| Item#030: Grotesque Emission | |||
| Size | 46,5cmx26,15cm | Type | Mechanic |
| Living | No | Sentient __ | Yes |
| Hazards | Memetic Hazard | Gear | Standard equipment. Personnel must wear visual distortion glasses to reduce the risk of infection. |
| Location | Anomalous Weapons Warehouse, Base-7 | Anomaly__ | Cognito-Hazard |
| The Article after being delivered to Base-7. |
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Usage
The Item is contained in a standard containment chamber with a numerical access code that will be changed weekly. It requires no maintenance other than a monthly check and cleaning. The Item must be connected to a power source twenty-four (24) hours a day at all times. The anomaly will be displayed through the use of the Memetic Shock Dispenser1 which will direct the flow of information containing the Mask-Sigma Entity to infest devices, televisions and other types of visual communication media of enemy forces or during missions that require the neutralization of a certain civilian population.
Report
The Item is an old 21-inch standard television of the brand ███████. The Item shows the same similarities with the same non-anomalous products, differing only by having a face with two crossed out lines and a sad mouth drawn in black marker in the middle of its screen. When connected to a power source through the plug that it comes with, the screen will only show static. However, any electrical device that has a screen or visual medium2 will display a news channel-like backdrop. Devices that are not in operation will turn on regardless of whether they are plugged in or not. Changing the TV dial does not seem to affect the Item or its effects.
About ten (10) to fifteen (15) seconds later a subject, hereafter referred to as the Mask-Sigma Entity, will appear on screen, introducing himself as the "Host" of the program. Testimonies from those who have seen him before expiring have confirmed that the entity manifests itself in different ways depending on who is viewing it, with the ability to appear in two or more ways at once despite being viewed by more than one person at a time. Test subjects who have seen the Host with Perception Filters, who are not immune to the side effect, have said before passing away that the subject appears to them as "a man in a suit wearing a smiling white mask" (See Experimentation section below). Attempts to photograph or record the entity only show a vaguely recognizable silhouette covered in static.
| Image taken of the Mask-Sigma Entity in the form of a news reporter. |
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The main anomalous effect of the Item occurs when viewed by a sapient human; the person needs to see the screen for it to occur and just hearing the sound of it will not trigger the anomalous effect. Once the subject or subjects see the Host on the screen, they will be affected by a memetic agent that will force them to pay attention to the Item even in life-or-death circumstances, paying no attention to the people around them even if they stand between them and the Item. The Item will then play a show or movie corresponding to the viewer's tastes with the Host as the protagonist, usually being a favorite piece of media of the subject.
No movie or television show played by the Item repeats or is similar to one previously played, even when two subjects are shown who have the same movie as their favorite, always putting one with their second favorite.
The Host will then, in a chosen form, repeat a phrase containing an as yet unidentified fatal memetic agent. Subjects who hear it will lose all higher brain and cognitive functions. Autopsies on the subjects' bodies show that their limbic system, hypothalamus and amygdala have been atrophied and much of the grey matter has been supplanted with [DATA EXPUNGED] in the form of a black liquid. Affected subjects enter a state of primitive euphoria that strips them of all initiative for self-preservation, with 40% becoming uncontrollably enraged to the point of murdering anyone around them and 60% bleeding from their eye sockets and tearing off pieces of their body and then painting their blood with various deadly memetic agents.
The Item it will continue to repeat the phrase will continue to repeat the same scene in a loop indefinitely until two things happen: Either all exposed subjects are eliminated or the Mask-Sigma transmission is isolated to the Item. Apparently with each manifestation the memetic phrase changes as well as its effect on the subject's behavior but with the same goal of causing the subject to murder, self-mutilate and spread the infection.
Appendix 1: Discovery
The Item was first discovered in North Dakota, United States in 2019 after the Foundation's Site-██ was breached by double Insurgent agents as part of an information recovery mission. The breach caused an anomaly designated SCP-████ of a congenitally hazardous nature to affect the town's population. The Insurgency was unable to obtain the anomaly due to its memetic nature which they were unprepared for and it was eventually contained by the Foundation along with the sole survivor of the event.
In January 2021 one of the Cell Directors discovered an artifact in the Parishioner's Catalog3 which described an artifact containing an entity similar to the one found in 2019 and after a discussion with several members of the High Command it was finally decided, with authorization from the Delta Command, to acquire the anomaly from the GoI.
Appendix 2: Experimentation
Below is a list of relevant experiments in which various test subjects were exposed to the article with varying results. Due to the effects of the article much of the information was obtained from the test subjects' testimony during the time window between activation of the article and manifestation of its primary anomaly. Subjects speak through an Anti-Memetic Filter so that the cognitohazard is negated. Memetic agents have been partially censored to prevent activation.
| Experiment | Manifestation | Phrase | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Test 1 | The entity appears as an attractive blonde woman, with her hair and makeup done in a 1960s style albeit with a neckline "too scandalous for the time." She approaches the test subject and begins to talk to him in a flattering manner in an attempt to get his attention. | "Let me open you up like you would open my █████ ████████ always…" | The subject screams as he grabs his head and proceeds to tear off pieces of skin from his face until it is raw. He then begins to ram the door of the chamber until he is finished by a remote gunshot. |
| Test 2 | The entity appears as a man in a suit with a top hat and monocle, but with an exaggeratedly sized grin. He tells the subject about a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity while showing him the pleasures of a wealthy man in the 16th century. | "Break the shell, break the barrier █████ ███ ████ devour everything and everyone." | The subject trembles aggressively and bleeds from all orifices, especially the eyes. He bites the skin and muscles of his fingers with his teeth until he exposes bone, then uses his hands to bang on the chamber door. He is finished by a remote gunshot. |
| Test 4 | The entity appears as the clown Pagliacci singing an opera. The subject describes seeing the entity's face as "very painful." The entity then looks at the subject and laughs non-stop until the end of time but not before saying two words. | "████, darling." | The test subject repeats the word while crying tears of blood. He then approaches the south wall of the chamber and rips out his tongue with one hand. With the blood collected on his fingers he begins to write several murderous memetic glyphs. He is finished by a gunshot from a distance, but continues to repeat the phrase for two minutes after being shot. |
| Test 74 | Subject describes the Entity as a suited subject with a white mask, with only two holes for eyes and a black painted smile. This image contradicts the vague static-filled image of a sports commentator seen through the camera's video feed. | N/A | Subject suddenly falls silent and states that the Mask-Sigma Entity has stopped talking and is now staring at him. Subject is silent for a few seconds before opening his mouth and saying "Mother?" At this point the test subject's eyes explode from the inside out in a torrent of blood, killing him instantly. |
Testing has been suspended until further notice. Investigations to find out if there is a connection between the Mask-Sigma Entity and others similar anomalies captured by the Foundation are ongoing. Dr. ████ has proposed the possibility that Mask-Sigma is part of a species of memetic information-based beings that manifest exclusively through communication media, but this theory has yet to be proven.
Update: Incident 1
On ██/01/2021, during a routine transfer during the rotation of Items in the Anomalous Weapons Warehouse, the Item turned on without any power source moments after being placed in its new chamber. The staff immediately left the room and closed the chamber. The video surveillance showed that the Item was displaying on its screen a show inside a circus tent for about two (2) minutes. Several members of the staff present, including doctors, recognized the subject of Test 7. He was wearing poorly painted clown makeup, screaming and crying while tied to a pole in the middle of a podium. Just as it was lit by a torch, the Item went out. This is the first time that a demonstration has been seen without any problem through a surveillance camera, which implies that the Mask-Sigma Entity wanted it to be seen.
Update: Incident 2
On ██/03/2021, one of the guards on duty guarding the entrance to the Anomalous Weapons Warehouse notified the guard in charge of the surveillance cameras that there was a dull whispering noise coming from the Item's containment chamber. The security camera inside the room showed a static silhouette in the shape of a man "blinking" and undulating as he stood in the center of the room, moving his mouth, although unable to hear what he was saying. The manifestation lasted three (3) minutes and twenty (20) seconds before disappearing.
Original: Emisión Grotesca
Date: 19 Mar 2021
Author: Yorick1
Translator: Yorick1