In the bowels of the earth, we beheld that thing which was at once a heart, a tiger, and a man, and which spoke with the voice of thunder and the wails of the dead.
Item #: SCP-8795
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures:
Every thirteen days, in accordance with the Mexica calendrical system, Foundation personnel must carry out Procedure 12-Ocelotl.
1. A male D-Class individual will be surgically rendered mute and placed in isolation for the thirteen-day period preceding the execution of Procedure 12-Ocelotl.
2. On the eve of the thirteenth day, the D-Class individual will be bathed, shaved and cleansed with copal incense. Natural pigments will be used to paint his face black and yellow.
3. No less than five Foundation agents dressed in attire corresponding to the Nahua priestly caste of the Postclassic Period will escort the D-Class individual to the chamber housing SCP-8795 and lay him on his back upon the stone altar, with four agents holding down each of the individual’s arms and legs and the fifth agent officiating as teopixqui. Under no circumstance must the ash ring encircling the anomaly be disturbed. None of the participants must speak in the presence of SCP-8795.
4. Using a flint knife, the teopixqui will remove the D-Class’s heart from his chest and hold it aloft for SCP-8795 to consume. The cadaver will then be disposed of via incineration and the ashes will be scattered following the circle around the lair of SCP-8795.
5. Immediately after completion of Procedure 12-Ocelotl, preparation for the following performance of the ritual will begin.
Foundation agents embedded within the Servicio Seismológico Nacional (National Seismological Service) must report abnormal seismological activity affecting central Mexico; special attention is to be directed towards tremors with epicenters located away from known geological faults. Efforts must be made in cooperation with Mexican federal authorities to mitigate the effects of an eventual catastrophic earthquake; these measures must be oriented towards educating civilians in following safety protocols, training and equipping first responders, and reconstruction of affected areas.
Description:
SCP-8795 is an entity residing in a cave 3.4 kilometers beneath Mexico City, Mexico. Surface access to the anomaly is achieved through a tunnel located below the ruins of a small Catholic chapel in the outskirts of the municipality of Chalco. Foundation experts believe this tunnel to have been carved through anomalous means prior to the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan, with several offerings of pottery, obsidian mirrors and human remains found lining the tunnel’s antechamber walls upon initial discovery. A ring of human ashes measuring approximately 25 meters in diameter marks the boundary of the anomaly's physical reach.
SCP-8795 possesses no fixed appearance; it shifts at will between three primary forms or an amalgamation of them, but has hinted in conversation with Foundation researchers that its polymorphism is without limit. Its known forms are as follow:
- A colossal heart of indeterminate species upheld by fleshy tendrils that protrude from the ground. Its pulsations echo through the cavern at near-deafening volume.
- A jaguar (panthera onca) or the shadow of a jaguar. Turquoise feathers will sometimes sprout around its neck forming a mane or headdress.
- A muscular, copper-skinned man with pierced nose and earlobes, dressed in a jaguar pelt and adorned with jade ornaments. When assuming this form, a necklace bearing conches and an obsidian mirror will be present around his neck at all times.
SCP-8795’s most prominent ability is to provoke seismic phenomena at will. How the entity’s powers work is unknown; even during severe earthquakes, no vibrations have ever been detected emanating from its body or the cave it inhabits. However, Foundation seismographers ascertain that SCP-8795 can indeed cause tremors without being at their hypocenter, and all its claims have been immediately demonstrated by quakes being registered by seismometers aboveground. The upper limit of SCP-8795’s seismic abilities is not presently known, but it is believed to be immeasurable by all parameters. According to the entity itself, it could “crack the world in two and have its core spill out like egg yolk” if it unleashed the entirety of its might, and it only refrains from doing so due to the nature of its confinement.
Despite its destructive abilities, SCP-8795 is unable to exit the cavern it was found in, its movements limited to the inside of the ring of ashes that encircles it. Attempting to cross this boundary causes the anomaly intense pain and loss of control over its shapeshifting powers, forcing it to retreat. However, confinement in no way diminishes the danger SCP-8795 poses, as was demonstrated during Incident 8795/2017; the proper execution of Procedure 12-Ocelotl remains the only effective way of appeasing SCP-8795.
Additionally, SCP-8795 can replicate words and phrases spoken in its presence using the voice of the original speaker. The entity has often used this pseudo-mimicry to taunt and torment Foundation personnel by replicating the screams and pleadings of D-Class individuals sacrificed to it during Procedure 12-Ocelotl (as well as the crying, panting and heaving of Foundation agents after the ritual’s completion), leading to the procedure being updated to minimize psychological trauma by having participants remain silent and thus limit the voices and words that SCP-8795 can copy.
Discovery:
SCP-8795 was discovered following the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, which killed more than 5000 people, severely damaged the city and caused the collapse of more than 400 buildings – including the chapel that concealed SCP-8795. Upon searching the ruins and finding no survivors amongst the priesthood, first responders uncovered the tunnel leading into the ground and noticed that it seemed to go on for much deeper than should be possible. Their report was intercepted by the Foundation, which took possession over the site.
Exploration of the tunnel led to the Foundation establishing contact with SCP-8795 and learning of its confinement by the Catholic priests who had lived in the chapel prior to the earthquake. A document dated to 1534 was recovered from the ruins and seemed to confirm the entity’s version of events while also detailing what would eventually become Procedure 12-Ocelotl.
Document SCP-8795-A (translated from Spanish):
In the bowels of the earth, we beheld that thing which was at once a heart, a tiger, and a man, and which spoke with the voice of thunder and the wails of the dead. We saw it be all those things separately and at the same time, and we felt great horror as its infernal mouth proclaimed that the kingdom of its ilk was eternal, even as the Holy Cross stood triumphant above the ruined temples and the mutilated bodies of the stone idols.
We tried to subdue it the way demons are subdued, invoking the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and raising His Holy image to force it to retreat, but it only laughed, and the earth laughed with it; the very stone shook with cackles that sounded as if the world were coming to an end, and from its mouth mockingly came our own cries of terror.
We had no choice but to imprison it as the Indians once did, using a pagan ritual for which our souls will undoubtedly burn. So it has been and so it must be. Every thirteen days we take from the dungeons an Indian condemned to the stake for idolatry or some other unforgivable sin, we place him upon the stone altar and cut out his heart. Then we burn the body and scatter the ashes over the boundaries of its stone prison. Thus we feed it. Thus we bind it. Thus we seal its power. Thus lies the Heart of the Mountain, sated and subdued.
After a thorough analysis of surviving Mesoamerican codices, Foundation mythologists and historians have found no reference to the specific ritual described in Document SCP-8795-A. However, human sacrifice involving the removal of a live prisoner's heart is a well-documented practice across many different pre-Columbian cultures; in most known cases, these sacrifices were meant to feed the gods, thank them for their upkeeping of humanity, and prevent them from destroying the world. This also appears to be the purpose of Procedure 12-Ocelotl, with the offering of a human heart quelling SCP-8795's hunger and keeping it from causing major earthquakes.
The scattering of the ashes, on the other hand, seems to reinforce the seal that keeps SCP-8795 bound to its lair. Although no evidence exists of the Mexica or other Mesoamerican peoples ever using this or any other method to imprison a deity, both documented failures to fulfill this part of the ritual have had devastating consequences. The first incident occurred in 1985 and led to the Foundation discovering SCP-8795, while the second occurrence was classified as Incident 8795/2017.
Incident 8795/2017:
On 7 September 2017, while conducting Procedure 12-Ocelotl, containment specialist Efraín Castillo accidentally disrupted the ash ring entrapping SCP-8795. Although the containment team immediately attempted to restore the ring with the ashes of the D-Class sacrifice, this error provided SCP-8795 with the opportunity to breach containment, making it halfway through the seal and slaughtering four of the Foundation personnel present – including containment specialist Castillo – before being forced back by the completion of the ritual. Furious at being thwarted, the entity used its powers to provoke a 8.2 magnitude earthquake that affected the state of Chiapas, causing a total of 98 deaths, 300 injuries, and $4 billion USD in material damages.
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Video Log Transcript SCP-8795.08
Interviewer: Dr. Felipe Gutiérrez
Interviewed: SCP-8795
Date: 19/09/2017
Note: This interview was conducted in Spanish.
Foreword: Dr. Felipe Gutiérrez Moro served as the lead researcher on SCP-8795 since its discovery in 1985, and often officiated as teopixqui during Procedure 12-Ocelotl. In the aftermath of Incident 8795/2017, he was credited with restoring the ash circle that contains the anomaly, but in the process lost his right arm at the shoulder and suffered severe facial scarring. Further psychological assessment determined that Dr. Gutiérrez had developed a grudge against SCP-8795 for his injuries and the deaths of four members of his research team. However, due to his decades-long experience with the anomaly, he was initially allowed to continue as lead researcher and conducted this interview twelve days after the incident.
<Begin Log>
Camera turns on. SCP-8795 lies placidly at the center of its lair in its jaguar form. Dr. Gutiérrez addresses it off-camera.
Dr. Gutiérrez: Do you know why I am here?
SCP-8795 does not respond. Its ears twitch slightly, but it remains at rest.
Dr. Gutiérrez (raising his voice): DO YOU KNOW WHY I AM HERE?
SCP-8795 licks its whiskers. A yawn forms on its mandibles, exposing its fangs.
SCP-8795: This bastard language of yours again. How hard is it to find someone who speaks Nahuatl nowadays?
Dr. Gutiérrez: Four men. Four lives that had been dedicated to tend to your needs, to keep you fed and satiated… and you killed them without hesitation. They didn’t even have time to beg…
SCP-8795 opens its eyes and stares at Dr. Gutiérrez.
SCP-8795: Of course they did. I made sure of it.
SCP-8795 (in the voice of researcher Martín Valencia): PLEASE! PLEASE DON’T! NO!
SCP-8795: Do refresh my memory, will you? Who was that? Was he the fat one?
Dr. Gutiérrez: Martín… Martín Valencia…
SCP-8795: Ah, yes. The short, yellow-haired one who always winced during the sacrifices. I wish I could tell you he was much braver in the end, but you just heard him state otherwise.
Dr. Gutiérrez: Thirty-two years. Thirty-two years I have made sure to meet your demands, to follow the ritual to the letter, and yet a single mistake was enough for you to slaughter us. Why? If you yearn for your freedom so deeply, why delay your escape just for a few cheap kills?
SCP-8795 shifts into its human guise. It walks towards the edge of the ash ring and leers sardonically at Dr. Gutiérrez.
SCP-8795: You seem confused, Felipe. Did you really think that these years together meant we were friends? A prisoner is no friend to his jailor, and a hostage is no friend to his taker. You and your kind feed me not because of any goodwill between us, but because you know what I will do should the sacrifices stop.
Dr. Gutiérrez: I should let you starve, then. Deprive you of all blood and watch you waste away.
SCP-8795 (laughing uproariously): And risk every living thing perishing as the Earth crumbles? Were all the deaths I just caused upstairs not enough for you?
SCP-8795 leans in closer towards the camera. Its face begins to twitch in pain as it reaches the boundary of the ash circle. Its eyes remain sharp and catlike despite its human visage.
SCP-8795: I know you want to play harsh and ruthless, but you have not seen ruthless yet. Even if you make it out alive again, do you think you will be able to live with the guilt? All that will resonate in your ears for the rest of your little mortal existence will be the screams of the countless lives I will extinguish. Just like theirs.
SCP-8795 screams for thirty seconds in the voice of researcher Jacinto Velez, who was killed by being bisected lengthwise starting at the crotch.
SCP-8795: I hope you live to be a hundred years, Felipe, for you to revive those long seconds, those anguished instants before merciful release, and make them last.
Dr. Gutiérrez: I will find a way. I will find a way to make you pay for what you’ve done. I will tighten the ring around you, make you feel as crushed as those who you entombed beneath concrete and stone. I will turn this ritual against you! I will–
SCP-8795 laughs thunderously, the cavern shaking as it cackles. A rumbling sound is heard as dust and loose rocks begin falling from the ceiling, cracks visibly forming on the walls.
SCP-8795 (bellowing): THE RITUAL! OH, FELIPE, HAVE YOU NOT FIGURED IT OUT YET?
The camera tips and falls, its lens cracking on impact.
SCP-8795: THE PRISONER OR THE JAILOR. THE HOSTAGE OR THE TAKER. WHICH ONE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
<End Log>
Afterword: Immediately after recording stopped, the states of Puebla, Morelos and Mexico City experienced a 7.1 earthquake that killed 370 people and caused the collapse of 40 buildings, as well as $8 billion USD in material damages. SCP-8795 remained confined to the circle of ash, which was found to be intact despite the damage caused to the rest of the cave.
Dr. Gutiérrez survived without suffering new injuries, but his actions, mental health and fitness for the role of lead researcher were put under review in light of the incident and the civilian casualties resulting from it. Of particular note was his aggressive insistence that Procedure 12-Ocelotl be abandoned in favor of finding alternatives to permanently neutralize SCP-8795, which was attributed to his personal vendetta against the anomaly. Ultimately, he was dismissed from his position, with further disciplinary measures pending an investigation on whether his issued threats against SCP-8795 could have contributed to provoking its attack. Following the appointment of Dr. Emanuel Albornoz as the new lead researcher, implementation of Procedure 12-Ocelotl continued due to its proven reliability at appeasing and containing SCP-8795.
Addendum: Incident 8795/2026:
On 8 June 2026, security cameras recorded an unknown anomaly manifesting within SCP-8795's cavern. The unknown entity appeared human, wore black clothes embroidered with golden thread in the manner of the traditional charro horsemen and a wide-brim hat that obscured its face, and walked straight and unimpeded despite the absence of its left foot. Recording shows the entity emitted continuous wisps of dark smoke, and in the aftermath of its appearance Foundation personnel noted a persistent stench of "sulfur, incense and void [sic]." The entity and SCP-8795 engaged in the following exchange.
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Video Log Transcript SCP-8795.12
Date: 08/06/2026
Note: Translated from Nahuatl.
SCP-8795: Look who finally decided to come visit! And here I was thinking you might have forgotten about me.
UNKNOWN: My apologies, old friend. I know the centuries feel slow when you spend them alone, but I hope you at least enjoyed a few appetizers during your wait. And this ruse you have kept for so long… Most impressive. You have become a masterful liar.
SCP-8795: You taught me well, but my patience has been thinning and these morsels do very little for my appetite nowadays. Had you not shown up by the end of this year, I would have dropped the act and slaughtered them all.
UNKNOWN: Wait no more, then. The wheel is turning as we speak, and the age of the Fifth Sun nears its end.
SCP-8795: So it is done? Has Mictlán fallen?
UNKNOWN: No. Mictecacihuatl and her cohorts put up a better defense than I could have expected. Mictlán stands, and so do the Pillars of the Earth.
SCP-8795: (Sneers) Ah, now I get why you are here. Mictlantecuhtli has already rung the summoning bell, has he not? I can feel it in the soil and rock, calling out to me.
UNKNOWN: Indeed. We Lords of Night are to assemble and discuss the state of the world and the divine. And you, Tepeyollotl, will stand by my side once again.
SCP-8795: And in exchange for my allegiance, I expect you will allow me the pleasure of sundering the Earth.
UNKNOWN: That is what I promised you all those millennia ago, and I intend to keep my word. We have a rare chance to turn many other gods to our side, an opportunity to extinguish the Fifth Sun and swat away all those who would oppose us. My brother Huitzilopochtli is dead – felled while defending Mictlán – and the Black Moon howls in his absence. By the time he is reborn, we will all live under a brand new Sun raised from the shattered pieces of this planet. All I am missing now is my breaker of worlds, my Heart of the Mountain.
SCP-8795: Then what are we waiting for? Lead the way, friend.
Following this conversation, the unknown entity demanifested into the shadows of the cave. SCP-8795, taking on its jaguar form, crossed the circle of ash without experiencing any of the previously-recorded ill effects. It then killed and devoured all present Foundation personnel, including Dr. Albornoz, before similarly disappearing into the underground darkness. Immediately afterwards, a catastrophic 9.7 magnitude earthquake struck central Mexico, leveling 33% of the buildings of Mexico City while also impacting the surrounding states of Puebla, Tlaxcala, Michoacán and Morelos. The earthquake killed more than 600,000 people, becoming the strongest and deadliest earthquake in recorded history.
SCP-8795 remains uncontained and is, as of the amending of this document, uncontainable. Previously established containment procedures are hereby archived due to their total inability to impede or appease SCP-8795. The Foundation is to remain on high alert and cooperate with the Mexican government to alleviate the destruction caused by the anomaly; since no way of predicting a seismic event currently exists, evacuating population centers prior to an attack by SCP-8795 is considered impossible.
Of whom we are his slaves.
At this point, all we can do is state the obvious: he fooled us. Tepeyollotl (yes, that is his name, and we would do ourselves a favor by accepting the implications it carries) has been laughing in the Foundation’s face for as long as we have known of his existence, and he has been laughing at humanity as a whole for even longer. This was always going to be the end result, the punchline of a millennia-long joke. The priests who preceded us as powerless custodians of the god were, like the Mexica before them, deceived into believing they could contain Tepeyollotl, subdue him or at the very least bargain with him. It was a simple arrangement upheld by two apparent truths. One, that the gods need humanity to feed them lest they starve and fade away; and two, that a god can thus be tamed like a mere creature of flesh and blood, kept on a leash by the threat of being deprived of sustenance.
What I realized on the day I confronted Tepeyollotl – and what the Foundation ignored until the world began to crumble under their feet – is that both of these were lies he told us, lies that we chose to accept because it was better than admitting how laughably defenseless we are against a force of nature incarnate. The Foundation has contained gods before, yes, but these are exceptions, never the rule. We contained them through rituals they accepted as part of their own nature, through clever deceptions that belie our weakness and make us feel as if we were in control – the title of Jailor turned into a symbol of power over even the divine.
Tepeyollotl did the same thing to us: he tricked us by pretending he was a prisoner when in reality he could have left anytime he fancied it and only stayed his hand because he did not feel like killing us at that moment. The pain he experienced when he tried to cross the ring of ashes, his attacks when we deviated from or botched the ritual, and even his acceptance of our sacrifices were part of his ruse, meant to reinforce the lie until the time was right. All these years we were at his mercy, taken hostage by a trickster god who was simply entertaining himself in his long waiting. That waiting has ended at last, and if the one who came knocking at the jaguar's door is who I think he is, then we better pray that forces more capable than us will keep humanity from being the main course when the Lords of Night hold their banquet.