The SCP Foundation is a fictional secret organization and the premise of the SCP Wiki, a wiki-based collaborative fiction project launched in 2008. Within the project's shared world, the SCP (Special Containment Procedures) Foundation is responsible for capturing, containing, and studying paranormal, supernatural, and other mysterious phenomena (known as "anomalies" or "SCPs"), while also keeping their existence hidden from society.
The collaborative writing project includes elements of horror, science fiction, and urban fantasy. The majority of works on the SCP Wiki are "SCP files": mock confidential scientific reports that document various SCPs and associated containment procedures; the website also contains "Foundation Tales", short stories featuring various characters and settings in the SCP universe.
The site's literary works have been praised for their ability to convey horror through a quasi-scientific and academic writing style, as well as for their high standards of quality. The SCP universe has inspired adaptations in various media, including literature, short films, and video games.
Overview The fictional setting of the SCP universe revolves around the findings and activities of the SCP Foundation, an international secret society, scientific research institution, and paramilitary force. The organization is generally portrayed as operating independently of any national government, answering only to its own mysterious, shadow government-like leadership body known as the or Overseers. The Foundation captures and contains various unexplained paranormal phenomena (referred to as "anomalies", "SCP objects", "SCPs", or informally "skips") which display supernatural abilities or other extremely unusual properties that defy conventional scientific laws. These phenomena can include living beings, objects, places, abstract concepts, or incomprehensible entities. Typically, the Foundation is depicted as striving to conceal the existence of the paranormal—as well as of itself—due to its belief in human civilization's need to continue functioning under a masquerade of "normalcy".Aelanna (17 March 2014). About the SCP Foundation . SCP Foundation. Retrieved 13 February 2015
Commonalities between SCP works include teams of Foundation agents deploying to newly discovered anomalies, either safeguarding them in situ or covertly transporting them to Foundation facilities. The Foundation is frequently depicted interrogating eyewitnesses and then dosing them with amnestic drugs to erase their memories of anomalous events. At these facilities, SCPs are held captive and studied to develop better containment methods. The Foundation's laboratory research projects frequently exploit "D-class personnel", disposable human test subjects (usually unwitting convict prisoners) acquired from around the world, forcing them into performing slave labor and participating in experiments with potentially dangerous SCPs in order to avoid risking the safety of the Foundation's employees.
In the SCP fictional universe, apart from the Foundation itself, there are numerous rival organizations (collectively known as Groups of Interest, or GOIs) actively involved with the paranormal world. Examples include the , a terrorist splinter group of ex-Foundation defectors who capture and weaponize SCPs; the (GOC), a secret paramilitary agency of the United Nations specialized in destroying supernatural threats instead of containing them; and the , a militant group which advocates for the rights of anomalous beings, resisting both the Foundation's and GOC's efforts to suppress paranormal activity worldwide. Other GOIs seek to exploit anomalies by producing or selling them for profit, or using them to serve their own religious, political, or ideological goals.
Examples of SCPs
"SCP-049" depicts a humanoid resembling a medieval plague doctor. Though generally docile, the entity will kill those it believes have "the pestilence" and re-animate their corpses. James Potvin of ScreenRant called it the perfect entry for SCP beginners. "SCP-055" depicts a memory-erasing "anti-meme" anomaly that causes anyone who examines it to forget its existence, thus making its true nature unknown; its characteristics are indescribable except in terms of what it is . "" depicts a light-inhibiting staircase that appears to descend infinitely and its inhabitant, a disembodied floating face without a mouth, nostrils, or pupils which chases after anyone walking down the stairs. "" depicts a tall, thin, seemingly immortal humanoid with extreme scopophobia, which causes it great psychological distress. The creature will hunt down and kill anyone who sees its face, whether in person or in a photographic reproduction. "SCP-173" depicts a humanoid statue composed of rebar, concrete, and spray paint. It is immobile when directly observed, but attacks people and breaks their neck when line of sight with it is broken. It is extremely fast, to the point where it can move multiple meters when the observer blinks. SCP-173 is the first SCP ever written, and it inspired the rest of the SCP Wiki and its fictional universe. The entry was originally illustrated with a picture of an artwork by Izumi Katō, but this was removed for copyright reasons. "" depicts a coffee vending machine that can dispense anything that can exist in liquid form—including certain abstract concepts. Regardless of the physical or chemical properties of the substance chosen, the machine's paper cups appear to suffer no damage from the substances dispensed into them. "" depicts a sentient toaster that can only be referred to in the first person.
"" depicts a gelatinous slime mold–like creature that smells similar to whatever is the most comforting smell to the person it makes contact with. It has a friendly personality and induces positive emotions on contact with humans and other organisms; as such, it is employed as a tool by the SCP Foundation. "" depicts a home that has windows covered in condensation; by writing in the condensation on the glass, it is possible to communicate with an extra-dimensional entity whose windows are likewise covered in condensation. This entity bears xenophobic enmity against humans, but does not know that the Foundation members are humans. "" depicts a man who perceives all animals he sees as the actor Shia LaBeouf. "" depicts a sentient pile of wood chip mulch, fabric scraps, and nails. It teleports into the lungs of individuals displaying aggressive behavior towards it, those wearing formal attire (primarily military), and anyone who is otherwise identified by it to be a threat. It was previously a benevolent chair that teleported to nearby individuals who needed to sit down, and was reduced to its current state after being destroyed in a woodchipper by the Global Occult Coalition. "" depicts an derelict IKEA store whose main entrance leads to a seemingly infinite, labyrinthine pocket dimension. The SCP format serves as a frame story for the main epistolary work: the journal of a prospective customer trapped within the endless store interior. He and other victims—who are implied to be from parallel dimensions—make rudimentary fortifications to defend against the store's monstrous inhabitants, tall, faceless humanoid creatures wearing IKEA employee uniforms. These creatures become violently aggressive towards humans when the store's interior lights turn off at "night".
History
The SCP Foundation originated in the "paranormal" /x/ forum of 4chan in June 2007, where the very first SCP file, SCP-173, was posted by an anonymous user (later identified as Wesley "Moto42" Williams), accompanied by an image of the sculpture "Untitled 2004" by Japanese artist Izumi Katō. Although displeased with the unlicensed use of his art, Katō allowed the use of the photo explicitly for the noncommercial purposes of the community. Though SCP-173 was initially a stand-alone short story, many additional SCP files were created shortly after; those new SCPs copied SCP-173's style and were set within the same fictional universe.
In July 2008, the SCP Wiki was transferred to its current Wikidot website after the wiki hosting service EditThis switched to a paid model. New Wikidot wikis, by default, made use of the CC BY-SA 3.0 license at the time. The SCP staff therefore "accidentally" adopted this license for SCP media. By 2009, a large number of articles had been written but the quality of those posts was often poor. A mass edit conducted from September to December of that year saw every article reviewed and a large number "decommissioned". A repository of the removed articles is preserved at SCP Classic. The development of evaluation processes, including the sharing of ideas and constructive criticism, has since allowed the community to maintain a high quality level for new articles.
The community continued to grow and opened branches in additional languages through the early 2010s. In particular, a surge of new members arrived in 2012 after the launch of SCPContainment Breach. The original SCP-173 text was released into the creative commons by its author explicitly in 2013, in an effort to address the uncertain license status of some earlier material. This debate over licensing led to a dispute between the English and Russian language branches in 2017, which briefly shut down the Russian version.
In 2022, an article in American Journalism suggested that the SCP Foundation may have become the largest collaborative writing project in history.
Writing style On the SCP Wiki, the majority of works are stand-alone articles detailing the "Special Containment Procedures" of a given SCP object. In a typical article, an SCP object is assigned a unique identification number (e.g. "SCP-173") and a "containment class" based on the difficulty of containing it. The documentation then outlines proper containment procedures and safety measures, and a description of the SCP object in question. Addenda (such as images, research data, interviews, history, or status updates) may also be attached to the document. The reports are written in a scientific tone and often censor words with black redaction bars and "data expunged" markings, to give the in-universe impression of sensitive information not to be disclosed to lesser-privileged Foundation staff. articles exist for over 10,400 SCP objects;List of pages tagged with scp. SCP Foundation. Retrieved 7 June 2026. new articles are written and published frequently by contributors.
The SCP Wiki also contains over 6,300 short stories referred to as "Foundation Tales".List of pages tagged with tale. SCP Foundation. Retrieved 5 November 2025. The stories are set within the larger SCP universe, and often focus on the exploits of various Foundation staff members, SCP entities, and objects, among other recurring characters and settings. Gregory Burkart, writing for Blumhouse Productions, noted that some of the Foundation Tales had a dark and bleak tone, while others were "surprisingly light-hearted". The works on the SCP Wiki have been described as science fiction, urban fantasy, horror, and creepypasta.Varonas, Nico (4 February 2012). SCP-087: Escaleras a lo desconocido . NeoTeo. Retrieved 26 March 2015. "Esta es una comunidad de usuarios y de fanáticos del sci-fi y el terror..." (translation: "This is a community of users and of sci-fi and horror fans...")Ong, Alexis (20 August 2020). The Unsung Muse of Speculative Fiction Is a Wikipedia Community . Tor.com. Retrieved 15 November 2020.