The Russian Sleep Experiment

By Crusader1307

 Perhaps one of the most disturbing ''Urban Legends'' of recent time – The ''Russian Sleep Experiment'' is quite possibly a great candidate for an ''modern'' Lovecraft terror tale supreme. Some say it is pure myth, others a REAL incident (long guarded), that made it's way out (finally), when The Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s. You be the judge......

As the story goes, The Soviet Military wanted to experiment with sleep, in particular – how long they could keep an average soldier awake (totally without sleep). In a secret underground Facility, a special chamber was constructed for (5) people, all who were to be subjected to such a test. Rather than use it's soldiers, The Soviets decided to use prisoners. The prisoners were given the incentive of IF they ''passed'' the test, they would be free – with their convictions expunged. Naturally, they all agreed.

However, as the men were sealed inside the chamber (which was wired with sound and cameras for Researchers to study the effects – the real method of the test was revealed. A top secret gas was pumped into the chamber. The gas was said to be odorless and colorless and was – as it is said would NOT allow those who breathed it in – to sleep. Researchers documented the effects, which began roughly 3-days in. The Researchers said they saw examples of extreme psychosis, to include hallucinations. After 5 days, some of the test subjects began to ''witness Demons'' – rending their flesh from their bodies. In reality, it was the prisoners, tearing off their own flesh with their bare hands – and consuming it! Some prisoners gouged out their eyes and one even screamed so lout and so long, that He literally snapped His vocal cords! By Day 7, one of the men had smeared His excrement over all the view portals – rendering direct viewing impossible. The Researchers noted that the cameras must have started to malfunction, fo the surviving ''men'' now resembled grotesque ''monsters'' (ala Lovecraft). The Researchers remarked that perhaps without ANY sleep, a human might de-evolve into such a ''creature''. They reported their findings to The Soviet Military. True to form, it was decided that such an experiment was worthless for military applications, and it was decided to ''shut down'' the experiment – and silence all having knowledge of it.

This meant killing the Researchers! A squad of soldiers eventually showed up and began to assassinate the doctors. One however, arming Himself – fought back. He opened the chamber, perhaps to allow the now deemed ''monsters'' out to attack His former employer. Some versions state, despite this – The Squad was able to kill the remaining ''monsters'' and surviving Research member. Other versions state that they didn't – only sealing the whole affair deep into the underground Facility.......where they STILL live, or perhaps are simply ''waiting'' to escape.............