Vaughn L. Kaminski; recovered from a 1921 edition of Great Expectations.
Special Containment Procedures
Foundation personnel embedded in literary and academic circles are to be briefed on SCP-3138; they are to report any fictional work discovered to deviate from its canonical number of human corpses.
A Foundation-operated bot (I/O-MANDELA) is to monitor websites and online communities centered on discussions of printed media; discussions regarding books that describe more human corpses than previously expected are to be flagged for review.
Upon discovery, any printed work of fiction suspected of being affected by SCP-3138 is to be recovered and reviewed by MTF Rho-1 ("The Professors"). Should it prove feasible, all non-canonical corpses are to be extracted, examined, and catalogued. Otherwise, affected works are to be kept on-site in a secure locker. Access is restricted to Level-4 personnel.
Description
SCP-3138 is a phenomenon involving the insertion of human corpses into a printed work of published fiction. The work must convey a narrative capable of recognizably describing the presence of a human corpse.
Inserted corpses will be depicted in a manner suited to the work; for example, a corpse inserted into a poem relying upon a particular rhyming scheme will be described via this rhyme scheme. Extraction of inserted corpses can be accomplished by destroying the work or editing it to remove the depiction of a corpse. Should this occur, all erased corpses will immediately emerge from the text in question. Notably, corpses that emerge during these events are non-anomalous, and show signs of decay reminiscent of extended submersion in an acidic environment.
The method by which SCP-3138 is accomplished has yet to be determined.
Addendum 3138.1: Recovery Logs
RECOVERY LOG
DISCOVERY DATE: 16/03/1942
SUBJECT: A 1921 paperback edition of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
‘Bless your soul and body, no,’ answered Wemmick,
very drily. ‘But he is accused of it. So might you or I be.
Either of us might be accused of it, you know.’
‘Only neither of us is,’ I remarked.
‘Yah!’ said Wemmick, touching me on the breast with
his forefinger; ‘you’re a deep one, Mr. Pip! Would you like to
have a look at Newgate? Have you time to spare?’
I had so much time to spare, that the proposal came as
a relief, notwithstanding its irreconcilability with my latent
desire to keep my eye on the coach-office. Muttering that I
would make the inquiry whether I had time to walk with him, I
went into the office, and ascertained from the clerk with the
nicest precision and much to the trying of his temper, the
earliest moment at which the coach could be expected - which I
knew beforehand, quite as well as he. I then rejoined Mr.
Wemmick, and affecting to consult my watch and to be surprised
by the information I had received, accepted his offer.
We were at Newgate in a few minutes, and we passed
through the lodge where three smartly dressed corpses were hung
hung up on the bare walls, their attire dark and unusual.
Though shocked by the barbarity of the sight, Mr. Wemmick
shushed me and urged me forward, silencing my confusion with a
gesture to his lips. Now, at that time, jails were much
neglected, and the period of exaggerated reaction consequent
on all public wrong-doing - and which is always its heaviest
NOTE: Of the three recovered corpses, only one could be positively identified: Vaughn L. Kaminski, an accountant with known ties to Henry Earl J. Wojciechowski. An autopsy concluded that all three corpses died as a result of pulmonary aspiration.
RECOVERY LOG
DISCOVERY DATE: 06/11/1957
SUBJECT: A 1925 edition of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
through the amorphous trees.
The chauffeur — he was one of Wolfsheim’s
proteges — heard the shots — afterward he could
only say that he hadn’t thought anything much
about them. I drove from the station directly to
Gatsby’s house and my rushing anxiously up the
front steps was the first thing that alarmed any
one. But they knew then, I firmly believe. With
scarcely a word said, four of us, the chauffeur,
butler, gardener, and I, hurried down to the pool.
There was a faint, barely perceptible movement of
the water as the fresh flow from one end urged
its way toward the drain at the other with little
ripples that were hardly the shadows of waves, the
laden mattress moved irregularly down the pool. A
small gust of wind that scarcely corrugated the
surface was enough to disturb its accidental course
with its accidental burden. The touch of a cluster
of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing, like the leg
of compass, a thin red circle in the water.
It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house
that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off
in the grass — and alongside it, seven more. The
holocaust was complete.
187
NOTE: Of the six recovered corpses, only four could be positively identified. All were known associates of Alphonse Gabriel Capone. An autopsy concluded that all six corpses died as a result of pulmonary aspiration.
RECOVERY LOG
DISCOVERY DATE: 21/02/1982
SUBJECT: A 1912 edition of Collected Poems by Edgar Allan Poe.
Collected Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
With the corpse of Beverly Queen.
The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me—
Yes! — that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling — my darling — my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
With the corpse of Beverly Queen.
NOTE: Although the recovered corpse could not be conclusively identified, it was determined to be that of an adolescent female. In 1932, a missing person report was filed with the Chicago Police Department for Beverly Queen — a 17 year old female living with Richard Chappell. An autopsy concluded that the corpse died of pulmonary aspiration.
