SCP-048 is a slot on the SCP Wikidot website notorious for containing a number of poorly written SCPs in the early history (2008-2009) of the SCP Foundation Wikidot website. The first SCP-048, “Joey”, was decommissioned in January 2009 leaving a rare open spot in the “001 to 099” section on the main list. This open slot was repeatedly filled with poorly written SCPs that were quickly deleted. In February, Dr. Clef wrote the Cursed SCP Number in the slot which retired the number and ensured no more poorly written SCPs would be posted there.

The SCP is perhaps most famous for an addendum added by Dr. Kondraki which references a “Vampyre Boat” that previously existed in the slot. No references to the Vampyre Boat can be found on either the edit history of the Series I main list or the contemporary staff deletion thread, meaning its incredibly unlikely that the Vampyre Boat actually existed.

Articles Occupying the SCP-048 Slot

Joey (June 14 to July 14, 2008-January 21, 2008)

Description

Joey was a talking dog.^[1]http://web.archive.org/web/20080804044101/http://editthis.info/scp_wiki/SCP-048 His containment procedures required SCP Foundation workers to refer to him as Joey because he got angry when called SCP-048 or when referred to as an object.  Joey was allowed access to most of the compound he was housed at (despite the fact he would attempt to escape if given the opportunity) and given any food or drink he requested (minus alcohol and chocolate) and “fully furnished living quarters, and any reading, movies, or television he asks for is to be granted, so long as it was released prior to his containment, in 2005.”

History

Joey was the sole SCP-048 posted to EditThis and possibly the first SCP-048 in existence. (A different SCP-048 was posted to the /x/ board of 4chan on June 30, 2008 (see SCP-048s never present in the SCP-048 slot); it is unclear which SCP-048 came first).

Joey was missing from the EditThis main series list on June 14, 2008^[2]SCP Series – Scp Wiki (archive.org) while the oldest archived text of the article on EditThis is from July 14, 2008.^[3]SCP-048 – Scp Wiki (archive.org) In other words, Joey must have been posted on or between these two dates. Joey would later be transferred to the SCP-048 slot on Wikidot during the move from EditThis in July of 2008; the oldest archive of Joey on Wikidot is from October 2008.^[4]The SCP Foundation: Scp 048 (archive.org) SCP-048 was decommissioned on January 21, 2009 at 2:01 PM by Dr. Gears, thus removing it from the mainlist.^[5]SCP-048-ARC – SCP Foundation (wikidot.com) (screenshot)

The fate of Joey’s slot

Upon the decommissioning of Joey, SCP-048 became the sole SCP slot open in the top 100. Dr. Gears made a forum post on January 23, 2008 noting that SCP-048 would be one of the first SCPs visitors going down the series list would see. He asked whether something special such as an auction or contest should be held, or whether the SCP slot should be left open as usual. Dr. Clef responded with the following:^[6]Regarding SCP-048 – SCP Foundation (wikidot.com) (archive)

I say leave it open as normal, but whoever writes the new 048 better do a damn fine job. All eyes will be on them, and if they screw it up, their article will be deleted faster than you can say BALEETED

Many new SCPs would be posted to the SCP-048 slot in rapid succession. Contrary to Dr. Clef’s statement, these were largely regarded as terrible.

The Edge of Twilight (January 24, 2009-~January 25, 2009)

The Edge of Twilight was posted by Wikidot member “Name” on January 24, 2009 by 7:47 PM.^[7]Regarding SCP-048 – SCP Foundation (wikidot.com) (archive). SCP Series – SCP Foundation (wikidot.com), revision 476-screenshot. The contents of the article are unknown, although a comment on Name’s draft page indicated it may have contained something called the “Harbingers of Darkness.”^[8]The SCP Foundation: Concepts and Rough Drafts (archive.org) The Edge of Twilight was deleted by Dr. Kondraki around midnight on either January 24 or 25. Kondraki announced the deletion in the “Deletion” thread on January 25 at 12:05 AM.^[9]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-122020/deletion (archive)

The SCP was apparently “really poorly done” and deleted by mod consensus.^[10]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-122020/deletion (archive) .

A Normalizer (January 27, 2009-January 28, 2009)

The contents of this article are unknown. It was posted by “Anonymous (76.123.129.x)” on January 27 at around 7:54 PM.^[11]SCP Series – SCP Foundation (wikidot.com), revision 494-screenshot. It was deleted by Dr. Kondraki who announced his action in the “Deletion” thread on January 28 at 7:53 AM.^[12]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-122020/deletion#post-368901 (archive) Dr. Kondraki made no comment about the SCP itself but noted that this was the second SCP-048 he had deleted.^[13]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-122020/deletion#post-368901 (archive)

Necklace of Greed (January 30, 2009-February 12, 2009)

Dr. Gerald posted an SCP entitled “Necklace of Greed” to the SCP-048 slot on January 30, 2009; Dr. Gerald announced the SCP in the “New SCP Announcements 2” forum thread at 8:51 PM.^[14]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-122540/new-scp-announcements-2#post-371464 (archive). See also SCP Series – SCP Foundation (wikidot.com), revision 501-screenshot). Note that Wikidot … Continue reading

Dr. Kondraki deleted the Necklace of Greed on February 12, 2009 and announced it at 10:06 AM.^[15]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-122020/deletion#post-383151 (archive). The SCP Series edit history shows that SCP-048 still had the Necklace of Greed title on February 12. See revision … Continue reading

The Cursed SCP Number (February 12, 2009- present)

The current “SCP” in the slot is actually a notice that the designation has been retired from the SCP catalog as every SCP assigned the number has been “destroyed, decommissioned, stolen, or otherwise lost to the Foundation,” usually with the mass loss of SCP staff through “death, dismemberment, and disciplinary action.”^[16]SCP-048 – SCP Foundation (wikidot.com) (archive)

Based on the page history, Dr. Clef claimed the slot at 12:41 PM by posting the word “MINE!” He added most of the content in a second edit at 12:52 PM. Dr. Kondraki added an addendum about a “Vampyre Boat” at 1:17 PM; this is discussed in greater detail in the “Other SCP-048s” section of this article.

SCP-048s never present in the SCP-048 slot

The Vampyre Boat

In the Cursed SCP Number article, Dr. Kondraki (who deleted many SCP-048 articles) posted:^[17]SCP-048 – SCP Foundation (wikidot.com) (archive)

Addendum 3: SCP-048 has been once again removed from the archives, after it became highly apparent that no such “Vampyre Boat” had ever existed, much less come under Foundation control. It’s currently believed that this error occurred when a low-level researcher attempted to save his “awesome story idea” to his hard drive and instead overwrote the blank slot reserved for SCP-048. Said researcher has been removed from any and all archival duties for the time being. – O5-11

The entire edit history of the Series I page is preserved on Wikidot; the title “Vampyre Boat” never appeared in the SCP-048 slot (nor for that matter did any variation of the word “boat” or “vampyre”). Further, SCP staff kept meticulous records of deleted SCPs on the “Deletion” thread yet no reference to the Vampyre Boat or any additional SCP-048s were ever made. Based on these two facts, it’s likely that Dr. Kondraki simply made up the Vampyre Boat.

On the current SCP-048 talk page, there are several SCP members who claimed that there was in fact a Vampyre Boat; neither these claims nor any other reference to the Vampyre Boat pre-date Dr. Kondraki’s addition. TheBlueSquid claims to have read the article and remembered it describing the vampires fazing through walls and stating the vampires “have a habit of being uncontained.”^[18]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-129936/scp-048#post-2520991 (archive) However, this member was solely active in May and June of 2016; this is not an editor one would expect to have memories of an SCP that existed for a few weeks in 2009.^[19]Wikidot.com: TheBlueSquid (archive)

SCP-048 posted to /x/ on June 30, 2008

An SCP posted by an anon to a creepypasta thread on the /x/ board on June, 30 2008 at 3:16 PM. The entire post read as follows:^[20]scparchives.bluesoul.net/x/scp/756530.html, post # 758080 (archive)

Item #: SCP-048

Object Class: Keter

Description: Absolutely no action whatsoever must be taken in regard to this item. Should you find this item, contact a Class D personnel immediately. Failure to do so will result in [DATA EXPUNGED]

*Special note made by [DATA EXPUNGED]*
It may be too late. Save as many as possible. May God be with you.

This was simply a random posting that failed to gain any traction. It was almost completely ignored on 4chan and was never posted to EditThis.

This SCP would later be reposted to an /x/ thread about disturbing messages in public places by an anon on November 14, 2008 at 7:37 PM.^[21]scparchives.bluesoul.net/x/scp/1100647.xml (archive) By this point in time, the Cursed SCP Number had occupied the SCP-048 slot for six months.

No other SCP-048s were posted to /b/ or /x/ at any point in the years 2007 or 2008.

Trivia

The initial SCP-048, “Joey”, was at one point one of the more popular pages on the EditThis, and the most popular single article.^[22]http://web.archive.org/web/20080804044101/http://editthis.info/scp_wiki/SCP-048^[23]http://web.archive.org/web/20120720210705/http://www.editthis.info/scp_wiki/Special:Statistics