SCP-4005

His heavenly al-Sin, his twisted Marrakesh, is real. It is perfect. It is possible. All it requires is belief, and the effort of our twisted feet.

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SCP-4005, shortly before containment. Photograph found in the possessions of an inhabitant of Cairo, Ziyad Abdullah, who disappeared without trace in the 1970s.

Item #: SCP-4005

Object Class: Safe Apollyon

Special Containment Procedures 01/07/28: Containment of SCP-4005 is no longer possible.

Description: SCP-4005 refers to an indestructible glass mosque lamp, recovered from Cairo, Egypt. Based on the testimony from a number of writers over the centuries, the lamp is believed to have been created in Marrakesh in the 14th century, travelling across Africa and Asia for several centuries before being brought to Cairo in the 1950s.

When an individual stares for several seconds at SCP-4005 while it is lit, they will see images of urban scenes within the fire. These images possess a strong cognitohazardous effect1, causing the viewer to become an SCP-4005-1 instance.

SCP-4005-1 instances are characterised by an impetus to go on a pilgrimage to the city seen within SCP-4005's fire. This involves travelling a great distance on foot, usually to another continent, and entering a specific portal; most often a door, cave entrance, or window. The location travelled to is almost always of some personal or spiritual importance to the SCP-4005-1 instance. Upon entering these portals, SCP-4005-1 instances will disappear.

When interviewed by Foundation staff, SCP-4005-1 instances invariably believe that they will be taken to the city seen in SCP-4005 at the conclusion of their pilgrimage. They claim that all the urban scenes are of the same, single city, supposedly located somewhere within China or encompassing the entirety of China. These scenes have a great deal of variety, and although none are believed to correspond to any known location, they often bear a great deal of similarity to real-world cities. The prominence of this city in SCP-4005-1 instances' narratives and the possibility of its existence based on common features found within them has lead to its provisional designation as SCP-4005-2.

SCP-4005 was discovered in 1975, when it was removed from storage in a Cairo mosque and lit during a full congregation, which resulted in several hundred worshippers being converted into SCP-4005-1 instances. The resulting mass movement of people was noticed by the Foundation, who contained SCP-4005 and detained several hundred SCP-4005-1 instances after a full investigation.

Addendum 1 09/09/2027: The following is a diary written by one Omar ibn Rashid, an Egyptian novelist active in the 1950s. Ibn Rashid disappeared in 1958, approximately 3 years after this diary was written. The entire diary was composed in a series of intricate and complex codes, and has yet to be fully translated. The following pages are translations of what have been decoded thus far.

Addendum 2 07/01/28: The following is an interview conducted by Project Lead Martha Hardcastle with an SCP-4005-1 instance, hereafter referred to as SCP-4005-1A.

Addendum 3 23/01/28: The following is a selectively curated testing log of D-Class personnel exposed to SCP-4005.

Subject Place of Origin Date SCP-4005 Observations Place of disappearance
D‑2188 Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela 09/12/76 Subject observed a series of whitewashed coastal dwellings by a green ocean. Subject saw "a beautiful woman playing a violin to a postal worker." A cave on the Venezuelan coast, near Caracas.
D‑3733 Born in London, United Kingdom; raised in Yellowknife, Canada 08/02/79 Subjected reported seeing an "underground London, but somehow wrong." Entrance to SCP-1678
D‑3930 Born and raised in Worcester, United Kingdom. 12/11/86 Subject reported seeing a large number of factory workers, emerging from a "pear factory"2. Subject claimed that this represented the perfect way to live, a perfected form of Victorian-era capitalism. The cellar of a London townhouse.
D‑2513 Born and raised in Shanghai, China 07/02/92 Reported seeing the entire city; would not elaborate, and spent the rest of the time prior to entering SCP-4005-2 claiming he was the "brother of Jesus" A gateway in Nanjing, China.
D‑3380 Born in Shiraz, Iran; raised in Los Angeles, USA 17/01/97 Reported seeing a large palace, with many blue domes on its roof; the body, however, was reminiscent of the Pruitt-Igoe housing developments in St. Louis. The entrance to the Ali Qapu palace in Esfahan, Iran.
D‑3043 Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina 11/04/05 Reported seeing a large library which stretched on forever, with "each book being better than the last." Entrance to the National Public Library of Argentina.
D‑2508 Born and raised in Marrakesh, Morocco 28/06/14 Reported seeing an old man sitting on a carpet in some form of courtyard. The entrance to a door in Morocco. Agents escorting the subject noticed that the name "Omar ibn Rashid" had been carved into an external wall of the mosque.
D‑2072 Born and raised in Podgorica, Montenegro 15/12/25 Subject did not report on sightings. Instead, subject gouged out her own eyes while repeating the phrase "it does not have to happen! I am free! I am free!" A large door made of silicon in a factory in Podgorica.
D‑2747 Born in Kashgar, China; raised in Cairo, Egypt 11/07/27 Subject reported seeing large numbers of men, women and children "standing on an iron wall" and "staring at Dr. Hardcastle." The subject did not elaborate on how they knew what these subjects were staring at. Dr Hardcastle reported feeling a sense of profound unease during the experiment. The Iron Gates, a mountain pass in Xinjiang, China, and part of one of the traditional "Silk Road" routes.

Addendum 4 31/05/28: On 30/05/28, several members of Site 867 spontaneously turned into SCP-4005-1 instances. The effect appeared to spontaneously affect members of Site 867 at random; after a few hours, approximately 20% of Site 867's staff had been converted into SCP-4005-1 instances.

The following is an interview conducted by Project Lead Martha Hardcastle with SCP-4005-1A concerning these alterations to SCP-4005's functioning.

Addendum 5 02/06/28: The following is another set of decoded entries from Omar ibn Rashid's diary.

Addendum 6 20/06/2028: The following is a log of attempts to contain SCP-4005.

Date attempt begun Percentage of population converted into SCP-4005-1 Description of attempt Results
04/06/2028 0.00004% Full lockdown and quarantine of Site-867 Attempt failed. SCP-4005-1 instances reported in population of nearby towns, which rapidly spread to other towns and cities nearby.
07/06/2028 0.3% Removal of all known SCP-4005-1 instances to remote site in northern Canada; attempt to track down remaining instances, presuming all are still in the vicinity of Site 867. Attempt failed; generation of SCP-4005-1 instances random and worldwide.
09/06/2028 2.5 Large-scale attempt, using a wide variety of technological and anomalous means, to track down and kill SCP-4005-1 instances while simultaneously conducting research into methods of immunisation. All tracking and immunisation attempts failed.
11/06/2028 12.5 Immediate shutdown of all modes of transport worldwide. Large-scale checkpoints, curfews and population control enforced. Immediate termination of any suspected SCP-4005-1 instances. Activation of Broken Masquerade protocols. Attempt initially successful, but SCP-4005-1 instances quickly began using alternate portals to enter SCP-4005-2.
14/06/2028 20.6 Immediate removal of all known human populations away from possible SCP-4005-1 instances. Attempt failed; SCP-4005-1 conversion has become random and capable of appearing even in isolated populations.
15/06/2028 38.5 Use of SCP-2000 Request denied by O5-Council
16/06/2028 57.9 Ritual sacrifice to [DATA EXPUNGED] Request denied by O5-Council
18/06/2028 89.6 SCP-3799 Request denied by O5-Council, who also demanded the immediate reclassification of SCP-4005 as Thaumiel and the embarkation of Dr. Hardcastle and remaining personnel at Site 867 on a pilgrimage. This was countermanded by Dr. Hardcastle.
19/06/2028 99.9 Destruction of last non-infected human via suicide Attempt interrupted by SCP-4005-1A. Interview log concerning these events can be found in an addendum below.

SCP-4005 has been reclassified as Apollyon.

Addendum 7 29/06/2028: The following is a log of an unscheduled interview between SCP-4005-1A and Dr. Hardcastle.

Addendum 8 02/07/2028: The following is a third set of decoded entries from Omar ibn Rashid's diary. SCP-4005's translation and decoding team insisted, shortly after becoming SCP-4005-1 instances, that Dr. Hardcastle preserve these in the Foundation database. Dr. Hardcastle acquiesced to their request shortly after she accepted the fact that she had become an SCP-4005-1 instance.

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