Item #: SCP-1876
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1876 is to be furnished with a standard humanoid containment cell at Site-17. The walls of this cell are to be modified so as to be soundproofed and vibration-dampened, and an intercom system is to be fitted. Two guards are to be stationed outside of SCP-1876's containment cell at all times, each armed with one AA-12 shotgun loaded with XREP taser rounds as a duty weapon, an M26 taser issued as a sidearm, and a 500kV stun gun. In addition, one medical technician trained in EEG use is to be assigned to SCP-1876. When sleeping, SCP-1876 is to be connected to EEG at all times, and the current EEG reading is to be displayed on the wall outside of the subject's cell. If the subject cannot be confirmed to be in NREM sleep it is not to be awakened under any circumstances. If the subject awakens during a period of confirmed REM sleep, the guard is to immediately contact a medical team, then enter the cell and subdue SCP-1876 until Foundation medical staff are able to administer hypnotics.
Due to the subject's currently impaired mental state, subject is permitted weekly counseling sessions with a Foundation psychologist. In addition, if the subject suffers a nightmare and can be confirmed via EEG readings to have awakened while in an NREM stage of sleep, SCP-1876 is permitted to request an emergency counseling session. Subject is required to keep a journal of any dreams recalled, to be updated after each period of sleep, and must relate all dreams to a Foundation historian during a weekly meeting regardless of their content. Personnel assigned to SCP-1876 for either of these purposes must score at least in the 80th percentile on a standard Foundation memetic resistance test before any contact with the subject is permitted.
As further degradation of the subject's psychological health is undesirable, limited allowances are to be made if they are deemed to be a sufficient boon to the subject's mental state. Subject is permitted to eat lunch and dinner under supervision in the Site-17 cafeteria, although conversations with Site personnel are to be monitored. Subject may request books for loan from the Site-17 library; however, all requests for books dealing with non-fiction are to be denied, as are any books of the "alternate history" sub-genre of science fiction. All other requests related to entertainment are to be reviewed by researchers assigned to SCP-1876 before approval.
Description: SCP-1876 is a Hispanic male, 74 years of age at time of writing. Medical scans and testing show no anomalous physical properties manifested by the subject. Subject is generally polite and friendly, though shows various symptoms linked to dissociative identity disorder (DID) and to post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). No other mental abnormalities have been detected in the subject.
SCP-1876's anomalous properties manifest when the subject enters REM sleep. In approximately 60% of sleep cycles, during the fifth and final period of REM sleep before waking the subject will experience a lucid dream. During these dreams, the subject reports having no control over either his own actions or the dream's setting. These lucid dreams invariably consist of experiencing various historical events from the viewpoint of one of the participants. These events cover conceivably the entire span of recorded human history; subject at one point during containment reported having dreamt of being a juror on a little-known criminal trial exactly one month prior, while one dream was dated using contextual evidence to roughly ████ BCE. The events experienced in these dreams usually involve armed conflict or natural disasters, occasionally involving human-made disasters instead. SCP-1876 has reported occasional periods involving more peaceful events lasting a few weeks; the subject has also reported that during these periods, [REDACTED].1
Analysis of the subject's visual cortex using fMRI technology has allowed Foundation researchers to retrieve still images from the subject's dreams; comparison of these images to video recording of events has confirmed that the subject's visual input during dreaming is consistent with the visual field of the indicated participant. Due to the limitations of current technology, attempts to recreate audio transcripts of the dreams have yielded no results thus far.
Careful comparison of SCP-1876's dreams to recorded historical accounts of the events experienced therein show varying levels of divergence from record. In some cases, this is simply a difference in words said or the weather noticed on that day. However, in some cases significant divergence from recorded history is observed. In no case has physical evidence been discovered that would conclusively prove the subject's experiences to be false; it is thus currently unknown whether the subject's dreams or the written records are the actual details of the event. The subject's dissociative psychological symptoms appear to stem from this divergence, as well as the nature of the dreams themselves.
Upon experiencing a lucid dream, SCP-1876 becomes firmly convinced that the details of the historical event involved are as the subject experienced them. This conviction is similar to a delusion; the subject is capable of understanding that they are likely not factual but incapable of actually believing that they are. Pressing the subject or presenting them with contradicting evidence has been noted to cause high levels of cognitive dissonance in the subject; therefore at this time such discussions are forbidden. This conviction will also manifest in any person that SCP-1876 relates the details of a dream to; however, the degree to which this conviction can be shaken or undone varies. Analysis indicates that the difficulty of doing so is correlated with memetic resistance measures; research into the possibility that SCP-1876's dreams may constitute a memetic effect is ongoing. For this reason, SCP-1876 is forbidden from conversations with Site-17 personnel involving any historical event, excepting during conversations with the psychologist or historian currently assigned to it.
No further anomalous effects are noted if SCP-1876's sleep continues uninterrupted through the affected REM period. However, if the subject is roused during this time the symptoms of DID will become fully developed. During this time the subject will attempt to continue to perform the actions it was currently performing in the dream at the time of waking, and will continue to do so until successfully sedated. It is to be noted that the subject while in this state does not appear to need sleep; in one case the subject remained awake for over 72 hours before successful recapture and sedation with no apparent physiological detriment. Following successful sedation and reawakening, subject reverts to its normal personality and claims not to remember any actions taken while fully dissociated.
Addendum 1876-1: SCP-1876 was first brought to the Foundation's attention as a result of a routine sweep of psychologist records. In the records for [REDACTED] County, ██, an interview transcript between Dr. R█████████ and SCP-1876 was recorded, in which SCP-1876 recounted a dream in which he experienced the murder of the fifth confirmed victim of the ██████ Killer, from the viewpoint of the murderer. The interview contained several details currently known only to members of law enforcement. An investigation was launched; after it was determined that the subject could not possibly have been at the scene of the murder, Foundation agents contacted SCP-1876 and successfully convinced him to remand himself to Foundation care.
Addendum 1876-2: Following Incident 1876-4, no personnel are permitted to view the log of SCP-1876's dreams except for the assigned Foundation historian or by O5 permission. The assigned historian is to be rotated at least once per month.
Incident Log 1876-4: Three days prior to the incident, SCP-1876 reported a dream of the murder of █████ █████, whose killer remains at large. Notably, subject reported having seen himself in the victim's full-length mirror, and reported a highly detailed description of the murderer. At the time, permission was granted to all level 3 researchers to access and analyze transcripts of SCP-1876's dreams. Records show that Researcher A████, a former MTF member, accessed the data one day before taking a brief leave. Researcher A████ promptly evaded Foundation attempts to monitor his location and proceeded to the house of [REDACTED], who fit the description given by SCP-1876. Posing as a police officer, Researcher A████ attempted to place the target under arrest for murder; the latter was killed when he violently resisted. It was later shown that [REDACTED] could not have been at the scene of the murder; Researcher A████ was subsequently administered a Class A amnesiac before being remanded to authorities and imprisoned for manslaughter and impersonation of a police officer.