SCP-ARCHIVED-004 — “The Archive That Should Not Exist”
SCP-ARCHIVED-004
THE HOUSE THAT REMEMBERED
ARCHIVE STATUS: RECOVERED ARCHIVE NUMBER: 004 ORIGINAL STATUS: DELETED LOCATION: Rural Oklahoma, United States DISCOVERY DATE: ██/██/20██ INVESTIGATION UNIT: Oklahoma Provisional Branch LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Agent David ███████ RECOVERED MATERIAL: 1 video archive, 1 unidentified writing instrument, 17 hours of surveillance footage
FOREWORD
There is an abandoned house in Oklahoma that has appeared on local maps for longer than the state has existed.
No one agrees on when it was built.
County records list the property as approximately one hundred years old.
A newspaper from 1912 describes it as "already standing."
A photograph dated 1887 contains the same house in the background.
The photograph was taken approximately six kilometers from its current location.
The house has never been found in between.
For decades, residents reported seeing the same thing through its upstairs window.
A tall figure.
Black clothing.
Motionless.
Always facing the window.
Always appearing to be waiting for someone.
At night, witnesses reported hearing a voice inside the house.
Not screaming.
Not crying.
Whispering.
A slow, continuous muttering in a language nobody could identify.
Sometimes candles could be seen burning inside.
Sometimes smoke emerged from the chimney.
The house had no electricity.
The chimney had been sealed since 1974.
There had been no known occupants for thirty-eight years.
Then someone called the Foundation.
INCIDENT 004-A
14:17 — Oklahoma
Agent David stood beside the Foundation vehicle and stared at the house.
It was smaller than he expected.
Two stories.
White paint almost completely gone.
Windows dark.
The roof sagging slightly toward the eastern side.
Nothing about it looked impossible.
That bothered him.
DAVID: "This is the place?"
OFFICER: "Confirmed."
David looked at the photograph in his hand.
The house in the photograph looked exactly the same.
Except for one detail.
The upstairs window.
There was a person standing behind it.
David lowered the photograph.
The window was empty.
DAVID: "When was that photograph taken?"
OFFICER: "Unknown."
DAVID: "No. When?"
The officer hesitated.
OFFICER: "The file says 1931."
David looked again.
The person in the photograph was wearing a long black cloak.
Its face was hidden.
DAVID: "And this picture?"
OFFICER: "Recovered yesterday."
David stared at the photograph for several seconds.
Then he turned toward the house.
DAVID: "Set up."
The team established a perimeter.
Motion sensors were placed around the property.
Thermal cameras were installed inside the house.
Radar equipment was positioned approximately fifty meters from the building.
Four officers remained outside.
Three entered the house to install surveillance equipment.
Agent Robert Cruser, David's primary assistant, volunteered for the northern observation position.
He climbed a large dead oak tree overlooking the property.
Before leaving, David looked up at him.
DAVID: "You sure about that position?"
Robert smiled.
ROBERT: "Best view on the property."
DAVID: "If anything changes, call me."
ROBERT: "I will."
Robert disappeared into the branches.
David watched him for a moment.
Then he entered the house.
15:03
Nothing.
The interior was covered in dust.
Old furniture.
Broken picture frames.
A staircase leading upstairs.
A fireplace containing nothing except ash.
No footprints.
No insects.
No animals.
No signs of recent human occupation.
The strangest thing was the temperature.
Every room was approximately six degrees colder than the outside environment.
The basement was warmer.
Much warmer.
David stood at the bottom of the stairs.
His radio crackled.
ROBERT: "David."
DAVID: "Go ahead."
Static.
Then:
ROBERT: "You guys hear that?"
David stopped.
DAVID: "Hear what?"
Silence.
ROBERT: "Never mind."
David waited.
DAVID: "Robert?"
Nothing.
Then Robert answered.
ROBERT: "Probably nothing."
David continued upstairs.
18:31
The sun disappeared.
The first candle appeared at 19:02.
There was no explanation for it.
The surveillance camera in the eastern bedroom showed an empty room.
Then, between two frames, a candle was burning on the floor.
Nobody had entered.
The flame did not flicker.
David watched the monitor.
TECHNICIAN: "Could be an equipment error."
DAVID: "Run the camera again."
The recording was replayed.
Empty room.
Empty room.
Empty room.
Candle.
David leaned closer.
Something was wrong.
The flame was producing smoke.
The smoke rose toward the ceiling.
Then stopped.
It remained suspended approximately thirty centimeters below the ceiling.
A second candle appeared.
Then another.
Then another.
Within six minutes, every room in the house contained candlelight.
The technician whispered:
TECHNICIAN: "Sir..."
David looked at the radar screen.
There was movement inside.
One human-sized object.
David stared at the display.
DAVID: "Where?"
The technician pointed toward the eastern bedroom.
TECHNICIAN: "There."
David looked at the camera.
Nothing.
The radar showed a person standing directly in front of the camera.
The camera showed an empty room.
Then the radar registered movement.
The object had moved.
Down the hallway.
Then another movement.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer.
19:17
Robert's radio activated.
Nobody had called him.
His voice came through.
Very quietly.
ROBERT: "David?"
DAVID: "I'm here."
A long pause.
ROBERT: "There's someone in the house."
David looked toward the surveillance monitor.
DAVID: "Where?"
ROBERT: "Second floor."
DAVID: "Can you see it?"
Robert didn't answer immediately.
Then:
ROBERT: "Yeah."
DAVID: "Describe it."
Silence.
ROBERT: "Tall."
David waited.
ROBERT: "Very tall."
Another pause.
ROBERT: "It's wearing a cloak."
David stood.
The monitor suddenly changed.
Every camera displayed the same image.
A dark hallway.
At the far end stood a figure.
Tall.
Motionless.
Its face could not be seen.
The figure was whispering.
The audio technician increased the volume.
The whisper became clearer.
It wasn't one voice.
It sounded like many voices speaking at once.
Old voices.
Young voices.
Male.
Female.
Some sounded terrified.
Some sounded as if they were reading something.
Then the technician heard his own name.
TECHNICIAN: "Did you hear that?"
David looked at him.
DAVID: "What?"
The technician's face had gone pale.
TECHNICIAN: "It said my name."
David listened.
The whisper continued.
Then, underneath the other voices, something else became audible.
A single sentence.
Repeated again and again.
"The first three are gone."
David stared at the monitor.
The figure slowly raised its head.
It was looking directly into the camera.
19:21
Lightning struck the oak tree.
Robert disappeared from the radio.
David heard a tremendous crack.
The surveillance equipment shook.
DAVID: "ROBERT!"
No response.
David ran outside.
The team followed.
The tree was burning.
Robert was no longer visible among the branches.
David stared upward.
Then he saw something hanging from one of the branches.
Robert's radio.
Still transmitting.
Static filled the channel.
Then came a whisper.
Not Robert's voice.
"Four remains."
David froze.
DAVID: "Everyone inside."
Nobody moved.
DAVID: "NOW!"
19:24 — ENTRY
The team entered the house.
The front door slammed shut behind them.
David turned.
The door was locked.
OFFICER: "Sir?"
DAVID: "Don't touch it."
The candles were still burning.
Every flame pointed toward the staircase.
The team slowly moved forward.
Nobody spoke.
Then they heard footsteps upstairs.
One.
Two.
Three.
Slow footsteps.
Something was walking across the second floor.
David raised his weapon.
DAVID: "Show yourself!"
The footsteps stopped.
Silence.
Then came the muttering.
Closer.
Much closer.
The ceiling above them creaked.
A shadow moved across the wall.
The officers aimed upward.
Nothing.
David looked toward the hallway.
There was a door at the end.
It hadn't been there before.
He knew that because he had personally walked past that wall earlier.
The door was old.
Black.
And covered in scratches.
David approached it.
A piece of paper had been nailed to the center.
Three numbers had been written on it.
001
002
003
All three had been crossed out.
Underneath them was a fourth number.
004
David reached for the handle.
The muttering stopped.
Every candle went out.
The door opened by itself.
There was nothing behind it.
Only a small wooden table.
On the table sat a black pen.
David stared at it.
The same pen would later be identified as the object recovered from the scene.
He picked it up.
The house became completely silent.
Then every radio in the building activated simultaneously.
A voice came through.
David recognized it immediately.
It was Robert.
ROBERT: "David..."
David's face changed.
DAVID: "Robert?"
Static.
Then:
ROBERT: "Don't open 001."
The transmission ended.
David looked at the pen.
The pen was warm.
FOUNDATION ARCHIVE ROOM
22:47
The recovered pen was transported to the Oklahoma branch.
No writing was visible on it.
No manufacturer could be identified.
The object contained no electronic components.
Nevertheless, when placed beside the Foundation archival terminal, the terminal activated without being touched.
The screen displayed:
SEARCHING...
Then:
ARCHIVE-001
FILE STATUS: DELETED
The screen flickered.
ARCHIVE-002
FILE STATUS: DELETED
Another flicker.
ARCHIVE-003
FILE STATUS: DELETED
David stood behind the technician.
DAVID: "What are those?"
The technician shook his head.
TECHNICIAN: "I don't know."
The screen went black.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then a single file appeared.
ARCHIVE-004
David stepped closer.
The file opened.
It contained the surveillance footage from the house.
David watched himself enter the building.
He watched the candles appear.
He watched the figure.
He watched Robert's final transmission.
But then the footage continued.
It showed something that none of the Foundation cameras had recorded.
A room beneath the house.
A room that did not exist.
The cloaked figure stood inside it.
In front of the figure were three objects.
Three files.
Three numbers.
001
002
003
The figure placed a hand over them.
The screen distorted.
A final line appeared.
CREATOR: UNKNOWN
Then another.
PURPOSE: UNKNOWN
Then:
ARCHIVE-004 WAS NOT THE FIRST.
The screen went black.
David stared at it.
The technician whispered:
"Then what was?"
The terminal turned on one final time.
There was only one sentence.
YOU HAVE ALREADY FOUND IT.
David slowly looked toward the black pen lying on the table.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the pen moved.
By itself.
It rolled across the table.
Stopped.
And pointed toward the door.
Behind the door, somewhere in the darkness of the Oklahoma branch, something began whispering.
The same words recorded inside the house.
Only this time, the voice was much clearer.
"Begin with 001."
END OF ARCHIVE-004
ARCHIVE-001: DELETED ARCHIVE-002: DELETED ARCHIVE-003: DELETED ARCHIVE-004: RECOVERED
ENTITY RESPONSIBLE FOR ARCHIVES 001–004: UNKNOWN
ENTITY PURPOSE: UNKNOWN
CURRENT LOCATION: UNKNOWN
INVESTIGATION STATUS: ACTIVE
ADDENDUM
At 03:17 the following morning, a security camera recorded a figure standing outside the Oklahoma branch.
The figure remained there for exactly nine minutes.
It did not approach the building.
It did not move.
It simply stood beneath the streetlight, wearing a long black cloak.
At 03:26, the figure disappeared.
The camera footage was reviewed by six Foundation personnel.
Five reported seeing the same thing.
The sixth reported seeing something different.
According to his statement, the figure was not standing outside the building.
It was standing behind him.
The sixth employee resigned three hours later.
His resignation letter contained only four words:
"I remember Archive 001."
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