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| A page from SCP-566. The word and its definition have been blurred out for security reasons. |
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Item #: SCP-566
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: The base of SCP-566 is to be welded to the wall of its containment chamber. A hinged black metal lid will be welded over it to prevent unauthorized exposure to the SCP. The room itself needs no lock, though the lid will be secured by a retinal scanner.
Description: SCP-566 appears to be a standard 2009 desk calendar with one page for each day except March 15, which had been half-torn away upon Foundation discovery. The text is, at first glance, similar to that found on the pages of a "word-a-day" calendar, except that the provided "words" do not exist. If one reads the definitions provided, one becomes obsessed with the belief that the associated "word" is real. Thereafter, the reader will seek every opportunity to use that "word" in conversation. Efforts to introduce others to the "word" will seem innocuous — slipping it into an otherwise normal sentence. Confusion in other listeners is met with the reader's insistence that it is a word, and that the listener "should look it up". Each attempt to educate others of the "word" makes the initial reader more frustrated and angry, until the stress overpowers the reader's mind; in tests, a subject's stress would reach this point after an average of fifty-six attempts, counting multiple separated1 attempts against specific people. Individual readers have reacted to this "breaking point" in various ways; while some have progressively lost any semblance of sanity, others have become violent toward their "unreasonable" listeners, and a small handful have [DATA EXPUNGED].
Origin: SCP-566 was discovered in a [DATA EXPUNGED] in Rome, Italy, amid numerous corpses. When asked of the March 15 page, the [REDACTED] stated that it "had been burned for safety", and refused to divulge anything more.
On 10/27/2012, a catalog arrived at Site 10, which currently houses SCP-566. There was no return address provided. Its front cover consisted solely of white text in American English on a black background, reading "HELLO, Customer #[REDACTED]! ACT NOW to receive one of our upcoming 2013 calendars! Along with our word-a-day calendar which you have purchased previously, we have daily calendars featuring [REDACTED], [REDACTED], and [REDACTED]! Order before 12/1 and get 20% OFF the item prices!" Inquiries made throughout the site revealed that nobody had requested any such catalog, and testing revealed that it was not anomalous despite repeated expressions of a "mild desire" to order a calendar.