Russian Sleep Experiment - EXPLAINED — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00A Russian researcher enters a room where he expects to see his human test subjects alive
2. 0:04and well.
3. 0:05Instead, he witnesses absolute pandemonium; he hears the screams of the damned and in
4. 0:10front of him is a body that has been torn apart and eviscerated.
5. 0:14It looks as though the anti-Christ himself has been in the room.
6. 0:17Even the survivors have had chunks of flesh ripped from their arms and legs.
7. 0:20The ends of their fingers show exposed bone; their faces are sheared of skin.
8. 0:25“What is this inferno of madness?!,” thinks that researcher.
9. 0:28“Err, this wasn’t exactly how the experiment was supposed to turn out,” he thinks.
10. 0:32“Ok, the food wasn’t great, we might have made those beds a bit more comfortable, but
11. 0:36tearing each other to shreds over a bit of lost sleep…Come on guys- that’s not very
12. 0:40Comrade of you.”
13. 0:42That nightmare scenario is straight out of the famous Russian Sleep Experiment, if you
14. 0:46believe it really happened.
15. 0:48Let’s start from the beginning of the story and then we’ll tell you what our team of
16. 0:51world-class sleuths dug up on the truth behind this horrific experiment.
17. 0:56So, it’s the late 1940s and Soviet-era researchers have created a stimulant that they believe
18. 1:01can keep a person awake for a long time, which is handy when you are fighting a war.
19. 1:05In the second world war, the Germans had their version of such a stimulant, which was a formidable
20. 1:10methamphetamine called Pervitin.
21. 1:12The Americans and the British would dose their troops with the amphetamine Benzedrine, which
22. 1:16was similar to your garden variety speed.
23. 1:19The Soviets are looking to up the ante and use their own version of a drug which won’t
24. 1:23lead to a total wipe out after a three-day binge.
25. 1:26They’ve made something special, but they need to test it on humans first.
26. 1:30It’s not hard to find test subjects since prisoners of war were aplenty in the 1940s,
27. 1:35and where prisoners were concerned, bypassing ethical considerations wasn’t such a big
28. 1:40deal.
29. 1:41They set up a test area where five subjects will stay.
30. 1:43It’s a sealed environment into which the researchers can release the stimulant in gas
31. 1:47form and check if the levels of oxygen are ok.
32. 1:50The subjects have been given dried food, each a bed with no bedding, running water and a
33. 1:54toilet.
34. 1:55The researchers listen to the subjects through a microphone and there are cameras through
35. 1:58which they can monitor the subjects.
36. 2:00The only portholes to the outside are five-inch thick glass windows, which are barely good
37. 2:05enough to see a shadow from.
38. 2:06The scene is set and the five men seem in good spirits for the first three days.
39. 2:11The gas is doing its job and the researchers are pleased about that.
40. 2:15One researcher tells another, “Nazi meth, what a joke, just wait until the world sees
41. 2:19what we’ve cooked up.
42. 2:20Comrade Stalin will be most pleased.”
43. 2:22The subjects have agreed to try and stay awake for 30 days, and have been falsely informed
44. 2:27that if they can make the 30 days they will get their freedom.
45. 2:30Such a deal seems fair to them.
46. 2:32Things turn slightly dark around the four-day mark when the subjects start discussing war
47. 2:36and the horrors they have seen.
48. 2:38They speak of traumas, continual nightmares, other ghastly things they witnessed.
49. 2:42Day 5 and things get worse.
50. 2:45The men start showing signs of psychosis, talking to themselves and to things that are
51. 2:49not there.
52. 2:50They grow paranoid of each other and start whispering into those microphones, telling
53. 2:53stories about the other subjects.
54. 2:55The researchers of course know all about sleep deprivation.
55. 2:58After five days the mind can turn on a person; hallucinations can seem real and horrifying.
56. 3:04But, they wondered, was it the loss of sleep or the gas itself.
57. 3:08Suspicions about the gas effects were more solid at day nine, when one guy just starting
58. 3:14screaming; howling like a banshee and running up and down the room.
59. 3:17He screamed so much he seemed to tear his vocal cords, because after a few hours he
60. 3:21squeaked like a children’s toy.
61. 3:23A few more days passed and there was an eerie silence.
62. 3:26The men could not be seen from the cameras.
63. 3:28They were alive for sure, since the oxygen levels indicated five breathing men.
64. 3:32But where were there?
65. 3:34The researchers hadn’t wanted to interrupt the study but they felt they had no choice,
66. 3:38and so said into an intercom: “We are opening the chamber to test the
67. 3:41microphones; step away from the door and lie flat on the floor or you will be shot.
68. 3:46Compliance will earn one of you your immediate freedom.”
69. 3:48They heard one voice respond.
70. 3:50It said, “We no longer want to be freed.”
71. 3:53What was this?
72. 3:54Had they been getting ripped on that gas and were now addicted?
73. 3:56The researchers said there’s nothing we can do but open the door.
74. 3:59They opened the vents and let fresh air displace the residual stimulant.
75. 4:03What the researchers heard next was the men screaming again, pleading for more of that
76. 4:08damn fine gas.
77. 4:09“W-t-f,” thought one of the Russians, “those guys are seriously hooked.”
78. 4:13They opened the doors on Day 15 and to their surprise saw one man was dead.
79. 4:17You know what the scene looked like because we laid that out for you in the intro, but
80. 4:21we didn’t tell you what happened shortly after the gruesome discovery of the half-eaten
81. 4:25man and the wounded survivors.
82. 4:27On closer inspection the researchers saw that the wounds on the men were very bad.
83. 4:31They looked as if they might have been self-inflicted, too.
84. 4:33They had torn the skin and muscles from their own chests, which revealed the horrific sight
85. 4:38of the men’s lungs.
86. 4:40Each man it seemed had performed this macabre surgery on himself.
87. 4:44Blood vessels that were still working, had been removed.
88. 4:46Other internal organs were seen laid out on the floor like a piece of art, and the men
89. 4:50were going to eat those morsels.
90. 4:52They were dining on their own bodies, and doing it with enthusiasm.
91. 4:56The researchers called for back-up, not daring to go near those poor wretches.
92. 4:59They closed the door to howls of the men pleading for that gas to come back.
93. 5:03When soldiers arrived to help remove the subjects, the extrication process wasn’t exactly fun.
94. 5:08One of the subjects ripped a man’s throat right out, while another soldier had his balls
95. 5:13removed.
96. 5:14Five soldiers lost their lives in total, but some of the victims took their own lives after
97. 5:17the event.
98. 5:18Once the subjects were out, the doctors injected enough morphine into them to sedate a Canadian
99. 5:23moose, but the men still fought like wild beasts.
100. 5:26One subject bled out and his heart stopped beating, but he still carried on screaming,
101. 5:30“Give me gas, I need gas.”
102. 5:33A doctor had some bones broken during that grim spectacle.
103. 5:36The three others were eventually sedated and strapped and moved to a secure facility.
104. 5:41The researchers talked to each other saying things like, “That wasn’t meant to happen,
105. 5:44was it?”
106. 5:45They hated to admit it, but maybe the Nazis, the Brits and the Americans had done the right
107. 5:50thing in just plying their troops with top-notch crank.
108. 5:53The surgeons got to work on putting the missing organs and bits of viscera back in one man,
109. 5:57but this guy almost broke through his restraints.
110. 6:00When the docs finally got the anesthetic into him, the man’s heart stopped and he died
111. 6:03right on the spot.
112. 6:05The autopsy showed he had broken nine bones and his muscles were torn all over his body.
113. 6:09When they tried to fix up the next man they decided two deaths were enough and didn’t
114. 6:13use an anesthetic.
115. 6:14They patched him up nice, sewing up his ruptured organs and laying skins graphs on him.
116. 6:18The head surgeon said this man should not be alive after what he has gone through, but
117. 6:21he admired his own work.
118. 6:23A nurse commented that during the surgery the beast had been smiling at her.
119. 6:27She did wonder how male carnal instincts can remain functional during the worst of times.
120. 6:32Maybe with death, comes the need to create something new, she philosophized, but quickly
121. 6:36shook herself out of her reverie.
122. 6:37The man suddenly started making a wheezing sound, as if he wanted to say something.
123. 6:41The nurse, quick to catch on, handed him a pen and held a pad below it.
124. 6:45The man wrote, “Keep cutting.”
125. 6:47Wow, she thought, what a maniac.
126. 6:49She was glad she had not reciprocated his flirty smile.
127. 6:52As for the other maniac, he laughed like a hyena during his bodily reconstruction.
128. 6:56He said he wanted that gas, the good stuff, and when asked why, he just said he needed
129. 7:00it to stay awake.
130. 7:02The surgeon mused, if these guys weren’t so hellbent on eating themselves they’d
131. 7:06make excellent night shift custodians.
132. 7:08Cleaners perhaps, or maybe security, but he knew all too well they couldn’t be trusted
133. 7:12to wash their hands.
134. 7:14Then a former KGB agent had an excellent idea, something that had amazingly escaped everyone
135. 7:19else’s thoughts.
136. 7:20Why not put these poor suckers back on that gas.
137. 7:22He said, “It seems the problems all start when they go into withdrawal.
138. 7:26High they’re ok, if not a bit hyper and paranoid.
139. 7:29We can work with that.”
140. 7:30Once back on the gas they were fine and dandy.
141. 7:32But then something strange happened.
142. 7:34The EEG monitor showed crazy brain activity, but then it just died down.
143. 7:39One man flatlined.
144. 7:40Finally, he just died.
145. 7:42His last boost of that junk had done him in… or at least it seemed so.
146. 7:45The last guy ended up back in the study room with the other guy seemingly dead on the bed,
147. 7:50but three researchers were in there, too.
148. 7:52Suddenly, one of the researchers shot the commander and then shot the subject.
149. 7:56He then shouted out loud, “I won't be locked in here with these things!
150. 7:59Not with you!
151. 8:00WHAT ARE YOU?
152. 8:01I must know!"
153. 8:02The subject that was shot but evidently was not dead replied, “Have you forgotten so
154. 8:06easily?
155. 8:07We are you.
156. 8:08We are the madness that lurks within you all, begging to be free at every moment in your
157. 8:12deepest animal mind.
158. 8:13We are what you hide from in your beds every night.
159. 8:16We are what you sedate into silence and paralysis when you go to the nocturnal haven where we
160. 8:20cannot tread.”
161. 8:21That was almost the end, but for good measure the researcher put a bullet in the man’s
162. 8:25chest, which might have breached the Hippocratic Oath somewhat, but hey, harsh times call for
163. 8:30harsh measures.
164. 8:31The End So, a lot of people seem to think this all
165. 8:34actually happened.
166. 8:35Now, without much investigation one can easily tell by reading this catastrophic flash fiction
167. 8:40that it’s written by someone whose grammatical skills need improving.
168. 8:43Not only that, though, the story simply doesn’t make sense at times.
169. 8:46Quite a few times someone dies, and then comes back to life, and we don’t think it’s
170. 8:51on purpose by the storyteller.
171. 8:52He just forgets what he’s said, or her.
172. 8:54In another part, the writer says the oxygen levels indicated the men were alive and the
173. 8:59researchers knew that, and then in the next part he says the researchers were not sure
174. 9:02if they had all died.
175. 9:03But there’s more than bad writing that gives this away.
176. 9:06Hmm, where do we start.
177. 9:07Well, we might not need to tell you that you cannot rip out vital organs and lay them on
178. 9:12the floor like a bunch of textbooks.
179. 9:13That is pure fiction.
180. 9:15Those men would have died from blood loss or shock.
181. 9:17Remember that they were discovered like this and left for some time before the soldiers
182. 9:21came.
183. 9:22Ok, you say, but that was the gas working.
184. 9:24This was a secret experiment that went wrong.
185. 9:26High on that wicked drug maybe men could routinely come back from the dead and rip out their
186. 9:31own organs and even do a bit of flirting when the mood took them.
187. 9:34How do we know that isn’t true?
188. 9:36Well, there is the matter of recorded history and plausible science.
189. 9:40No gas has ever been discovered that can keep a person awake for 15 days, never mind turn
190. 9:45a person into a self-loathing zombie.
191. 9:47There is no history of the experiment anywhere but on a website that is known for its scary,
192. 9:52fictional- read again- fictional tales.
193. 9:55It would be astounding if one author alone, writing badly from his or her bedroom, had
194. 9:59access to more secret information than the CIA and the British Secret Services.
195. 10:04As we said in the story, and we embellished this part ourselves, many soldiers on all
196. 10:08sides of the war broke bad so they could stay awake longer.
197. 10:11The officers were handing out that stuff like candy, but not even the most dedicated ice
198. 10:15fiend could stay awake for 15 days, and those badly buzzed soldiers would have likely only
199. 10:20done 24 to possibly 36 hours awake.
200. 10:23The Pentagon has even done studies on this, and even if men are forced to stay awake for
201. 10:28more than 48 hours they will become pretty slow and pretty much useless as soldiers.
202. 10:33They’ll make tons of mistakes, which is not ideal in war when you have to be constantly
203. 10:37alert.
204. 10:38Sure, the speed helped the Germans with their Blitzkrieg attacks, but the drugs had to be
205. 10:42taken with some precautions.
206. 10:44With this in mind, the Russians would not have even tried this experiment.
207. 10:47There is something called Morvan's Syndrome that can cause severe delirium and very bad
208. 10:52insomnia, and sufferers can go into a dreamlike state.
209. 10:55We say dreamlike, because even if they don’t sleep, they will have micro-sleeps.
210. 10:59Plus, no one with this disease has ever started eating themselves.
211. 11:03Sure, perhaps a noxious agent spayed into a room full of guys can kill someone, but
212. 11:08It’s very unlikely it could turn them into gas-addicted zombies.
213. 11:11There’s nothing in scientific literature that supports anything in this experiment.
214. 11:15There’s another thing that can cause massive sleep loss and that’s called Fatal Familial
215. 11:20Insomnia.
216. 11:21But that is passed down through genes, and isn’t caused by environmental agents.
217. 11:24And again, it doesn’t and will never make someone want to rip their own organs out and
218. 11:29eat them.
219. 11:30There’s just nothing that exists in this world that aligns with the story, and if it
220. 11:33did, we would expect it to have appeared in medical journals before it became an Internet
221. 11:37meme.
222. 11:38Then again, many of you have been asking in the comments how we manage to put out so many
223. 11:42episodes per day.
224. 11:43Maybe the entire staff of The Infographics Show is a crank-addicted zombie with an undying
225. 11:48lust for human flesh after all.
226. 11:50Of course that’s preposterous… but isn’t that exactly what a team of crank-addicted
227. 11:54zombies with an undying lust for human flesh would want you to think…?
228. 11:57The Russian Sleep Experiment isn’t a bad story, but could have been better.
229. 12:01Sleep deprivation is actually a torture that has been used by militaries, and that itself
230. 12:05can drive a person half-crazy.
231. 12:07Still, in this story when you add the addictive gas and the organ rug and the reanimation
232. 12:12it just isn’t believable.
233. 12:14But if you like scary stories, then we suggest you watch some of these insanely creepy shows,
234. 12:19“Do These Horrifying Internet Stories Scare You - TRY NOT TO BE SCARED CHALLENGE” and
235. 12:23“Most Terrifying Ghost Stories.”