Originally made by the British, "Skittles" were introduced to North America in the late 1970's. The candy we all know and love today is not what it seems to be, however, for it was once used as something far more unimaginable.
Six men from America were serving as spies and infiltrated the British top secret archives, but unfortunately were caught. Given permission by the law, British scientists were allowed to experiment with these prisoners using a new form of torture: starvation.
The scientists placed five different colored flat spheres, barely the size of an American dime, on a small gray observation room table. The scientists first took the leader from the group of spies and gave him an option of red, orange, yellow, green, and purple colored spheres, telling him only one of the food pieces would not kill him.
The American spy ate the yellow piece. After a short moment, he said he felt fine and wished to go back to his cell.
The scientist disagreed and told him to wait a little longer.
With no choice, the spy remained there in the small, gray room, doing what he was told to do. Soon, the spy told the scientist that he felt lightheaded, slightly dizzy, and nauseous.
The scientist gave a menacing grin and wrote down what he said.
The spy, holding his head, trying to stand up, said, "I... can't think... well."
The scientist's grin grew larger, as he continued to jot down what he was seeing. "Good..."
The spy fell to his knees and started to scream violently. "What... did you do... to me?!" he pleaded.
"You chose wrong, simple as that." The scientist closed his notebook and left the spy in the room.
"W-wait... where are you... going?" the spy struggled to say as he held his head. "Please... let me see... my team... again... please!" He began to weakly claw at the door, but it was no use. It was made of reinforced steel and was locked from the outside.
The spy's vision began to blur and get foggy. Soon he was not able to see or even speak a simple sentence. The unfortunate spy died from his brain dissolving in the inside. A thick, black liquid soon began to seep out of his nose, mouth, eyes, and ears.
The scientist had people clean the room of the corpse and the liquid. He replaced the yellow edible piece of food and then let in the second spy. He told the same thing to him that he told the last one, only one of the food pieces would let him live and save him from starvation, while the others would kill him.
The spy hesitated, but his hunger took over and he chose the red piece. He felt fine at first, but after he took a deep breath, he held his heart in pain and fell to the floor. He tried to speak, but nothing came out.
The scientist smiled with pleasure and jotted down what he observed of the spy. "Do you know what is happening?"
The spy vigorously shook his head and tried getting up, failing as the pain became too great for his body to handle.
The scientist laughed darkly and answered, "You are suffering from a heart attack, you chose wrong." He slammed his notebook shut and left the spy to suffer.
After the scientist recorded his data, he got people to clean up the little mess the spy had made and sent in the third one. He informed him of the same situation, if he was to choose right, he would live and get a piece of food, if not, he would die.
"Please! Just let me go! I have a family!" the male spy pleaded.
The scientist shook his head. "You were always the most difficult..." He pressed a button to a remote and caused the collar around the spy's neck to shock him. "Now eat."
The spy licked his dry lips and ate the green piece. After a few seconds of letting the food piece digest, he began to gag and seal his mouth shut. He struggled to stand up, but got onto his knees and let the burning liquid rocket out of his system. Vomit soon pooled around him, as the thick liquid continually exited his system.
The scientist chuckled and jot down more notes in his notebook. "Sadly, you chose wrong as well." He stared down at the poor spy still trying to hold back the repeating vomit. "Soon the acid will melt through your esophagus and your skin, making it near impossible for you to gain a single breath." He closed his notebook and sat there, watching the poor spy suffer.
The American was crying acid tears that melted scars into his face as the stomach acid melted through his throat and poured out of two exits now. The spy held his stomach in desperate pain, as if that would stop it from happening. His skin turned pale and sweaty as he collapsed into his pool of vomit and died from suffocation and nutrition loss.
The mess was ordered clean by the scientist and the missing piece was replaced for the next victim. This one was young, looking like he just joined and was obviously a young adult; probably in his early twenties. He was timid, afraid of what was soon to come.
"If you choose right from the five pieces of food that lay in front of you, you will live. If not, you die, understand?" the scientist informed.
The young American hesitantly nodded and took the orange colored piece. After a minute of letting the food take effect, the spy's skin soon turned dry and red. He began to itch and shiver with a cold sweat. He soon gagged and choked on his blood and held his sides as he fell to the floor.
"What's... happening?" the young male spy rasped.
The scientist quickly wrote down what he was observing with displeasure. "I was hoping for only your inner organs to fail, but it looks like the food also took effect of your skin. As we all know, the skin is the largest organ on the human body; I should have seen it coming." He pushed up his reading glasses and sat down. "Your organs are failing and you should die any minute now."
The young American looked up at the scientist in horror and tried standing, but his ligaments wouldn't listen to him as he stumbled to the ground and held his head. He grunted and tried breathing in the dry air. To the scientist's expectation, his lungs had now failed him, and soon his heart would too.
With the young American dead now and the scientist changing a few formulas in his chart, the corpse was cleaned and the food tablet replaced. The fifth spy was brought in. He was a husky spy, probably built more for combat than just spying. The scientist was pleased and hoped for the spy to choose the last, untasted food tablet on the table.
"I will make this simple for you," the scientist announced from his observation spot, "All of your friend's chose the wrong food tablet placed in front of you. They have chosen red, orange, yellow, and green. All of them have died a terrible death. But if you choose correctly, you will live."
"For a scientist, you sure are an idiot," the spy informed him. "The only other one that you didn't call out was the purple one, so I'll eat that one."
The scientist clicked his pen and waited for the spy to eat, highly interested in what would happen with the husky spy.
The spy ate the purple food tablet with pride, happy to be picked near last, but he soon regretted it. He spit onto the floor to see that his saliva was dark red, and his lower stomach felt like it was on fire as he propped himself up against the wall. He soon got blood all around him and onto the wall.
The scientist smiled with glee and jotted down the effects. "This will be highly useful for hospital deaths in your country... you chose wrong." He left the spy to suffer, and concluded how to counteract the food tablet's effects.
The mess was cleaned and the last spy was sent in. There was a giant scar on his neck, making it seem like he couldn't talk, having his larynx taken out for medical reasons he assumed. The scientist was unhappy, he liked hearing his victims suffer. But I guess watching someone mute die and struggle to say something can be just as amusing.
"Your friends," the scientist told him, "have all chosen wrong. If you eat any of the food tablets, you will die. But, if you figure out how to counteract the food tablets, you will live and not die from starvation. Understood?" The scientist pointed to the mute spy with his pen.
He merely nodded and observed the five food tablets set in front of him. Within an instant, he ate all the food tablets at once and awaited for the scientist to speak once more.
The scientist was baffled at first and closed his notebook without writing down anything. "You chose right, you may go back to your cell."
The reinforced steel door opened and awaited for the spy to leave. But the spy shook his head and stood up.
The scientist arched an eyebrow and observed closely, with his notebook open and pen ready.
The spy looked up at the observing scientist and spoke in a gruff tone, "I will not be controlled..." With that, he hastily went to the closest wall and rammed his head as hard as he could into the concrete wall. Smashing his head into it and leaving a giant concave area in his brain and skull.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." the scientist clicked his tongue and shook his head. "What a shame, here I thought you couldn't speak; I had other things to experiment on you." He left the observation room and went back to his studies.
Years later, the British decided to let this new form of torture poison America. What you know as "Skittles" today was used as a form of starvation torture back in the 1970's. So think about that next time you eat a normal bag of Skittles and make sure to eat the whole bag.
Have a nice day.