All Things Dark

[BabyBoy2023]

I like the occasional dark story, especially if it is true. I have a true one for you. Did you know that Russia, formerly the Soviet Union, had a massive biological weapons program? They sure did, and it was called Biopreparat. They had literal campuses that were nothing but various biological-weapons research-and-production facilities. Dr. Ken Alibek, formerly Kanatjan Alibekov, was the front man of Biopreparat, and he wrote a hair-raising account of his time in the program in a tell-all book, "Biohazard." Several articles were written about the case I am about to describe in this post. Dr. Alibek even wrote about it in his book.
In about 1988, a man by the name of Dr. Nikolai Ustinov was employed at Biopreparat, and he worked at a place called Vector, just outside the larch rainforest of Novosibersk. In early April, 1988, while injecting a Guinea pig with the lethal agent, Marburg, a cousin to the Ebola virus, Ustinov, wearing a biohazard space suit, pricked his thumb. He used an emergency phone to call his supervisor, who had him placed in a large biocontainment hospital at Vector. He wasn't allowed to see his wife, children, and other people, and he was monitored by doctors and nurses wearing space suits. During his stay in the biocontainment hospital, he kept a scientific journal, in which he wrote of his experiences daily. Then the headache began and he developed pinpoint hemorrhages beneath his skin. His eyes turned red and he developed bloody diarrhea.
On April 30, 1988, Dr. Nikolai Ustinov died of intense bleeding from every opening in his body. He even bled around his teeth and from beneath his fingernails. The blood even came through the pores of his skin. It is reported that the last few pages of his journal are smeared with his unclotted blood. That same day, following Ustinov's death, the Vector researchers performed an autopsy in the space suit morgue, and they drew a large quantity of the man's destroyed blood and took various tissue samples. They used these various materials for the source of a weapons-grade form of Marburg virus, which they named Variant U., after Ustinov. Using special organic material, they coated the virus to turn it into a fine powder, and they mass-produced it in large vessels called bioreactors. They then tested it on monkeys caged inside what is called an explosion test chamber, and they found that 1 particle of Variant U. lodged in the lungs almost always was fatal. By 1990 and 1991, the Variant U. was on the verge of becoming a full-scale strategic-operational bioweapon ready for mass-production and loading onto the warheads the Soviets possessed at the time; however, when Boris Yeltzen came to power and the Soviet Union broke apart, the Variant U.'s potential to be used against the United States was also banished, or so we think. Really, nobody can be sure, because, following the Soviet Union's collapse, military microbiologists defected to other parts of the world, and it is feared that some may have taken samples of Variant U. with them in diplomatic pouches and other means of smuggling. They may have even sold them to other bad actors who hate the Western world. Whatever happened to the Variant U. remains unknown to this day as does its destiny in the human species.
If you were able to stomach what you read and you have made it to the end of this story, please comment on it.

 

[GreasyGears]

If this sort of thing interests you, you should look up the guy who was stitching an extra head onto dogs. His name is Vladimir Demikhov. Some of the dogs did live for a while, but it would've been hard. The host body would have to work much harder to circulate blood to the second head.

 

[BabyBoy2023]

If this sort of thing interests you, you should look up the guy who was stitching an extra head onto dogs. His name is Vladimir Demikhov. Some of the dogs did live for a while, but it would've been hard. The host body would have to work much harder to circulate blood to the second head.

That is so freaky. Who was the man who transplanted monkey heads? Do you remember in the 1980's there was a boy who was given a baboon's heart? Sadly, he died anyway.

 

[GreasyGears]

That is so freaky. Who was the man who transplanted monkey heads?

Robert White, I believe. He was inspired by Demikhov.

Do you remember in the 1980's there was a boy who was given a baboon's heart? Sadly, he died anyway.

I haven't heard of this. What happened?

 

[BabyBoy2023]

Robert White, I believe. He was inspired by Demikhov.

I haven't heard of this. What happened?

I don't know what exactly happened, but just that the poor lad died.

 

[BabyBoy2023]

Since we are on the subject of "dark biology" in this thread, I must bring up the anthrax event that followed the terror attacks of 9-11-01. Just a while ago (about two weeks or so,) I was listening to a documentary program called "The Passionate Eye." It was an episode about the anthrax event, which had been coined "Amerithrax" by the FBI. That program really got me thinking because it didn't only discuss the events surrounding the death of Dr. Bruce Ivins, who was the second suspect in the investigation when it was found that Dr. Steve Hatfill was innocent, but the death of another man, Dr. David Kelly, who worked at Porton-Down, in Brittain. Though it was said both Ivins and Kelly committed suicide, some things just don't add up. It was stated on "The Passionate Eye," which is aired on PBS, that it takes a great deal of skill to purify anthrax to make it a viable biological weapon, and this is stuff the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID,) on the Fort Detrick Army Base, in Frederick, Maryland, doesn't have. Now I am wondering who else could have been involved with Dr. Ivins because the whole things is fishy. Years ago, in the 1940's, 1950's, and into the late-1960's, the United States had an offensive biological weapons program until President Nixon killed it. One of the front runners of the program was a colonel who later became an instrumental figure in the war against biowarfare and terrorism, and he spent the rest of his life informing first responders as well as political figures of the dangers of biowarfare and terrorism. He discussed the biological organisms used, their lethality, and how they behaved as aerosolized powders and/or liquids. I, myself, heard the man speak on an episode of "Nightline" in the midst of the Amerithrax event of 2001, and though I am reluctant to give his name, I wonder how much involvement he had being that he, himself, was also at one time a member of UNSCOM, which is the United Nations Special Commission, the group who traveled to places like Iraq and the former Soviet Union and busted hostile entities who were producing weapons of mass-distruction. Because the guy had access to various facilities, and though I am not saying he did anything wrong, I must ask whether or not he was involved because we never heard his name in any of the investigations. He died some time ago, and the answers went to the grave with him. Once again, I am not saying he did it, but I wonder if he could have been involved.

 

[GreasyGears]

Do you remember in the 1980's there was a boy who was given a baboon's heart? Sadly, he died anyway.

I looked it up. There was a girl in 1984 that had a baboon heart transplanted. Stephanie Fae Beauclair. Only survived for 3 weeks after that.

 

[BabyBoy2023]

I looked it up. There was a girl in 1984 that had a baboon heart transplanted. Stephanie Fae Beauclair. Only survived for 3 weeks after that.

Oh, yeah, that's right. Baby Faye! I don't know why I mistook her as a baby boy. Perhaps I was thinking of another incident. I remember her now.

 

[GreasyGears]

Years ago, in the 1940's, 1950's, and into the late-1960's, the United States had an offensive biological weapons program until President Nixon killed it.

Even though there's nothing to support it, I highly doubt that the USA isn't at least researching biological weapons. They're the most powerful military force on the planet. They probably research any and all forms of weaponry, even if they never use it. Now, if they are, it would be Confidential or higher and we would never know about it in our lifetime.

 

[BabyBoy2023]

Even though there's nothing to support it, I highly doubt that the USA isn't at least researching biological weapons. They're the most powerful military force on the planet. They probably research any and all forms of weaponry, even if they never use it. Now, if they are, it would be Confidential or higher and we would never know about it in our lifetime.

I got what you're saying.

 

[GreasyGears]

On another morbid note. Did you know that (at least some of) the crew of STS-51-L (Space Shuttle Challenger) were alive after the explosion? During the Challenger investigation, it was discovered that some of emergency oxygen masks were used. This meant that some or all of the crew were alive and conscious all the way down until they crashed into the ocean.

 

[PeterPPeevy]

In South Vietnam in 1966 I witnessed, and experienced, a lot of severe trauma. My right femur was shattered just above my knee by a rifle bullet fired by a communist soldier.

Words cannot convey the incredible full-body shock of that moment. It felt like I‘d been hit not by a bullet, but by a mountain moving at high velocity. There was no pain as such, just a deep, heavy “vibration” from stem to stern, with added, severe cramps not just in my right leg, but in both legs. I’d been standing when I was shot. In the next instant, I was flat on my back. I sat up, briefly, to see how bad my wound was, but I was already weak as a kitten.

Following emergency surgery on the hospital ship U.S.S. Repose, I was evacuated to Balboa naval hospital in San Diego, where I was in traction for 111 days and was discharged after 9-plus months. Full recovery was not possible — I had lost too much muscle tissue, and the circulatory system of my right

Believe it or not, that history isn’t an example of the darkness theme of this thread. That because I wanted to learn why the bullet that hit me had been so devastating. in reading about the history of the development of military-grade rifles, I learned that medical researchers in the U.S., working in the middle decades of the 20th Century, used live , conscious pigs, monkeys, and chimps as targets to determine the type and severity of wounds that high-velocity rifle bullets could cause. They didn’t shoot to kill, but to wound.

Peter P.P.

 

[Edgewater]

Reality Check: China is quickly become the most powerful military complex in this World!

The recent Pandemic occurred because a like infection of one or more workers in that Lab. China refused to release the chemical definition of the Virus. When the US received blood samples from US citizens who were infected in China, you may recall the early joy that this was little more than yet another variant of CoviD. Three months later, we learned that it was in fact a 'manmade hybrid,' a blend of SARS and CoviD. And, then the information shutdown occurred.

Regarding military-grade rifles, close but it is the design of the bullet not the rifle that defines the damage you experienced, plus the skill of the marksman that shot you! You can place a highly machined rifle and a NATO bullet in the hands of an average shooter and with luck they may get close. Place a highly machined 22 long rifle in the hands of a marksman with a 22 long bullet designed to break-up upon impact and as long as that marksman is in range, the damage is near as great. The practice of marksman to wound in place of killing has long been a tool of warfare.

 

[PeterPPeevy]

Regarding military-grade rifles, close but it is the design of the bullet not the rifle that defines the damage you experienced, plus the skill of the marksman that shot you! You can place a highly machined rifle and a NATO bullet in the hands of an average shooter and with luck they may get close. Place a highly machined 22 long rifle in the hands of a marksman with a 22 long bullet designed to break-up upon impact and as long as that marksman is in range, the damage is near as great. The practice of marksman to wound in place of killing has long been a tool of warfare.

The bullets used by all combatants in the Vietnam War followed Geneva Convention agreements that required the soft metal core of bullets to be jacketed with copper or other hard metal to prevent them from becoming deformed or torn to pieces as they transferred their kinetic energy to living tissue of the enemy soldiers. The idea was that the bullets would drill cleanly through the body, resulting in less-serious wound and lower risk of death.

The terrible wars of the mid- and later 19th Century, notably the American Civil War, had resulted in horrifying wounds caused when large-calibre lead bullets, heated almost to the melting point by the ignition of gunpowder, became hot, misshapen blobs of nearly molten lead that tore through bodies, sometimes removing large pieces of bone and leaving masses of mangled muscle, bone, nerves, and blood vessels behind. Near amputation was often followed by medical amputation, but those patients, if they survived surgery, usually died from infection.

While the intentions of the Geneva Convention were admirable, advancements in firearms technology soon undid them. New types of “gunpowder,” called propellants, combined with more-precise machining of rifles and more aerodynamic design of bullets, meant that bullets could reach higher velocities than ever — as fast, in fact, as some of the fastest supersonic jet fighters.

The military-grade bullets used in the Vietnam War and still in use around the world are much smaller than the massive .50 calibre ball ammunition used in the Civil War,. Their ability to kill and maim comes from the nearly instantaneous transfer of thousands of foot-pounds of kinetic energy from the bullet to the body of the targeted soldier (or civilian teacher or school child). For the most part, they bullets remain intact and pass through the victim’s body, as the good men who signed the Geneva Convention hoped they would, supposedly causing less trauma than bullets without metal casings would cause. The problems are “cavitation,” literally the explosively expanding and then collapsing ”tunnel” created by the bullet through muscle, bone, nerves, and skin, and the pulse of energy that rips through the victims body at the speed of sound through water. There were documented cases in late 20th Century wars of deaths by brain hemorrhage occurring among soldiers who had been shot in their abdomen; the pressure wave from the bullet, travelling throughout their bodies, ruptured blood vessels in their brains.

The scars from my wounding in South Vietnam perfectly illustrate the destruction that a modern bullet can cause. The bullet that hit me punctured a hole the diameter of pencil through my outer thigh, hit my femur or passed close enough to it to shatter it, broke into hundreds of fragments, many of them still in my leg, and blew out through my inner right thigh, leaving behind a patch of bloody and bleeding flesh that looked like freshly ground hamburger. Surgeons on board the hospital ship U.S.S. Repose left a huge, deep scar on my inner thigh. A skin graft about 25 the times the size of the bullet hole on the right side of my thigh was requ to facilitate healing.

***​

I disagree with Edgewater’s statement that “marksmen” attempt to wound rather than kill. While it’s true that wounded soldiers, who must be given first aid and be evacuated as soon as possible, reduce an army’s effectiveness far more than dead soldiers, soldiers are rarely skilled marksmen. In 20th Century conflicts, soldiers often failed to shoot at all, a problem that the U.S. Army has addressed in recent years through training. Nor does Edgewater’s statement hold true for the top echelon of marksmen — snipers — because they do shoot to kill for maximum tactical effect (killing officers) and maximum psychological effect (freaking out soldiers who witness the results a sniper’s work).

Edgewater probably doesn’t have the experience of close combat in his lifetime. I do. I doubt that there is one in a thousand soldiers who can remain calm, cool, and collected when under fire, especially in situations where only a few metres separate enemy soldiers from each other and the air is filled with explosions, rifle and machine gun fire, the screams of wounded and dying men, and soldiers are witnessing the instant deaths or unimaginable wounds suffered by their comrades in arms and close buddies.

Targets on a battlefield rarely stand still in clear sight, which means they don’t give enemy riflemen much opportunity to aim carefully, assuming that they can control their nerves sufficiently to aim their rifle with intent to kill or wound and without shaking. Even if a rifleman is as cool as the proverbial cucumber, he has no control over errant breezes or wind, raindrops, leaves, twigs, or even blades of grass that may deflect his bullet. A tiny bit of dirt or a scratch on a bullet can deflect it, as can poor maintenance of the rifle. Poor light greatly inhibits the accuracy of a shot. The slightest twitch, shake, tickle, spasm, or chill can throw off a soldier’s aim, and no rifleman can predict how and in what direction an enemy soldier might move at the moment he pulls his trigger.

Inconsistencies in the manufacture of ammunition can result in bullets that look identical but very widely in performance. Changes in humidity can change the geometric relationship of a rifle stock to the firing chamber and barrel, affecting a bullet’s trajectory and ultimate effect, if any, on the target.

Soldiers are not— NOT — taught to kill or wound. They are taught to aim at the biggest part of their target, the abdomen, in hopes that their bullet will take the enemy soldier out of action, dead or alive, no matter what body part is bloodied, punctured, grazed, ruptured, shatter, or removed. And it doesn’t take much to do that, A friend of mine was shot in the same firefight in which I was wounded. The bullet that hit him drilled through the web between his left thumb and forefinger and shattered his M14’s stock. And he was evacuated along with me back to the States. my battalion’s first casualty in Vietnam, less than a day after our amphi landin, was a sergeant who took a bullet through his helmet. The bullets gouged a narrow channel across the top of his skull, and he was evacuated with a massive headache and concussion.

Finally, there’s this: If you only want to wound, not kill someone, just shoot ’em in a leg, right? Sure. A week before I was wounded, a Marine in my company shot a young Viet Cong. The bulletin hit the boy just before his right hip, shattered his femur, and burst his femoral artery. He bled out in only a minute or two.

Peter P.P.

 

[Edgewater]

Well, Mr. P.P.P.. Clearly you have zero understanding of my experience, nor military service as although you may have been in Vietnam before me, does not mean that I did not.

FYI: WWII fifty cal. machine gun as undergone minor changes compared to what 'we' saw in Vietnam. Comparing it to the fifty cal of the Civil war has zero grounds for comparison other than their diameter.

The M-14 with marksman upgrades was a true up-close or at distance killer and in the hands of a marksman, was a deadly tool that could remove a single individual or cause wounds that force at least two individuals to remove that individual. Sad, but it was a tactic activity used by both sides.

Vietnam saw two very different rifles the M-14 and the M-16 provided by the US.

As you should know the US solder is not 100% dependent on the officer core for them to keep fighting.

And, on and on, and on! So many errors that it is not worth the readers time.

Not playing your game Mr. P.P.P..

 

[Matty83]

Doenetwork.org fascinates me.

 

[BabyBoy2023]

On another morbid note. Did you know that (at least some of) the crew of STS-51-L (Space Shuttle Challenger) were alive after the explosion? During the Challenger investigation, it was discovered that some of emergency oxygen masks were used. This meant that some or all of the crew were alive and conscious all the way down until they crashed into the ocean.

OMG I just read this and it's heartwrenching!

 

[BabyBoy2023]

In South Vietnam in 1966 I witnessed, and experienced, a lot of severe trauma. My right femur was shattered just above my knee by a rifle bullet fired by a communist soldier.

Words cannot convey the incredible full-body shock of that moment. It felt like I‘d been hit not by a bullet, but by a mountain moving at high velocity. There was no pain as such, just a deep, heavy “vibration” from stem to stern, with added, severe cramps not just in my right leg, but in both legs. I’d been standing when I was shot. In the next instant, I was flat on my back. I sat up, briefly, to see how bad my wound was, but I was already weak as a kitten.

Following emergency surgery on the hospital ship U.S.S. Repose, I was evacuated to Balboa naval hospital in San Diego, where I was in traction for 111 days and was discharged after 9-plus months. Full recovery was not possible — I had lost too much muscle tissue, and the circulatory system of my right

Believe it or not, that history isn’t an example of the darkness theme of this thread. That because I wanted to learn why the bullet that hit me had been so devastating. in reading about the history of the development of military-grade rifles, I learned that medical researchers in the U.S., working in the middle decades of the 20th Century, used live , conscious pigs, monkeys, and chimps as targets to determine the type and severity of wounds that high-velocity rifle bullets could cause. They didn’t shoot to kill, but to wound.

Peter P.P.

Man! That's horrific!