SCP Foundation

The fictional setting centers around the findings and activities of the SCP Foundation. The Foundation is an international secret society, consisting of a scientific research institution with a paramilitary intelligence agency to support their goals. Despite their extremely secretive nature, the Foundation is entrusted by governments around the world to capture and contain various unexplained phenomena that defy the known laws of nature (referred to as "anomalies", "SCP objects", "SCPs", or informally as "skips"). They include living beings and creatures, artifacts and objects, locations and places, abstract concepts, and incomprehensible entities which display supernatural abilities or other extremely unusual properties. If left uncontained, many of the more dangerous anomalies will pose a serious threat to humans or even all life on Earth. Their existence is hidden and withheld from the general public in order to prevent the supposed mass hysteria that would occur if they were leaked, and allow human civilization to "continue functioning normally".[5]

Whenever an SCP anomaly is discovered, teams of undercover Foundation agents (often called Mobile Task Forces) are deployed to either collect and transport the object to a Foundation facility, or to contain it at its location of discovery if transportation is not possible. If an anomaly is too widespread, elusive, or otherwise inaccessible, containment consists of suppressing all knowledge of the SCP from the public. This is accomplished both through censorship of mass media, and forcing all eyewitnesses to take amnestic drugs which erase their memories of anomalous events.[5]

Once SCPs are contained and secured at the Foundation's secret facilities by armed guards, they are studied and researched by scientists in order to improve containment methods for them. The Foundation acquires human test subjects known as D-class personnel (who are usually convicted criminals taken from prisons around the world), and forces them to interact with SCPs in science experiments or containment procedures, due to the potential danger posed by some SCPs and the expendability of the D-class. The Foundation maintains documentation for all SCPs which they are aware of, which can include or link to related reports and files. These documents describe the SCPs and include instructions for keeping them safely contained, as well as supplementary incident reports or experimentation logs.[5]

Apart from the Foundation itself, there are numerous rival organizations (collectively referred to as Groups of Interest, or GoIs) which are also aware of the existence of paranormal phenomena, and interact with them for various purposes. Examples of major GoIs include the Chaos Insurgency, a terrorist splinter group consisting of ex-Foundation defectors, who attempt to capture SCP objects to weaponize them; the Global Occult Coalition (GOC), a secret paramilitary agency of the United Nations which specializes in destroying supernatural threats instead of containing them; and the Serpent's Hand, a militant group which advocates for the rights of anomalous beings, resisting both the Foundation's and GOC's efforts to suppress all paranormal activity worldwide. Other Groups of Interest seek to exploit anomalies by producing or selling them for monetary profit; or using them to serve their own religious, political, or ideological goals.[5]

SCP-087, with SCP-087-1 in the background

• SCP-055 is an unknown object that causes anyone who examines it to forget its various characteristics, thus making it indescribable except in terms of what it is not.[6]
• SCP-087 is a staircase that appears to descend infinitely and significantly inhibits any light lit within its space.[7] The staircase is inhabited by SCP-087-1, which is described as a face without a mouth, pupils or nostrils.[8]
• SCP-108 is a Nazi bunker system that is accessible only through a portal found in a woman's nose.[9][6]
• SCP-173 is a humanoid statue composed of rebar, concrete and Krylon spray paint.[6] It is immobile when directly observed, but it attacks people and breaks their neck when the line of sight with it is broken. It is extremely fast, to the point where it can move multiple meters while the observer is blinking.[7]
• SCP-294 is a coffee vending machine that can dispense anything that does or can exist in liquid form—including, on occasion, abstract concepts. Regardless of the properties of the substance chosen, the machine's polystyrene cups appear to suffer no damage from the substances dispensed into them.[7][6]
• SCP-426 is a toaster that can only be referred to in the first person.[7]
• SCP-999 is a large, gelatinous slime mold-like creature that smells similar to whatever is most comforting to the person it makes contact with. It has a friendly personality and is known to induce positive emotions on contact with humans and other organisms. Therefore, it is sometimes used as a tool by the SCP Foundation.[10]
• SCP-1171 is a home whose windows are always covered in condensation; by writing in the condensation on the glass, it is possible to communicate with an extra-dimensional entity whose windows are likewise covered in condensation. This entity bears significant hostility towards humans but does not know that the Foundation members are humans.[6]
• SCP-1609 is a mulch that teleports into the lungs of anyone who approaches it in an aggressive fashion or while wearing certain uniforms.[11] It was previously a peaceful chair that teleported to any nearby person who felt the need to sit down, but it entered its current aggressive state after being inserted into a woodchipper by members of the Global Occult Coalition.[6]
• SCP-3008 is an IKEA retail store that has an infinite interior space with no outer physical bounds, causing prospective customers to be trapped inside the building after they become lost within its associated pocket dimension, designated as SCP-3008-1. It contains a rudimentary civilization formed by those customers, who are forced to survive and defend themselves against hostile creatures known as SCP-3008-2: tall, faceless humanoids wearing IKEA employee uniforms that become violently aggressive towards all humans during the dimension's simulation of night, in which its lights go out.[12]

On the SCP Wiki, the majority of works are stand-alone articles detailing the "Special Containment Procedures" of a given SCP object.[6] In a typical article, an SCP object is assigned a unique identification number[13] and a "containment class"[note 4] based on the difficulty of containing it.[14][15][16] The documentation then outlines proper containment procedures and safety measures before describing the SCP object in question.[6] Addenda (such as images, research data, history, or status updates) may also be attached to the document. The reports are written in a scientific tone and often "redact" or "expunge" information.[17] As of August 2021, articles exist for nearly 6,600 SCP objects;[18][note 5] new articles are frequently added.[6]

The SCP Wiki contains over 4,200 short stories referred to as "Foundation Tales".[6][19] The stories are set within the larger SCP universe, and often focus on the exploits of various Foundation staff members, SCP entities and objects, among other recurring characters and settings.[20] Gregory Burkart, writing for Blumhouse Productions, noted that some of the Foundation Tales had a dark and bleak tone, while others were "surprisingly light-hearted".[14]

The SCP universe lacks a central canon,[6] but stories on the wiki are frequently linked together to create larger narratives.[21] Contributors have the ability to create "canons", which are clusters of SCPs and Foundation Tales with similar locations, characters, or central plot. Many "canons" have hub pages that explain their basic concept and provide information such as timelines and character lists.[22]

The genres of the SCP Wiki have variously been described as science fiction, urban fantasy, horror and creepypasta.[5][23][24]

The SCP Wiki's original logo while on EditThis.[25]

The SCP Foundation originated in the "paranormal" /x/ forum of 4chan in 2007, where the very first SCP file, SCP-173, was posted by an anonymous user (later identified as Moto42),[26] accompanied by an image of the sculpture "Untitled 2004" by Japanese artist Izumi Kato. Although displeased with the unlicensed use of his art, Kato allowed the use of the photo explicitly for the noncommercial purposes of the community.[27] Initially a stand-alone short story, many additional SCP files were created shortly after; these new SCPs copied SCP-173's style and were set within the same fictional universe.[6] A stand-alone wiki was created in January 2008 on the EditThis wiki hosting service to display the SCP articles. The EditThis website did not have moderators, or the ability to delete articles. Members communicated through individual article talk pages and the /x/ board; the website lacked a central discussion forum. In July 2008, the SCP Wiki was transferred to its current Wikidot website after EditThis switched to a paid model.[6][28][2] As of 2022, the site's administrators have removed the image of SCP-173.[29][30]

The current Wikidot website contains numerous standard wiki features such as keyword searches and article lists. The wiki also contains a news hub, guides for writers and a central discussion forum.[21] The wiki is moderated by staff teams; each team is responsible for a different function such as community outreach and discipline.[31] Wikidot users are required to submit an application before they are allowed to post content.[6] Every article on the wiki is assigned a discussion page, where members can evaluate and provide constructive criticism on submitted stories. The discussion pages are frequently used by authors to improve their stories.[21] Members also have the ability to "upvote" articles they like and to "downvote" articles they dislike; articles that receive too many net downvotes are deleted.[32][33] Writers from the Daily Dot and Bustle have noted that the website maintains strict quality control standards, and that sub-par content tends to be quickly removed.[6][34]

The Wikidot website routinely holds creative writing contests to encourage submissions.[35] For example, in November 2014, the SCP Wiki held a "Dystopia Contest" in which its members were encouraged to submit writings about the Foundation set in a bleak or degraded world.[36] The website has also held seven themed contests for the opening of new Series, wherein the most-upvoted submission is listed at the beginning of the Series and the submissions of runner-ups are listed under an available number of their authors' choosings. As of Series VIII, the contest themes have covered urban legends,[37] science fiction,[38] eldritch horror,[39] history,[40] mystery,[41] nature,[42] and luck.[43]

Apart from the original English wiki, 15 official foreign language branches exist, and some of their articles have been translated into English.[1][14][note 1] The Wanderer's Library is a sister site and spin-off of the SCP Wiki. It uses the same setting as the SCP universe, but is made up of fantastical stories rather than scientific reports.[44] The SCP community also maintains a role-playing site, a forum on Reddit, and accounts on Facebook and Twitter.[6][45][46]

The SCP Foundation has received largely positive reviews. Michelle Starr of CNET praised the creepy nature of the stories.[7] Gavia Baker-Whitelaw, writing for the Daily Dot, praised the originality of the wiki and described it as the "most uniquely compelling horror writing on the Internet".[6] She noted that the series rarely contained gratuitous gore. Rather, the horror of the series was often established through the reports' "pragmatic" and "deadpan" style, as well as through the inclusion of detail.[6] Lisa Suhay, writing for the Christian Science Monitor, also noted the SCP Wiki's "tongue-in-cheek style".[36]

Alex Eichler, writing for io9, noted that the series had varying levels of quality and that some of the reports were dull or repetitive. However, he praised the SCP stories for not becoming overly dark, and for containing more light-hearted reports. Additionally, he praised the wide variety of concepts covered in the report and said that the wiki contained writings that would appeal to all readers.[9] Leigh Alexander, writing for The Guardian, noted that the wiki's voting system allows readers to easily locate content which "the community thinks are best and most scary."[47]

Winston Cook-Wilson, writing for Inverse, compared the SCP stories to the writings of American author H. P. Lovecraft. Like Lovecraft, SCP casefiles generally lack action sequences and are written in a pseudo-academic tone. Cook-Wilson argued that both Lovecraft's works and those of the SCP Wiki were strengthened by the tensions between their detached scientific tone and the unsettling, horrific nature of the stories being told.[48]

Bryan Alexander, writing in The New Digital Storytelling, stated that the SCP Foundation is possibly "the most advanced achievement of wiki storytelling" due to the large-scale and recurring process through which the wiki's user-base creates literary content.[49]

The works present on the SCP Foundation website have been the subject of numerous independent adaptations and inspired some original works:

• Official website
• Text-only archive of the earliest-known SCP-173 post on 4chan, obtained from the 4Chan Threads Text Archive