Tag: horror

Content Notes: Art of Sexualised Teenagers and Discussions of Acephobia, Gay Conversion, Homophobia, Paedophilia, Rape and Sexism

I have adored the SCP Foundation since I was a teenager writing weirdly disturbing horror stories for English class. The communal atmosphere, the dedication to executing novel ways to write online, even the acceptance of the bizarre captivated my imagination. My love of this niche is to the point of having read the first 1000 articles and planning to go through them all eventually. But this dedication comes with the knowledge of the more disturbing and disgusting side of the SCP Foundation lore. Therefore, let’s explore perhaps the most famously controversial SCP. 166

A Real History of A Fictional Organisation

The SCP Foundation is an online forum where writers can submit stories. The narratives come in two flavours. The more conventional one is the Tales Series, which are stories that can follow any format and are meant to be writer’s exploration of SCP lore. The other is SCP files, where the story poses as an academic journal entry, introducing the reader to strange new anomaly. The point of these files is to produce unusual beings and objects, things that should not exist within the world and therefore need to be locked away or studied. Usually with a reliance on horror and science fiction genre conventions.

As well, the SCP Foundation is itself in the lore, as a scientific private company that seeks to: Secure anomalies, Contain them from the outside and Protect the world from the dangers. Hence SCP. This establishes metafictive interactions with the files, where the reader imagines themselves engaging with in universe scientific write ups of the bizarre anomalies. The idea of a role-playing metafiction extends to the writers themselves, who screen names are repeatedly in universe characters, usually researchers in the SCP Foundation. A pertinent example is the primary writer for the article we are dissecting today, user DrClef, who’s fictive counterpart is called Doctor Alto Clef.

The SCP Foundation started on the 22nd of June 2007 on…4chan.^[1] Yeah that 4chan. The first SCP file 173 was posted on /x/, a creepypasta forum, by an anonymous user. Weirdly enough, this SCP is easy to explain to Doctor Who fans, just imagine the weeping angels. No genuinely, it is a statue that moves when no-one looks at it and breaks your neck. This story inspired a bunch of other articles and multiple threads on 4chan, that shared the format and even created a collaborative lore. But the restrictions with using threads were beginning to annoy the writers.

So on 18th January 2008, the series moved to the EditThis wiki website, which is described as a Wikipedia clone.^[1] The articles from 4chan were then moved to the SCP wiki. During this time period there was little moderation or communal understanding on how to write an SCP file. After all, it was still a burgeoning community that had swiftly grown from one writer to many hundreds in 6 months. But EditThis would not remain the home of the community. Eventually, on 25th of July 2008, the SCP series would move to Wikidot due to EditThis trying to monetise the website. The former wiki was deleted on 6th September 2008, despite a minority of users still being active there.

To this day, the SCP series continues to be hosted on Wikidot and is currently sitting at over 8,000 articles. There is a thriving and active population of writers in both the SCP files and Tales series. It has even inspired other online horror writing communities, most famously The Backrooms, as well as influencing hit games like Control and Lethal Company. Furthermore it has its own games like SCP-Containment Breach, Secret Laboratory and 5K which I am informed are indeed games. That exist. And can be played. There has even been real-world implications with the term infohazard being used in certain sections of online cults communities. Though today, we will narrow our focus onto one of the oldest articles in the SCP Series.

Laying Down The Beginning

SCP-166 is an SCP file created in Ross Fisher Davis on the 1st of June 2008, back on the EditThis website.^[2] It was then ported over to the Wikidot site on the 26th of July. The original first article still exists and can be read here. Whilst I would typically recommend that people read the sources, this file contains disturbing sexualisation of a barely legal/underage girl, depending on interpretation. So, feel free to avoid it if that will harm you in any way. In case you do not wish to wade through it, I will provide the low lights. Moreover, throughout these essays, the character of SCP-166 will be referred to as Epon which is one of her canonical names. This is in hope of displaying quite how awful the writing is if she is named.

All SCP articles begin with the a number, a risk classification and then the details of the procedures to contain the anomaly.^[3] The containment procedures are relatively normal, stating she requires minimal security, though adds some foreshadowing by saying her windows must be misted. On top of that, male staff are forbidden from entering the vicinity or examining the contents of the video surveillance. Next, we receive a description which covers history, physical features and a report of the anomalous effects.

Epon was found in a convent in England, left there to be cared for by the nuns as her mother was a supposed elder entity.^[3] She is described as a pale, slender human girl around the age 16-18. Epon’s hair seems to grow abnormally rapid rate, and she is reported as refusing to wear clothing, therefore being perpetually naked. No further justification is offered. She is as strong as an adult man, but is susceptible to asthmatic fits when exposed to aerosols and cigarette smoke.

Lastly, Epon’s effect is the capability to mind control any man that she makes eye contact with. The only limit is she cannot force someone to inflicted harm upon themselves. This is terrible enough without the following line about her final anomalous effect:

“SCP-166 is sustained entirely on human male semen, which she would normally obtain by her powers over the minds of a desirable male.”^[3]

To help frame that behemoth of a sentence the tagline for this article, often used as unofficial titles, is A Teenage Succubus. Though I acknowledge the need to state why this is abhorrent, as a point of analysis, I want to add that the reasons should plainly obvious to anyone. Apparently they aren’t, but they should be.

Let’s start by addressing the age range of 16-18. This is a cop out of an age range. Deliberately designed in the same way “barely legal” pornography is, to allow for the slightest wiggle room. So they can claim it’s not really predatory or creepy because it is technically lawful and morally permissible.

In addition, the spermophagia and nakedness are obvious additions designed to titillate. But on top of this she is deliberately pale, slender and has long enchantress-like hair. It’s like the gothic horror ideal of a sexual partner, with the added paedophilic youthfulness desirable only to terminally online libertarians. As well, the mind control aspect to drain men of their semen, presumably through an oral sex act, is a naked sexual fantasy posing as horror. It’s not subversive or chilling in anyway detached from the fact someone produced this.

But even if we imagine a far off world in which this is not a twisted dream, it is nonetheless an innately sexist story. The enchantress leading astray wretched vulnerable men with her rampant feminine wiles and powers. I’ve explored it further in this Kuchisake-Onna essay, but the essential point is viewing femininity as deceitful and manipulative compared to the logical and truthful masculinity. A type of narrative often used against feminine people (regardless of gender identity) to justify their sexualisation and sexual abuse of feminine people through their innate nature. Even their ability to refuse consent cannot be trusted, as their words say one thing, but their bodily presentation says another.

Fortunately for all of us it was rewritten. Unfortunately, it was not rewritten well.

Canonising Procreative Acts

On the 7th of November 2008, user DrClef created and posted a full rewrite of the SCP-166 article.^[2] He stated on the attached SCP 166 discussion board that this was due to it needing a punch up. ^[4] This rewrite was followed by a spate of edits over a year between DrClef and user Slate, the culmination of which can be viewed here as Rewrite 1. There is also a set of significant rewrites in 2013, which I will include a part from in my overview.

We once more begin with containment procedures. First is an outline of items Epon has been given like a Bible with Apocrypha and a catholic rosary, suggesting a more religious aspect to her character.^[5] At this point we encounter our first issue, as Epon is still unable to don clothes. But now there is an added explanation that she gets pressure sores after 45 minutes of wearing fabric. The descriptions of no male staff being allowed nearby and needing to drink 1cc of semen a day to survive is repeated.

We then move onto the descriptions. Epon is physically similar, though they do not specify her being pale and includes a odd line about her being cute but nothing special according to the female staff. ^[5] Moving to her effects, her powers are described as more enamouring than direct mind control. In essence, regardless of sexual or romantic orientation, 100% of males who see Epon fall deeply in love/lust and will attempt to copulate with her. The effect will fade on 70% of men once they lose sight of her, though for 30% it leads to a continued violent desire to rape her.

It should be noted, we get a small 2 line paragraph that explains this causes distress to Epon. This focuses in on the reason for her anguish being because she is Catholic and wishes to remain chaste. ^[5]

After that we receive a couple of addenda . Addendum A talks about her history at a nunnery as previously mentioned, but connects it to a story of a young man catching sight of her at the convent. This man then murders one nun and injures three others in an attempt to rape Epon, before being killed himself. This gains the attention of the SCP Foundation and details why she is in their custody. Furthermore, the addendum provides one of two examples of a man being capable of somewhat resisting the urges Epon brings. As a male SCP soldier isolates himself from her in response to her effects manifesting in him.

Addendum B is not present in the 2013 edits but is in the 2008 ones.^[5] It describes Dr Alto Clef (the character), gaining access to Epon’s room and demonstrating no ill effects as well as enjoying a pleasant chat. We only know the chat was about Epon’s mother and Clef seemingly showed no effect analogous to other males in her presence.

The concluding part is from the 2013 edit, which includes a letter from Clef to Epon.^[6] It states he is her father, and he slayed her mother when she was first born. The letter insinuates Epon’s mother to be a nature goddess of some sort and states Clef left his daughter with the nuns. Finally, its ends with Happy Sixteenth Birthday, implying Epon was or is 16 during her containment at the Foundation. Though due to a widespread issue with early SCP articles, we do not know the date of the letter as that information is redacted.

Authorial Intentions Overriding Reality

So. This edit fixes none of the problems with the first version and instead doubles down on a lot of the creepiness. Whilst I will go over the wider communities response in the next essay, I want to tackle DrClef’s vision for the article here. In a comment submitted on the SCP-166 discussion board, on the 16th August 2013, he argues three essential points:^[4]

• There is an apparent horror in both Epon and the men suffering from the mental alterations. With the latter being somewhat responsible for the suffering because of an operative having resisted the desires implanted in him.
• That even if it perpetuates victim blaming, that doesn’t make this a terrible article. As we could see Epon as a metaphor for the male gaze and objectification.
• That one can view Epon as a person who shows both sides of the Madonna-Whore Complex and this adds to the horror of the article.

So, the first issue is, there is not much work being done about how horrifying the experience is for anyone involved. Most of that is left implicit save for a single brief paragraph by anonymous others stating that Epon is troubled by it. This, in and of itself, is not bad. Implicit horror is valid and often used to enormous success in the SCP Series.

However, for implicit horror to work, the implications need to be the focal point. What is left unsaid, what is unknown, generates questions that should be the focus of the audience’s mind. But those questions don’t feel like the focus in comparison to DrClef’s grandstanding for his self insert character.

Many comments on the first rewrite in 2008 remark that the article expands Dr Alto Clef lore.^[4] People wonder if he is a demon or the devil incarnate, and this trend continues in the 2013 edits. Apart from that, instead of wondering about the delicate implications, the use of teenage sperm drinking and the insistence Epon remains naked are what chiefly horrify people. The idea of both Epon and these men experiencing disgusting violation is less commented on in comparison. Consequently, even if it was his intention, he absolutely failed to strike the appropriate balance to highlight that horror. Instead, he oversold the cheap shocks and his own lore-building.

But even with nominal attention on Epon, the group who really are not focused on remain the men whose minds are twisted. We get no sentiment as to how they feel at what could either be an incredible mental violation or a resistible thought insertion. There is no sense of a need for therapy, memory wiping drugs (a staple of SCP Series) or any other interventions. Never mind the lack of access to any of these men’s experiences through their own words.

We can never tell how in control they are, and that feels somewhat pivotal to a narrative about unwilling mental and bodily violation. If both the men and Epon are meant to be experiencing violation; it would be imperative to at least somewhat understand the nature of that violation. It is not just that Epon’s victimhood is barely considered, the men’s feel like a contrast to show how powerful and special Clef is.

Furthermore, the fact Epon’s power overrides sexuality is never expanded on. If done right, this could have been an imaginative exploration of gay and ace conversion. The horror implicit in the distinct nature of marginalised sexual and romantic preferences being stripped away to conform to a societal standard.

But we barely receive a single throwaway line, which ends up with Epon and the men being treated as disposable. Anyone who was identified as being victimised by DrClef’s own thesis for his work is never given the opportunity to express the horror within that experience. Instead their pain is a backdrop for the terrific tragic life of Dr Alto Clef. Because only through him can we apparently undestand the horrors of Epon’s existence.

The Terrifying Twisting of Feminism

Even if we view Epon as a metaphor for the male gaze and objectification, these issues are not subverted. Merely making her Catholic and an unwilling participant in her effects is not enough to actually comment on objectification. In fact, she is never allowed to be anything but the object of her own article. A being who’s opinions are not once given any narrative weight. Especially in comparison to that of her father who receives an in-universe letter to express how he feels. Who is allowed an actual point of view in the media.

And it is not like it would be impossible to show her perspective. Many articles use therapy logs or letters or even drawings by the anomalous focus, to showcase their perspective and view of the situation. Instead Epon is relegated to someone else’s perspective on her, making her the text book definition of an object. Her perspective is paid pure lip service.

But even then the lip service doesn’t make complete sense. Why is the focus of her terror at her situation how it effects her religion? I do not know many Catholics; the United Kingdom is infamous for our completely normal relationship with Catholicism. But surely, the peril of bodily injury is present along with the threat of spiritual detriment. And any religious orientated harm is linked to Epon’s chastity. The key reason for her harm is on the patriarchal expectation of her. Even as a victim of her own existence, the writing and world around her frames her victimhood by the ideals of men, and never through her lack of agency.

Finally, by making Epon a Madonna-Whore complex incarnate, DrClef is just enacting sexist stereotyping not commenting on them. Though originating in psychoanalysis^[7], the Madonna-Whore complex is presently used as a pop feminist social critique for how women are measured as partners to men. They are to be both as chaste as the Virgin Mary, but as sexually debauched as the media portrayal of sex workers. Women are imprisoned in a double standard to be both asexual and hypersexual, to be good at sex but never enjoyed it with anyone apart from their one true love. To simply portray sexism is not enough to comment on it.

In portraying a supposedly subversive character, DrClef’s complete lack of understanding around feminist literature and analysis leads to an outdated and overdone trope. A girl whose beauty literally is only enrapturing to a male gaze. A girl who must stay perpetually nude for contrived reasons and yet has to resist the innate sinfulness of the feminine form. She is the one who must carry the penance and is never allowed to grieve for the situation she finds herself within. Though of course, Clef is given plenty of narrative space to lament.

DrClef never thoroughly examines the socio-cultural issues with this, nor ever condemns the men for trying to harm her. I’m ordinarily not one for the requirement to expressly condemn abominable acts. But when there are comments, art and fanfiction literally thirsting after the teenager from her inception, you need to explicitly counter them.^[4] I do not comprehend how it took 12 years for a rewrite to happen. But we did eventually get one.

Putting the Nymph in Nymphomania

On the 5th of June 2018, after numerous critiques and calls by the divided community to change SCP-166 (as well as spiritual successors doing better jobs than the seminal article), DrClef requested a complete rewrite of the article.^[4] On the 30th of October 2020, Cerastes had created the rewrite^[2], though thanked users like UraniumEmpire and LtFlops amongst others for the help.^[4] The article in its current version can be read here. There will be not as much analysis of this version, as it contains less compelling or horrific content.

For the final time, we begin with the containment procedures and start off strong as Epon is allowed to wear clothes! Mostly loose fitting organic cotton and she eats…typical food, without any additives. They keep the Catholic items like the Bible with Apocrypha and the rosary. Her physical description has changed as she is still a European female, but with satyr-like features, swapping out the goat aspects for reindeer ones.

Epon’s anomalous power is reasonably simple, man made objects around her degrade and rust, with plant life growing in their place. She maintains the vulnerability to artificial pollutants, though they directly cause ulcers as well as asthma. Her existence is confirmed by a Global Occult Coalition agent (essentially the occult UN of the SCP Universe) called Agent Ukulele. A blatant nod to Dr Alto Clef, who routinely carries around a ukulele. It appears Epon caught the eye of the GOC due to being able to enact a ritual to force the world back to the Palaeolithic era. The anarcho-primitivists would have idolized her.

We get a couple of addenda, the first being an interview between a chaplain and Epon. They both talk about their familial relations, with a hint of Dr Alto Clef being Epon’s father at the end. Addendum 2 features a higher up chastising a redacted researcher, though it is in fact clearly Clef. The researcher had given Epon a phone line without permission and showcases the regret that Clef has about not being there for his daughter. Ultimately we get a similar letter from before, stating he killed Epon’s mother but nevertheless wants to protect her. And that, is the current edition of SCP-166.

I do not have much to say on this. It is a marked improvement over the previous article, but then again blank page would be too. The character concept for Epon is perfectly cute. The icon of the past actively transforming the world around them to return to a state of Edenic paradise is a nice, if a straightforward idea. The design also calls back to this with the reindeer like features and the need to wear and eat organic items. It even ties back to the letter, with her mother being a nature goddess. This is perfectly serviceable and wholesome, though I agree with commenters that it fails to leave an impact. ^[4]

However, the rewrite is hampered by the desire to still treat the article as backstory for a self insert. As well there is an inability to modernise a deeply dreadful tale into something greater than the sum of its history. In essence, the story struggles to rise to the heights of the SCP greats because it is trying to do too much, leaving it with no cohesion.

Cerastes had to tie the SCP article to about 12 years of lore building by DrClef and others in the community. Allowing for all the contingencies as to who Epon is, what she has achieved and will achieve as well as DrClef’s vision for is fictive daughter. This impossible position means the story could never genuinely let go of the past and transcend it’s origins. Even moreso, people haven’t fully let go of the sexualisation of Epon, even with this tamer article. I prefer this over the other two versions, but it is eclipsed by other tales generated from Rewrite 1 like SCP 4166 or 0166. However, those are stories for another essay.

Life-like Horror

Throughout the research and writing of this essay, a comment made by user LittleCrow on the 5th of February 2011 has stuck with me:

“I can’t believe I’m having to find the words to explain why I think a beautiful teenaged SCP who can’t wear clothes, must drink semen, and drives all the men crazy is a bad idea.”^[4]

In reading the comments made by the SCP contributors on the discussion board, I was pleasantly surprised by how much pushback there was. Even more so by how early the criticism was. But, in that is the horror I have found in this article. In the fact people surprise me by critiquing this. And in the comparable amounts of people praising the first rewrite.

It’s kind of terrifying reading a story that fulfils all the sexist tropes used against you as a teenager. A terror multiplied exponentially when a bunch of men (and a couple of women) uncritically state that parroting paedophilic nonsense is good storytelling.

Every time I read the first rewrite the lack of power Epon has, strikes me. Not just in the deliberate narrative, but in how she is invented with no agency. How a writer trapped a girl in this sick twisted hell and another framed this horror as chiefly effecting his self-insert above all others. How the uncritical perpetuation of sexist ideals infests horror even to this day, with people venting their grimmest views on women under a veil of inspired creation. Twisting half formed uneducated ideas of feminist theory to fit their narrative of auteur authorship. The horror is not in the story.

It’s outside of it.

References

1. RJB_R. (2023) History Of The Universe: Part One. Retrieved From: SCP Wiki
2. Containment Fiction Wiki Contributors (2023). SCP 166. Retrieved From: Containment Fiction
3. Davis, R.F.(2008). SCP-166. Retrieved From: SCP Classic
4. SCP Contributors (2025). SCP-166/Discussion. Retrieved From:SCP Wiki
5. DrClef (2009). SCP-166. Retrieved From: SCP Classic
6. Cerastes (2024). SCP-166. Retrieved From: SCP Wiki
7. Hartmann, U. (2009). Sigmund Freud and his impact on our understanding of male sexual dysfunction. The journal of sexual medicine, 6(8), 2332-2339.