The Gaslighters
COGNITOHAZARD WARNING
Journal Entry log
Written by: James ███████
June 30, 2022: I was walking in the woods, didn’t know where I was. I tried to call for help, but my phone didn’t have any signal. There was an uneasy slight breeze, but nothing out of the ordinary. I came across a sign that read: “███████████ National Park”. Then I came across a different sign, which read, “Missing: Jennifer ████████ █████”. The name rang a bell. Sounds familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it... I saw more of these signs with other names, “Adam ██████”, “Michael ██████”, “Jensen ████████”, and around 8 others. Slowly, the fog lifted from my mind. Class of 2009... my old classmates. Wait, these are people I graduated with back in high school. The sudden realization petrified me. I was stunned and disturbed by this fact and the fact that these posters were almost a decade old only puzzled me more. Suddenly I heard the sound of leaves rustling behind me. Without hesitation and looking back to see what it was, I ran as fast as I could out of the woods, trying desperately to catch my breath. What the hell was all of that? Why were there that many missing signs, let alone with people from my high school? My head was throbbing almost as much as my heart was pounding. I had a headache, and it was getting late. I decided to call an uber. As I was waiting for the driver to arrive, I noticed someone walk out of the woods. I was across the road, far enough for them to stop chasing after me but still managed to make out their appearance. Something was off about them. Normally when someone has their hood up, you could at least see their nose or their mouth, but there was nothing, just darkness. It really gave me the chills. Around 10 minutes later the driver finally arrived at my location in a black SUV. I quickly entered the backseat and the moment I closed the door; it started charging at the car. I told the driver to floor it and he did. I looked behind through the car window and could see nothing but the fog. While sighing with relief, the driver asked me what happened. I just told him a crazy person was chasing after me and he seemed to believe it. Didn't want to explain how the figure looked, or else he would think I'm the crazy one. It was getting dark. I figured it would be best to sleep it off and hopefully forget about it the next day.
July 1, 2022:
That morning, I woke up with the same headache I fell asleep with, only this time I heard unintelligible whispers for a moment. I couldn’t make out what it was, but I remembered having a dream. I was walking in the woods, the exact one I was in yesterday, and saw the same signs, except when I heard the leaves rustle behind me, I turned around and saw all of those people on the signs. My friends, the people I graduated with, but something was off about them…... They didn’t look normal. I couldn’t describe it, there was just something off about their faces, they looked different. Their facial structures, they looked off. One of them, Jennifer, reached her hand out to greet me. I knew something wasn’t right but at the same time, I felt this force that lured me towards her, pulling out my arm to shake her hand. Then I heard the others, laughing and pointing at me, but Jennifer was just standing there with her hand out, smiling, grinning. By the time my hand met contact with hers and grasped it forcefully, a black liquid oozed out of her mouth and eyes, dissolving her into a puddle of darkness. The black liquid turned into some type of slime that was pulling me into the hole. I tried to scream for help, but I was paralyzed and couldn’t do anything. Before I was pulled into the void, I woke up, gasping for air. What just happened…...?
July 1, 2022, 6:30 PM: I couldn’t get those thoughts out of my head. All day I heard whispers, most unintelligible but some were clear: “The Woods”, “Your friends”, “Go back”. The weather was the same as yesterday and I was driving back from the pizza place to get some pizza. Then I noticed something or someone in the distance. Jennifer? No, that can’t be, why would she be out here of all places? I parked my car and went out to investigate. She ran into the nearby woods, the same one in the dream that I stumbled across yesterday. I was extremely hesitant to enter but I couldn’t just leave her there. I ran after her and kept shouting her name. “Jennifer! Why are you out here! Do you need help!!?” She stopped in her tracks, and near a group of people. They all turned around and-
It was them, my classmates, the people I saw in the woods. I couldn’t see their faces, only their eyes which were glowing for some reason, but I knew it was them. THEY were the ones who were “missing.” THEY were the voices in my head. I slowly walked towards them, saying their names out loud. “Jennifer? Jensen?” Then they disappeared without a trace. They vanished, no signs left behind, no footprints, gone. Wiped away as if they never existed.
July 15, 2022: Two weeks later I turned on the TV - “BREAKING NEWS: A group of young adults in their 20s have been found dead in the basement of an abandoned house.” The coroner’s report found the corpses clean and unmarred. There were no signs of blood spillage, scars, or cuts. No wounds or broken bones. The cause of death was unknown. The strange thing was that the house looked exactly like mine as well as the basement. Is this all a dream? What is happening?
<End Log>
A few weeks later, an eyewitness noticed a young man appearing to be in his late 20s entering the woods shouting a woman’s name. The witness stated the man kept running after something or someone and stopped a few minutes after running, muttering the names of a few people. Another eyewitness found the same young man entering his home which appeared to be the house that looked exactly like the one with the incident of the missing young adults. Local Law Enforcement have investigated the house and basement as well as interviewed both witnesses for questions regarding the incident. Both witnesses were cleared with no connection to the deaths. Local Law Enforcement confiscated the journal found inside the victims’ home which was later confiscated by Mobile Task Force Iota-10, undercover as FBI agents. MTF Iota-10 have managed to transfer the item to the SCP Foundation's Possession for investigational, research, and archival purposes. A cover story was created, with the medical examiner's concluding replaced with the original stating that doctors have concluded that the killer(s) have infected the deceased people with a new type of poison discovered by the doctors. The poison is known to show barely any symptoms on the individual's body. As for the house, it was reported as a mere coincidence and nothing more.
To date there have been 35 known cases of SCP-9446. The 2 interviewed eyewitnesses were given Class B amnestics shortly after undergoing a psychological evaluation. The Victim of the anomaly was given a psychological evaluation as well and appeared to not remember any of the people who the SCP-9446 instances manifested as. The Victim also appeared to show major symptoms of Schizophrenia. Class B amnestics were administered and the victim shortly regained memory of the people the anomaly manifested without remembering the anomaly itself or its instances. Symptoms of Schizophrenia were no longer reported.
Mobile Task Force Epsilon-6 codenamed “Village Idiots” were dispatched to the house to contain the deceased bodies and police tape wrapped around the house, later to be designated for demolition. Mobile Task Force Eta-10 have been dispatched to ███████████ National Park to investigate and secure the anomaly. The Foundation has since bought the land and research is currently ongoing. Any citizens who come into contact with the anomaly are to be brought to Site-██ for a psychological evaluation and to be given Class C amnestics. Despite high presence of the phenomenon being located in the ███████████ National Park, there have been reports of the phenomenon manifesting in wooded rural areas across the United States. MTF Gamma-5 is tasked with intercepting News articles and News channels broadcasting the anomaly and keeping the phenomenon under the radar from the public.
Footnotes:
2. SCP-9446-2-25 (designation varies based on number of concurrent instances, with 24 being the most recorded to date) are a specific individual or group of individuals bearing the appearance of a person or people in the victim’s memory. However, their faces are reported to be blacked out with glowing white eyes instead of the victim’s original face.
3. Currently, the anomaly’s method of choosing and harvesting victims remains unknown. However, it is known that terminating the instances before the anomaly disappears will turn them into a dark puddle of unknown substance, and the victims the instances manifested will not be harmed or killed.
4. Cases in wooded rural areas with people claiming to see familiar faces have been noted. Mobile Task Forces Epsilon-6 and Eta-10 have been sent out to secure the area(s) as well as to terminate any instances of the anomaly.
5. When the Instance(s) are not manifesting the appearance of a victim’s acquaintance or known relative/friend, the instance will appear as a humanoid figure standing roughly 1.9 meters in height. The entity appears to be wearing black pants along with a black hoodie with the hood covering its head. As for the entity’s Face, it appears to be non-existent. Instead, it’s replaced with pitch darkness and a pair of glowing eyes.
6. The Instances of SCP-9446 are sentient beings and possess the abilities to phase through walls and teleport. The instances also possess invisibility, however only the victim the anomaly has chosen as its target will be able to see the instances Not including the secondary victims the instances will manifest as.
8. Primary victims of SCP-9446 will experience symptoms of schizophrenia and psychosis as well as auditory and visual hallucinations. The victim will also experience a feeling of "deja vu" whether the victim is slumbering or not. If the victim is slumbering, the victim will report to have experienced the same phenomenon they've encountered in their dreams.
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