SCP-2969

SCP-2969 during initial containment.

Item #: SCP-2969

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-2969 is held within a sealed humanoid containment chamber, located within Site-77's sub-basement levels. No subjects should come within 800 meters of SCP-2969's containment chamber. The chamber is monitored at all times with remote surveillance. A radio link exists between the chamber and the perimeter. There is no lighting within the containment chamber, and SCP-2969 should be blindfolded at all times.

Once per day, a staff member should read SCP-2969 a literary passage describing a murder, via the radio. This genre has been determined to be the most effective out of all tested. There is to be a minimum of repetitious vocabulary between stories.

In the event of a containment breach, these stories will be read over the site PA system. This genre and methodology have been selected to ensure SCP-2969's voluntary cooperation with site personnel. A complete record of all stories read to SCP-2969 has been stored in Site-77's non-anomalous documentation wing. In the event that SCP-2969 exits containment, these records will be automatically sealed to prevent SCP-2969 from accessing them. Currently, all hard copies of SCP-2969's stories are being transcribed to an online database, for ease of use.

Description: SCP-2969 is a monochromatic male humanoid. It does not eat or sleep, and spends the majority of its time in containment sitting in the center of its containment chamber. SCP-2969 is capable of speaking American English, but does not normally communicate with personnel.

When SCP-2969 comprehends language, whether by reading it or by being read to, it becomes impossible for any human within a limited range around SCP-2969 to use the vocabulary it comprehended. Affected subjects use similes, improper grammar, and copious usage of hand motions to communicate, if communication is still possible. The SCP-2969 effect lasts for approximately 70 hours, and affect an approximate radius of 650-750 meters.

When reading affected language, subjects always become immediately distracted before they can read, or simply display apathy towards the writing. If questioned, subjects claim to want to read, but being unable to.

The effect appears to be based on SCP-2969's memory of the language, with longer written passages occasionally not being affected at the end due to SCP-2969 losing interest. As SCP-2969 continues to repeatedly comprehend the same language, its area of effect increases. It is hypothesized that if SCP-2969 were allowed to memorize a passage, the effect would become permanent with a larger affected area. For more information, see Recovery.

Recovery: SCP-2969 was discovered on 10/19/1989, after internal anomaly auditors noted that Site-77 was being affected by a linguistic anomaly. Foundation personnel were able to determine the source, a small trailer home in [REDACTED]. After searching the home, SCP-2969 was discovered living underneath the resident's bed.

The resident, a legally-blind 91-year-old retired nurse, had been an avid reader previously, but had her collection of books taken away by her family due to her condition. SCP-2969 manifested sometime after this event. During cleanup operations, agents noted a dictionary located within the premises. It was mostly destroyed due to age, but several undamaged pages were noted to be anomalously unreadable.

As of 01/03/1990, SCP-2969 has been classified as Euclid.

Addendum 2-0: Texts that are reproduced entirely by hand do not cause SCP-2969 to affect the originals, if the writing that was originally produced more than 50 years before being re-typed. All copies of the reproduction will be affected by SCP-2969. The cause of this is currently unknown.

Update 2-1

SCP-2969 responded when personnel questioned it about the observed anomaly in its effect. This interview was recorded on 09/17/2002, and is the first known direct communication between SCP-2969 and Foundation personnel.