"Found a dead rabbit by the tree again this morning. The little thing impaled itself on a branch."
Item #: SCP-8441
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: An area of 1.2 hectares, containing SCP-8441, has been purchased and fenced off under the guise of being a habitat for the European green toad (Bufotes viridis).
A small dwelling has been constructed on the premises for surveillance and monitoring of SCP-8441. At least two Foundation agents are to be present on-site at all times. Both are to be remotely screened by a licensed Foundation psychiatrist once a week.
Once every two weeks, a domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) is to be led to the base of SCP-8441, where it then has its carotid arteries severed and is left to bleed out. Barring this procedure, no sharp objects are to be brought onto the property under any circumstances.
SCP-8441
Description: SCP-8441 is an organism resembling a healthy Norway spruce (Picea abies) of around eighty years of age. It is situated near █████, Sweden, in an area that was formerly a commercial spruce plantation, but following a clearcutting in 1988, has lain fallow until eventually becoming colonized by various native pioneer tree species, primarily silver birch (Betula pendula).
Despite its appearance, SCP-8441 is not a plant. Microscopic analysis of samples taken from SCP-8441 have shown its cellular makeup to be more akin to that of certain Ascomycetic fungi, with the cellular walls of its woody tissue containing chitin rather than lignin and cellulose. Despite possessing external organs with the macroscopic appearance of conifer needles, SCP-8441 does not photosynthesize, and does not produce chlorophyll. Rather, these organs contain a combination of orange and blue chromatophoric cells, and seem to serve no other purpose than to mimick foliage. SCP-8441 either does not age, or ages so slowly that no significant changes in its phenotype have been oberved since its discovery in 1988. It regenerates injuries far quicker than any non-anomalous organism of its size, being able to regrow large amounts of tissue within only a few hours.
Based on its cellular makeup and observed ecology, SCP-8441 is hypothesized to be a heterotrophic organism, meaning that it subsists on external sources of organic carbon, rather than airborne carbon dioxide. Specifically, SCP-8441 seems to subsist on blood, absorbed through subterranean structures closely resembling shallow tree roots. To this end, SCP-8441 seems to possess some sort of mechanism capable of attracting suitable prey to its location, where it then injures itself and expires. This process has never been directly observed and its exact mechanics are, for now, unknown.
Discovery: SCP-8441 was discovered on 11/04/1988 following the murder-suicide of five forestry workers tasked with harvesting the spruce plantation it stood within.
All bodies were found surrounding SCP-8441, left standing after all other trees in the surrounding area had been cut down. They had been heavily mutilated using one of the workers' petrol chainsaws. Forensic evidence suggests that only two of the workers were killed in the immediate vicinity of SCP-8441, while two others, who had likely attempted to flee, were killed elsewhere and dragged back to SCP-8441 across the forest floor. The final body and ostensible killer's injuries are presumed to be self-inflicted. The man in question, later identified as Leif Ahlund, █████ resident, showed no violent tendencies or signs of psychological instability before his death.
Due to the unusual nature of these killings, the Foundation intervened to investigate, and soon discovered SCP-8441's strange biological properties. Furthermore, excavations in the vicinity of SCP-8441 discovered an unusually high number of biological remains, mostly belonging to native animal species, but some human.
Close Addendum 1
Surveillance and monitoring of SCP-8441 was initially left to a single agent, one Colm Douglas, a former MTF Gamma-4 Commander approaching retirement age.
On 09/21/1992, following a few days of radio silence from Douglas, an agent sent to check on him discovered his body near the base of SCP-8441. Like Ahlund, Douglas died of self-inflicted injuries to his head and torso, matched to an axe found near his body, apparently kept on-site by him for harvesting firewood.
Douglas had been tasked with keeping an informal logbook, where he was to record any notable observations regarding the anomaly. His final entry is transcribed below:
09/13/1992:
Found a dead rabbit by the tree again this morning. The little thing impaled itself on a branch. I should've kept a better record of that sort of thing from the start — It's been happening for as long as I've been here, but I swear it's gotten more frequent. Rabbits, hares, hedgehogs, that fox last month… Anything small enough to fit through the fence we've put up. I keep having to mend it, too. Bigger things trying to get in, elks, mostly. I should look into barbed wire or some kind of electrical fence… Might finally deter the local kids from trying to climb it, too.
I caught some again just recently. They seemed in their right mind, tried to get smart with me, but still, it scared the devil out of me. Yelled at them until they ran off. These old bones aren't what they used to be, but at least I seem to play the old curmudgeon well enough. Always thought I'd end up being more of a kindly old man — though I guess there's enough time left for that, after this.
I think the tree is trying to taunt me, sometimes. We put plenty of anomalies down in Gamma-4, when we had to. I know it's not what we do on paper — Secure, Contain, Protect and all that — but I keep thinking about how easy it would be, just chopping it down. I'd rather that than I miss some other idiot trying to break in and we have another massacre on our hands.
Then again, it's not my call to make. Just gotta hold out a few more years and then some other poor sod gets to concern himself with that. I wish him well, anyway. God help him.