The Hanged King's Tragedy

**The Hanged King's Tragedy** came to the attention of the international community in 2017. Prior to this, it was designated as **SCP-701** by the SCP Foundation. *The Hanged King's Tragedy* is a Caroline-era revenge tragedy in five acts. However, the play has been cursed, with performances of the play associated with sudden psychotic and suicidal behavior among both observers and participants. It's also noted for featuring a mysterious figure, classified as SCP-701-1. It's been responsible for an unknown number of deaths.

## Plot summary (original play)

The original play as written tells the story of a revenge plot by a prince against his uncle, after finding out that the king was murdered by his brother, and his own queen. It takes place in the fictional land of Trinculo, specifically the capital city of Serko. Sforza, the king of Trinculo, has died, supposedly from natural causes while on a retreat away from the kingdom. The nobility of Trinculo gathers in the capital for the coronation of the new king, Sforza’s younger brother, Gonzalo, who has also married Sforza’s queen, Isabella. The play begins with a coronation, with Gonzalo opening with a toast to the assembled nobility before exiting the stage. Drunk on the wine, Isabella confesses to murdering the king, then hanging his corpse like a common criminal. She also adds that Antonio, a visiting noble, is supposed to be the new heir, being the king's son.

Antonio is visited by a ghost of the deceased king, who confirms Queen Isabella's story, prompting Antonio to embark on a violent rampage of revenge against the new king and queen, before taking the throne.

## Overview of the Curse

The Hanged King's Tragedy is the name given to a cursed Caroline-era revenge play, which contains five acts. Since at least the fifteenth century, the play has been responsible for an unknown number of deaths, thanks to the curse that results in a violent mania descending upon the audience and the cast members, who kill themselves at the end of the play. Performances of *The Hanged King's Tragedy* do not always end with an outbreak, however, with only 36.78% of performances ending in an outbreak of violence.

When an outbreak does occur, however, it follows generally the same pattern:

* *1 to 2 weeks (7 to 14 days) prior to Event*: During dress rehearsals, the cast will start to deviate from the script, as if they are working off of a completely new script. No suspicions are raised, with the cast and crew believing the play has always been like this from the beginning.
* *2 to 3 hours prior to Event*: The outbreak usually occurs during Opening Night, or else at the production with the greatest planned attendance.
* *1 to 2 hours before Event*: A hooded figure appears on stage, during the last scene of Act I of the play. The cast does not appear to notice or comment on the hooded figure initially.
* *The Event Itself*: The hooded figure is incorporated into the play at this point, specifically during the climax, which takes place during a banquet. With the figure observing, the cast will start murdering each other, or commit suicide. Simultaneously, rioting breaks out among the audience.

## History of known incidents

The first recorded incident of an SCP-701 outbreak happened in 15th century Naples, Italy, leading to at least eighty deaths (the entire cast, and at least fifty audience members). The SCP Foundation has concealed any records since then, but it wasn't until 2017 that the true nature of the cursed play was witnessed and exposed to the world, with the curse itself ending once the hooded figure, SCP-701-1, met his end at the hands of Konstantin Robinson.

### 2018 Incident

In 2017, Konstantin Robinson heard of the cursed play but could only find one declassified record of the curse's effects, going back to 15th Century Italy. However, he got a glimpse of the cursed play's effects through video footage of an outbreak of violence following the performance of *The Hanged King's Tragedy* at a high school in West Virginia, dated back to fall of 2016. The outbreak resulted in the cast killing each other and a riot breaking out, leaving sixty people dead. Another video of the cursed play's effects at another high school in Houston, Texas, dated back to 1999 showed the cast killing each other, but not the violent rioting in the audience described in the accounts of the original performance in 15th century Naples, Italy.

He was later directed to an online chatroom that same year, in which Konstantin saw a post theorizing that The Hanged King's Tragedy curse could be broken if the hooded figure were destroyed somehow. When Konstantin overheard a classmate of his mention that the play was going to be performed at Evergreen University in the spring of 2018, he was suddenly seized with an obsessive desire to test out the theory he'd read about one year earlier and kill SCP-701-1.

Attending opening night, Konstantin started to videotape the play, making note of each deviation, seeing to his horror that what he has seen matches exactly what was described in the original account of the violent mania that fell on the original 15th century Italian cast members of the play. During the climax of the play, the hooded figure, SCP-701-1, appeared and watched silently as the actors started killing each other-one cast member was forced into a noose and hanged. Another actor said, "With this, the tribute, in full it is paid," before eviscerating the actor portraying the king.

The actor portraying Antonio was killed by having his throat slit, before the rest of the cast prepared to hang themselves, with the actress portraying a character named Alinda in particular shouting, "*With this, our blood, it is the Hanged K-!"* Before she could finish, Konstantin sprinted onto the stage, overcome with a murderous bloodlust, and savagely beat SCP-70-1, before taking the knife that was used to eviscerate the actor portraying the king. Konstantin discovered to his surprise and relief that what he'd read on the chat room was true; the instant he started his assault on SCP-701-1, the surviving cast members snapped out of their stupor, revealing that the hooded figure known as SCP-701-1 used some form of mind control to make the cast kill each other and then themselves. It also ended the mass rioting in the audience, exposing the curse in earnest.

Taking a line directly from the cursed play, Konstantin said to SCP-701-1, "*With this, our blood, it is the Hanged King's!"* He then took the dagger that had been used to kill the actor portraying the king and used it against SCP-701-1, stabbing the figure in the throat with the knife. With the death of SCP-701-1, the curse was officially broken.

Seeing the carnage, cast members and audience members alike attempted to flee the scene, while Konstantin simply stared at the body, stunned at what had just happened.