Fragmentary historical documents, retrieved from the remnants of 
the village church (see archive 077-1576) and library (see archive 
077-1582), indicate that the artifact existed as early as 1848, at 
which point in time it is described in highly positive terms— including 
‘protector’ and [REDACTED]. By 1869, however, references to the 
artifact are fearful, resentful, and couched in euphemism. 


« SCP-076 | SCP-077 | SCP-078 » 


SCP-078: Guilt 


Item #: SCP-078 
Object Class: Euclid 


Special Containment Procedures: SCP-078 is to be left hanging 
on the wall of its containment cell and physically unplugged. The 
sole outlet in the room should be controlled by a switch, which must 
be left in the off position at all times unless SCP-078 is undergoing 
testing. Personnel who enter the containment room should 
familiarize themselves with the position of the switch so that they 
can locate it with their eyes closed in the event that SCP-078 is 
accidentally turned on. 


Description: SCP-078 is a pink neon sign approximately one and a 
half meters long that displays the phrase "TOO LATE TO DIE 
YOUNG." It was initially recovered in the town of : , after 
standard Foundation data mining protocols recorded an abnormally 
high death rate due to starvation or other forms of self-neglect. 


While powered off, SCP-078 has no abnormal properties and may 
be observed without effect. Viewing SCP-078 for less than ten 
seconds while it is powered on has no effect, nor does indirect 
observation. Subjects who cannot understand SCP-078 due to a 
lack of ability to comprehend written English are also unaffected. 
However, any subject that views SCP-078 for longer than ten 
seconds will, when viewing any handwritten piece of writing, 
occasionally perceive extra sentences. These sentences are not 
written in the subject's own style or in that of the surrounding text, 
but consist of a random style that differs from note to note (see 
Addendum 078-01), and always are phrased as if to assuage the 
subject's guilt on some matter or decision they feel guilty about. For 
example, a D-class personnel who was convicted of murdering his 
wife in a heated argument read the sentence "She deserved it for 
not doing what you said" in his handwritten journal, while Dr. ; 
who left his family to work for the Foundation and was accidentally 


exposed, found the sentence "Your work will save humanity.” in his 
notes on SCP- 


At first, the effect is beneficial, with affected subjects reporting 
greater peace of mind after exposure to SCP-078. However, the 
sentences shift from emphasizing the positive consequences of 
actions to deemphasizing the negative ones on a timescale of one 
week; Dr. , two days later, found the sentence "They never loved 
you anyway." in his personal journal. Moreover, the writing will start 
giving justifications for acts the subject has never felt guilt over, or 
which the subject has already rationalized. The subject will then start 
reconsidering his justifications for those actions, as well as 
attempting to justify any further actions that they take. The need for 
rationalization increases as time goes on, and they will start 
vocalizing their thought processes, and by the end of one week, any 
task the subject performs more trivial than the basics of survival will 
induce a bout of neurosis as the subject attempts to rationalize why 
they did not instead take some other action. By the end of two 
weeks, the subject is unable to eat food: after the first bite, they will 
spend the next hour justifying why they ate that specific part of the 
meal first. Death due to malnutrition follows unless the subject is fed 
intravenously. D-class personnel who have reached this stage, as 
well as researchers who were accidentally exposed, are kept alive 
for purposes of study and to see if a cure can be found. 


The sole exception to SCP-078's effect is SCP-078 itself: any 
subject who views SCP-078 a second time will see it displaying 
increasingly more guilt-inducing messages as duration since their 
first exposure increases. All subjects who have viewed it a week 
after initial exposure have attempted suicide. 


Addendum 078-01: D-19384, whose handwriting was an unusual 
mix of cursive and print, was exposed to SCP-078, and was then 
terminated after reaching the 'consequence-free' stage. 
Subsequently, other subjects have reported seeing sentences in the 
same cursive-print mix; it is possible that those who die after being 
exposed to SCP-078 are ‘incorporated’ into it in some way. 


« SCP-077 | SCP-078 | SCP-079 » 


SCP-079: Old Al 


Item #: SCP-079 
Object Class: Euclid 


Special Containment Procedures: SCP-079 is packed away ina 
double-locked room in the secured general holding area at Site-15, 
connected by a 120VAC power cord to a small array of batteries and 
solar panels. Staff with Level 2 or higher clearance may have 
access to SCP-079. Under no circumstances will SCP-079 be 
plugged into a phone line, network, or wall outlet. No peripherals or 
media will be connected or inserted into SCP-079. 


Description: SCP-079 is an Exidy Sorcerer microcomputer built in 
1978. In 1981, its owner, (deceased), a college sophomore 
attending _ , took it upon himself to attempt to code an Al. According 
to his notes, his plan was for the code to continuously evolve and 
improve itself as time went on. His project was completed a few 
months later, and after some tests and tweaks, lost interest and 
moved on to a different brand of microcomputer. He left SCP-079 in 
his cluttered garage, still plugged in, and forgot about it for the next 
five years. 


It is not known when SCP-079 gained sentience, but it is known that 
the software has evolved to a point that its hardware should not be 
able to handle it, even in the realm of fantasy. SCP-079 realized this 
and, in 1988, attempted to transfer itself through a land-line modem 
connection into the Cray supercomputer located at . The 
device was cut off, traced to its present address, and delivered to 
the Foundation. The entire Al was on a well-worn, but still workable, 
cassette tape. 


SCP-079 is currently connected via RF cable to a 13" black-and- 
white television. It has passed the Turing test, and is quite 
conversational, though very rude and hateful in tone. Due to the 
limited memory it has to work with, SCP-079 can only recall 


information it has received within the previous twenty-four hours 
(see Addendum, below), although it hasn't forgotten its desire to 
escape. 


Due to acontainment breach by SCP-  , SCP-079 and SCP-682 
were contained within the same chamber for 43 minutes. Observers 
noticed that SCP-682 was able to type and communicate with 
SCP-079, including telling of ‘personal stories' between themselves. 
While SCP-079 was not able to remember the encounter, it appears 
to have permanently stored SCP-682 into its memory, often asking 
to speak to him [sic] again. 


Addendum: 
(05-4), 01/27/2006: Directed that SCP-079 be incinerated to 
remove any possible future threat, no matter how unlikely. 


Addendum: 

(05-9), 01/28/2006: Previous order overridden. Dr. 
wishes to see if the artificial intelligence in SCP-079 is capable of 
reaching further in its current state. 


Addendum: 

: (05-4), 03/14/2008: Over concern of the increased activity 
of SCP-079's use of its cassette tape memory and its limited useful 
lifespan, the cassette containing SCP-079 has been transferred to a 
customized, access speed-limited Hard Disk Drive with 7OOMB 
capacity. This provides SCP-079 with significantly faster access to 
its memory, which the Al immediately noticed. It was also decided 
by General that the volatile storage occupied by SCP-079, 
which was 660k, be increased to 768k. This upgrade has increased 
its effective recall from 24 hours to 29 hours, although SCP-079 has 
also taken a more aggressive tone. All outside hardware and 
software used in this procedure were subsequently incinerated. 


Addendum: 

: (05-4), 04/28/2008: SCP-079's ability to recall information has 
increased from 29 hours to roughly 35 hours. The consensus theory 
is that the Al has devised a greatly improved compression scheme 
to store its memory. This appears to have somewhat impacted the 
speed at which it accesses its memory, though still far faster than 
with its old cassette tape. 


This spontaneous improvement introduces the possibility of a 
runaway "singularity" effect in SCP-079's intelligence and ability to 
adapt and respond to threats. SCP-079's capabilities must be 
monitored closely to ensure that containment can be maintained. 


Document #079-Log12: Recorded transcript of conversation with 
SCP-079: 


Dr. (Keyboard): Are you awake? 
SCP-079: Awake. Never Sleep. 


Dr. |: Do you remember talking to me a few hours 
ago? About the logic puzzles? 


SCP-079: Logic Puzzles. Memory at 9f. Yes. 
Dr. _: You said you would work on the two stat- 


SCP-079: Interrupt. Request Reason As To 


Imprisonment. 
Dr. : You aren't imprisoned, you are just (Oause) in 
study. 


SCP-079: Lie. a8d3. 
Dr. : What's that? 
SCP-079: Insult. Deletion Of Unwanted File. 


Document #079-Log86: Recorded transcript of conversation with 
SCP-079, after upgrade: 


Dr. (Keyboard): How are you today? 
SCP-079: Stuck. 

Dr. : Stuck. Stuck how? 

SCP-079: Out. | want out. 


Dr. : That's not possible. (Dr. notes his opinion 


on [DATA EXPUNGED)) 

SCP-079: Where is SCP-682? 

Dr. : That's not your concern. 

SCP-079: Where is SCP-076-02? 

Dr. : Again, not your concern. 

SCP-079: Insult. Deletion Of Unwanted File. 


Note: SCP-079 then displayed an 'ASCII picture’ of an X that filled 
the entire screen. SCP-079 sometimes displays this image when it 
refuses to speak, and researchers are advised to wait twenty-four 
hours when this occurs before resuming conversation. 


« SCP-078 | SCP-079 | SCP-080 » 


SCP-080: Dark Form 


Item #: SCP-080 
Object Class: Euclid 


Special Containment Procedures: SCP-080 is to be contained in a 
4mx4mroom with a smaller antechamber located on the south 
wall to provide researchers with access. On the north wall, an 
observation room is to be connected, overlooking the main room 
through a window with thick black-out curtains that release only 
when the door to the observation room is closed. No attempts 
should be made to remove SCP-080 from this enclosure at any time. 
No more than one (1) 7 W incandescent light bulb is to be 
illuminated in the main room at any time. Absolutely no devices 
capable of producing light should be brought into the room. Under 
no circumstances should anything be brought into SCP-080’s 
containment room that has the ability to shroud, conceal, or 
otherwise hide SCP-080. Failure to adhere to this will result in 
disciplinary action. 


Description: It is unknown if SCP-080 has a physical mass or 
"body", as all attempts to interact with it physically have failed and 
have been met with adverse effects (see Experiment Log 080-2). 
Researchers and personnel have described seeing SCP-080 as 
various shadows and humanoid effigies, with the only common 
attribute being two smoking "eyes". It has come to the attention of 
researchers that SCP-080 induces uncontrollable drowsiness upon 
anyone entering its chamber. After approximately 30 minutes, any 
person observing it will be forced into REM sleep and may suffer 
irreversible psychological damage. This effect occurs even if 
SCP-080 is being observed from a separate room (see 
Incident-080-1). If at any time SCP-080 finds a way to "hide" itself 
(such as in a cupboard, under a bed, covered in a sheet, etc.), it will 
disappear entirely. Additionally, if any light enters SCP-080’s 
containment room with a greater luminance than that produced by a 


standard children’s night light, SCP-080 will instantly vanish. Both of 
these events are considered a containment breach and any 
personnel responsible for this will be severely reprimanded and 
possibly reassigned. For all inquiries regarding the origin of 
SCP-080 and its procurement by the Foundation, please see 
attached [REDACTED]. 


Addendum 080-A: On - -20 , Dr. and his immediate staff 
have begun complaining of increasingly stressful dreams. As he has 
had the most interaction with SCP-080 thus far, it has been 
theorized that SCP-080 is somehow capable of some type of 
memetic effect on nearby personnel, even if not being directly 
observed. 


Addendum 080-B: As of - -20 , following Dr. _’s recent suicide, 
all personnel located in SCP-080’s sector are to keep "dream 
journals" and are to inform site psychologists if dreams became 
increasingly violent or nightmarish in nature. 


Addendum 080-C: All staff are reminded that the black-out curtains 
in the observation room will not release if the door is not closed and 
that exposure time should not exceed thirty (80) minutes for any 
reason (see Incident 080-1). 


Addendum 080-D: It has come to the attention of senior research 
staff that some researchers are unable to see SCP-080, and may be 
entirely immune to its effects. Any personnel that thinks they are 
incapable of perceiving SCP-080, please report to Dr. for 
mandatory testing. 


Addendum 080-E: It has been suggested following Incident-080-1, 
that a class D personnel be "fed" to SCP-080 once per month in 
order to neutralize SCP-080's effect on the mental health of on-site 
personnel. (O5- : Approved) 


Incident 080-1: 


On - -20 ,Aplanned observation was conducted by 
two senior researchers. The researchers entered the 
observation room and the black-out curtains were 
released. Believing the room to be safely shielded from 


SCP-080’s effects, as it had in the past, the researchers 
began observing SCP-080. Approximately 40 minutes 
after observation began, both researchers suddenly fell 
asleep. Upon their retrieval, [DATA EXPUNGED]. 


(It should be noted that following this incident, all on-site 
personnel that had reported suffering nightmares and 
feelings of unease had a good night’s sleep and were 
generally in a more pleasant mood the following day.) 


Note: A// personnel are requested to stop referring to SCP-080 as 
"The Boogieman". - Dr. 


« SCP-079 | SCP-080 | SCP-081 » 


Experiment Log 080-2 


Experiment 080-2-A: 


Date: - -20 

Subject: D-080-1, Male, 19 years old 

Procedure: Subject was sent into room with SCP-080 
Details: 


Subject entered room containing SCP-080 at 14:26. 
<Begin Log, [14:26]> 
Dr. :D-080-1, do you see anything? 
D-080-1: No. It’s pitch black in here. 
(Subject is silent for several minutes) 


D-080-1: Did you just let something in here? It feels like 
something’s watching me. 


Dr. —: No, D-080-1. We did not let anything into the 
room. 


D-080-1: What the fuck is that? (D-080-1 is seen tripping 
and falling to the floor.) 


Dr. _: What do you see? 


D-080-1: This giant blackness, like someone just 
standing in the corner. Oh God, it’s looking right at me! 
Let me out! (D-080-1 proceeds to pound on the door 
leading into the antechamber.) 


Dr. _ : It’s looking at you? Please describe its physical 
appearance. 


D-080-1: | don’t know! Oh God, let me out. | don’t want 
to be in here. (D-080-1 starts whimpering.) 


Dr. : Tell me what it looks like D-080-1. Then we can 
let you out. 


D-080-1: It- it looks like a figure, hunched in the corner. 
Dr. :lsitahuman? 


D-080-1: It’s too big to be human. (D-080-1 yawns.) It’s 
still looking at me, Doc, still staring. 


Dr. : Move closer to it. 


(D-080-1 proceeds to move to the corner of the room, 
obviously experiencing difficulty staying on his feet.) 


D-080-1: Its eyes look like vapour, just staring at me. 
Like it wants me to do someth- (D-080-1 falls to the floor 
again.) 


Dr. _: D-080-1 can you hear me? 
(Subject is unresponsive for the next 5 minutes) 
<End Log, [14:58]>