The "Russian Sleep Experiment" is a chilling story about a supposed experiment conducted by two Russian scientists during World War II. They recruited five prisoners of war and offered them freedom in exchange for participating in an experiment to test the effects of extreme sleep deprivation. The prisoners were placed in a sealed gas chamber where a stimulant gas was continuously administered to keep them awake.
The experiment started normally, but things took a dark turn on the fourth day. The prisoners began discussing traumatic events, became paranoid and aggressive towards each other, and eventually stopped talking to each other. One prisoner started screaming uncontrollably, tearing his vocal cords, and another prisoner died. The remaining prisoners ripped off chunks of their own flesh and ate them.
When the experiment was ended on the 15th day, the prisoners were found in a horrific state, with one dead and the others severely injured. Despite efforts to save them, all the prisoners eventually died, with their brains showing signs of repeated "micro-deaths" due to sleep deprivation.
While the story's authenticity is unclear, it highlights the horrific consequences of extreme sleep deprivation and the atrocities that can occur in the name of scientific experimentation.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. Five prisoners of war were offered their freedom in exchange for participating in a human experiment.
2. The experiment involved administering an experimental stimulant gas to keep the subjects awake.
3. The subjects were placed in a sealed gas chamber with microphones and 5-inch thick porthole windows.
4. The experiment began, and for the first three to four days, everything was normal.
5. On the fourth day, the researchers noticed a change in the subjects' conversations, which turned to dark and traumatic events.
6. The subjects started complaining about being in the experiment and became paranoid of each other.
7. By the sixth day, the subjects stopped talking to each other and became isolated.
8. The subjects began to believe they could "sell out" their comrades in exchange for getting out of the experiment.
9. One subject started screaming, and the researchers watched him for three hours until he stopped.
10. The screaming subject had physically torn his vocal cords.
11. The other subjects did not react to the screaming and instead ripped out pages from books and pushed them up against the porthole glass.
12. The researchers used the intercom to communicate with the subjects, offering one of them immediate release and freedom if they complied with instructions.
13. One subject responded, saying they no longer wanted to be freed.
14. The experiment continued, and after 15 days, the researchers decided to end it.
15. When they opened the chamber, they found four of the five subjects still alive, but one had died.
16. The living subjects had self-inflicted injuries and had eaten their own flesh.
17. The researchers tried to sedate the subjects, but they resisted and begged to be put back under the gas.
18. Two of the subjects died after being sedated, and the third subject died after being put back under the gas.
19. The experiment was likely fictional, but similar human experimentation was known to have occurred during World War II.
20. The longest recorded time a human went without sleep is 18 days.