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[[include component:image-block | name=https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dirty-rough-cements-stairs-600nw-1069213481.jpg | caption=Stairwell leading to SCP-8405 | width=34]]
**Item #:** SCP-8405
**Object Class:** Euclid
**Special Containment Procedures:** The abandoned █████ Hotel in [REDACTED] has been purchased by a Foundation front company and sealed off under the pretense of structural instability and asbestos risk. A security perimeter has been established with constant surveillance.
Exploration of SCP-8405 is restricted to authorized testing operations involving Class-D personnel under the proxied supervision of no fewer than two Level 4 researchers. Remote exploration via drones has consistently failed (See Incident Log 8405-R1), leaving direct human interaction as the only viable research method.
Personnel entering SCP-8405 are to be fitted with biometric monitors and two (2) 500mg cyanide-laced capsules for emergency extraction. Under no circumstances are staff to enter SCP-8405 without immediate debrief scheduled with Site Psychiatry before and after entry. Foundation personnel experiencing consistent unease and paranoia for a minimum of four (4) hours after exiting the proximity of SCP-8405 are to take at least two (2) 200mg caffeine tablets every eight (8) hours until evaluated by Foundation Medical Personnel. Failure to comply will result in disciplinary measures.
**Description:** SCP-8405 is a location accessible via the south fire escape stairwell of the █████ Hotel. Descending to the lowest landing reveals a plain white concrete chamber, with two standard, brown fire escape doors adjacent to a large cavity in the wall exposing rusted piping. This area shows no architectural record in the original blueprints.
Entering either door transports subjects into SCP-8405-A, a retro-institutional waiting room consisting of minimal furnishing and two identical fire escape doors on the opposite side of the room. The environment is consistently described as "too clean to be abandoned, but too dirty to be maintained," with beige linoleum flooring, fluorescent lighting, and a muted palette of beige, gray, and black.
Upon entry, the first observation made by subjects is a wall panel reading "//Look here to start.//" Attempts to interact with the panel or open the other doors prove ineffective. The only notable anomaly at this stage is reported feelings of unease and a consistent increase of paranoia. Another notable feature is a window placed on the left side of the room, presumably to speak to an attendant, however there has been no recorded sightings of any individual behind the window, only what appears to be an empty, white office space with no visible entry.
The anomaly's primary effects manifest the following sleep cycle when subjects enter a REM state, where subjects invariably dream of returning to SCP-8405-A. In the dream state, the doors leading out to the stairwell are locked. Staring at the previously inactive panel will now result in it popping out from the wall, revealing a single steel office key. This key unlocks the forward doors and grants access to SCP-8405-B.
If more than one subject enters SCP-8405-A at a time, all subjects will share a dream state, appearing in SCP-8405-A at the same time, regardless of whether or not subjects fall asleep at varying times.
------
**SCP-8405-B**
SCP-8405-B manifests as a carpeted hallway resembling that of the upper-floor hallways of the building. Each hallway is approximately fifteen (15) feet in length, with another set of steel doors at the opposing end. Upon entering, the doors lock behind the subject; waking becomes impossible except through termination of the dream self.
If multiple subjects enter SCP-8405-B in a group of two (2) or more, subjects will continue to be able to interact with one another, however, experiences will vary subjectively. The logic of these differences appears to affect one's interactions with their environment, including one report of a D-Class witnessing another "clipping through objects" that they could interact with.
Phenomena within SCP-8405-B include:
* **Hallway distortion:** Initially ordinary rooms (bedrooms, laundry rooms, housekeeping closets). As subjects progress, architecture and geometry begin to warp in ways compared to "staring into a mirror for too long." Angles become recursive, doors open into dead ends, and linear distance ceases to correlate with physical perception.
* **Windows:** Appear sporadically. Cannot be broken or altered. Views range from mundane street scenes to impossible vistas (e.g., oceans suspended in midair, recursive views of SCP-8405-A, or [DATA EXPUNGED]).
* **Rooms:** Random placements. Rooms encountered early on resemble functional spaces, whereas later rooms become cognitively hazardous—examples include chambers filled with whispering coming from around the corner, bathrooms with mirrors that display alternate versions of the subject, and [DATA EXPUNGED]. Descriptions of late-stage rooms are so inconsistent they are theorized to differ subjectively, potentially tailored to individual psychological vulnerabilities. The only thing that remains consistent amongst subject recounts is a “personally familiar feeling” associated with said rooms. Foundation personnel have reported rooms containing other anomalous items and entities in later-stage rooms.
* **Entities** (designated SCP-8405-C): Humanoid figures in various attire. They exhibit the anomalous trait of perpetually “looking downward” regardless of observer angle. Attempts to view their faces have universally failed, even under extreme measures. Subjects report a strong urge to view the faces on these entities, expressing that they are “faces that could not exist.” SCP-8405-C instances approach subjects and make comments reported to inspire several different emotions, including confidence, anxiety, insecurity, depression, and anger, although no actual conversations can be recounted. Further interrogation to related conversations are often met with the subject entering a highly distressed state. They do not interfere physically but will follow subjects until ignored long enough. SCP-8405-C will then enter nearby rooms and perform “tasks” associated with their environment, including in abstract spaces where no logical task can be found.
Escape routes are extremely limited. Documented methods include:
# **Waiting inside SCP-8405-A:** Only three (3) subjects have successfully endured the duration required for the exit doors to reopen. They described the experience as "madness-inducing," consisting of "weeks of listening to a clock tick second by second" while fluorescent lights hummed incessantly. Two (2) later committed suicide within one (1) month of departure from SCP-8405-A.
# **Death inside SCP-8405-B:** Dying within the dream state awakens the subject in reality. Survivors describe a sensation of "eternity compressed into seconds," with near-universal reports of profound existential dread. Post-exposure effects include severe depression, faith loss in ~60% of religious individuals, and manic incoherence in ~15% of all survivors.
# **[DATA EXPUNGED]:** Anomalous item intervention.
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++ **Addendum 8405-1: Interview Log**
[[div]]
> **Interviewer:** D-10452
> **Interviewer:** Dr. V██████
> **<Begin Log>**
>
> **Dr. V██████:** Walk me through what happened after the panel dispensed the key.
>
> **D-10452:** I opened the doors. Thought it'd be a regular hallway. It //looked// normal at first, but the sound of the lights...it got louder, like bees in my ears. Every door I opened showed me something different.
>
> **Dr. V██████:** Such as?
>
> **D-10452:** First one was just an empty, clean bedroom. Smelled like pinewood. Second door, black water up to my knees but you could still see the bed poking out the top of it. Another room felt heavy, whispering from behind the bathroom door. I tried to open the door, but it felt like sleep paralysis every time I touched the knob. The whispers, they kept saying a name...[REDACTED].
>
> **Dr. V██████:** And the people?
>
> **D-10452:** They...they never loop up. I even tried lying on the floor to see their faces. Still looking down. They kept talking, it was driving me mad. I responded to them once. They just got closer.
>
> **Dr. V██████:** How did you escape?
>
> **D-10452:** I used the pill. Everything went black, but not like sleep. It was...nothing. No sound, no light, no thoughts, just me. And then I woke up here. But I swear to God, I think part of me is still //in there.//
>
> **<End Log>**
>
> **Closing Statement:** Subject exhibited paranoia and dissociation during all subsequent evaluations. Terminated after repeated attempts at self-harm.
>
[[/div]]
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++ **Addendum 8405-2: Incident 8405-R1**
On ██/██/20██, a drone equipped with high-resolution camera equipment was sent into SCP-8405. Video transmission terminated the moment the drone crossed the threshold into SCP-8405-A. The drone was recovered without incident by D-Class personnel.
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