The Russian Sleep Experiment. A Halloween Story By Leonardo Arceo Peñalosa

 The Russian Sleep Experiment

The year was 1942, and the Soviets were conducting experiments with Nazi war

prisoners testing their new weapons. A Russian researcher just created a gas-based

stimulant that kept soldiers from the need to sleep. So the Soviets built an isolated

chamber monitored by cameras and microphones, the chamber was stocked with

books, beds, water, toilets, and enough food for at least 30 days. So this researcher's

goal was to prove that this new gas could keep soldiers fully awake for a month.

So the test began, and the prisoners hardly complained about the conditions of the

experiment since they were promised freedom if they could pass the entire 30 days

awake. Everything was fine for the first five days, their conversations kept getting

darker and darker, talking about the traumatic experiences of the war.

After 5 days they started demonstrating symptoms of severe paranoia, and they stopped

talking to each other and started whispering to the microphones.

After the ninth-day screams could be heard for hours until suddenly no sound from

the chamber could be heard. The researchers postulated that they had physically

torn their vocal cords

Three more days of complete silence went through and so the researchers started

checking hourly the microphones to make sure they were alive although there was no noise

was ever heard.

The next morning the researchers checked the oxygen levels and they were

surprised to see one subject wasn't breathing, so they decided to open the chamber

with the help of a military team.

They announced: “We are opening the chamber to test the microphones; step away

from the door or you will be shot. Compliance will earn you immediate freedom.

To everyone’s surprise, a really soft voice could be heard saying: “We no longer

want to be freed”

The chamber stopped pumping gas and immediately voices could be heard begging

for the gas to get back on, there was a terrible smell and the subjects could

immediately be heard screaming, and so were the soldiers when they saw what was

inside. Four subjects were still alive, although no one could rightly call them “alive”

The food rations were barely touched and there were chunks of meat from a test

subject blocking the drain of the chamber, allowing 50 centimeters of water to

accumulate. The subjects were missing parts of muscle and skin exposing their

bones that way, these wounds were most likely self-inflicted, and all the abdominal

organs of the subjects were missing. When the soldiers tried removing the subjects

from the chamber their throats were brutally ripped off. Shots were fired instantly and

they killed every test subject except one, the one that remained silent the entire time.

The researcher quickly grabbed a gun and pointed at him asking: “What are you?”

The subject smiled

“I am the madness that haunts you all, we are what you hide from every night, what

you sedate when you go to the nocturnal haven” The researcher fired at him and he

flatlined. The subject choking on his own blood said: “Finally… free…”