Notes on The Russian Sleep Experiment

Overview

• Experiment Setting: Occurred in the late 1940s in the Soviet Union.
• Subjects: Five political prisoners kept awake for 15 days using a gas-based stimulant.
• Observation Methods: Monitored using microphones and thick glass portholes; no cameras.

Initial Period

• First Five Days: Subjects were compliant and quiet, with a promise of release after 30 days.
• Conversations: Discussions about traumatic past experiences, shifted to darker topics by day four.

Behavioral Changes

• Day 5: Subjects exhibited paranoia and stopped communicating openly.
• Day 9: First subject began screaming for hours; other subjects showed no reaction.
• Day 12: Silence observed; no sound despite high oxygen consumption indicating life.

Experiment Escalation

• Day 14: Researchers attempted communication; received reply: "We no longer want to be freed."
• Day 15: Chamber opened; subjects found mutilated, yet alive and begging for gas.
• Physical State: Subjects had self-inflicted injuries, missing skin and muscle tissue, and exposed organs.

Removal and Medical Findings

• Extraction Struggle: Violent resistance; soldiers injured and some committed suicide post-event.
• Medical Examination:
  • Subjects partially immune to sedatives.
  • Self-mutilation: Consumed their own flesh.
  • Physiological abnormalities: high oxygen levels in blood, broken bones from muscle exertion.

Surgeries

• Conducted without Anesthesia: Subjects requested continued cutting.
• Surgeries: Attempted to replace organs; subjects showed abnormal resilience and awareness.

Final Outcomes

• Survival Attempts: Subjects begged for stimulant gas to avoid sleep.
• Experiments Terminated: One researcher killed subjects and commander in final stand.

Conceptual Reflections

• Quote from Subject: "We are you. We are the madness that lurks within you..."
• Theme: Exploration of human psyche, fear, and insanity.

Conclusion

• Story Status: Known as a Creepypasta, an urban legend-style horror story.
• Original Author: Unknown; widely shared online.

Categories

• Historical Archive, Dreams/Sleep, Science, Military, Mental Illness, Beings, etc.