WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.879 --> 00:00:06.240 What if I told you that in the late nineteen forties, 2 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:10.080 Soviet scientists locked five political prisoners in a sealed chamber 3 00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:13.839 for fifteen days and refused to let them sleep. That 4 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:16.800 they pumped in a powerful stimulant gas designed to keep 5 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:21.559 the subjects awake, indefinitely, monitoring their every word, every breath, 6 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:23.960 and waiting for them to see what would happen to 7 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:29.239 the mind when it was completely deprived of rest. Now 8 00:00:29.239 --> 00:00:31.760 this is the center of the story known as the 9 00:00:31.879 --> 00:00:36.200 Russian Sleep Experiment, and it's been shared across forums, blogs, 10 00:00:36.359 --> 00:00:40.280 YouTube narrations, reddit threads, even used as an inspiration for 11 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:43.479 short films in indie horror games, and for over a 12 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:46.679 decade it has remained one of the most iconic creepy 13 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:51.679 pasta stories, a type of online urban legend crafted to 14 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:56.079 disturb us. For a while, many readers thought it was real. 15 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:01.759 The story was presented as a declassified document. It was clinical, detached, 16 00:01:01.799 --> 00:01:04.799 and written the tone of someone reporting facts instead of 17 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:09.000 inventing fiction. Now it doesn't name its author. It uses 18 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:13.319 just enough historical references like Cold War era Soviet science, 19 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:17.680 secret experiments, military oversight. It just gave it a layer 20 00:01:17.719 --> 00:01:21.640 of the unsettling premise that this could be real and 21 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:25.319 it feels like a leaf government file. The story first 22 00:01:25.319 --> 00:01:28.680 surfaced online in twenty ten on the Creepy Pasta wiki, 23 00:01:28.840 --> 00:01:32.959 posted by a user named Orange Soda. Like many creepy 24 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:37.280 Pasta stories, it was anonymous, freely shared, and never intended 25 00:01:37.319 --> 00:01:40.359 to be a part of the public record, but it 26 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:43.760 caught on right in the era where my interest in 27 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:47.760 Internet stories was at its peak. In this episode, we're 28 00:01:47.799 --> 00:01:50.280 going to be exploring the full story of the Russian 29 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:55.439 sleep experiment. After many email requests, comments, and dms. I'll 30 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:57.480 tell you where it came from, how it spread, and 31 00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:02.200 what real science says about its claims. Also, what makes 32 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:06.680 this particular horror story endure so long after its first telling. 33 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:12.080 So let's begin and just the heads up, this episode 34 00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:15.719 is pretty graphic. It's fiction, but it's still pretty graphic, 35 00:02:15.879 --> 00:02:18.280 So if you're sensitive to that kind of thing, please 36 00:02:18.360 --> 00:02:22.439 take care of while listening to the story. My name 37 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:29.319 is Edwin and here's a horror story. Russian researchers in 38 00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:33.000 the late nineteen forties kept five people awake for fifteen 39 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:37.080 days using an experimental gas based stimulant. They were kept 40 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:40.560 in a sealed environment to carefully monitor their oxygen intake. 41 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:43.039 That way, the gas didn't kill them, since it was 42 00:02:43.080 --> 00:02:48.120 toxic in high concentrations. This was before close circuit cameras, 43 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:51.240 so they had only microphones and five inch thick glass 44 00:02:51.319 --> 00:02:55.919 porthole sized windows into the chamber to monitor them. The 45 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:58.759 chamber was stocked with books and cots to sleep on, 46 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:02.280 but no bedding, as well as running water, a toilet, 47 00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:04.840 and enough dried food to last all five of them 48 00:03:04.919 --> 00:03:09.240 for over a month. The test subjects were political prisoners 49 00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:13.479 deemed enemies of the state during World War Two. Everything 50 00:03:13.560 --> 00:03:16.639 was fine for the first five days. The subjects hardly complained, 51 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:20.159 having been promised falsely that they would be freed if 52 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:22.280 they submitted to the test and did not sleep for 53 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:26.479 thirty days. The conversations and activities were monitored, and it 54 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:29.680 was noted that they continued to talk about increasingly traumatic 55 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:33.800 incidents in their past. The general tone of their conversations 56 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:36.639 took on a darker aspect after the four day mark. 57 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:41.439 After five days, they started to complain about the circumstances 58 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:43.599 and events that led them to where they were and 59 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:47.879 started to demonstrate severe paranoia. They stopped talking to each 60 00:03:47.879 --> 00:03:51.159 other and began alternately whispering into the microphones and the 61 00:03:51.159 --> 00:03:54.960 one way mirrored portholes. Oddly, they all seemed to think 62 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:57.319 that they would win the trust of the experimenters by 63 00:03:57.319 --> 00:04:01.439 turning over their comrades. The other subjects in activity with them. 64 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:04.400 At first, the researchers suspected this was an effect of 65 00:04:04.439 --> 00:04:08.919 the gaes itself. After nine days, the first of them 66 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:12.919 started screaming. He ran the length of the chamber, repeatedly 67 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:16.040 yelling at the top of his lungs for three hours straight, 68 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:19.800 at which point he continued attempting to scream, but was 69 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:24.360 only able to produce occasional squeaks. The researchers postulated that 70 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:29.480 he had physically torn his vocal cords. The most surprising 71 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:32.800 thing about this behavior was how the other captives reacted 72 00:04:32.839 --> 00:04:37.160 to it, or rather didn't react to it. They continued 73 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:40.160 whispering into the microphones until the second of the captives 74 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:43.839 started to scream. The two non screaming captives took the 75 00:04:43.879 --> 00:04:47.800 books apart, smeared page after page with their own feces, 76 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:52.680 and paged them calmly over the glass portholes. The screaming 77 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:59.399 promptly stopped, so did the whispering into the microphones. After 78 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:03.000 three more days pass the researchers checked the microphones hourly 79 00:05:03.079 --> 00:05:05.199 to make sure they were working, since they thought it 80 00:05:05.240 --> 00:05:10.000 impossible that no sound could be occurring with five people inside. 81 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:13.399 The oxygen consumption in the chamber indicated that all five 82 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:16.279 must still be alive. In fact, it was the amount 83 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:19.079 of oxygen five people would continue to consume at a 84 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:23.600 very heavy level of strain as exercise. On the morning 85 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:26.680 of the fourteenth day, the researchers did something they said 86 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:29.319 they would not do to get a reaction from the captives. 87 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:33.160 They used to intercom inside the chamber, hoping to provoke 88 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:36.000 any response from the people they were afraid were either 89 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:41.279 dead or vegetables. The announced we were opening the chamber 90 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:44.279 to test the microphones. Step away from the door and 91 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:46.639 lie flat on the floor, or you will be shot. 92 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:53.040 Compliance your immediate freedom. To their surprise, they heard a 93 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:57.360 calm voice respond in a single phrase, we no longer 94 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:02.680 want to be freedom. The bay broke out amongst the 95 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:06.759 researchers and the military forces funding the research. Unable to 96 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.720 provoke any more response using the intercom, it was finally 97 00:06:09.720 --> 00:06:13.199 decided to open the chamber at midnight of the fifteenth day, 98 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:17.959 the chamber was flushed of the stimulant gas and filled 99 00:06:17.959 --> 00:06:22.360 with fresh air, and immediately voices from the microphones began 100 00:06:22.439 --> 00:06:27.000 to object. Three different voices began begging, as if pleading 101 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:29.959 for life of loved ones, to turn the gas back on. 102 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:34.000 The chamber was opened and the soldiers were sent in 103 00:06:34.120 --> 00:06:37.920 to retrieve the test subjects. They began to scream louder 104 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:40.319 than ever, and so did the soldiers when they sobble 105 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:45.920 was inside. Four of the five subjects were still alive, 106 00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:48.720 although no one could rightly call the state that any 107 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:52.839 of them were in life. The food rations past day 108 00:06:52.920 --> 00:06:56.360 five had not been so much as touched. There were 109 00:06:56.439 --> 00:06:59.199 chunks of meat from the dead test subject's thighs and 110 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:02.000 chest stuffed into the drain in the center of the chamber, 111 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:05.920 blocking it and allowing four inches of water to accumulate 112 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:09.279 on the floor. Precisely how much of the water on 113 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:14.079 the floor was actually blood was never determined. All four 114 00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:17.639 surviving test subjects also had large portion of muscle and 115 00:07:17.720 --> 00:07:22.079 skin torn away from their bodies. The destruction of flesh 116 00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:25.439 and exposed bone on their fingertips indicated that the wounds 117 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:28.720 were inflicted by hand, not with teeth, as the researchers 118 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:33.399 initially thought. Closer examination of the position and angles of 119 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:36.759 the wounds indicated that most, if not all, of them 120 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:42.199 were self inflicted. The abdominal organs below the rib cage 121 00:07:42.199 --> 00:07:46.879 of all four test subjects had been removed, while the heart, lungs, 122 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:49.879 and diaphragm remained in place. The skin and most of 123 00:07:49.879 --> 00:07:52.319 the muscles attached to the ribs had been ripped off, 124 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:55.720 exposing the lungs through the rib cage. All the blood 125 00:07:55.800 --> 00:07:59.319 vessels and organs remained intact, but had been taken out 126 00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:02.439 and laid on the floor, fanning out around the inviscerated 127 00:08:02.519 --> 00:08:06.800 but still living bodies of the subjects. The digestive tract 128 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:10.639 of all four could be seen to be working digesting food. 129 00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:15.319 It quickly became apparent that what they were digesting was 130 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.279 their own flesh that they had ripped off and eaten 131 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:22.399 over the course of days. Most of the soldiers were 132 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:26.319 Russian special operatives at the facility, but still many refused 133 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:28.920 to return to the chamber to remove the test subjects. 134 00:08:29.959 --> 00:08:32.600 Subjects themselves continued to screen to be left in the 135 00:08:32.679 --> 00:08:35.440 chamber and begged and demanded that the gas be turned 136 00:08:35.480 --> 00:08:41.240 back on lest they fall asleep. To everyone's surprise, the 137 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:43.879 test subjects put up a fierce fight in the process 138 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:47.320 of being removed from the chamber. One of the Russian 139 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:50.559 soldiers died from having his throat ripped out, and another 140 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:54.360 was gravely injured by having his testicles ripped off and 141 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:57.279 an artery and his legs severed by one of the 142 00:08:57.320 --> 00:09:01.039 subject's teeth. Another five of the the soldiers lost their 143 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:03.399 lives if you count the ones that committed suicide in 144 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:07.159 the weeks following the incident. In the struggle, one of 145 00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:09.840 the four living subjects had a splened of ruptured and 146 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:14.879 bled out almost immediately. The medical researchers attempted to sedate him, 147 00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:18.960 but this proved impossible. He was injected with more than 148 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:21.919 ten times a human doze of a morphine derivative and 149 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:25.919 still fought like a cornered animal, breaking the ribs and 150 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:30.159 arms of one doctor. His heart was seen to beat 151 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:32.600 for a full two minutes after he had bled out, 152 00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:34.519 to the point that there was more air in his 153 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:38.919 vascular system than blood. Even after it stopped, he continued 154 00:09:38.919 --> 00:09:42.279 to scream and flail for another three minutes, struggling to 155 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:46.639 attack anyone in reach, just repeating the word more over 156 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:51.720 and over, weaker and weaker, until he finally fell silent. 157 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:57.080 The surviving three subjects were heavily restrained and moved to 158 00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:01.519 a medical facility, the two with intec vocal cords continuously 159 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:06.559 begging for the gas, demanding to be kept awake. The 160 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:09.080 most injured of the three was taken to the only 161 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:13.200 surgical operating room that the facility had. In the process 162 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:15.960 of preparing the subject to have his organs placed back 163 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:19.519 within his body, it was found that he was effectively 164 00:10:19.720 --> 00:10:22.639 immune to the sedative they had given him to prepare 165 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:26.799 him for the surgery. He fought furiously against his restraints. 166 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:30.000 When the anesthetic gas was brought out to put him under, 167 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:33.679 he managed to tear most of the way through a 168 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:37.559 four inch wide leather strap on one wrist, even though 169 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:40.039 the weight of a two hundred pounds soldier was holding 170 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:43.240 that wrist. It took only a little more anesthetic than 171 00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:46.320 normal to put him under, and the instant his eyelids 172 00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:52.000 fluttered and closed, his heart stopped. In the autopsy of 173 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:54.440 the test subject that died on the operating table, it 174 00:10:54.519 --> 00:10:57.159 was found that his blood had tripled the normal level 175 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:00.320 of oxygen. The muscles that were still at t attached 176 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:03.519 to a skeleton, were badly torn, and he had broken 177 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:07.240 nine bones in his struggle to not be subdued. Most 178 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:09.320 of them were from the forest his own muscles had 179 00:11:09.320 --> 00:11:13.080 exerted on them. The second survivor had been the first 180 00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:16.240 of the group of five to start screaming. His vocal 181 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:19.720 cords destroyed, he was unable to beg or object for surgery, 182 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:22.480 and he only reacted by shaking his head violently in 183 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:26.000 disapproval when the anesthetic gas was brought out near him. 184 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:29.759 He shook his head yes when someone suggested reluctantly that 185 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:32.879 they should try the surgery without anesthetic, and did not 186 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:36.080 react for the entire six hour procedure of replacing his 187 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:39.919 abdominal organs and attempting to cover them with what remained 188 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:44.360 of his skin. The surgeon presiding stated repeatedly that it 189 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:47.200 should not be medically possible for the patient to still 190 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:52.279 be alive when terrified. Nerves assisting the surgery stated that 191 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:55.240 she had seen the patient's mouth curl into a smile 192 00:11:55.320 --> 00:12:01.360 several times whenever his eyes met hers. When the surgery ended, 193 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:04.679 the subject looked at the surgeon and began to wheeze loudly. 194 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:09.440 Attempting to talk while struggling. Assuming this must be something 195 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:12.840 of drastic importance, the surgeon had a pen and pad 196 00:12:12.919 --> 00:12:15.639 and fetched to the patients so he could write the message. 197 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:23.440 It was simple keep cutting. The other two test subjects 198 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:26.639 were given the same surgery, both without anesthetic as well, 199 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:29.320 although they had to be injected with a paralytic for 200 00:12:29.399 --> 00:12:33.480 the duration of the operation. The surgeon found it impossible 201 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:38.559 to perform the operation while the patients laughed continuously. Once paralyzed, 202 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:42.120 the subjects could only follow the attending researchers with their eyes. 203 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:46.679 The paralytic cleared their system in an abnormally short period 204 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:49.759 of time, and they were soon trying to escape their bonds. 205 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:53.399 The moment they could speak, they were again asking for 206 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:58.320 the stimulant gas. The researchers tried, asking why they had 207 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:01.440 injured themselves, why they had out their own guts, and 208 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:05.080 why they wanted to be given the gas again. Only 209 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:11.840 one response was given, I must remain awake. All three 210 00:13:11.879 --> 00:13:14.919 subjects restraints were reinforced and they were placed back into 211 00:13:14.919 --> 00:13:18.039 the chamber, awaiting determination as to what should be done 212 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:22.919 with them. The researchers, facing the wrath of their military benefactors, 213 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:26.080 for having failed the stated goals of the project, considered 214 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:32.240 euthanizing the surviving subjects. The commanding officer and EXKGB instead 215 00:13:32.279 --> 00:13:35.080 saw potential and wanted to see what would happen if 216 00:13:35.080 --> 00:13:39.960 they were put back on the gas. The researchers strongly objected, 217 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:46.919 but they were overruled. In preparation for being sealed in 218 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:50.000 the chamber again, the subjects were connected to an EEG 219 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:53.559 monitor and had the restraints padded for long term confinement. 220 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:57.919 To everyone's surprise, all three stopped struggling the moment it 221 00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:00.279 was let slip that they were going back on the gas. 222 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:03.960 It was obvious that at this point all three were 223 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:08.200 putting up a great struggle to stay awake. One of 224 00:14:08.200 --> 00:14:11.480 the subjects that could speak was humming loudly and continuously. 225 00:14:11.879 --> 00:14:14.480 The mute subject was straining his legs against the leather 226 00:14:14.600 --> 00:14:18.559 bonds with all his might, first left, then right, then 227 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:22.559 left again for something to focus on. The remaining subject 228 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:25.360 was holding his head off his pillow and blinking rapidly. 229 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:29.600 Having been the first to be wired to the EEG machine, 230 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:32.919 most of the researchers were monitoring his brainwaves. In surprise, 231 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:37.559 they were normal most of the time. But sometimes flatlined inexplicably. 232 00:14:38.440 --> 00:14:41.120 It looked as if he were repeatedly suffering brain death 233 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:45.519 before returning to normal As to focus on paper scrolling 234 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:48.960 out of the brainwave monitor, only one nurse saw the 235 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:52.240 man's eyes slip shut at the same moment his head 236 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:56.240 hit the pillow. His brain waves immediately changed that of 237 00:14:56.320 --> 00:14:59.480 deep sleep and then flat lined for the last time 238 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:04.960 as his heart art simultaneously stopped. The only remaining subject 239 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:07.720 that could speak started screaming to be sealed in. Now, 240 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:10.799 his brain waves showed the same flat lines as the 241 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:14.679 one who had just died from falling asleep. The commander 242 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:17.720 gave the order to seal the chamber with both subjects inside, 243 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:21.240 as well as three researchers. One of the name three 244 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:24.080 immediately drew his gun and shot the commander point blank 245 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:26.639 between the eyes, then turned the gun on the mute 246 00:15:26.679 --> 00:15:30.039 subject and blew his brains out as well. He pointed 247 00:15:30.039 --> 00:15:32.799 his gun at the remaining subject, still restrained to a bed, 248 00:15:32.840 --> 00:15:35.639 as the remaining members of the medical research team fled 249 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:39.039 the room. I won't be locked in here with these things, 250 00:15:39.399 --> 00:15:42.039 not with you, he screamed that the man strapped at 251 00:15:42.039 --> 00:15:45.559 the table. What are you? He demanded, I must know. 252 00:15:46.519 --> 00:15:52.279 The subject smiled. Have you forgotten so easily? The subject asked? 253 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:57.799 We are you. We are the madness that lurks within you, 254 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:01.320 all begging to be free at every moment, in your 255 00:16:01.399 --> 00:16:06.000 deepest animal mind. We are what you hide from and 256 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:09.679 your beds every night. We are what used to date 257 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:13.039 into silence and paralysis when you go to the nocturnal 258 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:19.080 haven where we cannot tread. The researcher paused, and then 259 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:23.360 aimed at the subject's heart and fired. The EEG flat 260 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:31.960 lined as a subject weekly choked out so rearly fur 261 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:44.320 The earliest known version appeared on Creepy Pasta wiki in 262 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:48.240 August of twenty ten, without any accompanying explanation or context. 263 00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:52.120 That lack of framing is what made it so effective. 264 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:55.440 It read like a leaked report of a suppressed government 265 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:59.639 file shared anonymously online. It was long by creepy Pasta 266 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:03.399 stand far more detailed in structure than most, and didn't 267 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:07.400 have supernatural monsters or haunted objects. Instead, it relied on 268 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:11.200 something far more unsettling, the limits of the human body 269 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:18.000 and the darker corners of the human mind. Not long 270 00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:20.400 after it was posted, the story began to spread. It 271 00:17:20.440 --> 00:17:24.799 showed up on reddits, no Sleep, YouTube narrations again, horror forums, 272 00:17:24.839 --> 00:17:27.880 tumbler posts, and then within a year had become one 273 00:17:27.880 --> 00:17:31.200 of the most widely shared creepy pastas on the Internet. 274 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:35.519 Readers debated whether it could be real. Some swore it 275 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:38.680 was based on a real experiment. Others claim to have 276 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:42.200 seen the photo that proved it, and that photo, the 277 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:46.079 distorted humanoid figure with the pale skin, bulging eyes, and 278 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:49.960 twisted grin became permanently linked to the story. It was 279 00:17:50.039 --> 00:17:52.759 usually presented without explanation, and if you want to look 280 00:17:52.759 --> 00:17:58.279 for it, it's called spasm spazm dot PNG. That's what is 281 00:17:58.359 --> 00:18:00.960 usually labeled as it supposed to show one of the 282 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:05.319 surviving test subjects. In reality, though the images of a 283 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:08.720 Halloween prop. It's a magnequin design for a horror attraction, 284 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:12.279 not an actual photograph of a medical experiment, But it 285 00:18:12.359 --> 00:18:15.680 served its purpose. It made the fiction feel like fat. 286 00:18:17.960 --> 00:18:20.519 This kind of digital myth making isn't unique to the 287 00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:24.599 Russian Sleep experiment. Stories like the slender Man, Jeff the Killer, 288 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:29.839 and Ben Drowned all gained traction in similar ways. Anonymous postings, 289 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:33.359 viral sharing, and just enough realism to make people question 290 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:36.960 what they were reading now. What sets the Russian Sleep 291 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:41.559 Experiment apart is how effectively it mimics official language. He 292 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:46.200 uses all these medical terms, military structure, and psychological concepts 293 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:50.359 with just enough plausibility it's going to draw readers in. 294 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:55.920 It also avoids a clear narrative voice, just cold, procedural horror. 295 00:18:57.000 --> 00:18:59.720 It plays on our fear of what institutions are capable 296 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:02.920 of when they operate in secrecy, and it echoes real 297 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:07.759 world atrocities like Project mk Ultra, the CIA's mind controlled experiments, 298 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:10.960 or the war crimes committed by Unit seven thirty one, 299 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:15.079 a covert Japanese biological warfare unit during World War Two. 300 00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:22.480 It feels like it could be true. Let's step back 301 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:25.240 from the horror for a moment and ask a simple question, 302 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:28.839 what actually happened to the human body and mind when 303 00:19:28.839 --> 00:19:33.000 we don't sleep? In reality, the effects of sleep deprivation 304 00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:36.920 are well documented. Scientists have actually studied it for decades, 305 00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:39.400 and while no one has ever tried to keep people 306 00:19:39.480 --> 00:19:43.599 awake for thirty days under gas and military supervision, we 307 00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:46.680 do know what happens to the brain when it's deprived 308 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:50.160 of rest or even a short amount of time. After 309 00:19:50.200 --> 00:19:55.480 just twenty four hours without sleep, most people experience reduced concentration, irritability, 310 00:19:55.680 --> 00:19:59.680 slower reaction times, and impair judgment. It becomes harder to 311 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:04.880 pros as information or make decisions. You feel foggy, emotionally unstable, 312 00:20:05.240 --> 00:20:09.680 and drained. After forty eight to seventy two hours, the 313 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:14.079 effects become more severe. People begin to experience micro sleeps, 314 00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:17.559 brief and voluntary lapses in consciousness that last just a 315 00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:21.119 few seconds. The brain is so desperate for rest that 316 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:24.119 it shuts down small sections of itself while the rest 317 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:28.880 of you remains awake. Now by the third day, hallucinations 318 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:32.519 often begin. Some people report seeing shadows moving at the 319 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:35.839 edge of their vision, hearing phantom sounds, or feeling like 320 00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:40.599 the surroundings are shifting. Mood swings become extreme, and logic 321 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:45.359 breaks down. By the fourth or fifth day, the brain 322 00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:50.119 may start to lose its grip on reality entirely. Paranoia, delusions, 323 00:20:50.119 --> 00:20:54.440 and full blown psychosis can emerge. People begin to misinterpret 324 00:20:54.440 --> 00:20:57.640 events and perceive threats where none exist. They may become 325 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:03.720 more aggressive, unpredictable, or to sociative in extreme cases. For long, 326 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:06.519 sleep deprivation has been used as a form of torture. 327 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:11.559 It disorients, destabilizes, and eventually breaks down the ability to resist. 328 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:16.519 But even under those conditions, what happens is psychological collapse, 329 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:23.160 not supernatural transformation. The longest scientifically documented period a person 330 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:26.920 has voluntarily stayed awake these eleven days or two hundred 331 00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:31.119 and sixty four hours. That record belongs to Randy Gardner, 332 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:33.680 a high school student who did it in nineteen sixty 333 00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:37.359 four as part of a science fair experiment. By the end, 334 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:42.440 he was mentally and physically impaired, experiencing hallucinations, memory lapses, 335 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:45.960 and slurred speech, but he made a full recovery after sleeping. 336 00:21:47.960 --> 00:21:50.319 There is no known case in medical history of someone 337 00:21:50.359 --> 00:21:53.920 remaining awake for fifteen or thirty days and surviving in 338 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:57.799 any functional state. The body simply would not allow it. 339 00:21:59.160 --> 00:22:02.000 What about the stories more grotesque claims, right, like people 340 00:22:02.119 --> 00:22:05.160 ripping out their own organs or continuing to function after 341 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:08.440 the heart has stopped, Well, those are just medically impossible. 342 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:12.519 The story's portrayal of people immune to anesthesia or screaming 343 00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:16.119 minutes after death crosses the line into body horror, a 344 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:21.759 deliberate exaggeration designed to disturb and not really inform sleep 345 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:25.400 is one of the most essential, vulnerable parts of human life. 346 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:28.839 We spend nearly a third of our lives unconscious, unguarded, 347 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:32.720 and unaware. And the idea that's something anything could interfere 348 00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:34.640 with that cycle, and that could trap us in our 349 00:22:34.680 --> 00:22:39.720 own waking nightmare, it's terrifying. The story takes that fear 350 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:42.680 and magnifies it. It shows us what might happen if 351 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:45.880 the mind was stretched past that breaking point, and it says, 352 00:22:46.119 --> 00:22:49.839 this is what's hiding beneath the surface of your consciousness, 353 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:57.279 just you without sleep, sanity, or limits. The Russian Sleep 354 00:22:57.319 --> 00:22:59.960 Experiment is just a horror story about an ethical time 355 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:03.839 scientific trials gone terribly wrong. But beneath that gore and 356 00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:06.960 the gas, it's doing something more deliberate. It's exploring a 357 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:11.000 set of psychological and philosophical fears that have haunted humanity 358 00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:14.680 long before the Internet gave them form. So here are 359 00:23:14.680 --> 00:23:18.039 two themes, right, Let's start with the central one, madness. 360 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:21.279 What makes part of the story terrifying is the sense 361 00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:24.559 that people inside the chamber have lost their minds, and worse, 362 00:23:25.079 --> 00:23:28.160 they know it, and they don't fight to escape. They 363 00:23:28.200 --> 00:23:30.960 fight to stay awake, and when given the chance to 364 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:34.920 be freed, They say, no, this is completely opposite to 365 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:37.680 what we're used to. Normally, a victim wants to survive, 366 00:23:37.880 --> 00:23:41.559 to escape the threat, but here the threat becomes sleep itself, 367 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:44.519 the one thing we all need to survive, So that 368 00:23:44.599 --> 00:23:49.000 reversal is very unsettling. Are that second major theme is 369 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:52.640 control or the loss of it. The prisoners agree to 370 00:23:52.680 --> 00:23:55.640 the experiment because they've been promised freedom, but it's a 371 00:23:55.640 --> 00:23:58.680 false promise. Right from the beginning. They are being controlled 372 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:02.440 by the researchers, the ask the confinement, and eventually by 373 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:07.559 their own unraveling mind. Even the researchers lose control, they 374 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:10.519 said the conditions they oversee the experiment, but as things 375 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:14.599 are going wrong, they're powerless to stop it. Their protocols fail, 376 00:24:15.160 --> 00:24:18.200 and their moral boundaries collapse. By the end, they're just 377 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:20.759 as complicit as a gas that broke the subjects down. 378 00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:23.480 I don't know about you, but the part about the 379 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:26.039 last subject that is asked about what he is, and 380 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:28.559 he says, we are you. We are the madness that 381 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:31.640 lurks within you, all begging to be free at every 382 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:35.400 moment in your deepest animal mind. It just brought me 383 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:38.119 back to when I first heard it that feeling that 384 00:24:38.200 --> 00:24:41.400 something's off, not because it's completely different or impossible, but 385 00:24:41.480 --> 00:24:45.039 because it's almost normal, like a warped mirror of what 386 00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:49.039 we recognize. It's what we call the uncanny, and that 387 00:24:49.079 --> 00:24:52.440 it's in ourselves basically. In this story, what scared me 388 00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:55.400 the most was the way consciousness becomes its own enemy, 389 00:24:55.880 --> 00:24:58.240 and the way the human need to stay alive becomes 390 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:02.400 a compulsion that destroys the now. That's the horror that 391 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:06.079 is always capable inside of all of us, that mindset. 392 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:11.920 It's the scariest part. Now, more than a decade after 393 00:25:11.960 --> 00:25:15.000 it first appeared online, the Russian Sleep Experiment is still 394 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:18.039 one of the most well known creepy pastas in existence, 395 00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:21.720 and unlike many viral stories that burn out quickly, this 396 00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:25.799 one has stuck around. It continues to resurface the new forms, 397 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:29.839 new platforms, shared by new generations of readers, who often 398 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:34.759 encounter it with the same question is this real? Is 399 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:38.440 it the first time you hear about it? Now? I 400 00:25:38.519 --> 00:25:40.720 like to think of the Russian Sleep Experiment as a 401 00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:44.400