A crowded train of commuters, heading to their
destination. But for one unlucky passenger, he’s on his
way to a very unexpected destination. He purchased his ticket the same as he did
every other day and had it punched by the conductor. But soon, he started to get the impression
that something was wrong… very wrong. He felt like he needed to get off the train
immediately. But every time he tried, he was blocked. Sometimes the exit out of his seat was blocked. Other times a crowd of passengers would be
entering at the exact time he tried to get off the train, preventing him from leaving
until the doors slid shut. As the train got closer to its final stop,
his panic grew. Because today, this train wasn’t taking
him to work. It was taking him to...the end of the line. SCP-342 is one of the most benign-appearing
objects known to the SCP Foundation, and also one of the trickiest to find. That’s because it’s never exactly the
same object twice. It’s a ticket to any form of mass transit,
usually taking the form of the type that’s closest to wherever it manifests, though most
of the time it appears as a train ticket to a crowded nearby hub. It was first discovered in Chicago in 1936,
where its terrible powers became clear. But even though decades have passed, it hasn’t
changed at all. Because SCP-342 is a predator - and one that
goes to great lengths to trap its prey. When it’s picked up by an unsuspecting passenger,
it will appear as whatever the most likely method of transportation is for the person
to use. But if it remains on someone’s person for
an extended period without being used, it will start to change. When not being directly observed, usually
tucked away in a wallet or a pocket, it will shift into another form - one more likely
to be used by the person holding it, and in this form, it’s harmless - but it doesn’t
stay that way. When it’s validated for transit by being
stamped, torn, punched, or accepted by a conductor or driver and thrown away, it activates - and
the unfortunate person who used it to board a vehicle has been snared in its web. As soon as they board and their ticket is
taken, they become incapable of exiting the vehicle. It seems like things conspire to keep them
on the vehicle until the very end of the line - at which point passenger vanishes mysteriously. But before they go, things get strange. Soon after boarding, the unlucky passenger
finds themselves tormented by a bizarre series of symptoms. They start to see the sky as darker than it
is, and hear disturbing things. Ordinary messages from the conductor become
menacing. They start to see other passengers and random
objects as threats, and become terrified of any employees. As the journey continues, they sink into hopelessness
and fear, as they realize that there is no way off, and they become impossible to calm
down. The end is always the same - but it’s what
SCP-342 does next that makes it a bigger threat. Shortly after it has completed this cycle
and the passenger has vanished into thin air, SCP-342 regenerates whole as a ticket to the
same form of mass transit, in a nearby location - just waiting for someone to pick it up and
begin the cycle again. Studies have shown that it cannot be distinguished
from any other train ticket when on the loose - meaning that if it breaches containment,
it can be near-impossible to track down. During a past containment breach, it caused
multiple disappearances around the New York City area over the course of six-months before
being contained again. Once they had it in containment though, the
Foundation was determined to figure out its secrets. With no survivors to talk about their experience,
the Foundation fell back on their most reliable source of experiments - D-class personnel. Tests were begun, and a D-class was given
the ticket to use on a local bus. Agents were stationed at every bus stop to
observe without interfering. At first, the D-class seemed unaffected, but
as the trip went on, it became clear he knew something was wrong. He paced up and down the aisles, stared out
the window in horror, and eventually pounded on the windows in panic as the bus drove away
from its last stop - the driver seemingly unaware that anyone was still on the bus. And then, as a strange mist filled the bus
which obscured the agents’ vision, he was gone. Passengers who had been on the bus were interviewed
but most didn’t notice anything, though many said they felt ill while riding the bus
or were distracted. A surprising number said they felt like something
was wrong but couldn’t identify it. A pair of boys, however, reported more. They said that the D-class tried to get off
the bus multiple times. His attempts to ring the bell were ignored,
the doors closed before he could exit, and he would get pushed to the back of the line. Even when he sat at the front of the bus,
he was never able to make it out. When hypnotized to uncover repressed memories,
one of the boys admitted that he saw passengers shove the unfortunate D-class back, and ended
by screaming that it seemed as if the bus swallowed him in the end. It was clear that to understand SCP-342 fully,
the Foundation would need to investigate further. Another D-class was assigned, this time to
ride the subway using the doomed ticket. But he wouldn’t be alone - Agent Strahm
would be riding with him and would be taking notes throughout. The D-class seemed to become angry as soon
as he boarded, but then something strange happened. Agent Strahm and the D Class were separated
by a pair of security guards who seemed concerned that they - and only they - would not be too
close on the train. Was the ticket manipulating the people around
it? Agent Strahm was able to get close enough
to keep records on the D-class’s movements and interview him, and nothing unusual seemed
to be happening to the man’s body. But after the D-class asked to leave the train
and was denied, he became aggressive, swinging on the bars and acting like a monkey, which
led to Agent Strahm having to knock him unconscious and handcuffing him to a pole. Deciding that he’d gathered enough information,
Agent Strahm decided to abort the mission and try to help the D-class exit the train
- but now found himself blocked by the crowd. Even when he raised his badge and claimed
to be a US marshall, he was ignored. He would report later that he was pulled back
- but he didn’t think it was passengers doing it. Agent Strahm had one last card to play. He handcuffed himself to the now panicked
D-class as they approached another station. As he attempted to exit the train, he was
struck by passengers and his badge was knocked away. But when he asked them why they were acting
the way they did, they all claimed to know nothing. It was clear they wouldn’t be able to get
off the train on their own. Four more agents were deployed to the train
to extract the two and they were accompanied by the leader of the whole project. It was time for Dr. Gunsther to have his first
encounter with SCP-342. The group of SCP agents was barely able to
deter the crowd until one fired his weapon into the air. They were able to evacuate the subway of all
other passengers and cordoned off the D-class. An agent ordered the driver to stop the train,
but he seemed to not understand. The train only finally stopped when the power
was cut. At this point, they tried to extract the D-class,
but he seemed blocked from leaving by some sort of invisible wall. As they attempted to remove the wall near
him from outside, the subway suddenly started again - the doors closing and leaving the
agents and Dr. Gunsther behind. SCP-342 would not be denied. Agents were unable to catch up to the train
before it departed, and they were forced to race to the next stop. Crowds filed onto the train, and when the
agents and the Doctor were able to board, they found no trace of the D-class or Agent
Strahm. It was expected that both were gone for good
- but Agent Strahm was found 8 kilometers away, comatose with his end of the handcuff
still attached. But the other end was cut cleanly away, as
if it had simply vanished along with the man on the other end, only a few splatters of
blood being all that remained of the unfortunate D-class. The Foundation now knew that the effects of
SCP-342 were inescapable - but they didn’t know exactly what happened to its victims. Agent Strahm, deeply disturbed by his close
encounter, had to know the truth of what SCP-342 did to its victims. He volunteered to be the next test subject
and would not be dissuaded. He was accompanied by two agents he was close
to, along with Dr. Haber, on what he knew would likely be a one way trip. He seemed strangely calm and curious as he
embarked on his last ride, making no effort to leave - and refused to even try to exit
the train when his supervisors encouraged him. But Dr. Haber insisted, and that’s when
everyone found out just how far SCP-342 would go to prevent interference. A homeless man suddenly lunged forward and
attacked Dr. Haber with superhuman strength. The man was shot by Dr. Haber and Foundation
agents waiting at the next stop removed the possessed man and the Doctor for medical treatment,
along with everyone else on the train. After the evacuation, Agent Erin chose to
remain alone with Agent Strahm, and they took the last step of this strange journey together. As the train continued on, Erin began seeing
hallucinations, including odd shadows lurking around his vision. Strahm remained calm even as his visions got
worse and worse. He saw Agent Erin turning into a demon, and
the train itself looked like it was melting. But things were about to get even stranger. It was the end of the line, and Agent Erin
felt the movement of the train stop, but Agent Strahm believed the train was pulling away. And suddenly, he began to move, pulled towards
the front of the train and into the closed conductor’s room - moving right through
the solid metal. The last thing Agent Erin saw was an unknown
creature, a giant spider, wrapping Agent Strahm up and pulling him away. But the creature knew it wasn’t alone - it
turned to Agent Erin and ordered him off the train. Agent Erin was found at the back of the train,
in a panic - having gotten close to something no person had ever seen and lived to tell. This gave the Foundation their first clear
idea of what SCP-342 might actually do. It seemed like those who held the ticket were
forced to continue their ride beyond this realm - on a sort of shadow train - until
they reached whatever this creature waiting for them was. Further experiments would focus on figuring
out exactly how the ticket worked - and whether it could be tricked in any way. They discovered that the ticket didn’t activate
on private buses where the subject was the only passenger, it seemed to only interact
with real transportation systems filled with commuters. Even when unsuspecting passengers were added
and new drivers were hired, the ticket didn’t activate, though drivers often seemed to become
confused when used in this experiment. But further testing was needed to find out
just what role the driver played in all this. It was difficult to find a bus driver who
would agree to the Foundation’s terms, but one named Bucky Falsworth signed on to manage
the doomed ride. A D-class with the ticket would board midway
through his ride and Falsworth would then be switched out for an SCP agent who would
finish driving the route. But things went terribly wrong. Rather than switch out at the appropriate
spot, Falsworth drove on. He became obsessed with driving the bus to
its destination stopping for nothing - even killing a pedestrian in the process - and
ultimately had to be taken out by a sniper’s bullet. In the aftermath, some bodies were never found
- including the unfortunate D-class used as a subject. Not dissuaded by their disastrous results,
agents would try this experiment again, but this time with subway trains. There would be multiple trains, some driven
by agents of the Foundation who could control the route. But invariably, the ticket bearing test subjects
would find themselves on the unsafe trains driven by civilians. The same effect that conspired to keep them
on the train conspired to get them on - and tragically, in one attempt to get a subject
off the train, Dr. Haber was caught in the door and killed when his head hit a stone
ledge. After this, it was determined that future
experiments were too dangerous. The Foundation was finally done with SCP-342
- but the ticket wasn’t done with them. Dr. Johanes Getrim was the first to fall prey
to the ticket’s persistence. The subject of an early experiment where he
tore the ticket but never got on a bus, he lasted a year and retreated to an on-site
safe zone where he chronicled his experiences. He was haunted and obsessed with thoughts
of the train, developed a fear of roads, and spent weeks working in his office to avoid
going home. His behavior became increasingly unstable,
and after being dismissed from the office and put on house arrest, it’s believed he
slipped out of his house and boarded a bus one morning - finally accepting his fate and
letting SCP-342 claim him. The ticket had not been used since experiments
were discontinued, and was only taken out of storage for archiving by Dr. Gunsther and
Dr. Clef. They examined it, discussed the failed experiments,
and then left for their evening plans - seeing a musical at a nearby theater. As the night went on, Dr. Gunsther seemed
to become more and more disturbed. While sitting at a bar after the show, Dr.
Gunsther told Dr. Clef that it was time for him to leave, and handed Dr. Clef an envelope
before getting into a taxi. Dr. Clef looked inside the envelope and he
saw that it contained two identical tickets for Dr. Gunther’s seat at the theater. As Dr. Clef approached a trendy bar with a
20 dollar cover charge, he checked the envelope again, and found that the second ticket had
turned into a twenty-dollar bill. Dr. Clef raced back to the spot where Dr.
Gunsther had boarded the taxi but the scientist had already driven off - down an alleyway
that terminated in a dead end. Dr. Gunsther was never seen again. The ticket had displayed a new ability - it
could become something completely different. Currently, SCP-342 is safely contained, and
poses no risk as long as it is not used. It is stored in an envelope and stapled to
the inside. Experiments with SCP-342 are forbidden, but
given that the ticket to ride has shown a unique ability to compel people to take actions
that will bring them into its trap, and that it has evolved to take on new forms, caution
is warranted. The Foundation advises anyone taking a ticket
on mass transit to know exactly where their ticket comes from - or they may find themselves
taking a much longer trip into the unknown. For another mundane object with a disturbing
twist, check out “Living Ice Cream Van - SCP-1386”, or watch “SCP-1337 - The Hitchhiker” for
another danger lurking in transit.
