrothaumic arrays do 
not appear to have any effect in containing 
SCP-2696-1. SCP-2696-1 reaches peak 
aspect radiation levels of 5.1 kilocaspers. 
Personnel outside SCP-2696 begin to 
complain of headaches and nausea. 


[00:40:45] Theta-77 arrives and establishes 
an inner and outer cordon around SCP-2696. 
Emergency rituals performed by Specialists M. 
Cooper and J. Simos succeed in repelling 
SCP-2696-1 away from the front door of 
SCP-2696 and back towards the second 
storey. However, SCP-2696-1 manages to 
mentally incapacitate three members of 
Theta-77 (Specialist C. Carrington, Dr. M. Lim, 
and Technician J. Vasquez). 


[00:42:54] A strong wind blows through the 
hallways of SCP-2696. The front door is 
slammed shut and is unable to be opened 
from the outside. Specialists Cooper and 
Simos are unable to continue the containment 
rituals and retreat with the remainder of the 
inner cordon team. Aspect radiation levels 
around SCP-2696 continue to intensify to a 
record high of 7.5 kilocaspers, beyond the 
threshold of protection offered by any 
Foundation protection wards. Throughout all 
this, SCP-2696-1 remains at the staircase to 
the second storey. Its swirling and screeching 
intensifies. 


[00:43:00] Internal monitors detect that the 
door to the nursery has opened. 


[00:43:06] Internal monitors detect that both 


instances of SCP-2696-2 have left the nursery, 
accompanied by a large burst of aspect 
radiation and electromagnetic radiation in the 
gamma spectrum. Minor seismic tremors are 
detected within SCP-2696, likely as a result of 
said aspect radiation discharge. 


[00:44:30] Both instances of SCP-2696-2 
approach SCP-2696-1 with outstretched arms. 
Upon contact with SCP-2696-2, SCP-2696-1 
abruptly shrinks, shifting back into its 
humanoid form. 


[00:44:49] Local aspect radiation levels are 
observed to sharply drop. The two instances of 
SCP-2696-2 lead SCP-2696-1 by the hand 
into the library and up the stairs into the tower. 


[00:45:23] SCP-2696-1 turns around to 
embrace the two instances of SCP-2696-2. It 
kisses each of them on the symbols on their 
foreheads, then passes through the tower door 
and disappears. 


[00:46:02] Both instances of SCP-2696-2 hold 
hands and descend the tower steps. They exit 
through the second floor and return to the 
nursery. At this point, aspect radiation levels 
within SCP-2696 have returned to baseline. 


[00:46:37] The door to the nursery gently 
closes. Above SCP-2696, the thunderstorm 
dissipates. Theta-77 is ordered to stand down. 


<End log> 
Additional notes: 


SCP-2696-1 activity was greatly reduced in the months 
following this incident. It is unknown as to why the surge 
protectors failed, as well as to how SCP-2696-2 was able 


to leave the nursery and pacify SCP-2696-1. 


Subsequent investigations revealed that the interior 
structure of SCP-2696 was significantly damaged by the 
large burst of aspect radiation caused by the emergence 
of SCP-2696-2 from the nursery. While some of the 
damage was reparable, several structures utilised fragile 
and/or currently unobtainable materials that were unable 
to be replaced in full. It appears that while SCP-2696-2 
serves as a last-resort failsafe mechanism for SCP-2696, 
repeated activations will have the negative effect of 
permanently reducing the containment effectiveness of 
SCP-2696, resulting in more frequent and violent breach 
attempts. 


Given current containment practices and rates of failure 
of AAFM units, it is estimated that SCP-2696-1 will have 
a 47% chance of fully breaching containment by 2030. 
Accordingly, members of the ECRG assigned to 
SCP-2696 are to focus on devising more sustainable and 
permanent long-term containment solutions for 
SCP-2696-1. 


« SCP-2695 | SCP-2696 | SCP-2697 » 


summarily incinerated. 


SCP-2696 Attached Documentation 


The following document is the written testimony of Jitinder 
Jaishankar, an occultist under the employ of the Royal Foundation 
for the Secure Containment of the Paranormal (RFSCP), detailing 
the initial discovery and description of SCP-2696 in 1876. 


It pleases me to note that our party arrived at Rosyth Hall in more- 
than-ideal circumstances; considering the startling events we were 
to witness within. It was the fifteenth of September, and the three of 
us - the American medium Dr. Amos Barton; his wife, Aurielie 
Delacroix, herself an occultist well-regarded in her home country; 
and myself - convened at the Wanderer's Inn at around two o'clock, 
wherein we awaited the arrival of our scheduled transport. 


The Foundation had seen it fit to arrange for us a spacious 
Brougham - perhaps as a sign of hospitality to my foreign entourage, 
| cannot say - which was sufficient to accommodate the three of us 
without any trouble. The road there was pleasant, and Mrs. Barton 
remarked enthusiastically upon the beauty and serenity of the 
Derbyshire countryside. Dr. Barton merely nodded in agreement, 
half-lost in thought, and murmured instead that the view of the Alps 
from the Via Spluga would set anyone in their right wits to tears. 


All this changed upon viewing of Rosyth Hall. From up on the moor it 
loomed, seeming to tower over us in spite of its distance. As we 
approached, | had a vague impression of one enveloped by a 
pervasive gloom; such was the vision that the house impressed 
upon me on first sight. | cannot begin to describe the source of that 
emotion, but | suspect it stemmed out of the singular way that its 
architecture stood out from the surrounding landscape, like the 
silhouette of some obscene crown, or a horned beast. Mrs. Barton, 
recalling a study did by one D. B. Lee in Philadelphia, attributed it to 
the unnatural magnetism of the place, due to the way the marsh 
accumulated and stagnated the earthly energy within the house, as 


large bodies of still water are wont to do. Dr. Barton scoffed and 
claimed that it was merely the work of ghosts. 


Regardless of our sense of foreboding, we dismounted from the 
carriage with our baggage and equipment, and approached the front 
of the house. Up close, it reared upon its foundations in full, 
detestable glory. Its design was conventional, almost 
unconventionally so - its proportions seemed to bulge out in odd 
directions that converged inexplicably at right angles, giving one a 
sense that the house was escaping from its very roots, beginning 
from the inside out. The knocker on the door was of a curious 
design, seeming almost as an afterthought or a folly - an Oriental 
beast, perhaps a lion or a boar, its fearsome teeth gripping onto a 
smooth stone ring. Bracing myself, | pulled the ring back and 
knocked. 


After a period of time - during which we heard heavy, damped 
shufflings from within, and the sound of slamming doors - the great 
door opened, and we were greeted by a woman whom we 
presumed to be Rosyth's sole remaining housekeeper. | remember 
that as we entered the house, there stood before us an enormous 
black door, about twice as wide as | was tall, that was secured with 
a heavy iron lock. Eventually, the housekeeper ushered us into what 
must surely have once been a parlour, but evidently had been 
modified at the last minute into a dining-room. A makeshift buffet 
stood against the wall, where a valiant attempt had been made to 
keep it flushed with the uneven sideboard. In the middle of the room, 
a thick cloth had been draped over several square tables to form the 
impression of a proper dinner reception, aided by a spread of old 
silver no doubt taken out and polished just for this occasion alone. 
Someone tittered; | am not sure if it was the American or the 
Frenchwoman. 


We waited at great length, during which much was alluded to, but 
not directly commented aloud, by Mrs. Barton about the dreadful 
interior and ramshackle conditions of our dinner. |, being acquainted 
with our host, sought vainly to defend him, citing the unfortunate 
circumstances of his wife and children. | explained to her that grief 
was a terrible thing to bear alone, especially for a man such as 
Rosyth, who had long been used to his own peculiar solitary 


silences and tempers. Dr. Barton concurred with my assessment, 
adding gruffly that Rosyth was already an absolute crab of a man 
when he got to know him back at Oxford, and it was not unlike those 
kinds of people who tended to make strange alterations to their 
house and conduct mysterious spiritual experiments upon the 
deaths of their immediate family members. 


No more was to be said to that, however, when a pale, thin shadow 
of aman promptly arrived at the door, looking by all means like he'd 
aged a hundred years in a day. It took me and Dr. Barton several 
seconds to register that, in fact, this was none other than our host 
and old acquaintance himself, Henry Percival Rosyth. How he had 
managed to transform himself into this state, | could only guess; but 
one look at his face and | saw that he bore the same eyes as other 
men | had seen in various places during my travels - in the ruins of a 
temple in the jungle of Benares, in a blood-soaked prison in 
Liverpool, in the middle of a blazing pentagram in Aberdeen - other, 
broken men, who, in a fit of fervour, devotion or grief, had perhaps 
performed the unthinkable, or witnessed the unknowable - and it had 
cost them dearly so. 


He greeted us with a great deal more lucidity than his appearance 
suggested, and no small amount of suspicion that the Royal 
Foundation had sent us to spy on his private affairs. Dr. Barton, in 
return, coldly assured Rosyth that we were present in an entirely 
social capacity, and reminded him of his acquaintance with me and 
Mrs. Barton during the dreadful Cardiff affair of "72. Rosyth turned 
his gaze to me, and muttered that men like myself were not ones so 
carefree as to be sent on mere social visits by the Royal Foundation. 
His eyes met mine, and | drew a breath involuntarily. 


His response did nothing to assuage the already uneasy 
atmosphere inside the dining room, but nevertheless Mrs. Barton 
and | did our best to maintain an air of civility, as Dr. Barton 
continued to brood at his end of the table with his impeccable air of 
frigid amicability towards our host. After dinner, we retired to the 
neighbouring drawing-room, where we talked at length of politics, 
the elections, and the weather. By unspoken agreement, it seemed, 
the topic of the Royal Foundation and matters of our profession 
were not broached upon at all. Throughout the night, Rosyth 


remained for the most part taciturn, in spite of our repeated inquiries 
as to his health and mental well-being - which we took to be a 
worrying sign. Eventually, as the fireplace chilled, so did the 
conversation, and Rosyth bade us goodnight.