Secure. Contain. Protect.
Think back to your greatest fear, the thing which as a child made you rush towards your parents bed at the sound of something creaking in the house, thinking that it was lurking within the shadows of your closet. The thing which perhaps to this day makes you think twice before turning off the lights.
Ever wonder if there were a way to stop it?
In the far corners of the Internet lies a certain website, a site dedicated to exploring and further exploring and explaining what lies in the dark, whether or whomever it is that goes bump in the night.
Welcome to the SCP Foundation.
The SCP Foundation is a fictional government agency dedicated to the containment and study of the various sorts of anomalies, cryptids and all sorts of unexplained phenomena which either bend, break or re-write the physical laws which dictate the natural world. It is also, in my personal opinion, a great piece of ongoing publicized Digital Media.
For context, the general idea is that there exists a secret underground government agency, of which is dedicated to tracking down, locking up and studying the vast amount of anomalies, also Known as SCPs, that cannot be explained via the laws and rules of the natural world order. Some of these anomalies are rather simple yet weird things, such as a gun that looks like a regular gun on the outside but is made up of biological material, is alive and shoots teeth. On the other side of the coin, however, are the horrid occult level beings which tore through our reality and landed in our plain and desire nothing but chaos for all who stand near it.
It’s sort of like the Cthulhu expanded universe in a way.
Writers take on the role of Doctors and researchers who are tasked with documenting, studying and classifying said SCPs, with each author left with their own will and imagination in order to further extend the SCP universe and it’s mythos.
As of now there are over five thousand SCPs out there, and still growing, with over half of whom have entire mythos and short stories written by the original author or dedicated fans who want to see the site grow and expand to new heights. Anyone can go on the website right now and go about making their own SCPs, whether they be short and simple creative pieces plucked right out of your imagination, or entire horrific monstrosities ripped right from your nightmares which you wish to share with the world, with a special flare which continues to bring more and more people back, and maybe even a bit scared of what lies out in the dark.
In terms of what I think the SCP Foundation is all about and what it is supposed to mean, It is my personal opinion that the SCP Foundation is there for the purpose for everyone and anyone to go on and write out what they fear the most about the supernatural world, whether this be from their own vivid imaginations or from the deepest parts of their darkest nightmares. It’s a means of venting, to make the things you fear real in a way and make it so that there is a way to, in a sense, contain it. Then there is the idea of spreading said fear to the masses and other members of the Foundation, who in turn take that object, person or creature and lock it up in its own personal prison. Then people can come and view it, study it, and in turn mold it into something which would be viewed like one would view an animal at the zoo. We make stories of it, akin to the scary stories you would tell to your friends at sleepovers or around a campfire when you were younger, when your greatest fear was what lurked in the dark. Though this time you’re no longer staying awake till morning for fear of it lurking in the shadows. You begin to look back, think about how ridiculous it was to be scared of whatever it was you were afraid of that thing. It’s no longer a fear, it’s not something you ‘re controlled by. It’s something you control. You are the one pulling the strings, the warden to its prison, the Doctor prodding and poking at the incomprehensible, the soldier locking it up or the researcher learning how it works and turning its strengths and weaknesses.
You are in control of the uncontrollably.
And best of all you’re not alone, as there are quite literally thousands of other with you, each with their own personal horrors which they seek to contain and exploit, to study and break down to the point where they are no longer feared or are forever locked away from the world. But no matter which is the case, both you and everyone else are there to contain those fears, keeping them at bay while the rest of the world lays ignorant to whatever it is which you think goes bump in the night.
Because together we all have a job to do.
To secure, to contain, and to protect.
So with this in mind, I would like to encourage everyone to go visit the Foundation’s website, to go in and read through the many various SCPs, to see what it is that people fear and how they are keeping it at bay, how they break it down to the science in order to push back the darkness. And if you so happen to have a certain fear or just an idea of something spooky, go ahead and write it out, share it with the world so that we can all face it together. There’s even a part of the website where you can turn whatever it is you want into a complete joke, to turn your fear into something to laugh at with others.
I hope I have convinced you to look into the SCP foundation, and if you have time maybe even check out the vast amount of Games, shorts, animations or various other types of Media inspired by the SCP Mythos.
