This Wildly Unsettling Midwest Tour Is Inside A Silent Laboratory (And Many Tourists Bail Out)

If you're after a quiet experience, there's one unusual attraction you can't miss — but peace isn't necessarily guaranteed here. Located in Minnesota, in the Seward neighborhood of the bikeable city of Minneapolis, is a site deemed the "Quietest Place on Earth." Orfield Laboratories has an anechoic chamber, which holds this unique Guinness World Record, and it's somewhere you can visit, if you dare.

Orfield Laboratories states that the silent lab absorbs 99.99% of all sound. The sound level as per the Guinness World Record was -24.9 decibels, which is "below the threshold of human hearing," according to the Smithsonian. As for how it can achieve these sound levels, Atlas Obscura says the lab consists of "thick fiberglass acoustic wedges and double walls of insulated steel and foot-thick concrete," which allows for the high level of sound absorption. The lab has been used by companies such as Harley-Davidson to test products for noise, and NASA has used a similar room to prepare astronauts for the quietness they'll encounter in space.

If you're up for the challenge, you can visit the quietest place in the world yourself. A 1.5-hour standard tour of Orfield Laboratories includes a 20-minute session in the anechoic chamber and costs $200 per person. Private sessions in the room can be arranged — these are designed to promote reflection and provide a restorative experience.

However, staying in the lab is a wildly unsettling experience, regardless of the duration of your session. With no noise, you can hear your heart beating, your blood pumping through your veins, the movement of your organs, and even your eyes blinking. This is not an experience for the faint of heart — the stillness is intense, and the quiet can disorient you. Without sound cues, it's almost impossible to maintain balance, and you'll eventually need to sit down.

It's so creepy that most visitors have to leave — according to Vice, no one has lasted more than 45 minutes. Atlas Obscura notes that most people leave after half that time has elapsed. Rated Red puts the maximum session duration at 55 minutes. Mpls Mag reports that musician Questlove spent 47 minutes in the chamber — after exiting the lab, he said, "I'll never be the same." Orfield Laboratories is across the street from Matthews Park, a good spot to enjoy Minneapolis's acclaimed park system if you can't cope with the eerie quiet of the anechoic chamber. To experience the other end of the noise spectrum, visit the Mall of America, the largest mall in the country, which is located in nearby Bloomington.