SCP-4511: “Swine God”

Announcements

First, just wanted to extend a big thanks to everyone who's been checking out our first couple of newsletters! We've only just gotten started, and we've had a really great response!

SCP-4511 written by Rounderhouse and Jade Skylar. I like this article because it's so simple yet chillingly effective. Given its authors, that makes sense. Rounderhouse and Jade Skylar You know precisely what kind of monster this is, and perhaps there's nothing you can do but to sate its wishes. And in the knowing, it's no less horrifying. Not every skip can capture the clinical coldness of the Foundation, but this one does.

The factory SCP-4511 resides in has been purchased by the Foundation and designated Provisional Site-4511. MTF Pi-1 ("City Slickers") have been assigned to manage containment and security of the object. All organic matter which has exited SCP-4511 is to be returned inside, regardless if living or deceased...

This article was written back in 2019, and was Jade's first foray into authorship. But from there, they worked on one of my all-time favorite articles, SCP-4512: "A Goddamn Filthy Teleporting Party Pool"—another short and sweet one, well worth the read. (I swore we covered it, but couldn't find it?)

The Toxic Avenger: St. Roma's Village

Earlier this week, we released the first episode of The Toxic Avenger: St. Roma's Village on our feed! I was fortunate to be among several other podcasters on our network that got to see an early screening of The Toxic Avenger. And then we went out and wrote a really wild mini-series together. It was a ton of fun! Next week you can catch the episode written by Jon Grilz (Creepy), and the week after that is the episode from Kale Brown (Mayfair Watchers Society)

You can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts!

From the world of The Toxic Avenger, an anthology series about the people who cross paths with everyone’s favorite radioactive janitor. These are the stories of decent, hardworking people who just want to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and report the news without anything funny, weird, or gross happening… but unfortunately, they live in the same city as a disgusting, freakish superhero determined to stand up for the citizens of St. Roma’s Village.

The Toxic Avenger hits theatres on August 29!

Science Corner!

I can't promise that this will be a recurring section, but this week I read a weird headline I just had to share with y'all!

The University of Minnesota Duluth shared a shocking discovery in a press release last month. The Blue Heron research vessel was recently docked in the Great Lakes Shipyard to fix a noisy propeller. While addressing the issue, mechanics noticed a strange "tar-like substance" on the propeller shaft. Doug Ricket, the Marine Superintendent for Large Lakes Overservatory, gathered the viscous black goo and brought it to UMD researchers.

"Think you guys could do anything with this?" Ricketts asked. To his, and perhaps everyone's surprise, the black goo was filled with previously unknown microorganisms! Apparently, these microorganisms were thriving in the warm, oxygen-free environment of the Blue Heron's rudder shaft housing.

Lead researcher Cody Sheik and his team have dubbed the substance "ShipGoo001." They believe the organisms within the goo are a part of a complex food web, and possibly contributed to the biocorrosion of the ship's metal rudder shaft. While the goo contains DNA and biomass that have never been documented before, it is comparable to microorganisms found in tar pits and petroleum wells.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this discovery (aside from the living black tar) is that the ship goo may contain methane-producing organisms, which could be used for biofuel production!

Sheik and his team will release the genome- and an official name for ShipGoo001- to the public in the near future. If you're a marine biologist nerd (like our showrunner, Daisy) then you should check out the full press release. There's lots of fun, unexpected science to be found in everyday life!

Reader Mail

We’ve collected some of our favorite answers, comments, and questions and answered them here. Have a question of your own? Comment on this newsletter, or email us at contact@midnightdisease.net!

📫- Email, 📻 - Spotify

As a person who has to deal with bureaucracy as a part of the job, and constantly pester contractors and third-party employees over legal and contractual deadlines and documents, I will say: F$%@ this store, and the owner in particular! "THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" This actually physically hurt me, in many ways 😅. Great episode everyone, I hate it 🫠👍 - Renato📻

We hear you Renato. And we value your feedback. (This comment made me laugh, I'm so glad I'm not alone in this bureaucratic nightmare 😂)

Could y'all consider doing "Yoshihide's proposal"? It's based on a Japanese short story by Ryunoske Akutagawa, and has a lot of references to his other stories in it (learned that from a declass by ToErrDivine on reddit, here's a link if you want!) - Morgan Ra📫

Y'know, some days I feel like the wiki is running laps around me. Today is one of those days! First, this article, "Portrait of Hell" is by DJKaktus, Tufto, and YossiPossi, three of my personal favorite writers on the wiki. And it was written for Public Domain Con (I'm a big proponent of the public domain), which I also didn't know existed! And you've included an excellent declassified analysis to accompany it. I was thrilled to spend my birthday afternoon sippin' coffee and reading this article.

Thanks for the suggestion, Morgan! You really nailed it on this one.

Halo 2 - Matty DeSpain📻

Halo 2, indeed.

We wanna know, folks: What SCP would you be? Tell us in the comments on this newsletter!

~ Pacific