Russian researchers in the late 1940s kept five people awake for 15 days, using an experimental

gas-based stimulant.

They were kept in a sealed environment to carefully monitor their oxygen intake so the

gas didn't kill them, since it was toxic and high concentration.

This was before closed-circuit cameras, so they only had microphones, and five-inch thick,

glass portal-sized windows into the chamber to monitor them.

The chamber was stocked with books, cuts to sleep on, but no bedding, running water, and

toilet, and enough dried food to last all five for over a month.

The test subjects were political prisoners deemed enemies of the state during World War

2.

Everything was fine for the first five days.

The subjects hardly complained, having been promised falsely that they would be freed

if they submitted to the test and did not sleep for 15 days.

Their conversations and activities were monitored, and it was noted that they continued to talk

about increasingly traumatic incidents in their past, and the general tone of their conversations

took on a darker aspect after the four-day mark.

After five days, they started to complain about the circumstances and events that led

them to where they are, and started to demonstrate severe paranoia.

They stopped talking to each other, and began alternately whispering to the microphones,

and the one-way mirrored portal.

Oddly, they all seemed to think that they could win the trust of the experimenters by

turning over their comrades.

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