Fact Check

Man Sees Dead People, Speaks to God After Being Deprived of His Senses

A piece of horror fiction about a government experiment is frequently shared on social media as a true story.

Published Sept. 29, 2016

Claim:
A man saw dead people and talked to God after he was deprived of his senses during a government experiment.

A photograph showing a man being prodded by two doctors is frequently shared on Tumblr along with a story claiming that a man saw a communicated with dead people and talked to God (the latter of whom informed him that He had abandoned humanity) after he was deprived of all of his senses as part of a government experiment in 1983:

tumblr post

This image is just summarized version of a piece titled "Gateway of the Mind" that originally appeared on the Creepypasta horror fiction web site in November 2009.

Although the image included with this version of the story does not show a man being stripped of his senses, it is a photograph from a real government experiment. The photograph reportedly shows a "Tuskegee study subject" undergoing "a spinal tap to obtain spinal fluid for neurosyphilis testing."

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.

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