Foundation personnel injured by SCP-8295 are to be incinerated.
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Info
SCP-8295 — Cold Iron
Author:UNCGriffin - More by this author
⚠️ Content warning: Racism, slurs, implication of genocide, blood and body horror.
Item #: SCP-8295
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: Ten samples of SCP-8295 are contained at Site-17 for research purposes. All other samples are to be destroyed. Testing with SCP-8295 must be personally approved by Dr. Cecil Roosevelt, and must remain in line with current research goals. Foundation personnel injured by SCP-8295 are to be incinerated.
As of 1/7/1890, outbreaks of SCP-8295 are ongoing. Since SCP-8295 largely targets Veiled individuals, however, full-scale containment has been deemed unnecessary. Current misinformation and observation protocols were drafted by Dr. Roosevelt and approved by O5-12 (see supplemental document, pg 13-24).
Description: SCP-8295 is an anomalous variant of iron. Upon entering a living creature, SCP-8295 begins to self-replicate, forming metallic structures within the host. Over 4-7 hours, spikes, spines, and occasionally canine teeth made of raw iron grow inside the blood vessels, resulting in massive internal trauma. SCP-8295 structures have been observed to grow serrated as they expand, sawing flesh and digging into bone. Death usually occurs after the heart or lungs are punctured by SCP-8295, or due to blood loss as dozens of spikes pierce the skin.
Following death, SCP-8295 will grow to encase the host skeleton, before continuing to expand in all directions for 3-5 hours. Iron structures can reach a length of up to 3 meters, and their serrated nature makes them difficult to remove without risk of injury, which incurs with it the spread of SCP-8295.
History: SCP-8295 was first discovered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire by agents of the American Secure Containment Initiative in 1862, which accompanied Dr. Roosevelt1 following reports of supernatural deaths in the area. Attached is an excerpt from his personal log, dated 26/6/1862, roughly three months following the incident.
We weren't quite sure what to expect when we opened the door. The Irishmen that had informed us of the oddity were a rowdy, uncivilized bunch, and I could not glean any worthwhile information from their incessant barking. We arrived at a hellish scene; serrated lances of pure iron, dripping with gristle and blood, had embedded themselves in all six faces of the square room, and we had to duck beneath a blade just to get inside. As the only unarmed man, I requested that I be the last to enter, and that was what had saved me. The others had nicked or cut themselves on the spike in the doorway, while my smaller stature (both in height and in width) enabled me to maneuver more easily around these fingers of death.
I identified the victims at the center of the room; two gleaming skeletons in perfect condition, coated in a thin layer of iron, from which each of the three dozen spines originated. On the floor, torn flesh, skin and guts accumulated in a shallow pool of blood. The air was heavy with a sickly sweet aroma, disturbed only by our baited breath. There was a certain kind of morbid beauty to it all, and I was suddenly put in the mind of a farmer separating the wheat from the chaff. I had the agents break off a few samples of the iron and glistening viscera, and left to telegraph our findings to the Director. Two hours later, as I was questioning the mayor, my escorts began to complain of muscle aches and asked to rest. Come nightfall, they were screaming as knives grew in their bellies, coughing up blood.
Unable to sleep, I remained there and catalogued the affliction's progression. The way it elegantly punctured the skin, how cleanly the flesh sloughed onto the wet floor; like an expert hunter skinning a rabbit, or a surgeon severing infected tissue. Their cries were smothered slowly, gently, as teeth grew in the cradles of their throats.
Most of all, however, I was disheartened to see that despite their stronger blood, they died with no more dignity than the paddy dogs before them.
Appointed lead researcher, Dr. Roosevelt remained in Portsmouth for two weeks, utilizing alchemy and forensic necromancy to study the victims and the spread of the anomaly. He observed that before the reported human deaths, several dozen Fae2 had died as a result of high iron content in the blood. He thus theorized that SCP-8295 was a ██████ ██████████ ██ specifically ██████ Fae communities3, but that unforeseen complications had caused it to "get out of hand".
[PARAGRAPH EXPUNGED BY ORDER OF O5-12]
Following this, outbreaks of SCP-8295 occurred in ██ towns and cities in New England. Due to the ensuing American Civil War and the Sixth Occult War on the horizon, the ASCI elected not to ██████ █████████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ████████. Dr. Roosevelt, upon personal request, was allowed to conduct further observation studies on SCP-8295 by then-Director of the ASCI, ████ █████ (now O5-12).
As of 1/7/1890, SCP-8295 has resulted in the deaths of at least twelve thousand Fae, alongside ████ Americans, mostly of Irish descent. Research efforts are to focus on altering SCP-8295 so that it can perform its original function, in case of conflict with hostile Fae groups.
Update 2/8/1911: Following Prometheus Labs's successful attempt to cure the Fae iron allergy, research on SCP-8295 has been discontinued. Dr. Roosevelt is to retire from the Foundation by the end of the year. This project is terminated, and its documentation will be reclassified as Level 5, lest it fall into the wrong hands. ~ O5-12.