The SCP Foundation does their best to live
up to their famous namesake: They secure and contain anomalies and monsters from all around
the world - or sometimes even off-world - and protect the public from the dangers that these
strange entities might pose. However, despite their efforts to maintain
security and keep their subjects under lock and key, there are sometimes creatures so
clever, so devious, and so determined to escape their captivity and wreak havoc on the world,
that even the SCP foundation struggles to keep them from getting free. One example is SCP-035, or the Possessive
Mask. SCP-035 is one of the most dangerous test
subjects in SCP Foundation custody, and its mere presence at the Foundation has resulted
in untold damage, death, and destruction. It seems innocent enough, to the untrained
eye. The mask, which resembles a classic white
porcelain “comedy” mask - though it occasionally changes its expression to “tragedy” - has
been in existence since at least the 1800s. In the late 19th century the Foundation discovered
the mask in a sealed crypt beneath an abandoned home in Venice. It is unknown how it got there, or how the
Foundation knew to look for it. If there ever was an explanation for its discovery,
it has long since been removed or redacted from the Foundation’s archives. You’re probably wondering: How can a simple
mask leave multiple seasoned Foundation employees dead? Well, like everything at the SCP foundation,
this mask is not what it seems. There is a reason its classification is “keter”,
a designation that refers to an entity that’s excessively difficult to contain - and it
couples this difficulty with a pronounced hostility toward human life, and the ability
to cause widespread destruction in the event of a containment breach. These are qualities that the poor unfortunate
souls assigned to guard SCP-035 would come to understand all too well. The Possessive Mask is a parasitic entity,
constantly seeking out a host willing to put it on. Any human being in the mask’s proximity
experiences a sudden, unexplainable urge to put it on and once they do, there’s no going
back. SCP Foundation research has determined that
once a host has put on the mask, their brain waves are replaced with an alternative pattern,
this one coming from the mask, rendering the host effectively brain dead. Once the host’s brain function has been
eliminated, the mask takes over, piloting their body and even speaking through them. However, the mask can only occupy a host for
a small amount of time before the body begins to decay and decompose, eventually rotting
away completely, leaving nothing but desiccated flesh and bones where there once was a person. SCP-035 is capable of possessing any humanoid
being, whether that’s an actual human being or a lifeless humanoid shape. Despite all their research, the SCP Foundation
unknowingly gave the Mask all the tools and resources it needed to break containment...
and leave a trail of bodies in its wake. For a time, the mask was given “host privileges,”
meaning that it was purposely allowed to occupy a host in order to speak with the scientists
studying it. In order to avoid murky ethical issues, the
host was usually something inanimate like a mannequin or a statue. These conditions, however unsettling, allowed
the researchers to carry out interviews with the consciousness housed inside the mask,
in the hope of beginning to understand it and its motivations. However, SCP-035 lost all access to its host
privileges after it almost pulled off an unprecedented, shocking, and nearly catastrophic escape attempt. In its early days at the facility, when it
was still allowed host privileges, it was contained in a triple locked room and monitored
by several research personnel. These were experienced researchers who had
been with the Foundation for a minimum of five years each, an unusually long tenure
in such a dangerous and mentally corrosive line of work. These research staff members were thought
to be the most capable of handling interactions with the mask, and be able to resist its attempts
at manipulation. Unfortunately, these assumptions were naive,
and seriously underestimated the mask’s power. Research on the mask indicates that the mask
is incredibly intelligent and a skilled manipulator. It has a photographic memory, intelligence
that would rank in the 99th percentile of humans, and the ability to incite dramatic
changes in the behavior in people that it talks to. One particularly infamous interview, between
the entity and an unnamed Doctor at the Foundation, suggested that the mask may even possess telepathic
abilities. The mask was able to give details about the
Doctor’s life that no one else was privy to, including knowledge of an affair that
his wife was having. Following the interview, the Doctor suffered
a psychotic break and committed suicide just 24 hours later. The mask is able to use its superior intelligence,
charismatic personality, and mind reading abilities to get inside the heads of those
it speaks with. It will pull out any and all psychological
stops to get what it wants, leaving broken minds and spirits in its wake. It was really only a matter of time before
it used this skill set to its advantage and attempted to escape its confinement. The day of the escape attempt was like any
other. The research staff, a team of three intelligent,
experienced men, checked into the facility, measured the conditions of the mask’s containment
unit, and began the process of interviewing the mask like normal. Its motions were slow and looked to require
great effort, as its current host was beginning to degrade beyond use. The mask was attached to the blank face of
a mannequin, and corrosive black liquid could be seen oozing from its eye and mouth holes. This liquid is excreted by the mask at a near-constant
rate, and is thought to be at least partially responsible for the accelerated decay of the
host bodies. In spite of the entity’s unsettling, nightmarish
appearance, it was just another day’s work for the men assigned to monitor SCP-035, and
so they carried on with their daily routine. Everything was going according to plan until
one of the men, Dr. Jones, began to behave erratically. He demanded that his fellow scientists leave
him alone with the mask for a while, and allow him to engage in a private conversation with
it. It is unknown what exactly the two spoke about
while the other two scientists were absent, as the security footage captured has no sound. However, several minutes into the conversation
in the footage, Dr. Jones can be seen dissolving into a fit of tears, laying on the ground
and shaking with sobs as the mask dispassionately watches. He then climbs onto his knees, begging the
mask for something, before he embraces it. He holds the mannequin in his arms for five
straight minutes, weeping again, before they separate. After this disturbing emotional display, Dr.
Jones brought the other scientists back into the room with him. What happened next is still uncertain, but
there are a few things that we know for sure. The other scientists began to speak with the
mask. In later interviews, the other scientists
were bordering on incoherent, babbling about various traumas from their lives. One repeatedly referred to a drunk driving
accident where a dear friend was killed, and he was at fault. Another simply cried out for his mother again
and again. Whatever the mask said to them, it was enough
to completely destroy their mental health. After the other two scientists had been emotionally
devastated by the mask, Dr. Jones escalated the situation further. Dr. Jones removed the mask from the decaying
mannequin body, and, shocking everyone who would later review the security footage, placed
it onto his own face. Once the mask was in place, Dr. Jones went
unnaturally still for several moments, as his colleagues looked on. This is where the security footage ends. At the command of the mask which was now speaking
through Dr. Jones, the other two men switched off all security cameras monitoring SCP-035’s
containment facility. The mask, piloting the body of Dr. Jones like
a horrible fleshy puppet, made its way through the facility, avoiding detection until it
reached the exit doors, where it was finally stopped by a team of over a dozen security
guards. Knowing the dangers of touching the mask,
all Foundation employees involved in the re-containment of SCP-035 refused to remove it from Dr. Jones’
face. Instead, he was placed in the locked room
with the mask still on, left alone to be observed over the security cameras until his body had
decomposed beyond use. His body paced back and forth in its cell
for days, flesh rotting and dropping away until only sinew and bone remained. Only when the bones began to turn black and
brittle, crumbling apart into dust, did the body finally stop moving. His family was notified, the mask was carefully
removed from what was left of his body, and his remains were destroyed. The other two scientists involved in the SCP-035
escape attempt were terminated, and their files destroyed. After this incident, a few more failed escape
attempts, and the acknowledgement of the devastation that could have been caused if the mask had
made its way out into the general population, SCP-035 lost its host privileges altogether. Several research staff protested this decision,
insisting that there was more to be learned from speaking with the entity, and citing
valuable information that it had given about other SCP’s. However, the risk was determined to considerably
outweigh the potential reward, and the request to reinstate 035’s host privileges was denied. Several staff members went so far as to erupt
into violent outbursts on 035’s behalf, attacking their superiors who refused to provide
the mask with a new host, clawing at them with animalistic rage. Any staff members that submitted a request
to reinstate said privileges were considered a security threat, and reassigned to a different
SCP or in some cases terminated. Any staff member who had direct contact with
SCP-035 was also terminated, in order to avoid the risk of any more staff-aided escape attempts. The mask is now kept in a hermetically-sealed
glass case, and there is a psychologist on call to provide assistance to anyone guarding
it, in case of adverse effects on their mental health from the mask’s presence. Personnel that work around the mask, even
in its current dormant state, experience frequent violent outbursts and a higher rate of suicide. Even without a host, the mask’s corrosive
effects have spread across its containment facility. The walls of the room have begun to secrete
the same black liquid that emanates from the mask, which tests have revealed to be highly
contaminated human blood, that damages the structural integrity of the walls following
prolonged contact. This blood has begun to form patterns on the
walls, spelling out words and phrases in Italian, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit, as well as depicting
drawings of ritual sacrifice and mutilation. Staff members also report hearing unintelligible
whispering and horrifying, high-pitched laughter when in proximity to the mask. Further exposure to the mask results in migraines,
hemorrhaging around the eyes, mouth, and nose, and an eventual psychotic break. Between the corrosive substance appearing
on the walls, and the physical and psychological damage to employees, SCP-035 is becoming increasingly
difficult to contain and there are debates among staff as to whether the entity can,
in fact, be contained at all. As soon as possible, SCP-035 will be moved
into a new containment facility, and its previous cell will be isolated from the rest of the
foundation’s property and destroyed for the safety of all involved. We can only hope that the new containment
procedures are more effective than the last ones, and that this mask never makes its way
into the world again. If it does, who knows how many lives it will
claim? In the meantime, if you ever come across a
strange mask and feel a nearly uncontrollable urge to put it on…ignore the whispered pleas
to just try it, ignore the echoing laugher and the sensation of something older and more
powerful than you can imagine rummaging through your deepest, darkest secret thoughts. Turn around, and run as fast as you can in
the other direction. You’ll be glad that you did.
