Emma waved her badge in front of the door panel, a green light 
flickered, and Roger pressed a button under his desk. The door 
opened. Emma entered and oriented herself. The encrusted white 
ceiling strung with fluorescent lights gave an oddly inadequate glow 
to the metal frame shelves and cardboard boxes stacked in endless 
rows in the cavern. The air was pure, mineral, dry. She carefully 
followed his instructions, walked into the aisle, and pulled the heavy 
box from its shelf. She placed it on the floor and opened it. 


Inside, there was a full set of vinyl records from the Beatles in their 
original sleeves. Multiples. The sleeves were marked up with a 
series of lines, notes, and questions about the meaning of each 
element of the artwork. Earlier aloums, before 1968, showed only a 
few notes or marks, and were signed by the Cognitohazard 
Monitoring Division. But the aloums were repeated chronologically, 
and each month more and more lines were made. More connections 
were noted. Sections of the aloum covers were highlighted, then 
covered over with stickers labeled "Warning! Memetic Hazard!" The 
frenzy of notes, connections, and redactions over the same identical 
covers continued until February 1970, when everything just stopped. 


Tucked toward the back of the box, she found the main file 
documentation for SCP-1969-EX. 


Item #: SCP-1969-EX 


Object Class: Euclid Keter Explained 


Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1969 is contained in ; 


is to be constantly monitored by cameras behind two-way glass 
anomalous behavior, standard containment procedures are con 
and decorations for extra comfort for continued good behavior. . 
immediately logged and reported to Site Director Wertham. 


Update 11/9/69: SCP-1969 is uncontained and spreads unchec 
track down all vectors of misinformation spread by infectees anc 
articles that carry SCP-1969 infection. All seminars carrying SC 
Articles discussing the truth regarding Paul McCartney's contint 


Update 3/14/70: SCP-1969 is no longer considered anomalous 
contain SCP-1969 are to cease and SCP-1969 is now consider 


Description: SCP-1969 is a 28-year-old Scottish Canadian by - 
undetermined regimen of training and meditation, it has manag 
also known as Paul McCartney, performer in the Beatles. SCP- 
POI-1841-12, namely a small surgical scar on his upper lip, and 


SCP-1969 completed his anomalous transformation at the Beat 
the morning of 9 November, 1966. The remaining members of t 
the death from spreading, bribed the police involved with POI-1: 
SCP-1969. See Field Incident 1841-N, MTF Beta-6 reporting, fc 


Surveillance personnel noted that despite the fatal accident, PC 
concert and attend recording sessions at Abbey Road Studios. 
SCP-1969 came to the Foundation's attention through the Cogr 
already come under higher scrutiny with the simultaneous worlc 
Hearts Club Band, which, while only scoring 3 on the Kant-Derr 
number of symbols and subliminal hints, questioning POI-1841- 
hidden phone number on the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack 
transcript of the phone call follows. 


Participants: Field Agent Roger Anderson (RA), and P 
woman in her late 20s, with a West London accent 


<Begin Log> 
POI: (sighs for 1.5 seconds) Hello? 
RA: Hello. To whom am | speaking? 


POI: Is this about Paul? 


RA: Have you received a lot of phone calls, ma'am? 


POI: Have | received a lot of phone calls? Listen, I've h 
kid in every university in this country, along with every r 
ornery policemen from various precincts casually wond 
dead?" "How did it happen?" | swear, the morbid fascin 
man who's walking around this very minute would be fa 
same thing to you as I've said to everyone else. No, he’ 
nothing about it. Now please, do me the kind favor of le 


RA: Sorry to bother you, ma'am. Have a good day. 


POI: No! Wait... You don't sound in university. I'm sorry 
journalist? Are you with the government? 


RA: No, ma'am. 

POI: And... you... you can keep a secret, can you? 
RA: ...My business is in keeping secrets. 

POI: Oh god... | just... | can't just hold it in any longer. 
RA: Hold what in? 

POI: |... | killed him. 

RA: You killed Paul McCartney? 


POI: | didn't mean to. Oh, god, | barely remember it all, 
Everything feels so unreal. But | was there. | watched h 
trying to get back home after clubbing too hard. | could 
traffic a half dozen times. Then this man, this cute man 
no condition to refuse, and | joined him. | told him wher 
he's doing driving around at this hour, and he talks abo 
during a recording session. And that's when | realized it 
and picked me up, and was taking me home! Such a ge 


RA: Lucky. 


POI: Don't you dare say that! When | realized | was in t 
gods to me. And here, Paul, dear, lovely Paul, had take 


knight. |... | lost control. | started screaming and flailing 
grabbed for him, tried to hug him, kiss him. And then he 
lamppost and flipped. The police were right there, and | 
about to freeing Paul, when... the car exploded. He wot 


RA: I... I'm sorry. Did the police speak to you further? 


POI: | told them my name — Rita — and they dropped 
swallow to sober up. Strangest thing, their uniforms didi 
whole three-arrow thing, and they kept talking about ar 


RA: But you still remember everything? The pills didn't 
aftertaste? 


POI: Ask Alice when she's ten feet tall. I'm not sure whe 
RA: That's... different. 


POI: That's what | thought. But | daren't say anything to 
received a phone call about a month later. It was John, 
Road. 


RA: What about? 


POI: | wasn't sure, but when John calls, you answer. | f 
have let them do anything to me. | deserved it. But whe 
me with hugs. They told me not to worry, all is forgiven, 
could it? | killed Paul. My idol. The beloved of millions. | 
me to William. 


RA: William? 


POI: William Campbell. A Canadian bloke. Sandy brow 
me he was going to be the new Paul, they held a look-e 
This man was nothing like Paul. Then John said they al 
was horrible, they should kill me where | stood. But no, 
song to me... It's on Sgt. Pepper. "Lovely Rita." | still ca 
thing was that as William sang, his voice changed. His : 
color, everything shifted. By the end of the song... He wv 


RA: Shifted? How? Not William? 


POI: He was Paul. | could have sworn it was Paul, all o 
man who rescued me, gave his life for me that night... | 


RA: How...? 


POI: Paul — sorry, William — said that he completed tr 
said they had tried a few other experiments, tried a carc 
needed a living, flesh-and-blood Paul to continue things 


RA: A cardboard cutout? 
POI: It was apparently a really good cardboard cutout. | 
RA: All right... 


POI: They swore me to secrecy until later, when they ci 
mass suicides, couldn't let that happen. Needed somelt! 
with this massive burden of guilt ever since. Thank you. 


RA: It's been an honor. 


POI: But... You know? For all the drama, | suppose it h 
written, or it's karma, or whatever. After all, John did sa 


RA: More popular than Jesus, yes. 

POI: Right. And for all their music, still, only three died « 
RA: Wait, what? 

<Phone disconnects - End Log> 


The phone call was traced to a management office on an abanc 
POI-1969-1 or a working telephone was found. 


The present instance of POI-1841-12, believed to be Mr. Camp! 
Beta-6 took custody of SCP-1969 and is to be kept for observat 


Addendum 11/9/69: Despite Foundation custody of SCP-1969. 
note the continued presence of POI-1841-12 at recording sessi 
the object does not resemble POI-1841-12. 


Enhanced testing and interviews confirm that Mr. Campbell is n 


released. 
MTF Beta-6 increases surveillance of POI-1841-12 and confirm 


The Cognitohazard Monitoring Division reports that Beatles albt 
hazard. Upon review, the CMD hereby revises the Kant-Derrida 
with other curious individuals leads to the conclusion that POI-1 
be demonstrated that POI-1841-12 continues to live. Given the 
covers, SCP-1969 is expanded to include this memetic hazard ; 


SCP-1969 is an active widespread memetic hazard of pandemi 
formed to dispense the truth regarding the living status of POI-1 
college campuses to attend meetings and informal discussions 
disseminate the truth and present skepticism. 


MTF Beta-6 warns of an expected uptick of suicides due to SCI 


Addendum 3/14/70: MTF Gamma-5 reports high levels of succ 
Magazine showing the continued life of POI-1841-12 has demo! 
The ease of removal of the hazard indicates that it is non-anom 
hysteria stemming from SCP-1841. SCP-1969 is considered E 


Emma looked up from her reading. Something wasn't right. She 
pulled out the documentation, closed the box, placed it back on the 
shelf, and jogged back out to the reception room. She tossed the 
papers on Roger's desk. 


"You're Roger Anderson." 
"You're supposed to shelve the file when you're done with it." 


Emma slammed a hand down on the papers. "You're Roger 
Anderson. And I'm not done with this file." 


Roger shook his head and allowed himself a sheepish smirk. "I am. | 
was in Cog Haz at the time, | worked on 1969. Hey, | forgot to ask in 
the excitement of you looking up my work. For the record, which 
object are you assigned to? How did you start looking for 1969?" 


Emma stared at Roger a moment. Is he trying to change the 
subject? No, more about 1969, | can still ask. "I'm on SCP-012. | 


was — " 


"Oh, for the love of... Twelve. It's always Twelve." Roger buried his 
face in his hands. "Twelve is the reason | transferred to Cog Haz in 
the first place. Lost a partner and a good friend to Twelve." 


Emma peered into Roger's craggy face. "You... You're Anderson? 
Anderson and Spitzer Anderson?" 


Roger nodded. "Leon Spitzer. Damn fine partner, drinking buddy, 
confidant. All stripped away into a paranoid mess by a damn piece 
of sheet music. | was popping amnesiacs like Tic-Tacs when | 
realized what was going on. | never actually saw the vellum with the 
mud off, but... One tip, miss. Don't abuse amnesiacs. Ever." 


Resolved to be regaled with rambling old-man tales, she corrected, 
"Amnestics?" 


"Amnestics, amnesiacs, whatever. | know they reformulated them a 
few years back and reminded everyone that they're really called 
amnestics, but we were all used to calling them amnesiacs, even if it 
wasn't right. But | panicked when | realized what was happening to 
Leon. We were in Florence to pick up a copy of 701, which is safe to 
look at and read, so we weren't expecting something as insidious as 
Twelve. When | realized that Twelve had changed Leon, | started 
recording everything | knew and made myself an amnesiac cocktail. 
| lost my best friend and half of my childhood that day. Do you know 
how horrible it feels to go visit your family for Christmas, and realize 
you can't remember your mother's name? Terrible. When | got back, 
| put in for transfer to Cog Haz. | wasn't going to let another Twelve 
slip past me again. | also got medical orders never to take 
amnesiacs again." 


Emma wondered, "But when you retire — " 


Roger shut her down with a wave of his hand. "I ain't retiring. Had to 
give up that possibility just to avoid the retirement party drink. That's 
why I'm down here in Archives now. I'm too run down for anything 
actually anomalous, so | get to sit down here in the salt and 
reminisce, most days. It's good for my lungs. Slow pace, low risk. 
Best retirement | could ask for." 


Silence passed between them. Roger sat contently, while Emma 
leaned against the desk, half-sitting on it. She squirmed and looked 
around, noticing the papers under her hand. "Now about Paul —" 


"You still haven't answered why you wanted to look up 1969. Don't 
think I've forgotten. I'm old, but not senile, Miss Stark," Roger 
interrupted with a wink. 


Emma rolled her eyes and sighed. "Okay, so | was looking over K. 
M. Sandoval's journal, for clues about what 012 was doing. | didn't 
see anything, but there was this note about how he alluded to Paul's 
death on the night it was supposed to happen. So | looked for any 
records we might have had on Paul's death, and learned about 
SCP-1969-EX. So here | am." 


Roger's eyes sharpened in response. "Sandoval talked about 
McCartney's death? And he was supposed to have died while we 
were in Florence?" 


Emma pulled out her tablet and presented it to him. "I took a picture. 
See the note in the margin regarding McCartney?" 


Roger pored over the tablet, pulled his desk lamp close over it, 
cursed the clashing lights, pushed it away, and read carefully, 
mumbling to himself. "Looks like Wertham's writing. He knew more 
about 1969 than any of us. If anyone knew the particulars of 
McCartney's death, it was him. But if this really is his journal, you're 
right. Sandoval was talking about when McCartney died. Maybe 
that's why Rita mentioned Golgotha. But according to this, he hadn't 
even found Twelve yet. How could he have known that Paul died 
that night, a thousand miles away?" 


Emma looked askance at Roger. "Paul... didn't die that night." 
Roger gave Emma a blank stare. "No, Paul didn't die that night." 


Emma leaped back into her questions. "But that's the problem with 
this documentation. If Paul never died, who was William Campbell? 
Why did you pick him up? What was that phone call with Rita all 
about? None of this makes sense!" 


personnel will be temporarily retained but in the event of another 
containment failure are to be terminated. 


Requests to study SCP-689 must be submitted to Dr. at 
least 7 days in advance with a detailed description of the proposed 
experiment and justification. Any researcher directly viewing 
SCP-689 should be aware that doing so renders them liable to 
immediate and summary termination in the event of any containment 
or light failure, as described above. 


Description: SCP-689 appears to be a small green soapstone 
statue, 30 cm in height. It is carved in the semblance of what 
appears to be an unknown deity of the underworld, a seated skeletal 
figure with hands clasped over knees. It was discovered by 

during one of the prewar German archaeological 
expeditions in the area of India and obtained after the war by 
the OSS. Its location during the war is unknown. 


SCP-689 is completely inert for as long as it is being watched by at 
least one human being. Normal behaviors such as blinking do not 
appear to interrupt the "watching" for this purpose, but any lapse in 
attention, however momentary, renders the observer vulnerable. As 
soon as SCP-689 is unobserved it vanishes from its current location. 
Within 15-20 seconds one person who has previously viewed 
SCP-689 dies instantaneously, SCP-689 reappearing on top of their 
remains. If no previous viewers are presently alive, it reappears in 
the same place as previous. 


Tests have established that this effect is not operative on animals, 
but that any human being who has ever directly viewed SCP-689 is 
potentially vulnerable. No consistent cause of death has been found, 
with autopsy results ranging from heart attacks and strokes to 
complete rupture of all internal organs. The mechanism by which the 
victim is selected is currently unknown, save that preference seems 
to be given to persons in crowds or otherwise surrounded by large 
numbers of people, presumably to increase the number of people 
viewing the statue. Recorded images of SCP-689 do not appear to 
have this property. 


Due to the potential for a "chain reaction" once SCP-689 is allowed 
to leave the chamber it is considered absolutely critical that all 


Roger smiled and spread his hands placatingly. "Wertham explained 
it to me. Mass hysteria interference from another SCP." 


"SCP-1841?" 


"Sounds right to me. Strange, it was apparently neutralized back in 
the 19th century, though. | remember reading it over then." 


"That doesn't make sense." 


"| just listened to Wertham and went ahead with it. You don't 
contradict the site director."