SCP-1421
The Unreliable Oracle
Detail on SCP-1421-1
Special Containment Procedures
SCP-1421 is to be contained on-site within the Braydon Forest nature reserve. To avoid interaction with members of the public a fenced exclusion zone with a diameter of 100 metres is to be maintained by embedded personnel within the local Wildlife Trust and nature trail paths redirected. Acorns dispersed by SCP-1421 are to be collected and kept in secure storage at Sector-25. Under no circumstances are personnel to interact with SCP-1421-1 unless authorised to do so by Professor Reeds Dr Skinner.
Description
SCP-1421 is a single specimen of Quercus robur (English oak) located within Braydon Forest, Wiltshire, England. It is situated at the centre of a natural clearing approximately 20 metres in diameter - adjacent vegetation is visibly malnourished and the ground immediately surrounding SCP-1421 with a radius of 5 metres is defoliated.
Its anomalous properties become apparent when any source of chemical or electrical energy is introduced within 5 metres of SCP-1421; power sources of this nature are rapidly depleted via an unknown mechanism. In human subjects this rapidly induces a state similar to that caused by long-term fasting; it is unknown to what extent this state contributes to the perception of or response of subjects to SCP-1421-1.
SCP-1421-1 is the likeness of the face and partial hand of an elderly human male with a full beard, carved into the east side of SCP-1421's trunk 1.7m from the ground. SCP-1421-1 does not move and mechanical recordings have failed to detect speech or any other sound emanating from the carving - however, subjects exposed to SCP-1421 are extremely likely to perceive SCP-1421-1 talking to them and attempting to establish a dialogue. SCP-1421-1 is apparently sapient and displays in-depth knowledge of both the subject and previous individuals with whom it has conversed. As related by subjects exposed to SCP-1421, SCP-1421-1 represents itself as a nature god or woodland deity and will seek to proffer advice and information that it claims will advance the subject's interests.
Advice proffered by SCP-1421-1 frequently takes the form of a prophecy whereby some desirable result will be produced if the subject carries out a task. This task is frequently of an unethical and legally dubious nature, including, but not limited to, suggestions that the subject professionally embarrass, steal from, injure or kill friends, family, colleagues or strangers. Subjects who follow SCP-1421-1's advice enjoy no unusual protection from the consequences of their actions and arrest or death is a typical outcome. As far as can be established subjects are under no compulsion to obey SCP-1421, however the preternatural nature of the experience and the altered state induced by proximity to SCP-1421 has led to several individuals willing to carry out its suggestions.
Recovery Log 1421
SCP-1421's anomalous properties were discovered during a raid on the encampment of the PWF, a radical environmentalist group. The PWF had been drawn to the Foundation's attention by embedded agents in local law enforcement due to the group's unusually rapid escalation from peaceful protest to criminal and terroristic acts. Founded in 2009 as 'Protect the Wiltshire Forest', the group was best known for public awareness campaigns and petitions against building works on forested or woodland areas. In 2010 the group participated in sit-ins in the Braydon forest to attempt to prevent construction of a trunk road connecting the B4040 and B4042. During these protests the group evidently made contact with SCP-1421-1; the PWF subsequently established a semi-permanent base in the nature reserve, rebranding themselves as the 'Protect the Wilderness Front'. On 15/07/2010 the group was implicated in the criminal assault in his own home of a Wiltshire councillor who had voted for the building plans and the failed letter-bombing on 19/07/2010 of the parish clerk who had filed the motion, neither of which measures persuaded Wiltshire Council to abandon construction of the road.
On 02/08/10 five individuals matching the description of PWF members entered a branch of Lloyds TSB, threatening the cashiers with an unlicensed and most likely stolen .410 calibre shotgun. The robbery appears to have been poorly thought-out and executed, with the group failing to gain access to the funds in the branch's cash machine. The group was subsequently pursued and one of their number placed under citizen's arrest by bystanders. When turned over to Wiltshire Police, the group member stated that the robbery had been carried out at the direction of 'the god' and provided the location of the group's forest camp, at which point personnel from Sector-25 were dispatched to investigate. The corpse of a further group member, in an advanced state of mummification, was found at the base of SCP-1421; a further group member was found in his apartment in Braydon, having apparently committed suicide (see Document 1421-01). The location of the final PWF member, who seems to have been the group's leader, has not yet been established; his apartment contained literature from the deep ecology and anarchist movements.
Further documentation
Internal memoranda