Last time on UIRH, we explored the world of Magic: the Gathering’s suspended player list, which – if you’ve been paying attention – got a whole lot spicier recently.
This week, we’re going to take a trip to the land of fiction, with a website that will surely steal your precious time, just like N did so long ago. Not only is it fiction, but it’s spooky fiction! I’m talking about the SCP Foundation, and the thousands of articles that go along with it.
The SCP Foundation is a fictitious foundation set up to protect mankind from “anomalous objects, entities and phenomena.” Basically, it is a creative writing site that specializes in paranormal, fantasy and science fiction themes.
The main focus of the site is on SCPs, short for “special containment procedures,” small articles written on how to contain these phenomena and protect the outside world. It is run by The Administrator and has an incredibly large, well-funded staff. The phenomena are broken down into three classes:
- Safe, meaning that they do not pose a threat
- Euclid, meaning that they’re not completely understood and deserve caution
- Keter, anomalies that do pose a dangerous threat to at least personnel and are not easily or fully contained.
The possibilities are absolutely endless and there are some extremely creative ways people have spun the genre.
Two of my favorites include SCP-682, which is a large reptile-like creature that can not be destroyed – it has a “hatred for all life” and generally a bad attitude – and SCP-2998, which is a pretty wild read that I don’t want to spoil, so just read it.
SCP-2521 is one of the more creative examples on the site. Through pictograms, it tells the story of a monster that seems to be dangerous only around writing or speaking, so pictures must be used. Check it out to see what I mean.
The most popular article, SCP-173, will dismay the Doctor Who fans out there. Basically, it is the idea of the Weeping Angels, but according to the foundation site, it came out a few months before the episode aired. Truly spooky.
So next time you’re bored at work, or sitting at home cruising Netflix, take a trip through time and space and look at a few SCPs. Just make sure you do it during the day or while there are people in your house. Otherwise, you’re liable to be really, super scared (and we can’t be held legally responsible)!