Item #: SCP-7843
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-7843 is contained within a low-priority storage locker at Site-17. Testing and investigation of the anomaly is ongoing.
Description: SCP-7843 refers to a collection of four musical instruments individually designated SCP-7843-A through -D. SCP-7843 was previously owned by the four members of popular English rock band "Chatwin" in the following manner:
- SCP-7843-A: A 1964 Epiphone Texan FT-79 guitar. Owned by bassist and songwriter Peter McDonald;
- SCP-7843-B: A 1964 Rickenbacker 325 guitar. Owned by rhythm guitarist and songwriter Jack Lincoln;
- SCP-7843-C: A 1965 Ludwig Super Classic drum kit. Owned by drummer Richard Sachs;
- SCP-7843-D: A 1957 Gretsch Duo Jet. Owned by lead guitarist Geoff Henry;
The instruments anomalously produce sound that appears to be the music of famous Chatwin songs. However, personnel listening have uniformly described the music as "not right" and "not how they remember". This has provoked feelings of unease, grief, and nostalgia in the listeners. The volume of this auditory anomaly exponentially increases as the distance between the instruments grows. The instruments are not to be 10 or more meters apart from each other under any circumstances.
Although the instruments are pristine, all attempts to play them have uniformly failed. No matter the talent of the musicians, SCP-7843 only produces a discordant and disharmonious jumble of notes. The outcome usually only vaguely resembles the attempted song.
SCP-7843 was purchased from music memorabilia collector Ezekiel Brandt after Brandt noticed SCP-7843's anomalous properties and made a post about them on an online conspiracy website, bringing it to the attention of the Foundation. Notably, the packaging containing SCP-7843 also contained a typed piece of paper with the following message on it:
MUSIC IS AS ETERNAL AS G-D. PETER 19:651
Addendum 7843-A: Supplemental Information On Chatwin
Chatwin was an extremely influential and popular rock band originally formed in Liverpool in 1960. The band was composed of Peter McDonald, John Lincoln, Richard Sachs, and Geoff Henry. The band began playing at various Liverpool venues before becoming a professional group that had signed onto Strawberry Records, an influential recording studio of the time.
The band had achieved world-wide fame by 1965 and were both commerically and critically acclaimed. Despite this level of success, Chatwin broke up in 1970 primarily due to interpersonal arguments between McDonald and Lincoln. The members stayed musically active and released several individual records. The following is the current state of Chatwin's members:
- McDonald died in 1987 of advanced pancreatic cancer;
- Lincoln died in 1988 following a car crash;
- Sachs died in 1975 of advanced colon cancer;
- Henry dissapeared in 2002;
Addendum 7843-B: Interview 7843-01
Involved Parties:
Date: 20/10/2023
[BEGIN LOG]
[Zarn enters the interview room, holding a bundle of supplies.]
Dubois: Oh good, the necromancer's here. We can start.
Zarn: It's not necromancy. It's Post-Mortem Communications. For G-d's sake.
Dubois: Do you talk to dead people?
Zarn: Well, yes, but we don't reanimate them. So, not necromancy. We're Post-Mortem Communications now.
[Dubois yawns.]
Dubois: Sorry. Let's get this set up.
[Approximately 35 minutes omitted for brevity. The footage consists of Zarn making preparations for a standard seance. When they are finished, the specter of Jack Lincoln appears in one of the empty chairs in the room. They appear to be in their late forties.]
Dubois: Good day, Mr. Lincoln. I was wondering if we could ask you a few questions.
[Lincoln stretches in his chair. He appears to be confused.]
Lincoln: Who are you?
Dubois: We're just a-
[Dubois pauses.]
Dubois: Well, I guess the best way to describe us is that we're a group that investigates weird things and locks them up. Keep the public unaware of them.
Lincoln: So you're pigs. I ain't saying nothing.
[Lincoln attempts to leave the chair and exit the interview room.]
[Dubois addresses Zarn, who is engaged in sustaining the ritual.]
Dubois: Can we make him more … cooperative? Before we get to the important stuff.
Zarn: On it.
[Zarn activates compulsion runes.5 A smell of vanilla and cloves comes into the room. Lincoln sits back in the chair. Glowing chains appear around him.]
Dubois: Thanks.
[Dubois shows Lincoln a picture of SCP-7843-B.]
Dubois: What can you tell us about this guitar, Mr. Lincoln?
Lincoln: I don't know. It's not my guitar.
Dubois: What do you mean by that, Mr. Lincoln?
Lincoln: It's not my guitar.
[Dubois turns to Zarn.]
Dubois: Are we sure the compulsion runes are working?
[Zarn gives a thumbs-up.]
Dubois: We have pictures of you playing that guitar. Videos. An article written in 1967 about Chatwin's favorite instruments and why. This is your guitar.
Lincoln: What the hell's Chatwi- Oh, oh, you mean that band me and Peter started in '60. Sorry, been a while since I thought about that. I mean, we broke up in '61. Not exactly the biggest thing ever. Nothing panned out. Not good enough.
[Lincoln sighs loudly and shakes his head.]
Dubois: That's not the case. Everyone knows who you guys are! You won eight Grammies! I grew up listening to your music.
[Dubois begins to hum "Sunshine" by Chatwin. Lincoln's expression brightens.]
Lincoln: That's a Beatles song. What was its name again?
[Lincoln hums the tune. He snaps his fingers]
Lincoln: Here comes the sun! Doo-doo-doo-doo! That was it!
Dubois: What are the Beatles?6
Lincoln: Come on, you can't expect me to believe you don't know the Beatles.
[Pause. Dubois shakes her head.]
Lincoln: What's next? Telling me you don't know the Stones? The Velvet Underground? Grateful Dead? Black Sabbath? Pink Floyd?7
[Dubois shakes her head for each of them.]
Lincoln: Well that's weird.
Dubois: I'd say. Seems like we've got two separate histories here. Any idea of why?
[Lincoln gives a lopsided smile.]
Lincoln: I'll tell you if you get these chains off.
[After 20 minutes of conferring with the Site Director on the request, it is decided to remove the compulsion runes placed on Lincoln. Once this is done, the chains disappear and Lincoln stretches in his chair. His expression slackens, becoming blank and empty, and his features change to him in his mid-twenties. This is extremely atypical behavior for spectral entities.]
Lincoln: So, what do you want to know?
[Dubois appears noticeably uncomfortable.]
Dubois: I guess… what is this?
Lincoln: Have you ever gotten a song stuck in your head?
Dubois: What does that have to do with anythi-
Lincoln: Humor me.
Dubois: Yes.
Lincoln: Then you know how music is eternal. No matter where you go, there'll always be a song.
Dubois: I don't see how that has to do with anything…
Lincoln: The instruments, they play don't they? Forever. You can't kill a song.
[Dubois attempts to ask a question but Lincoln talks over her.]
Lincoln: But you can hurt it, oh yes. You can put it in the ground six feet deep. That's what that thing did. It did it to all the songs. All the bands. Beatles. Floyd. Gone. But the hole couldn't get rid of the songs, so they just moved. They put all of their wonder into us. Into Chatwin. They tried to escape it. Or maybe just play their music from inside the hole.
Dubois: So, what are you in this "hole" metaphor?
Lincoln: I'm a mass grave.
[Lincoln stands up in his chair and vanishes.]
[END LOG]
Additional Notes: Attempts to re-summon Lincoln have failed.
Addendum 7843-C: Incident 7843-01
On 22/10/2023, during an attempt to transport SCP-7843 to another room, Dr. Dubois accidentally dropped and broke SCP-7843-A. Following this, the anomaly behaving extremely atypically. The music produced by the surviving instruments grew increasingly louder and disharmonious until eventually reaching a crescendo and ceasing to produce sound. Dr. Dubois then spontaneously disappeared from the testing chamber for reasons currently under investigation. Dubois was considered KIA until 25/10/2023 when a message consisting of a singular video from Dr. Dubois' personal cell phone was sent to the Site-17 group chat. The designation of KIA has not been changed.
Involved Parties:
- Dr. Chelsea Dubois
Date: 25/10/2023(?)
[BEGIN LOG]
[Dubois holds the camera up to their face, obscuring much of the environment. The background appears to be the Quarry Bank Hall, circa 1964. There is a large crowd. Cheering and loud conversation can be heard, drowning out Dubois' voice in places. She appears to be exhausted and severely dehydrated.]
Dubois: Oh, good! It's recording!
[Dubois laughs. Halfway through, she begins weeping.]
Dubois: So… where do I begin? I seem to have travelled back to the '60s. Everyone says that the concert's beginning soon.
[Dubois begins coughing. Her hands are stained with an unknown black tar-like substance.]
Dubois: It's been a hectic couple of days, but I found some friends! John! Ringo! Say hi!
[Dubois rapidly moves the phone, passing over two corpses in a state of advanced decomposition.]
Dubois: They're shy. But they shared their food with me!
[Dubois pauses.]
Dubois: I always wanted to see Chatwin live.
[Dubois pauses again.]
Dubois: In fact, when I was younger, I wanted to be Chatwin. I was even part of a band in high school. We were shit. Actually garbage. Our lead singer had a heavy stutter and the pianist, that is to say me, could barely fumble their way through "Chopsticks".
[Dubois laughs weakly.]
Dubois: I haven't thought about my high school days in years.
Dubois: But despite that, I did really enjoy playing. Making music, it's something incredible. Almost religious. A song is forever. Until it isn't. Until your instruments turn to dust and your hands rot…
[Dubois spends roughly 7 hours staring off into space, not speaking. The sound of the crowd grows louder.]
Dubois: Then the sound dies. No more singing. Happens to be the best of us.
[Dubois drops their phone and curses, bending over to pick it up.]
Dubois: I tried to leave at first, but I always ended up back in the concert hall. I don't think this is really the '60s. If so, then I have to ask what this is.
Dubois: I think… I think it's one last hurrah.
[Dubois points her phone upward. There are no stars in the sky. She moves her phone around, but the view does not change, still showing an empty sky.]
Dubois: That's what this concert is. One final show. Everyone here knows they're going to die. Half are already dead. But we can hear some sweet jams one last time. Can't we?
[Dubois pauses, humming to herself.]
Dubois: It's not going to be enough. It's not going to be the same as the good old days. This is a fake world made by people trying to ignore the end. I don't even know why I'm listening.
[Dubois shrugs.]
Dubois: Might as well. I have nothing better to do.
[Dubois places the phone in their pocket for thirty minutes. Assorted small talk between Dubois and her neighbors can be heard. This audio has been omitted for the sake of brevity.]
Dubois: Oh! It's starting! Shhhhh!
[Dubois moves her phone to point at the stage. The members of Chatwin walks on to rapturous applause. Notably, McDonald's body is heavily damaged and his skin appears to be falling off. As he makes his way to the center of the stage, it falls off entirely, revealing a humanoid whose appearance constantly shifts between 50 minor musical figures8 of the 1960s.]
[The crowd cheers. The band launches into a rendition of their 1964 song: "Harbinger". The song's lyrics are extremely different from those in the official version and are do not display the same technical mastery as the original.]
It's coming. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming.
No escape. No escape. No escape.
Our grave's so deep. An empty shape.
You can't run. The nothing will [INAUDIBLE].
[END LOG]
