SCP-1792
rating: +58+x

Item #: SCP-1792

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: All instances of SCP-1792 in physical media are to be kept in a locked room, away from human contact. Recordings of SCP-1792 are not to be played, and devices it has been played on are to remain disconnected from power sources and display devices. Images produced by SCP-1792 are to be covered at all times; visual contact, direct or indirect, is prohibited.

Individuals suspected to have viewed SCP-1792 are to be contained, for their safety and the safety of others. They are not to be allowed any objects with which they may injure themselves or others, and may only communicate with Class D personnel verbally; visual and digital modes of communication are expressly forbidden. Those infected by SCP-1792 are also to be monitored closely at all times, and are to be stopped if they begin to inflict self-harm or other suspicious activity. Recording of the subjects is prohibited.

Everything related to SCP-1792, living or not, is to be stored in facilities without any SCP specimens demonstrating telepathic abilities, to prevent possible contamination. Any facility containing an instance of SCP-1792 is considered unsafe for such entities, and suspected instances of SCP-1792 are not to be brought to any facility with such subjects already present.

Description: SCP-1792 appears to be a fragment of video footage with mind-affecting properties; none who view it are able to coherently describe what they saw, and many begin exhibiting strange behavior after exposure. Reactions to viewings of SCP-1792 have varied immensely. Strong emotional responses are not uncommon; many appear to be perturbed or distraught by what they saw, and fearfulness, frustration, contentment, hysteria, giddiness, and severe melancholia, among other reactions, have all been seen in those exposed to SCP-1792s.

Not all exposed to SCP-1792 exhibit intense reactions; many give little or no response to it, replying in vague, noncommittal answers when questioned. More than one subject has viewed SCP-1792 and later expressed no recollection of it at all; polygraph tests confirmed their conviction in this statement. Researchers were able to confirm that these individuals did in fact view SCP-1792, however. No cause for the widely-varying responses has been discovered as of this time.

SCP-1792's other notable quality is its self-propagation. When a tape or disc containing SCP-1792 is inserted into a device to play the contents, it infects the device; all future media played on the device will have SCP-1792 recorded onto them, playing it back instead of their original contents. These copies also display the infectious behavior; testing so far has not discovered a limit to its self-propagation, with all generations producing media containing SCP-1792.

The exact extent to which this contagious behavior extends is unknown; display devices such as televisions used to play SCP-1792 do not carry the infection, but a device has SCP-1792 inserted then ejected from without playing will still be contaminated, implying immediate spread upon contact. Experiments confirm that SCP-1792 can spread outside of its original medium; the number of vectors that SCP-1792 can be transmitted by is unknown.

There is no widespread consensus on SCP-1792's origin or purpose at this time; one hypothesis is that SCP-1792 exists mainly to propagate itself, like a virus, with its effects on viewers an unintended side-effect. Others contest this, claiming that the universal inability to describe SCP-1792's content and that it affects so many viewers at all signify some reason for these effects.

Addendum: From the notes of Dr. █████: "SCP-1792 is far more dangerous than previously believed. Despite its Safe class, it is not fully-contained, and must be treated as an active threat. With the number of potential carriers out there, as well as the quantity of possible vectors of transmission being far greater than previously believed, the damage SCP-1792 can potentially inflict is enormous, and its containment is a top priority.

"My request that cross-experimentation with other SCP's be forbidden, without exception, has been approved. Contamination by SCP-1792, especially in an SCP capable of transmitting it remotely, represents a threat that simply cannot be risked.

"Even more importantly, SCP-1792 must be kept off of mediums such as the Internet; even before it was fully understood, it was apparent that many people would be hurt if it were to somehow get online. With what we know now, that would be among the least it could potentially do."

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