SCP-1841-EX
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F████ L████, from whom SCP-1841 emanates

Item #: SCP-1841-EX

Object Class: Euclid Neutralized Euclid Keter Explained

Original containment file retrieved from the archives of the Royal Foundation for the Study of Curiosities and Phantasmagoria. Date of last edit 3/16/1878.

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1841 remains outside containment at this time, as its scale and ephemeral nature make apprehending all those afflicted an impossibility. The person of Mr. F████ L████ is beyond Foundation reach at this time, being under the protection of the Roman Catholic Church and the German Empire. The Foundation shall shadow the movements of Mr. L████ and communicate via telegraph with constabulatory agencies in all areas through which he performs or travels, and shall provide intelligence and assistance in dispelling any riots or indecent behaviour occurring as a result of his presence.

Fellows and other members of the Royal Foundation are prohibited from attending performances given by Mr. L████, lest they themselves become affected. Any person affected by SCP-1841, presenting a breach of the peace, may be despatched or pacified by any means necessary. Medical examination of infected persons is authorised for the purposes of identifying the means by which SCP-1841 infection is spread. Electrical or manual stimulation of ladies entering a hysterical state as a result of SCP-1841 is authorised as necessary to calm the female urges and prevent improprietous behaviour.

Description: SCP-1841, referred to in the public press as "L████ fever" or "L████omania", is a most curious series of public behaviours engaged in by persons exposed to the public performances of F████ L████, a composer and pianist of Hungarian extraction. Through a means yet unknown to science, any person who observes and listens to Mr. L████ performing on the piano, whether the works in question are his own compositions or those of other composers, is at risk of contracting SCP-1841, which may endure for from as little as three hours to as many as five years thereafter. Since the existence of SCP-1841 was first documented in Berlin in 1844, primary and secondary infections have affected an unknown number of thousands throughout continental Europe.

Approximately sixty-three percent of persons exposed to a L████ performance acquire symptoms of SCP-1841. Those of the female sex are more easily swayed by SCP-1841, though men of the younger generation (Bohemians and confirmed bachelors in particular) have also been demonstrated to be easily affected. Initial symptoms begin to manifest during the performance itself, and include raucous cheering and hollering, dancing of a manner inappropriate to the tempo of the composition, heated conversation, and in many cases attempts to touch Mr. L████ during his performances, or to abscond with his personal effects, refuse, or broken piano strings. Even during performances themselves, fights have been observed to break out among audience-members over discarded effects such as cigar butts or coffee dregs.

Following the conclusion of performances, infected persons have often attempted to follow Mr. L████ to his lodgings, resulting in affray and riotous occurrences requiring police intervention. Persons interviewed following an outbreak of SCP-1841 have insisted on speaking of Mr. L████ in terms most hagiographic, describing him as the greatest musician to ever live, and venerating any effects stolen from his person as holy relics. Secondary infection is possible as a result of these persons' efforts, who have been noted to "preach" Mr. L████'s graces to as many acquaintances of their own as possible, thereby inoculating those people to seek out an audience with him. In multiple instances when touring within Germany, full-blown outbreaks of SCP-1841 have occurred several days before Mr. L████ himself arrived in the city.

In extreme cases, ladies suffering from SCP-1841 have been observed to suffer hysteria as the result of finding themselves in Mr. L████'s company, entirely discarding proper decorum and behaving in a manner becoming unto ladies of the evening. Those so afflicted describe elaborate delusions of Mr. L████'s intimate appeal, to the exclusion even of their own husbands, and cannot be prevented from engaging in brazen and inappropriate behaviours for so long as infection perseveres. Pelvic massage and electrical stimulation have proven effective at temporary dissipation of these behaviours; care must be taken, however, that the lady so afflicted does not at the time have Mr. L████ himself in mind, lest the onset of hysterical paroxysm only strengthen the delusion within her.

The cause of SCP-1841 is unknown. During an interview conducted in 1863, Mr. L████ himself denied any understanding of the phenomenon or ability to control it, and stated that he found the hysterical reactions of ladies in attendance at his performances most unsettling. Owing to SCP-1841's curious ability to affect the mind, a connection to the Parisian salon "Sommes-Nous Devenus Magnifiques?" is suspected; no direct evidence of a link between Mr. L████ and that organisation, however, has to date become known in London.

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