| ITEM #:SCP-8529 | LEVEL 2/8529 |
| OBJECT CLASS:SAFE | RESTRICTED |
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-8529 is stored inside a standard containment unit located in the Anomalous Item Containment section of Site-91.
Per Ethics Committee ruling, in the event that SCP-8529 generates an instance from the corpse of a Foundation employee, the instance is to be offered to the family of the deceased. If the family wishes to take care of it, they may do so; if they decline, or if said employee has no family members employed by the Foundation, the instance is to be delivered to an animal shelter in its place.
Description: SCP-8529 refers to the charred skeletal remains of an adult Felis catus (domestic cat) of undetermined age and breed. It measures 24-centimeters in height and 58-centimeters in length.
SCP-8529's anomalous properties activate once every 48 hours. During activation, a high-pitched sound similar to a whistle is emitted from SCP-8529's oral cavity, despite the lack of any organs or tissues capable of producing vocalisations. This emission lasts for several minutes, with the longest recorded duration thus far being 6 minutes and 17 seconds.
If the body of a human being who has been deceased for less than five days is within a 10-meter radius of SCP-8529 during its activation period, it will undergo a process of radical polymorphism1 and will be transformed into non-anomalous adult instances of Felis catus over the course of 30 seconds.
Testing has revealed that dead animal and plant matter is not affected by SCP-8529's anomalous properties.
Background: SCP-8529 was owned by Caylee Finch. She worked as a private detective together with her romantic partner Denita Martell. The pair came to Foundation attention during a crisis related to SCP-554.2 The two encountered the anomaly during an information blackout caused by the properties of SCP-554. Martell was erased from record and memory by the anomaly and incorrectly assumed dead after her existence was deduced from surrounding circumstances, though a body was never recovered. A full write-up of the incident can be found in [DATA LOST].
As Finch fell into the pattern of Repeated Independent Unveiling3, she was offered a contract to continue her work affiliated with the Foundation. Finch refused the offer of employment, instead choosing amnesticization to forget about the anomalous entirely.
To ensure no long-term negative effects resulted from a large presence in the subject's mind being erased, Finch's purchases and browsing activities were documented and analysed in the following months. At first, the subject was confused by the onset of unexplainable sadness. Search results at this time involved finding explanations for the sudden appearance of grief. Finch eventually began retracing her activity to identify the source of the issue. Search results were manipulated to focus more on solutions for dealing with grief.
This proved to be successful when Finch bought the cat that is presumed to have later turned into SCP-8529. Following the purchase, the browsing of grief-related topics ceased. Multiple purchases of cat food and toys were documented. Further observation had been deemed unnecessary.
On December 10, 2002, Martell was recovered alive from SCP-554. Her prior information erasure did not reverse post-recovery, but was found to only partly apply to memory. To help her integrate back into her social life, Martell was given access to non-anomalous memory-helping medication. She was tested for anomalous contamination and released under contract on January 13, 2003. Apart from the contractually agreed-upon check-up on February 13, she had not been monitored further. It is unknown where Martell stayed post-release.
Finch's apartment was caught in an explosion late at night on February 25, 2003. SCP-8529 was discovered in a Foundation sweep soon after. In addition to Finch's apartment, three other one-person apartments were caught in the explosion. All residents of the other apartments were caught on camera earlier that night and can be assumed to have slept at the time of the incident. No human corpses were recovered in any of the four affected apartments.
The following has been recovered from what remains of Finch's apartment:
- Various pills, allegedly helping with memory loss and retention.
- An uncleaned litter box. The outside of the litter box has stains of faecal matter.
- A closed container of cat food.
- Multiple almost empty packages of cat treats. All packages have been opened by biting. Teeth profile matches SCP-8529.
- A calendar showing one week at a time. The week displayed ranges from the 17th to the 23th February.
- The underside of the apartment's door. It is full of scratches.
- The remnants of a gas stove.
- The remnants of an exploded television set.
- SCP-8529, between the television set and the apartment door.
- Three healthy adult cats, on the other side of the door.