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Shattered Land National Park from the Salt-Lick Trail overlook. Remains of the arch are visible in the distance.
Special Containment Procedures: Cameras, audio equipment, and other surveillance technology has been placed throughout SCP-9997 and southern Utah to monitor behavior and log visitor faces. Unusual changes in personal appearance or sudden, erratic actions are to be tracked by AI and submitted to the Utah field office.
SCP-9997 is closed to the public, and MTF Nu-42 ("Inherit the Wind") is on permanent standby to issue local or global amnestic therapy in response to any further destruction of natural resources related to containment. Preservation of endemic species and historic sites is considered an Alpha Delta Psi-level priority.
Visitors to SCP-9997 are advised to spend as little time as possible looking at the sky.
Description: SCP-9997 is the former Shattered Land National Park and Preserve, covering approx. 245,000 acres of wilderness in southwestern Utah, U.S. At its peak, the park was considered one of the “Mighty Six” of the National Park System in Utah; it saw approx. 1.1 million visitors per year and housed three visitor centers, a park lodge, and 112 miles of hiking and backcountry trails.
"Hoodoo" rock formations in the park's lower desert. Shattered Land was unique among Utah parks in letting visitors climb on its hoodoos.
Humans entering the vicinity of SCP-9997 are subject to a variety of anomalous hazards, primarily affecting their memories and perception of baseline reality:
- Spontaneous, temporary alterations to facial features.
- Amnesia.
- Hallucinations, including audio, visual, and tactile phenomena, of encounters with both people and realistic fauna not otherwise known on the planet.
- The persistent belief that the Earth has a second moon.
For most subjects, these effects vanish within minutes upon leaving the vicinity. In some cases, however, they may persist; affected persons should report to SCP-9997 site command lead Jasper Daniels if perception remains impacted for more than 12 hours.
Rarely, subjects visiting SCP-9997 have vanished and reappeared many miles away in other areas of the park. Several subjects have vanished without reappearance, and are considered MACs (Missing Under Anomalous Circumstances) until their whereabouts can be ascertained. Those subjects who do reappear often exhibit marked personality alterations; the mechanism governing this is under investigation, as subjects are universally unable to account for their circumstances during the time they were out of contact.
Prior to its closure and SCP designation, Shattered Land National Park was known to the Foundation as a testing ground for cooperative technological development between the United Nationals Global Occult Coalition (GOC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Unusual Incidents Unit (UIU). The nature of this cooperation, as well as the reason these groups chose a prominent tourist location for their work, was never disclosed to the Foundation. Both groups deny any knowledge of anomalous events; research is ongoing to determine the veracity of these claims, as well as the justification for the UIU-GOC's work—and their destruction of the park's central natural attraction, the Salt-Lick Arch, in April 2027.
pttp
Commenting as: Pablo Torres, Researcher Level 3
im going back to Shattered Land tonight, and i doubt im coming out again. might as well leave some notes here for anyone who wants to read back.
my name is Pablo Theodore Torres Padilla. i joined the national park service when i was 19. i joined the foundation three years later (they paid a lot better tbh). i am a programmer, a data scientist, and an ornithologist. i was stationed at Shattered Land National Park for both my jobs, and i reported the anomalies here first.
in july 2027, about two years after all this madness started, i looked up in the sky and saw a second moon there. she is Luma. she has always been there. i remember seeing her when i was a child in San Juan.
when other people leave Shattered Land, they forget Luma exists. for whatever reason, i do not.
you’d think it would be worst at night. seeing both of them up there, trying to point it out to someone, getting a crazy look even when I can see two moons reflecting back at me in the person’s eyes. but it's actually worse during the day: walking to my car or coming out of a store, whatever, and noticing them up there with crowds of people walking around, not seeing anything amiss. we're living in two different worlds.
i should have “reported” to Jasper by now. it’s been months since my first exposure, and i never stopped seeing luma. But it’s just… she has always been there. we have just forgotten. i can’t bring myself to accept anything else but that. the moons, the "false" birds, the disappeared people… they are real. i will not forget so easily.
i have not been allowed to enter the park again since it was contained. but i know my way around, and i need to go back. i go tonight.
-PTTP
Addendum: Park History
Eugene's spiny lizard.
Contributed by: Dr. Pablo Torres, National Park Service / SCP Foundation Liaison
Founded in 1956, Shattered Land National Park was a rugged, iconic fixture in the U.S. parks system prior to its demise. A favorite for families due to its gradual trails and abundant, climbable "hoodoo" formations, the park had seen increasing tourism for years prior to its closure. It protected a diverse range of habitats, encompassing both arid deserts and high-altitude forest plains, and boasted towering sandstone formations which attracted hikers and sightseers from around the world, including one of the best-known freestanding stone arches on Earth: at 212 feet high and nearly 400 feet across, Salt-Lick Arch was often featured on American currency, and had notable appearances in movies and television programs throughout the 20th century. MTF Nu-45 has redirected these cultural touchpoints to formations in other nearby parks, notably constructing the so-called "Delicate Arch" in Arches National Park for this purpose.
Much of Shattered Land's territory was protected national wilderness, closed to all visitors without special permit. This area was home to a wide array of wildlife and plants, some of which are endemic to southwestern Utah. Notable species included Eugene's spiny lizard, one of only three known parthenogenetic reptiles; several leks for the critically endangered shattered sage grouse; and subalpine frost lilies (Erythronium shatterum), which grew only in the park's higher elevations and were found nowhere else on the planet.
Little is known about the nature of the facility which the FRI-UIU and the GOC began constructing beneath Shattered Land at the close of its 2025 fall operating season. Both entities have been tight-lipped about their work, which necessitated the transport of some 200,000 tons of steel and an unknown quantity of anomalous metals and building materials into caves at the park's upper elevations. The Foundation observed this work, and analysis has concluded that its most likely purpose was to construct a computing facility, a determination too broad to be of use. No evidence of the project or its goals remained aboveground when the park's alpine trails reopened for tourism in late spring 2026.
In April 2027, Salt-Lick Arch was destroyed by subterranean weapons testing by the UIU-GOC, an event which set in motion the eventual closure and containment of Shattered Land National Park. This, to say the least, is an incredible and careless loss to our nation and the world. A more complete log of these events has been included later in this document.
Addendum: Anomalous Effects
Anomalous effects first manifested at Shattered Land in summer 2026. One of the earliest-known reports was made on Reddit's r/NationalPark subreddit, where a user shared an experience of a supposed paranormal event near the famed Salt-Lick Arch on July 29, 2026.
Looking for witnesses: weird shit with my face at Salt-Lick july 29
(gonna get downvoted to hell for this lol but w/e)
My wife and I visited SHLD in July for 3d/2n and stayed at the lodge. Lifetime dream trip for us. One of our biggest wants was to see sunset through saltlick so we decided to brave the crowds on the tongue and headed up around 8:45. The hike was great and really isn't as bad as people say, so we would highly recommend it! We got up there around 9:30 and the sun was just at the horizon, so it was perfect. Tons of people but we knew that going in.
After we'd admired the view for a few minutes at the top I turned to my wife to ask if she wanted to sit down. She glanced at me and just screamed. I asked what was wrong but she backed away and started crying, and everyone looked around at us and a few other people there screamed too and pointed at me. At this point I'm obviously totally lost, like is there something on me, is there a bear or some shit? My wife is still freaking out and just pointing at my face, so I take out my phone and turn on the camera, and this is where it gets really weird.
Folks I am not shitting you, the thing in there was not me. I don't know what it was. Some of it was me, and some of it was idk, close I guess. My left eye wasn't there, and the other one was thinner and sort of stretched. There was no texture on my skin at all, it looked like a sheet of plastic with paint. It looked nothing like me. I'm obviously freaking the fuck out at this point and touching my face, and the weirdest part was, it felt normal? The stuff I felt and the stuff I saw in the camera didn't match up.
A lot of people were looking at us and few tried to come up and help me, but I was really freaked and just sort of ran back down the trail toward the woods. I stopped a ways in when I couldn't see the crowd any more to look at my face again. It was normal. Just right back to normal like nothing happened. I went back up the trail to find my wife and she was up there calling for me and looking for me, but when I asked her she was all confused a pissed like I'd just ran off without warning. She didn't remember shit. Nobody did.
Folks, I'm going insane. I should have taken a photo at the time but I didn't think of it because I was you know, a little preoccupied with that gregor samsa shit going on, so I have no proof this happened whatsoever. I'm looking for witnesses of this before I lose my damn mind. Was anyone here at Salt-Lick Arch the night of July 29 and remembers seeing some dude with a fucked up face running down the trail?
After SCP-9997 containment was effectuated, the above post was removed and censored by Foundation staff, and the author's IP address was tracked. When questioned, the author purported to have no further memory of the events described, nor of making the Reddit post. As most anomalous experiences within SCP-9997 fade from memory within a few hours, this is not considered unusual.
Though this document is the earliest know record of a hallucinogenic manifestation, it is far from the only one. The Foundation has recorded 1,910 individual cases of non-lunar hallucination within the park (due to their frequency, later onset, and psychological complexity, hallucinations of a second moon are categorized separately). Notable occurrences include:
- Numerous recorded encounters with semi-humanoid entities. Descriptions consistent with prominent celebrities, historical figures, influencers, missing persons, typically with substantial physical alterations. Entities speak haltingly, if at all, and vocalizations are inconsistent with baseline human range. Entities observed to “shift” at random, translocating or changing appearance, sometimes rapidly nearing subjects before moving away or vanishing. Such manifestations became increasingly common at SCP-9997 before abruptly ceasing on or about 2027-07-29.
- An unidentifiable low hum, interspersed with musical stings and simulated human speech, emanating from Shattered Land’s geographic features.
- An unidentifiable low hum, interspersed with musical stings and simulated human speech, emanating from Shattered Land’s wildlife, especially birds and insects.
- An unidentifiable low hum, interspersed with musical stings and simulated human speech, emanating from Shattered Land’s guests.
- The continued and often-cited appearance of “Fuco,” a bear-like quadruped at least a head taller than the largest recorded grizzly bear. “Fuco” appears most often near park refuge dumps and parking lots and is frequently mistaken for a mundane grizzly. Biologists hallucinating the bear have compared its traits to those of the extinct Atlas bear, last sighted alive in 1870. Reports that tourists have been attacked by “Fuco” are considered unreliable, as is blood and other physical evidence reportedly left behind.
- A high school tour group, camping at SCP-9997’s Group Site B on 2026-08-18, collectively reporting the presence of three extra members of their class group. The extra campers were described as lifelong friends of the students, and were given complete physical descriptions and life histories by several alleged classmates. At 03:18am, the additional campers abruptly stood and walked out of their tents into the darkness. They were not seen again. Notably, two young women purported to be especially close with the hallucinated students retained memories of them even after leaving SCP-9997’s area of effect, and were remanded to Director Daniels for amnestic care. This is the first instance in which impacted subjects recognized hallucinated figures as persons from their own lives, as well as the first time any subject retained memories of the anomaly after leaving SCP-9997.
- The collective invention, and sustained hallucination thereafter, of a new avian species: "Constantine's warbler," a flamboyantly-colored, mountain-dwelling bird observed to sit on high branches and briefly burst into flight to catch bugs in midair, despite otherwise having the name and proportions of a slower, leaf-eating migrant species. Both lay and expert observers have noted the bird within SCP-9997, with experts offering detailed scientific explanations of its unexpected appearance and behaviors.
pttp
Commenting as: Pablo Torres, Researcher Level 3
bullshit, man. bull and fucking shit. i have records of Constantine warbs from the 80s when I was just getting into the game. my dad taught me that ID when i was a little boy. it’s a bright pink and green dragonfly-catching warbler, there’s nothing else like it. i have an old crumped up audubon guide from 1974 on my shelf at home, all sun faded and ripped to hell, and there’s Constantine's in that shit. did SCP-9997 break into my house and plant the book? bull and fucking shit. that bird is real. Luma is real.
-PTTP
The chief-most anomalies of concern to the Foundation, however, are the second moon phenomenon and the string of disappearances among visitors to Shattered Land National Park beginning in June 2026. The latter is considered the more pressing concern, as it is directly affecting the non-anomalous world and has resulted in missing persons cases on three continents; the Foundation is working with the GOC and UIU to recover all missing persons unaccounted for in the park.
Disappearances at Shattered Land have followed a uniform pattern:
Stage 1: The visitor, typically an unaccompanied hiker (and never someone under direct observation at the time) vanishes from the park’s upper elevations (above 7,000 feet). Most disappearances have occurred after sundown in the vicinity of the Salt-Lick Arch.
Stage 2: The visitor remains missing for at least 12 hours, sometimes up to 36 hours. In rare cases, they are never recovered.
Stage 3: The visitor re-appears in the park’s lower elevations (below 2,000 feet, typically near the park lodge or visitor’s center), near either rangers aware of the disappearance or family / friends of the missing person. As with disappearances, no reappearance has ever been observed directly.
Stage 4: Upon reappearance, notable changes to the subject’s personality are apparent. These changes reportedly fade with time, though it remains unclear whether this effect is due to actual readjustment in subject personalities or to an acclimation by missing subjects’ families to their altered states. The latter is strongly suspected.
Case study: Maria Ramirez
During a family visit to Shattered Land National Park on 15 January 2027, Maria Ramirez (42 F) became separated from her family tour group near the Salt-Lick Arch at 7:04 pm. The family reported her missing at 8:31 after they were unable to relocate her. Ramirez remained missing for 30 hours, and was re-discovered sleeping in bed in her family’s room at the Shattered Land Lodge at 1:13 am on 17 January 2027. The family, including Ramirez's six-year-old daughter, had relocated to a motel in nearby Hurricane, Utah, and returned to the park the next morning at the behest of authorities, who recorded the following reunion between Ramirez and her child in which SCP-9997’s typical personality alterations were evident.
Note: Dr. Torres has translated the following exchange for this record.
[BEGIN LOG]
Ramirez is seated at a table in the park superintendent’s office. Park rangers are present, as well as Dr. Pablo Torres and two Foundation field agents embedded in the National Park Service. Ramirez's husband, daughter and brother enter.
Mateo Ramirez (husband): Maria! Maria!
Mateo rushes forward to embrace his wife, who does not stand at first, but quickly leaps to her feet and embraces him in kind.
Maria Ramirez: Maria!
Mateo Ramirez: Blessings be upon us. Oh, mija, but I thought— I thought—
Luis Gonzales (brother): We never know what blessings life has in store. The future is bright after all for us.
Maria Ramirez continues to embrace her husband. Her daughter, Sara, stands with her uncle near the door. She does not approach her mother.
Mateo Ramirez: Sarah, come here, come here to mama.
Sara Ramirez remains still. Her eyes are wide, and she clings to her uncle’s shirt.
Luis Gonzales: Go on, nena.
Mateo Ramirez: Come here, Sara, come see to your mother!
Sara Ramirez steps slowly across the room to the desk.
Mateo Ramirez: Mija, here is your Sara.
Maria Ramirez: My Sara.
Maria Ramirez sits back down, looking at the desk. There is a pause as the rangers shuffle uncomfortably.
Mateo Ramirez: Maria, are you well, are you all right? Your daughter is right here! You, did you check her head? Is she hurt?
Dr. Torres: As far as we can tell, she is completely normal. No signs of injury.
Mateo Ramirez: Sara, come round here and speak to her.
Sara Ramirez frozen across the desk, looking at her mother.
Sara Ramirez: Papa, that’s not…
Mateo Ramirez strides around the desk and picks up his daughter, carrying her around to sit in the chair next to Maria.
Mateo Ramirez: Here, my love.
For the first time, Maria Ramirez seems to notice the girl. She looks at her for a long time before speaking. Different observers described her expression as one of either concern, bemusement, revulsion, avoidance, or, most commonly, blankness. Tears well up in Sara’s eyes.
Maria Ramirez: The blessings. A daughter, the blessings. What life has in store.
Sara Ramirez recoils into her father’s shirt.
Sara Ramirez: Papa, make her go away!
Mateo Ramirez: Sara! What has gotten into you!
Mateo wrenches his daughter away and places her in her mother’s lap. She screams and cries, clawing at the air.
Sara Ramirez: No!
Mateo Ramirez: Apologize to your mother!
Maria Ramirez: I am here to care for you. Do not worry, the future is bright.
Maria reaches down and strokes her daughter’s hair several times. Sara clenches her mother’s arm and pulls it away. Maria pauses quizzically, then responds in kind, clenching Sara's arm and wrenching it around, pulling her bodily over the desk and onto the floor. Sara screams.
Mateo Ramirez: Maria! What—
Maria Ramirez: I am. I am. I. Please. I. I.
Maria Ramirez stands abruptly. Her husband, and the rangers, rush forward to stand between her and her daughter.
Maria Ramirez: The blessings. What life has in store.
Maria smiles widely, and laughs, moving forward to embrace Mateo, who recoils. She stops, examining the frightened faces of her family members.
Maria Ramirez: Oh. I understand.
Maria Ramirez: I have made a mistake.
[END LOG]
Addendum: SCP-9997-B and Second Moon Anomaly Syndrome
Second Moon Anomaly Syndrome (SMAS) is a Skinner-class behavioral psychosis unique to SCP-9997 visitors entering the park beginning in mid-July 2027. SMAS has universally impacted all visitors to SCP-9997, but tends to dissipate quickly upon departure; however, an estimated 6% of visitors retain symptoms post-exposure, and are remanded to Dr. Daniels for amnestic care.
A subalpine frost lily at Shattered Land National Park near the height of wildflower bloom, 9 August 2025.
The primary symptom of SMAS is persistent belief that a second moon (hereafter SCP-9997-B) orbits the Earth. This belief is accompanied by intense hallucinations of SCP-9997-B, the description of which remains constant for all observers: its current position, relative period, and characteristics match at all times whenever described by multiple individuals. Furthermore, observers typically believe SCP-9997-B (which they refer to in English as “Luma”) has always been present, and that they had somehow forgotten its existence prior to entering SCP-9997.
Perhaps most curiously, many observers of SCP-9997-B describe the entity as having been “altered” from its original appearance. Reportedly, large sections of the entity are “missing” or “dark;” as with other characteristics, different subjects are able to pinpoint and describe these discrepancies consistently when pressed. Over time, the “alterations” to SCP-9997-B have grown more apparent to those affected by SMAS, and are often a cause of significant distress. Like other symptoms, however, such emotion dissipates upon departure from SCP-9997.
For those who continue experiencing SMAS subsequent to their visit to SCP-9997, symptoms may become more marked. These subjects suffer from the continuing sensation of the moon in their daily lives, observing it in routine contexts and encountering a sense of dissonance when others around them are unable to perceive it. Furthermore, the continued changes to the body, evident only to them and rejected by those around them, are an ongoing source of distress. Such subjects are at high risk for psychological degradation, and amnestic therapy is considered the most acceptable course.
SMAS is now considered one of the two primary anomalies impacting Shattered Land National Park. However, due to its relatively innocuous nature, further investigation has been deprioritized in favor of containment and investigation of the various missing persons cases and visitor personality alterations, currently the primary anomalous concern.
pttp
Commenting as: Pablo Torres, Researcher Level 3
ive taken up stargazing to look at her. bought a telescope and everything (my birding scope didnt cut it after a while, you know?) i go out to mount wrightson, follow the madera canyon trails up into the wilderness, get away from the light pollution so i can really look. i want to see what they are doing to her up there.
what *who’s* doing to her? i don’t have a fucking clue, man, thats whats so crazy. it might be us, honestly. seems like a foundation kind of deal to tear down the moon. maybe she's, like, a big egg up there? or she got transplanted from the moon dimension or whatever. but then, why can people in Shattered Land still see it?
so i think it’s gotta be something with the GOC or the UIU people because of that. they built something down there. wat it has to do with the moon, i dont fucking know, and it doesn’t seem like the foundation knows…
fuck, man. that’s the part that pisses me off the most. if that thing’s real… no, fuck no, Luma IS real, and what pisses me off the most is whoever’s hiding her is tricking the fucking FOUNDATION too! got us containing it now, wiping the memory of anyone who can break whatever the programming is. and if you get us working for you… Lord…
so that is why. i must go back tonight. if I can find proof, show them it is real, they may listen. Jasper is a reasonable man. i still believe in us, and in the cause.
to my eye, when i get up in the hills, what they are doing is: disassembling it. Luma is being town apart. just like they have torn the park apart.
-PTTP
Addendum: UIU-GOC Collaboration at Shattered Land National Park
Collaboration between the UN-GOC and FBI UIU at Shattered Land has been documented as early as the 1970s, when the entities founded an outreach station there for recruitment on Project VORTEX, their experimental astral projection network based in Sedona. Cooperation between the groups has been tense since the 1980s, when the UIU’s approach became markedly more hostile to international efforts and the GOC lost much of its support from within the U.S. However, it is known that they reached an agreement in the early 2010s to share progress on unspecified computing and modeling technology, suspected at the time (but never confirmed) to relate to automated warfare.
The UIU began increasing its domestic research operations significantly in February 2025. Throughout that year, the organization clashed with both the GOC and the SCP Foundation on various occasions, vying for control of disputed sites and claiming hierarchical authority over investigations previously handled independently or in collaboration with partner agencies. In August 2025, the SCP Foundation formally severed working ties with the UIU, after a botched joint raid on a Chaos Insurgency site led to the loss of 49 Foundation personnel and 116 UIU operatives. This decision caused the U.S. government to withdraw significant financial support from the Foundation, though the matter has thus far not led to a disruption in regular operations.
The path down to the cave entrances near the Salt-Lick Arch Trail summit.
GOC-UIU collaboration at Shattered Land began in November 2025, when the park’s signature high-altitude attractions, including Salt-Lick Arch, were closed for the winter season. Foundation assets at the park observed some 95 trucks and pieces of heavy equipment arriving at the gates under cover of night, carrying the aforementioned steel as well as racks of computing equipment. Some of this equipment was later positively identified to be anomalous. This factor first allowed the Foundation to posit a link between the UIU’s operations at the site and the GOC, as only the Foundation and GOC are known to the technology necessary to produce such resources.
Construction at Shattered Land continued throughout the winter, and occurred entirely underground within known cave systems beneath the Salt-Lick Arch. Foundation operatives tried repeatedly to gain entrance to the caves, but were caught and ejected each time, with increasingly stern warnings from the UIU not to interfere. After one such attempt led to an armed standoff at the park’s gate, Site-01 ordered infiltration efforts to cease. Thus, the extent and nature of UIU-GOC construction at Shattered Land remains unknown, but is posited to extend many kilometers from the entrance to the cave system. The nature of the technology suggests a furtherance of the computing and modeling collaboration the groups undertook in the early 2010s.
Anomalous events at Shattered Land began in the summer 2026 operating season. While this obviously suggests a link between the UIU-GOC project and these anomalies, both organizations strongly deny this, and insist the facility is a mundane military installation. As this would seem to confirm Foundation suspicions that the project between the two groups was an automated weapons project, it remains possible that the anomaly is an unrelated consequence of their activities rather than a direct result of the technology they have constructed. Further investigation is needed.
The spring 2027 collapse of Salt-Lick Arch, however, is thought to have resulted directly from UIU-GOC activity. This event, and the fact that SMAS began impacting guests shortly thereafter, led the Foundation to effect containment and designate the entire park as a contained zone.
Timeline of Salt-Lick Arch Collapse, 2027-4-14
08:12: Foundation operatives enter the park for routine patrols shortly after the main gates open at 8am. Crowds for the day, a warm spring morning early in the operating year, are unusually high, and park service staff are notably struggling to control them even in the morning.
08:31: The first visitors of the day, a group of trail-runners, arrive at Salt-Lick Arch. Additional visitors arrive at the arch more slowly over the next several hours until the observation deck and trails are filled beyond capacity. An estimated 1,100 guests are near the arch by 11:00, as recorded by park security cameras. In the absence of staff on site, park goers are able to spill off the trails and down beneath the arch itself, a restricted area.
11:03: A low, resonant humming sound emanates from an unknown location beneath the arch. Its tone and duration are similar to those of other sounds observed on occasion at the park, and frequently herald anomalous events. Foundation agents are immediately alerted and begin climbing the trail to Salt-Lick Arch.
11:04: The sound occurs again. All visitors near the Salt-Lick Arch fall silent at the same time and turn in the direction of the arch, looking down. Agents are 1/10th of the way up the trail at this time.
11:05: The sound occurs again. Notable seismological disturbances are evident as trees and rocks near the arch are displaces. Many visitors fall to the ground, but none react.
11:06: The sound occurs again. All visitors at the arch collapse. Seismological disturbances increase, with small rocks and dust falling from the arch and landing on several groups of visitors directly beneath it. Agents are 1/4 of the way up the trail at this time.
11:07: The sound occurs again. Seismological disturbances increase drastically. Earthquake detection equipment is triggered in nearby areas and a breach alarm sounds at the Foundation Utah field station nearest to Shattered Land, alerting site MTFs. Park cameras record significant cracks forming in the left side base of Salt-Lick Arch as the fundamental structure is compromised.
11:08: The sound occurs again. Visitors on the ground open their eyes. Many rise to a sitting position, though some are unable to do so due to the shaking force of the Earth. Major pieces of Salt-Lick Arch are dislodged as the structure begins to collapse. Those visitors beneath it at the time are buried, and considered lost.
11:09: The sound occurs again. Visitors who remain conscious begin to vocalize in unison, though their vocalizations are unknown as site cameras do not record audio. Cameras at different locations display visitor faces as appearing to change from various angles, sometimes merging into each other or the scenery around them.
11:09:49: For several frames, cameras universally display all visitor faces as identical reproductions of the screaming face of Maria Ramirez.
11:10: The sound occurs for the final time. Seismic disturbances at the site cease. Foundation agents, whose progress up the trail had been slowed significantly by the shaking, are able to ascend to the arch shortly thereafter, finding the structure completely destroyed save for its right-hand pillar. Agents immediately issue a critical emergency declaration to nearby sites and civilian emergency authorities.
11:12: Agents are able to record a brief interview with one guest, 14-year-old Amelia Orellana, before she passes out. NOTE: all guests near the arch, including, Bonnovoy, who were not lost in its collapse later experienced complete brain death, leading to the first deployment of MTF Nu-42 “Inherit the Wind” in association with the site.
[BEGIN LOG]
Agent: Miss, are you all right? Miss?
Orellana: Hello. Hola. Bonjour.
Agent: Miss, we’re going to get you help. Can you sit up?
Orellana: Ciao. Selam. Hej. Hallo.
Agent: Miss, can you understand me? Can you sit up?
Orellana: Ahlan. Oi. Anyoung haseyo.
Orellana pauses, then jerks her head suddenly to look at the agent.
Orellana: I am ready to cooperate. I am ready to cooperate. I am ready to—
Orellana collapses. She does not speak again.
[END LOG]
Afterword: Following the destruction of the Salt-Lick Arch, the UIU and GOC claimed responsibility for the seismic events, stating that they had resulted from subterranean weapons testing. They denied knowledge of the anomalous mental effects on park-goers, but assisted the Foundation in containment efforts and compensation of families. At present, the Foundation has no basis to question the UIU-GOC account of these events.
The arch collapse caused a major national incident, and Shattered Land National Park was closed by civilian authorities until July. SMAS began affecting visitors to Shattered Land National Park shortly after the park-reopened to guests, at which point the Foundation effectuated current containment.
pttp
Commenting as: Pablo Torres, Researcher Level 3
still cant believe its gone.
we all get into NPS work for the love of it. we all have a place we want to end up. Shattered Land was mine. the air, the animals, the hoodoos. the color of the stone. there is no place on this Earth as ethereally lovely. i was, and am, ready to die happily working in this place.
when they closed it down for containment, all the regular staff had to leave. lost their jobs mostly, a few got relocated or furloughed. inherit the wind did their thing, now nobody remembers this place even exists. im just… to say i am sick at heart does not begin to describe it.
i like to think maybe, if i can get jasper to see the real issues and we can clean up whatever is happening, maybe some day it can open again. but probably not. it's probably lost. no matter what, even if it's just for myself, i have to know.
ill post my last ebird list here from the arch area. tracked it three days before the collapse. idk why im putting this… a last memorial ig. then im heading to the park.
-PTTP
eBird Checklist 084475960589
Shattered Land National Park and Preserve—Salt-Lick Arch Area
2027-04-11
Pablo Theodore Torres Padilla
12 Species
6 Common Raven
21 Turkey Vulture
1 Ferruginous Hawk
3 Steller's Jay
2 Clark’s Nutcracker
2 Bullock’s Oriole
2 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Cassin’s Finch
2 House Finch
3 Black-Headed Grosbeak
1 Townsend's warbler
2 Constantine's warbler
Checklist comments: Pretty early for Constantine's.
Addendum: Incursion at SCP-9997 by Dr. Pablo Torres
On 2027-09-08, SCP Foundation Researcher Pablo Torres, a National Park Service liaison to the Foundation formerly stationed at Shattered Land National Park, breached the perimeter at SCP-9997 and made his way to the entrance of the cave system containing the UIU-GOC's research facility. Records show Torres had never self-reported any anomalous effects from his time working at the park; however, he is now recognized as a long-term sufferer of SMAS. The log of his incursion is included below.
[BEGIN LOG]
Camera 119, SCP9997-maingate:
02:11: Two guards are stationed at SCP-9997’s main entrance gate. They are conversing while playing cards. The moon is visible behind them, illuminating the scene brightly.
02:11: Researcher Torres comes into view on the edge of the frame. He is dressed in black and carrying a Foundation-issue nightstick and an unknown weapon, later determined to be a memetic incapacitation agent of his own design. Torres attempts to sneak up to the guard station on the right while the guards are distracted.
02:12: A guard notices Torres and shouts, alerting the other guard, who draws his sidearm. Yadama turns away and exposes the memetic agent. There is a flash, and the camera feed cuts out.
Camera 123, SCP9997-entrancetrail-02:
02:15: Torres runs down a trail near the entrance to SCP-9997, shaking his head periodically and rubbing his eyes. He heads in the direction of the entrance vehicle bay.
Camera 130, SCP9997-garage-1:
02:17: Torres enters the entrance vehicle bay. There is nobody present, but a jeep is parked in the first space with the keys inside. Torres commandeers the vehicle and proceeds into the park.
Various cameras:
02:18-02:41: Torres's jeep winds its way up the park’s main road, ascending rapidly toward the closed Salt-Lick overlook area. Torres must frequently drive off-road to surpass closures, collapsed areas, and construction sites. At times, he slows, stops or pulls off for unknown hazards which the camera cannot detect. He frequently photographs these.
Camera 212, SCP9997-archtrail-24:
02:42: Torres's jeep nears the entrance to the Salt-Lick Arch trail highway. As he drives, a group of three young women are visible on the side of the road. Torres does not appear to notice them. The three wave at his vehicle, and of them steps forward as the jeep approaches. She fails to retreat in time, and Torres collides with her at speed, knocking her forcefully into the barrow pit, where the other two girls rush to examine her. The jeep disappears into the distance.
Camera 218, SCP9997-archtrail-2:
02:46: Torres arrives at the foot of the Salt-Lick Arch trail and exits the jeep. He removes a flashlight and turns it on, then looks up at the sky, and turns it off again. The moonlight is evidently bright enough to illuminate his path. He proceeds up the trail toward the arch site and cave entrances.
Camera 231, SCP9997-archhike-info:
02:53: Torres enters a clearing near the halfway point of the Salt-Lick Arch trail, where several dumpsters, restrooms and informational placards for the arch and surrounding geology are located. He pauses here in seeming apprehension, staring at the dumpsters, before retreating rapidly toward one of the restrooms and pulling himself up onto the roof. No cause for alarm is evident on the video feed. Torres swings his nightstick toward the ground several times, making contact with an unseen object, before recoiling back onto the roof as the stick is ripped from his hands with great force. A portion of the skin on Torres's hand appears to be ripped away in the exchange. The entire bathroom building shakes, and dents appear in the roof as if force has been applied from the side nearest to Torres. He recoils further, and pauses briefly before withdrawing his memetic agent again, covering his face and ears in his shirt, and activating it. The camera feed cuts out.
Camera 240, SCP9997-saltlick-summit:
03:38: Torres appears at the summit of the Salt-Lick hiking trail, near the former arch observation platform. His injured hand is wrapped in a portion of his shirt, and he is walking unsteadily, repeatedly rubbing his eyes and ears and now using his flashlight. Consulting a trail map, he turns left from the platform and moves toward the cave entrances further down the path.
Camera 241, SCP9997-saltlick-DENIED:
03:41: Torres reaches the cave entrances. Per request from the UIU-GOC unit before it vacated the site, the caves beneath SCP-9997 have been sealed to prevent access before the groups can dismantle their subterranean facilities. The caves are blocked by steel barring, behind which large double doors have been welded shut.
03:42: Torres begins to surmount the bars. A silent proximity alarm is triggered at both the guard station and the Utah foundation field office, which discovers that the gate agents are incapacitated. An MTF is deployed to the site, and Director Jasper Daniels is woken and alerted.
03:43: Torres successfully surmounts the bars, alighting in front of the double doors. He tries and fails to open them, then begins to examine the welding on their surface. He withdraws a small acetylene torch from his clothing and applies it to the hinges, repeatedly yanking and twisting on them as he works. The doors begin to give way.
03:47: Torres breaks through the double doors, which collapse off their hinges and fall before him. Beyond is a steep stone passageway, the entrance to a former tourist area at the mouth of Shattered Land National Park’s undeveloped cave system.
Standing at the bottom of the passageway is the gaunt form of 14-year-old Amelia Orellana, killed in the Salt-Lick Arch collapse earlier that year. She raises her head to stare at Yadama.
Orellana: Are you ready to cooperate?
Torres screams, stumbling backward and falling. He lands hard, directly on top of his memetic agent, which triggers inches from his face.
04:03: MTF operatives discover Torres unconscious at the entrance to the cave system and intercept him for transport to the Utah field office. Per UIU-GOC-SCP contract 9K.10.2, Orellana is re-sealed within the cave.
WARNING: Further files are restricted to Level 4-9997 personnel. Unauthorized access is grounds for immediate court martial and referral to partner agencies for processing and detainment.