If you ever take a trip across the pond, to
some of the more rural parts of the British Isles, you might just hear some tales of a
dark, shadowy shape, a creature stalking through the night, an omen of death. It’s an entity that has been known by many
names, including The Grim, or Black Shuck. Most folks will tell you the same, that this
nightmare takes on the form of a huge, black dog, but is also known to be able to change
its shape. Often appearing at night time, the apparition
is said to be demonic in nature, commonly associated with the Devil himself, believed
by some to be a hell hound like Garmr and Cerberus, guardians of the Underworld in Norse
and Greek mythology. The dog is far larger than your average pet,
with big, glowing eyes. It is also known to stalk crossroads, ancient
pathways, and places where executions took place. Those who catch sight of Black Shuck are often
befallen with bad luck, and for some it can even mean that death will soon be upon them. Of course, this is nothing more than a bit
of local folklore, spooky tales designed to drum up tourism. But, is the Black Shuck really just a legend
or is there something more to the tale? After all, it’s not as if a dog like that
could really exist, could it? Enter SCP-023, otherwise known as – yes,
you guessed it - the Black Shuck. Much like the creature from the stories, SCP-023
is an entity possessing a canine form, far larger than most domesticated dogs. SCP-023 is described as being “shaggy”
in appearance, with black fur and glowing orange-red eyes, as well as prominent fangs. Through testing, the SCP Foundation has determined
a number of the dog’s anomalous abilities. First and foremost, legends have described
the Black Shuck as an apparition or a spirit, and much in the same vein, SCP-023 is able
to phase right through solid matter. The creature can pass through walls seemingly
at will, but does also seem to have a physical form, at least when it is kept in containment. To prevent a breach, the Foundation keeps
SCP-023 in a walled off intersection of two corridors, sporting fake doors at three of
its four ends, with only one real entrance. Why does the dog’s containment unit require
such a specific layout? Simple, it has to resemble a crossroad, even
if this is merely a superficial resemblance. Remember that the Black Shuck of legend often
appeared at crossroads, a sign that would warn those traveling of their impending doom. As long as SCP-023 remains contained in a
cell resembling crossroads, it cannot pass through walls. Should the Black Shuck ever escape this enclosure,
however, then it will use its anomalous abilities to incinerate anything in its path. The dog can burn through walls, no matter
how dense, and will travel from location to location by this method. Also in keeping with the Shuck of folklore,
looking into the eyes of SCP-023 can hold potentially devastating outcomes. Should any person make direct eye contact
with the dog, then death will be upon them. Within the span of the next full year, either
the person who looked the Black Shuck in the eye or a close member of their family, will
die, just like a number of the legends state. The Foundation has no concrete idea how the
Shuck chooses its victims, with no patterns or obvious preferences, only that they will
die a year after eye contact. Researchers aren’t even sure if SCP-023
selects its victim from the moment eye contact is made, or if this choice is made during
the year that follows, or if it even is a conscious choice at all. All that is known for certain is that if you
were to look into the beast’s glowing eyes, there would be no way for you to tell if you
or a relative would suffer the consequences, only when. In the past, the SCP Foundation attempted
to eliminate an individual that looked into SCP-023’s eyes, along with their whole family
before the year was up, trying to take any potential victims away from the Black Shuck
before they could be hunted down by the anomalous canine. Much like the way the creature passes through
walls by incinerating solid matter, the way SCP-023 dispatches its chosen victims seems
to also be linked to the use of heat. The Foundation has conducted a number of autopsies
on those killed by SCP-023, and their findings have always yielded the same result. Anyone killed by the Black Shuck will not
exhibit any signs of external damage, no burn marks on their skin or any kind of contusions. However, on closer inspection, these bodies
appear to have been “filled in”, their insides replaced with highly compacted ash. All their organs and internal bodily systems
appear to be incinerated by the Black Shuck, but somehow this occurs so rapidly that there
is no notable damage caused to the outside of their bodies. To prevent SCP-023 claiming any further victims,
the Foundation has another measure in place. The Black Shuck has been fitted with two spheres
made of hard rubber. These are inserted into the creature’s sunken
eye sockets, blocking anyone from accidentally making eye contact with it. However, over time, thanks to the heating
effect of the Shuck’s stare, these inserts will begin to degrade. When security cameras detect that the glow
of SCP-023’s eyes has returned to a dangerous level, Foundation personnel will have to replace
the rubber spheres to once again block the creature’s vision. However, this can only be done after sunset,
and any personnel tasked with replacing the inserts are cautioned not to look the dog
in the eyes during this process, unless they want to become the Black Shuck’s next victim. The SCP Foundation first came into contact
with SCP-023 when they received information about an attack that had taken place at a
church. While the location of this incident is unknown,
if the legends are to be believed, the church may have been located in the moors of a rural
region of the British Isles. While the church was in the middle of a service,
the Black Shuck entered and killed a number of civilians in attendance. Presumably, the members of this congregation
had all, at some point, seen the large, black dog out in the moors, or one of their relatives
had. The Foundation stepped in and managed to capture
the Black Shuck, giving amnestics to the survivors that had witnessed the attack. The damage done by SCP-023 and the deaths
it caused were covered up as attempted arson. However, the Foundation’s trouble with SCP-023
was far from over. After the Black Shuck’s capture at the church,
the dog was able to breach containment on multiple occasions. At first, it had been placed in a standard
containment chamber, but it was quickly able to incinerate through the concrete walls of
the cell. Foundation personnel later discovered the
dog had settled in an intersection between two corridors, and realized that it resembled
a crossroad. These exact corridors became the basis for
SCP-023’s new containment chamber, and the assistant researcher originally assigned to
the dog was reprimanded for negligence. During this, and other escape attempts, SCP-023
caused the deaths of a high number of Foundation personnel. As a direct result, researchers assigned to
it requested that the Black Shuck be reclassified as a Keter class anomaly. They also noted that SCP-023 shared certain
traits with SCP-1111-1, one of the two entities that form SCP-1111. SCP-1111-1, also referred to as The White
Dog, possesses an almost ghostly, translucent canine form and abilities that focus on geographic
space. In the White Dog’s case, it will attack
anyone it detects approaching SCP-1111-2, the body of an unidentified man hanging from
a noose. Researchers working for the Foundation believed
that SCP-023 and SCP-1111-1 might be instances of the same phenomenon, but have been unable
to capture the White Dog in order to verify this. Given the number of deaths the Black Shuck
had caused, research personnel attempted to reduce the danger that they faced when interacting
with the dog. They hoped to remove the beast’s eyes and
teeth, thus making it safer. However, it was during an attempt to do so
that SCP-023 once again managed to breach containment. At first, everything seemed to be going according
to plan, but when researchers removed SCP-023’s eyes, the Black Shuck vanished completely
from its containment area. SCP security staff scoured the area for it,
eventually tracking the dog down to a long stretch of interstate. It is still unknown exactly how many civilians
may have seen the Black Shuck as they drove past it, but so far nine deaths are thought
to have stemmed from this incident. The ghostly dog was recaptured, and D-Class
personnel removed its fangs. After analyzing the times of incidents, researchers
realized that SCP-023 had only been able to escape while the sun was up, leading to new
containment procedures mandating that no staff member was to interact with the Shuck until
after sunset. The interstate fiasco led to the doctor assigned
to watch over SCP-023 being suspended, and facing a disciplinary review from his Foundation
superiors. The blame for the breach in security that
caused the incident was placed at his feet, and a new doctor was placed in charge of observing
the Black Shuck. Unfortunately for this new researcher, the
incidents involving SCP-023 did not stop there. The newly appointed doctor attempted to give
the dog a pair of glass eyes to replace the ones that had been removed before the previous
containment breach. Perhaps they thought it was a gesture of kindness,
a compassionate act, or maybe they just thought it would look cool for a dog to have glass
eyes. No matter the reason, it seemed they had forgotten
for a moment that this huge, shadow creature was an ancient, evil entity and not a dog
at all. When the doctor gave the new glass eyes to
SCP-023, they immediately took on the exact same properties as its old ones. They began glowing, molten glass leaking from
the dog’s sockets, and appeared on all reflective surfaces throughout the site the Shuck was
being held at. Everything from mirrors and windows, to lenses
in glasses, computer monitors, anything and everything glass. The Foundation suffered an enormous number
of deaths that day; even staff sitting in the cafeteria would have seen a version of
those orange glowing eyes staring at them from the bottom of their bowls, marking them
for a fiery death. The facility was quickly evacuated, but the
damage had already been done. Anyone that had seen a reflection of the Black
Shuck’s eyes would be dead within a year. Devastated, the new doctor in charge of overseeing
SCP-023 blamed themselves for dooming their research team, as well as the rest of the
Foundation staff in the facility. When the sun came up over the horizon, a number
of D-Class personnel were sent into SCP-023’s enclosure, only to find that the dog had once
again vanished. The only trace it had left behind was a puddle
of molten glass burning part of the floor. A year later, any and all personnel that had
gazed into the Black Shuck’s eyes were dead, and their remains were buried in a mass unmarked
grave near the containment facility. Despite the doctor vowing to recapture and
contain SCP-023, it remains unclear if they were ever actually successful. There is a chance that the Black Shuck has
been gradually making its way back home, to the moors of the British Isles. If so, we’d advise you not to travel after
sundown unless you absolutely have to. And if you find yourself at a crossroad, then
pray you don’t catch sight of a hulking, demonic hound, staring out at you with eyes
that burn through the dark. If you do, well… we hope you enjoy your
year. Now go check out “SCP-1913 Deadly Monster
Squad - The Furies” and “SCP-1337 - The Hitchhiker” for more freaky creatures from
the SCP Foundation!
