SCP-004 — The 12 Rusty Keys and the Door
SCP-004 consists of an old wooden door designated SCP-004-1 and twelve rusted steel keys designated SCP-004-2 through SCP-004-13.
All twelve keys fit the same lock.
Only two have been confirmed to allow a human subject to return intact.
The Foundation does not recommend determining what happens with the remaining ten.
That recommendation exists because the Foundation already tried.
Special Containment Procedures
SCP-004-1 is to remain permanently secured at its current location.
The twelve keys are to be stored separately within a secured testing area under continuous surveillance.
No component of SCP-004 may be removed from the designated containment zone without authorization from TWO LEVEL-4 SECURITY PERSONNEL AND ████████████.
Under no circumstances is any object other than an approved key to be transported through SCP-004-1.
This includes personnel equipment, weapons, biological samples, electronic devices, cameras, recording equipment, and anomalous objects.
The reason for this restriction is not simply safety.
The Foundation has not determined where objects transported through SCP-004-1 actually go.
In the event of a containment breach involving SCP-004, the keys are to be brought inside the secured facility and the door closed before activation of the site's emergency destruction system.
Authorization for this procedure is restricted to:
LEVEL 4: ████████
LEVEL 5: ████████████
O5 AUTHORIZATION: REQUIRED / UNKNOWN
Unauthorized removal of any key from the testing area is grounds for immediate termination.
Description
SCP-004-1 is an old wooden barn-style door forming the entrance to an abandoned factory located in ████████████████, UNITED STATES.
The surrounding structure has been extensively modified by the Foundation and is no longer representative of the original factory complex.
The door itself appears mundane.
It is not.
The lock accepts twelve different keys.
Each key produces a different result when used.
The Foundation has determined that ten of the twelve keys connect the doorway to environments in which conventional physical laws and topology appear to differ significantly from baseline reality.
Several recovered test subjects were physically dismembered during transition.
Their remains did not necessarily appear where they should have.
Some did not appear at all.
KNOWN DESTINATIONS: ████████████
UNCONFIRMED DESTINATIONS: ████████████████████
VERIFIED EARTH-BASED LOCATIONS: 3
UNKNOWN LOCATIONS: 7
TEMPORAL DISPLACEMENT: CONFIRMED
The Twelve Keys
The keys are visually similar: rusted steel objects of approximately the same general size.
Their apparent simplicity is misleading.
Each key corresponds to a different spatial configuration beyond SCP-004-1.
Foundation records classify them individually as SCP-004-2 through SCP-004-13.
The current testing table has been partially reconstructed:
| KEY | RESULT | STATUS |
|---|---|---|
| SCP-004-2 | ████████████ | UNSAFE |
| SCP-004-3 | ████████████ | UNSAFE |
| SCP-004-4 | ████████████ | UNSAFE |
| SCP-004-5 | ████████████ | UNSAFE |
| SCP-004-6 | ████████████ | UNSAFE |
| SCP-004-7 | RETURNED INTACT | AUTHORIZED |
| SCP-004-8 | ████████████ | UNSAFE |
| SCP-004-9 | ████████████ | UNSAFE |
| SCP-004-10 | ████████████ | UNSAFE |
| SCP-004-11 | ████████████ | UNSAFE |
| SCP-004-12 | PSYCHOLOGICAL / UNKNOWN | RESTRICTED |
| SCP-004-13 | ████████████ | UNSAFE |
NOTE: The above table is incomplete by order of ████████████████.
The First Incident
On 07/02/1949, three juveniles trespassing on federal property discovered SCP-004-1.
They located a set of rusted keys stored inside an iron lockbox and determined that the keys corresponded to the door.
One of the group, subsequently designated SCP-004-CAS01, entered through the door.
He did not return.
The surviving juveniles contacted local authorities.
The following day, investigators recovered the subject's severed right hand approximately eight kilometres from the structure.
Additional body parts were discovered across an area extending approximately thirty-two kilometres from the original location.
The distribution pattern could not be explained by conventional explosive force, animal activity, or mechanical dismemberment.
The original police report has been almost entirely removed from the archive.
Recovered fragment:
SHERIFF: ████████████████
CASE NUMBER: ████-1949
CAUSE OF DEATH: NO CONSENSUS
FOUNDATION INVOLVEMENT: ████████████████████
The Twelve Test
On 07/04/1949, Foundation personnel acquired the keys from local authorities.
Twelve Class-D personnel were assigned.
Each subject was given one key.
Each subject was instructed to enter SCP-004-1.
The results established the basic danger of the object.
Ten subjects did not return intact.
Only two survived.
One subject used SCP-004-7.
He returned unharmed.
The other used SCP-004-12.
He returned alive.
That distinction is important.
He did not return unharmed.
The subject was almost completely catatonic and required restraint to prevent him from injuring himself.
He repeatedly attempted to gouge out his own eyes.
When questioned about what he had seen, the subject provided almost no coherent information.
Eventually, he described something enormous.
Something green.
Something that appeared to extend beyond his field of vision.
The remainder of his testimony is classified.
TRANSCRIPT STATUS: ████████████████
PSYCHIATRIC STATUS: SEVERE
MEMORY DAMAGE: CONFIRMED
FURTHER INTERVIEWS: PROHIBITED
What SCP-004-7 Opens
The subject using SCP-004-7 reported entering a room.
That description sounds ordinary.
It was not.
The interior space appeared vastly larger than the building containing SCP-004-1.
Foundation personnel subsequently entered the space using an armed Level-3 team.
The team could see and physically interact with the doorway and personnel immediately surrounding it.
Beyond that point, the environment became impossible to properly measure.
Light behaved abnormally.
Distance could not be reliably established.
The apparent size of the interior could not be reconciled with the external dimensions of the factory.
Standard surveying equipment produced contradictory readings.
ROOM DIMENSIONS: NOT MEASURABLE
LIGHT PROPAGATION: ABNORMAL
TOPOLOGY: NON-EUCLIDEAN / UNKNOWN
EXIT LOCATION: CONFIRMED
FURTHER DESTINATION: ████████████████
The Door Is Not the Anomaly
Early Foundation researchers initially classified SCP-004 as a strange door with anomalous keys.
That interpretation was abandoned.
The evidence indicates that the door may instead function as an interface between different spaces.
Ten of the keys appear to connect SCP-004-1 to environments where the laws of physics and topology differ substantially from baseline reality.
Human subjects entering these environments are violently separated.
But the most disturbing aspect is what happens afterward.
Their remains do not always appear immediately.
Some portions have appeared at locations separated by enormous distances.
Others appear to have been displaced in time.
Several locations remain unknown.
The Missing Years
Years after the original experiments, previously unaccounted-for remains began appearing outside SCP-004-1.
The remains showed no expected decomposition.
Blood remained uncoagulated.
Body temperature remained elevated.
The individuals had been dead for decades.
According to Foundation records, this should have been impossible.
One set of remains was identified as SCP-004-CAS01 — the first known victim.
Another was identified as one of the original Class-D test subjects.
Both had apparently returned after an interval of approximately ██ YEARS.
The implications of this discovery remain classified.
Researchers studying the phenomenon were ordered to cease referring to the remains as "dead personnel."
The replacement terminology was:
TEMPORALLY DISPLACED ORGANIC MATERIAL
Site-62
By 1999, Foundation planners began constructing an emergency facility within the anomalous space associated with SCP-004.
The project was initially intended to provide long-term storage and emergency resources.
It eventually expanded into a full Foundation installation.
The facility became known as Site-62.
By 2000, laboratories and containment units had become operational.
The facility was capable of housing some of the Foundation's most dangerous anomalous specimens.
There was, however, a problem.
Time inside Site-62 did not behave normally.
Personnel began reporting that they had spent only days inside the facility when records indicated weeks had passed.
Supplies disappeared at rates inconsistent with reported personnel activity.
Work had been completed that personnel claimed not to remember performing.
Eventually, all personnel assigned to Site-62 were ordered to remain permanently on-site.
Their families were informed that they had died in an industrial accident.
Replacement bodies were prepared for their funerals.
SITE-62 PERSONNEL STATUS: ████████████
EXTERNAL CONTACT: TERMINATED
FAMILY NOTIFICATION: FABRICATED
EXPECTED SERVICE DURATION: ████████
The 2003 Blackout
On 14 August 2003, a massive power outage affected portions of the northeastern United States and Canada.
Site-62 lost electrical power.
Total duration:
53 MINUTES
During that period, Site-62 personnel reported that the facility contained no visible source of light.
They nevertheless reported sensing movement.
Humanoid shapes were perceived within the darkness.
Personnel reported hearing movement that could not be localized.
Several witnesses described the presence of something enormous.
No entity was physically detected after power was restored.
The incident report contains an unusually high number of redactions.
23:11 — LIGHT FAILURE
23:13 — ████████████████
23:19 — MULTIPLE PERSONNEL REPORT CONTACT
23:27 — ██████████████████████
23:41 — SECURITY RESPONSE FAILED
23:56 — ████████████████████
00:04 — POWER RESTORED
00:04 — ████████████████████████████
Fifty-three minutes later, the lights returned.
Something else may have returned with them.
SCP-004-12
Of all twelve keys, SCP-004-12 has produced some of the most severe psychological effects.
Subjects using the key consistently return in a catatonic state.
Most cannot speak.
Some attempt to injure themselves.
Only one subject has successfully regained the ability to communicate following extended psychiatric treatment.
The subject described seeing a massive green entity.
Its size could not be determined.
The subject stated that recognition occurred before understanding.
He described the sensation as something buried within humanity's oldest fears.
He also reported memories that did not appear to belong to him.
The subject subsequently developed severe anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
His final coherent statement was:
████████████████████████████████████
Appendix: SCP-004-14
An additional anomalous object was discovered within the factory in 1950.
It was designated SCP-004-14.
The object resembles a large wooden storage box.
Its internal volume is approximately five times larger than its exterior dimensions would permit.
When opened using SCP-004-7, the box behaves as a storage space.
Objects placed inside remain unaffected while the box is open.
When the box is closed and locked, objects inside disappear.
Personnel placed inside do not return.
The mechanism remains unexplained.
The relationship between SCP-004-14 and SCP-004-1 is currently classified.
RELATIONSHIP: ████████████████
COMMON MECHANISM: POSSIBLE
ORIGIN: UNKNOWN
FURTHER TESTING: DENIED
Current Foundation Assessment
SCP-004 is not simply a collection of keys.
It is not simply a door.
It may not even be a doorway in the conventional sense.
The Foundation has confirmed that it can connect our reality to locations that violate ordinary spatial geometry.
It has produced temporal displacement.
It has produced unexplained biological remains decades after their disappearance.
It has exposed personnel to entities that cannot be properly described.
It may contain environments that exist outside our normal reality.
And there are still seven destination locations associated with the keys that the Foundation has not identified.
Those locations remain open questions.
At least, that is what the official file says.
Recovered Administrative Note
The following note was found attached to a Level-4 authorization request concerning SCP-004.
"Stop asking what is behind the door.
We already know enough to understand that the question is backwards.
The question is what has been coming through it."
AUTHOR: ████████████
AUTHENTICITY: CONFIRMED
SUBSEQUENT PERSONNEL STATUS: ████████████████
Final Entry
There are twelve keys.
One opens a space too large to exist.
Another sends people somewhere they cannot describe.
Ten have destroyed the people who tried them.
Some victims returned decades later.
Some never returned.
And somewhere inside the impossible space beyond the door, something has apparently been waiting long enough for the Foundation to notice.
The Foundation has spent decades studying SCP-004.
It still does not know where the door leads.
It only knows that the door opens.
And that there are still eleven keys whose full purpose remains unresolved.
Do not ask which key opens the way home.
THE FOUNDATION HAS NOT CONFIRMED THAT THERE IS ONE.