SCP-5729 : The Ghost in the Shed

In 2005, the Archives and Revision Section of Site-43 began a Foundation-wide research project to identify personnel who had unwittingly encountered uncontained anomalous objects in the past. Casual interrogation of Dr. Harold Blank resulted in the discovery of SCP-5162, which he had encountered in his early teen years. In 2021, the following research paper was published in the internal academic journal Open Minds.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy?

Paranormal Recurrences in Pre-Adolescence

Polyxeni Mataxas, PhD
Chair, Spectrometry and Spectremetry Section
SCP Foundation Lake Huron Research and Containment Site-43

More than a decade of statistics from across the globe show that individuals who encounter a single anomalous object during childhood are 68% more likely to encounter a second, and 74% more likely to encounter a third, than is the norm for adults. The additional trauma brought on by these events often leads to the repression of relevant memories; mnestic treatments and hypnotic age regression therapy have proven effective at recovering said memories, which may open new pathways for the discovery of dormant uncontained anomalous objects.

Acting on this rationale, Dr. Mataxas placed Dr. Blank in a hypnotic trance and attempted to probe his memory. Dr. Blank immediately recalled an event in his early childhood wherein his middle-aged neighbour, Henry "Hank" Swift, attempted to convince him that a ghost inhabited his "barn.".Dr. Blank's terminology. Dr. Blank recalled observing this entity at the time, and on multiple subsequent occasions. Dr. Blank did not recall his conversation with Dr. Mataxas at the conclusion of the hypnosis session, by design, and Mobile Task Force Rho-43 ("Home Invaders") was dispatched to the site to investigate. The barn — in actuality a garden shed — was still standing, but the entity did not manifest.

Believing that Dr. Blank's presence might be required to elicit a supernatural response, Dr. Mataxas suggested a routine test of spectremetry equipment at his childhood home, the deed to which he still held. He was amenable, and both researchers travelled there together.

Incident Log 5729-1

06/30/2021

Dr. H. Blank (Archives and Revision), Dr. P. Mataxas (Spectrometry and Spectremetry)

Micro-camera footage begins.

[Drs. Blank and Mataxas are walking through the half-acre back yard. The sun is bright, and there is birdsong.]

Nice day for a walk, if you're into that sort of thing I guess.

Might as well, those self-diagnostics take a good long while.

Lot of ghosts come out in the daytime?

That's when they know they can surprise you.

[Both laugh.]

Seriously though, think there's anything in that old place?

It's Victorian. Somebody died in there. Statistical fact.

[Silence on recording.]

You're shitting me.

Maybe half-shitting.

[Both laugh.]

Thought you said your neighbour had a barn?

That's not a barn? Looks like a… well. Okay. It looked like a barn when I was a kid, guess it's more of a shed. Two storeys, though…

It's a poultry house.

A what?

A poultry house. A chicken coop?

[Dr. Blank slaps his forehead.]

I remember now! He used to keep chickens.

Who did?

Uncle Hank.

You lived next door to your uncle?

No, no. He wasn't my real uncle. We just got along well. My neighbours were good people.

[Dr. Blank stares at the shed.]

You know…

What?

This reminds me.

[Dr. Blank walks to the hedgerow separating his property from his neighbour's, turns back to face Dr. Mataxas, and gestures at the shed with his thumb.]

Hank was a funny old guy. He used to tell me there was a ghost in there.

Now you're shitting me.

No, seriously! I remember it like it was yesterday. He told me the ghost's name was Enoch — I thought it was Enock, with a 'k', because I was just a stupid kid. Enock came over from England when Hank emigrated. In a suitcase, so Hank wouldn't have to pay for two seats on the Titanic.

That's a lot to unpack.

The overly self-aware story, which I thoroughly did not grasp at the time, or the ghost in the suitcase?

Both.

Anyway, you know, I could swear I saw the damn thing once he said it was there?

[SCP-5729 becomes visible in the shed window behind Dr. Blank.]

Enock took care of the chickens. That's what Hank told me.

I don't hear any chickens now.

No, and you won't hear Hank, either.

[Silence on recording.]

I remember the horns, most of all.

Horns?

Enock had horns. Oh, uh…

[Dr. Blank snaps his fingers.]

Antlers, actually!

So much for "most of all."

I even showed him to my friend, kid who lived over there.

[Dr. Blank gestures to the house on the other side of his lot.]

AJ, his name was. AJ said he could see Enock, too.

[Dr. Blank shakes his head.]

Dumb kids, right? Haven't thought about that in years. Wonder what AJ is up to.

[Audio event consistent with a small camera shutter opening and closing.]

Man, I always wanted to ask old Hank about Enock again, once I grew up, but you know what?

[Quietly] What?

I just plain forgot.

[Dr. Blank heads back towards the house.]

Too hot out here.

[SCP-5729 demanifests.]

Footage ends.

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