On the road to Halloween, the popular BloodyFM horror fiction podcast CREEPY is now airing its 31 Days of Horror celebration, with brand new episodes every day in October!
Started in 2017, CREEPY began simply enough as a place for the classic creepypastas. This year’s 31 Days of Horror provides a deep dive into the terrifying Russian Sleep Experiment.
Several years back, the urban legend dubbed the “Russian Sleep Experiment” began to circulate around the internet, a Creepypasta that claimed Soviet researchers had used an experimental stimulant back in the 1940s to keep five people awake for 15 consecutive days. If you’ve never read the full Creepypasta, well, let’s just say things get crazy from there.
What can you expect from CREEPY’s take on the Russian Sleep Experiment? And how does creator Jon Grilz plan to terrifying you every single day this October? Read on for details…
Tell us a little bit about the challenges and/or benefits of telling a story across 31 episodes.
Jon Grilz: The main benefit is the immersion we can create. I can play with themes of the dreams, but also the concepts of isolation and psychological torture. What if you woke up one day in a padded cell with no memory and no one would give you any answers? The idea that you could be trapped for the rest of your life not knowing if you have family or friends out there looking for you or if they will ever find you. All the while, they keep running tests on you for reasons you don’t understand and can’t remember even if they tell you? How long could you last?
What other podcasts or creators did you work with for this event?
Jon Grilz: Since we have such a large cast of voice actors who regularly work on the show (eleven narrators), we can fill a lot of our needs, but there were still some gaps. When I asked my crew if they had recommendations for people we hadn’t worked with yet (because I always like to work with new people and keep things fresh for listeners), the first name I got back was Tanja Milojevic (whose works people might best know from other podcasts like NoSleep, What’s the Frequency, or Vast Horizons among so many other). I also reached out to another podcaster I’ve been a massive fan of for a long time, Adam Peacock, who hosted the absolutely amazing My Neighbors Are Dead and who has made appearances in the Emmy winning Netflix series I Think You Should Leave. I’m really excited for people to hear their performances.
Why do you think the Russian Sleep Experiment has remained such a popular tale?
Jon Grilz: I think, like with a lot of early creepypastas, it was all about simplicity. Sure you had longer stories like Ted the Caver and NoEnd House, but those early stories felt more like rumors. Like something you heard from a friend or a neighbor instead of something that felt professionally written. And with stories like the Russian Sleep Experiment, you walk that line between “there’s no way this happened” and “yeah, I absolutely believe that things like this happened and continue to happen.” And when you add that element of sleep and take it away and what happens when you take it away for too long, it plays on fears that feel like they hit that much closer to home. Anyone who has had even one sleepless night knows how unpleasant that is, but what if you can’t fall asleep ever again?
What fresh elements can listeners expect from your take on the Creepypasta?
Jon Grilz: This is meant to feel like both a continuation and an expansion on the original idea. How could something like this still happen out in the open without people questioning the why of it all? Hopefully we’ve created layers of enjoyment that are both surface level with the disorientation of not being able to sleep and having your dreams analyzed and the darker depths of what humans are willing to do to each other.
Listen to CREEPY’s 31 Days of Horror on the Bloody FM Podcast network now!
Listen and subscribe to CREEPY on Apple Podcasts and wherever you listen.
The post Bloody FM’s CREEPY Podcast Celebrates ’31 Days of Horror’ With a Dark Dive into the Russian Sleep Experiment appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
