In blissful sleep, blood begins to leak out
of the woman’s mouth. Her teeth… They’re moving. Slithering out of the holes in her gums. Is something pulling them out, or are they
just breaking free? It was supposed to be a sunny Saturday afternoon,
warm and mild, without so much as a cloud in the sky. Instead, a storm rolled in, turning the sky
grey and thick with dark clouds that drenched the town in a torrent of rain. So, the young woman had to scrap her beach
plans and now she's driving through the rain, looking for a way to salvage her day out. What's a good indoor activity? She could go to the library, pick out a book
to read. But she can do that any day. This was supposed to be a special day, a little
treat after a particularly stressful week at work. As if to answer her silent plea for a rainy
day activity, she spots the marquee on the neighborhood movie theater. A special screening of Willy Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory! Not only is catching a movie the perfect way
to wait out the rain, they just so happen to be screening one of her childhood favorites! A warm rush of nostalgia washes over her,
and she pulls into the parking lot. The screening starts at 2:00, and right now
it's...1:50! Perfect. Things are definitely looking up. She parks her car, and pushes open the door
to the theater. When she crosses the threshold, she is transported
from the dreary, rainy day outside, to a paradise of sweet treats! The theater went all-out with their decorations
for the special screening, and it really shows. Massive rainbow lollipops brush the ceiling,
there is a balloon arch made to look like it's made of gobstoppers, and they've put
up a chocolate fountain next to the popcorn machine. Of course they would have chocolate, what
kind of Willy Wonka event leaves out the chocolate? The woman steps up to the counter, where a
cheerful worker dressed as an Oompa-Loompa greets her. She's already here, why not treat herself
a little bit? She purchases a ticket, along with some popcorn,
some jelly beans, a large lemonade, and a big bar of chocolate. The day is really starting to turn around! The movie is just as delightful as she remembered,
a mix of whimsy and dark comedy, and the accompanying treats make it even better. As she picks a bit of jelly bean out of her
teeth, she feels a slight twinge, a dull ache. Better remember to floss later, she really
doesn’t need a cavity right now. After the movie concludes, she tosses the
remains of her cinematic feast into the garbage, and heads home. The rain has stopped, and the sun is peeking
out from between the clouds again. It was a lovely afternoon at the movies, the
perfect way to save the day from being ruined by the storm. The woman doesn't think about it much more
than that for the rest of the weekend. But when she wakes up on Monday morning, something
feels...off. The toothache she felt a twinge of at the
movie theater has gotten worse. By the middle of the week, at least six of
her teeth are throbbing constantly. Pain medication helps reduce the pain a bit,
but the feeling of pressure inside the teeth persists, and is distractingly uncomfortable. She calls her dentist to make an appointment,
but they can't see her until next week. For now, she'll just have to deal with it. No matter how terrible it feels. The rest of the week passes in a blur of dental
distress, and on Friday night as she brushes her aching teeth, the woman notices something
troubling. One of her front canines looks cracked. How did she break it? She hasn't eaten anything hard this week,
she's been treating her teeth with the utmost care. But a closer inspection reveals that, indeed,
the enamel is cracked. It doesn't look like she broke the tooth from
the outside, but like something is pushing out from the inside. She shudders, and reminds herself that the
dentist will be able to take care of it on Monday. She just has to make it through the weekend,
and everything will be fine. At some point during the process of ruminating
on the troubles with her teeth, she falls into a restless sleep. The next morning, she wakes up in a state
of surprising relief. The pain is gone! She sits up in bed, stretches, and yawns. She catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror
across from her bed as she does, and freezes in place. The reason she can't feel her tooth pain anymore...is
because her teeth are gone. Not all of them. But six teeth, the teeth that were aching
all week, have vanished. Did they fall out in her sleep? She strips the sheets off of her bed, shaking
them out, searching for any sign of the missing teeth. Nothing. She feels like she's losing her mind, teeth
can't just up and vanish like that. But where could they have gone? Did she...swallow them? Her mind races as she struggles to explain
the unexplainable. Wait a minute! She can find out exactly what happened the
previous night. She has a security camera installed in her
room. She had almost forgotten about the camera,
which had been installed a year prior when an old roommate kept borrowing her clothes
without asking. She never bothered to get rid of it. With a rush of gratitude for her past self,
she pulls up the app on her phone that logs the footage, and selects the folder for the
previous night. She scans through the footage, seeing several
hours of her sleeping body tossing and turning in bed. Then, in the video, her mouth opens. She watches carefully, her eyes widening as
she struggles to process what comes next. On her phone screen, clear as can be, she
can see teeth...climbing out of her mouth. One, two, three, four, five, six of them,
crawling across her face, down her neck, across the bedspread, and onto her bedside table. That would have been enough to leave her questioning
everything she thought she knew about the world, but the video keeps playing. The teeth scuttle around her bedside table,
then onto her desk, collecting paper clips, a hair tie, some brightly-colored post-it
notes, a safety pin, a scrap of string, and a barette. With their chosen items in tow, the teeth
crawl down off of the desk, over the carpet, and out of her bedroom door. How are they getting around? They're walking on what look like little tendrils,
but she can't figure out where they came from. Little tendrils poking out through cracks
in the teeth...she shudders at the thought. While she slept, her teeth came to life? And made a break for it? Where did they go from there? Could they still be in her apartment? She shakily opens the door to her room, and
peeks out. She half expects to see the teeth still in
the hallway, but when she checks, there is nothing there. She combs every inch of her apartment next. She isn't sure what she'll do if she finds
the teeth- the creatures they've become. Maybe try to capture them? And take them to the dentist? But it doesn't matter, her search is useless. They're long gone. The only evidence they were ever even there
is a light speckle of blood on her pillowcase, the sheet, and across the carpet. It's such a small amount, she'd never even
know it was there if she weren't looking for it. But now what? She's sitting here with six missing teeth,
no idea where they went, and no clue what to do next. How could she begin to explain...any of this? To anyone? She can't, she realizes. So, after taking a moment to weigh her options,
she deletes the security footage, and leaves a voicemail for her dentist, telling them
it's an emergency. She lost some teeth in an accident, she tells
them. As for the truth...nobody ever needs to know. She wouldn't even know where to start if she
decided to try and tell anyone what happened. Better to just put it out of her mind, get
her teeth fixed, and try to move on. Later that night, back at the movie theater,
the Oompa Loompa from the concessions stand is tidying up in the hours after her shift. The limited run of Willy Wonka special screenings
is over, and it's time to put all of the candy factory decor back in its respective boxes,
and switch off the chocolate fountain. She breaks down the giant prop lollipops,
deflates the jelly bean balloons, and cleans up the chocolate that spilled onto the counter. Might as well sneak a bit of candy for herself
in the process, and use the sugar rush to make the work go faster. It helps a bit, but there's still a lot to
do for one employee at this understaffed theater. By the time she's finished, it's dark outside. Time to pack up her things, scrub off that
orange face paint, and head home! As she walks through the back door, a shiver
runs down her spine. What's that sound? It sounds like scratching and scrabbling inside
the wall behind her. She turns, looking for an animal hiding there. But she can't see anything. Maybe it's a mouse? But just as she's about to turn around and
head to her car, she sees a flash of light glinting off of something shiny. Metal? All the while the noise continues, that strange
scratching and scrabbling. What the hell is going on over there? There's some sort of unknown...thing...in
the walls of the theater. Or, between the walls of the two buildings
at least. Her curiosity gets the better of her, and
she finds herself giving into it. Whatever's in there, she needs to see what
it could possibly be. She tiptoes over to the crevice between the
theater and the building next door to it, and peers into the darkness. She can't quite make out what she sees in
there, but there's some kind of shape, like a little box. And she can see movement within the shadows
there. What is that? She pulls out her phone, and is just about
to activate the flashlight function, when suddenly the crevice lights up in the glow
of...tiny spotlights? No, miniature flashlights, like the kind you
put on a keychain. They're lined up in a row, and all switched
on at once to illuminate the structure in front of them. Now she can see what it is, but getting a
good look at it doesn't make her any less confused. If anything, it's only more baffling than
it was before. The structure is visible now, a twisting mass
of nerves and blood vessels, wrapped and braided together to form a platform. If she didn't know any better, she'd say it
looks like...a stage? Yeah, it looks like a stage. And on that stage, constructed from a mixture
of trash, string, fabric scraps, buttons, and other random objects, is a set. Paperclips stand tall with colorful buttons
attached to the tips of them. At first glance, they resemble the giant lollipops
that the movie theater put up for the screenings. And there, in the center of the stage, a long
piece of brown ribbon is stretched out to mimic the chocolate river from the movie. A boat made from tin foil and more of those
nerves and blood vessels navigates the chocolate river. The employee was so taken aback by the sight
of the makeshift set and stage that she didn't even notice the "actors" on the stage. When she does, she covers her mouth to stifle
a scream. The stage and the set are absolutely covered
in human teeth, moving around and putting on a production. On the boat, a tooth dressed in a purple jacket
and orange top hat guides a tour group made up of other teeth, dressed as the children
and guardians from Willy Wonka. She opens the camera app on her phone, focuses
it on the bizarre play unfolding in front of her, and begins to record. Otherwise, no one will ever believe what she
saw here. Then, unable to do anything else, she watches
the show. One tooth, a particularly rotund one, is sucked
into a pipe out of the chocolate river, with the help of practical effects from the nerves. The employee finds herself sitting on the
ground, continuing to record the show. She laughs out loud at the sight of a tooth
emerging from backstage, painted blue, and wrapped in blue fabric to make it look larger
and rounder. No, not blue, Violet! It's turning violet! Next, a tooth "shrinks", exiting the stage
and leaving behind a tiny fake tooth in its place. In between each transformation, another child
leaving the chocolate factory tour, a group of orange-painted teeth comes out to perform
a dance number. At first, the employee expects them to sing
songs of disapproval too, but realizes quickly that these teeth don't have mouths of their
own, and therefore can't sing. Still, it's all quite impressive. For the fizzy lifting drinks scene, the teeth
playing Charlie and Grandpa Joe are lifted up into the air by nerve tendrils, approaching
a fan made from safety pins and aluminum foil. It's actually quite tense to watch, and if
the employee had an actual seat, she'd be on the edge of it. Then, the show concludes, and an audience
full of teeth that she couldn't see before stand up, clapping their tendrils together
in a thunderous round of applause. It's the most bizarre thing she's ever seen
in her life, but she can't deny that it was entertaining. The teeth then begin to clean up the set,
striking pieces and tucking them away in the darkness. Once the set has been broken down, they all
scuttle out of sight. And it's over. The employee drives home in a state of shock,
uncertain about what to do next. She eventually decides to upload the video
footage to the internet, titling the video "WIlly Wonka Performed By Teeth???". By the following day, it has a few thousand
views and some skeptical comments. By the day after that, it has a copyright
strike, and has been removed from the Internet. So much for getting the word out about the
teeth. The employee never forgets about them, but
she gives up on trying to tell people about what she saw. That tooth-based theatrical production is
just for her memories now. Meanwhile, local dentists are noticing a pattern. Everyone who attended the screenings of Willy
Wonka at that specific movie theater experienced dental issues, followed by sudden unexplained
tooth loss. It’s such a concerning trend, it attracts
the attention of the SCP Foundation, who begin a thorough investigation. After some time looking into it, they designate
the phenomenon SCP-3827. SCP-3827 is a cognitohazardous phenomenon
that is known to affect certain movie theaters across the United States. Audience members at theaters impacted by SCP-3827
will later report statistically unusual rates of dental problems, including but not limited
to gingivitis, pulpitis, and degradation of the dental enamel. It is unknown what exactly causes a theater
to be subject to the influence of SCP-3827, but the effects of the anomaly can be exacerbated
by the consumption of high-sugar concessions by moviegoers, by screening of films that
prominently feature teeth in at least once scene, or a combination of the two. If it were as simple as just an increase in
dental problems, the anomaly might not warrant much Foundation attention, just an increase
of fluoride in the local water supply and perhaps an alert to dentists in the surrounding
area. However, it does not begin and stop at dental
pain and discomfort. The living centers, or pulps, of affected
teeth (referred to from now on as SCP-3827-A) will begin to notably change over the course
of a week following exposure to the cognitohazard. They will grow and expand to the point of
pain, causing the enamel of the affected teeth to crack and split from the internal pressure. After approximately a week has passed, the
SCP-3827-A instances will eject themselves from the jaws of the affected person while
they sleep. Once freed from the jaw, these teeth will
push portions of their nerves and blood vessels through the cracks in the enamel, using them
as limbs. Now capable of independent movement, the teeth
will move themselves around the area, stealing small items such as loose trash, scraps of
fabric, buttons, and pins. Once they have grabbed an object of interest,
the teeth will attempt to leave the area. Sometimes, the teeth are stopped by witnesses,
a misplaced step, or a housepet. But frequently, they make it out of the house
and reach their intended destination. But do they go next? Naturally, Foundation researchers were curious
about the movements of SCP-3827-A instances. So, one affected moviegoer was fitted with
miniature tracking devices during a dental checkup at a Foundation-affiliated office. Later that night, when the teeth ejected themselves
from the person's mouth, the Foundation was able to track them. The research team followed the tracking device's
signal back to the movie theater where these SCP-3827 effects originated, where the affected
individual had seen a screening of the then-recent film Life of Pi. The researcher who was tracking the signal
followed it all the way to a small crevice in the concrete outside of the theater. He pulled a flashlight from his pocket, and
cast its light into the crevice. There, he spotted a structure, resembling
a small theater, composed of chips of what appeared to be tooth enamel. On the makeshift stage, several dozen instances
of SCP-3827-A were putting on a performance. From the animal costumes, and the set piece
of a boat constructed from aluminum foil, the agent was able to determine that the living
teeth were performing their version of the events of Life of Pi. He stood there for the next hour, allowing
them to finish their performance, before collecting the instances and bringing them into Foundation
containment. Notably, after some time in containment, the
teeth began putting on original productions in addition to live stagings of their favorite
films. One original production was described by a
research assistant as "Star Wars but with werewolves in it." He added that it was "quite moving, actually. I cried." After SCP-3827 was identified, and the Foundation
was able to properly understand its nature, a set of containment procedures were put into
place. Foundation agents embedded within the film
industry have been instructed to introduce scenes and motifs involving teeth into films
by major studios, particularly those belonging to especially successful franchises. This is intended to root out (no pun intended)
theaters affected by SCP-3827. These theaters can then be closed down, the
SCP-3827-A instances contained, and any affected individuals can be amnesticized. Contained instances of SCP-3827-A are kept
in Standard Containment Cells. As an incentive for good behavior, they are
gifted with spare scraps of trash, and may be shown a screening of a new film once a
month. An addendum has been added to the official
file, which I will include here for reference: "Following successful Foundation interference
with the production of the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron (Namely, the inclusion of a
short sequence depicting the character Iron Man knocking a tooth loose from the Hulk),
Foundation agents managed to identify and close down 119 theaters affected by SCP-3827. Despite no new instances having been discovered
since, current procedures are to continue until further notice." We go to movie theaters for magic. To laugh, to cry, to care. In my personal opinion, the movies are a sacred
place, one where we shouldn't have to worry about our teeth jumping out of our skulls
and running off to start a theatre troupe. But in this world, things don't always go
as planned. Hopefully, all of the theaters affected by
SCP-3827 have been shut down for good. But you never know for sure. Sometimes, a film brings out emotions in you
that you never expected. And sometimes, it brings out your teeth too. Check out the Dr. Bob Patreon and become a
junior researcher today! Now go and watch another entry from the files
of Dr. Bob, like "SCP-5150 - Anomalous Dental Office."
