The Pipe Experiment

In 1991, three researchers in an undisclosed facility in the Rocky Mountains began a peculiar experiment. The experiment was to see if subtle, deep sounds could physically affect a person. Dr. XXXXXXX Sullivan was the overseer of this experiment.

The building where the experiment took place was a decommissioned bunker, modified for scientific use. PVC pipes were put on all of the walls in the experiment room, transporting sewage, and fresh water to the facility. A room adjacent to the test room was a room for the four researchers. The researchers were supplied with a large shelf full of food, a brand new clock, and enough caffeine and other stimulants to last the researchers for a total of ten days, which was the planned time for the research. The subject was a healthy, 43 year old man, who claimed that his life was falling apart, and that the world would be better without him. He was completely compliant to the experiment, and showed signs of suicidal tendencies prior to the experiment.

The experiment began: The first day, the subject seemed to show minor levels of anxiety, which escalated into paranoia. The subject kept talking to the researchers in a distant, sad voice. He kept talking about his dead wife, and how much he loved her. His brain patterns showed that his brain was locked in a stage of deep thinking, trying to remember situations that are trivial, even for the subject’s life. He talks about his daughter’s softball game from ten years ago, and how she barely talks to him. He started talking about how the hum was irritating him, and it appeared that his body was beginning to shut itself down, in a slow process. Later, he went into a full vegetative state, only humming. He stayed in this state for eight hours, with his brain wave patterns showing that he was virtually brain dead. The subject slowly got up, struggling with pain, as he got up from the floor. Sullivan stopped the Medical researcher from assisting the man, to the researcher’s dismay. The subject began pulling at his ears, scratching the cartilage away, screaming in pain. The subject kept yelling that he could still hear the hum, even after his eardrums should be completely broken. He laid on the ground in a fetal position, spouting incomprehensible, slurred sounds.

The researchers were beginning to turn on each other, arguing about what to do with the now insane subject. Sullivan was the only voice that made the decision, which was to continue the experiment. The subject’s brain wave patterns showed that the subject was clearly under intense mental stress. The subject stopped accepting food and water, concerning the researchers. One of the researchers left the experiment, climbing out of the bunker. The subject waved at the researcher that left, and began shuffling to the window. The subject began leaning on the glass, staring at Sullivan, and breathing heavily. The subject became incredibly dehydrated from the constant staring, and began staring at the pipe. The subject began hitting the pipe, fracturing bones in the process, and broke open the PVC. The sewage became the food and water supply for the subject. Now the researchers were pushing Sullivan aside, rushing for the exit. The door was blocked with snow, as the researchers are shocked to find out that a blizzard hit the tiny bunker.

All they could do was watch.

The subject limped with a fractured knee, pacing across the cell. The researchers began to suffer from mental deterioration, and the researchers began to hum, as the subject once did. One of the researchers snapped, rushing into the chamber, and immediately began to act identically to the subject. It was just Sullivan, and one final researcher.

The researcher sobbed at his desk, as Sullivan looked at the two subjects inside the cell. Sullivan tried to comfort the remaining researcher, sobbing at the fact that he is doomed to die in the bunker. Sullivan realized this fact as well, but realized that he never had really anything to live for anyway. Sullivan sighed, and smashed his head against the window, shattering the glass, and killing himself by blood loss. The final researcher looked at the nightmarish subject in the cell. The researcher finally directly talked to the subject. He asked the subject one question.

“May I join you?”

The subject collapses, and his vitals flat lined.

There was no apparent cause.