SCP-3138

Vaughn L. Kaminski; recovered from a 1921 edition of Great Expectations.

Item #: SCP-3138

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Foundation personnel embedded in literary and academic circles are to be briefed on SCP-3138; they are to report any fictional work discovered to deviate from its canonical number of human corpses.

A Foundation-operated bot (I/O-MANDELA) is to monitor websites and online communities centered on discussions of printed media; discussions regarding books that describe more human corpses than previously expected are to be flagged for review.

Upon discovery, any printed work of fiction suspected of being affected by SCP-3138 is to be recovered and reviewed by MTF Rho-1 ("The Professors"). Should it prove feasible, all non-canonical corpses are to be extracted, examined, and catalogued. Otherwise, affected works are to be kept on-site in a secure locker. Access is restricted to Level-4 personnel.

Description: SCP-3138 is a phenomenon involving the insertion of human corpses into a printed work of published fiction. The work must convey a narrative capable of recognizably describing the presence of a human corpse.

Inserted corpses will be depicted in a manner suited to the work; for example, a corpse inserted into a poem relying upon a particular rhyming scheme will be described via this rhyme scheme. Extraction of inserted corpses can be accomplished by destroying the work or editing it to remove the depiction of a corpse. Should this occur, all erased corpses will immediately emerge from the text in question. Notably, corpses that emerge during these events are non-anomalous, and show signs of decay reminiscent of extended submersion in an acidic environment.

The method by which SCP-3138 is accomplished has yet to be determined.

Addendum 3138.1: Recovery Logs

► ACCESS SCP:/3138/recovery/102.log ▼ Close File RECOVERY LOG DISCOVERY DATE: 16/03/1942

SUBJECT: A 1921 paperback edition of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. GREAT EXPECTATIONS ‘Bless your soul and body, no,’ answered Wemmick,

very drily. ‘But he is accused of it. So might you or I be.

Either of us might be accused of it, you know.’

‘Only neither of us is,’ I remarked.

‘Yah!’ said Wemmick, touching me on the breast with

his forefinger; ‘you’re a deep one, Mr. Pip! Would you like to

have a look at Newgate? Have you time to spare?’

I had so much time to spare, that the proposal came as

a relief, notwithstanding its irreconcilability with my latent

desire to keep my eye on the coach-office. Muttering that I

would make the inquiry whether I had time to walk with him, I

went into the office, and ascertained from the clerk with the

nicest precision and much to the trying of his temper, the

earliest moment at which the coach could be expected - which I

knew beforehand, quite as well as he. I then rejoined Mr.

Wemmick, and affecting to consult my watch and to be surprised

by the information I had received, accepted his offer.

We were at Newgate in a few minutes, and we passed

through the lodge where three smartly dressed corpses were hung

hung up on the bare walls, their attire dark and unusual.

Though shocked by the barbarity of the sight, Mr. Wemmick

shushed me and urged me forward, silencing my confusion with a

gesture to his lips. Now, at that time, jails were much

neglected, and the period of exaggerated reaction consequent

on all public wrong-doing - and which is always its heaviest

461 NOTE: Of the three recovered corpses, only one could be positively identified: Vaughn L. Kaminski, an accountant with known ties to Henry Earl J. Wojciechowski . An autopsy concluded that all three corpses died as a result of pulmonary aspiration.

► ACCESS SCP:/3138/recovery/297.log ▼ Close File RECOVERY LOG DISCOVERY DATE: 06/11/1957

SUBJECT: A 1925 edition of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. through the amorphous trees. The chauffeur — he was one of Wolfsheim’s

proteges — heard the shots — afterward he could

only say that he hadn’t thought anything much

about them. I drove from the station directly to

Gatsby’s house and my rushing anxiously up the

front steps was the first thing that alarmed any

one. But they knew then, I firmly believe. With

scarcely a word said, four of us, the chauffeur,

butler, gardener, and I, hurried down to the pool. There was a faint, barely perceptible movement of

the water as the fresh flow from one end urged

its way toward the drain at the other with little

ripples that were hardly the shadows of waves, the

laden mattress moved irregularly down the pool. A

small gust of wind that scarcely corrugated the

surface was enough to disturb its accidental course

with its accidental burden. The touch of a cluster

of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing, like the leg

of compass, a thin red circle in the water. It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house

that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off

in the grass — and alongside it, seven more. The

holocaust was complete. 187 NOTE: Of the six recovered corpses, only four could be positively identified. All were known associates of Alphonse Gabriel Capone . An autopsy concluded that all six corpses died as a result of pulmonary aspiration.