Tis the Spooky Season! And to indulge my own tastes celebrate, I'm throwing out a list of my favourite, lesser known SCP articles. Everyone knows the big boys, the creepy plague doctors and giant murder machines, but there's a lot more out there that deserve a chance to be seen. And why sort through the chaff, when I've already done it!
A huge thank you to The Exploring Series on youtube, who does a fantastic job of both finding articles to cover and doing very high quality summaries. I've provided links to his videos for these entries, in case you (like me) prefer to listen over read sometimes.
5. 7034 - AE is for Aerial
Article/Video
My personal favourite pick for the 'getting trapped in a liminal space' genre. Simple in concept, I really like the setting for this one - an endless smog-choked highway. The story also has some things to say about the links between car culture, individualism and violence that I found genuinely interesting.
4. 3004 - Imago
Article/Video
BUG GOD, BUG GOD, BUG GOD, BUG GOD!
Exploring the power of faith, a god that needs to feed and a boatload of body horror. This is one is for the silt verses fans.
3. 8980 - Ergophobia: Without Regards
Article/Video
I've actually talked about this article before, when I first read it, but I can't not bring it up again in this case. Ergophobia has, without a doubt, some of the most disturbing writing I've ever read. A very grounded horror story about workplace abuse and misogyny that I really wish was more fantastical that it is. Compelling, but make sure to check the content warnings before you read.
2. 4036 - The Republic
Article/Video
What if the worshippers of a dark and bloody flesh god were still less horrifying than colonialism?
The Republic follows the history of a remote pacific island, whose native inhabitants practice a form of sarkicism, through the medium of journal entries by a white explorer. It's a pretty bleak story, with most of the horror arising not from the supernatural, but from the grounded depiction of how indigenous peoples are suppressed and brutalised for the power of others.
7660 - Q is for Questions
Article/Video
This one goes beyond just a favourite SCP article to being one of my favourite short stories full stop. The prose is surreal and the narrative jumps and shifts in a way that feels like remembering a dream. I can't really explain the premise to you easily - this isn't the kind of story where everything is neatly wrapped up by the end. If you like fucked up handler/hound dynamics, doomed by the narrative relationships or are just really into the idea of box that eats people, then I can't recommend it enough.
