Jay and Michael were a pair of urban exploration
YouTubers looking for their big break. You might remember their video exploring
the dead mall on the outskirts of your town, or the supposedly “haunted” 1950s
insane asylum out in the styx, but you certainly won’t find these videos
anywhere online. After The Incident at SCP - 823, all of their content was scrubbed away from even
the most comprehensive internet archives. “Why?” you ask. Because these unfortunate urban explorers
decided that their big break would be exploring a certain abandoned theme park. And it would
be one of the last decisions they ever made. Michael and Jay had heard rumors about the
theme park. Its name was lost to time, as was the date of its opening and closing, and the
reason it was even abandoned in the first place. Even some of the most hardcore urban explorers
didn’t dare to tread there. Something about it, a good friend had once told Jay, just didn’t feel
right. Sometimes, if you dare to venture into the forest near the theme park at night, you can
still hear music. The jolly, piping tunes of rides and carnival stands still beckoning. As
if to say, “We’re still here. Come and play.” Of course, none of this frightened Jay
and Michael. They could already smell the sponsorships from headlamp
and compact camera companies. No amount of anxiety would stop them from
making their doomed trip to the so-called “Carnival of Horrors.” It’s a terrible shame -
if they’d listened to the stories of this place about how unnatural and evil it could
be...They might still be alive today. Like all the best urban explorers, they arrived
at the woods near the abandoned theme park in the dead of night. They ignored the signs warning
them about everything from structural instability, to dangerous wild animals, to asbestos.
Nothing would keep them out. Nothing. They reached the abandoned theme park not
long after, though it was a mere shell of its former self. During the several decades
of abandonment, nature had reclaimed it. The ferris wheel was covered in overgrown ivy
and the carnival stands were blanketed with mold. As the duo swept through the grounds with their
flashlights and cameras, they saw a faded sign that bore the words “Thriller Chiller” - next
to the rusty skeleton of what had once been the park’s most popular roller coaster.
They also took their time to marvel at the exceptionally creepy-looking Tunnel
of Love, the broken down House of Mirrors, and a huge, grinning statue of the
park’s former mascot, Happy Hippo. This theme park was like something
out of a nightmare, which, naturally, made it potential video gold. But as the
excited duo wandered further into the park, they couldn’t help but notice the quiet,
tinny carnival music. Music that seemed to be drawing them closer. Michael asked Jay if
he could hear the strange, impossible music, and felt a chill creep in when he answered
that he did. Could all of the stories be true? They were lost in thought, but their legs kept
moving. They were getting closer to something now. They could feel a presence. And
was that music getting louder? An instant later, though, another sound
cut through the silence - BANG! BANG! It echoed out through the still night air.
Birds flew from their perches in the trees. Jay and Michael both fell to the ground,
dead, their heads taken off by the fifty caliber rounds of a highly-trained Mobile
Task Force Sniper on the payroll of the SCP Foundation. Their recording equipment, along
with their bodies, were taken and destroyed. Any trace of them was scrubbed from the internet.
It may seem a little harsh, but a bullet to the head is a much kinder fate than what would
have awaited these two if they’d kept walking. That’s because the Carnival of Horrors is
no dark fairytale. The rumors are all true, and something really is waiting in the
dark. That’s why this abandoned theme park is known to the SCP Foundation as SCP - 823,
a Euclid class anomaly with a violent history. What’s even more unnerving is that the researchers
studying 823 have repeatedly implored the O5 Council to increase the park’s classification to
Keter and allocate more resources for containment, only to be denied. But after you’ve heard
about the horrors that unfolded there, and the danger it poses, you’ll
probably take the researchers’ side. The park is divided into two different zones:
The Yellow Zone and the Red Zone. There are to be at least six members of Foundation personnel
present in the Yellow Zone at all times to ensure that no civilians wander in. Our two urban
explorers earned themselves a death sentence not just by wandering into the Yellow Zone,
but passing dangerously close to the Red Zone. This is the true epicenter of the park’s
dangerous, anomalous activity. It’s a place so hazardous that anyone entering, whether they’re
a civilian or a member of Foundation staff, is to be executed at a distance
by sniper fire without hesitation. Once upon a time, though nobody knows exactly
when, there was a theme park that seemed no different to any other. Eager children and
thrill-seeking teens arrived by the busload, ready to stuff their faces with cotton candy
and corn dogs, and then reverse the process on a vast array of rollercoasters. But even then
during these good times, there was something dark lurking behind the cheerful facade. Little
by little everyone, visitors and employees alike, started falling victim to strange and
horrific accidents around the park. Of course, when it comes to theme parks, accidents
come with the territory, but none like this. Here are just a handful of the horrific and mysterious
deaths that occurred while the park was open. So strap in, because just like a roller
coaster, this isn’t for the faint of heart. A pair of young lovebirds decided they wanted
to enjoy the romance of the Tunnel of Love. The two sat in a swan-shaped boat as they
were ferried through darkened passageways. Anyone would assume that they were
having a great time, but at some point, terrible shrieks of pain and fear began
to echo through the ride. Attendants, confused and terrified, stopped the ride and
found that the screaming persisted. Just some stupid teens playing a prank, they figured, and
started the ride again. But when the swan-shaped boat finally exited the Tunnel of Love, the park
employees were greeted to a horrifying sight: The two teens, dead, their bodies somehow
fused together at multiple points. Another unlucky customer met a gruesome
fate inside the House of Mirrors. They entered, but while inside, they were
stalked by a mysterious, carnivorous, humanoid entity known as Subject 79. The customer
was pursued and eventually caught by Subject 79, and brutally dismembered. Some parts of the body
were fused to the House of Mirrors’ interior while others - like the right arm - were never found.
This customer actually survived their ordeal - and whether that’s a happy ending is up to you.
But it wasn’t just the customers at the park who were in danger. A 23-year-old park employee
working a summer job collapsed while entertaining children dressed as the park’s cheerful mascot,
Happy Hippo. It wasn’t uncommon for people to get overheated and collapse in the heavy suits
on hot days, but one thing was different here: He was screaming, crying, and trying
desperately to remove his mask. People rushed to help, but nobody could get the
suit off, and he was declared dead soon after. When he was eventually cut out of the suit, coroners found that the employee had choked to
death. His mouth, trachea, and lungs were filled with a fibrous substance later determined to
be identical to the stuffing of his costume. An intense roller coaster known as the Thriller
Chiller was a magnet for horrific accidents, which became more violent and intense over time. The first accident seemed like a typical
theme park tragedy - A safety harness failed dropping a rider fifteen feet during an
inverted loop. They landed on the track below, breaking their neck and skull, causing instant
death. While this was a tragedy, it wasn’t exactly anomalous. But the next major accident
on the ride was an entirely different story. This time, fifteen people met with disaster
while riding the Thriller Chiller roller coaster. Starting from the front and moving back one car
at a time, each group of riders was decapitated by blunt force trauma. A new pair of decapitations
appeared to happen at every turn and loop on the ride. Forensic scientists still have no
idea how this could have possibly occurred. Despite all of these disasters, the park was only
finally abandoned after a day known as “Bloody Sunday”, when the anomalous powers of the location
reached a twenty year peak. It’s believed that 231 people were killed during the carnage of that day,
and another seven were horribly maimed. The SCP Foundation contained the Carnival of Horrors not
long after, but the mysterious deaths didn’t even end there. Foundation Mobile Task Force Rho-71,
also known as the Origami Toads, were sent in to assess containment procedures and discover the
source of all the anomalous deaths. They were unsuccessful though, and instead they merely added
to the list, in exceptionally horrifying ways. One agent was found dead, surrounded by empty
grenades and bullet casings. It appeared he’d removed the explosive propellant from
all of his ballistics and consumed it, dying in the process. Another was found with
his jaw broken, having apparently pulled out and inhaled his own teeth, and dying of the
resulting internal damage. The commander got the worst fate of all - so horrifying, in
fact, that we can’t tell you the full details. All you need to know is that something was shoved
into his brain that really didn’t belong there. The Foundation considered having the entire
park destroyed with a massive airstrike, courtesy of the Mobile Task Force Nu-7, aka Hammer
Down. However, the O5 Council denied this request, on the basis that the park was
too close to populated land, they’d have no plausible cover story for the
bombing, and they don’t even really know if blowing up the park would prevent anomalous
activity from occurring. The Carnival of Horrors is here to stay, folks, the Foundation
just hopes to keep it from getting new visitors. So then back to why the researchers
want this place upgraded to Keter. After all, these classifications aren’t about
how dangerous an anomaly is - they’re about how difficult and complicated they are to contain.
But here’s the problem - according to researchers, the Red Zone - where the dangerous, anomalous
activity is at its peak - isn’t bound to one fixed position. It’s changed position at
least three times already, and even worse, it appears to be growing. Not seeming so Euclid
class now, is it? After all, you might not even need to visit the Carnival of Horrors to be in
grave danger. If it keeps growing then someday soon, the Carnival of Horrors may be visiting you…
Now go check out “SCP - 2000 - Deus Ex Machina” and “SCP - 4205 - In The Eyes of The Beholder”
for more existentially terrifying SCPs!
