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The Russian Sleep Experiment is a creepypasta story, meaning a horror-related urban legend that has circulated online. It describes how five test volunteers were given a sleep-inhibiting stimulant as part of a scientific study conducted in the Soviet Union in the 1940s.
Numerous news outlets, including Snopes, and News.com.au, attribute the story's origin to a user named OrangeSoda. The person uploaded this story on the Creepypasta Wiki on August 10, 2010. However, OrangeSoda's true identity is still a mystery.
Contrary to popular belief, the Russian sleep experiment is not a real story but a myth. The same is asserted in a video on The Infographics Show YouTube channel.
What is the story behind the famous Russian sleep experiment?
According to the legend, in 1947, Soviet scientists developed a stimulant (gas) that they claimed would allow soldiers to function without sleep for up to 30 days. To perform the task, they used five prisoners as test subjects for their new gas, promising them their release after the test was finished.
After sealing the five men in a room, they began pumping the gas in through the only outlet present. The men then started displaying paranoia and psychosis, common signs of sleep deprivation, within a few days. However, as time passed, their behavior became more abnormal.
After nine days, one subject started screaming violently for hours while the others remained silent. The man yelled for so long that his vocal cords were torn, leaving him mute. When the second one began to scream, the researchers started to peep in from the outlet. However, other subjects covered the hole with their feces to keep the researchers from peering inside.
After 15 days of the experiment, the thick glass of the chamber was unclear for the scientists to see or hear the men through the microphones. The chamber was completely silent. They then unbolted the door and let fresh air into the chamber. However, to their horror, they found one of the men dead and the other test subjects still alive with horrific, severe wounds, some of which appeared to be self-inflicted.
All individuals started to exhibit extraordinary strength, the ability to survive lethal traumas, resistance to anesthetics and sedatives, and a desperate desire to stay awake and receive the stimulant after being eventually removed from the chamber. It was also discovered that the subjects would die if they fell asleep.
The subjects were either unable to be sedated or died as soon as they lost consciousness. With three subjects already dead, the military commander ordered to lock the two remaining subjects and three additional researchers inside the chamber. The researcher of the Russian sleep experiment was scared and said he would not allow himself to be imprisoned in a room with monsters that could no longer be called people.
One of the researchers shot the mute subject and the commander in the head and fled the room. With only one subject left, the military wanted him to be free. However, he was reluctant to leave. When asked why, he said that they stood for the evil that resides in all people but is often restrained by sleep but now had been let loose by their constant awakeness.
The Russian sleep experiment is actually not real and never really happened
Russian sleep experiment is a well-known urban legend that first surfaced on the "creepypasta" platform in the early 2010s. However, there is no stimulant that is guaranteed to keep users awake for 30 days. Additionally, stimulants do not typically transform their users into unstoppable wild animals.
Many videos on YouTube uploaded by channels like The Infographics Show claim that the Russian sleep experiment has its roots in fiction. This is because, for starters, the story's sole source appears to be a website devoted to sharing spooky and made-up tales.
Experts have also quickly debunked the entire story. Sources such as Men's Health, and Dr. Po-Chang Hsu, an internal medicine specialist and medical content expert at SleepingOcean, said no scientific evidence supports the claim that a particular gas can keep someone awake for 30 days.
"Some drugs and high caffeine dosages may grant a couple of days without shut-eye, but 30 is impossible," Dr. Hsu said.
Furthermore, according to Dr. Hsu, this Russian sleep experiment is not plausible because of how sleep deprivation affects the brain.
“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”.
When the sleep experiment first appeared online, it quickly went viral and sparked a discussion about whether the report was true. Other countries during the Soviet era thought the Soviets carried out covert experiments. However, it was proven to be a work of fiction.
Furthermore, no one can survive being awake for 30 days. The longest reported period without sleep is approximately 264 hours, or slightly more than 11 days, according to sources like Home & Texture. Even though humans can survive without sleep for almost 11 days, the effects of sleep deprivation show extremely fast.
