20 Terrifying Internet Urban Legends

2. The Russian Sleep Experiment

Now we're into the real rough stuff. We hope you weren't planning on sleeping tonight, because after reading this, you definitely won't be able to. Which is part of what makes the Russian Sleep Experiment story so scary, because it's all about what happens when people are deprived of rest which is what you will be and oh god are we part of the story now too? No, calm down, you're not, it's fine. We've read it on numerous occasions and we're only marginally insane as a result. And for other reasons we'd prefer not to go into right now. Again, the origins of the Russian Sleep Experiment are unclear, but it's been bandied around the internet for a few years now, cropping up where you least expect it, often with the disclaimer that it's all true - just like an urban legend would. It's pretty long - it's almost a novella, honestly - and the whole thing deserves your time and energy. If spending your time and energy reading about things that will utterly terrify you is your bag. Which, considering you're still reading this, we're willing to bet is. You masochist (we're right there with you). World War II was the excuse for various governments to do weird, messed up things, so it's not beyond reason that the Russian army would conduct experiments on their own citizens in the same way that, say, the CIA started up the MKUltra program or the Japanese Unit 731 (don't look that one up on an empty stomach. Or full. Either). In this story the experiments involve locking people in a chamber and feeding them drugs that stop them from sleeping, in order to test the limits of human endurance. And of course, it all goes horribly wrong. The political prisoners being tested were due to stay in the sealed room for a month, with scientists closely monitoring them. Eventually each subject began to break, eventually covering up the windows and cameras and ceasing to make any noise that could be picked up on the microphones. In the end the subjects didn't want to be released, and when they were finally dragged out they were disfigured, covered in blood, half of them dead and the rest feasting on their flesh, demanding more gas so they may stay awake forever.