Well, don't trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer.
Item #: SCP-8187
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-8187 is currently kept in secure storage locker O-P-64 at Site-19. No individual with less than a Level-02 clearance is permitted to remove SCP-8187 from its locker, or to otherwise handle the object.
A portable darkroom is to be prepared adjacent to the testing chamber before conducting tests. All photos taken must be developed immediately, then mounted as 10.8cm x 16.5cm (4.25” x 6.5”) cabinet cards. The reverse of each must be marked clearly in pen, with the date of testing and the ID number of the subject D-Class.
SCP-8187
Description: SCP-8187 is a Victorian-era wet-plate collodion camera, manufactured circa 1885. The item was originally found in a large leather case, alongside a wooden box containing several glass plates, a wooden tripod, and a black wool curtain. These accessories are non-anomalous in nature, and are kept alongside SCP-8187 in its secure storage locker.
Any individual photographed with SCP-8187 at close range will die soon after their picture is taken. Their proximate cause of death can usually be attributed to reckless behavior, poor decision making, and/or aggression towards another person. Subjects occasionally expire within hours, with these cases almost always being due to intracerebral hemorrhage. Upon autopsy, a linear pattern of dead and altered brain tissue is evident, traveling directly through the prefrontal cortex in all subjects that were photographed from the front.
Portrait photos of singular individuals, taken with SCP-8187, are referred to as SCP-8187-1. These photos depict their subjects post-mortem. Subjects are depicted in the same location, attire, and physical position as they were in when they were photographed. Any apparent injuries sustained during the subject's death are virtually indistinguishable from those visible in their photograph.
Researchers hypothesize that SCP-8187 harnesses the imaginative ability of the subject's hippocampus to produce these photographs. The linear pattern of damaged brain tissue is most likely a side effect of the anomalous "data extraction" method used by the camera. How the camera is able to create the necessary temporal recursion to allow the subject's brain to be prompted to produce an image of a future event is currently unknown.
Addendum-01: Recovered Photographs
Two cabinet cards, designated SCP-8187-1-1 and SCP-8187-1-2, were found within a small stack of damaged glass plates in one of the pockets of the leather case SCP-8187 was found in. High-resolution scans of these cards, and transcriptions of the handwritten notes on the backs of the photos have been included below. No other instances of SCP-8187-1 taken prior to retrieval by the Foundation have been found.
SCP-8187-1-1
SCP-8187-1-1 Transcription:
Mr. Jay Allen Johnson
photographed May 2nd, 1891
Circus performer
Died June 26th, 1891
Mauled to death by animals
SCP-8187-1-2
SCP-8187-1-2 Transcription:
Jimmy Newman
Photographed August 10th, 1925
Corpse found in alleyway on 10th St
and Denmark Ave - August 13th, 1925
Addendum-02: Interview Log
The item was discovered during the execution of a search warrant at the law office of Harrison Blackwell, a prominent personal injury and wrongful death attorney in █████████, Georgia. Upon retrieval of the object by Foundation operatives, Blackwell was questioned by MTF Agent Lawrence Ng under the guise of the concurrent police investigation.
Excerpt from Interview
Blackwell: …so since then, my son's been taking pictures for people out of that extra room in my office. Completely above board, might I add.
Ng: What, with that antique camera?
Blackwell: Nah, that thing was my grandfather's. Jasper's got a new, fancy one. Cost him a pretty penny, so he keeps it home with him at night.
Ng: Oh. Was he a photographer?
Blackwell: My grandfather? Well, his daddy was, and he helped out for a while. But, by the time I came 'round, he was a funeral director. Still took people's pictures on the side when business was slow.
Ng: Might as well, right? Still, can't be making up for too much lost income, though…
Blackwell: You'd be surprised. Really pays to get your name out there. Word of mouth, you know?
Ng: Right…and am I to believe that's why over half of your clients share a last name with the people your son has photographed?
Subject pauses, then continues to speak.
Blackwell: Do they? I don't know all the specifics of what Jasper's up to, not like I look over his shoulder all day.
Ng: You keep records. That's how I noticed this pattern.
Blackwell: What, you think I cross-check and compare that shit? Why the hell would I?
Ng: Even in that case, you'd see who walks in and out of here.
Blackwell: Listen. I know you might have all the time in the world to chit chat, but I'm busy. I don't have time for checkin' last names on paper or staring at my front door all day, and I sure as hell am too busy for this shit here, right now.
At that time, Blackwell attempted to end the interview by exiting the office, but was stopped by Agent Ng. He was then taken into custody by additional Foundation personnel on scene.
Following this interview, Harrison Blackwell and his son, Jasper Blackwell, were administered Class-F amnestics and provided new identities before being relocated by the Foundation.
The name of his great-grandfather, Ulysses Howard Blackwell, was passed along to the Department of History for further research. An initial search of newspaper articles yielded 27 results between the years of 1888 and 1925. All but four of these instances cited him as the author of an obituary, including one for Mr. Jay Allen Johnson.