The 5 Most Disturbing Vault-Tec Experiments in Fallout

Of the 122 publicly known Vault-Tec Vaults in the Fallout franchise, only 17 of them were considered “control Vaults.” But what does that mean, exactly? A control group is a sample of subjects used for baseline comparative metrics, without any specialized treatment or interference, in scientific experiments.

If you’re wondering how that impacts the other 105 Vaults … your first guess is unfortunately right. The vast majority of these supposedly safe bastions for the post-bomb American landscape were secretly designed to truly test humanity to its limits in experimental situations. And as the video games and television series show, humanity did have its limits (as did morality, sanity, and common decency).

Only those 17 controls Vaults were properly stocked, designed, and executed to genuinely preserve and promote as “normal” a life as one could get after the Great War. The rest had variables changed like amount of supplies, exposure to radiation, and even outright social and medical manipulation of the populace simply because Vault-Tec wanted to see what would happen.

As a result, most of these experiments are deeply terrifying, verging on unforgivable. Vault dwellers were used as lab rats, pushed to radical extremes in order to evaluate humanity’s chance at surviving through unthinkable disasters. While every experiment deserves its own spot on this list, let’s roll back the doors on some of the most deeply twisted, disturbing Vaults in all of Fallout.

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Vault 112 (Fallout 3) — Trapped in a Virtual Reality Simulator

Vault dwellers, no matter how tormented or supported they were in their respective Vaults, were essentially trapped in a confined space under strict survival conditions given the state of the irradiated surface world. Many Vaults were built to accommodate large groups of test subjects or general citizens. Vault 112 was one of the last Vaults built in America and had a purposely restricted population of only 85 individuals — but that didn’t mean they weren’t just as restrained.

Those in Vault 112 were promised a “perfect life” inside of virtual reality simulators while their bodies were suspended in loungers. In actuality, the Vault was built for the comfort of its Overseer Dr. Stanislaus Braun, who created the Garden of Eden Creation Kit (or G.E.C.K.). The inhabitants in the simulation were simply his playthings. He had complete control over the virtual reality simulation and the inhabitants couldn’t leave on their own. And as the doctor grew bored with his various simulations, he would virtually slaughter the Vault’s inhabitants, wipe their memories, and resurrect them in a new program.

Vault 112’s unlucky dwellers were essentially trapped as playthings for a madman’s torturous fantasies, no matter how idyllic the digital utopias seemed at the start.

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Vault 92 (Fallout 3) — Subliminal White Noise Madness

Many Vaults were created as homes for specialized demographics of individuals. In the case of Vault 92, it was filled with musical virtuosos. The world’s greatest musicians were invited under the pretense of preserving talent in the post-war world. They were provided instruments and amenities to foster their practice. However, the truth is that the Vault was primarily built to test the effects of subliminal messaging through white noise, gauging resident reactions to suggestions of violence.

The “White Noise Mind Suggestion Combat Experimentation,” or WNMSCE, was implemented by the Vault’s Overseer. The first tests were isolated in sound booths, and seemed only like minor oddities in sound equipment. However, as time went on, the white noise tests extended to the Vault speakers, and personal noise devices like headphones were prohibited. Slowly, the population descended into madness — some residents went into trance-like states, and eventually Vault dwellers began to murder one another with reckless abandon. Many became clinically insane, and before long, the Overseer lost control of the experiment.

Vault 92 also had faulty manufacturing and pipe corrosion that lead to general leakages and other hazards essentially causing the Vault to flood and implode both societally and physically.

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Vault 75 (Fallout 4) — Children and Genetics Harvesting

The Vault-Tec experiments are horrific enough to begin with, no matter what the test parameters are. However, when you remember that many Vaults also housed families with young children, these immoral, inhumane studies can become even more horrifying. Vault 75 is a shining example of just how far Vault-Tec was willing to go to achieve results in the name of so-called science. Located beneath a middle school in the Commonwealth, this Vault subsidized admittance in order to encourage a high volume of families to bring their children for shelter. However, once the Vault was sealed, adults were separated from their children under the guise of “orientation.”

In truth, the adults were summarily executed while the children were indoctrinated with tales of the wasteland and it’s terrors, called “Uptopland” by the Vault’s docents. The children were then evaluated for physical and mental acuity, and those with the best genes were subject to “harvesting” when they turned eighteen. Those who didn’t quite make the cut were either recruited for the Vault’s science team after “graduation” or were executed if they simply were of no use. This eugenics nightmare was intended to create embryos for new generations of genetically superior children to eventually recolonize the wasteland.

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Vault 11 (Fallout: New Vegas) — Human Sacrifice Elections

Someone took their love of Shirley Jackson’s seminal short story “The Lottery” too far with Vault 11. This Vault was (mostly) upfront with its denizens that once the blast door was sealed, every year the populace would have to elect one of their fellow citizens to sacrifice. Refusal to do so would result in the entire population of the Vault being killed. The inhabitants of Vault 11 decided that the fairest way to do so would be to host democratic elections, nominating one individual to be the Vault Overseer, and at the end of their term, they would be sacrificed.

This horrid tradition continued for 16 years, and over time, the election process became corrupted. Vault dwellers were threatened to nominate their loved ones, others were coerced into the role, and it became a way for factions to eliminate their rivals in power. Eventually, elections were dissolved and the Vault’s computer chose sacrifices at random. When there were only five living survivors, they discovered all too late that Vault 11’s social experiment was a ruse. No one had to die at all.

Had they ever refused to sacrifice a member of their Vault, a Vault-Tec message commending them for their “commitment to human life” would have played, ending the experiment. As a reward, the Vault door would have been unlocked as well, allowing dwellers to freely travel in and out of the Vault with the Overseer’s permission.

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Honorable Mention: Vault 4 (Fallout TV Series) — Unethical, Unregulated Science

By the time Lucy MacLean and Maximus reach Vault 4 in Prime Video’s Fallout season 1, it has been reclaimed by its offbeat denizens and turned into a (mostly) serviceable safe haven for strays and future generations of its earlier experimental inhabitants. But Lucy’s investigations reveal a horrifying truth — Vault 4 was designed as a practical petri dish of unethical, unregulated scientific experiments on unsuspecting dwellers and wastelanders.

Vault 4 was governed by the scientists employed there, who were given no oversight or regulation into their experiments. They lured wastelanders inside with the aim of having human guinea pigs to breed hybridized, radiation-resistant beings. This led to the direct creation of the mutated gulpers (the axolotl-like aquatic creature with fingers and other appendages in its mouth that Lucy, the Ghoul, and Maximus all encounter in the irradiated lake). The series even shows viewers footage of a woman who was impregnated with gulper embryos that turn around and devour her alive after she births them in a submerged tank.

While we only see one of potentially numerous experiments that took place in Vault 4, the idea of unrestricted scientific experimentation is absolutely skin-crawling. What’s that old saying about “whether or not you could?”

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Vault 12 (Fallout 1) — Intentional Vault Door Malfunction

While its execution is rather simple when compared to white noise mind control and genetics harvesting, the result of Vault 12’s experiment has the most straightforward cruelty to it. Vault-Tec didn’t need to waste extensive resources and manipulate intense variables here. All they did was ensure that the Vault door did not seal properly, causing a steady seep of lethal radiation into the Vault society. It’s easy to guess the results of this experiment, but that doesn’t mean Vault-Tec didn’t let countless Vault dwellers suffer just to be sure.

Vault 12 was advertised as one of the best prepared Vaults in the entire Vault-Tec fleet and boasted the best water purification system. In 2077, residents flooded in seeking protection, but unlike all the other sealed shelters, the door to Vault 12 could not close. Radiation poisoning killed off many of the original Vault dwellers, but those unlucky enough to survive succumbed to ghoulification. These individuals eventually left the Vault in 2083, and many stayed to found the ghoul-run city of Necropolis.

What is a ghoul?

Ghoulification is the process of mutating after exposure to radiation rather than dying to it. Ghouls in the Fallout universe are known for often missing cartilage-based features like their noses and ears, as well as having leathery, burned, or otherwise necrotized skin and a resistance to radiation sickness. They are rendered infertile but also functionally immortal, with regenerative properties.

However, long-lived ghouls can succumb to madness and suffering, losing their humanity and becoming feral. They are considered barely human by most settlements, treated as monsters whether or not they’ve lost their wits.

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With 122 total Vaults in the franchise, and not every single one unearthed through game and television lore, there are still so many left to explore. Thanks to the terrible realities within, some doors are seriously better left sealed (if Vault-Tec didn’t tamper with them first).

What do you think is the most disturbing of all the known Vault experiments? Join the conversation with other Fallout fans over at Sideshow Social Network or in side.show/geekgroup, and don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!