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| The entrance of SCP-XXX |
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Item #: SCP-XXX
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXX is to be kept clear of civilians and other unauthorized individuals in a 5-kilometer radius. The entrance is to be guarded by Task Force ██████ at all times; this task force has been specially created for this service, and they are not to be given other duties unless cleared by a Level 4 administrator. This task force may only be staffed by members of behavioral disposition that is biased neither towards heroism nor selfishness, as determined by an SCP psychiatrist, with checkups occurring no less than every seven (7) days.
Since SCP-XXX cannot be moved, its location is designated Site-██. A small research facility has been built nearby to house personnel assigned to SCP-XXX. No personnel below Level 3 are allowed to enter the Site, except for D-subjects escorted for experimental duties.
The entrance to SCP-XXX is to be monitored at all times by no fewer than four (4) task force personnel stationed at a distance of no closer than 50 meters. Six (6) 500-watt halogen lamps are to be kept trained on the entrance at all times, equipped with standard light sensors to automatically trigger activation as nighttime approaches, and connected to backup gasoline generators as described in Protocol XXX-P12. Standard video surveillance package is installed at no closer than 50 meters to the entrance and monitored at all times by a level 3 personnel at the nearby facility.
In the event that illumination is lost, all personnel are to retreat immediately to Bunker 01 inside the Site-██ facility. Once all personnel are inside the bunker, it may not be opened until an extraction team arrives and opens it from the outside. Security personnel at this facility are authorized to use extreme prejudice if necessary to ensure that the bunker door is not opened from the inside during a loss of illumination. Bunker 01 contains food and medical supplies sufficient for up to forty (40) people for up to seven (7) days. If no extraction team arrives after 7 days have expired, Protocol ███ is authorized.
Description: SCP-XXX is an abandoned mine originally constructed some time in the late 1800s and located at ███████ latitude and ████████ longitude, near ███████, Nevada. No official records of this facility have been found, but local civilians are aware of it. According to locals, the facility was abandoned some time before World War I, for reasons unknown. The SCP Foundation was made aware of this facility in 19██ after a report of a bizarre murder spree in the area. Investigation eventually led the Foundation to this location, and research is ongoing as to its nature and behavior. All individuals who have entered SCP-XXX have exhibited unusual behavioral changes upon return, and a pattern has emerged where disposition is permanently altered. However, SCP-XXX may not be used in the rehabilitation of criminals or other individuals who may demonstrate problematic ethics or morality. Analysis indicates that more than just disposition is altered by SCP-XXX.
There is a cluster of buildings 250 meters southeast of the mine entrance, in various states of disrepair. These presumably once belonged to the abandoned mining operation. No legible documents or other materials of note have been recovered from this location; most of what remains is ruined by exposure or has been burned to ash. It has been several decades since the most recent human habitation — likely drifters — although some wild animals use it for shelter, so extracurricular exploration is not permitted.
Efforts to uncover alternate entrances to SCP-XXX are ongoing. Please report any findings to Site-██ administration without delay.
Addendum: Experiment Log XXX
XXX-E001 Date: 02/04/20██
Personnel: [DATA EXPUNGED], plus Subject D-8901
Description: D-8901 is an SCP search-and-rescue dog assigned to the SCP-XXX task force. Experiment is to determine the accuracy of local civilian reports regarding the behavior of bears and other hibernating animals that have been observed at this Site. All times noted are PST.1530: D-8901 is sent into SCP-XXX; it is equipped with a standard video reconnaissance package.
1531: Video feed abruptly cuts short. D-8901 does not respond to commands to return.
1621: D-8901 emerges from SCP-XXX. Video package is present on harness and shows no signs of damage.
Notes: The batteries in the video package were completely drained. Possible but unlikely that they possessed an initially low charge. Ten days after XXX-E001, D-8901 viciously attacked a guard at Site-██ and had to be exterminated. Autopsy of the dog indicated an unusually low level of serotonin and dopamine but was otherwise normal. No signs of rabies or other diseases.
XXX-E002 Date: 02/06/20██
Personnel: [DATA EXPUNGED], plus Subject D-44023
Description: D-44023 is a human male, age 34, athletic build. Equipped with video package and illumination package whose battery charge levels have been verified as full by Drs. █████ and ██████.1230: D-44023 enters SCP-XXX.
1231: Video feed halts. Staff note that subject's illumination has ceased as well.
1232-1320: Subject does not respond to orders to return. Security personnel request permission to enter SCP-XXX and retrieve the subject. Request is denied.
1321: Subject emerges from mine. Behavior is determined to be normal. Packages are removed, and subject is escorted to a holding cell in the nearby facility. Package batteries indicate no power.
Notes: Subject's behavioral patterns are reported to have improved considerably, and subject is no longer interested in previous personal associations. Subject expresses interest in reading, keeping a personal journal, and television programs regarding astronomy, wildlife, and psychology. (See attached Journal Log for extracts.) The subjects claims no knowledge of the events between 1231 and 1240. Furthermore, the subject demonstrates awareness of scientific concepts not likely to have been encountered or grasped before.
The subject has also been making unusual claims about his identity. See attached Interview Log SCP-XXX-01.
Blood samples of D-44023 were taken. Above-normal levels of serotonin and dopamine were discovered. Security personnel guarding the entrance are replaced with Task Force ██████ upon administrative review of the experiment.
XXX-E003 Date: 02/08/20██
Personnel: [DATA EXPUNGED], plus Subject D-44918
Description: Subject D-44918 is a female, age 29, athletic build. Considering the inexplicable failure of electronic equipment inside SCP-XXX, the subject is equipped with a lit torch and a 1954 Leica M3 camera, which does not use batteries or digital storage. Camera is equipped with a 50mm collapsible lens and one roll of film containing 24 exposures.1420: Subject enters SCP-XXX.
1421: Staffers note that the subject's illumination does not cease. Staffers call out to the subject, who confirms that her condition is nominal and that she is taking photos.
1422: Dr. ██████ asks the subject to describe the interior of SCP-XXX. Subject reports a mine shaft extending as far as her visual range can determine.
1422: Subject is ordered to continue down the tunnel and take further pictures. Subject complies.
1425: The illumination of the subject's torch can no longer be seen from the entrance.
1441: Subject returns. Behavior appears normal. Equipment is retrieved, and she is escorted to a holding cell.
Notes: Analysis of photographs is unsuccessful; none of the exposures contain an image, but the roll had been advanced by twelve frames, indicating use. Blood test of the subject is taken and shows nothing unusual. Subject's behavior over the course of the next 30 days remains unchanged.
XXX-E004 Date: 02/08/20██
Personnel: [DATA EXPUNGED]
Description: Considering that the subject from the previous experiment was undisturbed when equipped with non-electronic equipment, Site-██ administration determined that it was safe for SCP personnel to make limited exploration into SCP-XXX, to at least ascertain if the mine had additional entrances that needed to be secured (satellite reconnaissance had been inconclusive). Dr. ██████ led the exploration. He was supported by three members of the task force, plus Subject D-44313 to be used as needed. Subject D-44313 is male, age 41, athletic build.Additional equipment included four (4) extra torches for a total of eight (8), three (3) rolls of camera film, one (1) compass for each expedition member, two (2) first aid kits, a firestarting kit, twelve (12) flares capable of 5 minutes of illumination each, and four (4) air horns. Dr. ██████ instructed guards at the entrance to detonate the charges around the entrance (which would collapse it) in the event that they heard three air horn blasts in rapid succession.
Furthermore, the expedition team created a crude but serviceable long-distance communication method. Taking advantage of the focused acoustics of this subterranean environment, they devised a system using Morse code, beaten against a glass jar with a metal rod. Several additional task force members in groups of two would be posted at strategic locations within the mine as the expedition team progressed, to maximize the ability to hear the Morse messages and relay them all the way back to the entrance.
Note that "STOP" is used in Morse code as a period.
1830: Expedition team enters the mine.
1831: Staffers remaining at entrance note that illumination does not cease. Team inside reports nominal conditions.
1835: Illumination is no longer visible.
1845: First Morse message: "OVERTURNED CAGE STOP BIRD BONES INSIDE STOP"
1850: Second Morse message: "HUMAN SKELETON STOP NEARBY LANTERN AND PICKAXE STOP"
1915: Third Morse message: "HUGE CAVERN STOP MANY ANIMAL REMAINS STOP"
1920: Fourth Morse message: "ODD METAL SCULPTURE IN CENTER OF CAVERN STOP FOUR METERS HIGH STOP"
1921: Fifth Morse message: "RUN"
1921.45: Staffers at entrance note unusual rumbling emanating in increasing volume from the mine entrance.
1921.50: Halogen lamps at mine entrance flicker and go out. Video feed monitored at nearby facility halts on a frozen frame and stops. Monitoring staff within the facility switch their feed to the building cameras and train them on the mine entrance, which is 200 meters to the southwest.
1922.10: Researchers at entrance begin a retreat to the facility. Task force members remain. Ground is shaking at 4.7 on the Richter scale.
1922.17: A large black cloud violently emerges from the mouth of the mine. Task force members at entrance begin retreat to the facility. Size of cloud rapidly increases.
1923.36: MFT members at entrance can no longer be seen or heard. Black cloud continues to expand and appears to start moving towards the facility.
1923.42: Facility electrical system fluctuates, but earthquake has subsided. The forest is silent. Black cloud encroaches on facility.
1925.04: Staffer who was at mine entrance bursts through the front door of the facility, shouting incomprehensibly. No other personnel are visible outside. Power in facility goes out. Emergency power switches on. (Reports on the incident from this point forward are extracted from eye-witness accounts, and timestamps are estimations only).
1925: Emergency power goes out.
1926: Front entrance is ajar. Black cloud seeps into building.
1927-2015: [DATA EXPUNGED]
2020: Black cloud recedes into mine.
Notes: Investigators determined that 5 SCP personnel were killed in this incident, 14 injured, and 2 unaccounted for and assumed KIA. Victims died of spontaneous heart failure. The expedition team, however, was physically unharmed and eventually emerged the following morning, claiming no knowledge of a statue or anything that occurred between 1850 the previous evening and when they returned to the facility. SCP administration determined that no further interaction with SCP-XXX would be allowed until further notice.
The disposition of the researcher who led the expedition gradually deteriorated, and his employment has been terminated. He was eventually arrested for armed robbery and is serving 5-10 years at the ██████ State Correctional Facility. He shows no interest in previous professional interests or social interactions. Furthermore, his capacity for scientific concepts has degraded and he can no longer recall processes and formulas used as an employee of the Foundation.
Administrative review of the incident concluded that SCP-XXX did not exhibit a clear and present danger as long as no one interacted with it, so the mine entrance has not been permanently closed, and the possibility remains that the mine could be used in the future for SCP experimentation.
The photos taken during XXX-E004 were developed and produced images, including that of a tall metal sculpture. The sculpture depicts a six-limbed female humanoid armed with bladed weapons and leaning down towards the photographer. The metal may be copper or bronze. In either case, age has not oxidized the construction (it is not likely that the object was placed there recently). The photos and the negatives are collectively designated SCP-XXX-1. These materials are located at Sector-██. A Level 4 security clearance is required for viewing and must be cleared beforehand by Sector-██'s Head of Research. These items may not leave their containment room, and the images may not be reproduced, transmitted, or recorded. A level 3 guard must accompany anyone who views the images, and immediate psychiatric screening is required afterward.