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The Russian Sleep Experiment

Five prisoners. Thirty days. Zero sleep. What's the worst that would happen?

By Dharrsheena Raja SegarranPublished 2 years ago Updated about a month ago 4 min read
Top Story - July 2022
131
Image from Haddonfield-Horror

What do you think would happen to a person who is forced to not sleep at all for 30 days? They would literally become monsters as their non-human part would take over.

Let’s see how that transformation took place through the Russian Sleep Experiment.

This happened in 1947 at a secret Soviet test facility. The Russian Sleep Experiment was a military-sanctioned experiment.

The researchers chose five prisoners to participate in this experiment.

Image from Twitter User @CinemamindDavid

The researchers lied to the prisoners that they would be set free if they participated in this experiment for 30 consecutive days.

The prisoners agreed to participate unbeknownst that they would never get freedom. This was very sad.

The purpose of this experiment was to test a sleep-inhibiting stimulant that the researchers developed.

This stimulant was a gas. It was developed to revolutionize the war and make superhumans out of Russian soldiers who need not sleep for 30 days.

So the five prisoners were the guinea pigs to test out what would happen to a person who was kept awake for 30 days by that gas.

The prisoners were kept in a sealed gas chamber and the stimulant was administered continuously for 30 consecutive days.

They were provided with beds, dry food, water, books and a toilet. For this story, I’ll name the prisoners Alexei, Igor, Viktor, Nikolai and Dmitri.

DAY 1

The researchers monitored and communicated with the prisoners through porthole windows which were one-way glass. Everything was normal.

Image from Twitter User @CinemamindDavid

DAY 5

This was when slight changes in the prisoners’ behaviours were noticed. They were still talking to each other and the researchers as usual but the topic of their conversations went darker and darker.

Some of them started talking to themselves as if they were hallucinating.

DAY 9

Nikolai screamed at the top of his lungs non-stop for three hours. The screaming finally stopped when Nikolai tore his own vocal cords.

Image from Twitter User @CinemamindDavid

The other four prisoners didn’t react at all to this screaming as they were heavily hallucinating and didn’t hear the screaming. 

Then Alexei started screaming. The others prevented the researchers from looking by pasting torn book pages and their faeces to the porthole windows.

Image from Twitter User @CinemamindDavid

A few days went by without the researchers being able to look inside and they were worried as there was total silence.


DAY 15

The researchers decided to go inside the chamber and see what was going on. They turned off the stimulant before they entered. What they saw inside repulsed them.

Image from Twitter User @CinemamindDavid

Igor was lying dead on the floor in a puddle of his own blood. The other four prisoners had mutilated and disembowelled themselves!

Alexei had ripped his own chest open with his bare hands.

Dmitri had torn his own flesh and muscles from his arms and legs and had bones coming out of his fingers.

Nikolai had removed his own internal organs.

Viktor had a devilish smile and practised self-cannibalism. He was eating his own body!

The researchers decided to abort the experiment and wanted to evacuate the prisoners with the aid of soldiers.

However, the four prisoners became violent as they didn’t want to leave the chamber. Instead, they begged the researchers to turn the stimulant back on. They were now very addicted to it. 

During the attempt of evacuation, they murdered one soldier by ripping out his throat and severely injured another.

After they were successfully evacuated, the researchers noticed that the four prisoners exhibited extreme strength, high resistance to any sedatives given and were desperate for the stimulant.

It was also found out that if they were to fall asleep, they would die. This was how Dmitri died and now three prisoners were left.

When the doctor was putting back the organs into the prisoners’ bodies, they wanted the doctor to mutilate them further instead.

Image from Twitter User @CinemamindDavid

Although the researchers decided to call off the experiment, they were given an order by military officials to continue with the remaining three prisoners.

Against the will of the researchers, the prisoners were once again to be sealed inside the chamber.

Suddenly, Viktor fell asleep and died. He fell asleep due to not getting the stimulant.

The military commander then ordered three researchers to be sealed in the chamber with Alexei and Nikolai to monitor them.

Image from Twitter User @CinemamindDavid

The researcher pulled out a gun and shot the commander and Nikolai in the head. The researcher said that he would not be locked in a room with monsters that were no longer human.

Now there was only Alexei left.

He asked Alexei, “What are you?”

Alexei laughed eerily, “We are the inherent evil inside the human mind that is kept in check by the act of sleeping”. 

Upon hearing this, the researcher shot him in the heart.

Image from Twitter User @CinemamindDavid

Alexei was on the floor and right before he died, he whispered his last words:


“So…nearly…free..."

Author's Notes:

This is a very famous Creepypasta and not my own story. I've only retold the story of it.

__________________________________________
Thank you so much for reading this! 🥰 If you liked my writing, please leave a comment, click the heart and subscribe for free!

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About the Creator

Dharrsheena Raja Segarran

My mental health decline brought about a lot of darkness and I embraced it. It now flows out mostly as Dark Stories and Poetry.

❤️ Erythrophile ❤️
✨️Glitteringly Savage✨️
🖤 Elegantly Disturbed Mind 🖤

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Comments (77)

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  • Leslie Writes20 days ago

    Holy shit! 🫣

  • John Cox23 days ago

    Alright, Dharrsheena, help me out. This is the creepiest story I have ever read. Was this a camp fire horror tale or an actual Soviet experiment? And if a camp fire tale, where on earth did you find it? Seriously, this story is eyepopping amazing! Congratulations on top story!

  • Denise E Lindquist3 months ago

    Wow! How terrible that the experiment was done! Even if it didn't turn out as described, it couldn't have been good! ❤️

  • Isabella Rose3 months ago

    This story actually made me wince. I'm an insomniac, so I know how physically and mentally painful it is to go without sleep for three days. I can't the anguish of 15 days with no sleep.

  • Rob Angeli7 months ago

    Wow, the threshold states of humanity. Although, some of the intense psychotic behavior was probably compounded and amplified by the continuous use of speed. That and so sleep for long enough will make anyone a monster. Truly disturbing! But I like a good dive into darkness, the shadows offset the great light and make it brighter! Sweet dreams.

  • L.C. Schäfer10 months ago

    I will be honest, this creepypasta fucked me up for a couple of days the first time I read it!

  • Donna Fox (HKB)10 months ago

    Wow Dharsheena, this story was thrilling and sooooo captivating! I was glued to the screen, unable to look away as I became more and more fascinated by this tale! What was the inspiration for this one? I am in awe of the raw talent you possess in order to write something so powerful! That end line really got me "So... Nearly.. Free...." like my jaw hit the floor and it's still there! 💖

  • Roy Stevensabout a year ago

    While this is an apocryphal story and scientifically impossible -though it's very well told here by Dharrsheena- if you want to investigate a very, very weird, creepy Soviet era true story look into the Dyatlov Incident of 1959. I did heavy research into this 'occurrence' for a chapter in my first novel, and it still leaves me utterly creeped out and baffled! Good tall tale telling Dharrsheena.

  • Donna Reneeabout a year ago

    Omg that was so freakin creepy 🤣😱😁. I picked it to read because of the title since my kids kept me up all night and now I’m absolutely demanding a nap ASAP. Although I may have nightmares 😱🤣

  • Alex H Mittelman about a year ago

    This is great! Intense the whole time.’ To many stimulants

  • Emily Marie Concannonabout a year ago

    wow wow wow!! This was so enlightening! This especially hit me, “We are the inherent evil inside the human mind that is kept in check by the act of sleeping”. Goodness! Great work excellent research

  • Dr. Constance Quigleyabout a year ago

    Great work. I have never read this version before, but it was quite engaging.

  • Alina Zabout a year ago

    In the beginning, the premise of being a true story was believable. However, starting with Day 9, there were some inconsistencies that took me out of it. How can someone "disemboweled themselves" and be still alive? Thanks for sharing though, a revision of the second half would change it to a more engaging story!

  • Novel Allen2 years ago

    Was this a top story? I looked, did it disappear. Truthfully I could not read the entire story. Someone says it is not a true story. Oh dear. Too creepy, but interesting. You have a dark side Dhar, nothing wrong with that, but it is a bit scary.

  • David Heitz2 years ago

    Clickbait. I thought it was a real experiment. I don't understand Vocal and never will.

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  • Demi Oni 2 years ago

    This is an excellent piece. I actually got goosebumps.

  • D-Donohoe2 years ago

    Wow! That just shook me! Deserving of a top story!

  • Oluebube Nwokedi2 years ago

    oh wow! This is something else...I love it

  • Kamran Mehmood 2 years ago

    Although i am not a fan of horror fiction but this work excellent.

  • Kamran Mehmood 2 years ago

    Although i am not a fan of horror fiction but this work excellent.

  • I remember first reading this, it sent chills down my spine. Great piece!

  • Wow. This is great

  • Zayn 2 years ago

    Mam, ap india se ho, mam Mujhe apki help chaiye, please help me!

  • Joseph June2 years ago

    Thanks for sharing 👍

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