SCP-173 was the first SCP article written for the web-based collaborative fiction project known as the "SCP Foundation"

The story behind the answer

True. SCP-173 was the first SCP entry, originally posted anonymously in 2007 on an online forum and later migrated to the SCP Foundation wiki. Its clinical “Special Containment Procedures + Description” format set the tone for the entire collaborative universe, inspiring thousands of entries that mimic scientific reports about anomalous objects.

SCP-173 is a hostile statue that moves only when unobserved, forcing guards to maintain eye contact—an unforgettable concept that helped the project go viral. Remember it this way: the “1” in 173 can remind you it was the first SCP, and the Foundation’s name—Secure, Contain, Protect—summarizes the series’ pseudoscientific style.