# Who said 'Gassings' were all fiction??? How do you explain two people sleeping 16 hours?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2010, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987 "2010-03-19T07:40:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/141 "2010-03-21T04:02:36Z")
> [@heavyarms553](#): > > p(Two people oversleeping after transcontinental flight) = p(One person oversleeping after transcontinental flight) x p(Other person oversleeping after transcontinental flight) > > p(Two people oversleeping after transcontinental flight) = .5 x .5 > > p(Two people oversleeping after transcontinental flight) = .25 > > You should do a couple hundred more flights to test for those .5s. I think that’s an oversimplification, as the probabilities aren’t entirely independent. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/142 "2010-03-21T04:27:02Z")
> [@Welltravelled](#): > > P.S. You still didn’t answer my point about two people sleeping, uninterrupted to the exact same minute??? No waking, no tossing, no turning. What actually does that? Just ask yourself for two minutes? I can tell you what DOESN’T do that: any sort of anesthetic gas. Different patients undergoing surgery will wake up differently when the anesthetic is withdrawn, let alone people subjected to some kind of haphazard “gassing”. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/143 "2010-03-21T05:04:16Z")
> [@Welltraveled](#): > > Had we stayed in more secure accommodation, we probably wouldn’t have this problem today You slept long and deeply after a tiring trip, and when you woke up you felt fine and found no evidence that anybody had interfered with you, your companion, or your possessions in any way. I could use some problems like that myself. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/144 "2010-03-21T06:17:28Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Unless you were watching Mr. Ed, and then you might think of zebras _and_ horses. Of course. A horse is a horse, of course. Of course, unless it’s a zebra. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/145 "2010-03-22T15:47:48Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > You are Number 6. He is not a number! He is a free man! … No, seriously, he’s a free man. Nothing happened. At all. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/146 "2010-03-22T16:08:00Z")
I just got the latest newsletter from Jerry Fletcher and this story seems to be absolutely true. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/147 "2010-03-22T18:44:48Z")
> [@Welltravelled](#): > > My simple message and I have said it clearly above is for everyone to take care in hotels or wherever they may be. Make sure that you have the necessary security procedures to protect yourself from intruders, then you don’t have to wonder what could or did happen. Period. Here, ladies and gentlemen, we find the OP’s motivation. He’s making an urban legend. Or passing on an old one. He’s not crazy. He’s not stupid. He’s just bored…and on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/148 "2010-03-22T19:30:15Z")
Of course, the OP is of particular interest to me. The first time I flew from NYC to London, I was also “gassed” and later slept for 16 straight hours. Unfortunately for me, the gas came from the hygenically-challenged guy who sat next to me, the stench of which kept me awake all flight. After that and a nervy trip from London to Leeds with about all of my worldly possessions in a large suitcase, which two seedy-looking guys were eying like a dog looks at a steak, I’m surprised I didn’t get 24 hours of sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Welltravelled](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f475e1/32.png) [@Welltravelled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Welltravelled)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/149 "2010-10-19T09:00:54Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > So if you had been knocked out slowly, you would have known their motive … how? > > These are the weirdest “evildoers” possible, because they are such a strange mix of comptence and idiocy: > > They spend a bunch of money and difficult procedures to get chloroform or something to gas tourists; but then they go to cheap motels with little cash opportunity. > > They sneak in and put a mask on two people and gas them expertly; but then don’t take **anything** - no money, no credit cards, not even the pass ports to sell them to the next Mossad or Al Queda group. > > So now the criminals have spent a lot of money and time for nothing. > > The OP, on the other hand, is paranoid safety consioucs enough to conclude this is a gassing, but doesn’t go to the police or embassy to report a possible copy-theft of credit cards and passport. > > Did you notice any unsual activity on your credit cards afterwards? > > Well, they must have known how to pick an idiot who won’t go to the police with his suspicions, and yet they didn’t know how to pick a tourist with enough attractive money to steal from? If they keep doing this to other tourist who also never go to the police or press (since there are no reliable reports at all about this) yet never take anything, they are simply wasting time and money, yet despite being so dumb, they never leave traces. As if they didn’t exist at all… > > All those other cases of jet lag that you alledgedly experienced - were they also West to East, with no sleep in the days before? As others have already said, it makes a lot of difference for the body and jet lag in which direction you are travelling. > > No, a reasonable person can only come to the conclusion that you are wildly paranoid and don’t listen to rational explanations. > > So what would constitute secure accomodation in your eyes? Maybe next time, you should let yourself be arrested by the police, then you are under lock and key during the night. Or go into a sleep lab with cameras next time you have jet lag. > > The message I’m taking home from you is that crazies are everywhere. > > BTW, do you even read the other posts? Because you still haven’t answered the questions > > Which city was this in? > > Why didn’t you go to the police, the embassy or tell anybody else? Constanze It has been a while since I have been back to the straight dope message board, I was surprised that you had written back such an in-depth and interested reply to my last message. Its good to see that you are slowly asking the ‘right’ questions about the situation my partner and I were involved in. As you will soon discover, like I did myself, things just don’t add up, lets start with a few of your points. _They spend a bunch of money and difficult procedures to get chloroform or something to gas tourists; but then they go to cheap motels with little cash opportunity._ You made the above statement. You, and anyone else on this board that comes on here and agrees with you on this is totally misled and clearly shouldn’t be asking to see ‘evidence’ if you don’t even know how simple it is to make chloroform out of household ingredients. Someone who operates a hotel or works their on night shift is not going to spend lots of money to do something! Please wake up. Use google. There are several methods for making chloroform. Its very simple and for your information, which you clearly need, cheap. As I SAID several times, this is not an external job. This is only an inside job. No one entered the hotel from the outside, what do you call them young people? Go back and read my messages, all the answers are there. You are slowly asking the right questions and going down the right track. Modern anaesthetics cannot be made at home. Chloroform or its derivatives can. At the very worst, its an industrial grade chemical. Bought from a friend or stolen is not a big deal. Please educate yourself because your comments are just embarrassing. How dare you try and knock what I say when you don’t even have FACTS? \*They sneak in and put a mask on two people and gas them expertly; but then don’t take **anything** - no money, no credit cards, not even the pass ports to sell them to the next Mossad or Al Queda group. \* Consistent with most people who have been victims of robbery, whether it is in their hotel room or motor-home, they don’t take credit cards, they are looking for CASH, which we had none. They also look for items like jellewry. No one who is smart buys credit cards, please stop embarrassing yourself. _So what would constitute secure accomodation in your eyes? Maybe next time, you should let yourself be arrested by the police, then you are under lock and key during the night. Or go into a sleep lab with cameras next time you have jet lag._ Many hotels have secure accomodation, with a bolt and chain. That stops someone from entering and if they do, you know that it happened! The next thing is to request with an electronic slip card system the record to confirm if someone did enter your room using one of the hotel’s keys. I have toyed with doing this, but not sure if I really want to know. I’ll share the record with you if I do. That might help to settle this story once and for all!!! Then what would you say? Oh must have been a wrong room that’s why there’s a record? No that’s just denial! Oh and where did you get mask from? You, and anyone else that is talking about using masks must be really silly. I said handkerchief. Or maybe in your language folded napkin. _So now the criminals have spent a lot of money and time for nothing._ Once again like above you really don’t think do you? What money, give me the price for making chloroform using household chemicals? Or buying industrial grade chemicals? You are not very bright. _All those other cases of jet lag that you alledgedly experienced - were they also West to East, with no sleep in the days before? As others have already said, it makes a lot of difference for the body and jet lag in which direction you are travelling._ It is not just yourself with the above statement, but also every other poster on here with very low intelligence. IN NO MEDICAL BOOK, ACCORDING TO NO DOCTOR, do people experience ‘prolonged nocturnal sleep’ from jet lag. If you do not understand what prolonged nocturnal sleep is, please look it up. Jet lag simply confuses when you feel ‘ready’ for sleep and when you ‘wake’ for the sleep. The confusion arises because the body is on the time zone of the previous country, that’s why. Hence, you sleep for the same amount of TIME!!! NOT MORE TIME you idiot. Bring me one, just ONE medical record saying that jet lag is a cause of prolonged nocturnal sleep. Sleep deprivation is, JET LAG isn’t. THEREFORE JET LAG DOES NOT EXPLAIN OUR PROLONGED SLEEP. Now who is so wild and stupid after all? Sorry, knowing which city this was in is going to do??? What?? Sorry is it more likely in one then the other? Now you ask if I reported this to the police? Does it make any more true? Does it make my story more legitimate? I’ve given you the FACTS. Don’t come back saying jet lag is the cause, because it doesn’t cause prolonged sleep. Yes, I have had jet lag several times. travelling west to east means you simply have trouble sleeping and fall asleep later or feel sleepy during the day. it has nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with prolonging nocturnal sleep. So how dare you say that I am wild. I have my FACTS. Clearly you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Welltravelled](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f475e1/32.png) [@Welltravelled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Welltravelled)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/150 "2010-10-19T09:09:37Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > So if you had been knocked out slowly, you would have known their motive … how? > > Well, they must have known how to pick an idiot who won’t go to the police with his suspicions, and yet they didn’t know how to pick a tourist with enough attractive money to steal from? If they keep doing this to other tourist who also never go to the police or press (since there are no reliable reports at all about this) yet never take anything, they are simply wasting time and money, yet despite being so dumb, they never leave traces. As if they didn’t exist at all… Are you serious, you sit here saying to me that I didn’t go to the police with my suspicions. yet you have the audacity to try and insult and discount my claims. Yet, you say go to the Police? You really must be an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Welltravelled](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f475e1/32.png) [@Welltravelled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Welltravelled)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/151 "2010-10-19T09:33:59Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > The more closely I’ve followed your replies the more you have convinced me. > > I apologize for the mockers here and all those who automatically assume “gassings” are all fiction. > > Whatever you do, don’t give up your fight to convince people. If you do, the problem is just going to stay out there, unsolved, and the criminals will have won. Thanks Chief! I will ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/152 "2010-10-19T10:11:09Z")
> [@Welltravelled](#): > > Are you serious, you sit here saying to me that I didn’t go to the police with my suspicions. yet you have the audacity to try and insult and discount my claims. Yet, you say go to the Police? You really must be an idiot. No, the fact that you **didn’t** go to the police sorta kinda indicates that you don’t believe this scenario yourself or that you thought it up much later. It’s not the kind of behaviour of someone who **knows** he’s been “gassed” with “chlorophorm” in his bed. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/153 "2010-10-19T11:35:34Z")
> [@Welltravelled](#): > > You really must be an idiot. [moderator warning] Personal insults are not allowed in the General Questions forum. Do not do this again. [/moderator warning] ---
**Author:** ![enigmatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@enigmatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enigmatic)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/154 "2010-10-19T12:21:24Z")
Welltraveled, please realise that the overwhelmingly negative response to your OP is because _your analysis of the issue is obviously and severely abnormal_. Please, please, please, talk about this stuff to your doctor and take his advice. It’s possible that this response is part of some humongous conspiracy that involves almost everybody in the world but you. But please consider the alternative possibility that something is wrong and that investigating it could substantially improve the quality of your life. For what it’s worth, whilst I can obviously not give you medical advice, I am a trained toxicologist. I do not know of any substance that could reliably and safely (and I’m talking about a massively conspicuous fatality rate) produce the effects that you are describing. Past history would suggest that at the very least the special forces apparatus of one of the worlds major powers doesn’t know of one either. In particular if choloroform had been used in the way you suggest, I would expect both of you to have suffered liver damage. You would also have been feeling very, very ill when (if) you regained conciousness. It is vaguely possible that you could have suffered acute carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty gas supply. It is much more likely that you were tired. Please go see your doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/155 "2010-10-19T13:18:07Z")
> [@Welltravelled](#): > > It has been a while since I have been back to the straight dope message board … Let me guess. You’ve been lying unconscious and anesthetized in a European hostel for seven months. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/156 "2010-10-19T13:39:25Z")
> [@Welltravelled](#): > > As I SAID several times, this is not an external job. This is only an inside job. No one entered the hotel from the outside… How would you know this? You were asleep for 16 hours, you have no idea what happened while you were asleep. > [@](#): > > Consistent with most people who have been victims of robbery, whether it is in their hotel room or motor-home, they don’t take credit cards, they are looking for CASH, which we had none. They also look for items like jellewry. No one who is smart buys credit cards, please stop embarrassing yourself. Are you aware of the magnitude of credit card fraud these days? It’s huge. Theft/misuse of credit card numbers is a big problem. Moreover, if someone is looking to rob you, they will want to minimize the amount of time they spend in a place where they can get caught. THey’re not going to dig out your wallet, take your cash out of it, and then put your wallet back where they found it. They’ll take your wallet, get out to a safe location, extract the items they want, and then discard the wallet. > [@](#): > > IN NO MEDICAL BOOK, ACCORDING TO NO DOCTOR, do people experience ‘prolonged nocturnal sleep’ from jet lag. If you do not understand what prolonged nocturnal sleep is, please look it up. I Googled [“prolonged nocturnal sleep” “jet lag”,](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22prolonged+nocturnal+sleep%22+%22jet+lag%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=) and got quite a few hits. [Here’s one](http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/h/hypersomnia/book-diseases-10a.htm) that lists “circadian rhythm disturbances” (such as jet lag) as a cause of hypersomnia. [/quote] > [@](#): > > Jet lag simply confuses when you feel ‘ready’ for sleep and when you ‘wake’ for the sleep. The confusion arises because the body is on the time zone of the previous country, that’s why. Hence, you sleep for the same amount of TIME!!! NOT MORE TIME you idiot. This would be true if you tried to stay on the same schedule as your old time zone. But by trying to adjust to your new time zone, you end up staying awake for a longer-than-normal period of time, which routinely results in a longer-than-noral period of sleep. This is quite common. > [@](#): > > Bring me one, just ONE medical record saying that jet lag is a cause of prolonged nocturnal sleep. Sleep deprivation is, JET LAG isn’t. > > THEREFORE JET LAG DOES NOT EXPLAIN OUR PROLONGED SLEEP. OK, fine, jet lag doesn’t explain your prolonged sleep. Sleep deprivation does explain it very nicely, though - sleep deprivation arising from your attempts to overcome jet lag by staying up for far longer than normal. > [@](#): > > Now you ask if I reported this to the police? Does it make any more true? Does it make my story more legitimate? Most persons who believed themselves and their space to have been violated in the profound manner you claim would report the incident to police, if only as a public service to protect others who might be similarly endangered in the future. The fact that did not casts doubt on your belief of your own story. > [@](#): > > travelling west to east means you simply have trouble sleeping and fall asleep later or feel sleepy during the day. it has nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with prolonging nocturnal sleep. Sure it does. BTDT. Traveled to England in '94. Had trouble sleeping the first night, but second night slept for a good 12-13 hours. Dad and I were shocked to have awoken around noon local time the next day (I don’t believe we were gassed). ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/157 "2010-10-19T13:51:15Z")
> [@Welltravelled](#): > > …We had travelled from the west coast of North America to Europe (eastward flight), on a 7 and ½ hour flight, we left the origin at 7pm local time. We got some rest on the flight. We then arrived at our destination at 11.00am their time and stayed up until 11pm that evening and then went to bed. We awoke the following day at 2.30pm… > Background information: both of us were exposed to rapid movement across several time zones (possible jet lag); and over the previous 36 hours had rested only on the flight over, before settling down to bed. > [@Welltravelled](#): > > THEREFORE JET LAG DOES NOT EXPLAIN OUR PROLONGED SLEEP. Technically, you are correct. Jet lag does not explain prolonged sleep. **Let’s take jet lag out of the equation to clarify this.** Let’s translate all the times at your destination back to times at home and ignore the time change completely. First, let’s figure out the time change, so we can translate everything back to your home time. You went to Europe on a 7.5-hour flight, departing at 7 PM and arrving 11 AM local time. That would indicate a time change of 8.5 hours. Since time change from N. America to Europe is in whole hours, let’s truncate to 8 hours. You got only “some rest” from 7 PM (when your flight departed) until 2:30 AM, when it arrived. I assume that “some rest” does not mean your normal 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep that you mention in your OP. You continued to stay up until 3 PM that afternoon, when you were finally too tired to stay awake any longer. Now you go to bed. Let’s say you sleep for 8 hours. Now it’s 11 PM. Your body says, “Hey, it’s bedtime, time to sleep!! I know, I know, I’ve already _been_ sleeping, but I have a sleep debt, and circadian rhythms are so powerful that I’m going to just keep sleeping, because it’s TIME TO SLEEP.” So you sleep for another 6.5 hours, until 5:30 AM (that’s home time; it’s 2:30 in Europe). **That’s only 14.5 hours of sleep in 48 hours, plus “some rest.”** **You usually get a solid 18 hours of sleep in the same time period**. This is perfectly normal and explained without having to bring up either jet lag, or gas. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/158 "2010-10-19T13:59:54Z")
BTW I have travelled to Europe and Egypt 12-13 times in the last 20 years and find this sleep pattern to be perfectly normal after an overnight flight. I haven’t slept until 2:30 but I’ve slept until 1 PM, and it’s a mighty struggle the first day to get up at 9 AM to try to get on local time. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/159 "2010-10-19T14:18:32Z")
I love this thread. The OP could easily be: I traveled a long way without sleep. I overslept. Therefore I must have been gassed. And yet here we are on page 4, after a warning. Plus, is \*\*Chief Pedant \*\*just taking the piss by encouraging the OP? Or does he buy into it - I could go either way here. ---
**Author:** ![SmithCommaJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@SmithCommaJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmithCommaJohn)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987/160 "2010-10-19T14:20:14Z")
This is the best thread. Anyway, last time I traveled overseas was a few years ago. I went to Europe. When I arrived back in my hometown, it was pretty early in the morning, local time. and I was drowsy, but didn’t feel exhausted. I didn’t have anything to do, so I went and saw a movie. It was _Transformers_, if that’s relevant. After the movie, I walked around town for a while, got lunch, reflected on how nice it was to be back home after 6 weeks overseas, etc. Pretty normal stuff. When I got back home in the afternoon, I suddenly crashed. It was like I slammed into a wall. I don’t remember exactly when I woke up, but I think it was sometime the next morning. I spoke to a friend on the phone, and they asked me what I did the day I got home. I totally drew a blank. I couldn’t remember! I ended up saying that I didn’t do anything, even though I had a vague sense that I had done something. A few minutes later, I suddenly remembered everything, and felt pretty silly. I wasn’t gassed. I was just _tired_. Fatigue can cause us to do some strange things, and remember them (or not) in strange ways. It doesn’t take sleeping gas, or whatever, to do that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-gassings-were-all-fiction-how-do-you-explain-two-people-sleeping-16-hours/532987.md?page=9)