Russian Sleep Experiment/ book by Holly Ice/ Illustrator - Daniel Tyka
In a world where every nation wants its economy to be booming when compared to others, I present to you a horror fiction story of the 1940s which would still lead you to bite your nails. So keep your nails clean because you never know! What comes into your mind when I ask you to think of things the nations would compete for and would go to any extent to prove their nation - the best among the rest? Military building? Investing on resources for spy agents? An enhanced research discovery in the field of medicine? Today when you see cancer reduction drug discoveries, you might wonder if there is any other discovery the nations were determined to make? During the 1940s, there was a nation which wanted to compete with the Americans, the Germans and the Brits to beat them in the building of a drug/stimulant which could keep soldiers awake for a duration of not 1-2 days but to a duration of 15 days. Can you believe it? It’s scary and weird for us to even imagine us being awake and not sleeping at all for a day or two and here were the Russians who were planning to experiment their newly launched drug and had high expectations that with this discovery, they’d have the Russian economy booming.
During the times when wars were common, the Germans had their version of sleep-depriving stimulant which was a formidable methamphetamine called Pervitin. The Americans and the British would dose their military with their version of a sleep-depriving stimulant called amphetamine Benzedrine. Seeing this, the Soviet researchers took the situation to their heart and wanted to do something bigger and better than the rest of the nations which could keep the military troops awake for a longer duration of 15 days.
We all know how hard it is to experiment and hurt our own people even if it leads to our growth. Hence, the Soviet researchers were ready to experiment and test their sleep-depriving stimulants on the prisoners who belonged to the enemy nations. These 5 unfortunate poor souls were taken out of the prison and taken to a highly secure, compact, and far away gas chamber where no one could ever find out about this experiment. The researchers had installed cameras inside the chamber and had set a microphone for communication purposes. There was also a small hole drilled safely into the chamber for the stimulant gas discovered by the Soviet researchers to enter the chamber and oxygen was also being provided alongside. An oxygen meter was set outside the chamber to check the oxygen levels while the 5 subjects were present inside the gas chamber.
The glass window inside the chamber was so strong and opaque that only the researchers could look inside the chamber and the 5 subjects can not even have a small glance of what was present outside. The 5 prisoners were informed that they had to stay awake for a duration of 30 days and they were falsely promised that if they do survive and stay awake, they’d be immediately freed after a period of 30 days. The subjects were provided beds to sleep in, not-so-good food to eat, and toilets for use. For the initial 3 days, the experiment was running smoothly and as planned until on the 4th day something unusual and eerie happened.
One of the subjects on the 4th day of the research experiment started screaming so loud that it’d damage the tympanum (ear drum) of the ear. The subject shouted unusually at the top of their lungs and died in the next few days. After the death of one of the subjects, there was unusual silence inside the chamber. The researchers were concerned about this but they trusted the oxygen levels shown on the oxygen meter and did not bother checking the chamber for a few more days. The camera became almost opaque and on the 15th day of the experiment, the researchers announced in the microphone warning the subjects - “Everyone inside step aside and move back when we enter the chamber. If anyone of you disobeys the warning, they’d be killed and no one would be freed.” To this, the researchers hear a voice saying “Don’t free us and let us consume this stimulant.” The researchers were unsure as to the reason for this was their addiction to the stimulant or their giving up on themselves. The researchers then finally enter the gas chamber accompanied by a few Soviet soldiers and find something very horrifying and disgusting.
They see that the subjects have torn their skin apart and were consuming organs of each other. This cannibalism act made the researchers and the soldiers break out in cold sweats. One of the soldiers gathered up courage and went closer to one of the subjects and as expected was killed by the subject. 5 such soldiers lost their lives trying to prevent the subjects from performing mutilation to themselves and others. The subjects were not ready to step out of the gas chamber and were demanding more of the stimulant. Another subject dies in this incident and now 3 were remaining.
The Soviet government asked the researchers to admit the 3 subjects to the hospital and seek the doctor’s help to stitch up the wounds, the subjects had caused to themselves. 2 subjects among the 3 die during the surgery. The last one was seen smirking even in such a critical condition and demanded the stimulant. It looked like the subject enjoyed being cut during the surgery. The researchers were then asked to keep the last subject in observation again in the gas chamber and provide him with the stimulant.
The researchers couldn’t tolerate all this and were planning to terminate this Russian sleep experiment. They were not prepared to stay with the subject for more days and see all such scary and disgusting results due to the stimulant. Hence, one of the researchers shoots the soldier and then the last subject and runs away. The last subject was believed to be still alive even after being shot for 2 times. At last, when he dies, he was believed to utter these few words when asked what had the stimulant made him. He said - “I’m the evilest version of you humans. The version which every human wills to become but doesn’t do so because he’s not brave enough like me.”
What do you think of this horror fiction? Can this be a true story? According to my research, this story is purely fiction and clearly untrue for so many reasons. Firstly, how can the subjects survive after tearing apart their organs? Was there no bloodshed during this? Secondly, this story was discovered on a website called Creepypasta. This story holds no record in any of the Russian data. Thirdly, the plot of the story is so unclear that we can easily figure out how untrue this story is.
This story has its own book written by Holly Ice. There’s also a short movie available on the internet titled - ‘The Russian Sleep Experiment.’ There are so many different narrations of this very story and you’ll get surprised and amazed when you read each of its narrations.
What would you’ve done if you were given a chance to give your own taste to the story? What part of the plot would you have changed? Would it sound true after the alterations? Do let me know your opinion on the Russian sleep experiment.
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