SCP-4666 : The Yule Man

Children will report seeing SCP-4666 in the vicinity of their family's dwelling. The entity will typically be observed watching the dwelling from a distance, such as from across a nearby field or from the edge of a neighboring forest. In some cases, children will report waking up at night to find SCP-4666 watching them sleep through a window.

Family members (including the parents) will report sounds of footsteps coming from the roof or the attic. An extremely unpleasant odor will also frequently be noticed inside the dwelling. No cause for these phenomena will be found. As a result, parents will often begin to suspect that their family is being stalked, or even that their dwelling might be "haunted".

Over the course of the night one of two scenarios will occur:

• The first, and most common, is that SCP-4666 will kill all members of the family save for one child under the age of 8, whom it will abduct. SCP-4666 will inflict incapacitating injuries to family members while they are sleeping, then herd them into a single room of the dwelling where it will proceed to kill them in view of each other. The method of killing varies with the event, and will typically be preceded by some form of torture, which appears to serve a ritualistic purpose (see "Weissnacht Events Log" below).
• In the second scenario, which has occurred in roughly 15% of known Weissnacht Events, SCP-4666 will not harm the family. Family members will report hearing footsteps inside their dwelling during the night, though no signs of forced entry will be found. In the morning children will discover presents at the foot of their beds; these will consist of toys crudely crafted from the remains of human children (see "SCP-4666-A Instances Log" below).

The criteria, if any, by which SCP-4666 determines the outcome of a Weissnacht Event are unknown.

SCP-4666’s existence and ongoing activity were first detected in 1974 through the Foundation’s newly-implemented Anomalous Signature Recognition Program,2 when several highly-similar home invasion incidents resulting in family deaths were found to have occurred throughout the Northern Hemisphere during the night of January 1-2.

Extensive research into civilian and law enforcement archives worldwide eventually uncovered evidence of probable Weissnacht Events for nearly every preceding year, going back to the late 18th century (average of 3.1 known events per year). Numerous historical documents were also found which appear to describe SCP-4666 activity occurring prior to this period, in some cases as early as the 2nd century AD in Europe and Russia, and as early as the 1st century BC in Scandinavia.

Fingerprints belonging to the same humanoid entity have been discovered at the locations of all Foundation-investigated Weissnacht Events; these have been matched to a partial fingerprint found preserved in dried blood on a recovered SCP-4666-A instance dating from 1873. The fingerprints present characteristics not known to occur in human beings (see image). Human-like white hairs were also recovered from the locations of several Weissnacht Events, though no DNA, human or otherwise, could be extracted from them.

Addendum 4666-01

On 02/01/2018, several SCP-4666-A instances were discovered at a family's residence in Hoonah, Alaska, following the conclusion of Weissnacht Event #060198. Among these instances was SCP-4666-A-0960, which consisted of a crude, life-sized doll made from the emaciated body of a female child, to which the following modifications had been made:

• A dress made from various pieces of dirty, discolored clothing had been sewn around the body, and in several places, into the body's skin.
• The mouth had been sewn shut with thread made from human tendons, and the lips painted red with a solution consisting primarily of human blood.
• The fingernails of another child had been glued over the body’s fingernails with pine resin; these had been painted red with the same human blood-based solution. Three of the body’s fingers were missing.
• The entire scalp had been removed from the head, and the scalp of another child with long, blond hair sewn onto the head in its place. The hair had been tied into two braids.
• Both eyes had been removed, and two large round pebbles on which eyes had been crudely painted placed into the empty orbits.

Upon examination by the family, the child from whom the doll had been made was found to be still alive, albeit unconscious. Authorities were notified, and the child was airlifted to Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau, Alaska, where she survived for 18 hours. Two Foundation agents were dispatched, and were able to interview the subject (see "Interview Log" below). Following the subject’s death, her body was confiscated by the agents, and all witnesses amnesticized as per standard procedure.

DNA testing revealed the subject had been Ekaterina Morozova, age 7, a known abduction victim of SCP-4666 taken from her family's residence in Dubovka, Russia on 02/01/2016. Autopsy of the subject’s body showed she had been severely malnourished during the two years following her abduction, which had resulted in considerable stunting (weight was only 15 kg, height was only 90 cm). A number of scars and burns were present on her skin, and she had suffered two bone fractures (left tibia and left ulna) that had not been reset and had healed improperly. Hands were heavily callused. Cause of death was attributed to multiple organ failure resulting from severe, sustained malnourishment.

Audio Log 4666-06201

02/01/2018

23:27 AKST – 23:49 AKST

Bartlett Regional Hospital, Juneau, Alaska

Agent Antoni Kowalczyk (Agent Susan Mews attending)

Ekaterina Morozova (SCP-4666-A-0960), female, age 7

The subject regained consciousness for a period of roughly 30 minutes prior to expiring, during which she was interviewed. Hospital staff had previously removed the thread that had been sewn into her lips, allowing her to speak. Despite having been administered a morphine drip, the subject was largely coherent throughout the interview.

The subject did not understand English, and initially spoke only a language that was unfamiliar to Agents Kowalczyk and Mews.3 However, after several minutes the subject began addressing the agents in Russian, which she spoke poorly. Agent Kowalczyk, who spoke rudimentary Russian, was able to conduct the interview without the need for an interpreter.

[BEGIN LOG]

Hello, I’m Antoni. What’s your name?

Are… are you going to take me back to him?

No, I promise. I’m just here to talk to you.

(pauses) I don’t want to go back.

You don’t have to, you’re safe now, myshka.

(remains silent)

Can you tell me what happened to you? Do you remember the night he came to your house?

I remember… He hurt Mama and Papa and Katja and Yulianna for a long time and they were bleeding… After they stop screaming he put me in his bag.

His bag?

He had a big bag. Other children were in the bag too. I think we go to other houses, I hear people screaming outside the bag all during the night. Each house he put another child in the bag. Then after the night he take us away.

Where did he take you?

… underground… [unknown word]… deep…

Underground? You mean in a basement?

Deep… everything earth and mud and ice. Bones everywhere. Everything cold. I can’t sleep because it’s too cold.

Were there lots of other children there with you?

Lots of children… lots of tunnels, lots of holes, but I can't see all. I can't see the other [unknown word]. Too dark. My hole is with René and Hekla and Sasha and Paul. We make the toys together.

The toys?

If you don’t make the toys, you don’t eat. Don’t stop making the toys, don’t fall asleep. Or he hurt you.

He hurts you? How?

He hit you, or he burn you… Or he bite off your fingers. Or he cook you on the fire in his room and eat you. He eat Philippe and Sally.

What about you, how did… this… happen to you? Did he do this?

(pauses) René and Hekla and Sasha and Paul do this. They have to.

… why?

I get sick. When you can’t make the toys, you become the toys.

[END LOG]