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Special Containment Procedures: Foundation assets embedded within the U.S. legal system will continue to support Project Fools Gold, defaming Kirk Hallewell for insider trading and embezzlement. All Hallewell Mining Corporation (HMC) assets have been acquired by the Foundation, and will continue legitimate operations.
A 12km quarantine zone has been established around the town of Feldspar. Bi-weekly deliveries of food and consumer goods will be provided to the population, as dictated by the current Project Director. Standard cover NATRAD1 is in effect. Personnel are required to wear full radiation suits when entering SCP-4938.
Description: SCP-4938 is the town of Feldspar, located in Kosser Valley, Colorado.
While officially designated a gold-rush "ghost town", Feldspar has been the source of some 97 million dollars of commercial gold since 1948.
SCP-4938-1 is an anomalous form of radiation that affects a 10km3 area, including the town of Feldspar. Individuals exposed to this radiation for more than 20 hours may develop tumor-like growths throughout the body. As these growths metastasize, heavy metals will spontaneously, and proportionately generate within. While gold is prevalent through 76% of all cases, platinum, gallium, bismuth, and even uranium have also been detected. As a result, prolonged exposure to SCP-4938-1 has an extremely high fatality rate.
The native residents of Feldspar exhibit a unique response to SCP-4938-1; tumors are formed more rapidly, in greater size. This will most often cause an extreme loss of mobility, along with persistent pain and discomfort. Despite this fact, nearly a third of the 634 residents are over 100 years old, and in stable health. Once no longer exposed to SCP-4938-1, these individuals experience a rapid decline in physical health. No known method exists to re-locate the population without extreme loss of life.
For nearly 80 years, the Hallewell Mining Corporation had been utilizing the Feldspar populace for profit. In exchange for basic supplies and sundries, individuals would submit to the surgical removal of their metallic growths. This continued until 2004, when Mrs. Dana Walsh, a Feldspar resident, placed a call with the U.S. National Guard. All information she provided was intercepted by embedded Foundation agents. Project Fools Gold was launched soon after. Feldspar residents have thus far proven non- hostile, but highly uncooperative.
Interview Log: POI-4938-178 - 03/08/2004 Dana Walsh, age 5, farthest right.
Interview Log: POI-4938-178 - 03/08/2004 Interviewer: Researcher Lawrence Horowitz Interviewed: Mrs. Dana Walsh, 102 years old, lifetime resident of Feldspar.
Horowitz: We'd like to thank you for reaching out to us, Mrs. Walsh. I can assure you, your safety will be- Mrs. Walsh: Oh save it. You can't help me.
Horowitz: … My organization has considerable- Mrs. Walsh: You look at me, boy. You see how old I am? You see what this town has done to me? There ain't nothing my neighbors can do to hurt me, and nothing you can do will help me. So save it. You just keep your end of the bargain.
Horowitz: Yes ma'am. Your great, great granddaughter has already been evacuated.
Mrs. Walsh: Good.
Horowitz: Now, as for our side of the bargain?
Mrs. Walsh:: … She's got my husband's eyes, you know. Bright and green.
She's only five years old. I still remember things from that age… my mother's face, playing in the yard… I hope she doesn't remember a single thing about this awful place.
Horowitz: I don't believe she will. Now, about- Mrs. Walsh: I heard you. Just tell me what you want to know.
Horowitz: … Everything. How did this all begin? What's causing it? When did your "arrangement" with HMC start? Why won't anyone talk to us?
Mrs. Walsh does not respond immediately. With some difficulty, she points at the nearby television set. Faintly, the sounds of grating and metallic crackling are heard. Her elbow rests on a growth beneath her rib cage, roughly the size of a volleyball.
Mrs. Walsh: … The new Hallewell boy- Kiff?
Horowitz: Kirk.
Mrs. Walsh: Ugly name. I saw him on the TV, after the sentencing. He's a greedy lil sumbich, him and his father both. You know neither of 'em have ever even been to Feldspar? Not once! They just took what they wanted, and left us with barely enough to survive. It wasn't always like that.
Hawthorne Hallewell, the great Grandpappy himself, was at Cripple Creek, Klondike, and Mount Baker. First he was a panner, then a store-owner, and then he was running his own dang company. Great man. He was a ruthless damn businessman, sure, but he also had that rare kinda' stupid risk-taking that all the great old American entrepreneurs had. When he passed on, his sons Douglas and Edwin each got a half of everything. I don't just mean the company. Douglas got all the ruthless, building copper mines in Arizona while forcin' folks off their land. Edwin, you might've guessed, was the stupid risk- taker.
Edwin staked his whole fortune on this little town, all because of a few pan- fulls. Those prospectors just got lucky, though. There was barely enough gold in these hills to feed the town. Edwin bled the company near to death keeping Feldspar alive. Hell, he went down into the mines himself most weeks, like he couldn't believe we weren't sitting on the next Sierra Nevada. I think he just felt guilty.
Horowitz: Guilty? What do you mean?
Mrs. Walsh: Well, old Edwin had a daughter, Julia, and he'd promised her the world. He thought he'd be building her a golden palace out here. Instead, she wound up like one of those storybook girls, locked up in the Hallewell estate all day.
At night though, all us girls would sneak out. My mother owned the inn, so I'd swipe food from the kitchens. Maddie had her uncle's old radio. Raquel would always snatch somethin' from her daddy's liqueur cabinet. Ruby and Katie… well, they just sorta' showed up. We'd meet up and head down to the river. Julia too, of course. Sweet girl. Rich as she was, she never looked down on us. We were all just a bunch of miner's daughters, drinkin' and smokin', pissin' the night away like we'd never grow old. God those were good times. Those nights, we'd talk about every little thing; our dreams of heading out East, bits of news we'd get from the papers… and boys. Oh lord how we clucked on about boys. Good golly, miss Ruby thought snooping in on her older sisters made her Queen Know-It-All of sex!
Mrs. Walsh begins to laugh, then cough. Researcher Horowitz carefully hands her a nearby handkerchief, and glass of water. Mrs. Walsh waves away the water, but uses the cloth to wipe around her chin, and the ring of growths beneath her neck. She moves carefully, avoiding a series of small, multi-hued bismuth crystals that have pierced the flesh, and become half- covered in scar tissue.
I'm fine, just fine. Don't get up. Ahem. Now, Julia and Raquel, they never seemed to join in on that kinda' talk. Julia didn't surprise me, she was always shy, but Raquel? That girl spoke her mind like it was the holy word! I couldn't figure it out… of course, even if I had, back in those days you didn't talk about that kind of thing.
Horowitz: What kind of- Mrs. Walsh: They were in love, sonny. It was plain as the nose on my face, but back then I never realized why they kept sneaking off together.
Sad to say, those days didn't last. We were all comin' up on marrying age, and in a small town like this there are certain expectations. Raquel… well, her Daddy drunk himself to death after a few months, and her auntie paired her up with the butcher's son for a discount on back bacon. Mr. Hallewell brought in some city-boy tycoon's son for Julia, a real pompous ass who didn't see the difference between this town and the dirt it's built on.
The girls started to drift apart after that. The last time I saw Julia was just before the wedding, and she looked a frightful mess. Her husband-to-be had promised to bring in machines from the city. Automation and deep-drills. I didn't understand most of it, but I sure understood what she told me last "It's to keep the town alive." she said. "We need gold to keep this town alive." Julia and Raquel both got pregnant 'round the same time. That wasn't so odd, small town like this. I had my first just a month before! Things really got strange when they gave birth on the same day. Same hour too. It could have been down to the second, but no one at Raquel's home owned a watch. Both those babies had pale skin, dark eyes, and perfect yellow tufts of hair. This caused a bit of a ruckus, given both girls and their husbands had black hair.
Suddenly, every blonde fella' in town was suddenly getting a sideways eye.
The next day, folk started getting real sick. Fevers, pains, and the growths of course. Nobody knew what it was, but it spread fast. We're not a big town, but it was the first time I'd ever seen the inn empty at noontime. For days and days, the streets were deserted except for the stay fella stumbling around like a drunkard, coughing and tossing up their lunch. Ten died in the first week. We burned them a half-mile out of town.
Raquel, Julia, and their families were the only ones not getting sick. You add that to the odd babies, and no one getting paid since no one could work the mines… everyone started getting a bit crazy. Especially Mr. Peterson. After his wife passed on, he'd just spend all day wandering about quoting bible verses, saying signs of the devil come in twos. "Twins born of different mothers" he'd shout. "A biblical plague, born of greed!" The worse things got, the more people listened.
At least Julia was safe in that big ol' house. Miss Raquel… well, with the baby lookin' as it did… I'm not sure if her husband threw her out, or if she just left. I do know she was staying with her auntie. They didn't have much. I remember, she came in asking for food once. My mother wouldn't even give her milk for the baby. I had to sneak it to her out the back door. I'm glad I did it, I am… but I wish that wasn't my last memory of her. I want to remember Raquel as she was, back when we'd meet by the river. I want to close my eyes, and see her all young and proud, not.. god, she looked so small that day. She looked so scared… That was the first, and only time I'd ever actually seen one of the twins.
Raquel had it, all bundled up in her arms. It looked like any other babe, no different from my own… until I saw its eyes. I don't know if I can describe them… they weren't fully wrong, really, they just didn't catch the light right. No shine. It was almost like looking at a paper drawing. Just two little white circles, with a single black dot… they were so dark… like a mine shaft stretching on down forever… Horowitz: … Mrs. Walsh?
Mrs. Walsh: … Horowitz: Mrs. Walsh, are you alright?
Mrs. Walsh: After a… a few months went by… Mrs. Walsh falls into another coughing fit. When she doubles over, and Researcher Horowitz helps steady her with incredible difficulty. At the time of this interview, Mrs. Walsh's weighed 154kg (340lbs); 1/3rd biomass, 2/3rds heavy metals.
Horowitz: Mrs. Walsh, I think it would be best if you returned to bed. We can continue this at a later date.
Mrs. Walsh: No. Someone… someone needs to hear this damn it… The town kept getting worse. Then, one night, I heard people shouting outside my window. Someone screamed. My mama came in, told me to stay in bed, and locked my door with a latch. A big iron latch. I didn't see what happened. I just got told. I wasn't- … I wasn't there… A few houses got lit on fire. Some people were killed. Mr. Hallewell died in town square. They beat him to death. Julia, Raquel… their husbands, their mothers, even some of their friends… people say it was an accident; just some drunk, scared people who got too caught up in things. Nobody even talked about it the next day; acted like it never happened.
Horowitz: …That's it? There was no investigation afterwards?
Mrs. Walsh: It was a different time, son. The law didn't stretch out this far.
Someone did notice, though. Douglas Hallewell. He showed up a month later, looking for his family. We told him that the sickness got them, and it was the worst lie we ever told. He brought in doctors. He wanted to know what killed his brother. Instead, he found what was growing inside of us.
So that's three of your questions answered. The last one should need askin' by now. Your "organization" is just tellin' us the same stuff we heard from Douglas Hallewell. "We're here to help". "The tumors need to be removed".
"It's not about the gold." Bullshit. It's all bullshit. You're just another bunch of- Horowitz: What about the babies?
Mrs. Walsh: … What?
Horowitz: You told me what happened to Edwin, Julia, Raquel, but you never mentioned the twins. What happened to them?
Mrs. Walsh: … Horowitz: Mrs. Walsh? … Mrs. Walsh, do you need- Mrs. Walsh: We-… they buried them. They took 'em into the mountain, into one of the old dry mine shafts and buried them.
Horowitz: I see. So, you believe- Mrs. Walsh: Ain't nothing to do with belief, boy. I know it. We're cursed.
Towns like these aren't meant to keep on living. We're supposed to come and go with the gold. For what we did, by god, I think we're going to live forever… Horowitz: … Thank you for your time Mrs. Walsh. I think we should stop there.
Addendum: Mrs. Walsh was discovered dead in her home the next day. A previously undocumented tumor was found pressing on her medulla. This growth contained .05 grams of 24-karat gold.
Addendum 4938-A Samples of 4938-2 and 4938-3.
Addendum 4938-A: An exploration was launched into the mining network surrounding Feldspar. Utilizing specially designed Geiger counters, two unique geological formations were discovered.
SCP-4938-2 and SCP-4938-3 are a set of 18m3 ore clusters composed of an unknown platinum composite. These clusters have a density of 23.587 ± 0.009 g•cm-3, outclassing Osmium as the densest terrestrial metal. Despite their identical chemical composition, each cluster emits a different form of radiation. D-Class personnel exposed to samples of -2 and -3 separately show no adverse effects. Simultaneous exposure is required to form SCP-4938-1 tumorous growths.
Conceivably, both clusters could be mined out and separated to a neutralizing distance.
The O5 council and Ethics Committee have ruled against this action, as to maintain the health and safety of the Feldspar residents. Medical staff will continue removing tumors as they present. Precious metals collected will be put to use in Foundation equipment and funding efforts. The Department of Finance has been tasked with regulating the export of gold, as to prevent global inflation.
- - Notice to all staff currently assigned to SCP-4938: - - Your concerns, both outspoken and privately discussed, have not gone unheard.
We are not exploiting the people of Feldspar. We are not harvesting them, as HMC once did. What we are doing is providing necessary medical aid to a community stricken with a unique illness. Discarding the precious metals recovered during this process would simply be wasteful.
Most importantly, "cursed gold" does not exist. We have found absolutely no evidence to corroborate the testimony of Mrs. Dana Walsh. Edwin Hallewell died in a mining accident in 1921. Julia Hallewell died of tuberculosis later that year. She had no child.
SCP-4938 is an anomalous form of geological radiation, nothing more.
We consider this discussion closed.
O5-4 Footnotes 1. Naturally occurring radiation or hazardous chemicals.
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