Containment Fiction
AOE: Anomalous Object Entry
AOE-10821 — Codename: “Phylectary”
Anomalous Object Entry
10821
Object Severity
Benign
Containment Difficulty
Low
Containment Status
Contained/Neutral
Containment Specifications
AOE-10821 is neutral. It has been transferred to ██████ Cemetery.
Abstract
AOE-10821 was a 1950’s upright piano that began to display anomalous properties after being sold outside its original owner’s family. There are no indications that it displayed anomalous properties prior to this sale in 2021.
Anomalous Properties
Immediately after its sale, AOE-10821 was reported by the transporting company to spontaneously play during the transit. Manufacturing records confirm that AOE-10821’s model is not a player piano and cannot play without an individual present. (This was unknown to the transporting personnel at the time, and was ignored after AOE-10821 ceased en route, the new owner unaware.) Further anomalous activity has been confirmed through archives of personal text messages and videos, sourced from rudimentary omniopticon surveillance technology common to the turn of the 21st century, and the decades after.
After being delivered to the purchaser’s home, AOE-10821 did not play certain notes. These notes varied wildly, sometimes even in the course of minutes. For example, certain notes would not produce sound based on the key of the song or composition being played, and different keys would become inert when different compositions were played in immediate succession. More specifically, and on several noted occasions, the 3rd tone in a given scale would be non-functional, obfuscating a work from being defined in a major or minor key. While this observation was dismissed by the owner as coincidence and paranoia, this information first demonstrates AOE-10821’s anomalous sapience.
Two months after translocation, AOE-10821 stopped producing tones entirely, the keys instead expressing what were described as “abrupt creaks and groans”. This was attributed to faulty mechanics and piano strings long past their prime. A repairman was called to the home, who found a variety of small trinkets and knick-knacks within the piano that the family could not identify as their own. These were attached to the piano’s strings by an unknown process. Photographs confirm piano strings running through the center of some of these objects. These were not reported or apparently present in the initial sale description.
AOE-10821 was given a full renovation by its owner including a new keyboard and set of strings. The renovation was not completed however, due to the progression of anomalous properties. When tuning the new set of strings, technicians reported that striking the keys now produced entire syllables, said to be in a voice of an elderly male. It was soon recognized that these syllables formed coherent words and sentences. These words were not written down, or were not investigated to the extent of their coherency by the renovating staff. A then-active containment organization, the ████ Society, was contacted and assumed possession of the object. The owner was told of the piano’s irrepairability and compensated at market value without issue.
Post-Containment Events
Once in this custody, AOE-10821 became entirely mute and began assuming organic features:
- The keys, though just replaced with known and standard materials, yellowed and accumulated dental plaque. This could be removed with dentifrice.
- Puddles of saliva with corpuscles of phlegm were discovered numerous times at its base.
- The rapid accumulation of dust on the surfaces of AOE-10821 were tested and found to be dead skin cells.
- Though just replaced with known and standard materials, the thinner strings of the piano were found to be tightly-woven strands of grey hair.
AOE-10821 was stored in a containment facility’s negative pressure room in order to ventilate an odor of decomposition emanating from the object, the source of which could not be pinpointed.
Records show that at sometime between the dates 10/3/2021 and 10/5/2021, AOE-10821’s storage chamber was anomalously filled with soil. Upon removal of the soil, a partially decomposed cadaver was discovered. Dental records matched that of Mr. Ira ██████ (1927–2018).
Upon review of records, Mr. ██████ was the original owner of the piano and had bought it for his daughter Ada at the age of 4. Later in life, Ada had passed the heirloom to her own daughter, Stella, who had sold the piano due to space constraints upon having to move homes. Ira died of lung cancer years prior to the sale, and was cremated. Stella had expressed grief to her husband and others that the piano was going to be leaving the family, and experienced a significant amount of guilt and distress just prior to, during, and after the sale.
While the containment society was competent in its facilitation of the anomaly and the eventual deduction of the anomaly’s identity, the cadaver was never returned to the family. A crowdsourced funding operation has within the last month provided appropriate signatures of living family members, and transferred the body to a cemetery where more of his family is buried. The involved family members were given invitation to participate in decentralized containment operations and archaeology efforts, with all needed equipment donated.
Image used (CC BY 2.0), modified:
© Lack of Lepers
