A young man is with a group of friends
eating lunch in their college cafeteria. His friends are talking and laughing,
but they soon notice that the young man has hardly said a word. He
seems distracted by something. Sitting a few tables away is a young woman.
She’s eating by herself, and in fact the whole table around her is empty. As he stares,
one of the young man’s friends leans over and tells him to snap out of it, that the young
woman he is staring at is weird, and he’s better off leaving her alone. The young man doesn’t think
she looks weird. In fact he thinks she looks nice. Plus he’s seen her in one of his classes
and she doesn’t seem strange, just shy. The young man’s friends watch as he gets up from
his table and goes to sit across from the young woman. She seems surprised when he tells her
“hi,” as if she doesn’t know what to say back. The young man tells her that he’s seen her in
his anatomy class and introduces himself to her, extending a hand. After a brief moment, she
returns his handshake, she’s seen him in the class too. The two start talking, having one of
those awkward first conversations that happen with someone you like. They talk a bit about
their class - they both find it very difficult; about their majors - both pre-med; and
where they live - he on campus, her off. The young man needs to get going to his
next class, but he asks if she wants to study together some time. She seems hesitant, but
then agrees to at least exchange phone numbers. The young man walks away from the
table with a big smile on his face. That night, the young man is studying in his dorm.
His roommate asks him if he wants to come with him to a party, but the young man tells him no, he
has a big test coming up and needs to focus on it. His roommate leaves and he checks his phone for
the hundredth time that night… still no messages. Just as he sets it back on his desk though,
it chimes. There’s a text, and it’s from her! “This stuff is really hard. Do you want to
study together?” The young man is excited. Of course he wants to study
together. Where? Her apartment? Great! The young man doesn’t waste any time,
grabs his jacket and his books and heads out. It’s starting to snow lightly as he bikes to her
apartment which is a couple miles off campus. He’s feeling a little nervous as he locks up
his bike and walks to her door. He knocks and the door opens. There she is, the young woman,
looking just as nice as she did in the cafeteria. The young woman shows him into her apartment. She
offers him a glass of wine before they sit down and get to studying. In between quizzing each
other on the human circulatory system, the two chat, getting to know each other a little better.
Eventually she tells him that she has something she needs to ask him. She wants to know if he
thinks she’s weird. The young man is taken aback and answers no, not at all. She tells him that she
knows it sounds stupid, but when she was younger, a rumor went around her school that she was some
kind of witch. She didn’t know if maybe someone from her childhood was still spreading that
story around. The young man hadn’t heard that, but he wanted to know why someone would think
that? Because you do dumb stuff when you’re a kid, she tells him. You read about a ritual
in an old book and try it just for fun. Nothing happens of course, but don’t tell anyone
that you tried, or you’ll never live it down. They look outside and the snow has really
started to fall. It’s getting late too. Does he want to stay the night? The young man would
love to, the bike ride back to campus will be much easier in the morning. She tells him to
wait just a minute and goes into her bedroom. The young man is nervous, he’s never been in
this kind of situation before, if it even is a situation at all. He’s never had a girlfriend,
or even kissed a girl before. Could tonight be the night? The bedroom door opens and the young
woman comes out… with blankets and pillows for the couch. She tells him to make himself
comfortable and she’ll see him in the morning. The young man is disappointed, but what did he
expect? She just wanted someone to study with. It was dumb of him to think that she might like
him just because he had a little crush on her. Maybe they’ll be great friends though. The young man lies on the couch and
watches the snow fall outside. It’s so peaceful and quiet here, not like the
dorm where someone is always making noise. He watches snowflakes pass by the window as his
eyes start to grow heavy and he drifts to sleep… What was that? The young man jolts up.
He could have sworn her heard something. He listens, but now there is only silence.
He lies back down and closes his eyes, it must have been a dream. No, there it is again!
A popping noise. Then more sounds… snapping and ripping, like moist meat squished and torn.
What is going on? The young man gets up off the couch and looks around. It sounds like it’s
coming from the bedroom. Her bedroom. The door is closed though and there don’t appear to be
any lights on. But the strange sounds continue. The young man doesn’t know what’s happening
in there, but he feels extremely nervous. He takes a step towards the door and the noises stop.
What should he do? Will she be mad if he knocks? But what if something is happening in there?
What if she needs his help? He has to risk it. He needs to check that everything is alright.
The young man knocks lightly on the door… No response. He knocks a little harder. “Hello?
Are you okay?” Still nothing. Is he really going to do this? His heart is pounding. He
grips the doorknob and slowly twists it, cracking the door open ever so slightly. It’s dark in her room, a small beam of
moonlight coming through the frosty window is the only source of light. He opens the door
a bit wider “I hope it’s okay if I come in” he says “I heard something and...”
the young man freezes in terror. Lying there in the bed, illuminated by the
moonlight, is the girl, but not the whole girl. It’s just her body. Her head
has been ripped off at the neck. Unfortunately this student will never get ahead
in his anatomy class, because even something as innocent as a study date can turn bad quickly when
your partner is the strange and dangerous creature which many refer to as the Penanggalan, but
is better known to SCP Foundation as SCP-1060. SCP-1060 is the designation
given to the human female, both body and head included, who answers to the
name Adilah. In interviews with the subject, she has reported her age as being 22 years
old, and she is fluent in the Malay language, with some additional proficiency in Malaysian
English, which is a form of English that, unsurprisingly, combines elements
of British English and Malaysian. The subject has told interviewers that
she is trained as an obstetrics nurse, also known as an OB, a type of nurse that
specializes in helping to care for women and fetuses during pregnancy, labor, and
childbirth. It would seem at first glance, that SCP-1060 is a completely normal young
woman, and that is true, but only during the day. At night, SCP-1060 undergoes some… rather strange
changes to her physiology. In the evening, roughly 80 minutes after SCP-1060 has fallen
asleep, her head and certain internal organs including her heart, lungs, liver and the majority
of her digestive system will physically detach from the rest of her body. This occurs with
a sudden jerking motion that rips from the head and organs from the body, leaving a
large, gaping hole in the subject’s neck. The now detached head and trailing organs will
begin to levitate through a process that has to be explained by SCP Foundation researchers.
They will begin to float around the room they are in as other physical changes take place. The
subject's tongue will increase in size to roughly 22 centimeters in length and will begin flicking
at the air much in the same way that a snake does. The subject’s upper and lower canine teeth
also increase in both size and sharpness, all the while the body her head was
once firmly affixed to will remain lying in the same position
as when the head detached. If there is food present, SCP-1060 will use its
dangling intestines as a sort of prehensile limb, lifting the food with its guts up into its
mouth where it will tear at it with its razor sharp teeth. Once it has finished feeding, the
disembodied head will dip its exposed organs into a tub of rice wine vinegar. Exposing the
organs to the vinegar has an immediate effect, causing them to shrink in size such that they
will then fit into the exposed neck hole on the waiting, headless body and can be stuffed back
into the body cavity. The head then appears to seamlessly reattach itself to the body, the tongue
and teeth return to their normal size, and no signs remain that the head of this body was just
floating around of its own volition moments ago. SCP-1060 claims to have no knowledge that any
of this takes place, insisting that she sleeps quite normally. Her complete unawareness
of her condition has led her to be very insistent that she be released from Foundation
containment, and frequently requests that she be allowed to contact her family members. So
far both of these requests have been denied. A head that rips itself from its own body at night
and flies around with its exposed organs dangling beneath it is an extremely unsettling image, but
this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what makes SCP-1060 truly horrifying. Just
as the many Malay legends and myths describe, this creature's favorite foods are children
and unborn fetuses carried by pregnant women. The Foundation learned this fact in a particularly
unsettling incident, which has been designated SCP-1060.01A. During this incident, a researcher
who was in her second trimester of pregnancy entered the containment chamber of SCP-1060 while
it was engaged in its night time cycle behavior, in order to refill the basin of vinegar that would
allow it to return to its complete human form. Despite not having previously shown
aggressive behavior towards staff, as soon as the researcher entered the chamber
SCP-1060 immediately flew at her. It used its dangling intestines to restrain the
researcher and… well the results were not pretty, and sadly neither the researcher
nor the fetus that she was carrying survived. Following this incident, the containment
procedures for SCP-1060 were updated to specify that members of staff who are pregnant
or suspect that they may be pregnant, are not allowed into the containment
chamber during its night time cycle. While the origins of SCP-1060 and just how this
young woman came to possess these anomalous properties are unknown, there are numerous
tales, most originating from Malaysian folklore, that describe a creature that is quite similar.
Known as the Penanggalan, it is a creature akin to a vampire, though with one key difference,
this monster chose to become what it is. Malaysian myths tell of a method some women use to
become Penanggalan, where they will meditate while taking a ritual bath in vinegar. Their entire
body must be submerged except for their head, and through a black magic process, they gain the
ability to have their head detach from their body and turn into something that
looks quite similar to SCP-1060. Some modern interpretations of the legend describe
it not as a choice, but as a curse, or as the result of breaking a demonic pact, but they all
have the same result for the woman in question. As SCP researchers continue to look into this
bizarre, and quite dangerous anomalous entity, she is kept contained in a humanoid observation
and detention cell at all times in Site 33. While she is in her complete human form during the
day, she is given food from the on site cafeteria, but during her night time phase, she is provided
with 0.8 kilograms of human placental material, and she is to have access to a basin that contains
at least 4 liters of rice wine vinegar. The lack of knowledge about just what this anomaly is,
and the threat it poses to certain populations, has lead to it being classified as Euclid,
and though progress has been slow, it is hoped that one day it will be better understood, and
perhaps once it is, Adilah can finally go home. Now go watch the file for
SCP-015-IT, The Boogeyman, for another anomaly that you may find yourself
pitying and much as fearing. And make sure you subscribe and turn on notifications,
so you don’t miss a single anomaly, as we delve further and further into the
SCP Foundation’s classified archives.
