THE DREAM EXPERIMENT

Chapter 3: THE DREAM EXPERIMENT

«The men of science did not imagine what this world hides, but they ignore almost

everything. Sages interpret dreams, and demons wait for their moment».

It all started back in the 50's, at that time the first KGB investigations began to

control people's minds, a team of Soviet scientists tried to discover what were the

limits of human resistance and for this they decided to take carried out a terrifying

experiment. They selected five political prisoners with the idea that if they passed the

test they would be released. For this, the men proposed that if they stayed awake for

30 days, they would deprive them of sleep for a month, but if they succeeded they

would release them without charge. The KGB officers visited several prisons to

which they selected five of the apparently best candidates, prisoners whose mental

health was good and their physical appearance was very acceptable. The subjects

were led to a closed room, without windows, it was about 30 square meters, for five

people it was not excessively large, rather small. In it a series of catering of various

foods had been arranged, enough for that month and numerous books to distract them

and try to make time pass faster, there was also a latrine and the ages of the

candidates ranged between 20 and 60 years. In that gray concrete cubicle a vent had

been arranged, from that vent the air circulated, there had also been a system whereby

from time to time those vents through which the air entered, a stimulating gas was

dosed that prevented the prisoners from being able to falling asleep In that instance, a

series of microphones had been installed and an old camera had been placed in order

to observe the prisoners to see how they reacted and what they were doing.

Everything was ready to start the experiment on November 1. Initially the

participants seemed calm, they were sure of being able to pass the test successfully, in

fact they were happy thinking that after that month of captivity they would be

released. The first five days were very quiet, normality reigned, boredom was a bit

overwhelming and the first symptoms of sleep or the desire to sleep began to arrive,

but of course they could not sleep because the gas they inhaled prevented it. Their

conversations and activities were monitored and it was observed that they spoke of

the traumatic incidents of their childhood, little by little the general tone of their

conversations took on a darker aspect. Everything began to get worse from the sixth

day, the test subjects began to show a kind of fatigue, fraught with nervousness, as a

constant stress, sometimes you could hear slight moans and they began to show

severe paranoia. The subjects began to mutter alternately and conspiratorially into the

microphones in strange ways, all seemed to believe that they could gain the trust of

their captors if they betrayed their comrades, although it was believed anyway that

this was only an effect of the gas.

The days passed and they reached the ninth, where everything got quite sinister. On

the ninth day what was once whispering turned into shouting. The test subjects began

to argue among themselves, even throwing books, the situation seemed to become

very tense. One of them started screaming and running around the room, screaming

desperately for 3 hours straight, then he tried to keep screaming but only managed an

occasional yell. His voice seemed to have worn out, so the scientists thought that he

had physically destroyed his vocal cords, but the most surprising part of this behavior

was how his classmates reacted to him or rather how they did not react, they just

continued muttering into the microphones until the moment other of the test subjects

started screaming. At that time two of the test subjects who were not screaming, took

the books, tore the pages and covered them with their own feces, then pasted those

pages on the walls in their entirety, until they were completely covered. After which

the screams of his other two companions suddenly ceased as did the murmurs into the

microphones. Three days passed after that, the researchers constantly checked the

microphones to make sure they were working properly because it was impossible for

five people to not produce any noise. In fact, oxygen consumption indicated that the

five were still alive and not only that, said oxygen consumption was what five people

would consume while doing strenuous exercises.

In the morning of the 14th is when things started to get more dangerous. The

scientists did something that was not contemplated in the experiment because it could

alter it. They tried to attract the attention of the subjects and used the intercom inside

the room, thereby waiting for a response, as they feared they were in a plant state or

dead. The scientists announced «We will open the room to check the status of the

microphones, stay away from the doors and lie on the floor with your hands behind or

we will open fire, one of you will be granted freedom if you obey». To their surprise,

from the microphones they heard a phrase «We don't want to be free», said one of the

prisoners. There was a great debate between the scientists and the military forces that

financed the project. They tried to contact the test subjects through the intercom, but

there was no response so it was decided to open the room at nightfall on the 15th. The

gas was removed from the room and instead only fresh air was sent. Immediately

some voices in the microphones began to be heard. Three different voices begged for

the gas supply to be replenished, yet the plan went ahead and the doors finally

opened. The test subjects screamed louder than ever as did the soldiers who had to

enter and who witnessed the horror. One of the participants was dead, by then the

worst was yet to come. By opening the bedroom doors they were able to witness the

atrocities and insanities sleep deprivation can cause in a human being.

The food rations for the past five days had not been touched. There were chunks of

meat from the dead subject's ribs and calves placed into the drain in the center of the

room, blocking it, causing four inches of water, blood, and body pieces to collect on

the floor. The four survivors were seen to have pieces of skin and flesh torn from

their bodies. It was also discovered that they were produced by his hands and not by

his teeth, as was expected at first, because the tissues of his fingertips were destroyed

and some of his bones were exposed, in addition it was discovered that most of the

wounds were self-inflicted. But all that damage was not superficial, in fact the skin

and organs behind the ribs of each of them had been removed, while the heart, lungs

and diaphragm remained in place. The digestive tracts of the four subjects could be

seen working directing food, but not just any food but their own chewed meat, which

they had been ripping and eating over the course of the days. Most of the soldiers in

the facility were Russian special forces, but even so many of them refused to return to

the room to remove the prisoners, as they had been very shocked by what they had

seen. For their part, the test subjects kept insisting that they be left inside and begging

and demanding that the gas be turned on again to avoid falling asleep. Due to this

same attachment to gas, it was very difficult to get the subjects out of the room as

they put up fierce resistance during the extraction. A Russian soldier died when one

of the test subjects bit his neck, another soldier was seriously injured when another

test subject bit his femoral artery and testicles, but that was not all, as five other

soldiers lost their lives , if you count those who took their own lives in the weeks

after the incident. Not only the wounded soldiers were injured in this confrontation,

one of the test subjects damaged his spleen and began to bleed almost immediately,

an attempt was made to sedate him but it was impossible, because not even with ten

times the necessary human dose of Morphine was controlled, as he continued to fight

like a surrounded animal, thereby breaking the ribs and an arm of one of the doctors

who tried to help him. The prisoner's heart beat at maximum for two more minutes,

while he continued bleeding and continued screaming for more than three minutes,

savagely attacking whoever came near him and repeating the word "MORE" over and

over again, each time weaker until that fell silent. The other three test subjects were

heavily immobilized and taken to different medical facilities. Two of them with intact

vocal cords, continually demanding more gas to stay awake. The most serious of the

three was taken to the only surgery room that was in the facility and there, as well as

the other test subject with the wound in the spleen, when this man was tried to sedate

to be able to place his organs instead, he was also completely immune to these

sedatives, the ones normally used in such cases and indeed he fought furiously when

the anesthetic gas was being placed on him. However, it was tried with another type

of experimental anesthesia that finally paid off. The moment he closed his eyes his

heart stopped. An autopsy found that his blood contained three times the normal

amount of oxygen. Other survivors, who were the first to start screaming with their

vocal cords destroyed, he could not object to the surgery and only reacted by

violently shaking his head in disagreement and despair when the anesthetic gas was

administered, he even affirmed violently with his head. Someone suggested doing the

operation without anesthesia and he didn't even wince. This is rarely done in a sixhour

operation in which he tried to replace his abdominal organs and cover them with

what was left of his skin. However, it was almost impossible that the subject was

even alive. A terrified nurse who assisted in the surgery commented that the patient's

mouth formed a smile every time his eyes met and crossed hers, as if that procedure

was routine and not an operation that would cause extreme pain without any kind of

anesthetic as in your case. When the operation was over the subject looked at the

surgeon and began to make guttural sounds as if trying to speak, with everyone

present assuming that the test subject wanted to say something important. The

surgeon handed him a paper and a pencil, so that the patient could communicate. He

wrote: Keep cutting. After that, it was decided to do the same surgery without

anesthesia on the other two subjects. However, this time they had to be injected with

a tranquilizer, as they constantly laughed, so much movement made it impossible for

the surgeon to perform the operation. Being under the effect of that drug they could

only interact with their eyes, when they were able to speak again they demanded

again that they be given the stimulant gas to which they were subjected at the

beginning of the project. So the researchers tried to find out why they hurt themselves

and why they wanted the gas again. The only answer they got was I must stay awake.

While the test subjects that were left alive were being cared for, the investigators

faced the fury of their military benefactors for having failed in the project's goals and

as a final order they demanded the euthanasia of the prisoners. However, the

commander, a former KGB, saw potential in the project and instead decided to see

what would happen if the subjects were exposed to the gas again, although they flatly

refused the scientists had to agree. When the subjects found out that they were still

exposed to the gas they again stopped fighting and just let themselves go. At the time,

the three survivors were trying very hard to stay awake. One of them murmured a

song, the other mute subject fought with the ties that tied him to the stretcher that was

transporting him, although his desire was not to escape but to get to the room as

quickly as possible with the gas and finally the third subject kept her head on the

pillow and blinked rapidly. Just before the prisoners were put back into the room with

the gas, an EGG monitor was fitted to them, so their brain waves could be monitored

to the surprise of the researchers. The subjects' waves were normal most of the time,

although it appeared to be a straight line as if the subjects were suffering brain death.

While this data was being analyzed, a nurse noticed that the eyes of one of the

subjects were closing, at that moment her brain waves changed to those of deep sleep.

Then the machine showed a straight line as a sign of brain inactivity and

simultaneously her heart stopped. At that same moment one of the two remaining

subjects, who could still speak, began to beg to be put into the room with the gas, just

at the moment when his brain waves completely disappeared. Right there, the

commander ordered that the room be sealed with the two subjects and also with three

of the scientists, one of those scientists selected, being chosen to necessarily

accompany those beings, took the weapon of one of the soldiers who was near him

and with her He shot the commander, killing him with a shot between the eyes. After

that he aimed at the mute prisoner and blew out his brain. The scientist finally

pointed the gun at the last prisoner left, while the rest of the researchers escaped.

Before the soldiers took the weapon from him, the scientist said: ‒They won't lock

me up with that thing, not with you. What are you? I need to know it. The last

prisoner smiled and said, ‒Has he forgotten me so easily? We are you, we are the

madness that is enclosed in all of you, we are the madness that begs to be released at

every moment of your lives from the depths of your animal minds, we are what you

hide from in your beds every night. We are what sleeps, silences and paralyzes when

they go to sleep‒.