We don’t think about crazy human experiments or evil medical experiments that the world has witnessed. From Nazi experiments on “dead patients” to experiments conducted on prisoners for science, rules have been bent innumerable times. Here are the top 10 evil human experiments to be chronicled that’ll surely raise the hair on your neck!
1. Nazi medical experiments
No discussion about inhumane evil medical experiments is complete without the mention of Nazi experiments. Nazi experiments were a series of medical experiments conducted by German physicians on prisoners of the concentration camps during the Second World War. SS physicians would implant cancerous cells in the uterus of women under the guise of experiments. Women’s breasts were tied with strings to check how long their babies could go without food. Men, women and children alike were forced into low-pressure and freezing chambers. The doctors responsible for these atrocious Nazi experiments were tried as war criminals.
2. Stanford Prison Experiment
Nazi experiments were conducted by Germans to prove their racial supremacy. But the Stanford Prison Experiment was one of those crazy human experiments that were conducted as a ‘psychological study’. The purpose was to determine the effects of captivity and imprisonment on the prisoners and authorities responsible for those prisoners. What makes this eligible to be classified as crazy human experiments is the fact the inmates and authorities were actually students. The volunteering students playing guards were encouraged to instill a sense of fear, boredom, and loss of control. This is probably one of the shortest-lived evil medical experiments on this list – it lasted for six days.
3. The Monster Study
History can attest that crazy human experiments aren’t limited to experiments on the body. Tests conducted to analyze behavioral effects on mental health fall under the category of crazy human experiments 22 orphans were divided into experimental and control groups. While one group received positive speech therapy and praises for their fluency, the other group was exposed to negative speech therapy and constant criticism. All the orphans who were belittled for their speech imperfections have sustained speech problems. Dubbed as “The Monster Study”, this was one evil medical experiment with a long-lasting impact.
4. Project 4.1
Conducted on the residents of the Marshall Islands who were purposefully exposed to radioactive fallout from Castle Bravo nuclear test, Project 4.1 was one of the crazy human experiments conducted for scientific research. The women experienced stillbirths and miscarriages, children suffered from impaired growth to thyroid cancer and neoplasms. During the course of these crazy human experiments, the US exploded 67 nuclear bombs according to sources. This evil medical experiment ended up contaminating entire islands.
5. The Tuskegee study
In all these crazy human experiments, whether it’s the Nazi experiments or the Stanford Prison Experiment, humans were treated as guinea pigs. The Tuskegee study is no different. What makes this an unprecedented evil medical experiment is the fact that it lasted for 40 years. The U.S Public Health Service started research to study the health implications of untreated syphilis. 399 Alabamians were told that they’re under treatment for “bad blood” and their disease’s progress was tracked. The study that started in 1932 went on even after penicillin was adopted as the cure for syphilis. Officials finally shut it down in 1972 after a newspaper article exposed them.
6. Japan’s Unit 731
Evil medical experiments are not just a thing of the West. Japanese Imperial Army has earned itself disapproval for conducting medical tests on civilians all through the 1930s and 1940s. To figure out the best remedy for frostbite, prisoners were forced to march in sub-zero temperatures. In fact, these evil medical experiments saw prisoners drenched with poisonous gasses and locked in pressure chambers. Reports suggest prisoners were even cut up while they were alive and alert. Moreover, the Japanese have even targeted citizens with biological warfare strategies. Wells were infected with plague-ridden fleas, cholera, and typhoid all over Chinese cities.
7. Medical Experiments on Newborns
Apart from prisoners, newborns and children have often been the targets of all kinds of weird and crazy human experiments. University of California’s 1960s research studied blood flow and blood pressure on 113 newborns. The babies, aged one hour to three days old, were subjected to every imaginable horror – from catheters inserted into the aorta via umbilical arteries to feet submerged in iced water to analyze aortic pressure. Another “study” was conducted with the aim of testing the blood pressure of newborns held upside down. For this purpose, up to 50 newborns were fastened to a circumcision board and tilted.
8. San Quentin Prison Inmates’ Experiments
Most doctors don’t have to jump through many hoops to get through to prisoners. This is especially true for California’s Bay Area doctors when it comes to the San Quentin prison. For roughly 38 years, the chief surgeon at San Quentin, Dr. Leo Stanley, regularly used San Quentin’s inmates as the subjects for his bizarre and frankly evil medical experiments. He didn’t stick to finding a potential cure for Spanish flu. He performed testicle implants where the testicles were taken from not just executed prisoners but also goats and boars which were then transplanted on living prisoners.
9. Guatemala Syphilis Experiments
Yet another evil medical experiment saw doctors – supported by Guatemalan president Juan José Arévalo and other ministers – infecting not only prisoners, mental patients, and prostitutes but also soldiers with syphilis and other STDs. Their aim was to track how the diseases would progress if left untreated. These experiments lasted from 1946 to 1948 and resulted in 30 documented deaths.
10. Pregnant Women exposed to radioactive material
There’s a spike in crazy human experiments involving radioactive material after World War 2. Cold War was deemed inevitable and the focus was on chemical warfare. The world was still reeling from the inhumane Nazi experiments when 829 pregnant women were tricked into ingesting drinks containing radioactive iron. Researchers wanted to learn how long it would take for the radioisotope to reach the placenta. This evil medical experiment resulted in the death of at least 7 babies from leukemia and other forms of cancer. The affected women experienced bruises, anemia, hair loss, rashes, and even cancer.
Correction to point number 1. Some doctors who were part of these atrocious experiments were moved to the United States to work for the US government. Their research was more valuable than justice for their victims.
Building on the previous comment….it’s been an ethical question for decades: If findings from these inhumane, tortuous experiments could prove helpful in treating people today, should they be used…or should they be off-limits because of how the results were obtained? Which would be more respectful to the victims – sanctifying their sacrifice by not venturing with the findings….or trying to make something worthwhile out of their senseless deaths, by using the results to help others today?