SCP-6260
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SCP-6260
Article (6th second)

Item #: SCP-6260

Object Class: Safe Neutralized

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-6260 must be kept on a pedestal 4.5 metres high in the center of storage space 9-E at Site 7. The storage space above (8-E) is currently being cleared of its contents and is considered to be part of SCP-6260's containment area. Other objects may be kept in the aforementioned area with Research Curator approval, with the exclusion of any data storage devices, including magnetic, digital, physical, biological (cellular material, brain tissue and other objects containing information encoded on a molecular level). This restriction does not apply during experimentation. Storage space 9-E has been retooled into a cinema hall for the purpose of testing.

No personnel are allowed within a 4.5 metre radius of SCP-6260, with operation involving the object taking place with mechanical equipment free of electronic computation devices (such as hydraulic manipulators). All personnel are allowed to examine the motion-picture, provided they maintain notes or video recordings of everything on screen past the 218 second mark.

Description: SCP-6260 is a metallic film reel case with 16-mm celluloid and optical soundtrack inside. The object bears a sticker note reading "Experiment recordings. Site 44. #153. 1974. For internal use. Safe for display" in English. This information is redoubled in Russian on the opposite side of the case, along with all the inventory data. The tape is 1800 metres long. Manual frame-by-frame analysis of SCP-6260 without use of a projector has determined that the projected image corresponds to that on the reel up to frame 5241 (218 seconds in), but what follows after is random footage, unique to every showing of SCP-6260. All attempts to reproduce the film or extract separate frames have failed.

The main anomalous effect of the object (referred to as SCP-6260-A) is that prolonged storage of any form of data - audio, video, static imagery, text, or biological information - in proximity of the object causes degradation of said data. The effect presents itself in the form of soundtrack corruption, disappearance of objects or whole frames from video footage (digital or film-recorded), deformation of images on paper (up until complete unrecognizability), disappearance or distortion of text. This influence results in irreversible retrograde amnesia and dysfunction of biological processes on human beings due to mutation of DNA and RNA. Prolonged human presence within 4.5 metres of SCP-6260 results in the following consequences (averaged and dependent on distance from SCP-6260 and degree of continuity):

1) Long-term memory failure during the first 2 hours of contact, progressing and irreversible retrograde amnesia during the first 5 hours of contact, irreversible loss of higher skills and aptitudes after 12 hours of contact, complete degradation of base cognitive processes after 50-60 hours of contact;

2) Extremely weak DNA mutations (replication failure) during the first 10 hours of contact. Considerable destructive biological processes in test subjects' organisms, coupled with acute apoptosis of actively proliferating cells from 10 to 55 hours of contact. Breaking contact at this stage consequently causes formation and development of malignant neoplasms. Catastrophic degenerative changes on cellular and generic levels will occur, with DNA sequence destruction, total cell death of hepatobiliary and blood-vasculary systems, as well as cell apoptosis of the central neural system following after. Subjects will expire after 70 to 80 hours from time of contact.

SCP-6260-A appears to be highly related to the effect known as SCP-6260-B, which is the appearance of some data lost to the effect of the anomaly in SCP-6260 as played within a film projector, suggesting a kind of "absorption" of said data by the object. Past 218 seconds in, the movie contains fragments of information destroyed as a result of the object's influence. Examination of various versions of the movie has yielded several distinct characteristics:

  • All versions of the movie are monochrome;
  • The presence of a background audio scale unique to each viewing of the movie and conveying feelings described as "oppressive", "tedious", "cacophonic". Many viewers noted a distinct pervasiveness of the sounds, reporting being unable to mentally distance themselves from them.
  • The presence of "men in white coats", SCP-6260-N (not including the persons within the fragment up to 218 seconds in) as central actors in the movie's storyline. These persons will move around the scene without using normal limb movement. Their legs will always be pressed together, and no visible use of muscles has been observed. Their arms remain static while the person moves (pressed close to the body or held in the position they assumed before initiating movement). The subjects move in short, barely observable shifts, "vibrating" slightly, which cannot be written off as artefacts of otherwise smooth and stable playback. Likewise, the subjects do not use their necks to turn their heads, instead turning the whole body in place as needed, without vibration or shifts. No blinking or movement of pupils has been observed. In a number of cases, SCP-6260-N's uniform bears heraldry of the Foundation.

SCP-6260 was located within the archives of Site 7. The Foundation's practitioners were assigned to the film libraries for the purpose of viewing archived movies for planned inventory inspection and acquisition of knowledge. On 31.08.2018, archivist E. Povishev proceeded with the showing of films from the "International archives" section, containing declassified materials transferred around 1990s by foreign colleagues during formation of the Russian branch of the SCP Foundation. During the viewing, racks of seemingly light-struck film have been found; SCP-6260 was located among them.

The relations between "SCP objects" demonstrated in the movie and the real ones [REDACTED]. However, a number of portions of the movie contains noticeable references to the existing objects numbered ███, ███, ███, ████, ████, ████, ████, as well as objects, documentation of which was held in the damaged section of the Site 7 archives (see report 6260-18-9-AA for full list). Full analysis of archived data loss is currently in progress.

The relations between storylines demonstrated in the movie and memories lost by employees under the effect of the object are currently being ascertained.

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