when it's underground, out of sight?
Item #: SCP-500
Object Class: Leucippus
Special Containment Procedures: N/A. If SCP-500's existence is confirmed, efforts should be made to block the publishing of obituaries. Collaboration with the Chinese Government should be enacted, if such collaboration is possible.
The only purported photo of Xiatam. Source unknown.
Description: SCP-500 is the town of Xiatam, purported to be located in China's Shandong Province and to the west of Shuidong. SCP-500 does not exist. SCP-500 has never been confirmed to exist. Belief in its existence does not appear to function through any sort of paranormal propagation; rumors can be first traced back to a series of local newspapers and television programs which reported on a growing movement of people within nearby townships and provinces convinced the town had, at one point, existed. Reportedly, Xiatam had suddenly destroyed itself, leaving nothing behind. There is no record of any mass mortality event occurring around the area; notably, nobody has come forward to speak of family who perished in the event. If SCP-500 did occur, no living relatives remain.
Most believers claim the event happened long before it was first noticed—potentially months or years. As a collective memory, SCP-500 emerged suddenly; sizeable swaths of individuals simultaneously relayed information of the town's existence. It spread quickly, with persons hearing of the phenomena often claiming to regain memory of the transpired events. Explanations for SCP-500 varied wildly; many claimed it to be a result of a plague or pathogen spreading rapidly throughout the population,1 while others believed it to be an event of paranatural or extraterrestrial origin. Others claimed individuals may have been influenced by the destruction of local food stores due to flooding or storms, or even targeted by precise government attacks. Local media stations would quickly pick up the story, spreading it even further throughout the region. It's possible this led to a greater sensationalizing of the story, but most evidence suggests otherwise; early circulations of the legend maintain similar levels of brutality, and details muddied in the frenzy seem to largely be related to the history of the town itself.
SCP-500's history is largely illogical. Details are disparate and reconstructed from the bits and pieces of various accounts. They leave little suggestion as to why the events may have transpired. The town had no history of civil unrest, and appeared politically stable. It lacked notable outside influence or attention. Greater investigation would yield no new results. Currently, the only evidence of the town's existence is an unsourced photo claimed to have been taken shortly before its disappearance. The body hanging in the background of this image has not been identified.
Multiple private parties have performed digging throughout the region in the interest of locating possible burial sites. To date, no remains from any of the 2,534 individuals who had supposedly resided in Xiatam have been located.
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