The Russian Sleep Experiment

## The Russian Sleep Experiment by OrangeSoda

Stalinist Soviet researchers in the late 1940s kept five people awake for 15 days using an experimental gas-based stimulant. These people, or rather test subjects, were political prisoners deemed 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 in high concentrations. 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 lay on, but no bedding, along with enough dried food rations to last all five 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 that 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 subjects' reaction to it, or rather, lack thereof. They continued whispering to the microphones until another one 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 other 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 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 on 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 open 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.

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 at 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 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 fingertips 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, if not entirely self-inflicted.

The heart, lungs, and diaphragm of 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 II, 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 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 was 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. 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 200-pound soldier adding his weight atop his chest.

It took 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. With 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 the 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 of 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 operate 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 subject's 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: "We must remain awake."

Both subjects' restraints were reinforced, and they were placed into a holding chamber to await the 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, an ex-KGB 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 on 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 brainwaves 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 flatlines 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. The armed and crazed 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 trying to stop him.

"I won't be locked in here with these things! Not with you!" screamed the now trembling armed researcher at the dying subject strapped to the table.

"What are you?" he demanded. "WHAT ARE YOU? 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. Then aimed at his own temple and fired. Just before the stimulant began to pour freely into the chamber once again, the EEG flatlined and the subject weakly choked out, "So... nearly... free..."