A group of five enemies of the Soviet state is taken to a secret Soviet military base and is exposed to unimaginable horrors inside. The Russian Sleep Experiment was a 15-day-long experiment on Soviet enemies of the state. The prisoners were supposed to be released 30 days into the experiment; however, on day 15, the stimulant was turned off, and the horrors inside were revealed.
The experiment will take a dark turn on day four. The men recount stories of their days in World War two, discussing deeply traumatic memories with each other. The fifth day comes in psychosis, the men talk with unknown entities and exhibit paranoia with each other. The experienced researchers dismiss this as a common effect of sleep deprivation and allow the experiment to continue. Day nine brings terror. One man begins to scream, compared to a banshee, and his hysterical screams of fear reduce his vocal cords to the ability of the squeak of a child’s toy. The fifteenth day brought the end of the experiment, and the researchers would open the door to the cell that day and would find brutally mutilated humans who had ripped out chunks of their own flesh with their bare hands.
The existence of this legend is almost certain to be untrue, though believed by many, as the narrator contradicts themselves multiple times, telling of patients who seemingly spoke while they had died moments earlier. Despite the obvious untruth of the tale, and whether those be cannibalism and self-mutilation or the seeing of imaginary beings, the question remains: WHY did so many people believe the Russian Sleep Experiment?
There are many urban legends throughout the world, ranging from Bigfoot to the Loch Ness Monster. There is one that differs in its widespread belief and acceptance by most people who have heard it. The story in question is the infamous Russian Sleep Experiment. The reason for its uncommon acceptance is the occurrence of multiple other unethical human research experiments by the Japanese, Nazi, and even American authorities during the 1940s, which add to the plausibility of the experiment, though with some deeper reading it’s clear whether the experiment happened.