Sleep is an important part of our lives. It gives us the rest we need to power through our days. This is the reason why not getting enough sleep can have serious consequences on our physical and mental state.
Russian scientists did an experiment.They attempted to keep people awake for weeks. The results of this experiment were absolutely horrifying.
The Russian government, during the late 1940s, chose five men to take part in an experiment that involved sleep deprivation. The aim was to use small doses of an experimental gas, which was supposed to eliminate the need for sleep in humans.
They were kept in a sealed room with running water, books, a toilet, enough food to last each of them a full month, and a cot with no bedding. In this way, the researchers were not exposed to the experimental gas, and the prisoners had microphones in order to communicate with their captors.
The first three days passed and everything went well. The prisoners were told that they would be set free if they cooperated and did not sleep for 30 days. As all of their actions and dialogue were observed, researchers noticed the prisoners, opening up about past traumas. What is worse, the conversations got even darker after four days.
It was the fifth day when the prisoners started exhibiting paranoia.They also started complaining about the past circumstances and decisions that brought them here. They whispered into their microphones, hoping to win the trust of the experimenters by turning in their fellow prisoners.
Day ten. This is the day when the screaming started. One of the prisoners ran back and forth across the length of the room, screaming loudly. After his voice began to weaken, he only produced squeaks. This man tore his vocal cords.
The strangest thing is that the other prisoners did not even appear to respond to the screaming.
The researchers could not hear anything from inside the chamber. They were so concerned. By the fourteenth day, they did something that was not planned. In order to try to get some sort of response from the prisoners, they used an intercom. The researchers explained to them that if they cooperated, they would be freed. But, the response was: “We no longer want to be freed.”
On the fifteenth day, the researchers turned off the gas, and the prisoners begged for the gas to be turned back on. Soldiers came to retrieve the men, but they found only four prisoners alive. Pieces of flesh were missing from the dead man’s thighs and chest later found clogging the drain, flooding the room with four inches of water.
Even those prisoners that were still alive were missing skin and flesh.They had self-inflicted wounds. The soldiers were scared to bring the corpse outside.
The violence happened, and one of the other prisoners was killed by another prisoner. When the prisoners were asked why they were acting violently, only one of them answered: “I must remain awake.”
The soldiers and researchers began shooting at the prisoners, and only one prisoner survived. The researcher asked the prisoner: “What are you?”
Source: simplecapacity.com