The end of the year is approaching, isn't it? Do you have plans? Vacations? Gifts? A good meal? I suppose those are privileges of normal people... But your insistence has taught you much. You are no longer like them. Today you know very well that there are... things, out there. Things that wait and move in the darkness. Things that eat and hate. And some of them take advantage of certain periods... certain seasons. Christmas and New Year, for example...
The tree, the lights, the fat man handing out toys. Seasonal music that repeats endlessly. Color and noise. For what? Do you think it's strictly commercial? That we try to connect with simpler times? Personally, I have another view. Perhaps... the idea is to keep something... or someone, away. A force. A danger. I'm not making this up, friend. Mistletoe isn't just for lovers, but also provides protection against witches and demons. We have barriers, shields... but they don't always work. At least, not with him.
The Entity: SCP-4666
We say 'he' because the handful of available reports suggest it's a man. Of European descent, he stands over two meters tall, and is old. Very old and emaciated. He always goes naked, no matter how cold the climate. His appearances seem concentrated above the 40th parallel north, covering distances that would be impossible for an elderly, unclothed human. The Foundation calls him SCP-4666
SCP-4666's activity follows the same pattern: It lasts about twelve days, from the night of December 21 or 22 to the night of January 1 or 2. The Foundation uses the term Weissnacht Events to identify its manifestations, all with three elements in common: The residences are rural and isolated, the families living there have at least one child aged eight or younger, and the area is covered in snow.
During the first seven nights, children report that SCP-4666 keeps its distance from the house, watching from a field, or the edge of a forest, with some exceptions where SCP-4666 was pressed against their windows. In the following four nights, all family members report footsteps coming from the roof or attic, accompanied by a horrible smell. At this point, parents often think someone is stalking them, or that the house is cursed. And on the last night... two things can happen
Two Possible Outcomes
The first is... the most frequent. SCP-4666 will enter the house and kill all family members, except for one child under eight, whom it kidnaps. SCP-4666 takes its time to incapacitate its victims, then tortures them in the same room, so that all present see the process. The final cause of death varies with each encounter, but there is always a common factor: the absolute cruelty of SCP-4666.
The second possibility applies to 15 percent of Weissnacht Events. SCP-4666 not only avoids attacking the family, but leaves gifts at the foot of each child's bed. The toys... are made from the remains of other children. Skin, bones, muscles, tendons.
A History of Horror
Multiple rumors suggest that Weissnacht Events date back to the first century BC, but the firmest ancient data is from 1498. The archbishop in charge of the investigation declared the massacre a 'demonic ritual' with pagan details. In 1913, it killed an entire family in Eichstätt, and took the youngest son, age three. Authorities found the bodies of the parents and five other children in a barn near the house. All were nailed to the wooden walls, their hands pierced with knives, forks, and other sharp objects. SCP-4666 cut out their tongues and let them bleed to death. It used their blood to draw strange patterns on two cows, a mule, and a goat, but did not harm the animals.
A Norwegian family had a similar fate in '71. All dead, except for a five-year-old girl, missing. The bodies of two adults and two children were in the basement. SCP-4666 tore at least one limb from each through brute force, and stabbed them 39 times, probably using one of the bones. Then it disemboweled the bodies, removed both intestines, and cut them into pieces of 30 to 50 centimeters. It used the feces to draw symbols on the basement walls.
The Foundation has intensely tracked SCP-4666 since 1974, the year it activated a special anomaly recognition program, collecting information about violent deaths in the northern hemisphere during the first two days of January. Agents found white hairs in several homes invaded by 4666, although the lab never managed to extract a DNA sample. But most importantly, they discovered fingerprints... fingerprints that cannot be human.
The Gifts
... I suppose you want to know about the gifts. Skin drums. Bone knives. A flute made from a child's femur. The head of another child wrapped in layers of skin and turned into a ball. Its creations are crude and monstrous... but that's not all. One of the 2018 Weissnacht Events happened in Alaska. SCP-4666 visited a family and left several gifts there... including a life-size doll, based on the body of a malnourished and starving girl. The dress was sewn to the skin in several places, her mouth had been sewn shut with thread, she was missing three fingers, and her eyes (two painted stones occupied their place), her scalp had been replaced... and she was alive.
The Interrogation
The girl survived 18 hours in the hospital, long enough for Foundation agents to interrogate her. She began speaking a strange language with Proto-Germanic roots, but managed to exchange some words in Russian with one of the agents. The monster tortured and killed her parents, and put her in a bag. Screams and screams all night. A house, a child. He took them underground. Mud, cold, bones. Many children, all working. They make the toys. Without work, no food. If they fell asleep, they were punished, tortured, devoured. And if they couldn't work... they became toys.
The girl's name was Ekaterina Morozova, 7 years old, missing since January 2, 2016 in Dubovka. She weighed 15 kilograms.
