Out on the vast ocean  that is the Internet, there’s a thriving community of incredibly creative people. They’ve created something called the SCP Foundation. SCP stands for Secure Contain Protect, and that’s what the Foundation does best. But what does it contain? They contain strange anomalies that could be dangerous or disruptive to the collective norm. These things are called SCPs.

If you’ve heard of SCPs before you may have seen a few of their iconic ones. SCP-173, usually referred to as ‘Peanut’ (although this name is based on an outdated design), is one of the more well-known ones. It’s an extremely dangerous concrete statue that moves the moment you lose sight of it. It snaps the necks of those it reaches. It’s insanely fast and hard to keep contained. It’s very popular to use in memes and general media when one wishes to convey something scary, like clickbait.

Another very popular and memeized SCP is SCP-096, also known as ‘The Shy Guy’. It’s a humanoid white figure with long limbs and a distorted face. Its iconic pose of it sitting curled around its legs with its hands covering its face. It’s the opposite of SCP-173 as it attacks anyone that looks at its face. This one is also used for clickbait ironically and also used in a lot of memes expressing how they relate.

SCP-049 is used for a lot of generalized merch as it’s easier to simplify its look. SCP-049 is a humanoid entity that’s dressed to look like a medieval plague doctor. This one is the first on this list that’s capable of human speech and has incredible intelligence. It’s mostly known for its desire to ‘cure’ humanity and the ability to turn people into zombie-like beings from its touch. 

This one is a favorite because of how cute it is. SCP-999 is a friendly, gelatinous creature that purely wishes to bring joy to those around it. SCP-999, or “The Tickle Monster”, is a small orange blob that displays incredible empathetic behavior. It can heal physical and psychological ailments, smells like your favorite smell, and can nullify negative emotions. It also only eats candy.

Not all SCPs are creatures, and not all of them are dangerous, but all of them are fictional. The SCP Foundation is actually a forum where people can create anomalies of their own and share them with other people. There are thousands and thousands of SCPs, and most of them are all accepted onto the main site. It’s not only about SCPs though as there are ongoing stories about the scientists who work for the Foundation and the Foundation itself. It’s incredible how connected and interwoven the community is. Maybe go to their site and take a peek at how different and extraordinary SCPs can be.