The Russian Sleep Experiment is a creepypasta which tells the tale of 5 test subjects being exposed to an experimental sleep-inhibiting stimulant in a Soviet-era scientific experiment, which has become the basis of an urban legend.[1] Many news organizations, including Snopes, News.com.au, and LiveAbout, trace the story's origins to a website,[2] now known as the Creepypasta Wiki, being posted on August 10, 2010, by a user named OrangeSoda, whose real name is unknown.[3][4]

Plot

The story recounts an experiment set in 1947 at a covert Soviet test facility, where scientists give test subjects a stimulant gas that would prevent sleep. As the experiment progresses, it is shown that the lack of sleep transforms the subjects into violent zombie-like creatures who are addicted to the gas. At the end of the story, every character dies except one scientist.[3][5]

Popularity and reception

The Russian Sleep Experiment became immensely popular upon its original publication. It is considered by some to be the greatest and most shared creepypasta story ever made and Dread Central's Josh Millican has called it "one of the most shocking and impactful urban legends of the Internet Age".[6][3] Much of the online and offline debate surrounds the belief held by many that the story is real rather than fiction, and many articles therefore seek to debunk this claim.[2]

The creepypasta is often shared alongside an image of a grotesque, emaciated figure, which is implied to be one of the test subjects. The image is actually of a life-size animatronic Halloween prop called "Spazm".[7]

Literary criticism

In the chapter "Horror Memes and Digital Culture" in The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic, Tosha R. Taylor wrote that the creepypasta "reflects residual political anxieties as it purports to reveal a top-secret effort by Russian scientists in World War II."[8]

Sonali Srivastav and Shikha Rai drew comparisons between "Russian Sleep Experiment" and the 2018 miniseries Ghoul, noting that the series took inspiration from the creepypasta.[9]

Adaptations

The Russian Sleep Experiment's popularity has led to various adaptations over the years. A novel inspired by the original short story was published in 2015 but is now out-of-print.[10]

The 2019 play Subject UH1317 - When Science Traces A Deadly Turn is based on the short story.[11]

In early 2018, a psychological thriller based on the short story began production in Ireland, directed by John Farrelly.[12] The film was subsequently released in November 2022.[13]

In July 2019, horror author Jeremy Bates published The Sleep Experiment, a novel closely based on the original short story.[14]

Several other adaptations have been created, including a film based on the short story entitled The Soviet Sleep Experiment, with Chris Kattan starring and Barry Andersson directing.[15][16] Filming for the movie took place in Lakeville, Minnesota during 2018.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Considine, Austin (2010-11-12). "Bored at Work? Try Creepypasta, or Web Scares (Published 2010)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2015-09-25. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Mikkelson, David (August 28, 2013). "Was the Russian Sleep Experiment Real?". Snopes. Archived from the original on November 19, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 Fernando, Gavin (June 15, 2016). "How the Russian Sleep Experiment became a global phenomenon". news.com.au. Archived from the original on March 20, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  4. ↑ Emery, David (December 31, 2018). "The Russian Sleep Experiment Urban Legend". LiveAbout. Archived from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  5. ↑ Emery, David (December 31, 2018). "The Russian Sleep Experiment Urban Legend". LiveAbout. Archived from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  6. ↑ Millican, Josh (6 April 2020). "Video: The Infographics Show Explores THE RUSSIAN SLEEP EXPERIMENT". Dread Central. Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  7. ↑ "Ten Infamous Creepypastas Based on a Single Terrifying Image". Archived from the original on 21 February 2020.
  8. ↑ Taylor, Tosha R. (2020), Bloom, Clive (ed.), "Horror Memes and Digital Culture", The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 985–1003, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-33136-8_58, ISBN 978-3-030-33135-1, S2CID 226618766, archived from the original on 2023-10-31, retrieved 2020-10-30
  9. ↑ "Metanarratives of Identity in Web-series: A Narrative Analysis of Netflix's Ghoul (2018)". International Journal of Media and Information Literacy. 4 (2). 2019-12-05. doi:10.13187/ijmil.2019.2.50.
  10. ↑ Rigney, Todd (September 1, 2015). "Russian Sleep Experiment Creepypasta Becomes a Creepy Novella". Dread Central. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  11. ↑ Sah, Purnima. "The war between science and human race - Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2021-04-30. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  12. ↑ "I Love Limerick, John Farrelly Set to Release Debut Feature Film, 'The Sleep Experiment'". February 22, 2019. Archived from the original on December 15, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  13. ↑ Farrelly, John (2022-11-01), The Sleep Experiment (Horror, Mystery, Thriller), Jackpot Films, archived from the original on 2022-11-19, retrieved 2022-11-19
  14. ↑ "The Sleep Experiment (1988091381): Jeremy Bates: Books". Amazon.com. 2019-07-24. Archived from the original on 2022-01-18. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  15. ↑ Sprague, Mike (December 14, 2018). "Creepypasta's Russian Sleep Experiment Is Becoming a Horror Movie". Movie Web. Archived from the original on July 6, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  16. ↑ Squires, John (2018-12-14). "That Crazy Disturbing "Russian Sleep Experiment" Urban Legend is Getting Its Own Horror Movie". Bloody Disgusting!. Archived from the original on 2020-11-02. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  17. ↑ "Blood, guts and lots of coffee: 'Soviet Sleep Experiment' finishes shooting in Lakeville". Twin Cities. 2018-12-28. Archived from the original on 2020-11-05. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
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