A seven year old girl and her thirteen year
old brother are settling in for their favorite after school activity - watching TV. The children’s parents won’t be home from
work for several hours, and watching the after school programming together before making
a snack is a staple of their day. The boy takes his normal position on the couch
as the girl plants herself right in front of the television and turns it on. This is the time when Pretty Pony Paradise
comes on and she never misses an episode. Her brother would prefer something else, but
he also loves to see his sister happy so he always lets her watch the ponies have their
adventures. Today though, when she turns to the right
channel, there’s something else. Instead of the usual Pretty Pony theme song,
circus music comes out of the television speakers. The girl watches as the brightly colored words
“Bobble the Clown” appear on the screen. “Hey, this isn’t Pretty Ponies” she
says to her brother, but when she looks back, he’s asleep. The girl isn’t happy, but she decides to
give this new show a chance. And maybe her pony show will come on after
anyway. The circus music stops and a happy looking
clown cartwheels on to the screen. “Hello Kids!” the garish clown says, “Do
you like… Fun?” The girl did like fun. Perhaps this new show wouldn’t be so bad. She watches as Bobble walks down the street
of an average, happy American small town. Everyone seems to love the happy clown, waving
at him as he passes by. Bobble pauses in front of a house where a
man is mowing the lawn. He convinces the man to stop his yard work
and join him, and the two happily head down the sidewalk together. The girl is a little confused by this show,
there’s not much in the way of jokes, but she decides to keep watching anyway. Bobble and his new friend stop in front of
a house that is painted to resemble a circus tent, this must be where Bobble lives. He invites the man in and they both enter
the house. Inside, Bobble motions for the man to sit
while he prepares some refreshments. The girl watches as Bobble moves to the kitchen. There he begins sharpening knives as he explains
directly to the camera the best way to prepare meat - the way the skin must carefully be
removed from the flesh, and how the bones should be saved for future soup stocks. The girl watches with fascination as Bobble
teaches his special lesson. Maybe this is a good show after all. Maybe… this is her new favorite show. The girl gets up, her brother still asleep,
and heads to the kitchen. She pulls out a drawer to help her reach the
counter where the knife block is located and pulls out the meat cleaver. She looks at it gleaming in the light, entranced
by its sharp, shiny edge. The girl returns to the living room and gets
up onto the couch next to her sleeping brother. She watches as Bobble steps away from his
pot of red, boiling meat, and looks right into the camera. The girl stands up and holds up the meat cleaver. Bobble walks towards the camera with fascination
in his eyes, as if he can see through the screen and is watching the girl. She slowly raises the knife above her head
as Bobble starts whispering “come on, do it” licking his lips in anticipation. The girl pauses for a second, looks at her
sleeping brother one more time, and brings the cleaver down. Hi! I’m Dr. Bob, and this is SCP-993, also known
as... Bobble the Clown. But first, there’s something I need from
you. I need your help to spread the word about
some of the lesser known anomalies in the SCP Foundation’s archives and the best way
you can help is to subscribe, turn on notifications, and then go tell your friends to do the same. This will help me bring you more and more
SCP videos. Now, back to our file. SCP-993 is the designation the SCP Foundation
has given to a children’s television program entitled “Bobble the Clown.” At first glance, the Bobble the Clown show
appears to be a standard, children’s educational cartoon, with bright colors, a mascot, and
a rote formula that involves the titular character of Bobble the Clown learning a new skill or
engaging in a new activity. The program appears to have no recurring supporting
cast, with Bobble being the only character who returns to each episode. The settings usually change between episodes
as well, with Bobble often being seen in a new or unique location. Despite appearing as a show made for children,
the anomalous properties exhibited by this strange television program make themselves
apparent almost immediately. First, anyone older than the age of ten who
watches the show will immediately fall unconscious as soon as it begins, and will remain in a
comatose state until the program ends. Upon waking, they will report having felt
a painful, stabbing headache just prior to falling unconscious. The show’s most disturbing property though,
is what has been described by those under the age of ten who are able to view the program. They report seeing Bobble the Clown teach
lessons similar to the way many children’s shows extoll the virtues of good hygiene,
or going to bed on time, but with Bobble, the lessons are quite different. Topics that Bobble has presented lessons on
and encouraged children to try have included torture, murder, and even cannibalism. As the subject watches, the lessons appear
to become ingrained in their minds, and repeated exposure to the show has resulted in permanent
effects that resemble symptoms of psychosis and schizophrenia. Documented episodes of Bobble the Clown have
included “Bobble in the Big City” in which Bobble appears in a large United States city
reminiscent of New York, and instructs the viewer on various ways to avoid detection
when lighting fires with common resources like mosquito coils. The episode ends with Bobble setting fire
to a large building before he exits the screen. The camera continues to stay locked on the
burning building for several more minutes as the sound of screams can be heard. In another titled “Bobble’s Sneaky Saturday,”
Bobble is again in a major city, this time one that looks similar to London, England,
with the Elizabeth Tower containing Big Ben visible in the background. In this episode, Bobble is shown to be quietly
following a woman as she walks into her home. Once she arrives, Bobble attacks her with
a large butcher knife before giving the audience tips on how to remain unnoticed in crowded
places. “Bobble Gets the Truth” finds the clown
in a prisoner of war camp, where Bobble is shown torturing a captured soldier as he asks
him nonsensical questions that the soldier can not possibly answer. This continues until the prisoner dies, after
which Bobble details methods for inflicting painful, but non-lethal injuries. “Bobble Hates You” is one of the most
unnerving of the documented episodes, and consists of Bobble sitting alone in a blank
room, silently and angrily staring at the viewer for a full thirty minutes. But the strangest of all is from an episode
title filled with expletives, in which Bobble appears to be in a Foundation secure site
video archive room - the same one where recordings of Bobble the Clown are stored. In this episode, a rage filled Bobble describes
methods for breaching several SCP’s containment. He then gives personal details about the researchers
assigned to these SCPs including their daily routines before offering several potential
ways to murder them. An interesting detail about this episode,
at one point an animated depiction of a particular SCP Foundation researcher is seen to walk
past Bobble. A clock on the wall shows the time, and this
same researcher later confirmed that they did in fact walk through the video archive
at this exact time, but had no recollection of seeing an animated Clown filming a television
program in the room when they did so. Episodes of Bobble the Clown continue to be
broadcast from an unknown source, but future episodes are to be intercepted using Protocol
Upsilon-Beta 3 to prevent them from being seen by the public. All broadcasts are recorded for the Foundation’s
archives and in order to perform research on the anomaly, subjects under the age of
ten must be used to view them. Once the viewers have described what takes
place in the episode, they are then to immediately be administered Class A amnestics. Despite the danger these episodes pose to
those who view them, since they are able to be reliably blocked from public broadcast,
SCP-993 has been classified as Safe, and for now, Bobble the Clown appears to be contained
as well it can be. Now go and watch another entry from the files
of Dr. Bob, and once again, please join me on my mission by subscribing, turning on notifications,
and telling a friend to do the same, so we can continue delving further and further into
the SCP Foundation’s classified archives.
