Unknown Location 4 “Eyes of a Stranger”
In 1999, a team of researchers performed a series of tests on an unusual subject. The creature in question was a cat, with the purpose of seeing whether it was possible to see the world through the eyes of the animal. Through a series of specific processes, including the recording of electrical signals coming from the thalamus of the brain, they were successful in their attempts. This resulted in 177 images of specified pictures. The implications have been numerous, but few know of another experiment that was performed several years later.
The contents of this test have been widely suppressed, and the person's involved are either in custody or are undergoing some sort of psychological treatment. The purpose of this follow up test was to see whether or not you could exchange the visual stimuli of one creature and replace it with another. In other words, could it be possible to actually see through the eyes of another living thing.
Disregarding the normal process of testing, the subjects were selected from a normal group of human applicants, all of which were males. In order to help secure the success of the test, a series of psychological and physiological examinations were performed, hoping to pair individuals with similar eyesight, chemistry, and other factors. In the end, three sets of people were cleared for the experiment. However, the testing never got past the first set of subjects.
First, a temporary form of surgery was performed, involving the circumvention of the normal transmission of the images from the eyes to brain. These signals were interrupted and then sent over a series of connections and wires to the adjoining subject. The people were then placed across from one another, after which the ability for the subjects to see was re-established.
At the request of the researchers, the subjects were first asked to keep their eyes on a designated spot on the floor as they adjusted to the new visual information. They were then directed to look at the subject across from them, and to keep their eyes more or less in that direction. As expected, this proved to be difficult at first, as they were directing their eyes without actually having their own sight to rely on. However, after some minor direction they were able to use the image of themselves from the person across from them to settle their vision.
The scientists then asked them a series of questions to try and get a baseline of what was being observed. This included colors, as well as the perceived emotional state of the person they were perceiving. After these questions were completed, the subjects were asked to talk to one another. Yet the act of speaking proved disorienting. However, once the subjects were told to try and imagine that they were looking into a mirror, they were able to speak normally.
After nearly ten minutes of this, one the subjects began to show signs of mental strain. Their heart rate began to accelerate and upon questioning began to show clear signs of agitation. The other subject however, did not seem to be equally effected. After an addition thirty seconds, the distress began to become more pronounced, as they were observed fidgeting in their chair and clawing at their pants legs.
When asked what it was that he was seeing, the man became more agitated, and avoided answering the question.
After another thirty seconds had passed, the man began screaming. He said that it was going to try and kill him, and that they needed to help him. He kept staring off to the left of the man in front of him, as if he was trying to will their eyes to move. The scientists asked again what it was that he was seeing, but he remained hysterical, refusing to respond to the questions. He was crying at this point, and began to ask for his mother. He begged them to stop the test, and the scientists began to go through the process of removing the connections.
As they were working, the man continued to show increased fear. Yet after a short time he stopped screaming. He began to grind his teeth, and his blood pressure skyrocketed. He began to moan, as his muscles began to relax. After several seconds of this, the subject became unresponsive, even after the connection was severed. A few minutes later the man died, a follow up autopsy revealing that he had suffered a severe stroke resulting from an aneurysm that had developed in the brain.
The scientists involved were charged with criminal negligence and manslaughter, it being asserted that they should have ended the test at the first signs of distress. Their licenses were revoked, and their results were hidden from the general public. To this day it is unknown exactly what the subject had seen.
Although the visual information was supposed to be simply exchanged between the subjects, the electrical signals were also collected by the scientists. Like the original experiment involving the cat, they were able to develop a picture of what the subject had seen. Only upon review, they were unable to find anything that would explain the strange reactions of the subject.
The other subjects were released from all obligations to the experiment, and have been unwilling to comment on what they experienced. The other man in the experiment initially showed little signs of the distress that had plagued the other person. However, a week after the experiment had ended, the man was found in his home by his wife. He was unconscious and was taken to the local hospital for surgery. After surgery he eventually managed to recover. The apparent cause of his state was a severe brain hemorrhage, similar to the man before. It remains unknown as to what exactly caused these results, and few doctors have been able to offer a solid explanation of the events.
To this day few even are aware of the existence of this experiment, and those that do largely suggest that it is just a myth. Much of the information on the specifics of the experiment were lost after flooding in the basement of the local court house.
