SCP-412 Mutagenic Mirror

Dr Bob

Dr Bob brings you SCP Foundation Safe Class object, SCP-412 Mutagenic Mirror Animation.  Join the DR BOB SQUAD by going to https://www.patreon.com/DrBob and become an Honorary Member of the Dr. Bob Research Staff!  SCP-412 is an antique silver hand mirror measuring 18 cm by 7 cm. The mirror has a 4 cm crack in the top left hand corner, and has an etched motif of roses and vines. Subjects within direct line of sight of SCP-412 report a compulsion to pick up the item and view their reflection in it. There does not appear to be a discernible pattern to the 'selections' - testing for possible genetic, mental, or other selection markers is ongoing.  Watch ALL of DrBob's videos including SCP 150 The Body Stealing Parasite and SCP 3700 Tides of War here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHxBeJ7z3xRleoXfcoFZxHgqji3jKgWwV  This video, being derived from https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-412 written by RichardJ28, is released under Creative Commons Sharealike 3.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/  Narrated by Joe Cliff Thompson #drbob #scp #animation

Transcript

00:00They'd received the call from the landlord in the dead of night.

00:03He was screaming and incoherent, telling them that he'd found a dead body at one of his apartments.

00:08He seemed racked with mortal terror and could barely string a sentence together.

00:13The body, it's... he's... oh god, I don't know how long he's been dead.

00:18Something's wrong with it. Something... weird. Oh god.

00:23An interview with the landlord hours later would reveal what exactly had happened.

00:28One of his tenants, a man named Clarence Narciss, was a month behind on rent.

00:33He wouldn't respond to emails, calls, anything.

00:36The landlord expected he'd already taken off, so he decided to drive down and investigate.

00:42He'd banged on the door and announced his presence, but there was no response.

00:46He used his spare keys to get in, and that's where he discovered what had once been Clarence Narciss,

00:52sitting on the armchair in his living room, deader than dead.

00:55The police had to expend considerable forces to cordon off the area.

01:00One of the officers on the scene was Nancy Detweiler,

01:03a three-year veteran of the force who'd seen some pretty grisly crime scenes.

01:07She'd even seen the remains left by the serial killer that authorities had nicknamed

01:11Fernand the Cannibal, but that was still nothing compared to this.

01:15She stood next to the lead detective on the case as he stared down at the body,

01:19a look of puzzlement furrowing his brow.

01:21It was distressing to see that he was clearly just as stumped as she was with this one.

01:27What do you think we're looking at here, sir?

01:28She said.

01:29The detective took a thoughtful pause.

01:32If I hadn't seen the before picture, I'd have said severe birth defects.

01:37Officer Nancy cocked her head, trying to get a better look at the freak of nature curled up

01:42in that chair like a dead spider.

01:45She didn't know what possessed her to say this, but before she could even stop herself,

01:49she commented.

01:50How do we know we're not looking at a birth here, sir?

01:54The detective looked at her like she'd just soiled herself in front of him.

01:59Back to work, Nancy, he said with distaste.

02:01You've got a perimeter to secure.

02:04She nodded and suppressed the urge to cringe at herself.

02:07What a weird, stupid thing to say.

02:10Her fellow officers were pottering around the apartment's various rooms,

02:14tagging and bagging anything that might be useful.

02:16She hoped to make detective one day,

02:18and making her superiors think she was some kind of spacey freak

02:22probably wouldn't fast-track her.

02:24Officer Nancy joined her colleagues in the bedroom,

02:27where they were attempting to divide evidence from the refuse of a life gone out of control.

02:31The place was a stye, that much was undeniable,

02:35and not the chaos of a smash-and-grab looting committed in the course of murder.

02:39No, everything about Clarence's apartment

02:41betrayed a man who had just given up months before he actually died,

02:46and became, well, whatever he was now.

02:50Trash was piled haphazardly.

02:52Every surface bore an inch-thick layer of dust or grime.

02:56And just from looking at all this video footage,

02:59well, you can probably imagine the smell.

03:02But Nancy's eyes were drawn to something else in all this,

03:05something that, somehow, nobody else seemed to have noticed.

03:08An ornate, silver-backed hand-mirror on Narcissus' bedside table,

03:13like the kind you'd imagine royalty holding.

03:15Something about it immediately charmed Officer Nancy.

03:19Perhaps it reminded her of who she'd been as a young girl,

03:22harboring unrealistic dreams of someday growing up and

03:25marrying into royalty,

03:27becoming a princess, and then a queen,

03:29and never having to worry about anything.

03:32Just wearing beautiful dresses,

03:34being waited on by servants,

03:35and getting to gaze upon her own beautiful reflection

03:38in a mirror just like that.

03:40A much more dignified life than being an inner-city beat cop,

03:44treated like dirt by all the detectives and the sergeant in her precinct.

03:48She was careful about it, of course.

03:50She waited until all the other beat cops had left the room

03:53in preparation for the CSI techs in their white jumpsuits

03:56to climb in and dust everything down.

03:59In that brief period of alone time,

04:01she grabbed the mirror and stuffed it into her bag.

04:04It was such a tiny detail, really.

04:06Could you even really consider the bedroom part of the crime scene,

04:10when the body was found in the living room?

04:12And besides, it's not like it was even relevant to the case at hand.

04:15The mirror couldn't have been what killed him.

04:18Could it?

04:20For reasons beyond her,

04:22it seemed more important than anything,

04:24somehow more than worth the risk of losing her job

04:27for tampering at a crime scene.

04:28She'd never done anything like that before,

04:31and in her defense,

04:32she wouldn't ever do anything like that again, either.

04:36Whenever she worked late shifts,

04:37she called her friend Addison on the way home.

04:39She always got the graveyard shift, too,

04:42out at some research position in the desert,

04:44NDA'd out the wazoo, of course,

04:46so it's not like she could ever share all the details.

04:49How's your night going?

04:50Nancy asked,

04:51the beautiful mirror in her bag still glowing like a waypoint at the front of her mind.

04:56Excellent, thanks,

04:57Addison said over the phone.

04:58You know, I got a raise recently,

05:00and with the extra money,

05:01I signed up to the Dr. Bob Patreon.

05:03Oh, that sounds awesome.

05:05I've heard such good things about it.

05:06What kind of benefits does he offer to patrons?

05:09More than you'd believe,

05:10Addison said.

05:11Not only can you get access to behind-the-scenes material and uncensored videos from his main channel,

05:16you also get the power to vote on future videos.

05:19Talk about bang for your buck.

05:20How about you, Nancy?

05:22She smiled to herself.

05:23I picked up something fun today at work, too.

05:26Can't wait to get a better look at it.

05:28And as soon as she was home,

05:30that was, naturally, exactly what she did.

05:33She poured herself a glass of wine,

05:35lit a few scented candles for extra classy vibes,

05:38and sat across her sofa in her comfortable civilian clothes.

05:41She stared into her hand mirror,

05:44feeling just like one of the royals she so wanted to emulate growing up.

05:48Sure, the mirror wasn't exactly perfect.

05:50There was a tiny crack in the top left corner,

05:53but considering she got it for free,

05:55and the beautiful roses and vines patterns on the back were so intricate,

05:59she felt no drive to complain.

06:01Besides, it's not like she could really pay attention to anything

06:04but her own reflection in that beautiful hand mirror.

06:06It was hard to tear her eyes away.

06:09The reflection seemed so crisp, so pure,

06:12like it was the first time she'd ever really seen herself.

06:15But she wasn't exactly sure she liked what she was seeing here, either.

06:19Did she really look that old?

06:21She was only in her thirties,

06:23but the bags under her eyes made her look haggard and exhausted.

06:26God, in her pores.

06:28Was this what everyone else had been seeing every time they looked at her?

06:31She looked sloppy.

06:33Her skin had a greasy sheen to it,

06:35and most of all,

06:36she just couldn't get over how tired she looked.

06:39Was this what all those years of working the beat had done to her?

06:42Worn her soul down to the nub and made her look all used up and grey?

06:46The thought upset her,

06:48and yet,

06:48she just couldn't stop staring.

06:51In the days and then weeks that followed,

06:53this became a tradition.

06:55Staring into the mirror,

06:56in the morning and then at night,

06:58it reminded her to put more care into her skincare routine.

07:01For all the good that seemed to do,

07:02at a point,

07:03it seemed almost like whenever she wasn't looking into the mirror,

07:07picking apart her own appearance,

07:08she was thinking about doing it.

07:10It became such a fixation for her,

07:12that she decided to keep the mirror in her patrol car during work hours,

07:15just so she could come back and steal a glance whenever she felt the fixation start to take hold.

07:20She felt like a junkie,

07:22getting cold,

07:23clammy,

07:24and anxious when she was away from it for too long.

07:26She realized at a point that the stress must have been taking its toll on her health.

07:31She was starting to get these nasty,

07:33itchy facial rashes with increasing frequency.

07:36When she looked close enough,

07:37it seemed like her skin would be discolored sometimes.

07:40It made her feel like the human equivalent of a moldy piece of bread.

07:44But that didn't discourage her from looking.

07:46She only wanted to look more.

07:49Meanwhile,

07:50Officer Nancy's friend Addison was hearing less and less of her,

07:53and starting to get concerned as the weeks continued their terrible march.

07:57If you hadn't already put this together,

07:59Addison was actually one of my colleagues here at the SCP Foundation,

08:03and thus was doing me a solid by promoting my Patreon earlier.

08:06You would think that having a position here would make your mind more

08:09finely attuned to the anomalous,

08:12but as in all cases,

08:13it can sometimes be hardest

08:15to recognize the horrors festering in your most direct proximity.

08:19After a few weeks of sparse contact,

08:21Addison decided it would be best to visit Nancy,

08:24just to check in on her.

08:25What she found did nothing short of fill her with worry.

08:29Her friend,

08:30hunched over and sick,

08:32staring into the unforgiving reflective glass of the mirror.

08:35She looked like she hadn't showered or even slept in days.

08:39It seemed like some kind of severe emotional breakdown,

08:42precipitated by extreme workplace stress.

08:45That was a feeling that Addison herself

08:47was sadly extremely familiar with by now.

08:50Since Addison had a medical background

08:52before being recruited by the SCP Foundation,

08:54she decided to give her friend a quick checkup,

08:56just to be safe.

08:57She had severely swollen lymph nodes

09:00in a manner that suggested a severe autoimmune disease.

09:03The rashes and skin discoloration

09:05had also spread out over more and more of her body.

09:08Nancy, why didn't you call?

09:10Addison said in dismay.

09:12Need to get ready,

09:13she said.

09:14Need to get ready.

09:16Ready for what, Nancy?

09:18For the other.

09:20That was what made Addison realize

09:22something terrible was going on here.

09:25It would be easy enough for a layperson

09:27to interpret all of this

09:28as an unfortunate collision of physical and mental symptoms,

09:31but Foundation researchers are trained

09:33to read between the lines

09:34and expect the unexpected.

09:36After all,

09:37it's always better safe than sorry.

09:40A team arrived to pick up Officer Nancy.

09:42She didn't even resist,

09:43as long as she was allowed

09:44to bring the mirror with her.

09:46She kept looking at it in the back of the van,

09:48and even when she was carried out

09:49and taken to a preliminary testing chamber,

09:52Addison's superiors said

09:53that they'd keep her there for observation,

09:55with the hope that her condition

09:56would improve over time.

09:58Of course,

09:59they had no idea

10:00just how wrong they were at the time.

10:03Just as expected,

10:04she continued to be obsessed

10:06with the mirror in the coming weeks.

10:07She only slept

10:08when she literally collapsed

10:10as a result of exhaustion,

10:11and that was the best time to observe her.

10:14Nancy's body was undergoing

10:15more radical and disturbing changes.

10:18Her jaw was constantly gaping,

10:20because large cysts were growing

10:22in the back of her mouth,

10:23wrenching her jaw forever open

10:25in what looked like an idiotic gawp.

10:27Her ribcage was somehow extending downwards,

10:30increasing the length of the trunk of her body.

10:32The organs regulating her immune

10:34and reproductive systems

10:35atrophied and calcified,

10:37causing her body to become vulnerable

10:38to a bevy of other diseases.

10:40When she was still talking,

10:42she kept muttering the same nonsense

10:44that had driven Addison

10:45to commit her in the first place,

10:46making herself ready for the other.

10:49As part of the battery of tests

10:51that the Foundation conducted on her,

10:53they also scanned her brain activity.

10:55This caused some stress at one point,

10:57as the metal components of the mirror

10:59made it unsafe for it

11:00to accompany her into the MRI machine.

11:02She had to be sedated

11:03to avoid her getting violent

11:05with the staff during the scan.

11:06Still, the test was at least productive.

11:10There was a marked decrease in activity

11:13in both Nancy's amygdalae

11:14and her parietal lobes.

11:16Her active thought processes

11:17were shuttering themselves,

11:18a mind slowly shutting itself down

11:20by degrees.

11:21Nancy was no longer something else,

11:23a concession seemingly demanded

11:25by the other

11:26that she was preparing herself for.

11:28The whole process

11:29was rather devastating for Addison,

11:31who was long past the point of realizing

11:33that she wouldn't be getting

11:34her friend back.

11:36Nancy retreated to the corner of her cell

11:38with the mirror one day

11:39and just sat there,

11:41completely motionless,

11:42not sleeping,

11:43not eating.

11:44Then she began to violently shake

11:46and convulse,

11:47as though in the throes of a seizure.

11:49Researchers immediately had her

11:50taken to the medical wing,

11:51but it was already too late.

11:53Nancy gave one more violent thrash

11:56and died right there on the table,

11:58with a wet, rattling exhale.

12:01Perhaps it was against regulations,

12:03but when Addison requested

12:04to be the one

12:05to perform an autopsy

12:06on her deceased friend,

12:07I didn't have the heart

12:09to deny her request.

12:10It would help give her closure.

12:12Given that researcher Addison

12:14is still taking time off

12:15for psychological recovery

12:16after performing the autopsy,

12:18well,

12:19I can't yet say

12:20whether she thinks

12:21she made the right choice.

12:23Upon opening Nancy's chest cavity,

12:25she couldn't help but gasp

12:27in genuine shock.

12:28All of her friend's organs

12:30had rearranged themselves,

12:32seemingly towards the end

12:33of creating a hollow,

12:35square-shaped cavity

12:36in the middle of her chest,

12:37where,

12:38well,

12:39let's just say

12:40the other

12:41was waiting.

12:42It was a tiny,

12:44vaguely humanoid creature,

12:45like old medieval depictions

12:47of the mandrake plant,

12:48connected to the rest

12:49of Nancy's major organ systems

12:51by a series of thread-like

12:53veins and neurons.

12:54Tendrils from the creature

12:55had even begun extending upwards,

12:57connecting to Nancy's trachea.

12:59We don't know what caused

13:01the other to die,

13:02given its own physiology

13:03is so alien

13:04that it's almost impossible

13:06to know anything about it

13:07at this stage,

13:08but it does feel safe

13:09to assume that,

13:10if things had progressed

13:11how the other had intended,

13:13it would have been able

13:14to manipulate

13:14Nancy's nervous system,

13:16moving her like

13:17a marionette puppet,

13:18even operating her vocal cords

13:20to speak through her mouth.

13:21All thanks

13:22to SCP-412,

13:25the mutagenic mirror,

13:26The sad case

13:27of Officer Nancy Detweiler

13:29illustrates almost everything

13:30you need to know

13:31about the anomalous effects

13:32of this seemingly

13:33incredibly malicious device.

13:35The initial onset

13:36of ever-deepening obsession,

13:38the slow mutation

13:39of the body,

13:40a kind of terraforming,

13:42and if the subject

13:43survives long enough,

13:44the intrusion of some kind

13:46of parasitic alien being

13:47that makes your body

13:49its home.

13:50A fate worse than death

13:51by almost anyone's definition.

13:53Truthfully,

13:54I don't consider the mirror

13:56itself to be the anomaly here,

13:58but the still largely unknown force

14:00that is using these mirrors

14:01as a kind of conduit.

14:03Still,

14:04the object itself

14:04is considered safe class

14:05by the SCP Foundation

14:07and is kept in storage unit 11

14:09at site 19.

14:10Anyone handling the mirror

14:11must do so with gloves,

14:13because study with D-class personnel

14:15has found that

14:16both staring at one's reflection

14:17and touching the mirror physically

14:19are both necessary

14:20in order for the anomalous effect

14:22to kick in.

14:23Of course,

14:24given the psychic pull

14:25that SCP-412 has

14:27over its victims,

14:28resisting the urge

14:29to look and touch

14:30is easier said than done.

14:33While the Foundation

14:33has some of these mirrors

14:35in containment,

14:36we have no idea

14:37how many more of them

14:38are out there,

14:38so,

14:39if you ever happen

14:40to see a silver-backed

14:42hand mirror

14:42that feels strangely

14:44alluring,

14:45turn 180 degrees

14:46and run as fast as you can.

14:48Beauty is in the eye

14:49of the beholder,

14:50they say,

14:51and you really don't want

14:52the other beholding you.

14:56Now check out

14:57These Predatory SCPs

14:58Will Change Your Body Forever

14:59or watch this instead.

15:01You should have done it.

15:04You should have done it.

15:04The End

Category

Transcript

Recommended