Personnel are required to execute Protocol "Burn the Masses" with due diligence… Remember, SCP-8854-2 instances are not human.
The first instance of SCP-8854 in Spindletop, Texas in 1901.
Special Containment Procedures:
SCP-8854-1 instances are to be dismantled within 24 hours of manifestation. In the event of uncontrolled spills, Foundation engineering and cleanup crews are to be dispatched to contain and neutralize any residual environmental hazards. Priority is to be given to larger conglomerations of SCP-8854-1, as these accelerate propagation and increase ecological devastation.
Due to the difficulty of dismantling SCP-8854-1 instances and reversing their associated damage, a proposal has been submitted to the Ethics Committee for the enactment of Protocol "Burn the Masses." Until the Ethics Committee completes its review, instances of SCP-8854-2 are not to be impeded in their work.
Description:
SCP-8854 is the spontaneous manifestation of anomalous oil wells (hereby designated SCP-8854-1) and anthropoid entities of animated crude oil (hereby designated SCP-8854-2).
SCP-8854 events have been recorded across various petroleum-rich regions. Foundation engineering surveys indicate drilling depths of more than 15 km, far surpassing conventional capabilities. Each SCP-8854-1 instance produces approximately 13 metric tonnes (95 barrels) per day. Harvested oil is not stored, refined, or transported; reservoirs frequently overflow, causing extensive ecological damage and threatening the well-being of nearby civilians and Foundation personnel.
The existence of one SCP-8854-1 instance increases the likelihood of successive instances manifesting. Therefore, immediate dismantling of SCP-8854-1 instances is to be given the highest priority.
Despite lacking bone, musculature, or organs, SCP-8854-2 instances are nearly identical to humans. They imitate human workers with precision—carrying out drilling, extraction, and maintenance tasks at SCP-8854-1 sites. SCP-8854-2 instances are unable to interact with most physical objects, yet display full operational control over SCP-8854-1 mechanisms.
Communication between SCP-8854-2 instances occurs through disjointed gurgling sounds. Attempts to translate this language have proven futile, although they universally disregard human presence, making communication between humans and SCP-8854-2 instances impossible regardless.
No two SCP-8854-2 instances are morphologically identical. Many manifest in disfigured or incomplete states: absent limbs, distorted torsos, or sheared surfaces consistent with traumatic injury. The immediate demanifestation of SCP-8854-2 instances will follow the termination of their associated SCP-8854-1 instance.
Incident 8854-1
Date: 03/28/1988
Location: Okuogume, Niger Delta, Nigeria
While SCP-8854 had been documented sporadically in multiple petroleum-rich regions prior to this date, the Okuogume manifestation represents one of the earliest large-scale containment challenges. In late-March 1988, more than 100 SCP-8854-1 instances manifested approximately 12 km west of Okuogume. Each well manifested 54 SCP-8854-2 instances on average. Due to previous outbreaks, Foundation personnel had designated the locale as high-risk, allowing detection of the anomaly within 14 hours of initial manifestation.
Despite expedited containment efforts, the Okuogume deconstruction effort was not without incident. 33 of the manifested wells suffered from pressure buildups and blowouts during plugging and abandonment, placing dozens of Foundation personnel in critical condition and resulting in numerous fatalities, significantly slowing containment efforts.
Witness Statement — Foundation Field Agent
"The oil people had been working nonstop for days. They didn't sleep. They labored all day and all night until they collapsed. They gathered around those who couldn't keep working, kneeling around their bodies. They'd clasp their palms together and bow their heads like they were praying. Some moaned out and made garbled noises. Little did they know, all that effort was meaningless.
Just the day before the incident, all of those workers were jumping into the air, waving their hands about and gurgling nonstop. They were hugging one another and patting each other on the back. The derrick had only just started gushing, but they were so overjoyed. They had finally struck liquid gold. I actually felt bad that we had to close it up the next day.
The moment we started plugging, I knew all hell was going to break loose. The pressure built up almost immediately. The derrick just disintegrated, sending steel beams flying everywhere. I saw one of the workers take a direct hit. Its body was split in two… but it kept moving. It just dragged its upper half toward the wreckage. Oil leaked out of its severed torso, but it was hellbent on repairing the derrick. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t.
Some of them collapsed, choking on hydrogen sulfide in the air, and others gathered around them, beating on their backs to help clear their airways. Their "skin" bubbled like it was boiling and then ruptured into clouds.
And moments later, when everything calmed down, the survivors looked… distraught. Some held their heads in their hands, shuddering. That sound they were making is stuck in my head. It was just a monotonous bubbling. They had to have been crying. I think I even saw drops of oil falling from their eyes. After just a while, they went right back to the wreckage, working as if nothing had happened. I’ve never seen anything so relentless, so disturbingly determined to keep going, even when the cost was their own lives. I think the part that scared me the most was that all the ones that died were always just… replaced the next day.
I'm probably going to request reassignment. The number of reports we're getting concerning accidents with these oil people is getting overwhelming. I don't want to see one of them wailing at the sky while desperately clinging to a headless corpse again. It's just… too real."
Once containment operations were complete and the wells successfully capped, all remaining SCP-8854-2 instances demanifested into pools of crude oil.
Due to the relentless efforts of SCP-8854-2 instances and the continual manifestation of new SCP-8854-1 instances, plugging and abandonment efforts lasted over eight months, during which 132 additional wells had manifested. Travel to and from the impacted area was restricted, and local populations were amnesticized and relocated due to lasting soil and groundwater contamination in the area after cleanup efforts had concluded.
By the conclusion of the Incident 8854-1, a total of 248 wells had appeared within Okuogume. During ongoing containment operations, further SCP-8854 manifestations were confirmed in the following locations.
- Nizhnevartovsk district, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia
- Midland, Texas, United States
- Daqing, Heilongjiang, China
Containment efforts for the aforementioned outbreaks did not conclude until early 1993.
Incident 8854-2
Sattelite imagery of oil slick approaching Florida coast approximately six months after Incident 8854-2.
Date: 02/06/1989
Location: Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia
In early February 1989, the first offshore manifestation of SCP-8854 was reported. Local authorities noted extensive mortalities among marine fauna and a thick coating of oil along the coastline. Investigations traced the contamination to approximately 33 offshore oil platforms, each accompanied by an average of 130 SCP-8854-2 instances, which had manifested roughly 43 hours prior to discovery.
More than two million metric tonnes (more than 282,000 barrels) of oil had been extracted and spilled before Foundation intervention. At least 14 of the 33 initial manifestations had suffered from wellhead blowouts, resulting in persistent leaks at the sea floor. Hydrocarbon contamination spread thousands of kilometers, poisoning plankton, shellfish, and fish eggs, and generating localized hypoxic zones as microbial activity increased to metabolize the oil.
Public attention was deflected through Foundation cover protocols: NATO and local authorities coordinated response efforts, while a major oil conglomerate was designated the responsible party.
Witness Statement — Foundation Field Agent
"The entire ocean was just… brown. For miles, all I could see was the murky rainbow sheen of oil floating across the waves. On top of all that oil, thousands of fish, big and small, drifted along the surface.
The platform wasn't any better. Every day, at least one or two of the oil people died. One of them was crushed when the crane malfunctioned and dropped a bunch of steel pipes onto it. So many of them fell, just splashing into puddles when they hit the ground. I hate to even think about it, but… I'm pretty sure a few of them jumped. I remember seeing them days before—some rocked back in forth in the fetal position, hugging themselves and trembling. They looked… sad."
Despite these losses, replacement SCP-8854-2 manifested within 24 hours, continuing extraction labor without interruption.
Incident 8854-3
Burning of SCP-8854-1 instances in Basra, Kuwait. The fires rapidly spread across the "oil lakes" produced by a lack of storage for extracted oil.
Date: 12/27/1990
Location: Basra, Kuwait
In late December 1990, an outbreak of SCP-8854-1 instances occurred in Basra, Kuwait, manifesting approximately 300 wells. This manifestation coincided with an active international military conflict between Iraq and Kuwait. Prior to their withdrawal from Kuwait in 1991, Iraqi forces set fires to dozens of the manifested wells. The resulting conflagration then spread across lakes of spilled oil, immolating SCP-8854-2 instances.
Witness Statement — Foundation Field Agent
"The heat wasn't even the most terrifying part. As the fires raged, consuming everything in sight, all we could do was watch. The workers were screaming… You couldn't hear them over the sound of the fires, but you could tell. They were sprinting in all directions, mouths agape, and their arms whipped at their bodies, desperately trying to put the fires out.
So many of them just fell over, engulfed in flames. Their bodies boiled into nothingness. Those that weren't instantly vaporized were just… melting. Their features sloughed off like wax. One of them was nothing but legs, with its head and torso collapsed into itself, but it kept stumbling toward the derrick until it finally melted into a puddle.
By the time the fires finally subsided months later, there was nothing left. But it wasn't like everything was just burned away. There was no evidence of anything left. No debris. No oil. Just ash. When all the oil people had melted away, all the wells just completely disappeared."
Following the complete neutralization of the SCP-8854 event at Basra, the above incident has since prompted the submission of Protocol "Burn the Masses" to the Ethics Committee, proposing revised containment procedures.
Proposal "Burn the Masses"
Submitted by: Sr. Researcher Eli Williams
Date: 05/31/1992
Reviewed by: Ethics Committee
Problem Statement:
Containment of SCP-8854 manifestations has become increasingly untenable under current procedures. The spread of SCP-8854-1 and SCP-8854-2 instances now far outpaces the Foundation's plugging and abandonment efforts, presenting a unique challenge for Foundation engineers, who are unable to plug each SCP-8854-1 instance before the next critical failure occurs. High-risk events, such as uncontrolled oil discharge, toxic gas accumulation, and secondary combustion, have become increasingly prevalent during continued containment efforts.
SCP-8854-2 instances' endless toil actively hinders ongoing containment efforts. Recent incidents have numbered more than 1,000 SCP-8854-2 instances on a single site. The ecological consequences of failing to contain large-scale outbreaks are severe, and the increasing frequency and magnitude of manifestations also pose a potential risk to the integrity of the Veil and the operational security of the Foundation itself.
Proposed Solution:
As demonstrated by the events described in Incident 8854-3, the proposed revised containment protocol, hereby referred to as "Burn the Masses," will authorize the controlled ignition of all SCP-8854-2 instances within impacted areas. Thus, the demanifestation of all SCP-8854-1 instances will follow. Following termination of all SCP-8854-2 instances, Foundation cleanup operations will resume in accordance with the established containment procedures. This method of containment is projected to rapidly neutralize SCP-8854 instances while simultaneously minimizing each further ecological impact.
Ethical Considerations:
SCP-8854-2 instances present a profound ethical ambiguity. Superficially, SCP-8854-2 instances display many human characteristics: they labor cooperatively, communicate with one another, and demonstrate gestures reminiscent of mourning. Such displays may evoke guilt, revulsion, or trauma in personnel tasked with termination.
However, closer study suggests that SCP-8854-2 instances lack true human cognition. They exhibit no self-preserving instincts, only their compulsive labor. They do not retreat from danger and cannot be persuaded to abandon their work, despite oncoming threats to their immediate well-being.
Their apparent mourning is brief—averaging five to six minutes—and highly repetitive, suggesting programmed mimicry rather than genuine empathy. They have not been observed to form familial, romantic, or social bonds; their apparent attachments are mechanical, their persistence an endless simulation of work.
The enactment of "Burn the Masses" may present an ethical quandary, but, in reality, prevents further propagation of SCP-8854 manifestations and mitigates ecological disaster.
