D-22343: Shit! 
Dr. Carmona: What's happening in there? 
D-22343: We gotta get out of here! Now! Now! 


Dr. Carmona: Permission to abort denied. 
Stand by and- 


believed to have occurred innumerable times. The 
location and termination of SCP-3997 is now a top 
priority All efforts to locate SCP-3997 have been ordered 
to cease immediately, on the orders of O5- . Because of 
this, and the temptation among many personnel to seek 
out SCP-3997 for their own use, full knowledge of 
SCP-3997 has been restricted to the O5 council and 
selected personnel involved with research on SCP-3997. 


SCP-3997 was first brought to the Foundation's attention 
when the regular psyche evaluations of several 
researchers at sites in the West of England revealed that 
they shared almost identical recurring dreams, despite a 
lack of contact or involvement with one another 
beforehand. 


Addendum 3997-1: On 28/11/2001, several concerned 
members of MTF Mu-45 "Ragged Claws" revealed to 
researchers that they possessed shared memories of 
multiple nonexistent squad members. Researchers later 
determined that the individuals whom they were 
remembering did, in fact, exist, but were instead civilian 
SCP-3997-1 instances with no knowledge of the 
Foundation and its activities. These instances had never 
met the squad members in question. 


This not only adds weight to the theory that SCP-3997 is 
indeed a real location, but has led researchers to believe 
that on innumerable occasions the Foundation itself has 
[DATA REDACTED ON ORDER OF OB5- J. 


Addendum 3997-2: Below is an interview with an 
SCP-3997-1 instance. This instance was formerly Dr. 
Henry St. John, a Level 3 Foundation researcher, before 
his anomalous status caused him to be stripped of his 
rank and placed in containment. 


Interview 3997-57 


Interviewed: SCP-3997-1-A. 


Interviewer: Dr. Kartesian. 


Foreword: This interview was conducted 
02/09/1997, in a standard humanoid 
containment cell in Site 226. 


<Begin Log> 


Dr. Kartesian: Good afternoon, SCP-3997-1- 
A. Are you finding your quarters comfortable? 


SCP-3997-1-A: Frank, you've known me for 
seven years. I've been a researcher for thirty. | 
know the drill. Let's get on with this. 


Dr. Kartesian: ...Very well. What can you tell 
me about the rose garden? 


SCP-3997-1-A: The- what? What rose 
garden? 


Dr. Kartesian: If our suspicions are correct, 
you should have had a dream about a rose 
garden. Several dreams, in fact. Since you 

were a small child. 


SCP-3997-1-A: You want to know about the 
garden? Well, OK... | suppose | have dreamt 
about it quite a lot. It's just a recurring dream. 
There's nothing suspicious in it. 


Dr. Kartesian: That's for us to decide. Now, 
tell me about these dreams. 


SCP-3997-1-A: O-kay... well, they always 
start with me as someone else. I'm not a 
linguist at all, I'm a truck driver. | drive trucks. 
Or was it a van? Something like that. I've 
always disliked them- too big, smelly, that 
kinda thing- but | really hate them in this 
dream. Resent them, that sort of thing. 
Anyway, in the dream, I'm doing a delivery to 


this big country house. 


Dr. Kartesian: A- do you remember anything 
about this house? A name? Location? 


SCP-3997-1-A: I'm afraid not. | remember 
some kind of classical-looking facade, but... 
nothing else. Is that important? 


Dr. Kartesian: I'll ask the questions, thank 
you. 


SCP-3997-1-A: For God's sake, Frank... 


Dr. Kartesian: What happened? Did you enter 
the house? 


SCP-3997-1-A: No. | knocked on the door, but 
nobody was home. | waited around for a bit, 
but there wasn't anything there. So I... I'm 
sorry, Frank, it's hard to remember. It's a 
dream, they're not easy to remember... so, | 
see this hedge. Got an entrance in it. | go in, 
and I'm in a rose garden. Lots of white roses 
everywhere. They're arranged over archways, 
over wooden frames. Little neat stone paths, 
stretching, stretching away in front of me... so 
white, So pure... 


At this point, SCP-3997-1-A seems to have 
entered a kind of trance state. 


SCP-3997-1-A: And | walk through it, and | 
look at the sky... it's a fine sky... the grass 
looks like it's glowing, 'cause the sun's shining 
down and it's all so calm, peaceful, serene... 
nobody else is around. There's just me, and 
the roses... 


Dr. Kartesian: SCP-3997-1-A? SCP-3997-1- 
A, are you alright? ...Henry? Can you hear 


me? 


SCP-3997-1-A: And then... all of it fell away, 
in a single instant. The roses were all around 
me, and it all felt... right. Like when | was a 
child, and they knew what was right and what 
was wrong again, and the warmth of my 
mother’s arms. | remembered... | remembered 
things, images, little things you wouldn't 
remember... summertime as we walked the 
path to church, looking at the old gravestones 
and thinking of their age, looking at the sky 
and its distant clouds, the way they played 
against the sky. They weren’t abstract balls of 
steam and water, they were, were... they were 
an anchor of infinity to earth, and a solid, real 
reminder of infinity. | looked at the 
gravestones, and thought of how beautiful this 
place was, this England. It was a place where 
they could truly be at peace, under the sun 
and in the green and yellow fields, rolling on 
down the hills. The world was beyond the 
horizon. Here was paradise. 


Dr. Kartesian: ...And what else? 


SCP-3997-1-A: What else? | remember.... | 
remembered running in the playground. | 
remembered watching the news about the 
Suez Crisis and not understanding what it 
meant, or why my mother seemed so serious 
so suddenly. | remember rainy days reading 
old books, nestled in a corner by the radiator. | 
remember films about New York, how strange 
the city seemed with its cabs and its grey 
buildings teetering on the edge of the same 
bright sky | saw in the graveyard. | 
remembered my childhood as a whole thing, 
all the little things that seemed normal and 
unimportant then, but seemed so visceral now, 


so real. And | remembered the roses. 
Dr. Kartesian: What about them? 


SCP-3997-1-A: The roses... the roses in the 
garden. They were there, too, as | walked 
through it. They were my mother’s arms, they 
were the warmth of summer, they were sitting 
in a brightly-lit train as it tunnelled through a 
dark thunderstorm... they were memories, all 
the memories of the place | belonged to, really 
belonged to, before it all fell apart and stopped 
making sense. | was real again. | was me 
again. | went back to my home, my England, 
and then, and then- and then | woke up. 


Sorry, Frank. Was a bit out of it, there. What 
were we talking about? 


<End Log> 


FURTHER INFORMATION RESTRICTED TO LEVEL 5 PERSONNEL 
Note from O5- 


By now, you will have realised the implications 
of what you've read. What we've done. And I'm 
sure that many of you are now feeling tempted 
to enter the rose garden yourself. It is for this 
reason that I've restricted all our information 
on possible locations to the Council. The 
temptation is always there, and it is always 
great. | have lain awake myself at night, 
thinking of all my regrets, all the things | have 
done wrong. For the price of a few bad 
dreams, | could make all my sins go away, and 
be new again. In my end is my beginning. 


Don't try it. What you have read is not an 
escape route, but a testament to the 


Foundation's failure. Its utter, complete failure, 
which we have brought upon ourselves time 
after time after time. You'll be destroying the 
innocent, stopping them from ever being born, 
preventing them from knowing what life was. 
They'll only be a shade of a memory, a 
scattered thought on lonely days by versions 
of people who might once have known them. 


And if that's not enough, remember this: the 
comfort the garden offers is unreal. It's a 
withdrawal from the truth. We all want to go 
back to when things were warm, and simple, 
and the days were filled with the summer sun 
and cool grass. We all want to live in the light 
again. But we all made our choices, and we all 
swore our oaths. Every one of us will die in the 
dark. Accept that. 


~O5- 


SCP-3998: The Wicker Witch Lives 


Item #: SCP-3998 
Object Class: Safe 


Special Containment Procedures: SCP-3998 is to be contained in 
Secure Holding Locker 3998-1 (SHL 3998-1). SHL-3998-1 is to be 
fireproofed, and vacuum sealed to prevent access to oxygen. 
SCP-3998 and SHL 3998-1 are scheduled for cleaning every day at 
9:00 AM. 


If any D-class personnel spontaneously ignite, the seal to 
SCP-3998's containment locker must be inspected and repaired/ 
replaced as necessary. For safety reasons, Site-34 must hold D- 
class personnel, particularly those who have been convicted of first- 
degree murder charges and domestic abuse. 


If staff are found to have been targeted by SCP-3998, they are to be 
investigated, and then processed. 


Description: SCP-3998 is a human cadaver, which expired late 
17th century. SCP-3998 lacks any legs, and is covered in extensive 
fourth degree burns. Sometime after its death, SCP-3998's remains 
were collected and fashioned into a scarecrow, held together by 
wicker, nails, and wire. Along with its severe burns, SCP-3998 
appears to have suffered blunt force trauma to multiple regions of its 
body; it is unclear if SCP-3998 died as a result from one of the two, 
or both (See Examination-3998-6). 


The object constantly exudes a flammable liquid from its bones, 
which is composed primarily of ethanol and human fat. Each night, 
between 11:00 PM and 4:00 AM, SCP-3998 ignites and is engulfed 
in flames. However, despite being highly flammable, SCP-3998 
does not suffer any structural damage. When SCP-3998 is on fire, 
and when not contained properly, the nearest person who meets a 
certain criteria will also spontaneously ignite. 


SCP-3998 targets those who have killed’ or physically abused a 
romantic partner. If SCP-3998 is unable to ignite itself, SCP-3998 
cannot ignite targets. Instead, those that would have been targeted 
only develop brief, mild pains to either their chest, or to the back of 
their head. 


As targets are left burning, large quantities of boiling ethanol will 
appear in their stomach. This large influx of alcohol typically induces 
vomiting, which causes further external burns, and will often cause 
permanent nerve and organ damage if they survive the initial 
burning. 


Eventually, their body fat, particularly in the torso/stomach region, 
will begin to melt. The process is extremely rapid, often causing 
massive internal damage if the target is successfully extinguished 
before they die of 4th degree burns. 


If left to burn, the combination of melted fat and ethanol will cause 
the stomach to violently rupture, often bisecting the victim in the 
process. Those that SCP-3998 affects cannot be extinguished until 
SCP-3998 itself is also extinguished. 


Addendum-3998-1: 


Foreword-3998-0 


SCP-3998 Documents 


The following is a partial set of documents and materials related to 
SCP-3998, as well as related correspondences and articles 
discovered on the property where SCP-3998 was originally found. 


These Documents may only be viewed by staff with specialized 
3998 clearance, the current Site-34 Administrator, and those with 
O5 designations. 


Journal-3998- 1 


Foreword: The following are excerpts found in contemporaneous 
journals from Salem that appear relevant to SCP-3998. 
Documentary evidence suggests a connection between SCP-3998 
and one Candice Hayes, a 17th century resident of Salem. Most 
were found in basements and attics of historic buildings located near 
the property SCP-3998 was found. 


Journal 1, Author: Mary A  , 1682 


We attended the wedding of Aiden Hayes and Candice. 
Candice seemed rather distraught. The lady's father 
went through all that trouble to see her married, t would 
be a shame if she did not appreciate t. Especially with a 
sir as respected as Aiden Hayes. 


Journal 2, Author: Mary A_ , 1683 


Candice has been different. She used to keep her hair 
tied, but now she's been keeping t long. | see bruises on 
her often. She hath been looking for every excuse to be 
alone, just so she can wend to the forest. 


Journal 3, Author: Mary A_ , 1683 


Something piqued my interest today. Margarete pointed 
to how Candice shies from her womanly duties lately, 
and | heard that she might be a bad wife, making Aiden 
angry. Bruises make sense now. 


Journal 4, Author: Mary A , 1691 


| was out washing the laundry, and | heard Candice 
shouting at her husband. 


| went out to ask the lady what was wrong, but she 
snapped at me, calling me "nosy". The amount of 
disrespect and scorn in the mistress is remarkable, 
though to be expected. | have half a mind to tell the rest 
of the women about this. 


Journal 5, Author: Mary A _ , 1692 


I've been hearing some troubling things about Candice 
lately. Ever since she wed Aiden, she hath been 
wandering off more. Plus, I've heard rumours that her 
interests do not lie with men. 


The Devil must have a hold on her. Maybe Aiden will 
know what to do with that harlot. | shall tell him 
tomorrow. 


Interview-3998-0 


Foreword: The following interview was taken on June 8th, 1693 by 
Judge William Stoughton and the constables of Salem. Interview 
has been edited from its original document for clarity. 


William Stoughton: When presented with a warrant for 
thy arrest, thou fled immediately. Tis this, thy refusal to 
speak till thou have been branded, and thy husband's 
testimony that places thee under suspicion. What doest 
thou have to say in thy defense? 


Candice Hayes: ... | have no words for t. | shalt not lye, 
the accusations are true. 


Stoughton: So you admit to being a witch? And you 
admit to consorting with a evil spirit? 


Candice: | do. Although, she is not evil in heart. 


Stoughton: What in the name of God would lead thee 
down such a path, to perform such detestable arts? 


Candice: They are not detestable. They would work for 
anyone, be they of God or Satan, or anyone and no one. 
They are merely a form of tool. 

Stoughton: You have not answered the question. 


Candice: Is t not obvious? | did not ask to marry, yet | 
was waived to a bastard in my father's church. He does 


D-48983 can be heard in the background to be 
softly laughing. An unidentified member of the 
exploration team starts screaming. A loud 
crashing noise is heard before audio and video 
contact is lost. 


Dr. Carmona: D-32995! Do you read? What's 
going on in there? Do you read? 


END TRANSCRIPT 


Footnotes 

1. Recovered records from Jessamine County, Kentucky confirm an 
individual of that name and time period; however, no records of such 
a location exist at this time 

2. At the time, SCP-518 consisted of nine structures, and included a 
church and a schoolhouse that do not currently exist. The saw mill 
structure and two current houses had not yet manifested. 


« SCP-517 | SCP-518 | SCP-519 » 


not respect me; to him | am his property. 


Stoughton: Just as Lilith hath done. That is the woman's 
place. Thou hadst only to be a good wife to h- 


Candice: Be silent! How could | be a good wife to a man 
| detest? | care only for Clovis, and I'll be damned if 't be 
true with anyone but her. t would be my dying wish to 
see that bastard on his knees, and treated as | have 
been. 


Stoughton: Clovis? Is this the name of the devil that you 
conjured? It bewitched you. 


Candice: The mistress bewitched me, but not in the 
manner as thou mayst think. 


Stoughton: t does not matter. We have thy confession. 
A witch as brazen as you shall be burned at the stake. 
We wilt see how your "Clovis" treats you in Hell. In the 
name of our Sovereign Lord and Lady, the King & 
Queen, may God have mercy on thy soul. 


Candice: So be it. 


Document-3998-3 


[+] Access text version 


To the people of this hamlet, 


An execution of