Despite the fact that everyone uses the internet to browse, surfing is by nature a surface-level activity. We remain in that lovely, transparent layer of nostalgia, Netflix, and cats. The social compact and the legal system are the same sets of laws that govern it, and it is generally safe there. But if you want to discover everything the internet has to offer, it’s a long, deep descent.
There is a difference in life at the surface and at the bottom of the deep and even darker web. Less cats exist, mostly as a result of drug sales. Extremist get-togethers take the place of nostalgia. Additionally, Netflix is substituted for adult entertainment subgenres that the majority of people—including the government—rightfully reject. Terrifying things happen in these deep reaches of the network. We should prepare ourselves if we, the relatively innocent surface dwellers, ever venture down there. In an unregulated and anonymous domain, anything is possible. Still, some of us decide to take the risk, and fortunately for us, some of them have chosen to share their story on Reddit. These are ten terrifying deep web tales from Reddit users.
Dancing Corpse
User MetalLava shared the following excerpt: “A woman uploaded numerous videos of herself dancing with a corpse. Stiff and clotted, yet likeable. An unconscious body. She danced and sang in her room to strange music that she had put on. The user discovered videos of a woman dancing with a real human corpse on a video hosting website after accidentally coming across her channel. Additionally, there were lots of videos. The body was obviously decomposing and didn’t appear to have died too long ago.That didn’t stop this woman from using it to cut a very creepy rug. Maybe the worst part was her singing. She sang to the corpse as she danced, and not in any intentionally creepy way. No warbled, slowed-down little demon girl melody, just your average, joyful, loving song To a rotting corpse.
The Wrong Address
TheKingofBananas user shares the story of their friend Eli, who grew up using the deep web. After a while, Eli discovered the notorious and covert Silk Road and made the decision to purchase some drugs from it. Paying the dealer on the dark web, he purchased some drugs and had them shipped to a family cottage. There was no delivery when he checked the cottage. When Eli became enraged, he called the dealer, who amazingly sent another shipment. No delivery this time. When Eli requested more, more were sent each time, but none of them were delivered.
The owners of the cottage next door didn’t tell Eli about the strange drug shipments they kept receiving until months later. All that had happened was a typo in the address. Think of the terror you would feel as a teenager if you accidentally sent your neighbours a recurring shipment of drugs. And picture a world in which drug dealers on the dark web respect customer service that much.
Match-Making
A user described his experience on deep web matchmaking website
Somebody told me about TOR and Silk Road so I went exploring. I didn’t want drugs, I just wanted to see what the fuss was about.Discovered a “matchmaking” website. People wanting to contract HIV so they could die from AIDS. People advertising how sickly they were. People looking to have someone amputate them. Even people wanting to be murdered.
Closed the dark web and never went back.
Bed Bugs
One more brief one, but still important to note. “A guy online that was trying to buy large quantities of bed bugs,” according to user urbanhawk1, is someone he met on the dark web who “wanted to try to breed them to be resistant to normal methods of killing them while simultaneously breeding in a weakness that only he knew.” He could then release them into people’s homes and demand payment from them to eradicate the bed bugs. What makes this one the best? That is precisely the same “create the disease so I can sell the only cure” premise found in the Michael Bay TMNT movie as well as Amazing Spider-Man. Let’s hope this bug-breeder never gets near his objective. If not, we might see a third terrible film.
Decode
User Catterstrope used to visit the portions of the deep web
While randomly clicking around Tor one night user found a site with a riddle and a text box to enter an answer, after figuring it out it took him to another page that had a message to decode and another text box, basically every page was a puzzle and got harder every time, user was just 15 and not very smart with those kinds of things so he found a forum where other people had discovered the site and were talking about it, apparently on the final page it just displayed a date and a quote from Alice in Wonderland.
user believe it was just a site made to be some sort of entertainment for very experienced de-coders and programmers but there was speculation that it was a hacker recruiting site similar to Cicada 3301, either way, it creeped him a lot.
At Home Vasectomy
This one is as puzzling as it is disgusting. After finding a “DIY vasectomy kit on SR,” user busty_crustacea writes in a brief note. The kit consisted of a tube thing and some strange hooks that looked like dentist tools. Twenty dollars. SR. It goes without saying that since this is the Silk Road, the at-home surgery kit was offered for sale on a somewhat open platform. All you would need to buy to perform surgery on yourself at home is $20. You’ve got to assume that they’re not sedated. The most concerning aspect is probably the fact that the laws of economics and the sheer number of people on Earth imply that there were probably at least a few purchasers. It naturally resulted in a few gruesome mishaps.
“Wish Pills”
One person found a “wish pill.” Here’s the description:
Basically you take the pill, make a wish and it’s suppose to make it come true. It just made me laugh how much they were trying to sell it off as something real, they made up fake elements that were supposedly found in nature and showed videos of them “making the pill” (Which was really just a bunch of blue lights being flashed at the screen).
They were selling it for a $100 a pill, sad thing is there were probably a few idiots who actually bought it.
For Sale: Enriched Uranium
AlphaBay, an even bigger deep web marketplace, replaced the notorious Silk Road after it was closed. The user caddet5 came upon a listing for enriched uranium while aimlessly perusing the website. Naturally, one of the most important ingredients in the production of nuclear weapons is enriched uranium. Although there is very little chance of a genuine sample being made public, even on a website concealed behind an onion address, caddet5 notes that it was “probably a scam but it was still scary.” Should it be genuine, the discovery by Caddet5 implies the existence of numerous other malevolent entities.
A Rollercoaster Tale of Darkweb
On his Reddit post, user thrwy22123 writes about the incident that happened to him.
During the peak of SR1, I was searching for a specific drug that was hard to come by and very expensive in my neighbourhood. I submitted my request on the site, and a few days later, I received a reply with an offer, which I ultimately took against my better judgement and sent the person about $200. I became a victim of a scam as anticipated.
After first dismissing the event, I made the decision to alert other members of the forum about this dishonest person who had defrauded me of $200. I was taken aback when, a few days later, I found a note in my email that completely altered my plans.
The sender identified themselves as a vendor and disclosed that they, too, had been the target of a scam. The con artist had ordered one ounce of MDMA, but the dealer had sent a package containing sweet sugar crystals instead of the item that was requested. Unexpectedly, the vendor expressed empathy for my situation and offered to reimburse me for the $200 that the con artist had stolen.
I immediately shared my Bitcoin address and waited impatiently for the result. Relief and a renewed respect for the darkweb community were felt the next day when the $200 that had been wrongfully taken from me was suddenly credited to my account. This unfortunate turn of events not only gave the con artist a taste of their own medicine, but it also allowed me to see the honesty and camaraderie that exist in the dark web’s shadows.
TL;DR: Guys scams me out of 200$, someone else scams him of 700$ and refunds me my money.
We See You
The user fake_fakington, who is open to interpretation, describes their early experiences on the internet, before “the deep web” was even a term because everything was “deep.” The user discovered something strange and mysterious while casually browsing, and their story is worth reading in its entirety. Through a series of internet maneuvers, they were able to make their way through the rabbit hole to a directory of what appeared to be “records a psychologist or similar mental health professional would keep. The pictures showed fax machines that looked to be both military and medical in origin.
The user discovered “a new HTML file named something like “1-.HELLO-THERE.html” while perusing the files. That minute was indicated by the time stamp. When I opened it, the words “we see you” were written in plain text. Completely lowercase; no quotes. After about 15 seconds, the server crashed. Sometimes it’s scary enough to be seen, in certain dark corners of the internet.
Conclusion
In summary, venturing into the deep web without adequate knowledge poses significant risks. The stories shared by Reddit users highlight the potential for encountering disturbing content, illegal activities, and personal threats. The lack of regulations and anonymity in this realm means that users may unwittingly expose themselves to dangerous situations. It is crucial to prioritize safety and understand the potential consequences before exploring the depths of the internet’s darker corners.
