Top 10 Most Disturbing Human Experiments

These horrible acts were committed in the name of science. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 terrible experiments performed in the United States.

For this list, we’re looking at examples of human experimentation executed in the U.S. that were harmful to their test subjects. Please note that some of these stories could not be proven as 100% factually accurate, and as such may only be commonly repeated rumors; however, we’ve done our best to get the most accurate information possible.

Officially sanctioned in 1953 and backed by the CIA, this series of experiments studied the effects of mind control, with methods like hypnosis, drugs, isolation, and sensory deprivation used to modify human behavior. The CIA enlisted the help of prisons, hospitals and more than 40 universities to perform experiments on subjects without their knowledge. In the one of the sub-projects, Operation Midnight Climax, prostitutes who were secretly working for the CIA gave clients LSD, and while these men were under the influence, they were spied on through a one-way mirror. In 1973, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of all records related to MKUltra, but subsequent investigations led by Senator Frank Church and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, in addition to 20,000 records recovered in 1977, were able to shed light on these activities.

Designed by psychologist Philip Zimbardo, the goal of this 1971 experiment was to examine the psychological impact of imprisonment. For the experiment, the psychology building at Stanford University was turned into a prison, with 24 undergraduate students divided into two groups: prisoners and guards. They took their commitment to the roles to disturbing levels, with the guards doling out abuse and the prisoners accepting it. Things got so intense that some students had to be removed due to the trauma. Although the exercise was supposed to last two weeks, and had the interest of the US Marine Corps and Navy, it was shut down after just six days when the repercussions of the experiment became clear.

Fascinated by what motivated Nazi officers to commit atrocities during WWII, Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram set up an experiment to see just how far Americans would go before their conscience stopped them. In the 1960s experiment, a “teacher” would read questions to a “learner,” who was actually an actor pretending to participate in the study. When the “learner” got an answer wrong, the “teacher” gave what he believed to be a real electric shock, progressing in 15-volt increments up to 450 volts. If the teachers objected, they were forced to administer it regardless. After being assured that they would be free of all responsibility, the “teacher” typically complied, even when the “learner” screamed in agony. Two thirds of the 40 test subjects went all the way to 450 volts, proving how much we are ingrained to obey authority, even if we believe it to be morally or legally unjustified.

As Chief Surgeon at San Quentin, Dr. Leo Stanley used prisoners for various experiments from 1913-51 – some verging into dark territory. These experiments included sterilization and possibly finding treatments for Spanish Flu. A strong supporter of eugenics, Stanley performed vasectomies on inmates who were sold on the idea of better health, reformed behavior, and a stronger sex drive. In one project that aimed to find a source of “rejuvenation”, Stanley used live prisoners for surgery that transplanted testicles- human or otherwise. The experiment began with testicles sourced from executed prisoners, but when the supply ran dry Dr. Stanley began using boar and goat testes in his work.

Working with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 1953-57, Dr. William Sweet, who was the Chief Neurosurgeon at Harvard’s Massachusetts General Hospital, gave Uranium injections to 11 cancer patients who were terminally ill, with all but one reportedly suffering from brain tumors. Dr. Sweet was interested in learning how the distribution of Uranium affected the body and whether it could be used to treat tumors. In 1995, under testimony, Dr. Sweet claimed that he had consent from his patients for his experiments. However, a lack of supporting documents, as well as the case of one patient who was found unconscious and later died without regaining consciousness or being identified, makes those claims slightly dubious.

From 1932-72, 600 African-American farmers from Alabama were selected for a U.S. Public Health Services program, receiving free healthcare and other benefits for their cooperation. However, they weren’t told they were actually being studied: 399 of the men had syphilis, while the other 201 were used as a control group. Many of these subjects, poor and often illiterate sharecroppers, didn’t even know they had the disease. Even after Penicillin was developed as a cure for syphilis in 1947, the treatment was withheld from the patients, as was access to proper information or treatment. Many ultimately died of syphilis, with at least 40 women contracting it from their husbands and nearly 20 children born with it. As a result of an information leak, the project was shut down in 1972, but it wasn’t until 1997 that president Bill Clinton formally apologized on behalf of the government for what happened.

Leading up to a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics, 113 newborn babies – no older than 3 days old – were experimented on by scientists at the University of California’s Department of Pediatrics in the early 1960s. Studies conducted on the babies included a battery of bizarre and seemingly unnecessary experiments regarding blood flow and pressure. In one test, over 40 babies were placed on circumcision boards and held upside down while doctors measured how their blood flowed to their head. In another, babies were placed ankle deep in ice-cold water while a catheter was inserted into their aorta in an effort to monitor their aortic pressure.

While working as a neuropsychiatrist at New York’s Bellevue Hospital, Dr. Lauretta Bender decided an effective treatment for children with developmental disorders or schizophrenia was electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, previously called electroshock therapy. In 1947, Dr. Bender sent small electric currents through the brains of 98 children – all of whom were 12 or under, and one of whom was 3. Another of Dr. Bender’s methods for trying to alleviate schizophrenia was to give her young patients LSD. Ted Chabasinski was one of the children who went through the therapy when he was six years old, and he later became a human rights activist who successfully fought against the use of electroshock therapy in Berkeley, California.

In 1943, the Navy recruited upwards of 60,000 young men for a study. Only they weren’t asked to participate; they were told. Only when they arrived at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., did they find the real purpose of the study: to measure the effects of mustard gas and other chemicals on humans. Locked in chambers and exposed to the deadly gas, the men involved in these experiments suffered horrible health effects, including internal and external burns. Additionally, as it was a wartime experiment, they were bound by oaths of secrecy and faced dishonorable discharge or imprisonment if they spoke of the order, the details of which were not formally declassified until 1993.

Before we unveil our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
- Dr. Heath “Cures” Homosexuality Through Electric Stimulation to the Brain
- U.S. Army Spreading Infected Mosquitoes in Georgia

Following WWII, researchers at Vanderbilt University gave over 800 pregnant women a mysterious concoction they were told was a special vitamin drink. It was actually mixtures that contained doses of radioactive iron, as the scientists were testing its absorption rate during pregnancy. The radiation these women were exposed to was reportedly 30 times higher than normal. Around 3-4 children died of cancer or leukemia as a result of the experiment, and some mothers developed rashes, lost hair and teeth, and contracted various types of cancer themselves. In 1994, almost 40 years later, Vanderbilt University faced a lawsuit for the four-year study and was forced to pay out more than $10 million in damages.

Do you agree with our list? Which American experiment horrified you the most? For more historical top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.