KATIE MARIE

Tell Tale Heart indeed

I hope you are well today.

Today I am writing to you to talk about a strange SCP, hardly a unique property, they are all strange in one way or another. But this one in particular is very strange. I am, of course, referring to SCP-058, also known as The Heart of Darkness.

Now my first encounter with the phrase Heart of Darkness was when I played Legacy of Kain Blood Omen for the first time, it was an artefact used to restore health, a more well-known use of the name is the novella written by Joseph Conrad in 1899, a well-known critique on western colonialism.

But this heart of darkness is named for it being a literal heart.

SCP-058 resembles a bovine heart, with four arthropod-like legs, as well as four additional tentacles of various lengths armed with spines. The image portrayed puts me in mind of an intelligence devourer, though with a heart body instead of a brain.

SCP-058 has a sharp stinger on its backside and is extremely hostile. It has killed one hundred and forty-nine Class-D personnel and fourteen. It is carnivorous and eats a cow every three days.

It is very sturdy and resilient to various traumas that may be applied to it. It moves fast and can climb sheer walls.

Perhaps strangest of all its traits is its ability to speak, despite its natural limitations of having no mouth or vocal cords that we know of. It speaks with the voice of an elderly British man and its voice is continuous, the tone never changes regardless of the level of exertion it is under.

It is contained in a small, heat-resistant chamber and is never to be removed.

My Thoughts

SCP-058 is, as I said above, a strange one. It is compelling as it is reasonably small and yet seems to be almost indestructible. It was captured when it was incapacitated but not killed by a building falling on it, and a later escape attempt was only thwarted when an M1 tank ran it over.

Its small, and squishy stature belies its incredible speed and destructive capability. Thus, subverting the idea that something so small and malleable would be vulnerable.

Little is known about SCP-058 as studying it is difficult which adds to the mystery element of the creature. The fact that it speaks but seems to do so without any knowledge or understanding of words, as its communication never relates to anything presently happening or around it, also contributes to the strangeness and compelling nature of the thing.

Overall, I have suspicions that this may have been based on the D&D creature, at least at the design level, with some reference to the Joseph Conrad novella as the creature seems to be British and endlessly destructive. I like the idea that it is an allegory for colonialism.