Item #: SCP-182
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-182 is to be kept in a small environmentally-sealed structure on an otherwise-uninhabited island situated 10km off the coast of Greenland. A team of five (5) guards are to be assigned to guard the subject at all times. Guards are to be examined for psychological damage once per month; guards who show any signs of damage are to be recalled from their post and are required to undertake a full course of psychiatric therapy prior to returning to duty. No single individual is to spend more than six (6) months at a stretch on 182 guard duty, and are required to spend a minimum of three (3) months on a different assignment before returning. Personnel are entitled to refuse this assignment if they have already spent a total of eight (8) months or more on the island. SCP-182 has requested to be kept under heavy sedation for 20 hours per day. Following Incident 182-7, this privilege has been revoked.
Description: SCP-182 is a Caucasian male, of average build, roughly 45 years of age, and has suffered heavy abdominal and cranial scarring at an unspecified point in the past (by subject's own admission, shortly before he was admitted into the care of the Foundation in 19██). SCP-182 is both deaf and mute, compensating for these disabilities with natural abilities.
SCP-182 has displayed the ability to passively enter the minds of other animals, including humans, and to perceive sight and sound through their senses, in effect 'riding' as a passenger in their minds. This has no consistent effect on personnel, and some guards have rotated on and off on a regular basis for the past ██ years without detrimental effects. However, prolonged exposure to SCP-182's passive 'sensory borrowing' results in vivid visual and auditory hallucinations in 97% of humans and 100% of nonhuman test subjects.
The effects in question vary widely in severity, but continued exposure after the onset will inevitably result in mental collapse, with said mental breakdown being hastened by proximity to SCP-182. SCP-182 has displayed the ability to consciously force hallucinations upon his guards when under duress, and as such it is advisable that subjects known to agitate SCP-182 be avoided (including mention of SCP-076-2, SCP-682, and SCP-182's own past prior to acquisition by the Foundation). Termination of affected personnel is recommended if they cannot distinguish between the hallucinations and reality, as all subjects allowed to reach such a point have invariably broken down, with brain death or permanent catatonia being the only possible outcomes. SCP-182 cannot control this ability with any appreciable degree of skill, and automatically sees and hears the perceptions of any living animals within ten (10) meters. Subject can 'focus' on specific directions outside of that range, but cannot 'ride' the senses of beings further away from it than thirty (30) meters.
SCP-182 additionally manifests the ability to project its thoughts into the mind of any individual whose senses it 'rides.' This mental 'speech' is the only known source of information about the subject, and has been described by guards as akin to being spoken to by a small human between their ears. SCP-182 exhibits no memetic or telepathic hazard stemming from this 'speech,' though subjects report that his 'voice' is always a component in their hallucinations.
Addendum 182-1: SCP-182 claims that the incident that resulted in the loss of its speech and hearing also manifested its telepathic talents. It is not presently clear whether this was a deliberate goal of the 'torture' subject was subjected to or whether the apparently life-or-death situation caused previously suppressed powers to manifest. Questioning in this vein is to be discouraged, as SCP-182 has become agitated in the past and has successfully attempted to accelerate the rate of mental breakdown in his handlers, resulting in ██ casualties during the first questioning.
Addendum 182-2: It has been suggested that SCP-182 be used as a “translator” with other SCPs who appear capable of thought, but not of communication. Given the side-effects of proximity to SCP-182, this request has been denied.
Incident Report 182-7
Audio report recovered from guard house, voice identified as Agent █████, recorded ██/█/19██
"Yeah… So, we got the letter this morning from O5 saying the sedation was approved. Dr. ███████ went out to tell one-eighty-two, guy seemed pretty happy, clappin' his hands and everything. Like a little kid. Shot him up, he was out like a light. Slept a few hours, then Dr. ███████ went in to check on him, make sure he was still breathing. Don't want a casualty, yeah? Anyway, I'm in the other house, we'd got up a good game of twenty-one, when I hear Doc screamin' his lungs out. Something about spiders, or…wha?"
(Following this, the tape records seven gunshots; audio analysis indicates they were fired at a point above and to the left of the microphone.)
"God damn it… We thought Doc had finally cracked, he'd been seeing little things out of the corner of his eye for a few days, we figured one-eighty-two had got to him. We drew straws to see who'd have to go get his body, [Agent J████████ ██████] drew the short straw. Guy was fresh out here, just been assigned last week. Dammit, I should have gone instead. J███'s screams started a few minutes later. Everyone got up at this point, we started walkin' out there, snow everywhere, should've transferred out of here befo- agh!"
(Another eight gunshots are heard, followed by repeated clicking. Subsequent sounds determined to be the replacement of an empty magazine.)
"Ugh… These things… We got to the house where one-eighty-two was, he was lying on the bed, looked dead to the world. Thirty, maybe thirty-five feet away J███ and Doc were sitting on the floor, drooling. Well, Doc was. J███ was dead. Blood oozing out of his mouth, looked like he bit his own tongue off. All three of us knew what'd happened. I started to see… things. I ran, I don't know about the other guys. I'm holed up in the building, gonna wait for the boat to arrive. Hope I can hold off long enough…"
(Audio recording continued for seventeen minutes, intermittent screams and gunshots can be heard, as well as a door opening twice.)
"I've seen what happens to those guys that go too far. I'm not ending up like that. I'm not going to see those things. Bye."
(A gunshot is heard, tape records two hours of silence. The bodies of Agents █████ and ████ were found inside the door, shot by Agent █████. Agent █████ was found next to the recorder, a bullet lodged in his skull.)
Final Incident Report: Subsequent questioning of SCP-182 by replacement personnel revealed that subject 'suffered from horrible, unworldly nightmares' while sedated. Subject displayed elevated levels of stress during interview, and it is theorized that the nightmares experienced by SCP-182 caused enough emotional distress that subject unconsciously created a radius of heightened hallucinatory territory. Subject is henceforth to be denied all sleeping aids.
