russian sleep experiment pictures

Why the Horrors of the 'Russian Sleep Experiment' Probably Didn't Happen

This animation investigates the facts behind this pervasive urban myth.

Especially if you haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately, you might wonder just how long you can go on like that. Exactly how long could you stay awake without cracking as a result of sleep deprivation? Some people say there was an over-the-top experiment for that. Experts are quick to debunk it.

The Russian Sleep Experiment is a popular urban myth which began to circulate online in "creepypasta" forums (so-named for the ease with which you could copy-paste spooky content) in the early 2010s. But could this deeply unsettling legend have had some roots in fact?

The story goes that Soviet-era scientists created a stimulant which they believed would enable soldiers to not require sleep for up to 30 days. They decided to test their new gas on five prisoners, promising them their freedom upon completion of the experiment. They locked the five men in a hermetically sealed chamber and began pumping in the gas. Within a few days, the men were exhibiting the kind of paranoia and psychosis that is a typical symptom of sleep deprivation. But as time went on, they began to act even more strangely.

15 days into the experiment, when scientists could no longer see the men through the thick glass of the chamber, or hear them through the microphones, they filled the room with fresh air and unlocked it. There, they discovered that one of the men was dead, and the four surviving test subjects were all sporting horrendously violent injuries, some of which appeared to be self-inflicted.

Attempts to sedate the men were either unsuccessful, or led to their deaths the moment they lost consciousness. Finally, when one of the researchers asked what exactly these men had become, the last surviving test subject told him that they represented the potential for evil that exists in all human beings, which is usually contained by sleep, but had been unleashed by their constant wakefulness. Chilling stuff.

Is any of the Russian Sleep Experiment actually true?

According to a video from The Infographics Channel on YouTube, which provides animated summaries of events from history, current events and literature, the Russian sleep experiment almost certainly has its basis in fiction. For one thing, there's the fact that the story's sole original source seems to be a website dedicated to telling creepy (made-up) stories. But even the science doesn't hold up.

Experts are quick to refute this myth as well. There's no scientific ground proving that gas (or any other substance, for that matter) can keep a person awake for 30 days, says Po-Chang Hsu, MD , an internal medicine physician and medical content expert at SleepingOcean. “Some drugs and high caffeine dosages may grant a couple of days without shut-eye, but 30 is impossible,” he says.

Additionally, this experiment is unlikely because of the effect sleep deprivation has on the brain, Dr. Hsu says.

“Even after a few days, a person can start hallucinating, which would make it extremely hard for them to perform simple daily actions, let alone deal with military assignments that require extreme focus,” he says.

So how long can someone truly stay awake?

The current documented world record for staying awake is a bit longer than 11 days , which was achieved by Randy Gardner in 1963. Gardner experienced severe behavioral and cognitive changes during those 11 days (even though he wanted to prove that nothing bad would happen when a person doesn’t sleep), Dr. Hsu says. He also experienced mood swings, memory issues, severe difficulty focusing, paranoia and hallucinations.

While there is some truth to the claims that amphetamines have been used to keep soldiers alert in historical times of war, there is no scientific evidence of a gas existing that could keep anyone awake for 15 days. And studies have found that after just 48 hours without sleep, people tend to become slower, disoriented, prone to making mistakes, and ultimately less effective as a soldier.

“Since the brain can’t function properly after being sleep-deprived for 11 days, it’s safe to assume things would get much worse if one tries to stay awake longer,” he says. “Consequently, those soldiers would’ve been useless even if they miraculously managed not to sleep for 30 days.”

Still, whoever came up with the story of the Russian sleep experiment in the first place deserves points for their creative writing... if not for medical accuracy.

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How the Russian Sleep Experiment became a global phenomenon

In the 1940s, a group of Russian researchers sealed five prison inmates in an airtight chamber.

The prisoners were dosed with an experimental gas that would prevent them from sleeping. Their conversations were electronically monitored, and their behaviour was observed through secret two-way mirrors.

For the first few days, everything seemed fine. But after the fifth day, they slowly began to exhibit signs of stress. They became paranoid and stopped talking to one another, whispering about each other into the microphones.

Nine days in, the screaming began. Two of the sleepless prisoners just started running around the chamber, yelling so hard their vocal chords nearly broke.

Suddenly, however, the voices stopped, and the chamber became dead quiet. Fearing the worst, the researchers announced that they were opening the chamber. But a voice from inside answered: "We no longer want to be freed."

On the 15th day, the stimulant gas was replaced by fresh air. The results were chaotic.

One inmate was dead. The inmates had been severely mutilated, flesh torn off their bodies and stuffed into the floor drain. They seemed to have ripped open their own abdomens, and even eaten their own flesh.

They refused to leave by force, fighting back with a powerful aggression none of the researchers could have imagined they possessed. They fought furiously against being removed and anesthetised; one even tore his own muscles and ripped his bones apart during the struggle. When asked why they had mutilated themselves, each gave the exact same answer: "I must remain awake."

The researchers wanted to kill the prisoners and remove all traces of the experiment, but their commanding officer demanded it be resumed immediately, with the researchers joining the inmates in the sealed chamber. Horrified, the chief researcher shot him point blank.

He then shot and killed the two last surviving subjects, and set about covering up all that had taken place.

WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST READ?

Okay, first thing's first: that story didn't actually take place in real life.

The creepy picture of the chamber above? An artistic illustration digitally altered by a random internet browser. Sorry.

Entitled 'The Russian Sleep Experiment', it's an internet legend of which the oldest version can be traced back to a Creepypasta Wiki page on August 10, 2010. The user who posted it is named 'Orange Soda', but the author's real name is unknown.

To this day, internet users continue to debate the veracity of this infamous story, despite the fact that it originated on an online forum thread devoted to seeing who can drill up the best "urban legend".

You've read stories like this. There was Slender Man, the story of a lanky faceless giant who frequents children's playgrounds. He gained the most attention when he inspired two young girls in Wisconsin to attempt to brutally kill their friend (unfortunately, that part was true). Then there's Jeff The Killer, the chalk-faced teenager-turned-murderer who goes insane and becomes a bloodthirsty psychopath.

The thing is, when you first read these horrific stories, they almost seem just realistic enough to work. After all, scientists have been studying the effects of sleep deprivation throughout the 20th century.

Even today, there are wide reports of meth-induced hallucinations resulting from a lack of sleep. Why wouldn't a story of a crazy Russian experiment from the 1940s seem plausible?

After careful analysis, Sara McGuire of Venngage has shared a visual report detailing exactly what it takes for a horror story to go viral.

HOW TO CREATE A VIRAL HORROR STORY

McGuire read and analysed samples of 72 top 'Creepypastas' across the internet.

She then identified the seven most common ingredients used in the top stories. In order from most to least common, they are:

UNEXPLAINED PHENOMENON (71 per cent)

The report found that humans are most thrilled by the unknown; things that we will never understand. The story needs to involve a strange occurrence or creature whose origins are unknown, but has a lasting impact on our psyche.

FIRST-PERSON NARRATIVES (68 per cent)

The report argues that if a story is told as a personal account, there's always the possibility that it might be true, even if you know it realistically couldn't be. The Russian Sleep Experiment was actually the only story of the top 10 that wasn't told in the first-person voice.

MONSTERS AND SUPERNATURAL BEINGS (61 per cent)

The success of the Russian Sleep Experiment is attributed to the fact that the "monsters" actually come from a very real, human place, which seems to make them more plausible. This also explains the popularity of the Slender Man.

CLIFFHANGERS (53 per cent)

This is common in horror movies, or even just book chapters and TV shows. You leave the reader or viewer with a chill and keep the mystery alive. The report notes this is especially effective in cases where the reader is left to question whether something similar could happen to them.

MURDER (46 per cent)

It goes without saying that most people are afraid of murder, which is why it's a plot device in almost half of these stories.

CREEPY IMAGES (24 per cent)

Fun fact: Slender Man originally started as a Photoshop contest. Users on a forum were asked to digitally alter an ordinary photo to create a creepy internet legend. And it can be really hard to shake a disturbing image.

CREEPY VIDEOS (6 per cent)

The rarest of the ingredients, only two Creepypasta stories originally used a video, according to McGuire. She notes that most of the time, videos are created by fans of a viral story after it's already become famous.

McGuire's report found that stories which used four of these ingredients - no more, no less - gave a story the best chance at going viral. The Russian Sleep Experiment is the most viral 'Creepypasta' story on the internet, with a total of 64,030 shares. It used four ingredients: an unexplained phenomenon, murder, monsters (in this case, humans-turned-zombies) and a series of creepy images of poor black and white quality to suggest they authentically match the time period.

So that's that. If you want to go viral, McGuire says there are some basic rules to comply with:

• Tell a personal anecdote where possible. It will make you seem more relatable to the reader and it can be used in virtually every writing context to add colour to a story.

• Get your Photoshop on. Obscure, creepy images that aren't quite bad (or polished!) enough to be false tend to work very well. Slender Man is a perfect example.

• Leave readers wanting more. Cliffhangers are deliberately frustrating. You want a satisfying ending or conclusion, and instead, you're left filled with questions. Readers are more likely to share these types of stories because they're more debatable.

Alternatively, just shut down your device now and walk away. These stories alone are creepy enough to keep us up for two weeks straight - no experimental gas required.

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The Russian Sleep Experiment

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What was the Russian Sleep Experiment?

Did the Soviet government create zombies through a ruthless experiment?

As legend has it, the story took place in the late 1940s, when WWII was over but Joseph Stalin still remained all-powerful. On a well-guarded secret base, a research group conducted a cruel experiment on five GULAG prisoners. They were promised freedom in the event that they would last 30 days in a chamber filled with a psychotropic gas depriving them of sleep.

Dreamless monsters

In the course of the five days, the situation went out of control - the subjects blocked observation and went all kinds of crazy, screaming and moaning. Then they turned completely silent for several days, and when the scientists broke into the chamber, they saw the unspeakable: the subjects tore most of their skin off of their bodies; blood covered the floor.

Somehow, the mutilated prisoners remained alive, pleading to turn the stimulant gas back on, screaming that they “must stay awake”. When the research group tried to immobilize them, the subjects showed astonishing strength, even killing some of the soldiers who were helping the scientists.

Eventually, the subjects were pacified. One of them, instructed to asleep, died immediately after his eyes closed. The rest were killed while trying to break out.

Before shooting the last subject, one researcher screamed: “What are you?!” And that mutilated, blood-covered body answered with a terrifying smile:  “We are you. We are the madness that lurks within you all, begging to be set free at any 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 where we cannot tread.” So he said, before the researcher shot him in the head.

Sounds creepy?

If you bought any of this, you are probably new to the Internet. This ‘Russian sleep experiment’ is a 10-year-old urban legend. Its origins trace back to the CreepyPasta website, where you can enjoy the story in all its full glory (like feces covering the windows, a KGB commander forcing the scientists to join the subjects in the chamber and so on). But the original story is even older, written for an online forum challenging users to make up the scariest “urban legend”.

And boy, did it spread far and wide. Articles and videos with names like “was the Russian Sleep Experiment real?” are numerous. Some websites, even Russian ones, still post the story hoping to elicit real horror, adding comments like “the origin of the leaks is still a mystery” at the end. Yeah, right.

The story couldn’t be true for so many reasons we’d need a separate text to list them all. Let’s just focus on the obvious ones:

1. It didn’t make any sense for scientists to let the subjects “hide” in their chamber for several days without observation.

2. No gas that can stop humans from falling asleep is currently known to science.

3. If you tear away your skin, you die from blood loss. Or did that gas turn the subjects into some quasi-immortal creatures?     

Overwhelming success

The legend remains popular even after a decade. “The Russian Sleep Experiment is the most viral ‘Creepypasta’ story on the internet, with a total of 64,030 shares,” journalist Gavin Fernando wrote in 2016.

Seems about right: this hoax became so huge, it ended up inspiring a novel, a short film (where the GULAG prisoners are for some reason replaced with Nazi war criminals) and an upcoming full-length psychological thriller by young Irish director John Farrelly.

If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.

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The Russian Sleep Experiment  By jeanette ESpinoZa💁🏻😊

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