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Summarize

"Item #: SCP-7819

Object Class: Keter/Uncontained

Special Containment Procedures: If you are currently under the influence of SCP-7819, please immediately refer to Addendum 1.

SCP-7819 is still under active study; if you believe you have come into contact with it, contact the Research Lead immediately.

Description: SCP-7819 is a predatory location that manifests along exits of the United States Numbered Highway System in the contiguous United States. SCP-7819’s appearance is generally fixed; it presents as a small roadside hotel or motel (though the exact layout may vary) advertising vacant rooms, always identified by exterior signage as the Rest-Eazy Inn.

Several conditions must be met for SCP-7819 to manifest for a driver:

The time must be between midnight and 4:00AM, local timezone.
The driver of the vehicle must have been driving for over five hours, discounting small breaks.
The driver must be a past or present Foundation employee.
The driver must be alone in the vehicle.
Upon driving near SCP-7819, the driver will begin to feel a deep-seated sense of fatigue and tiredness; it is unclear whether this is a natural reaction to driving for several hours and seeing an opportunity for a break, or an anomalous phenomenon caused by SCP-7819 to lure drivers in. Regardless, this fatigue will continue as the driver pulls off the highway and into the parking lot of the inn.

Should the driver drive past SCP-7819, the sense of fatigue will remain; through unknown means, their vehicle will be seamlessly transported several miles backward, often without their realization. They will drive past SCP-7819 again, be transported backward again, and this process will continue until they park inside SCP-7819.

The driver will not be able to escape this phenomenon until they exit their vehicle, enter SCP-7819, and perform several requisite activities. These activities vary, but SCP-7819’s many manifestations have provided a relatively-dependable action plan for performing the rituals and surviving SCP-7819.

If you are currently under the influence of SCP-7819, please proceed through Addendum 1. Remain calm and do not rush; accuracy and efficiency is more important for survival than speed. Good luck.

Addendum 1: SCP-7819 Survival Guide; up-to-date to March 26th, 1996.

Space: Parking Lot

Instructions: Bring your car into an empty parking space. Try to select one that’s surrounded by other vehicles; to separate yourself from the pack would attract attention. Once you park, exit your vehicle. Take only what you need: whatever device you are reading this document on, your cellular phone, keys, purse or wallet, and a bag containing some toiletries and essentials. Luggage and clothing will slow you down. If you have been equipped with a firearm or own one privately, do not take it with you.

Spend some time in the parking lot before entering the lobby. Observe the other parked cars around you; you will note inconsistencies, such as wheels made of wood, unclear jumbles where logos and brand marks should be, and shapes/designs that do not correspond to any actual vehicles produced by automotive companies. Avoid looking through the windows.

If there is a large burning vehicle in the parking lot, do not investigate it further. If at all possible, pretend it is not there. Enter the lobby before the fire goes out.

Researcher Adam Middleton: I followed protocol, pulled my 4Runner into a parking spot of this dingy sex-motel. The last parking spot, actually; the lot was completely full otherwise. I grab the few things I have, and squeeze out of my car. Parked next to a big Dodge Caravan except, wait, no I'm not. It's like… you described a Caravan to someone else, and they described it to someone else, and then that person had to make a model of what they had in mind out of papier-mâché. I accidentally knocked a hand against it and realized that it was made out of some kind of plaster, and it was hollow.

I got curious so I started investigating the other cars. All like this. Logos and designs that look like cars I knew growing up, but take a closer look and it's all nonsense. A facade, literally. I wasn't scared or anything, but it did put me on edge. Like how when you know someone is trying to put you at ease, you put your hackles up.

Space: Lobby

Instructions: Upon entering the lobby, make your way to the front desk. It will be unoccupied; you may ring the bell once if the sound brings you comfort.

Wait in the lobby without exiting it. Hum your favorite song to yourself as you wait; the silence in the lobby has been described as oppressive. Stop humming when you become aware of the noises coming from behind the counter. Hop the counter. There should be a closed door, rattling as though someone is on the other side. Listen to the sounds, and note them down.

When they get louder, repeatedly slam your fist against the door. Do not speak. Eventually, you will be slipped a key to a room. This may not work on the first attempt; repeat it until you succeed. Say thank you, and depart.

Agent Mari Kayer: No idea what’s going on. Door’s firmly locked I can just hear through it and the paper-thin walls. Pretty filthy noises. Soft enough to where I have to press my ear against the door to hear anything. Wet slapping like someone thumping a drenched towel against the ground, over and over. There’s this periodic wet coughing. The slapping stops during the coughing. Also this moaning. It sounds in pain, like someone starving to death. Rises and falls in pitch but it’s always there. I can hear a whispering too, and sometimes the moaning and whispering and coughing are all at the same time. How many people are in there?

I tried rattling the doorknob and it all stopped. All of it except for the moaning. I froze and after a few seconds they went back to it. Fucking weird as shit.

Space: Elevator

Instructions: Your room will inevitably be on a higher floor, and you will be unable to find stairs, forcing you to use the elevator. You will notice that the buttons are in an inexplicable pattern and have unclear writing on them. Press whichever one feels right. There will never be another person in the elevator with you; if you see someone, be aware they are not human. Treat them with the appropriate level of caution; do not remove your eyes from them, and always stand with your back against a wall.

If the figure resembles an older clean-cut man wearing an expensive suit and overcoat, do not enter the elevator. It will smile at you, compliment your appearance, and hold the door for you. It will do this for up to several minutes, repeatedly attempting to convince you to enter. Politely but firmly tell it that you are “just passing through” and “will wait for the next one”. Stand beyond the threshold; it cannot pursue you outside of the elevator. Eventually, it will move on.

If the figure resembles a middle-aged woman in hiking gear, you may enter the elevator and ride it to your destination. The elevator ride will take much longer than it should, up to half an hour. Do not panic, and reciprocate the woman’s attempts to make conversation. Do not be honest with her; lie openly and brazenly about every possible detail, including obvious ones such as your ethnicity and age. She appreciates this.

If the figure resembles a younger vagrant, it is safe to enter the elevator. They will not speak, but may offer you a hug; accepting this has no consequences and is left to your discretion. When you arrive at your floor, they may offer a small trinket, such as a tin duck or ceramic ashtray. Accept it gratefully, and keep it close at hand.

Senior Researcher Aamir Mirahi: My nerves were on fire. I was lucky I pulled the vagrant card instead of the Wall-Street-anglerfish card, at least. They seemed nice. Couldn’t have been older than 19 or 20, dressed in clothes completely worn through. I got in, and we were standing next to each other heading up to my floor when he reached out. I just sort of let it happen, and he hugged me. A proper hug. Haven’t been hugged like that in a long time. Didn’t say a word. Just hugged me for a few seconds, like he knew I needed it, stepped back, handed me a matchbox filled with leaves, and then the doors were closing and he was gone.

Space: Hallways

Instructions: You will exit out of the elevator into a hallway of some kind. Checking your room key is pointless; it will either not have a room number, or have an entirely impossible one. Your room will make itself known to you when you find it. As such, begin walking down the hallway.

Resist the urges to investigate the other rooms in the hallway. The doors have peepholes in them, and making eye contact may invite unwelcome attention. Keep your eyes focused down, and ignore any feelings of being observed as you proceed down the hall. Avoid making noise; the other guests are sleeping. The hallway is generally not linear, and you may find various other spaces.

Eventually, you will arrive at a crossroads. These will occur regardless of whether the exterior topology of SCP-7819 allows for it, and are suspected to be incongruous spaces. As such, it is advised not to remain in them for more than a few minutes at most. Personnel who have dallied in the crossroads report dull headaches and paranoia. This is best addressed by picking a direction at random and beginning to walk down it. It is unclear whether SCP-7819 adapts to one’s mind or vice-versa, but this has been the most effective method for arriving at one’s room. You will know it when you see it.

Officer Louis Deleon: I have no idea how long I was walking. At least forty minutes, but that was after I started checking my watch. Just endless shag carpet and flickering yellow lighting and shitty commercial art on the walls. I thought it would just be one long hallway, but it wasn’t — I mean, at first it was, but then it ended and took a sharp right turn, and then a left. And then down a set of stairs, past a smoking lounge, through a little walkway. Didn’t have any kind of sense or consistency to the construction, just felt like a weird amalgamation of every hotel I’ve ever been in, glued together without thought. Eventually it started getting really bizarre — the carpet went from drab beige to like, the pattern you find on bus seats? There were curtains but they were nailed into the wall so they couldn’t be opened. Every successive set of doors kept getting lifted a few inches off the ground until they were literally halfway into the ceiling.

This isn’t a place people were meant to be.

Space: Room

Instructions: Use your key and enter your room. You will immediately feel a chillness in the air; this is normal. Do not close the door behind you until you have turned on all the lights and ensured you are alone in the room. There may be a door to an adjoining room; move a piece of furniture in front of this door or otherwise find a way to barricade it.

The layout of the room will vary and may be completely idiosyncratic, such as having mismatched furniture sets, dozens of chairs filling the room with nothing else, or being difficult to traverse. Do your best to get comfortable. The bathroom may be locked from the inside, but this is not a point of concern unless you have reason to believe someone is inside. If you do, bar the door to the best of your ability.

You may keep the lights on or dim them, but get into a bed and pull the covers over yourself. If the room has a television, you may put on something to calm your nerves; personnel have suggested Home and Garden Television delivers the best results. Eventually, you will fall asleep.

Researcher Brett Stevens: My room had three beds, fanning out from and facing a single focal point: a shitty microwave that wasn’t even plugged in. Absolutely baffling, like it was designed by a person with no understanding of how humans lived. I got in, made sure everything was fine, then put my stuff down. Took a leak, which is when I found out the bathroom was fake. The plumbing wasn’t attached and the toilet and shower were made out of like, plywood, like props on a movie set. Hardly the weirdest thing so far but for some reason it just fucked with me. I got out and slipped into bed. Almost immediately I felt insanely tired despite the circumstances. I could barely keep my eyes open and right as I was drifting off it occurred to me that I hadn’t checked under the beds.

Space: Pool

Instructions: You will wake up in the hotel hot tub. There will be no one else in the indoor pool area, and you will feel physically awake but mentally exhausted; this is normal. A small radio set on a nearby table may be playing a song from your childhood, but the signal will be of poor quality. Try to tune it better, if you can, but do not change the station. Do not change the station.

You may exit the hot tub and inspect the main pool. It will generally be of idiosyncratic shape and construction. You will find that the surface tension of the water is much stronger — it has formed a thick, tight membrane that prevents objects from breaking through it. As such, do not step into the water; you will drown. Underneath the membrane, you may see shapes moving around. Ignore them.

Return to the hot tub, re-entering it. This time, completely submerge yourself. Despite your expectations, once you go under, it will not feel warm; it will feel painfully, bitingly cold, as though stepping into ice water. Ignore it and open your eyes. You will find that the hot tub descends several feet deeper than expected. Swim to the bottom and grab the small object you see lying on the floor. Inspect it after emerging from the water.

You will find your clothes neatly folded on a nearby table. Dry and redress yourself before departing for your room.

Agent Sabrina Maxwell: I’ve always loved hotel pools. Something about them — I don’t know. You’d think everyone would go for it, but for whatever reason, it feels like I’m the only one who’s ever in one. So it’s just a nice, calming space for me to sink into the water and be utterly alone.

This wasn't like that. This felt wrong, in some interminable, indescribable way. Every facet of it seemed designed for maximum discomfort. The echo bouncing off the ceiling and water being close enough to your own voice to trip you up. The angles and contours of the pool were unnatural, like someone had never seen a pool before. Literally hundreds of life-preservers hanging off the walls.

The main pool was… unnerving. The membrane on top made it so that everything under the surface was blurry and hard to make out. But still, I could see three or four blurry shapes moving around, swimming back and forth. One of them was person-shaped. At first I thought it was another person, trapped or something, and tried to get a little closer. Didn't step into the water, but I put my hand against the film. They — it swam up on the other side, and pressed its palm where mine was. Held it there, for a moment.

Then it starts slamming its fists against the membrane wildly, trying to tear through it like a wild animal. I could hear it screeching from under the water. I screamed, scrabbled backward, grabbed my things and ran. Thankfully, I only checked out the other pool after getting the object from the hot tub. It was an engagement ring, my engagement ring. I lost it years ago. Flushed it down the toilet of a hotel I was staying at.

Space: Breakfast Area

Instructions: On your way back to your room, you will pass by the breakfast area attached to the lobby. Despite it still being night outside, it will be open and the lights on. Enter.

There will be a large amount of food laid out on the counters. Most of it will be inedible in some form, though there are usually some edible foodstuffs; ignore all of them. Do not feel guilty about doing so, and instead make your way to the only other person in the breakfast area. Join them at their table as they eat.

They will attempt to persuade you to stay. Politely but firmly deny them. It will make your heart hurt, but it is necessary should you wish to leave. They will repeatedly do this, and you must repeatedly deny them, until they stop asking.

Technician David Dominguez: Plastic fruit, styrofoam waffles, muddy water instead of coffee. I'm not exaggerating; it was literally fake food, all laid out and presented like a typical continental breakfast. Very weird, but I followed the instructions, ignored all of it and headed for the man at the table. Older guy, salt-and-pepper hair, looks like every dad. The only sound in the room was his chewing, and the dead air on the television as it softly played static.

He seemed excited to see me, once he noticed me. Asked me to please take a seat, so I did, opposite him. Started bombarding me with questions — where was I from, where was I going, how long I'd been on the road — but not with the sinister edge of the people in the elevator. Genuine, sincere, wanting to know if I was alright and having a nice time. I tried my best not to feel bad about ignoring all of his questions and just saying "I want to leave".

I got the sense he'd heard this a lot. And he was persistent about it. "What can I do to make your stay better?" Sorry, I say, but I want to leave. "You're not enjoying the amenities?" They're fine; I still want to leave. "Don't you think this is nicer than having to deal with the troubles of life? It's a resort!" Maybe — but I'd prefer the troubles over whatever this is. Fighting to choke down the parts of me saying he has a point.

Eventually, he just goes crestfallen. "Is there anything I can do to make you stay?" No.

He seemed to accept that. Told me to spend the rest of my night — check out in the morning. He was still sitting there when I left, alone.

Space: Checkout

Instructions: When you wake up the next morning, late, regardless of when you fell asleep, gather your things and depart your room. You will find that the layout of SCP-7819 has shifted dramatically and is much easier to navigate. Several doors in the hallway will be hanging open, and you will pass cleaning carts as though housekeeping is doing their rounds. There will be no one around except you. Head to the elevators and back down to the lobby.

There will similarly be no one at the front desk, but place your key down. Depart SCP-7819, get in your vehicle (the parking lot will now be empty), and get back onto the highway, driving until you can get into contact with your nearest Site and report your SCP-7819 encounter.

Researcher Taya Andrews: The light of day makes things feel a lot different. The labyrinth of carpet and hallway just felt odd now, not sinister. I went downstairs, turned my key into the empty desk. The breakfast area was closed again. I stepped out the doors, the sun was shining. Got in my car, got back on I-10, put the hotel in my rearview mirror, and then, as soon as it came, it was gone.

My parents and I used to take a lot of road trips when I was a kid, so we stayed in a lot of motels. You know the kind: shitty roadside lodging where the rooms are cramped and the prices are dirt-cheap. Years-old carpet, unfashionable furniture from the 70s, sinks that stick out into the room and hard mattresses. Not a resort, just a place to lay your head down for the night. Transitory spaces, where you're meant to come and go; not to stick around.

Motels are not home, obviously. They try their best to feel like they’re home. But not particularly well, which is why they have such a unique vibe of their own. A corporate-designed space calculated to put you at ease. They’re spaces for humans to inhabit, but there’s nothing really human about them. 7819 embodies that pretty well. Something that doesn't really understand humans trying fruitlessly to lure them in, with fractured memories of motel rooms and hot tubs.

[Sigh.]

I don't know. I don't know what 7819 is, really; I can only make guesses from what I experienced. Like I said, I took a lot of roadtrips as a kid and there are some deeply, deeply strange things that live on the edges of these highways.

If you’ve followed these instructions, you will exit with no issue. If you haven’t, we do not blame you for staying."