SCP-366-DE

• 

  close

  Info

  ---

  X

  Article: SCP-366-DE The Gingerbread Golem from Nuremberg
  Original: May be found here
  Author: Gramlin
  Translator: Karpfisch

  ---

Item #: SCP-366-DE

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-366-DE is stored within a password-protected security locker at Site-DE21. Access to the documents is only authorized for the purposes of testing and to personnel of level 4 or higher. Its usage requires native or at least very good knowledge of the Hebrew language as well as a fundamental understanding of ritualistic thaumaturgy.

The creation of SCP-366-DE-A instances for test purposes is only permitted with approval by the head researcher and written description of the tests conducted. The subjects created in the process may not leave the testing area and must be terminated using large quantities of water or other liquids, or by destroying the inscription at the forehead via brute force.

Description: SCP-366-DE designates a sheet of checkered paper in DIN-A-4 format that was written on on both sides in Hebrew script using a pencil. An image of a vaguely humanoid figure as well as an illustration of a ritual circle are situated next to the written part.

SCP-366-DE is an instruction manual for the creation of SCP-366-DE-A, which, among the object, requires the following objects¹:

• At least four physically strong persons to shape the figure as well as a fifth to recite the required formula²³
• Chalk for creating the circle
• A torah
• Flour
• Honey
• Butter
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Baking soda
• Various mixed seasonings like nutmeg, cinnabar, anise, ginger, cloves and allspice
• Large quantities of icing or liquid meringue, as well as nuts and other decorative materials for shaping a face and the forehead seal⁴
• Hebrew notes for the orders.

During the ritual for creating SCP-366-DE-A, the persons must knead a dough from the ingredients, which they then shape into a tall, humanoid figure and place within a ritual circle drawn on the floor. The fifth person subsequently begins to recite the formula written on SCP-366-DE, while the remaining four ritualistically dance seven times clockwise around the figure in the style of the Hora⁵. If the ritual is conducted correctly, the dough figure will start to get hot, steam and turn into a gingerbread figure. Once the figure has been "baked" completely, the fifth person will add a face and other decorations using icing, meringue, nuts and other typical gingerbread embellishments, with the last step being to write the Hebrew words for "truth"⁶ on the forehead. Afterwards, all persons help to stand the gingerbread man upright, who is designated as SCP-366-DE-A.

SCP-366-DE-A are tall, vaguely humanoid figures resembling oversized gingerbread men. Instances of SCP-366-DE-A can reach sizes of 2.10 to 3 m and a weight of 200 – 400 kg, depending on the quantity of used ingredients. Their appearance mirrors the one they had in their raw state. According to the original concepts, SCP-366-DE-A feature a massive body without a neck and short, thick legs lacking knees, but with elongated arms extending to the calf area, without nose, ears, hair or clothing⁷. Despite the fact that they consist completely of gingerbread dough, they are capable of human-like locomotion, albeit with limited speed⁸, and are unable to run, jump, climb or perform similar movements due to their weight⁹. They possess unlimited stamina and require neither nutrients nor sleep or other vital functions, making them perfect working creatures.

SCP-366-DE-A display neither high intelligence, nor free will, language, or other means of direct communication. They follow the orders given to them by their creators in the form of Hebrew instruction slips. To achieve this, the creator places the slip in the mouth of the subject, who absorbs it. SCP-366-DE-A will execute the order given as far as possible. Orders may include, among others, obtaining items, lifting objects¹⁰, guarding places or objects or terminating targets, which is carried out by brute force in the form of striking with their arms. They will execute the given instructions until the latter is either fulfilled or they are destroyed, while also showing a tendency to remove objects from their path by force. These tasks can also involve actions SCP-366 can either not perform or could lead to its own destruction, where the subject will attempt to follow the task as good as possible, even when no objective for completing the task was stated beforehand¹¹.

SCP-366-DE-A feel no pain and are exceedingly robust in spite of the material they consist of, making them able to withstand even strong punches via a sledge- or jackhammer completely unharmed and can even resist simple firing weapons. The usage of explosive weapons or extremely strong physical force can destroy the entities, but other methods of termination were found to be more efficient.

The simplest method is the utilization of large water volumes or other liquids, causing the dough body to soften and loose its body shape. Another method is the order of the creator to self-destruct, which leads to the instance breaking apart. The third method is the removal of the first letter from the three at the object's forehead, so that only the Hebrew word for "death" remains¹². If this is the case, the instance will remain motionless and is neutralized¹³ Tests revealed that the object falls into a kind of frenzy when the wrong letter is removed, causing it to ambush everything in its vicinity and even ignore the orders of its creator in the process.

The gingerbread dough SCP-366-DE-A instances consist of is consumable after the object's removal and shows no anomalous or hazardous properties. Those who have eaten it, however, report that the dough was very dry and hard in some parts and that they have eaten better.

Discovery: The Foundation initially became aware of SCP-366-DE-A at the 23.12.2023, when police department in Nuremberg received a distress call about a "giant rampaging angry cookie man". At first, this was dismissed as a joke, but multiple calls reporting similar events were received a few minutes later. Agents arriving at the afflicted location discovered a 2.40 m tall SCP-366-DE-A instance chasing a woman in business attire, with the instance knocking over cars, tearing down walls, damaging historical structures and striking away persons in its path using its fists, sending them flying in a high arc and severely injuring them upon impact. After informing the nearest site and requesting backup, the agents subsequently opened fire on the object, which, however, ignored the bullets and lead the woman into a dead end where it terminated her via brute force.

An older man had followed the subject, repeatedly yelling towards it to stop, but it only stood still once its target had been battered beyond recognition. He subsequently placed a note inside the instance's mouth, causing it to disintegrate into crumbs. The man then surrendered to the agents without resistance.

The man was Mister ██████████, a 75 year old Jewish baker who has been running a traditional bakery in Nuremberg's Old Town since he was 20 years old and produces gingerbread for Christmas, among other things. He is considered the creator of SCP-366-DE, which he used to create SCP-366-DE-A for physically demanding tasks within his bakery.

The woman struck dead by SCP-366-DE-A was Miss █████, the new landlady of the bakery who wanted to close it for financial reasons, which prompted Mister ██████████ to use SCP-366-DE-A in order to "get rid" of her, but the instance led to the lady's termination.

Mister ██████████ was subsequently taken into custody by the agents. They could seize SCP-366-DE as well as other occult objects inside the bakery.

The witnesses were given amnestics and the events disguised as an accident during an unsuccessful Christmas advertising campaign.

Test Log SCP-366-DE-A

Several SCP-366-DE-A were created via SCP-366-DE for test purposes who were given commands via notes in Hebrew. The experiment was to ascertain and test the intelligence of SCP-366 instances and whether they could be utilized during operations. All subjects were terminated at the test's conclusion.

Order: "Run in circles!"

Result: The subject walked in circles continually without showing signs of fatigue or weakness. The experiment was discontinued after a week.

Order: "Fill the basin with water!"¹⁴.

Result: The subject took the assigned buckets, filled them with water from the near faucet and tipped the water into the basin, where the water immediately drained away again. The subjected continued this without interruption, before the experiment was terminated after three days.

Order: "Eat yourself!"

Result: The subject repeatedly pressed its arm into its face, while the icing mouth moved as if it wanted to eat itself. The subject carried this out until it pressed its fist so firmly against its face that the head broke of its body. The body then fell to the ground while the head continued to move its mouth.

Order: "Bring food!"¹⁵

Result: The subject seemed to notice neither the casserole nor the fast food, stepped past them and broke through the exterior wall. Shortly after the containment alarm was triggered, it returned with a Tupperware container of spaghetti a coincidentally passing employee had warmed up, before being attacked by the subject and dropping the food. The subject handed the spaghetti to the person giving the order.

Addendum: "For creatures that can't eat, they do appear to have an idea of what's edible." – Dr. Lebharth

Order: "Speak!"

Result: The icing mouth of the subject moved, but no words came out.

Order: "Fly!"

Result: The subject began flapping its arms while being incapable of jumping. These attempts were made by the subject until its termination through water.

Order: "Bake!"¹⁶

Result: The subject began forming a dough with the available materials, which it shaped into a form reminiscent of a coarse gingerbread man. It placed it in the oven. The finished cake figure showed no anomalous properties. A taste test concluded that the figure's quality was only below average.

Order: "Bake a Black Forest gateau!"

Result: The subject showed no reaction. It is assumed the subject did not know what a Black Forest gateau is.

Order: "Eradicate the golem!"¹⁷

Result: Both subjects immediately went at and punched each other with their fists. The battle took 10 minutes before only the subjects' heads remained, which continued to attack each other until both subjects lost the inscriptions at their foreheads and were thus deactivated.

Order: "Bring D-7891!"¹⁸.

Result: The subject pursued the employee through the area, while breaking through obstacles that the employee jumped or climbed over. Even though the subject was not fast, it displayed unlimited stamina the employee lacked. Ultimately, the subject managed to push the exhausted employee into a corner and fracture several rib bones and parts of the backbone through one powerful punch, which rendered the employee immobile. The incapacitated employee was lifted by the subject and transported to the ordering party.

Order: "Destroy yourself!"

Result: The entity toppled over and crumbled completely into gingerbread crumbs.

Order: "Ignore the order!"

Result: The entity began to shake, before attacking and consequently killing the ordering party. It was terminated via the sprinkler system shortly thereafter.

Interview Log SCP-366-DE 

Date: 27.12.2023

Interviewed: Herr ██████████

Interviewer: Dr. Abelsohn

Foreword: The interview was conducted within Site-DE21 at the 27.12.2023, where Mr. ██████████ was housed. Tests had confirmed the anomalous properties of SCP-366-DE at that time.

< Begin log >

Abelsohn: Good day, Mr. ██████████.

██████████: Shalom, my friend. I hope that my stay here won't take any longer. I wanted to be with my family at Hanukkah and my bakery is still closed.

Abelsohn: Everything at the proper time, Mr ██████████. I can assure you that your family is doing well. For now, I have a few questions, hoping you could answer them for us.

██████████: Well, I guess I have no choice. And I don't want to go to jail.

Abelsohn: Don't worry, if you cooperate and answer all questions, there will be no juristic repercussions for you. So, I guess we'll just start with the question of what kind of creature you had created.

██████████: You mean the gingerbread golem?

Abelsohn: Gingerbread golem? Excuse me in case I flustered, but aren't golems usually made of clay?

██████████: You mean the golem from Prague? Yeah, that's right. Created through the four elements, molded from clay like Adam once and breathed into life by God's word. But this golem was formed from gingerbread dough like all before him.

Abelsohn: There were others?

██████████: Oh, sure. I was in need of active help at Christmas time in recent years.

Abelsohn: Could you elaborate on that?

██████████: Do you know, the last years have been more than tough. Everything used to be better back then. You always found trainees who wanted to work for a great baker. But the numbers have been dwindling in recent years and then there was no one. Only the youngest of my four sons wants to take over my bakery later. Plus all these baking shops that cheaply produce the cheapest baking garbage in masses. And everything just became more expensive: Rent, ingredients, electricity, gas… I only have my good but plain bakery where I baked bread and bun like my father and my grandfather before me. Not this technological hoo-ha. And then Corona came…

Abelsohn: I see, you had cost-related issues. But why the golems? And how do you even know how to create them?

██████████: As I said, it wasn't a nice time for me. Barely any staff, rising costs and then the Sabbath¹⁹, when my children can't work, but everyone wants their gingerbread and festive pastries at Christmas. I barely kept up with the orders. So I've done research in that little free time I've got and stumbled upon old Jewish texts. About the golem, a powerful being made from clay that faithfully serves its master and defends the Jews. I thought this would be my solution. So I've continued my research, experimented a little, added to the formula and created my first golem by the end of November 2020, just in time for the Christmas shopping season. My sons helped me creating it. At first, the wanted to prove to me that I talked nonsense, but at the end they looked dumbfounded when the gingerbread golem stood before us. And he was my best employee. Kind of… No, very dumb, but endlessly diligent and enduring. Had hauled flour, fired up the oven, swept the bakery, stirred dough, dragged cake plates… and all of that without breaks, wages or complaints. But sadly…

Abelsohn: Sadly…?

██████████: Sadly, he wasn't just dumb, he also didn't last long. When Christmas came closer, I noticed that he could no longer do so much. The heat within the bakery had made him dry and crumbly. And eventually he just stood around one day. The dough was completely shriveled up and friable. As if he had been baked through after all this time. So I had to create a new golem… And another… And then one more. Every time one failed, another had to take his place. But I could only do it in late autumn or winter. Due to the temperatures… And because I think it's more befitting the times.

Abelsohn: Didn't anyone notice it at some point?

██████████: Come on! The golems were back in the backing room the whole time, where no one could've taken note of them. The trainee, I, and the boys are the only ones who knew of them. And when an inspection or visit was imminent, I only had to order the golems to self-destruct.

Abelsohn: But why did the golem chase after the woman?

██████████: Miss █████? That shiksa! She was the new landlady. For decades, me and the old landlord have communicated and came around pretty well. After his death last year, some newfangled rental company had purchased this building, among others. Such a pompous shiksa who believed to be something better. Just wanted to kick me out, that some bakery shop would come in here. Waved money around to finally have me quit. When she noticed that I had no interest, she tried other methods. Increased rent, turned off gas, water or electricity for days due to "restoration work", erected scaffolding before the shop window, sent exterminators to me… All just to get rid of me.

Abselsohn: And that's when you created…

██████████: No, no, not like that! At least that wasn't the plan. That shiksa just came into my bakery unannounced that day. Probably wanted to tell another one of her lies, such as that the heater wasn't working properly or something like that. She just went into my baking room and saw my golem making gingerbread. The wrong snake screamed like the last witch, asking what kind of "deviltry" this was. Then she took a photo with her smartphone without permission and wanted to use it to get rid of me. I couldn't allow this bitch to transform my bakery into one of those revolting baking shops. So I ordered the golem to destroy her smartphone.

Abelsohn: I assume she wasn't eager to give it to you voluntarily?

██████████: She ran away with it in a panic, that wretched bitch. I wanted to stop the golem, but he just followed her. Destroyed the wall and front of my bakery. Ran through half the neighborhood, before catching up to her. I regret that he did so much damage. But not what he did to that shiksa.

<End log>

Addendum: Following the interview, all documents of the bakery were confiscated. Mr. ██████████, his sons, and the trainees were treated with amnestics. The house the bakery is connected to has since been sold to another landlord via a real estate camouflage company by the Foundation.

Footnotes

1. Not all required objects are stated in this document to prevent an attempted self-creation.

2. The persons must be of orthodox Jewish faith and be able to understand Hebrew.

3. The quantity of baking ingredients must at least match 100 times that of an average gingerbread man (ca. 400 g).

4. It is worth mentioning that all used comestibles must be kosher, meaning in accordance with the Torah commandments.

5. Jewish circle dance that, contrary to the Southeast European dance of the same name, is based on a binary and syncopated rhythm. (2/4 or 4/4).

6. i.e. AMT (transcribed EMETh)

7. Jewelry and other ornaments can be added, but merely serve aesthetic purposes without additional effects.

8. They can reach maximum speeds of 10 km/h, which is a little more than walking speed.

9. They will attempt to circumvent obstacles in their path, walk through them or knock them out of the way.

10. SCP-366-DE-A instances are capable of lifting weights of up to 50 t.

11. In this case, the instance will carry out the task until its termination.

12. i.e. MT (transcribed: METh)

13. However, this method proves difficult in combat, as one should first reach for the head to remove the letter.

14. The basin was connected to the sewage system, which is why filling it was impossible.

15. For experimental purposes, a broccoli casserole from the cafeteria and a bag of fast food from a famous fast food provider were placed within the testing area.

16. Baking ingredients and utensils were made available to the subject.

17. Two SCP-366-DE-A instances were created for this purpose, both receiving the same command.

18. The D-class employee afflicted was lead into the test area and tasked with fleeing from the subject.

19. A rest day spanning from Friday evening to Saturday evening in Judaism, when all work is forbidden.