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- Morbid Enterprises
Spazm was an animatronic sold by Spirit Halloween for the 2005 through 2008 Halloween seasons. It resembled a grinning deranged man in a dirty straitjacket who was sitting on the ground while foaming at his mouth. When activated, the body violently shook while groaning could be heard.
- 1 Spirit Halloween’s Description
- 3.1 ISE Appearances
- 3.2 Features
- 3.4 Pre-Production
- 5 Official Listing
Spirit Halloween’s Description [ ]
“Unsuspecting guests will jump with fright when they pass by this gross Motion Activated SPAZM decoration. The slightest movement will cause this psychotically grinning figure to convulse grotesquely and grovel frenetically. Add this delightfully disgusting prop to complete your haunted house or spooky cemetery for this Halloween. Just make sure to strap him in tightly!”
- Stands 23" tall
- Spazm runs on 3 AA batteries, not included
- Spazm shivers and shakes
- Made of foam filled latex
- Includes velcro pouch for battery pack
- Sound clips
- Because of this, it has been featured in many books and videos on the topic.
- Spazm was sculpted by artist Jordu Schell .
- Spazm was remade in 2013 with a fabric body, but was never sold at Spirit Halloween .
- An unreleased tabletop version of the animatronic appeared in the 2016 Morbid Enterprises catalog.
Gallery [ ]
Ise appearances [ ].
Features [ ]
Pre-Production [ ]
M36067 - Spazm
Official Listing [ ]
- The listing for this animatronic is no longer available. Click HERE to view the last archived version of this listing.
Spazm is a prop made by Morbid Enterprises , new for the 2005 Halloween season. You could commonly pick up this prop in locations like Spirit. It might have been a small prop at the time but, after being used for the creepypasta “Russian Sleep Experiment” it gained traction. You could still buy this prop on some places online, mostly on eBay. Spazm is NOT a real victim and if you read this paragraph, you would see THE RUSSIAN SLEEP EXPERIMENT IS A CREEPYPASTA: MEANING IT IS FAKE.
Description [ ]
The Spazm prop's appearance is based off a psychotic-looking man in a straitjacket, with a starving appearance due to his face being like a skeleton. His feet and hands are tied up. On the face of the man there is foam. The man's face looks to his upper-right with a creepy smile, giving a chilling look.
Variations [ ]
Morbid Enterprises has made a few versions of the “Spazm” prop.
One version has Spazm's straitjacket made from actual cloth, rather than latex. The figure also appears skinnier in this version.
The Mini Spazm prop was introduced in 2016.
The Russian Sleep Experiment [ ]
Spazm's rise in popularity was due to the famous Creepypasta titled '' The Russian Sleep Experiment ''. The origin of the sudden popularity came from IReadCreepyPastas ' first and most popular video on the legend: he used a darker version of a Spazm picture, on a bed and with little light, making many believing it was one of the victims of the experiment. Years later, someone linked an image of the Spazm prop, allowing people to finally see the legend was fake.
Why the Horrors of the 'Russian Sleep Experiment' Probably Didn't Happen
This animation investigates the facts behind this pervasive urban myth.
Especially if you haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately, you might wonder just how long you can go on like that. Exactly how long could you stay awake without cracking as a result of sleep deprivation? Some people say there was an over-the-top experiment for that. Experts are quick to debunk it.
The Russian Sleep Experiment is a popular urban myth which began to circulate online in "creepypasta" forums (so-named for the ease with which you could copy-paste spooky content) in the early 2010s. But could this deeply unsettling legend have had some roots in fact?
The story goes that Soviet-era scientists created a stimulant which they believed would enable soldiers to not require sleep for up to 30 days. They decided to test their new gas on five prisoners, promising them their freedom upon completion of the experiment. They locked the five men in a hermetically sealed chamber and began pumping in the gas. Within a few days, the men were exhibiting the kind of paranoia and psychosis that is a typical symptom of sleep deprivation. But as time went on, they began to act even more strangely.
15 days into the experiment, when scientists could no longer see the men through the thick glass of the chamber, or hear them through the microphones, they filled the room with fresh air and unlocked it. There, they discovered that one of the men was dead, and the four surviving test subjects were all sporting horrendously violent injuries, some of which appeared to be self-inflicted.
Attempts to sedate the men were either unsuccessful, or led to their deaths the moment they lost consciousness. Finally, when one of the researchers asked what exactly these men had become, the last surviving test subject told him that they represented the potential for evil that exists in all human beings, which is usually contained by sleep, but had been unleashed by their constant wakefulness. Chilling stuff.
Is any of the Russian Sleep Experiment actually true?
According to a video from The Infographics Channel on YouTube, which provides animated summaries of events from history, current events and literature, the Russian sleep experiment almost certainly has its basis in fiction. For one thing, there's the fact that the story's sole original source seems to be a website dedicated to telling creepy (made-up) stories. But even the science doesn't hold up.
Experts are quick to refute this myth as well. There's no scientific ground proving that gas (or any other substance, for that matter) can keep a person awake for 30 days, says Po-Chang Hsu, MD , an internal medicine physician and medical content expert at SleepingOcean. “Some drugs and high caffeine dosages may grant a couple of days without shut-eye, but 30 is impossible,” he says.
Additionally, this experiment is unlikely because of the effect sleep deprivation has on the brain, Dr. Hsu says.
“Even after a few days, a person can start hallucinating, which would make it extremely hard for them to perform simple daily actions, let alone deal with military assignments that require extreme focus,” he says.
So how long can someone truly stay awake?
The current documented world record for staying awake is a bit longer than 11 days , which was achieved by Randy Gardner in 1963. Gardner experienced severe behavioral and cognitive changes during those 11 days (even though he wanted to prove that nothing bad would happen when a person doesn’t sleep), Dr. Hsu says. He also experienced mood swings, memory issues, severe difficulty focusing, paranoia and hallucinations.
While there is some truth to the claims that amphetamines have been used to keep soldiers alert in historical times of war, there is no scientific evidence of a gas existing that could keep anyone awake for 15 days. And studies have found that after just 48 hours without sleep, people tend to become slower, disoriented, prone to making mistakes, and ultimately less effective as a soldier.
“Since the brain can’t function properly after being sleep-deprived for 11 days, it’s safe to assume things would get much worse if one tries to stay awake longer,” he says. “Consequently, those soldiers would’ve been useless even if they miraculously managed not to sleep for 30 days.”
Still, whoever came up with the story of the Russian sleep experiment in the first place deserves points for their creative writing... if not for medical accuracy.
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