SCP-6881 SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENT ‘HOTEL’

Link to article: SCP-6881 SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENT ‘HOTEL’.

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[[div class="anchor"]]
[[div class="sidebox"]]
||~ SCP-6881 || **Project: SERAPIS** ||
||||= Supplementary Document ‘HOTEL’ ||

||= [[image https://i.imgur.com/Q2TCZnd.png style="width: 150px;"]] ||
[[/div]]
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[[div class="meta-title"]]
SCP-6881 SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENT ‘HOTEL’
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[[div class="pseudocrumbs"]]
[[[scp-6881|Project: SERAPIS]]] >> Supplementary Document ‘HOTEL’
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+++ ##900|► Play##

[[div class="blockquote"]]
[[div class="blockquote"]]
**GALLIO:** This is Agent Hector Gallio. The following is classified Level 5 under Project: SERAPIS -- O5 EYES ONLY.

Researching the history of Shibbet’s Vale in Southern Montana goes beyond police reports and local government archives. I sought out information from Foundation assets embedded in academia, particularly among anthropology and psychology faculties. My assets returned with unpublished manuscripts and notes. The manuscript was left to the University of Michigan history faculty by Professor Walter Shepherd upon his death in 1969.

Professor Shepherd was an anthropologist and conducted an extensive project gathering oral histories from Indigenous peoples, particularly Americans of the Northwest United States. Among his notes were the transcripts of interviews he had conducted on the Crow Nation’s reservation in Montana, close to the Mourning Cloak Mountains and Shibbet’s Vale. These transcripts covered many areas of Crow history and culture and life on the reservation at the time. Professor Shepherd’s notes indicate he wanted to archive this information because much of it was passed on by oral tradition and was in danger of being forgotten or corrupted by time. Accordingly, he recorded his interviews and later transcribed them. The purpose of this specific interview was to learn about a strange illness that affected settlers in the Yellowstone area but notably did not affect the Crow Nation.

The Foundation asset at the university noted one set of transcripts from 1924. The interviewee was John Medicine Weasel, then-44 years of age, a full-blood member of the Crow Nation and grandson of a Crow Brave named Broken Nose who fought in the Great Sioux War in the 1870s. My research independently verified that John Medicine Weasel died on the Crow Reservation in 1961.
[[/div]]
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= **SHOW FILES**

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[[collapsible hideLocation="both" show="SHOW — Medicine Weasel Oral History [CLASSIFIED 5/SERAPIS]" hide="− HIDE"]]

[[div class="interview interview-info"]]
+++ INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
----
**INTERVIEWER:** Professor Walter Shepherd, male, late 30s, Anthropologist

**INTERVIEWEE:** John Medicine Weasel, male, 44, Member of the Crow Nation

**SUBJECT:** The raw record of an oral history, formally collected from a member of the Crow Nation of Montana, as conducted for the University of Michigan.

**DATE:** 1924-03-07
[[/div]]

[[div class="interview"]]
= **[BEGIN LOG]**
----
[[include :scp-wiki:component:image-block
|name=plenty-coups.jpg 
|caption=John Medicine Weasel, c. 1920s
]]

**SHEPHERD:** I’m going to record this. Is that OK?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** What’re you gonna use this for? Am I gonna be famous?

**SHEPHERD:** It’s just for personal use so that I can go back and listen to this conversation if needed.

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Go ahead.

**SHEPHERD:** Thanks. So just for the tape, tell me your name and who you are.

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Again? Name’s John Medicine Weasel. I live here on the reservation doing construction mostly. Both parents were Crow.

**SHEPHERD:** Last time we spoke, you mentioned your grandfather. I understand his name was Broken Nose?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** That’s right. He died in 1913, I think.

**SHEPHERD:** Did you know him well?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Not really. We didn’t spend much time with him. He only stayed with us near the end. He had an idea that I should learn some of what he’d learned. I was about fourteen, about to be a man, that kind of thing. He knew he was dying. Called me up to his room. He was this big, tough guy most of his life, but he was all skin and bones, then. Smelled of ointment and disinfectant. Had an oxygen cylinder by the bed. Said he had a lesson and a story. The lesson’s quicker.

**SHEPHERD:** What was it?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** He said, “settle near natural sources of red ochre.” He believed red ochre would help protect against some forms of sickness, and against certain spirits.

**SHEPHERD:** That’s interesting.

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Same thing he’d taught my father, not that my pa followed his advice. But then Grandpa managed to lean up off his bed -- he was near the end, then -- and he said, “John, I always believed that, and I will believe it after I’m gone. But there’s something else you need to know. In all my life, I’ve only ever met one truly evil spirit. The People of the Bone Tree.”

**SHEPHERD:** I’m not familiar with them.

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Most people weren’t. Even my Grandpa’s tribe didn’t really believe his stories of the Bone Tree People. Grandpa didn’t say anything about where they were from, but it always sounded like they were some outlaws who came across the country with the settlers. He said they weren’t from our side. And I don't mean just Crow's side, but the side of anyone in the valley, even the settlers.

He said the Bone People are named after the fruit from the forest it grew in. Nobody knows much about it. As far as I know, they aren’t around anymore.

[[include :scp-wiki:component:image-block
|name=3983645662_fc92fdf52c_c.jpg
|caption=Professor Walter Shepherd later in life, c. 1960s
|align=left
]]

**SHEPHERD:** I see. Can you tell me more about the Bone Tree People?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Sure. Grandpa was a rough one when he was young. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I took after him. I was a warrior from a young age. At least, I thought I was. Everyone thinks they’re tough before the real world gets to them, you know?

Grandpa was a Crow Warrior. He was young when this happened, eighteen maybe. A man, but he hadn’t been for long. Still had a lot to prove. I always knew him as Grandpa but his name then was Broken Nose.

**SHEPHERD:** When would you say this was?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** There was war between the government on one side, and the Sioux and Cheyenne on the other. One of the last big Indian wars.

**SHEPHERD:** This would be the Great Sioux War in 1876?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Sure, that’s what the whites called it. ‘76 or ‘77. The Crow sided with the government. Back then it was because the Sioux and the Cheyenne had been enemies of the Crow for a long time. Spotted Cloud was a Crow Chief then, too, and he wanted to work with the white government to help the Crow keep their lands. A lot of folks opposed him at the time. But we are a small, but beautiful and important part of our land, even if they made it into a reservation, so I guess he had a point.

**SHEPHERD:** Broken Nose, your grandfather - he knew Spotted Cloud?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Sure did. The man was a leader even back then. He was young when he became a chief. The time Grandpa was talking about, a lot of the Warriors were off scouting and fighting for the government in the war and there weren’t so many left back at the villages. They moved the villages around a lot. They hunted the buffalo to live and trapped fur to trade, so they had to keep moving. That season they were in a real pretty valley, not far from here. Grandpa says he used to go and see it when he was still healthy, just to remember. As it’d happen, lots of red ochre in the area.

The Crow knew of the Bone Tree because they made trouble. They’d come down from the forest past our territory, and steal supplies from some of the nearby tribes or towns. The Bone Tree People tried to steal a horse from us once- That didn’t end well for them. One got shot in the gut and captured, all the others fled.

Grandpa saw them steal horses from some white people a few times. Never saw them ride those horses though, which was a bit odd. They didn’t stay long, and they rarely came down, so we didn’t worry about them unless we saw them approaching.

**SHEPHERD:** The Bone Tree people were in Shibbet’s Vale?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** That’s right. Near Lake Apesawa, but up the mountain, deep in the woods. But this time, the time my Grandpa told me about, they didn’t just come for horses. It was just before sunset, and a sole Bone Tree came out of the woods. They had come for a child.

**SHEPHERD:** Oh my god.

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Now, I know you get this picture of Indians all riding into town and carrying people off. Folks raided and got raided in return, of course, but not the Crow. Not very much. They minded their own business unless they were provoked. And it was horses or cattle, not people. It just didn’t happen. It was a quiet day, some were out hunting, others were tending to camp.

Kids have some independence in camp, adults trust them to be safe and smart. So, some kids were out near the edge of camp playing in the woods, and as the sun begins to set, the kids come back. Well, people noticed pretty quickly that one of the kids didn’t come back with the others.

A few of the parents start looking around camp, making sure he didn’t come back early. When they can’t find him, Broken Nose goes out to where the kids were playing, but he doesn’t see the missing kid anywhere. A few of the other men and women in camp join his search.

That’s when one of the women noticed a figure, the sole Bone Tree, in the distance, journeying away from camp, and back towards the distant forest.

The men were ready to ride after them right away, but Spotted Cloud said no. Says a lot about the man they respected him. They needed a plan, he said. They had to do this properly.

The missing child was Grandpa’s sister’s boy. I never knew her.

Grandpa told me he felt it was his responsibility. He was supposed to protect her. He was the big brother.

But Grandpa was one of the Red Otters. They were a secret society, bands of warriors you had to be invited to join. They were led by Old Fire. He was a tough bastard, and Grandpa looked up to him. Old Fire dragged Grandpa to his feet and said, “Broken Nose, don’t you dare mourn for your sister’s boy when he’s not yet dead. We’re going to get him back. Don’t insult Little Rabbit like that!” 

Little Rabbit was his name, and you didn’t speak the name of the dead. That meant Old Fire was promising he was alive, and they were going to get her back. So, Grandpa says, “what are we going to do?”

**SHEPHERD:** I haven’t heard this story from anyone else.

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** You think it didn’t happen?

**SHEPHERD:** No, no! I mean, it’s strange that an event this unusual didn’t enter the common recollection of the Crow. News would have spread. Especially if Spotted Cloud was involved.

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Well, there’s a reason it didn’t spread. A few reasons.

I think I mentioned one of the Bone Tree People got shot in the gut trying to steal a horse, right? Most said to kill him. But Spotted Cloud said no, and there was enough respect for him even then to stay their hands. They kept him away from everyone else, always tied up like a dog. Kept him fed. Treated him better than most would have wanted, but Spotted Cloud said nobody knows anything about these Bone Tree and here we have a fellow who could tell us.

The morning after Little Rabbit was taken, Spotted Cloud takes some of the men over to where the Bone Tree is kept. He says to him, we know you got enough of our tongue by now to understand me. So, now’s the time to show us we were right to keep you alive. You lead us to where your people are, in the forest. Then, if you do well, we cut you loose.

I don’t know what they said they would do to the fellow if he said no, but it must have been pretty bad because they came back to the village with this man following them. He had a rope around his neck and his hands were still tied. I know settlers were pale, but Grandpa said his skin was grey, like river mud. His back and his arms were covered in scabs and sores. He had no hair on his head or body. He looked like a man with a strange disease, but he had always been like that and never got better or worsened.

Spotted Cloud said the Red Otters would be the ones to go get the child back. They would take the prisoner to the forest, find the Bone Tree People, and fight if they had to. They got all the supplies they needed and agreed that Old Fire would lead Grandpa and one other man, Come With The Stars. They would take two horses each, in case one got killed. The Crow had a lot of horses. It was why the Sioux and the Cheyenne were so jealous.

**SHEPHERD:** Just the three of them?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** That’s all they thought they’d need.

**SHEPHERD:** And did they know the enemy numbers?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** No one could be sure. Most they’d ever seen was half a dozen or so. But outlaws are like flies, where there’s one, there’s more. Inside the forest, there could be any number of them. I don’t think the government didn’t even know they existed. Which, if they were outlaws, probably suited them quite alright.

**SHEPHERD:** That would explain why this is the first I’ve heard of them.

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** They’re all gone now, so it doesn’t matter. But Spotted Cloud wanted to stay on good terms with the government and he knew that involved keeping them from learning about the Bone Tree.

The Bone Tree was like a dirty secret. They didn’t follow government orders, and no one in our tribe wanted to start issues with some crazy white folk hiding in the woods. And when they did come to the valley, they always gave our camp a wide berth.

**SHEPHERD:** Why do you think that was?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** I think it’s because we kicked their ass the few times they tried to come by. Grandpa says it’s because of where our village sat. The earth beneath our village was rich with red ochre, our power comes from the land itself. It is that land that protects us and provides.

**SHEPHERD:** Why was red ochre important?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** You know what it is, right? Soil rich with iron, red as blood. Lots of people used it to paint, dye their clothes, or sometimes make medicine. It’s supposed to be anti-bacterial too. So, before they left, Broken Nose, Come With The Stars, and Old Fire used red ochre to stain their skin, and dye their clothes. If all the Bone Tree people were sick, this would keep them from getting the Bone Tree infection.

**SHEPHERD:** And did Old Fire have a plan for when they arrived?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Ride in, grab the child, kill anyone who got in our way. He wasn’t a man to over-complicate things.

He gathered the Red Otters at the edge of the village, with their pet Bone Tree on a spare horse with his hands tied. And he said Broken Nose can lead the way.

**SHEPHERD:** Could he have refused it?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Maybe. I guess so. I don’t think it occurred to him that he could. It was his family in there.

So, they rode to Shibbet’s Vale. It wasn’t yet night, but the trees were black like the mountains wore a black cloak. The captive Bone Tree wouldn’t do anything until Old Fire showed him the knife he carried, with notches down its blade so they’d hook onto a man’s guts and pull them out when you stabbed him. Don’t know if he ever used it but he had that look that tells you he really might. He didn’t recognize the Bone Tree language. It had some words from the tongues of the settlers in those parts, but all jumbled up and distorted. He made some actions that made it clear enough what he was gonna do if the prisoner didn’t lead them right.

I don’t know if this Bone Tree was really scared, or if he was going to lead them to his people anyway. Grandpa didn’t know and he says Old Fire wasn’t sure, either. The guy had a face you couldn’t read. Grandpa said it was scarred all weird, like his veins had turned hard and dark and blistered up from his skin. He took them into the forest and the Red Otters had trouble staying together. They had to call out, so they didn’t get separated in the trees. They lost some of the spare horses on the way and it slowed them down a lot.

Then, Come With The Stars calls out to dismount and get low. He’d seen an outlaw’s camp up ahead, near the mouth of a cave. They tied off the horses and tied the Bone Tree prisoner to a tree trunk while they were at it. They moved forward quiet as they could, but Grandpa knew better than to hope they would take the Bone Trees by surprise with all the noise they had made getting there.

**SHEPHERD:** Did your grandfather know the exact location? Any landmarks?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** So you can dig it up? No such luck. That forest was far from our home and unfamiliar. But that wasn’t the only problem- When they got to the forest, it was like it didn’t want anyone knowing their way around. Without their prisoner, they might still be riding in circles. 

The Red Otters got close enough to see a clearing had been cut in the forest and there were wood cabins in a cluster. They’d been there a long time and they were falling apart. Covered in moss, full of holes.

**SHEPHERD:** Abandoned outpost maybe? Overrun by the outlaws?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Grandpa thought so. The Red Otters didn’t see anyone, but the embers were still hot, so the Bone Tree was near. But he didn’t have time to look around- They heard a gunshot ring out. Someone yells out so everyone would know they were under attack, and then it’s just chaos.

Old Fire motions for Come With The Stars and Grandpa to keep to the woods and get into a better position. As they’re running through the woods, they catch a glimpse of the Bone Tree people. They’re like the prisoner, skin grey like new ash, and all diseased.

**SHEPHERD:** Diseased, again?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** They were all sick. That’s how Grandpa put it. I think it was more than just diseased, but I guess there wasn’t any other way to say it.

One Bone Tree runs right at Come With The Stars but as soon as they made contact, the Bone Tree jumped back and started shrieking, he’d gotten some of Grandpa’s red ochre dye on him, and it seemed like it was scorching his skin. Making all the diseased flesh bubble and pop. 

That’s when Grandpa sees the Bone Tree’s mouth is like an eel’s. It’s too low on his face and as wide as his shoulders. It opens wide, full of teeth, and it bites down on Come With The Stars. Takes a big bloody chunk out of him. That’s when Grandpa knew this wasn’t just some strange white man, but something nothing like whoever it used to be.

He had his knife and his bow. It was too close for the bow. He lunged at the Bone Tree with his knife and hit him in the side, where it’s soft. Grandpa heard a lot of men hurt and killed, a lot of men dying, but he told me he never in his life heard the noise the Bone Tree made when he struck him.

**SHEPHERD:** He told you that.

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Yeah. Got this real faraway look in his eyes. Like he could hear it in the distance. I always heard how he was a strong guy, a real old warrior, you know? Not then. Lying in bed, so skinny you’d think he was starved, his eyes welling up while he talked about killing that Bone Tree. Must have been a wrench to let himself look that weak.

I was the only person in the room, he wouldn’t let anyone else in while he told it all. That stuck with me as much as the story. How small and frail he looked, and how he only wanted me to see it. You don’t show when you’re upset, never. Not if you want to stay proud. I guess he knew he wasn’t for this world much longer so he wouldn’t have to try to hold his head up around me, knowing I’d seen him like that.

He’d gone through so much, this old man. He’d seen the tail of the Plains Wars, watched tribes being whittled down, beat down, subjugated. Seen the reservation turn into what it is, see the government try to educate the Indian out of us. I saw he’d come through that as much broken as proud. I think a lot about that. I’m proud of who I am, I’d never deny it or any of our history good or bad. But remembering that old man, I see how much pain there is for us just being alive. Thinking about what we lost.

**SHEPHERD:** Your grandfather had just fought the Bone Tree.

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Sorry, got side-tracked.

**SHEPHERD:** Don’t apologize, John.

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** All the Bone Tree are like the one Grandpa killed, more or less. Something wrong with all of them. He saw one slithering along the ground, and in place of legs, he had dark roots like a dozen snakes all writhing through the dirt.

Another is big. Real huge, all flabby. But Grandpa sees it’s not fat, it’s those white fruit growing all over his body. He has a club made out of a jawbone. Guy’s the size of a grizzly bear. Grandpa knows he can’t back down with, Little Rabbit is counting on him. So, he stands his ground and this big Bone Tree crashes right into him. They wrestle down on the ground, and Grandpa remembered how the guy’s skin was soft like clay and came off in big handfuls. The big guy’s roaring and thrashing, and Grandpa gets his knife clear enough to stab down into his neck and shoulder.

He gets the juice of these weird fruit all over him. He says he hears voices then, far away. A woman’s voice. It was kinda hard to make out what he meant when he told me about this part. He said he saw a woman running away from something chasing her, across valleys and forests, across mountains. She crosses the frozen ocean and comes to a new, empty place where she can lay down and rest. He said it wasn’t like the type of vision you get from fasting out on the mountain. It was more like an old memory that’s just coming back to you after a long time.

Then he feels the weight being hauled off him. Come With The Stars is dancing around the big Bone Tree, trying to exhaust him, and Old Fire is pulling my grandpa back to his feet. There’s blood all over him. He has to wipe it out of his eyes.

That’s when they hear Little Rabbit. He’s in the cave calling out for them.

**SHEPHERD:** He was still alive?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Yeah! Grandpa starts towards the cave, and that’s when he notices it’s not a cave- It’s more like a tunnel made of trees. The branches and trunks had all grown together to meet overhead. It was pitch dark, so they lit some branches from the embers in the firepits to light the way. Bunches of those fruits hung everywhere.

**SHEPHERD:** This is a tunnel made out of the living trees? The Bone Tree People had trained them to grow like that?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Grandpa didn’t say. He wasn’t thinking like you might, professor. Especially when they found the horses.

**SHEPHERD:** Were these horses they had stolen from the valley?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Those, and maybe some of the ones they’d first arrived with. But they hadn’t kept them to ride. Not even to eat. They were wrapped up in the walls, by the branches and roots. Most of them were skeletons. Some still had flesh on them. They had just rotted where they hung. Grandpa remembers the stink of them. The freshest had their bellies torn open. They were hollowed out like something had pulled out their guts. The skin was all stretched and they were covered in the same dark veins as the Bone Tree People.

**SHEPHERD:** They’d done that to the horses?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** That’s what Grandpa said. Don’t know why. Don’t even know what. The Crow pressed on down those tunnels, and they split. Old Fire and Come With The Stars went one way, and Grandpa went the other.

Grandpa heard Little Rabbit shouting again. The boy must have hearth fighting and he was screaming and hollering fit to bring the place down. Grandpa sprinted right at the sound. There was a few Bone Tree up ahead and they just slammed into each other. He couldn’t see anything, just stabbed blindly in the dark and pulled his knife back when he felt he’d hit something. That must have been the last Bone Tree because, after that, the cave was silent.

Grandpa grabbed Little Rabbit, called for Old Fire, and they rode home. As far as I know, that was the last they saw of the Bone Tree people. Presumably, they’d wiped out the whole group in the caves. Crow didn’t have reason to go back over towards that area, and most whites avoided it for how treacherous the forest seemed.

**SHEPHERD:** Did they take their Bone Tree prisoner back with them?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Grandpa left him tied to the tree. His people could have him, I guess if there were any left. Old Fire wasn’t going to kill a prisoner tied up and defenseless, but he wasn’t going to bring any one of those people back among the Crow either.

When they’re past the bounds of the forest, Old Fire draws them to a halt. He says he has to go back and do something that had to be done. He asked Grandpa and Come With The Stars to wait at the edge of the woods for his return.

Just before dawn, Old Fire came back. They were silent. Grandpa remembers that as much as the battle. We would tell of what we did in the war, we named our coups and our victories. It was like a story we all made, the story of all our lives. But those men didn’t call out their deeds. They just rode back to the village.

Grandpa never asked Old Fire what he had done because he knew full well what it was, and he never spoke it aloud either. Not even Spotted Cloud demanded to know. Little Rabbit was back, and the Bone Tree was beaten. Everything else, they would leave buried.

**SHEPHERD:** What do you think Old Fire did?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** The same thing you think they did. And I ain’t gonna say it, either.

**SHEPHERD:** I see. What happened to the rest of the Bone Tree?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** I don’t know. Maybe they went elsewhere, the ones that were left. There can’t have been many. None there now, not that many Crow ever go over that way to look.

**SHEPHERD:** One other question has been bothering me. There are plenty, of course. Where they came from, how they ended up that way. But what I really wonder is, what did they need the child for?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** I thought about that, too. They must have known the Crow would come after them and come ready to kill. If they’d actually wanted the Crow to wipe them out, they couldn’t have done much better than what they did.

Must have needed medicine. Really needed it, to survive. The only thing that explains that kind of risk. Grandpa didn’t know and I don’t, either. And there ain’t any of them around to ask.

**SHEPHERD:** You might not know, but you must have made some guesses?

**MEDICINE WEASEL:** Maybe they were holding him for ransom. Hoping that we’d give them food and medicine if they returned our boy. Maybe they wanted back the one we shot in the gut and tied up.

I really can’t say.
----
= **[END LOG]**
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[[collapsible hideLocation="both" show="SHOW — COMMENTARY — DR. GALLIO: Medicine Weasel Oral History [CLASSIFIED 5/SERAPIS]" hide="− HIDE"]]
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**GALLIO:**

The region around Shibbet’s Vale and Lake Apesawa has yielded many examples of Native American archaeology. Most of it is from the Crow who lived in the area for centuries, with a significant contribution from the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Shoshone, but some of it appears unrelated to examples from the Great Plains tribes.

I have sought out examples of these anomalous artifacts from Foundation assets in academia, but no originals have been located. A few sketches and descriptions still exist of carved stone tablets with pictograms describing the journey of a divine being or ancestor-figure from land to the East, who reaches a new home and slumbers. Symbology suggests this being is associated with fertility, growth, and the forest.

Together with John Medicine Weasel’s testimony, this begins to build up a picture of what the Crow knew as the Bone Tree People. By the time logging was established in Shibbet’s Vale in the 1930s any sign of them was gone. The fact they used wooden cabins and were unrelated to any of the Native American tribes nearby suggests they were originally European settlers. They may have established themselves there to trap fur in the Mourning Cloak Mountains. It’s impossible to say for sure, except that they must have come from somewhere, and in the end, they definitely settled in the wrong place.

The story of the Bone Tree People confirms an anomalous history of Shibbet’s Vale stretching back at least to the late 19th century. I’ve been unable to find stories or documentation predating this account, leading me to believe that this anomaly may have been introduced to the area by colonists looking to settle the region.

I am closing in on the true nature of Shibbet’s Vale and the entity associated with the anomalies there. A figure fleeing westwards, finding shelter at the foot of the Mourning Cloaks, and sleeping to recover from its flight. A deity associated with life and growth, and their aberrations. Corrupted flora and fauna. Hallucinogenic plant life. All these are recurring elements of the region’s history. The picture is becoming more complete.

All recovered information has been collated under Project: SERAPIS. This information is classified Level 5 — O5-12 EYES ONLY. Agent Hector Gallio, signing...

(//The door buzzer is activated from the outside.//)

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(...)

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(//The door opens.//)

**???:** Agent Gallio.

**GALLIO:** That’s me. This office is level 5 access only. What is this about?

**???:** I am here representing the O5 Council. I have higher clearance than you, agent. Be assured, I have every right and reason to be here.

**GALLIO:** Then what do you want?

**O5 REP:** The Council has noted the excellent quality of your work on Project: SERAPIS. Your research and collation of this intelligence has been exemplary and of great use to the Council.

**GALLIO:** ... Let me guess. I’m off the case.

**O5 REP:** The Council has deemed Project: SERAPIS no longer an effective use of Foundation resources. You are requested to hand over all materials pertaining to this project and await future assignment.

**GALLIO:** I was just getting somewhere. It’s more than just another monster hunt. SCP-6881 is something else. I’ve almost worked out what. We sent the MTF in way too early. You can’t fight this thing with bullets and bad language. It’s way beyond that.

**O5 REP:** The Council is well aware of the conclusions you have drawn so far about the history of Shibbet’s Vale. The information you have collected for them is more than enough for their current purposes. Any further research is without value. You are reminded that as of this moment, you no longer have the clearance necessary to access Project: SERAPIS. If there is any delay in your compliance, security will have to be summoned.

**GALLIO:** So that’s it?

**O5 REP:** As you say, Agent Gallio -- that is it. Surrender your personal effects and submit to a body scan at the security post before you leave the building.

**GALLIO:** They’re throwing this away. I’m so close.

**O5 REP:** Thank you, Agent Gallio. We’ll take it from here.
[[/div]]
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**| [[[scp-6881|Return to Project: SERAPIS]]] |**
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[[=]]
[[include :scp-wiki:component:license-box
|author=Ben Counter, Pacific Obadiah, & edited by LordStonefish, Lt Flops]]
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=====
> **Filename:** [https://i.imgur.com/Q2TCZnd.png Q2TCZnd.png]
> **Name:** Overwatch Command Logo
> **Author:** [[*user EstrellaYoshte]]
> **License:** [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)]
> **Source Link:** [[[/desk-of-junior-designer-s-yvonne|Desk of Junior Designer S. Yvonne - SCP Foundation]]]

> **Filename:** plenty-coups.jpg
> **Name:** Plenty Coups, Crow Indian, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left, pompadour, temple braids, beaded buckskin shirt, shell beads around neck
> **Author:** Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952, photographer
> **License:** [*https://loc.getarchive.net/about Public Domain]
> **Source Link:** [*https://loc.getarchive.net/media/plenty-coups-crow-indian-head-and-shoulders-portrait-facing-left-pompadour Library of Congress]

> **Filename:** 3983645662_fc92fdf52c_c.jpg
> **Name:** Professor Thomas Humphrey Marshall, c1950 
> **Author:** [*https://www.flickr.com/photos/lselibrary/ LSE Library]
> **License:** [*https://loc.getarchive.net/about No known copyright restrictions]
> **Source Link:** [*https://www.flickr.com/photos/35128489@N07/3983645662 LSE Library]
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SCP-6881 SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENT ‘HOTEL’

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