Chilling Tales for Dark Nights.
The Russian Sleep Experiment.
Author: Unknown.
Narrated by Jesse Cornett.
Stalinist Soviet researchers in the late 1940's kept five people awake for 15 days using an
experimental gas-based stimulant.
These people, or rather test subjects, were political prisoners deemed to be enemies of
the state during World War II.
They were kept in a sealed environment and carefully monitored.
Their oxygen intake was regulated so the gas didn't kill them, since it was highly toxic
mixed with oxygen.
The levels were watched closely.
This was before closed-circuit cameras, so the monitoring was achieved through microphones
and porthole-sized windows in the walls of the chamber.
These were made with five-inch thick glass.
The chamber was stocked with books.
They had running water along with a toilet.
There were also cots to sleep on, but no bedding, along with enough dried food rations to last
all five test subjects for over a month.
Everything was fine for the first five days; the subjects hardly complained, having been
promised falsely that they would be freed if they submitted to the test and did not
sleep for 30 days.
Their conversations were listened to.
Their activities were watched.
The researchers noted that, with each passing day, the subjects spoke increasingly about
traumatic incidents in their past.
They discussed things usually hidden deep within the psyche, not easily revealed to
strangers.
After five days, the subjects started to complain about the circumstances and events that led
them to where they were.
They increasingly demonstrated severe paranoia.
Soon, they stopped talking to each other and began alternately whispering to the microphones
and peeking through the one-way mirrored portholes in the chamber.
Oddly, they all seemed to think they could win the trust of the researchers by turning
over their comrades.
They began betraying the other subjects in captivity with them.
At first, the researchers suspected this was an effect of the gas itself, but more time
was needed before they could draw any conclusions.
After nine days, the first of the subjects started screaming as though he were in mortal
danger.
He ran the length of the chamber, repeatedly yelling at the top of his lungs.
After this prolonged behavior went on for what seemed like hours, he continued attempting
to scream, but was only able to produce occasional squeaks.
The researchers postulated that he had physically torn his vocal cords.
The most startling thing about this behavior was the other subject's reaction to it, or
rather, lack thereof.
They continued whispering to the microphones until another of them started to scream.
The two who remained silent calmly took the books in the chamber apart, smeared page after
page with their own filth, and pasted them carefully over the glass portholes.
The screaming promptly stopped.
So did the whispering into the microphones.
The chamber went silent.
After three more days passed, the researchers decided to start checking the microphones
hourly to make sure they were working, since they thought it impossible that no sound could
be coming from the chamber with five people inside of it.
When checking an oxygen monitoring device connected to the chamber, the researchers
noted oxygen consumption rates which indicated the subjects were consuming oxygen at the
rate of individuals engaged in strenuous exercise.
This worried the researchers immensely.
On the morning of the 14th day, in an attempt to get a reaction from the subjects, the researchers
did something they had initially agreed not to; they used the intercom inside the chamber
to speak directly to the subjects.
There was real fear the test subjects may have died or gone into a vegetative state.
That would have been frowned upon by the funder of this endeavor, who had arrived to see the
results of the experiment.
The lead researcher nervously announced, "We are opening the chamber to test the microphones.
Step away from the door and lie flat on the floor or you will be shot.
Compliance will earn one of you your immediate freedom."
To the researchers' surprise, a calm voice responded with a single phrase: "We no longer
want to be freed..."
Debate broke out amongst the researchers and the military forces funding the research over
how to handle this development.
For the time being, the subjects would remain exposed to the gas.
After finding it impossible to provoke any more responses from the subjects using the
intercom, it was decided that the chamber would be opened at midnight the 15th day.
When the clock struck midnight, the chamber was flushed of the stimulant gas and filled
with fresh air.
Immediately, voices from the microphones began to object.
Three different voices began begging, as if pleading for the lives of their loved ones,
for the gas to be turned back on.
Undeterred by these protests, the researchers ordered the chamber opened and soldiers were
sent in to remove the subjects, who proceeded to scream louder than ever.
The soldiers, normally extremely disciplined and emotionally neutral, began to scream as
well when they saw what was inside the chamber.
Only four of the five subjects were still alive, and, of those four, what remained made
several of the soldiers recoil and vomit.
The food rations past day five had not been touched.
The body of the dead subject had been torn to pieces.
There were chunks of flesh from his thighs and chest stuffed into the drain in the center
of the chamber, thoroughly blocking it.
This had allowed four inches of soupy red fluid to accumulate on the floor.
Precisely how much of the detritus on the floor was actually blood was never determined.
All four surviving subjects also had large portions of muscle and skin torn away from
their bodies as well.
The destruction of flesh and exposed bone on their finger tips was initially believed
to be caused by teeth.
It was later determined to have been caused by using their fingers to pierce their own
flesh.
Closer examination of the position and angle of wounds on the dead subject indicated they
were mostly self-inflicted.
The heart, lungs and diaphragm of the one of the subjects remained in place in his chest,
but the skin and most of the soft tissue attached to the ribs had been ripped off.
This exposed the lungs through the ribcage.
All the blood vessels and internal organs from below the ribcage remained intact.
However, they were no longer inside his body.
His organs had been removed and laid on the floor.
They had been fanned out in random piles around the eviscerated, but still somehow living,
body of the subject.
The digestive tract of the unfortunate was spread out across the length of the chamber.
They could be seen to still be digesting food, pulsing and contracting on the floor.
It quickly became apparent that what was being digested was the subject's own flesh.
In spite of most of the soldiers being "spetsoperatsiya," Russian Special Operatives, having served
in multiple combat operations under the service of the General Staff of the Russian Armed
Forces during World War 2, many refused orders to re-enter the chamber.
They were exposed to more gore and violence in a few years than most witness in a lifetime,
yet this they could not face.
A few of the soldiers, after being threatened, gave in to their superiors' demands and began
to remove the subjects one-by-one.
All the while, the subjects continued to scream to be left in the chamber.
They alternately begged and then demanded that the gas be turned back on, lest they
fall asleep.
To everyone's surprise, the subjects put up a fierce fight in the process of being removed.
One of the soldiers died from throat injuries and another was gravely injured when a subject
attacked his groin, severing an artery in the soldier's leg with his teeth.
In total, seven soldiers lost their lives.
Two were massacred that day and five more followed, committing suicide in the weeks
following the incident.
In the struggle, the spleen of one of the subjects was ruptured, and he began to bleed
out faster because of his trauma.
The medical team attempted to sedate him, but this proved impossible.
The subject was injected with more than 10 times the dose of a morphine derivative considered
to be lethal to humans and he continued to fight like a cornered animal.
His feral thrashings broke the ribs and arm of an attending doctor.
Technically, he bled to death, yet the subject's heart still continued to beat for another
two full minutes.
When the subject's heart finally stopped beating, he began to scream and flail wildly, struggling
to attack anyone within his reach.
He repeated the word "more" over and over, becoming weaker and weaker, until he finally
fell silent minutes later.
The surviving three subjects were heavily restrained and moved to a medical facility.
The two with the intact vocal cords continued begging for the gas, demanding to be kept
awake.
When they arrived, the most severely injured of the three were taken immediately to the
only surgical operating room the facility had.
In the process of preparing the subject to have his organs placed back inside his body,
it was found that he was effectively immune to the sedative they had given him in preparation
for surgery.
He fought furiously against his restraints when the anesthetic gas was applied to put
him under.
He managed to tear most of the way through a four-inch-wide leather strap on one wrist,
even with a 100-kilogram soldier adding his weight atop his chest.
It took quite a bit more tranquilizer than normal to calm the subject.
The instant his eyelids fluttered and closed his heart stopped and he seized wildly.
The autopsy would later show that his blood had highly toxic levels of oxygen.
His muscles were badly torn, and he had broken nine bones in his struggle to not be put to
sleep.
Most of the breaks in his bones were from the force his own muscles had exerted on them.
The second survivor had been the first of the five subjects to start screaming in the
beginning of the experiment.
His vocal cords destroyed, he was unable to verbally object to the surgery.
He reacted by shaking his head violently in disapproval when the anesthetic gas was brought
near him.
He shook his head yes when a surgeon suggested reluctantly that they try to operate without
anesthetic.
Over the entire course of a six-hour procedure to repair damage due to self-mutilation, he
didn't even blink.
The head surgeon remarked repeatedly that it should be medically impossible for the
patient to still be alive.
One terrified nurse who assisted the surgery stated that she had seen the patient's mouth
curl into a smile several times, whenever his eyes met hers.
When the surgery ended, the subject looked at his saviors and began to wheeze loudly,
struggling to talk.
Assuming the subject must have something of drastic importance to say, the surgeon had
one his assistants fetch him a pen and pad so the patient could write it down.
The message was simple: "Keep cutting."
The last remaining subject was given the same surgery, also without anesthetic.
The surgeon found it impossible to perform the operation due to the patient laughing
continuously.
The decision was made to inject him with a paralytic to prevent his muscles from moving.
Once paralyzed, the subject could only follow the medical team with his eyes; however, the
calm did not last, as the epidural cleared the subjects' system in an abnormally short
period of time.
He was soon trying to escape his bonds once again and motioning for the stimulant gas.
The researchers and military officials, who had arrived and were observing outside the
surgical room, tried communicating via intercom with the surviving subjects.
The researchers asked why they had injured themselves, why they had eviscerated themselves.
The military officials asked why they wanted to be given the gas again.
Only one response was given: "I must remain awake."
Both subjects' restraints were reinforced, and they were placed into a holding chamber
to await a determination as to what should be done with them.
The researchers, facing the wrath of their military benefactors for having failed to
achieve the stated goals of their project, considered euthanizing the surviving monstrosities.
The commanding military officer instead saw potential and wanted to see what would happen
if the subjects were put back on the gas.
The researchers strongly objected, but were overruled.
In preparation for being sealed in the chamber again, the subjects were connected to an EEG
monitor and their restraints were padded for long-term confinement.
To everyone's surprise, both stopped struggling the moment it was let slip that they were
going back on the gas.
It was obvious at this point that they were extremely desperate to stay awake.
The subject that could speak was humming loudly and continuously smiling, his reddish yellow
teeth glistening with small bits of flesh.
The mute subject was straining his legs against the leather bonds with all his might, first
left, then right, then left again for something to focus on.
This subject was holding his head off his pillow and blinking rapidly.
Having been the first to be wired for EEG, the researchers were monitoring the rapidly-blinking,
mute subject's brainwaves with great interest.
The waves were normal most of the time, but would flat-line inexplicably, making it appear
as if the subject was repeatedly suffering brain death just before returning to normal.
As the researchers focused on the peaks and troughs on the paper scrolling out of the
brainwave monitor, a single nurse saw the subject's eyes slip shut one final time.
At this point the subject's brainwaves immediately changed to that of deep sleep.
This was followed by a surge and then silence from the machine as his heartbeat ceased.
As soon as his brain waves subsided his seizure began, and he was suddenly spraying blood
from every open wound.
The remaining subject that could speak started screaming to be sealed in immediately.
His brainwaves showed the same flat lines as the recently dead subject.
To the horror of the researchers, the attending military commander gave an order to his subordinate
to seal the chamber with both the live and dead subjects inside, as well as the three
researchers.
The lead researcher immediately drew a pistol and shot at the commander through the thick
porthole glass, but the bullet ricocheted and struck the mute subject, ending his suffering
immediately.
The armed researcher pointed his gun at the remaining subject, still restrained to the
bed.
The remaining members of the research team began beating on the sealed door.
"I won't be locked in here with these things!
Not with you!"
screamed the now trembling armed researcher at the remaining subject strapped to the table.
"What are you?" he demanded.
"I must know!"
The subject smiled.
"Have you forgotten so easily?
We are you.
We are the madness that lurks within you all, begging to be free at every moment in your
deepest animal mind.
We are what you hide from in your beds every night.
We are what you sedate into silence and paralysis when you go to the nocturnal haven we cannot
tread."
The researcher paused, aimed the pistol at his own temple, and fired.
The EEG flat-lined as the subject weakly choked out, "So...nearly...free..." as the stimulant
gas began to pour freely into the chamber once again.