Item #: SCP-147 Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-147 is to be kept in a simulacrum of a 1950s-era
living room.
Its current container contains a throw rug, two armchairs, a phonograph, a rotary telephone,
and other suitable decorations.
SCP-147 will reject any items dating from later than late March, 1965 (See Addendum
0-40).
It requires no external power source or connection.
Description: Discovered 1983 in a civilian home in Detroit, Michigan.
SCP-147 appears to be a 1957 General Electric brand black-and-white television, model 17TO26.
SCP-147 has been observed to exhibit two different behaviors:
Optimal: When SCP-147 is in an acceptable room, it will display broadcasts of 1950s-era
comedies, such as The Burns and Allen Show, Father Knows Best, and I Love Lucy.
In every case, each broadcast has been completely unique: archives of the programs, none of
which are still being produced, have failed to find any record of the episodes that SCP-147
plays.
No commercials are shown, and there is no indication as to which station would be broadcasting
these shows.
All broadcasts are in black and white.
Subjects exposed to SCP-147 in its optimal state reported a pleasant feeling of relaxation.
In this state, the item's volume and channels can be adjusted, though the off switch appears
to have no effect.
Hostile: When modern-day items are present in SCP-147's environment, the item will only
display extremely violent and gruesome color footage; beheadings, rapes, executions, and
torture have all been observed, but as of yet no footage has been broadcast that indicates
when or where the scenes depicted took place.
The footage is invariably of high visual and audio quality.
Subjects exposed to SCP-147 in its hostile state almost invariably vomit due to the graphic
nature of the broadcasts after ten to fifteen seconds; one subject suffered a nervous breakdown
after two minutes of exposure.
Every subject has displayed an extreme reluctance to recall the contents of the broadcasts,
and two out of the fifteen subjects tasked with viewing SCP-147's hostile broadcasts
have since committed suicide.
None of the item's controls respond during hostile broadcasts.
Attempts to examine the internals of SCP-147 have been unsuccessful, as the item's shell
resists any and all attempts to crack it open.
Placing the item in a Faraday cage in order to negate any possible transmissions it could
be receiving had no effect.
The effects of long-term exposure to SCP-147 have not been documented.
Addendum: Any and all recreational activities involving SCP-147 are to be scheduled at least
one week beforehand with approval by Level 4 personnel.
Addendum [0-40]: See File TC-147-B for further details.
After [DATA EXPUNGED] suggestion, several objects manufactured throughout the 1960s
era were brought in.
Objects made past March of the year 1965 have resulted in a hostile behavior.
Exact dating is difficult due to troubles of obtaining materials precisely made on testable
dates and times.
Reasons as to why it acts in such a way depending on a specific object's date are unknown, and
being tested by [DATA EXPUNGED].
Addendum [0-40a]: As has been verified repeatedly, the presence of persons born after March 1965
does not in and of itself trigger a hostile event.
For reasons still unknown, SCP-147 objects mainly to manufactured items.
Dr. ████████ ████ recently conducted an experiment in which he clothed
himself with vintage (pre-1965) articles of clothing, with the caveat that he had three
Bic Flair pens (invented in the 1970s) in his shirt pocket.
What he saw while seated in front of SCP-147, he would later describe as "a bizarre episode
of I Love Lucy featuring a surprising amount of gunplay."
Addendum [1-80]: Recent tests that involved exposing convicted rapists and psychopaths
to the object while it was hostile has indicated that the object is able to tailor the images
to the viewer.
A rapist was strapped into a metal chair manufactured in 1986, and during that time not a single
rape was shown on the screen, while scenes of genital mutilation (primarily male) occurred
more often.
Similarly, a psychopath who had tortured someone to death saw fewer scenes of torture, and
more scenes of botched executions.