The SCP Foundation

A small portion of SCP-337

Item #: SCP-337

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-337 is to be kept within a 10 m by 10 m by 10 m steel-reinforced polished cement containment chamber at all times. Access will only be available via a 3 m by 3 m two-stage vaulted steel door system with a seal tolerance not to exceed 75 µm. Antechamber between doors is to be fitted with multiple remote-operated liquid propellant flamethrowers. Both chambers are to be externally monitored around the clock via security camera. A small recycled water shower system will be positioned at the far end of the internal chamber. The system’s water supply and filters are to be changed on a monthly basis.

Personnel assigned to SCP-337 must maintain all head and body hair at a length not to exceed 4 cm, and will submit to regular full-body inspection to ensure compliance. Every day, one Class D personnel with hair longer than 5 cm will be escorted into SCP-337’s containment chamber by one researcher and two guards armed with backpack-mounted portable flamethrowers. Following Incident 337-A, Class D personnel must be stripped, placed on a restraining gurney, and sedated prior to entering the chamber. SCP-337 will be permitted to “feed” for no more than 120 seconds. During this time, the researcher will sweep the floor clean of shed hair using a standard broom and dustpan. Electric vacuum cleaners are not permitted inside the chamber in order to avoid [DATA EXPUNGED] any further.

Description: SCP-337 is a large conglomeration of human hair weighing approximately 60 kg at last measure. The object’s shape and dimensions are tremendously variable. SCP-337 is fully animate, and is capable of a wide range of locomotion. It also seems to possess some level of sentience, although attempts at communication have thus far met with limited success (see Incident 337-B).

The object is able to manipulate any hair directly connected to its central mass, with precision down to the individual strand. The method by which SCP-337 moves its components is still under investigation. Analysis of filaments attached to the object has shown them to be identical to regular human hair, and strands that are periodically shed from the object are similarly normal, aside from being drained of pigmentation. Filaments display typical tensile strength and can be easily damaged by fire, blades, or consumer-grade chemical clog remover.

Although it displays no obvious sensory organs, SCP-337 is highly aware of its surroundings, and may even possess perceptive abilities greater than those of humans. For the most part, these senses are tuned toward detecting and acquiring its principal form of sustenance: fresh, human hair.

When a human being with any hair measuring longer than 5 cm comes within approximately 90 m of SCP-337, it enters what could be described as a "predatory" state, rapidly braiding together several dense tendrils of hair in the direction of its prey. The object's range of perception seems to be unhindered by the walls of its containment chamber. When visual or auditory detection is impossible, SCP-337 may be capable of sensing nearby α-keratins by way of [REDACTED].

The object will then close in on its target at great speed, attempting to overtake and envelop it. When successful, SCP-337 restrains the subject's limbs and begins to "harvest" all hair of sufficient length from the body. Hair is forcefully removed from the dermis at the base (root included), and is immediately incorporated into the object’s mass via knotting or weaving. Precisely how extraction occurs is still unclear. Patterns of bruising, bleeding, and major capillary damage following a feeding suggest [DATA EXPUNGED] by several orders of magnitude.

While SCP-337 was found in a filthy state at time of recovery (See Addendum), it has since demonstrated a preference for cleanliness. Not long after initial containment, the object managed to escape its temporary enclosure through a narrow (4 cm diameter) utility duct. It was discovered on site several hours later in the fourth floor women’s washroom, where it emerged from a drain and consumed the hair of two showering researchers. A security team arrived shortly thereafter to find SCP-337 under a running shower tap, lathering itself with shampoo left behind by the fleeing women. Once containment was reestablished, SCP-337’s enclosure was fitted with its present bathing accomodations and a daily supply of hair conditioning product. The object’s rate of shedding has since decreased dramatically.

Note: SCP-337 will indeed consume hair that has already been removed from a human host, provided the follicle is intact and the filament has only been detached for a few minutes. However, because the object’s method of hair extraction is much quicker than ours, and only slightly more traumatizing, I recommend we continue to provide it with “live feedings.” –Dr. ████

Addendum:
SCP-337 has demonstrated the ability to grow well beyond its present mass through the accumulation of additional hair. It was discovered in the plumbing system of a large nursing home facility in ████████, Pennsylvania in 19██, after Agent █████ noticed a story entitled “Sewer Snakes” Steal Scalps from Senior Citizens? in a local newspaper. A team was dispatched to investigate under the guise of a fumigation contracting company. After evacuating residents to another facility, agents cut off all water and sewage lines in the building, monitoring sink and shower drains for any sign of the object.

When a portion of SCP-337 finally emerged, it attempted to couple with Agent ██████’s cranium, only to be intercepted by his weapon’s bayonet. The tendril immediately retracted into the drain, after which time the object was not sighted again for more than forty-five minutes. Coordinated deployment of chemical clog remover forced the object to exit through pipes in the facility’s basement level utility room, where several agents were on hand to apprehend it with portable flamethrowers. However, the agents were unprepared for the sheer size of the object, which quickly filled the lower level of the building. In the confusion, a sizable portion of SCP-337 was ignited.

The resulting blaze spread quickly throughout the facility. Most on the upper floors were able to flee the structure before it collapsed, but █ agents did not escape in time. SCP-337 managed to extricate its remaining mass through the building’s ventilation system, shedding burning components as it went. When it finally amassed in the facility’s parking lot, it was estimated to be over ██ m (██ ft) tall. Surviving members of the intervention team converged around the object and successfully corralled it within the lot using flame propellant until support arrived. By the time SCP-337 was contained, it had lost more than 90 percent of its original mass.

The fire and subsequent destruction of the nursing home was officially blamed on faulty wiring, and damages were settled out of court. Displaced residents were transferred to a Foundation-operated nursing facility, where [DATA EXPUNGED] to preserve security of operations.

Incident 337-A

Personnel involved: Dr. █████ Solomon, D-28803
Date: (REDACTED)
Description:

10:26 AM: Dr. Solomon and two guards enter antechamber of SCP-337 containment area escorting D-28803 for scheduled feeding session. D-28803’s hands and ankles are cuffed. He is moderately uncooperative, pleading not to be taken into the chamber. Rumors of a “haircut monster” are widespread among Class D personnel on site.

10:27 AM: Dr. Solomon assures D-28803 that he is completely safe. She firmly reminds him that his cooperation is beneficial to them both.

10:29 AM: All personnel enter inner chamber. SCP-337 has already extended several tendrils in direction of D-28803. D-28803 shouts multiple expletives, attempts to move toward exit, is restrained.

10:30 AM: SCP-337 closes in on D-28803. D-28803 produces a small pair of shears that had previously been hidden in his waistband. D-28803, still cuffed, wrests free from guards and lunges at SCP-337, screaming.

10:30 AM: D-28803 thrusts shears into SCP-337, managing to sever one of the object’s tendrils. SCP-337 recoils as if in pain.

10:30 AM: SCP-337 envelops D-28803. Dr. Solomon shouts something unintelligible to guards. A muffled cry is heard, followed by a wet-sounding thump.

10:31 AM: Guards engage pilot lights of flamethrowers. SCP-337 retreats, disentangling itself from its host. D-28803 collapses to the ground. Body is hairless. Shears are buried up to the handle in center of D-28803’s forehead. Dense hair later discovered in nostrils, trachea, lungs, █████.

10:32 AM: Personnel exit containment chamber with corpse.

Incident 337-B

Personnel involved: Dr. ███████
Date: (REDACTED)
Description:

4:57 PM: Dr. ███████ and two guards enter antechamber of SCP-337 containment area. No D Class personnel are present. Object has refused feeding for three consecutive days. SCP-337’s former handler, Dr. █████ Solomon, was killed one week prior in an unrelated incident.

4:58 PM: All personnel enter inner chamber. SCP-337 is spread out in a loose pile in center of room, braiding and unbraiding three tendrils. Dr. ███████ approaches object.

4:59 PM: Dr. ███████ extends a large bottle of ██████-brand “herbal” shampoo toward SCP-337. SCP-337 stops braiding and retracts tendrils into itself.

5:00 PM: A thick bulb-shaped extrusion of hair emerges at a 45 degree angle from the top of SCP-337. Hair contorts and intertwines on the bulb until detail begins to emerge.

5:01 PM: Dr. ███████ drops the bottle. SCP-337 has produced a crude but recognizable likeness of the late Dr. Solomon.

5:01 PM: Dr. ███████ stumbles back from the object. Both guards rush to support him. SCP-337 turns to follow ███████, so that the “head” formation continues to face him.

5:02 PM: The researcher appears severely distraught. “She’s gone, okay?! She’s [EXPLETIVE REDACTED] dead!”

5:02 PM: Guards attempt to usher Dr. ███████ to the exit. ███████ grabs the handle portion of a guard’s flamethrower and aims it at SCP-337.

5:02 PM: Nearest guard punches Dr. ███████ in the jaw. He crumples. Guards restrain the researcher and drag him to the exit. SCP-337 remains still, continuing to direct the “head” formation toward ███████.

5:03 PM: All personnel exit containment chamber. The “head” retracts back into SCP-337, dissolving again into shapeless hair. After a moment, it retrieves the shampoo bottle from the floor and begins to lather itself.

Note: This incident is troublesome for a number of reasons. There is no indication that Dr. ███████ was in any way “psychically” affected by SCP-337, as some have proposed. The man had recently lost a close colleague, and psychiatric analysis after the incident revealed he was much more bereaved about it than he let on. Nevertheless, his reaction to the object’s behavior seems illogically severe. It also squandered our first (and so far, only) opportunity to engage in communication with the object. We are fortunate that SCP-337 returned to its former behavior patterns not long after the incident, or [DATA EXPUNGED].

For now, personnel assigned to SCP-337 should undergo periodic psychological evaluation until we know more. I also recommend rotating handlers for the object on a regular basis, so that no one becomes too “attached.” –Dr. ████