SCP-3259

Description

SCP-3259 is a recurring transitory phenomenon. It occurs approximately once every two years. It typically manifests in households which:

• Are owned by their residents (100% of cases)
• Have been occupied by their residents for more than five years (96% of cases)
• Are occupied by three or more residents, all of whom are closely related either through marriage or consanguinity (100% of cases)
• Have never had previous issues with either vermin infestations, major infectious disease, or flooding (92% of cases)
• Are located in approximately middle-class residential neighborhoods (89% of cases)

The anomaly will only occur when all residents are present within the household.

The phenomena proceeds as follows: all residents of the household, save one, will be gathered in a single room. The absent resident will always be in another section of the house, but within earshot. An anomalous facsimile of the absent resident (designated SCP-3259-1) will enter the room where the majority of the residents are gathered. SCP-3259-1 will be mostly nude and bearing marks of obvious illness, including grey or decaying skin, hair falling out, froth at the mouth, an inability to speak, and a spastic, jerking walk.

At this point, the residents will exhibit signs of concern or distress, including vocalizations and possibly physical contact. When all of the residents are focused on SCP-3259-1, a number of vermin of variable species³ will burst from its body, to the distress of the residents witnessing the phenomena.

The resident that the anomaly had been mimicking will respond to the sounds of distress from the other room at this point. Upon seeing the remains of SCP-3259-1, the anomaly will de-manifest. The vermin will not, however, and in all cases a persistent, albeit non-anomalous, infestation by the species which manifested will occur in that household.

Interview 3259-21

Interviewer: Researcher Milton Inselmann
Interviewed: James Dalton, 42
Interview Location: Dalton family residence, [REDACTED], Ontario, Canada
Date: 2016-05-08
Regarding: 2016-05-07 manifestation of SCP-3259 at the Dalton family residence. Affected individuals include interviewed party, James Dalton, his wife, Janet Dalton (38), daughter, Annette Dalton (18), and son, Henry Dalton (17), who was the party mimicked by SCP-3259.

Researcher Inselmann: How are you today, Mr. Dalton?

Mr. J. Dalton: I want a fucking explanation for what happened in my house yesterday.

Researcher Inselmann: We're still investigating, sir. But there have been a number of similar incidents. You'll be the first to know, when we determine the cause. Could you tell me about your experience?

Mr. J. Dalton: Experience, hell. You think we were hallucinating, don't you?

Researcher Inselmann: No, sir, I don't.

Mr. J. Dalton: …You don't?

Researcher Inselmann: No. As I said, there have been similar incidents. Could you please describe what happened?

Mr. J. Dalton: I…yeah, alright. We were having a normal day. It was fine. Nice spring day. All the windows were open. We were in the kitchen. My wife was making lunch. I was playing Go Fish with my daughter at the kitchen table. My son was…he was in his room. Probably on his computer, or playing video games. You know how teenage boys are.

Researcher Inselmann: Of course. Was there anything unusual- anything out of the ordinary- about the day, or about the period leading up to…the event?

Mr. J. Dalton: No. Nothing. It was completely normal. Then. It happened.

Researcher Inselmann: Can you describe it, please?

Mr. J. Dalton: Yeah. Yeah, okay. Henry, my son, came in. Staggered in. But it wasn't him.

Researcher Inselmann: What do you mean?

Mr. J. Dalton: I mean, it wasn't him. He was…he looked like a corpse. He didn't look ill. He looked fucking dead. Wearing a pair of stained briefs. His skin was all….yellow and grey. And slick-looking. His eyes were… dead. Dull and dead. He staggered like he didn't know how to walk. In these, like, twitching, half-falling jerks. There was foam at his mouth- dry foam, like scales, all down his chin and chest, like a bib, and more frothing up like…you ever seen a rabid animal? It gets you right in the back of the mind, when you see that helpless foaming. Right where the instincts live. You know that it means sick, dangerous, right away.

Researcher Inselmann: But you didn't try to leave?

Mr. J. Dalton: I should've gotten Janet and Anne out of there. Looking back, that's the first thing I should have done. But…it looked like my boy. It looked like my boy was sick.

Researcher Inselmann: What happened next?

Mr. J. Dalton: Janet and Anne started talking. 'Oh my God, Henry, are you okay? What happened?' Stuff like that. I got up. I walked over to him. I put my hand on…that things arm… I….ah, hell.

Researcher Inselmann: I understand if you need a minute.

Mr. J. Dalton: No. I'm okay. It just…I saw something with my boy's face ripped apart, you understand? Its torso started bulging. Like something out of that Alien movie. The sounds- bones cracking and flesh ripping. And it burst open. Like a plastic bag full of groceries bursting. And the rats⁴ came out. A flood of them. Most of them hit the floor at once, with this wet thump, and went squealing in every direction. Their fur was damp with blood. I…jumped back. But some brushed against me. Against my ankles. Ran over my feet. I looked up and…

Researcher Inselmann: Yes? What did you see?

Mr. J. Dalton: He was still standing. But his torso, neck to waist, was a hole. He was hollow. Some rats were still inside him, squirming around. Some climbed out, and ran down his legs. His head was tilted back- his face was slack. He looked really dead now, even if he was still on his feet. His mouth was forced open- and more rats started squirming out. One of his eyes rolled back in his head- not rolled back, but… pulled into his skull. It left his…eye socket empty. A rat's head poked out of it. Started squirming out. (Mr. Dalton laughs, slightly hysterically, at this point). I hear a rat can get through any opening it can fit its head through. Even my son's eye socket. Compresses its skeleton, see.

Researcher Inselmann: We can take a break-

Mr. J. Dalton: -No. I want to finish this. (Pauses). He- the thing, I mean, the thing pretending to be Henry- finally fell. It went forward, fell on me. I pushed it- one of my hands went inside it. It wasn't a hallucination. I felt it. The…wet meat. And I felt the rats squirming. I pushed it, and it went back. Hit the floor like a sack of meat, It was still twitching. Rats were still ripping their way out- of the meat of his thighs, his arms. I remember I saw one- one sharp little furry head, fur matted with blood- rip its way out of a little hole in his thigh. It blinked in the light, looked around. I lost it at that point. Started screaming, stomping, trying to kill them. My wife had climbed on the counter, and was screaming. She was starting at its face. The thing pretending to be our son, I mean. My daughter was sobbing. I could hear her behind me. And that's when…

Researcher Inselmann: Yes?

Mr. J. Dalton: That's when Henry came out of his room. He was yelling, 'what's happening, what's happening'- he shouted, without any words in it, when he saw the rats- and then froze up when he saw that ripped-open, twitching thing on the floor. We were all looking at him. For a minute, everything was silent. Then it was gone.

Researcher Inselmann: The…thing mimicking your son?

Mr. J. Dalton: Yeah. Just wasn't there anymore. Floor was empty. The last few rats ran off. And that was that. We didn't know what to do next, so we called the cops. They never showed up; you guys did. Where did you say you were from, again?

Researcher Inselmann: Center for Disease Control. Ah- agent Georgio here has a shot for you. Nothing to worry about, just a precautionary rabies vaccination. Thank you for your statement, Mr. Dalton. We've contacted an exterminator on your behalf about the rats; I'm sure this matter will be resolved shortly.

Mr. J. Dalton: That's it? That's all you can do? Give me a rabies shot and say 'thanks for your time?' I watched my son be ripped apart by rats! How am I supposed to forget that?!

Researcher Inselmann: …I think you'd be surprised how quickly people can recover from this sort of trauma, sir.

Follow-up: The Dalton family was amnesticized without incident. Exterminators have succeeded in eliminating the Rattus rattus infestation from the Dalton household.