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Remains and cages were buried as precaution.
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rating: +55
Info
⚠️ Content warning: This article contains the graphic depiction of dead birds, as well as implied animal abuse.
Written by Dino--Draws Dino--Draws
View my other works here!
rating: +55
Special Containment Procedures: With proper approval from Site-898 Security, SCP-2888 can be carried via its cage by personnel for use during patrols or maintenance work. When not in use, SCP-2888's cage is hung within Site-898's Subterranean Containment Wing, adjacent to the primary Security Checkpoint.
From this vantage point, SCP-2888 can function as an early warning system for the Containment Wing.
Description: SCP-2888 is the designation for the corpses of approximately 18 domestic canaries. These remains, in various states of decay, are amalgamated together; this has resulted in an tangle of beaks, wings and claws. In places where feathers have rotted away, it can be seen that a large portion of SCP-2888's bones are broken. A spur of iron slag is embedded in SCP-2888's central mass.
It is believed that SCP-2888 manifested from SCP-8987 early on in the Summit Anthracite mining operation, as its existence was first indicated within the mine's documentation. See Discovery for further detail.
SCP-2888 displays predictive qualities, capable of detecting any and all imminent threats to the lives of those around it. Though the manner in which SCP-2888 determines danger is unclear, it has reacted to:
- The presence of toxic gases
- Critically low oxygen levels
- Aggressive, predatory animals
- Structural collapse
- Imminent containment breaches
SCP-2888 while in its warning state.
Upon the detection of a threat, SCP-2888 enters what has been deemed its "warning state" and spontaneously reanimates.
Once reanimated, SCP-2888 will gather its mass into a shape similar to a posture or frill canary. In order to do so, it will attempt to force all of its wings up onto its back via the bars of its cage. It will similarly try to force all limbs towards its underbelly, and all heads near its neck. These actions typically result in further mutation through the fracture of its own bones, but are generally successful in shifting the remains to this configuration.
Its "head" will not include any of the heads from the remains. Instead, its elongated neck often ends in a fleshy nodule, pierced by the iron spur. All corpses that make up SCP-2888 display individual life, resulting in the anomaly having difficulty with cohesive movement and navigation. Upon resumption of life, SCP-2888 displays behaviors typical of its species, and will begin to sing.
The birdsong is non-anomalous, but louder than typical canaries due to all 18 remains singing together. SCP-2888 will sing for the full duration of its warning state.
SCP-2888's warning state will conclude once the threat has passed, resulting in its form losing shape and collapsing into its prior state.
This will result in the immediate cessation of its life.
Discovery: Initially, SCP-2888's existence was only testified to in documentation from the Summit Anthracite operation that was recovered during the late stages of Investigation RED CANARY. What is believed to be its first mention comes from a miner's testimony; attached below is a transcript of the relevant section:
[…] Rothings is still babbling about the birds. Ever since we buried the last of 'em, ever since Keshner denied shipping in more due to some bull about expenses. We didn't have canaries anymore, but Rothings keeps saying he hears them. Hears them in the night when the coyotes start howling, or down in the mine when the air goes foul. Apparently he's not the only one, either. I kept asking him "Now you sure you're not just hearing the yellow-bellies in the swamp?" and every time he shakes his head, says he knows the canary's song.
Now I thought being haunted by birds of all things was ridiculous, but people were getting antsy. So me and some folks hiked down to our dump zone, towards the corner where the swamp starts to creep up to our dirt paths.
We'd marked the burial spot with one of the empty cages, just so it'd all be in one spot. It was the corner of the dump, a bit away from the rest of the trash. So we came up upon the spot and the air was stinking of death. The cage, though, was gone. There was only a small hole in its place.
It was empty.
There was dirt splattered all around. I was ready to assume the coyotes got to 'em, but those claw marks were too small for the mutts. Too small, and the wrong number. Three claws, yellow feathers in the muck.
They dug themselves back up. […]
Other specific documentation relating to it included a delivery list, stating that SCP-2888 had been shipped off-site from the Red Brook Mine. Due to this listing being two years prior to Foundation intervention, RED CANARY deemed it a dead end.
SCP-2888 would be re-located on 08/11/1966 within the Ridge Avenue Farmers' Market, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when an ad regarding it began to circulate in local newspapers. This ad, describing SCP-2888 as a "haunted taxidermy," asked if readers had "the bravery to awaken" it.
MTF Gamma-89 ("Rock and a Hard Place") would be deployed to acquire SCP-2888 via regular purchase. Due to the presence of char and ash on both the bars of the cage and its bottom, it's believed that the advertised attempts to "awaken" SCP-2888 involved bringing an open flame into its cage to trigger its warning state.
Additionally, the original cage that SCP-2888 had been found in featured an engraving at its base that read:
Gunstone Auctions LLC.
Investigation into possible connections between this and the Summit Anthracite operation is pending approval.
Cite this page as:
"SCP-2888" by Dino—Draws, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scpwiki.com/scp-2888. Licensed under CC BY-SA.
For information on how to use this component, see the License Box component. To read about licensing policy, see the Licensing Guide.
Filename: canary.jpg
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Author: Dino--Draws Dino--Draws
This image is a composite of:
Name: File:Cage 1.JPG
Author: Sargis Babayan
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Source Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cage_1.JPG
Name: File:Alexandria - Pompey's Pillar - underground room.JPG
Author: Daniel Mayer
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Source Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alexandria_-_Pompey%27s_Pillar_-_underground_room.JPG
