SCP-3948
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Test subject after 7 months of exposure to SCP-3948 (left) and his SCP-3948-altered reflection (right). Note differences in hairstyle, nose and lip shape, and facial hair.

Item #: SCP-3948

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-3948 is to be contained in Provisional Site 43-3948; when not in testing, all entrances should be blocked to prevent unauthorized entry. Entrance to the building will be denied for all Foundation personnel over the age of 53 apart from select D-class subjects used for testing.

Description: SCP-3948 is an anomalous phenomenon affecting all reflective surfaces inside a former nursing home located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Branded as the “Full Hearts Retirement Facility”, the 50-unit nursing home was built in 1976 and contained by the Foundation in 1997.

SCP-3948 activates when a human subject above the age of 531 enters the building. While initially the subject will notice no change, over a period of months their image in all reflective surfaces (bathroom mirrors, glass windows, metal cutlery, etc) will become unrecognizable to them through gradual alterations. SCP-3948 does not affect the perception of affected subjects but rather the reflective surfaces themselves; an observer standing behind an affected subject will perceive the same changed reflection as the subject themselves and similarly a photograph taken of a reflective surface affected by SCP-3948 will maintain the changed image.

At the time of containment the building was occupied by 37 residents, all of whom showed signs of moderate-to-severe dementia along with depersonalization2, derealization3, and depression. It additionally appears as though the staff of the nursing home were taking active precautions to avoid external discovery of the anomaly. The extent of these precautions (detailed in Addendum 3948-c along with details of initial containment) imply they were done knowingly and maliciously.

Addendum 3948-a: Long-term Experimentation Results, 02/12/2007

On the recommendation of the Ethics Committee, the previous residents exposed to SCP-3948 were relocated and no specific testing was done on them within the nursing home. In order to more accurately test the long-term effects of SCP-3948 on humans, an indefinite-length study was started immediately after containment with 20 D-class test subjects. Each subject remained in isolation from each other; half received virtual therapy treatments from offsite Foundation psychologists while the other half was left as a control group.

Ten years on, all subjects show some signs of dementia although the symptoms are highly elevated in the control group, suggesting that the mental deterioration is not strictly anomalous. In addition, observers have noted an increasing similarity in the changed reflections for all subjects, an analysis borne out by Foundation biometric facial scanners. With some variations in the timescale (mostly correlated with the race and gender of the subject), all of the subjects' reflections appear to have started to converge to the same image of a Caucasian male with skin mottling and a severely-impacted nose. Facial recognition technology has matched the common biomarkers to that of Ronald Exeter Corcoran, an Oshkosh native who died in 1955 in a murder-suicide.

Addendum 3948-b: Data recovered from Wisconsin Corrections Records re: Ronald Exeter Corcoran

Booking Photo, Ronald Exeter Corcoran, 04/15/1954
Image Unavailable
Booking photo taken of Ronald Corcoran for a public intoxication charge approximately 15 months before his death

Ronald Corcoran lived with his grandmother (his only living relative) in a house that would after his death be torn down and eventually replaced by the Full Hearts Retirement Facility. The official report filed on his murder-suicide is excerpted below:

Date of Incident: July 14, 1955
Report Author: Officer James McCallum
Incident Details: At 11 PM on the night in question, Officers James McCallum and Arthur Murphy responded to reports of distress at ███ ████████ ████, owned by Marjorie Corcoran. Upon arriving, both officers noted hearing cries for help inside and Officer McCallum forced the door open to render assistance. Upon entering, officers traced the sound of the cries to the basement. Both officers proceeded into the basement where they found Marjorie Corcoran chained to a radiator and surrounded by a circle of candles alongside her grandson, Ronald Corcoran.

Mr. Corcoran had died of a wound to the neck, apparently self-inflicted, and was holding a shard of glass dripping with blood. Mrs. Corcoran had received multiple stab wounds and most notably the skin of her face had apparently been cut or ripped off; Officer McCallum attempted to provide medical assistance but Mrs. Corcoran died of her wounds shortly thereafter. Officer McCallum was unable to locate Mrs. Corcoran's face.

Addendum 3948-c: Foundation Post-Mortem Report, 02/03/1997

Addendum 3948-d: Long-term Experimentation Results, 06/24/2017

Twenty years into experimentation, all test subjects' reflections appear identical to the known images of Ronald Corcoran. In addition, all subjects (regardless of therapy and/or pharmaceutical aid) show severe signs of dementia and the majority have lapsed into a near-comatose state, still capable of feeding themselves and other basic motor functions but seemingly unable to speak or acknowledge the presence of others. However, when staff entered the facility to perform followup testing it was noted that some subjects' reflections appeared to be tracking the staff (following them with eye movements, turning slightly towards them, etc.) independently of the subjects themselves. An attempt to conduct an interview directly with one such reflection was performed; for the purposes of this transcript the reflection is referred to as SCP-3948-1 and the subject by his designation, D-07214.

Following this interview, all testing on SCP-3948 was suspended indefinitely pending review.

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