Item #: SCP-1981
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1981 is to be stored in a standard anomalous media container at Site-██. The VHS cassette is to be rewound to the beginning of the recording at the end of each viewing session. Viewings are permitted for research purposes only and must be approved by a Level 3 supervisor. All viewing sessions are to be conducted with at least two personnel present. No viewing session may exceed 90 minutes. Personnel who exhibit fixation on SCP-1981-A following a viewing session are to be monitored for a minimum of two weeks.
The physical cassette is to be inspected for damage before and after each viewing. If the cassette is found to have been altered in any way — additional labels, handwriting, physical modification to the housing — the session log is to be reviewed and all personnel present at the last session are to be interviewed.
Description: SCP-1981 is a standard VHS cassette, Maxell brand, with a white adhesive label on which the words "RONALD REAGAN CUT UP WHILE TALKING" have been written in black marker. The handwriting is neat and deliberate. No fingerprints have been recovered from the cassette's surface.
The tape contains a recording of President Ronald Reagan delivering his "Evil Empire" speech at the 1983 National Association of Evangelicals convention. The recording begins normally, appearing to be a standard broadcast copy of the speech. Approximately four minutes into each viewing, the content of the speech begins to diverge from the historical record.
Reagan's image in the recording does not change. The lighting, background, and presentation remain consistent with the historical footage. However, the words he speaks become progressively unrecognizable as the actual speech, shifting instead toward content that has been characterized by reviewing researchers as "deeply distressing," "eschatological," and "referencing events and entities not consistent with any known political, religious, or cultural framework."
The divergence is never identical between viewings. The speech drifts in a different direction each time. Researchers have catalogued 47 distinct viewing sessions, and no two sessions share more than three consecutive sentences of divergent content. However, certain recurring themes have been identified: references to a period described as "the long dark after the lights," references to something Reagan appears to be addressing directly (rather than his audience), and references — in 34 of 47 sessions — to a specific hour of a specific night, always described in terms of something that is coming rather than something that has passed.
Beginning at approximately the seven-minute mark, a secondary figure becomes visible in the background of the footage. The figure (designated SCP-1981-A) is robed and stationary. Its face is not clearly visible in any frame reviewed. It does not appear to be a person who was present at the 1983 event; review of archival footage confirms no such figure was present at the original recording location.
SCP-1981-A's position in the frame changes between viewings. In some sessions it is far left background. In others it is close, partially cut off by the frame's right edge. In session 31, it was standing directly behind Reagan. Reagan's speech during session 31 has been flagged for restricted access.
At the end of every viewing, regardless of how far the divergence has progressed, Reagan delivers the following line — identical in every session, using a tone different from any other speech recorded in his career — before the tape ends:
"I know what is coming, and I have decided not to be afraid of it."
The tape rewinds itself to the beginning within six hours of session end, regardless of whether it has been manually rewound.
The source of the tape has not been determined.