Item#: SCP-6754

Level3

Containment Class:
pending

Secondary Class:
none

Disruption Class:
keneq

Risk Class:
danger

link to memo

Seneca Creek State Park, Maryland, USA, where The Blair Witch Project was filmed in October 1997.

CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES: Due to the recent cultural resurgence of Blair Witch media in the past years, Foundation AICs are to extensively monitor fan forums and spaces in which horror media is discussed. If specific triggers linked to SCP-6754 are encountered, AICs are to immediately catalog the instance and submit it to the SCP-6754 analysis team to undergo evaluation. If a subject exhibits behaviors correlating to SCP-6754-1, they are to be extensively monitored for potential signs of obsessive behaviors.
If a subject affected by SCP-6754-1 does not show obsessive tendencies within 6 months of identification, their file is to be archived as a passive instance. If a subject is revealed to display obsessive tendencies, nearby agents are to be alerted in order to prevent affected individuals from attempting to make the journey to Burkittsville and/or Seneca Creek State Park.
Disinformation Campaign 6754 (DC-6754) is to attempt to obfuscate the perception and investigation of SCP-6754-related disappearances by the mainstream media. This is both to stifle the mythologization of events surrounding the Blair Witch as well as discourage individuals from visiting the general Burkittsville region.
DESCRIPTION: SCP-6754 regards various phenomena that surrounds the 1999 Artisan Entertainment film The Blair Witch Project and its impact on viewers. While most information regarding SCP-6754 was quickly discovered after its theatrical release in July of 1999, new developments involving the sudden cultural resurgence of the property as well as current missing persons' cases have led to the Foundation reopening investigations into the anomaly's exact parameters. Upon SCP-6754's discovery in the month following The Blair Witch Project's theatrical release, directors Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick were intercepted by Foundation agents and thoroughly interrogated regarding the film's anomalous properties. Both directors were completely unaware of the anomaly and its effects on viewers, and further investigating into the film's production revealed no abnormalities in its making.
SCP-6754-1 is a phenomenon that occurs in %0.002 of individuals upon their initial, uninterrupted viewing of The Blair Witch Project.1 After the affected individual has concluded watching the film, they will fully believe that the events depicted within it are true, with this effect also extending into the fictional supplemental material that was created to solidify the film's believability. Subjects under SCP-6754-1's influence will fully invest in this belief and will not waver even when shown undeniable proof that its events are fictional (such as immersion-breaking promotional material, cast and crew interviews, and press releases regarding future Blair Witch property projects).2
If a subject under SCP-6754-1's effect is shown any material or information that proves the fictionality of the film, they will claim that the given evidence is fabricated in order to cover up "the truth." When pressed, subjects do not have a concrete answer on who would fabricate the narrative behind the film or what incentive they would have to fabricate it, but will still insist that there is a coverup for the disappearances of "Heather Donahue," "Joshua Leonard," and "Michael Williams."3
While most of SCP-6754-1's effects are consistently passive and can be disregarded as stubbornness or gullibility, approximately half of all afflicted individuals will fall into obsessive tendencies regarding consumption of the folklore and "history" behind the Blair Witch. Noted behaviors have been documented as but are not limited to:

The subject attempting to "solve" the multiple "missing persons cases" depicted in the film's extensive mythology.
The subject attempting to locate the exact location of "Rustin Parr's cabin" as depicted in the original film.
The subject attempting to warn others about the dangers of the Burkittsville region4 and the "Black Hills Forest."
The subject attempting to visit the Burkittsville region in order to investigate for themselves.

SCP-6754-2 is the strong probabilistic likelihood that an individual affected by SCP-6754-1 will experience a psychotic break or delusional episode in the Burkittsville or Seneca Creek regions. These episodes usually consist of sporadic or continuous panic attacks and auditory and/or visual hallucinations.
SCP-6754-3 is a minor although proven probabilistic likelihood that a subject affected by SCP-6754-1 or SCP-6754-2 will go missing when in or around the Burkittsville or Seneca Creek regions. There will typically be little remains of the subject's presence in the area. No subjects have currently been recovered.
It has been hypothesized that as more individuals are exposed to The Blair Witch Project over time, the probability of them being afflicted by SCP-6754-1, SCP-6754-2, and/or SCP-6754-3 will rise in likelihood.

ADDENDUM 6754.1
Supplemental Documentation

Remember what I told you - NO TRICK OR TREATING PAST 7!!

Margaret, please talk to the kids about staying inside. Ever since that documentary was released, I don't feel safe about them playing in the backyard. I swear, sometimes I think I see figures moving amongst the trees. I know none of us really grew up with those stories, but if they're that old, they have to have some sort of merit.

Discarded note found underneath the desk of Gerald Fraw, age 39, addressed to his sister, recovered 8 November 1999. Brunswick, MD

SUBJECT: Dean, Brian (27)
DATE: 23 October 2017
BRIEFING: Dean, along with friends and family, had been in the midst of a weeks-long roadtrip touring the American northeast and New England regions. Upon reaching the town of Burkittsville, Maryland, Dean began exhibiting general anxiety, soon developing into the main symptoms of an anxiety/panic attack.
Dean's companions claimed that his symptoms worsened the longer the group remained in Burkittsville, leading them to change course and take Dean to the nearest facility for him to receive treatment. As they were driving towards an emergency unit outside of the town's jurisdiction in Braddock Heights, Dean suddenly leapt out of the moving van, enduring several abrasion injuries as he made contact with the main road. The group then witnessed Dean quickly pulling himself to his feet before sprinting back down the road towards Burkittsville. When they maneuvered their vehicle to follow and retrieve him, Dean ran off the road in the direction of Seneca Creek State Park.
The following police investigation revealed that his handheld camera was missing from his luggage.

Incident catalogued in the Foundation's Anomalous Civilian Incident Report for the 3rd quarter of 2017. Braddock Heights, MD

I'm running in the forest. I don't know what I'm running from, but I know that it's something bad, something very very bad that is trying to reach me. As I run through the forest, I can feel the tree branches scratching my forearms and snagging on my clothes, but I keep going out of this blind panic that won't stop or fade no matter how much I push myself to get away.
As I run, I start to hear something off to my left that echoes in the dark. It's almost imperceptible with how it blends in with my own panic, though I still can make it out, if only barely. It's another pair of racing footsteps, steps that connect hard with the leaves and pine needles. It's not just that, though - it's another pair of lungs gasping for breath as they pump oxygen into those very legs. Next to me, off into the dark, is another person running for their life.
I know it's Heather. I know this as well as I know my own name. She somehow got out of the basement, she dropped the camera when she was escaping and by some odd mishap, it didn't catch her running up those stairs and out into the night, away from what had attacked her. Except now, that thing is after us both. It wants Heather in order to finish the job, and it wants me because I am a witness. There are so many fucking bodies in the basement and they're all Heather and Mike and Josh, and if I stand and watch for too long then they start to twitch and move - their limbs shouldn't be able to move since they've been dead for so long, they're encrusted with dust and dirt. There's something underneath the pile of their bodies, it's twitching and pushing through the folded sheets of their limbs, and when it finally pushes its way out, I realize it's a little girl, and she grabs my hand and pulls me into the deep deep water that should only have been the shallows, deeper and deeper to be tangled amongst the muck and the weeds, and among it are reaching fingers, the same ones that snagged my hair in the branches as I sprint along with dead-running Heather to get away and as far as possible into the breathing, thrumming forest.
I always wake up before it- before she can take me.

Excerpt taken from the journal of Denise Reyes, age 16, recovered 12 March 2003. Strasberg, PA

let's find Coffin Rock. i heard that they hid their remains underneath the stone slab. just think about it, their bones all covered in bugs and centipedes and maggots, maybe the witch will leave us a souvenir if we're lucky

Text written and sent by Henrietta Shevon, age 20, to Ruth Wreston, age 20, 22 May 2015. Both were caught by their families before they could leave their homes unnoticed. Bennington, VT

Tulpas. It's tulpas all the way down.

Found written on a whiteboard in Site-22 in regards to the initial investigation of SCP-6754, c. April 2000.

ADDENDUM 6754.2
The Willis Tape

BRIEFING: On 5 September 2019, Amber Willis (23), was reported missing from her apartment in Florence, Virginia, by a concerned roommate. The following investigation revealed that Willis had missed multiple days of work, with various online records showing her playing the newly released Blair Witch video game nonstop over the course of multiple days.
Footage captured by local highway tolling booths revealed Willis' vehicle heading northeast on 3 September. Her car was found 9 September, abandoned in the parking lot of a convenience store located on the outskirts of Burkittsville.

[FOOTAGE BEGINS]

File name reveals the date to be 7 September 2019. Recording begins at 7:38:19 PM.
Willis' camera is not steady as she walks through what is presumed to be Seneca Creek State Park. The sun is setting on the horizon to Willis' right. The forest is silent.
WILLIS: Did you know that my family used to actually live in Maryland?
She pauses, continuing forward.
WILLIS: My mom accidentally got pregnant during her senior year of high school, and she didn't have the grounds to support herself or me here. We ended up moving away only a week after I was born, or so she says.
Willis scans the area with her camera. Generic forest scenery can be viewed.
WILLIS: Despite everything, she always said that I was the best thing to happen to her.
Willis continues walking. The crunching of leaves underfoot becomes louder. A stifled sob can be heard, as well as sniffling.
WILLIS: I love my mom. I really do.
WILLIS: But there's something else that wants me here.
Willis stops walking and stands still.
WILLIS: Have you ever felt like something was pulling you somewhere? Like there's another home for you in a place you've never actually been?
The sky has almost fully darkened by now, yet Willis does not turn on the camera's flash. The shapes and shadows of the forest grow more and more formless and distorted due to the lack of light.
WILLIS: As if somewhere out there, faded and wispy, there's something waiting for you.
There is a pause.
WILLIS: Do you think nobody knows what she looks like because nobody can agree on her appearance?
A twig crunches off to the left.
There is a rush of air as Willis quickly turns the camera in the direction of the sound.
WILLIS: Hello?
She turns on the camera's flash. Though it does not reach far, it captures a shape in the distance, ~10 meters away. Willis slowly walks closer, revealing the shape to be an abandoned and dilapidated two-story building. All windows are broken and there is a fallen tree blocking the front door entrance.
WILLIS: Parr's cabin.
WILLIS: Burned down yet forever it stands.
Willis circles the structure two times before settling on a window with minimal amounts of glass shards around its edge. She reaches in, stretching to place her camera on the floor of the house inside. The camera faces a far wall that is covered in dried dirt and grime. Willis is heard struggling for a moment before successfully pulling herself through the window.
The camera is picked up off the floor, and Willis scans the surrounding room. There is a rusted and empty metal bedframe sitting near a far corner and beside it is a bedside table with a missing drawer. Willis walks to the room's door, opening it into a hallway. The hinges creak as she passes through the doorway, once again scanning the walls. Willis' breathing becomes shaky.
WILLIS: …Of course.
There are runes on some of the walls and the smeared handprints of children on others.
WILLIS: There's always the one last thing.
She points the camera down a worn flight of stairs. At one of the landings, there is a small trail of dust gently spinning mid-air, as if something had just disturbed the area.
Willis walks down the stairs.
When she reaches the basement, she freezes. Her breath catches. The main area of the basement is obscured by the camera's angle, which is pointed towards the floor.
The camera is dropped, though it still captures footage.
A pair of pale, bare feet can be seen. They are not touching the ground.
WILLIS: Oh, god.
There is a crunching sound, and the camera is suddenly pulled downwards. The screen is black for 2 hours and 48 minutes, with the only sounds captured being extremely muffled. It resembles breathing.

CONCLUDING NOTES: Willis' camera was discovered buried in Seneca Creek State Park during a Foundation investigation into both her whereabouts as well as those of other unstable individuals.
The Griggs House, which was used for "Rustin Parr's cabin" in the finale of The Blair Witch Project, was located in Patapsco Valley State Park before it was demolished in 2000 by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
There is currently no explanation as to why there is a version of it residing in Seneca Creek and how Willis was able to discover it.
Currently, the Foundation has been unable to locate this structure, and attempts to do so have been postponed in order to divert funding towards SCP-6754's containment campaign for the public's safety.
The structure has been catalogued as SCP-6754-4.

And thus, the Blair Witch lives on.

» SHOW FOOTNOTES «

« HIDE FOOTNOTES »

  FOOTNOTES & REFERENCES

Here, "uninterrupted" is defined by the individual having watched the film in a single session without any major distractions, starting from the film's opening sequence and concluding at the start of the end credits.
It is currently inconclusive whether or not SCP-6754-1's influence extends towards other Blair Witch media other than the original, including but not limited to the 2000 and 2016 film sequels and the various games produced between 2000 and 2020.
The three main characters in the film, not to be confused with their actors who, at the time of release, all shared their names with their onscreen counterparts.
A real town utilized as the setting for the film.

« SCP-6753 | SCP-6754 | SCP-6755 »

Footnotes
1. Here, "uninterrupted" is defined by the individual having watched the film in a single session without any major distractions, starting from the film's opening sequence and concluding at the beginning of the end credits.
2. It is currently inconclusive whether or not SCP-6754-1's influence extends towards other Blair Witch media other than the original, including but not limited to the 2000 and 2016 film sequels and the various games produced between 2000 and 2020.
3. The three main characters in the film, not to be confused with their actors who, at the time of release, all shared their names with their onscreen counterparts.
4. A real town utilized as the setting for the film.