CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT
SEAL Foundation Archives
Clearance Level: OBSIDIAN
Access Restricted to Authorized Personnel
Entity Designation: SEAL-1324
Nomenclature: "The Passenger"
Containment Status: PROBLEMATIC - RECURRING MANIFESTATION
Facility Location: Mobile Containment Protocol - Subject Currently Uncontained
CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES
SEAL-1324 cannot be permanently contained through conventional means. The entity exists in a state of perpetual manifestation across multiple instances of reality. Current protocols focus on detection, documentation, and damage mitigation rather than true containment.
All SEAL Foundation personnel are required to check their vehicle's back seat before entering and immediately upon entering. Rearview mirrors in Foundation vehicles have been replaced with direct visual observation systems. Personnel who report seeing an unexpected passenger are to exit the vehicle immediately, abandon it at the nearest secure location, and submit to 72-hour psychological evaluation.
Under no circumstances should personnel attempt to:
Engage SEAL-1324 in conversation
Answer any questions posed by SEAL-1324
Continue driving once SEAL-1324 has been identified
Look at SEAL-1324 for more than 3 seconds consecutively
Allow SEAL-1324 to touch them
Global monitoring systems track reports of "phantom passengers" across all continents. SEAL Foundation maintains agreements with law enforcement agencies worldwide under the cover of investigating "highway psychological phenomena." Civilians who report encounters with SEAL-1324 are to be administered Class-B amnestics and monitored for six months.
WARNING: SEAL-1324 has demonstrated the ability to manifest in vehicles that do not yet exist, vehicles that have been destroyed, and vehicles in alternate dimensional states. Traditional containment is considered impossible. Our goal is not to contain SEAL-1324, but to understand the pattern of its manifestations and minimize casualties.
DESCRIPTION
SEAL-1324 manifests as a humanoid figure seated in the rear passenger area of automobiles, trains, aircraft, boats, and any vehicle designed to transport individuals. The entity's appearance varies significantly between manifestations but follows consistent patterns:
Always appears as an adult human between apparent ages of 25-45
Clothing is era-appropriate and unremarkable
Features are average and forgettable - witnesses struggle to recall specific details
Gender presentation varies; approximately 60% male, 40% female
Ethnicity typically matches the local population demographic
SEAL-1324 becomes visible only when the driver or pilot checks their rearview mirror, turns to look at the back seat, or becomes aware of the rear passenger area through peripheral vision. Prior to this moment of awareness, the entity is undetectable through any means - cameras show empty seats, weight sensors register no additional mass, and passengers in adjacent seats report no presence.
Once observed, SEAL-1324 exhibits the following behavior pattern:
Phase One (0-5 minutes): The entity sits quietly, making minimal movement. If acknowledged, it will smile politely and may offer a greeting such as "Don't mind me" or "Sorry, I thought this was my ride." Its voice is pleasant, unremarkable, and carries a slight quality that witnesses describe as "like hearing someone through water."
Phase Two (5-15 minutes): SEAL-1324 begins asking questions. Initial questions are innocuous:
"Where are you headed?"
"How has your day been?"
"Do you live around here?"
These questions feel natural, conversational. Witnesses report feeling oddly compelled to respond despite recognizing the situation as abnormal.
Phase Three (15-30 minutes): Questions become more personal and specific:
"How is your sister doing after the divorce?"
"Did you ever tell your father you forgave him?"
"What did you do with the money you found in your grandmother's attic?"
SEAL-1324 should not possess knowledge of these details. Witnesses report increasing distress as the entity demonstrates awareness of private information, childhood memories, and events no one else knows about.
Phase Four (30+ minutes): Questions become impossible:
"Why did you make that choice in the reality where you turned left instead of right?"
"How many versions of you regret this moment?"
"What will you say to me when I'm sitting where you're sitting?"
Witnesses who reach Phase Four consistently report severe psychological trauma. The entity's voice begins to sound familiar. Its features start to resemble the driver. And its questions imply knowledge not just of the driver's life, but of alternate versions of the driver's life across parallel realities.
Phase Five (Variable): In approximately 23% of cases that reach Phase Four, drivers report that SEAL-1324's appearance has completely transformed to become an exact duplicate of themselves. At this point, the entity states, in the driver's own voice:
"Thank you for the ride. I'll take it from here."
What happens next varies, but the outcome is consistent: the original driver is never seen again. The entity exits the vehicle, now fully indistinguishable from the person it replaced. In documented cases where Foundation personnel have intercepted at this stage, genetic testing confirms the entity is genetically identical to the missing person. Fingerprints match. Retinal scans match. Memories match.
The entity has become the person. The original is gone. Where they go remains unknown.
DISCOVERY LOG
SEAL-1324 was first documented in 19██ following a series of missing person cases across the United States. All cases shared consistent elements:
Victims were driving alone at night
Vehicles were found abandoned with doors open and engines running
No signs of struggle or violence
Multiple witnesses reported seeing the victim walking away from their vehicle shortly after it was abandoned
When located, these "victims" claimed to have no memory of abandoning their vehicle and insisted they had been home all evening
The pattern drew SEAL Foundation attention when Agent Maria Cortez noticed something impossible: in three separate cases, the "found" individual and the "missing" individual appeared on security footage at the same time, in different locations.
Agent Cortez initiated Protocol MIRROR, designed to investigate potential reality-displacement phenomena. Her investigation led to the first confirmed observation of SEAL-1324.
The following is Agent Cortez's report from her encounter:
[AGENT REPORT - CORTEZ, M. - ██/██/19██]
I volunteered to serve as bait. Against protocol, I know, but we needed direct observation. I drove alone on Highway 40 at 2:47 AM, the time when most disappearances occurred.
At 3:12 AM, I checked my rearview mirror during a routine scan.
He was there.
I say "he" but I'm not sure that's accurate. It was a man, average height, brown hair, wearing a jacket I couldn't quite focus on. The moment I saw him, I knew with absolute certainty that something was wrong.
"Evening," he said. His voice was pleasant. Too pleasant. Like an AI trying to sound human.
I didn't respond. Protocol said don't engage. But then he asked: "Long drive?"
I gripped the steering wheel and kept my eyes forward. The safe house was fourteen miles away. I just needed to reach it.
"You don't have to answer," he continued. "I already know. You're going to the Henderson Road facility. You're going to try to contain me. It won't work, of course. It never does. But I appreciate the effort."
My blood went cold. The Henderson Road facility was classified. Only four people knew about it.
"How do you—" I started, then caught myself. Don't engage. Don't answer questions.
"You want to know how I know?" His voice was closer now, though I hadn't heard him move. "I know because Maria told me. The other Maria. The one who turned left at Chester Avenue instead of right. In that version, she made it to the facility. In that version, I'm contained. But that's not this version, is it?"
I risked a glance in the mirror. He was leaning forward now, and his face—
God, his face was starting to look familiar.
"Stop the car," I said, reaching for my radio.
"You're going to stop at mile marker 47," he said calmly. "You're going to get out of the car. And you're going to walk to the Henderson facility on foot. It will take you three hours. When you arrive, you'll file a report stating that SEAL-1324 is Class-4 reality threat and recommend immediate escalation protocols."
"How do you know what I'm going to do?" I demanded.
"Because you already did it, Maria. In the reality where this conversation happens differently. I've had this conversation with you seventeen times across seventeen different versions of tonight. This is the first time you've asked that question, though. Usually you ask why I'm doing this."
I looked in the mirror again. He wasn't a stranger anymore. He looked like my brother. No—he looked like me. Male, but with my eyes. My nose. My expression.
"What are you?" I whispered.
"I'm The Passenger," he said, and his voice was becoming mine. "I'm the version of you that chose differently. The you that turned left instead of right. The you that answered the phone instead of ignoring it. The you that existed in every possibility you collapsed by making a choice. I'm all the selves you could have been, Maria. And I'm here to take my turn."
Mile marker 47 appeared in my headlights. Against my own will, I felt my foot moving to the brake.
"No," I said. "I'm not stopping."
But I was already stopping. My hands turned the wheel. My foot pressed the brake. The car came to rest on the shoulder.
"Thank you for the ride," he said, and his voice was my voice. "I'll take it from here."
The last thing I remember is getting out of the car and walking. Just walking. And behind me, I heard the car door close. I heard the engine start. I heard myself driving away.
I walked for three hours. When I reached Henderson facility, they were surprised to see me. They said I'd called ahead from the car, told them I was on my way, gave them detailed instructions for preparing containment procedures.
But I never made that call.
She did. The other me. The Passenger wearing my face.
Addendum: Agent Cortez underwent psychological evaluation and genetic screening. All tests confirmed her identity as the original Maria Cortez. However, the agent who had called Henderson facility was also genetically confirmed as Maria Cortez. Both versions exist simultaneously.
Current theory: SEAL-1324 does not replace individuals. It creates divergent realities where both versions exist. The "original" continues, but a new timeline branches where The Passenger has assumed their identity. Over time, these parallel versions begin to converge, creating situations where the same person exists in multiple places simultaneously.
Agent Cortez remains in active service. Her duplicate is also in active service, stationed at Site-19. They have met three times. Both report the meetings as "deeply unsettling but not hostile." They are, by all measurable standards, the same person. Neither can be identified as "the original."
INCIDENT LOG (Selected Entries)
Incident 1324-A:
A commercial airline pilot reported seeing SEAL-1324 in the passenger cabin via security camera. The entity was not visible to flight attendants or passengers in adjacent seats. When the pilot checked the camera again, SEAL-1324 had moved to the cockpit jump seat. The pilot made an emergency landing and evacuated. Post-flight investigation revealed that the co-pilot who had been flying with him did not exist in any employment records, despite security footage showing him boarding with the crew. The "co-pilot" vanished after the evacuation. The original co-pilot was found at his home, confused about why he hadn't shown up for his shift.
Incident 1324-C:
Foundation researcher Dr. James Yao encountered SEAL-1324 during his commute. Following protocol, he immediately abandoned his vehicle. However, six hours later, Dr. Yao arrived at the research facility as scheduled, with no memory of abandoning his car. Security footage shows "Dr. Yao" parking his car normally and entering the facility. Genetic testing confirmed both Dr. Yao (the one who abandoned the car) and the Dr. Yao at the facility were identical. When brought together, both insisted they were the original. After three days, both Dr. Yaos began to share memories spontaneously, describing events neither had personally experienced. They have since been separated and placed under observation at different facilities.
Incident 1324-G:
SEAL-1324 manifested in a self-driving vehicle with no human passengers. The autonomous vehicle drove for 47 minutes before stopping at an abandoned warehouse. Security footage from the vehicle shows SEAL-1324 sitting in the back seat, having a conversation with no visible second party. Audio analysis suggests SEAL-1324 was both asking and answering questions in two different voices. The vehicle's AI system has no record of the detour and insists it completed its programmed route normally. The warehouse where the vehicle stopped burned down three weeks later under suspicious circumstances.
Incident 1324-M:
During a containment attempt using a sealed vehicle and observation team, SEAL-1324 manifested in the driver's seat instead of the back seat. When questioned via intercom about this deviation from pattern, the entity responded: "I've been the passenger long enough. I think it's time I drove for a while." The vehicle then accelerated to 120 mph and drove directly into a wall, destroying the vehicle completely. No body was found in the wreckage. Three days later, the driver scheduled for that containment attempt called in sick, claiming he'd had a terrible nightmare about dying in a car crash. He had no knowledge of the containment operation or that he'd been scheduled to participate.
Incident 1324-R (CLASSIFIED - LEVEL 7):
Agent Cortez's duplicate (now designated Cortez-B) reported encountering SEAL-1324 again while investigating a separate anomaly. The entity appeared in her vehicle and said: "Hello again, Maria. Or should I call you Maria-B? It's hard to keep track of which version you are. Would you like to know what happened to the original? The first Maria? The one before you split?"
Cortez-B violated protocol and asked: "What happened?"
SEAL-1324 responded: "She's still in the car. She never stopped driving. In the reality where she didn't step out, where she kept going, she's still on that highway at 3:12 AM, checking her mirror, seeing me for the first time. Time is a loop, Maria. Every time you split, the original keeps driving. Forever. And I'm there with her. Forever. How many Marias do you think there are now? How many versions of you are trapped in that loop, driving that highway, meeting me for the first time over and over?"
Cortez-B exited the vehicle and called for immediate extraction. She has requested psychiatric leave. Request granted.
Incident 1324-W:
Foundation established a monitoring station to track SEAL-1324 manifestations across multiple realities simultaneously using experimental quantum observation technology. Results were disturbing: SEAL-1324 appears to manifest in approximately 847 different realities at any given moment. More alarming, analysis of manifestation patterns suggests the entity is not randomly appearing but systematically working through a sequence. Each reality it visits is a branching timeline created by the choices of its previous victims. Dr. Sarah Chen theorized: "SEAL-1324 isn't just creating parallel versions of people. It's traveling through the multiverse that person's choices created. Every decision we make spawns alternate realities. SEAL-1324 is visiting all of them, becoming all possible versions of us."
RESEARCHER NOTES
From Dr. Sarah Chen, Theoretical Physics Division:
I've been studying SEAL-1324's manifestation patterns for two years. The mathematics are clear, even if the implications are terrifying.
Every choice we make creates a branching point in reality. Turn left or turn right. Answer the phone or ignore it. Get in the car or stay home. Each choice spawns an alternate timeline where we made the opposite decision.
SEAL-1324 exists in the spaces between these choices. It's not a creature or entity in the traditional sense. It's the embodiment of the roads not taken. All the versions of yourself that could have existed but didn't, because you chose one path over another.
When you see it in your rearview mirror, you're not seeing a stranger. You're seeing yourself. The you that made different choices. And it wants to take its turn living.
The questions it asks aren't random. They're designed to make you aware of your own branching points, your own places where reality split. And once you're aware, once you truly comprehend how many versions of yourself exist across the multiverse, SEAL-1324 can step through.
It doesn't kill you. It doesn't replace you. It simply becomes you in a different reality, while you continue in this one. But the more it does this, the more the realities begin to merge. Eventually, all the yous start to blend together. You remember lives you didn't live. You feel echoes of choices you didn't make.
And then you realize: there is no original you. There never was. You're all passengers in your own life, taking turns at the wheel, while SEAL-1324 moves between you like a traveler changing trains.
I know this because it's already happened to me.
I encountered SEAL-1324 six months ago. I followed protocol. I abandoned my vehicle. But I also remember not abandoning it. I remember continuing to drive. I remember both realities simultaneously.
There are at least three Dr. Sarah Chens working for SEAL Foundation right now. We pretend not to know about each other. But sometimes we pass in the hallways, and we recognize ourselves. And we know.
We're all passengers now.
CURRENT STATUS: SEAL-1324 remains uncontained. Manifestations occur globally at an average rate of 4.7 per day. Foundation estimates suggest approximately 3,000 individuals have been "duplicated" by SEAL-1324 encounters. The full scope of reality-divergence caused by the entity is unknown.
Researchers continue to debate whether SEAL-1324 should be classified as a hostile entity or simply a neutral phenomenon of multiversal mechanics. The entity has never directly harmed anyone. It only creates possibilities.
But as Dr. Chen notes in her final report: "A threat doesn't have to kill you to destroy you. SEAL-1324 destroys the concept of singular identity. It makes you aware that you're not unique, not special, not even necessarily 'real' in any meaningful sense. You're just one version among infinite versions, and The Passenger is reminding you that all those other versions want their turn too."
Last week, security cameras captured SEAL-1324 manifestations in seventeen different Foundation facilities simultaneously. In each case, the entity was photographed sitting in the back seat of vehicles in the parking lot.
In each photograph, it was looking directly at the camera.
In each photograph, it was smiling.
And in each photograph, if you look closely, you can see that its face matches someone who works at that facility.
Someone who hasn't encountered SEAL-1324 yet.
Someone who will.
[DOCUMENT ENDS]
WARNING: Personnel who have read this file may experience increased awareness of alternate decision points in their lives, intrusive thoughts about "other versions" of themselves, and the sensation of being watched while driving. These are considered normal psychological responses to SEAL-1324 documentation and should fade within 2-3 weeks.
If symptoms persist, or if you begin to experience memories that do not match your personal history, report to Site psychological services immediately.
Do not check your rearview mirror more than once per minute while driving.
Do not engage with unexpected passengers under any circumstances.
If you see yourself in the back seat, exit the vehicle immediately and do not look back.