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About the Museum
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoaxipedia (the museum's online encyclopedia of hoaxes), the Hoax Forum, and the Top 100 April Fools' Day Hoaxes.
The museum was created in 1997 by Alex Boese. He's assisted by a staff of deputy curators and docents. Alex is the author of three books, most recently Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (which has nothing to do with hoaxes). Check out the list of the Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time for a preview.
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoaxipedia (the museum's online encyclopedia of hoaxes), the Hoax Forum, and the Top 100 April Fools' Day Hoaxes.
The museum was created in 1997 by Alex Boese. He's assisted by a staff of deputy curators and docents. Alex is the author of three books, most recently Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (which has nothing to do with hoaxes). Check out the list of the Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time for a preview.Prankplace.com
COVERT CLICKERSecretly control the TV, anywhere, any time! This device is so small it is easily concealed in your pocket. It can control volume, change the channel or turn the TV on & off. It works on 90% of all TV's.
THE TOILET MONSTERYour wife will never yell at you about leaving the seat up again! The Toilet Monster attaches to the inside of the toilet bowl by suction cups. As the unsuspecting person goes to use the bathroom, they'll scream as they lift the lid and are greeted by the Toilet Monster! Not recommended for the elderly or those with a weak heart.
What is the world record for staying awake?
Status: News
The London Times reports that Tony Wright of Cornwall recently stayed awake for 266 hours. He was attempting to break the world record of 264 hours awake set by Randy Gardner of San Diego in 1964. Wright was also attempting to demonstrate that, thanks to his "caveman diet" of raw food, he was able to "train his mind in such a way as to stay awake for 11 days and remain coherent and aware of what was going on around him."The Times then goes on to report the bad news. Gardner didn't actually hold the world record for staying awake. Gardner's record had long since been surpassed by others. So Wright didn't set a new record.
The Times reports that: "The Guinness previous record was for 11½ days, or 276 hours, and was set by Toimi Soini in Hamina, Finland, between February 5 to 15, 1964." However, Soini's record was removed from the Guinness Book of Records in 1989. "It was deleted on the grounds that it could encourage records harmful to health and was unverifiable because of the claims of insomnia sufferers."
Actually, the question of who holds the world record for staying awake is a little more complicated than that, which I know because Gardner's sleep deprivation experiment is one of the experiments I discuss in Elephants On Acid: and Other Bizarre Experiments
. I even interviewed Randy Gardner, who still lives in San Diego.Gardner set his record on January 8, 1964. Two weeks later newspapers reported that Jim Thomas, a student at Fresno State College, beat Gardner's record by staying awake for 266.5 hours. And a month later Soini set the new record. 1964 was a banner year for sleep-deprivation trials.
However, subsequent issues of the Guinness Book of Records report far longer periods of sleep deprivation. The 1978 edition, for instance, states that:
The longest recorded period for which a person has voluntarily gone without sleep is 449 hr (14 days 13 hours) by Mrs. Maureen Weston of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in a rocking chair marathon on 14 Apr.-2 May 1977. Though she tended to hallucinate toward the end of this surely ill-advised test, she surprisingly suffered no lasting ill effects.
Ironically, I don't believe Randy Gardner's record ever did make it into Guinness. Gardner reports that "I did not get listed in Guiness as I missed the publication date." However, Gardner's record is the most frequently cited because it was (and probably still is) the most scientifically rigorous long-term human sleep-deprivation study, since Gardner was monitored by Dr. William Dement of Stanford University.The overall problem with determining the record for the longest a person has stayed awake is that people take "microsleeps" without being aware of it. To really determine if a person has been constantly awake you'd need to record their brainwaves throughout the experiment. As far as I know, such a study has never been done.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Sat May 26, 2007 | Permalink |
Total Comments: 56
Category: Body Manipulation, Science
Category: Body Manipulation, Science
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
Page 3 of 3 pages « First < 1 2 3
ive been awake for 3 and a half days now I and freaked out tho i keep thinking a see this black blur run past me but other than that im fine just tired to hell idk how they made it 14 days
Posted by Corey in idk on Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 09:29 PMi have stayed up now for a little over 29 hours
i just wanna see how long i'll last and not set any records =]
but yea it kinda feels like i've been drinking =]
its really trippy =]
Posted by pancho in California on Tue Jun 24, 2008 at 02:32 PMi just wanna see how long i'll last and not set any records =]
but yea it kinda feels like i've been drinking =]
its really trippy =]
p.s.
wish me look =]
im only 16
hope i dont go crazy =/
Posted by pancho in California on Tue Jun 24, 2008 at 02:33 PMwish me look =]
im only 16
hope i dont go crazy =/
"The longest recorded period for which a person has voluntarily gone without sleep is 449 hr (14 days 13 hours) by Mrs. Maureen Weston of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in a rocking chair marathon on 14 Apr.-2 May 1977."
Didn't anyone else notice that 449 hrs is not 14 days 13 hours? I wonder how this type of a mistake could've gone through to the book. By the way, the same record (449 hrs = 18 days 17 hours) can be found with the days and hours corrected from the Finnish version of Guinness Book of World Records 1988 edition. It also has a mentioning of a Finn who even broke this by a mile, but it is said that the record can't be verified.
It also mentions people suffering from a very rare type of insomnia, in which the subject never falls asleep. Making the record years and years. I wonder what life would be like without sleep. Scary.
Posted by low-high on Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 09:48 AMDidn't anyone else notice that 449 hrs is not 14 days 13 hours? I wonder how this type of a mistake could've gone through to the book. By the way, the same record (449 hrs = 18 days 17 hours) can be found with the days and hours corrected from the Finnish version of Guinness Book of World Records 1988 edition. It also has a mentioning of a Finn who even broke this by a mile, but it is said that the record can't be verified.
It also mentions people suffering from a very rare type of insomnia, in which the subject never falls asleep. Making the record years and years. I wonder what life would be like without sleep. Scary.
This is how you will feel after you don't sleep I have'nt slept for 6 days before and then I started throw ing up so it was not good!!!!when school was out i stayed awake four (72)3 day's
then i was reading a book and i fell a sleep
Posted by Jessica Puff in N.y westchester on Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 11:59 AMthen i was reading a book and i fell a sleep
I've been awake for about 26 hours now and i still can't get to sleep - not for lack of trying! And considering i woke up at around 2.30am due to sleeping during the day before, i was planning to just go through the rest of the night and day and get to bed early. but NO, it's noe 4.30am (26 hours later) and i have to go to work in a couple of hours so im pretty much gonna be up for about 40something hours - i admitted defeat not too long ago and started researching sleep patterns to kill the time when i came across this forum. aanyway, i'm going beyond the point here, i've stayed awake for about 60 hours (3 days, 2 nights) before and quite often go nights without sleeping becasue daylight seems to come before i'm done with my night of watching tv or finishing work. reading the other posts i started to wonder about why people do this for "fun" instead of because they have something to do or genuinely can't sleep. and weirdly i think i do understand it...
it's quite empowering to know that you can stop your body functioning on "default" and have the will power to drastically control one of it's vital functioning mechanisms; sleep. that said... actually sleeping is way more fun!
Posted by thoughtful... in London, UK on Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 07:49 PMit's quite empowering to know that you can stop your body functioning on "default" and have the will power to drastically control one of it's vital functioning mechanisms; sleep. that said... actually sleeping is way more fun!
Allister Brown is attempting to smash a Guinness World Record for drumming 100 hours non-stop between the 22 and 26 July...
30 year old Allister is aiming to drum for 100 hours non-stop between the 22 and 26 July. Allister previously held the record in 2003 when he drummed for 58 hours and 17 minutes, and in 2004 when he drummed for 78 hours. The current world record is 85 hours and 30 minutes and was achieved by Belgian Gery Jallo in 2007. To break the record Allister must play recognisable tunes and not repeat any song within 4 hours. For each hour he plays he is allowed a 5 minute break.
http://www.allisterbrown.com
Posted by Green 17 Creative in Lisburn, Northern Ireland on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 07:40 AM30 year old Allister is aiming to drum for 100 hours non-stop between the 22 and 26 July. Allister previously held the record in 2003 when he drummed for 58 hours and 17 minutes, and in 2004 when he drummed for 78 hours. The current world record is 85 hours and 30 minutes and was achieved by Belgian Gery Jallo in 2007. To break the record Allister must play recognisable tunes and not repeat any song within 4 hours. For each hour he plays he is allowed a 5 minute break.
http://www.allisterbrown.com
I used to have trouble sleeping until I discovered that certain types of magnetic products could help me sleep. I didn't believe it at first, but after using them for 3 years and sleeping like a baby at night, I'm a believer. It feels good to have a good night's sleep again. I would not trade it for anything.
Posted by Anita on Sun Jul 27, 2008 at 06:52 PMhello I am a sixteen year old who has gone over 27 hours without sleep and that was because me and my friends were hanging out till 4:37 when I woke up at 8:22 the day before but anyways I got the dumb idea thinking I could break some record but after reading everything above I find I am out of my league and I will only keep going for another 10 hours just to see what every one is talking about then will happily go to bed and advise everyone to just sleep and have some fun dreams instead of trying of beating a record that won't even be recognized so come on
Posted by oscar lopez in Denver Colorado on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 09:34 AMalso if you do choose to do it atleast be safe don't drink too much caffine (if you choose to play video games do it in a well lit room sitting a good distance from the tv ) also chewing gum and plugging in a iPod to some speakers actually helps and really no stimulants
Posted by oscar lopez in Denver Colorado on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 09:44 AMive stayed up or 3 days..im only 14..im gunna try to stay up for 16 days..wish me luck
Posted by brandon on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 02:19 PMYou guys are not going to be able to break the record for sleeplessness, i could go 28 days no problem, its a part of my job, never thought of going for the record though! 
Posted by Motokano in Chapleau Ontario on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 02:25 PMwell dont say that i couldnt break the record which i probably wont but im only 11 ok and ive stayed up later than any of my friends. my record is 35 straight hours. but remember im only 11. school starts soon so i probably cant break my record again unless i might be able to break it tonight which i doubt i will even though the girl that i had a sleep over with before to make my record is staying the night at my house. but i still doubt i can because on tuesday i went to six flags kentucky kingdom so please stop saying stuff like you cant break the record and stuff. if i am able to stay up as late as i could before ill let you know.
Posted by Addy in Tallahassee, Florida on Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 05:43 AMI have been awake for 45 hours as of now. im feelin fine at the moment. this morning i had some reallly long adrenaline rush and i couldnt stop shaking so everyone thought i was coked out =/
Posted by Banks in Virginia on Fri Aug 15, 2008 at 07:51 PMHello MuseumofHoaxes message posters...
I have had insomnia since childhood.
I remember with painstaking detail every minute of the two full weeks I was awake in high school.
The first week was fun, watched TV and movies all night, chatted online with people around the world, etc...
The second week, I spent every single class crossing off on a piece of loose-leaf how many minutes were left in the class. I wasn't able to remember the content of the lecture immediately after it, but every minute on my paper was neatly checked off.
I spent the last weekend working (easy food service job) and sitting in my room starring at inanimate objects. I looked like a corpse.
I fell asleep late the night of the 15th day.
Sorry to the "real competitors" but anyone with insomnia knows two weeks, can be nothing. I know women in their 50's that go three weeks.
This micro sleep idea is nifty. Do they make a sustained, restful version I can try???
(Other than my good bed buddy Mary Jane?)
LOL
~Gwen
Posted by Gwenaveer in calgary, ab on Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 09:09 PMI have had insomnia since childhood.
I remember with painstaking detail every minute of the two full weeks I was awake in high school.
The first week was fun, watched TV and movies all night, chatted online with people around the world, etc...
The second week, I spent every single class crossing off on a piece of loose-leaf how many minutes were left in the class. I wasn't able to remember the content of the lecture immediately after it, but every minute on my paper was neatly checked off.
I spent the last weekend working (easy food service job) and sitting in my room starring at inanimate objects. I looked like a corpse.
I fell asleep late the night of the 15th day.
Sorry to the "real competitors" but anyone with insomnia knows two weeks, can be nothing. I know women in their 50's that go three weeks.
This micro sleep idea is nifty. Do they make a sustained, restful version I can try???
(Other than my good bed buddy Mary Jane?)
LOL
~Gwen
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