Item #: SCP-CN-1976
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-CN-1976 is contained in a standard containment locker in the Safe-class zone of Site-CN-02. Access to SCP-CN-1976 requires written authorization from two members of Level 3 or higher personnel. When reading the text in SCP-CN-1976, personnel are not to orally produce sound. Human subjects who have been affected by SCP-CN-1976's effects are to be contained in a soundproof humanoid containment chamber in Site-CN-02. Music-related requests from these subjects are not to be fulfilled. The Foundation is currently investigating the "Syncope Symphony" Group of Interest.
Description: SCP-CN-1976 is a 1/64th folio copy of the 1969 version of Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong. The object shows signs of water damage. The text "The revolution is not yet successful; I shall rest in peace with my violin" is written on the title page.
When a human subject reads the contents of the book out loud, they will suffer a transient ischemic attack and become temporarily unconscious. Once the subject has returned to consciousness, the subject will perceive an entity dressed in Cultural Revolution-era Red Guard uniform standing next to them; this entity can only be perceived by those under the effect of SCP-CN-1976. Those not under the effect of the anomaly can observe the entity using high-resonance imaging (COLLICULUS) from the thalamus, but have no means of interfering with the entity's actions. The affected subject will perceive the entity playing The Red Guards Meet Chairman Mao on the Steppe on a violin and singing along. When the subject attempts to interact with the entity, the entity will disappear from the view of the subject, but the sound of its performance will continue until the song has finished. After the entity has disappeared, any attempts to identify or locate the source of the music has invariably failed; the subject typically claims that the music "is coming from all around".
When the music has finished playing, several printed strips of paper (see Addendum I) will appear in SCP-CN-1976. At this point, the subject will gain a strong interest in the history of the People's Republic of China between 1966 and 1976, claim to have joined a group known as the "Syncope Symphony", and begin learning the popular music of the Cultural Revolution era. People with long-term exposure to affected subjects' performances of the aforementioned music will suffer facial damage, swelling of the ventricles, fingers, toes, and forehead, and growth of a abdominal organ producing and responding to wireless signals in the 2.4-3.6 GHz range.
Addendum: Extracts from paper strips appearing in SCP-CN-1976
The revolution has ended in failure; these non-humans purporting to be human have won. They claim to support O5-9, but they are actually imprisoning him. We have faced humiliation; those many five-fingered, five-toed things have crushed us, the original humans, under their feet. We have failed.
Those battles began a long time ago, in the war of liberation. Before the masses, we had become non-human, abnormal, anomalous. We have no way to appear before the masses, and can only quietly think of ways to bring them back to their original form. But we have already well and truly failed. We have become demons and monsters, undesirables, battered by their incessant criticism…
I have no passions save for this violin. Everyone, from the commander to the new recruits, loves to hear me play. I want to keep playing… but '76 was truly a disaster, with the Tangshan earthquake and the passing of O5-9, I have no more faith. Goodbye.
My violin and I will simply rest in peace in the Yellow River, in order to protect normalcy.
Do I recognize the bodies in the water?
I do not recognize the bodies in the water.
I recognize them… I don't recognize them… I…
Forget, forget, forget, forget, forget… Let's return to the southern lakeside.