Item #: SCP-087
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: The entrance to SCP-087 is to be kept locked. Access requires Level 2 authorization. No more than one exploration team may be active in SCP-087 at any time. All personnel entering SCP-087 must be equipped with a minimum of two independent light sources, a radio transmitter, and video recording equipment.
Description: SCP-087 is an unlit platform staircase. The staircase descends at standard pitch, 3.6 meters per half-landing, and appears structurally normal by every conventional measure. The anomaly: it does not end.
Exploration teams have descended to approximately 800 meters without reaching a bottom or any structural anomaly. The stairs continue uniformly. Walls are bare concrete. There is no sound except the team's own movement — no environmental sound of any kind, which is acoustically incorrect for a concrete stairwell.
Incident Report 087-1: Exploration Team A descended to approximately 200 meters when their team leader reported hearing a child crying from somewhere below them. The sound was distinctly human, distinctly distressed, and appeared to originate from the darkness below — never getting closer regardless of descent rate. When the team stopped moving, the sound stopped. When they resumed, it resumed.
Incident Report 087-2: Exploration Team B descended to 400 meters when the team leader's camera captured an image that caused immediate mission abort. The image, captured during a momentary lens flare, shows what appears to be a face approximately four meters below the team's position. The face is pale, the eyes are wide, and the mouth is open. No figure was present in subsequent frames. The team was retrieved without further incident.
Incident Report 087-3: Solo exploration attempt by D-class personnel. Descended 800 meters, which represents the deepest confirmed penetration of SCP-087. Subject's final radio transmission: "Something is coming up the stairs. It's not using the stairs the way stairs are supposed to be used." Signal lost. Subject not recovered.
The face captured in Incident 087-2 has not been identified. Enhancement has revealed it appears to be smiling.
SCP-087 by Zaeyde, SCP Foundation, CC BY-SA 3.0