SCP-173 concrete sculpture standing in a tiled containment room near a window

SCP-173

2007creepypasta characterclassic

Published November 12, 2026

SCP-173, also called The Sculpture, launched the SCP Foundation universe when an anonymous 4chan user posted its creepypasta to /x/ on June 22, 20072. A concrete statue that freezes in direct eyesight and kills by snapping necks, the entity turned into fan-fiction scaffolding for a whole collaborative horror wiki. By January 2019, Instagram meme accounts were nicknaming the figure a 'peanut' and captioning edits with the onomatopoeia 'cronch' for its signature kill sound4.

creepypasta memes collaborative fiction memes 4chan memes horror memes late 2000s memes

Overview

Inside the SCP universe, SCP-173 lives in a locked cell at Site-19 and must be watched by no fewer than three personnel at a time, with two keeping direct eye contact to prevent the figure from moving1. The containment file describes a concrete and rebar body with traces of Krylon spray paint that attacks by snapping necks at the base of the skull or by strangulation, leaving a reddish brown mix of feces and blood on the floor for bi-weekly cleaning1. Scraping stone noises from an empty enclosure are logged as expected behavior.

As a meme subject, SCP-173 gets joke edits where fans point out its visual resemblance to a peanut and use the onomatopoeia 'cronch' for the sound of its kills4. Most of this fan output circulates on the r/DankMemesFromSite19 subreddit, where parody containment logs and absurd Photoshops run alongside straight horror art4. The peanut nickname stuck hard enough that it shows up in Urban Dictionary entries describing the entity as 'the holy peanut.'

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan /x/ (original post) / SCP Foundation wiki (collaborative expansion)
Creator
Moto42
Date
2007

Moto42, posting under the moniker S.S. Walrus, submitted the SCP-173 creepypasta to 4chan's /x/ paranormal board anonymously on June 22, 20072. The post paired a horror file with a photograph of Izumi Kato's sculpture Untitled 2004 to illustrate the entity8. Readers quickly noted the concept matched the Weeping Angels from the Doctor Who episode 'Blink,' which had aired just thirteen days earlier on June 9, 20076.

The original thread stayed unnoticed for over a decade until Redditor dasMaymay surfaced it inside a Jason Scott 4chan archive and shared screenshots to r/SCP on October 9, 20187. That archival find pinned down the exact first wording of SCP-173 before any SCP Foundation wiki existed9.

How It Spread

Through late 2007, anonymous users copied the /x/ post across 4chan while trying to invent similar creatures, with little success at first3. A burst of new entity descriptions appeared in 4chan threads between January 17 and 19, 2008, and the SCP Series wiki launched on EditThis on January 19, 2008, with SCP-173 among its earliest additions3. From there the Sculpture became the reference point every later SCP writer worked against.

Meme traffic around SCP-173 spiked in January 2019 when Instagram accounts picked up peanut jokes about the figure and spread them beyond the SCP fandom10. On February 2, 2022, the SCP Foundation announced that the Kato photograph would come off the entry on February 13 of that year, citing a 'moral and legal obligation to at least try separating SCP from Kato's work' alongside worries about third parties profiting off the statue5. At Moto42's request, no replacement image went up, and the Foundation ran a creative art event in its place11.

Timeline

2007-06-09

Doctor Who episode 'Blink' airs on the BBC, introducing the Weeping Angels concept that readers later compared to SCP-173[6].

2007-06-22

Moto42, under the handle S.S. Walrus, posts the SCP-173 creepypasta to 4chan's /x/ board[2].

2008-01-19

The SCP Series wiki launches on EditThis with SCP-173 among the first items added[3].

2018-10-09

Redditor dasMaymay shares screenshots of the original /x/ thread to r/SCP after finding it in a 4chan archive[7].

2019-01

SCP-173 memes spike on Instagram, where accounts captioned the statue as a 'peanut' making 'cronch' sounds[4].

2022-02-02

SCP Foundation announces plans to remove the Kato image from the SCP-173 entry[5].

2022-02-13

The illustrating image is pulled from the entry per the earlier announcement, with no replacement at Moto42's request[11].

Frequently Asked Questions