14 Dark Web Horror Stories Animated (Compilation of 2020)

i stared at my bright computer screen my eyes felt heavy and my fingers tremble nervously with each key press we'd already been awake for more than five days during which time 28 players had died i don't want to die lewis typed into the chat i'm not so sure you will there's only the two of us left i can't keep this up much longer the game had seemed so simple a competition to see who could stay awake the longest and the winner would receive enough money to last a lifetime for someone like myself without a social life nor a job to attend it was the perfect opportunity 30 players had received an invitation all active participants of an international dark web forum we were just required to fill in some necessary information including a bitcoin wallet to where the money would be sent after clicking submit i was given a time and a list of simple rules to follow number one both your web camera and microphone must be activated for the entire duration of the competition number two there won't be any bathroom breaks plan accordingly number three you're not allowed to seek out the physical location of the other contestants number four there can only be one winner as i eagerly awaited for the first bit of excitement i had seen in months i stocked up on the necessary supplies mostly energy drinks snacks and a bucket once the time of the competition started i clicked the provided link i was faced with a blank screen consisting of 30 names and a chat box i could gain access to each of the competitors camera feeds by clicking on their username but the chat itself was global i guess no one here speaks english insomnia 90 said a few of the participants responded with broken sentences it seemed that out of the 30 members of the chat only myself and insomnia 9 were native speakers two days went by in the blink of an eye and seven players had already left the game in silence i spent most of my time watching movies and chatting to insomnia 90 who i'd come to know as lewis he was a canadian university student on break bored out of his mind hey check out the german guy he's about to pass out lewis said i clicked on his username it would be the first participant we'd actually see falling asleep his eyes were already half closed and his body shifted towards the edge of his chair we chuckled at the guy as we got one step closer to victory not long after his consciousness wandered off the edge and he fell into a deep pit of sleep only a second passed before his eyes shot back open in a horrified panic as he clutched his ears and screamed in agony his body started twitching uncontrollably in all the wrong directions and blood poured from his nose and ears it looked as if his brain had been scrambled to pieces inside his own head within a minute he fell over dead his face softly resting on the keyboard what the [ __ ] was that i asked is he dead lewis replied i frantically started clicking on every other username checking if anyone else was about to fall asleep check the swedish one i said sure enough he drifted off no more than a minute earlier suddenly his eyes shut open and he seized just like the german had before him another minute and he just added to the rapidly growing pile of corpses we warned the others as best we could only a few of them seem to get the message each getting out from their chairs in an attempt to flee alas no sooner had they decided to run before they dropped dead on the floor oh oh god we're gonna die aren't we lewis said i guess only the winner survives i type back three days passed during that time we made numerous attempts at contacting the outside world phone calls emails messages they were all blocked lewis and i were the only players left keeping each other awake as we searched in despair for a way out i already ran out of supplies so if sleep deprivation didn't get me dehydration would then i noticed that lewis hadn't spoken in a few minutes lewis no wake the [ __ ] up i called out to no avail he had already died as he left the game i was declared the winner 29 people had to hide and i was gifted an unfathomable amount of cash since then i've been searching for lewis's family even if they were close i want them to know that he was a good person up until the end i'm so sorry i wish it had been me i've always had a morbid sense of curiosity and while that's not a fact i'm particularly proud of i've always just jotted it down to teenage curiosity to be honest it probably started back in middle school when people thought it was fun to send around horrible videos of executions and bizarre porn fetishes to each other on the msn messaging site just mentioning it makes me feel old these days there's an overabundance of these sites places to watch people die blurry videos of car crashes beheadings and animal abuse of course it's not something i actively seek out but when i stumble across it i feel compelled to just watch to prove to myself that nothing can affect me though for the truly gruesome stuff one needs to visit the so-called dark web as a guy who has fallen far behind in the advancement of technology it absolutely baffled my mind that only a tiny fragment of the internet is available through a google search the rest which makes up approximately 99.9 percent is hidden and requires a special browser for access with the help of a handy-dandy youtube tutorial i quickly downloaded the tor browser and went on my way to search for the hidden aspects of the internet as one naturally does it couldn't have taken more than half an hour of clicking on shared onion links before i stumbled across something that quenched my thirst for the obscene forever the website itself was rather plain just a black background with a video player in the center and a chat box beneath within a few seconds of entering the website the video itself had loaded and automatically started playing what was depicted before me was a scrawny looking man in his early 20s strapped to a chair and covered in wounds in the upper left corner of the video a timer ran counting up each second 24 minutes and 14 seconds please stop please it was an accident i swear he yelled a larger man entered the picture a large needle in his hand connected to an empty syringe without speaking a word he stuck the needle as far as it could go into the victim's abdomen he led a loud scream as the man removed the needle and plunged it back in after a few stabs the man grabbed a hammer and hit the victim straighten his jaw shattering his mandible leaving him unable to form any coherent speech he let out a gargled whimper before passing out i tried to forward the video sure it had to be fake but that's when i realized that it wasn't pre-recorded footage but a live stream 26 minutes and 12 seconds were the words that lit up the screen the chat beneath the video went wild calling out the victim as a pathetic excuse of a human being demanding the man to continue the torture a few seconds passed and the chat was replaced by a voting form containing only two options life or death the votes were quickly counting the bar for death rising rapidly as much as i could stomach i wouldn't be part of an act of murder so i quickly voted for life in the end the results were displayed on the screen out of 200 people the results were 95 for death 4 percent for life 1 did not vote 10 people had tried to save the poor kid but it wasn't enough without further warning the man grabbed the hammer and started repeatedly hitting him starting from the legs and working his way up until all that remained was a bloody pile of broken flesh i sat speechless staring helplessly at the screen as i noticed that my camera lighthead lit up the video player vanished and in its place 10 smaller boxes popped up all displaying people from various places around the world all being unknowingly filmed by their own webcams to my absolute horror one of the boxes showed my bedroom and myself wearing a terrified expression it quickly dawned on me that these were the people who voted to save the poor kid who will be next a message said as a timer counted down towards zero a few boxes turned black to which the chat responded with laughter a hopeless attempt at escape three two one nine of the ten pictures disappeared from the screen including my own leaving the screen occupied by a middle-aged asian man frozen in fear we'll see you soon good luck i let of a sigh of both relief and panic i'd escaped unharmed but not everyone was that lucky of course i called the police but by the time they could even look into it the link had long since expired i don't know what else i could have done but it taught me not to look too deep into the depth of the dark web i'm lucky to still be alive and it's safe to say that i've stuck to youtube videos and read it ever since when i say drugs are fantastic i'm not talking about the designer substances you find in a dark alley no i mean the fantastic medications invented to cure anything from infections to psychological problems the only problem is the excessive restriction on legal drugs the amount of research work and potential that gets lost with each denial from the fda just because something doesn't work exactly as intended doesn't mean it's useless i say this as a person who's always had trouble sleeping not in the sense that i can't fall asleep but rather that i need a whole 11 hours just to feel barely rested a fact that absolutely does not fly in my line of work after trying conventional drugs that were aimed at people with narcolepsy none proved to be an adequate solution i had no choice but to turn to the illegal side of things think about all the drugs that never reach the shelves at your local pharmacy due to failing to get fda approval it's not like their recipes and research just get thrown out no there's a whole market for them buried in the depths of the dark web available to anyone who knows where to look of course it has its risks and it isn't something i'd recommend for your average joe i however was desperate months passed and i tried numerous different substances some which helped a little while others just made it worse in the end i landed on a product simply called knox using a po box the medication arrived within a week to my surprise rather than finding a bottle filled with colorful pills i just received the one wrapped in a high quality expensive looking package based on the form i found founded on no one had experienced any adverse effects so i stupidly ingested it with little hesitation impatiently awaiting its results on any given day i'd be tired around 11 but with the pill making its way through my digestive tract i realized that midnight had come and gone leaving me wide awake morning came and yet i didn't need any sleep it was great i got all my work done at a record pace and still had plenty of leftover leisure time it caused some jealousy at the office but considering my competitive nature it didn't bother me in the slightest days turned to weeks then weeks turned to months and i had successfully eluded the need to sleep by all logical aspects of biology my brain should have deteriorated driving me to the brink of madness but even a year after ingesting the pill i remained sharp as ever the only thing i noticed was my skin seeming thinner paler as if i had fallen slightly ill i initially felt suspicious of the pill but my tired looking facade could just as easily be explained by the excessive amount of work it wasn't as if i could stop taking the pills anyway seeing as i'd only taken the one that's when i noticed the first sore it looked like an ulcer a bedsore but it was situated on my stomach just below the navel it didn't hurt or anything so i just put some cream on and waited but it kept growing during the next week patches of skin started falling off revealing the fat and muscle beneath it didn't particularly hurt but it was growing day by day and it horrified me i quickly tried to find the site i purchased it from but in the ocean of hidden onions that is the dark web it had simply vanished and the link had expired as far as i could tell no one not even the fda had ever heard about a pill called knox over the next few weeks my physical state deteriorated and the doctors were baffled yet i remain completely lucid even sedation for procedures had no effect on me eventually after months of my skin melting off my heart nearly stopped yet i couldn't fall unconscious as i type this my body is rotting away and i'm gradually losing function of my arms and legs and my vision is fading the only thing remaining is my mind as wide awake as ever once i'm done here i'm putting a bullet in my brain but i'm worried that even then i'll have some sliver of consciousness to keep me awake as they put me in the ground where i'll lay in darkness forever ever since its invention i've dreamed of getting my hands on some vantablack liquid imagine a substance so dark it can obscure any three-dimensional shape and turn it into a mere shadow i just never thought something so harmless and fun could cause my demise while it's available for purchase under certain circumstances it's not something just anyone can buy of course if you know where to look on the dark web you can get anything you want to be fair of all the horrible things found on the dark web vantablack liquid is among the less sinister options after just a few clicks i found a vial of paint available for a cheap price even if the paint turned out to be fake it wouldn't be much of a loss with little thought i purchased one vial and eagerly awaited its arrival the inconspicuous package arrived a couple days later it was a cube-shaped vial full of the light absorbing liquid if not for the feel it had in my hand i never could have guessed it was a solid object i was ecstatic but after a thorough inspection i noticed a minuscule crack in the vial a drop of liquid seeped out through the hole and fell gently onto the doormat below what looked like a hole into an infinite void formed on the mat i bent down to remove it with a dirty cloth as i started rubbing the spilled paint i could have sworn my fingers slipped deeper into the stain i immediately retracted my hand certain i must have been mistaken after the initial shock wore off i dipped the cloth back into the stain and it just sank through after several attempts at poking the stain i lifted the doormen up to check if the hole continued into the floor to my surprise it was clean at that point i was more curious than afraid baffled by the impossible spots i could do a little more than stare in awe i had the thing then i came to the horrifying realization that the hole was growing i grabbed a few plastic bags and chucked the doormat into one making sure to double wrap and seal i thought the situation was under control that i had contained the ever growing void alas one of the vantablack drops had hit my hand without hesitation i rushed to scrub my hands praying that it wasn't too late unfortunately no matter what kind of soap i applied the stain wouldn't budge by the time i had given up it had already grown to the size of a marble in absolute panic i rushed to the doctor despite his initial doubt at my situation he quickly came around once he saw the bizarre spot on my hand he prodded me with needles and various probes feudally attempting to get samples for the lab all the while it kept growing before long it had consumed my entire right hand though it was still visible as a silhouette i had long since lost any use of it leaving it as little more than a limp appendage days went by and the darkness grew up my arm in a last-ditch attempt at saving my life the doctors all agreed that amputation would be the only feasible solution it was a devastating loss but worth it to save my life i signed all the necessary papers using my one remaining hand and they rushed me into an operating room while the surgery only lasted a few hours rehabilitation would take weeks if not months the doctors entered my room as i awoke from the anesthesia though the surgery had been a clear success they didn't seem happy what's wrong i asked with a groggy voice i'm sorry was all he could say the drugs had already started to wear off and i could feel pins and needles all over my body i lifted up my shirt and screamed at the horrific sight my entire torso was covered in hundreds and hundreds of tiny holes it looked as if chunks of flesh had been removed replaced only by that god forsaken vantablack paint we think the substance has spread through your bloodstream there's nothing more we can do the doctor said that was three days ago since then i've lost my legs my arms and most of my internal organs i haven't felt my heartbeat since yesterday and i can hardly breathe what terrifies me even more than the liquid replacing my entire body is the fact that i haven't died yet whatever the case i've been isolated the doctors put me in a special chamber to prevent the further spread of the liquid i guess is for the best i'll be completely replaced by vantablack soon i just hope it kills me first when people want digital footprints to be scoured away clean and then replaced by other preferable images that's when i get the call i was once hired by an oil sheik to replace several faces on an embassy security feed to hide their involvement in the assassination of a journalist remember the two women who contaminated and killed the north korean madman's half-brother in the airport those women were originally a pair of north korean goons but i removed them and set up that pair of lady stooges to take the fall my ethics are porous and my greed is insatiable in october of last year i was hired to deep fake some footage a black ops team had infiltrated a top secret lab in china and stolen some highly violent bioweapon the lab itself wasn't the problem the team consisted of professional ghosts entering and exiting like invisible ninjas not a trace left behind in the lab's hard wired net but then the team leader did something so stupid so outside his mission scope that i was brought in for damage control before any possible leaks caused a tsunami of geopolitical fallout he met shanghai the following day at the ritz carlton with somebody well known in the world of presidential politics this figure traveling under the name randall mariani is a former nyc mayor who now pursues shadow diplomacy for the current administration anyway this guy was caught on security cameras in the lobby exchanging envelopes with the leader of the infiltration team i was hired that night by a shell company operating out of the cayman islands that goes by the name of deluxe deluxedeepfake.com they wanted every piece of digital evidence tying these two people together to be deep faked replacing the former nyc mayor with the son of the president's political opponent in the upcoming election it left a bad taste in my mouth but the money being thrown at me was enough to buy mouthwash in industrial-sized drums however that money never came through because the moment i finished my deep fake my computer suddenly fried from motherboard to monitor dead then the power to my house was cut then the guys in black those same invisible ninjas that hit the chinese lab came busting through my windows i'm alive because i work in a basement with an escape hatch i snuck away now i live day by day constantly looking over my shoulder coronavirus is spreading throughout the world someday i'll get back online and reverse my deep fake the world needs to know i'm not going to lie and claim i'm a perfect person hell i'm probably not even a decent one i used to party all the time got involved in casual drug use and obscene amounts of alcohol it's not something i'm particularly proud of but with no family and few friends left to worry about me i figured why not i didn't have any plans past high school so i might as well just enjoy the little time i'd been given on this planet however with the illegality surrounding drugs it means there is some risk getting a hold of it usually one has to get involved with sketchy people in strange places most of the time the product is good after all the dealers need to keep their customers alive still just getting caught or buying fake stuff was a risk i didn't bother dealing with thus i eventually turned to the dark web imagine that a place online where you can buy the best quality drugs with just a couple of clicks and they send it directly to your address in a discrete package it tends to be pretty safe and people even rate the various pills full on with forums to describe each individual experience as time progressed a few of the dot onion sites would begin to vanish off the face of the internet maybe the dealers quit or maybe the fbi shut them down no one really knows so without a steady supplier i had to venture deeper into the dark web in search of a new place to hand me my weekly fix [Music] i looked around on a few but most of the posts were old and a surprisingly large amount of the sights had been taken down of those that still remained up most sold dubious weak drugs eventually my search landed me with a new recommendation it was a place i'd never even heard about but the product was fairly cheap as if that wasn't good enough on its own their site seemed exceptionally professional it might sound stupid but if a site presents itself with a good looking design there's a bigger likelihood that people blindly trust them i never claimed to be smart yes i was one of those gullible people and it damn near cost me my life the website i found didn't even have a name it just displayed a logo that consisted of a pill in the center of a bull's-eye it only contained a single product but it alone had hundreds of top-rated reviews all praising it in various different languages it didn't seem staged and i truly believe they had been written by different people with that i decided to order a weekend package which held three pills it was the cheapest option based on the amount of pills and i figured it would be worth a shot as promised the product arrived the next friday with an ample amount of time before the evening would even begin i got ready for a night out on the town and swallowed the first pill with half an hour to spare of course i made sure the dosage was fit for my body weight and previous experiences knowing the real risk of overdoses if i wasn't careful then i left my house ready to waste another night of my life and darkness with that my memories were shattered into a million incomprehensible fragments whether i went to a club or just passed out in the street i didn't know it was all beyond hazy a mesh of colors and sounds that didn't convey any meaning it has stolen even my most basic cognitive functions the next thing i remember is waking up on hard rough wooden floorboards i was soaked in my own vomit but the utter confusion of where i was overrode my pain it was dark which came as both a blessing and a cause for unrest at least my eyes wouldn't suffer but it added to the mystery of where i'd awoken there wasn't much in the room except for a cupboard few moldy chairs and a broken fireplace the windows were partially boarded up and covered by dark curtains on the floor lay three strangers i'd never seen before two men one significantly older than myself and the other my own age and a young woman looking slightly older than a teenager i rolled over to push myself up groaning as i realized just how much my body hurt hey i tried to call out but my voice was too hoarse to produce enough volume once i was finally able to push myself to my feet i took a peek out the window we were in a forest and the little room we'd awoken in looked like a hunting lodge whether i'd met these people during a party or if i just stumbled into a drug den i didn't know then the girl started groaning finally regaining consciousness she looked over at me in slight panic clearly not recognizing who i was then she took a glance at her surroundings and shot to her feet in fear where am i who are you i backed away from her a bit giving her enough space to calm down hey calm down i'm not going to hurt you i'm wilson i just woke up here i was wasted last night can't remember what happened she thought about it for a moment before realizing she couldn't recall anything from the previous night i was i was just partying i don't remember what's your name lisa all right lisa do you know where we are she shook her head her mind was as gone as my own as we stood there trying to figure out what was going on the oldest man started to wake up he had salt and pepper hair probably in his early 50s i bent down to talk to him but as he saw me standing above him he grabbed my throat rolled over and started choking me what the [ __ ] are you doing in my house he yelled as he crushed my throat the girl tried to shove him off but she was too small compared to the massive man luckily her effort distracted him enough for me to push him to the side just giving me enough time to catch the air stop i coughed out i'm not trying to hurt you the man quickly inspected his surroundings immediately realizing his mistake where am i he asked we don't know i said still out of breath why did you attack me like that i thought i was at home i didn't even leave the house yesterday what the [ __ ] is going on he took a moment to gather his thoughts rubbing the heavy sleep out of his eyes he was a well-built guy for his age clearly with some experience in fighting lisa went closer ready to introduce herself i'm lisa she said as she reached out her hand adam adam morrison do you guys remember anything we both shook our heads the fourth guy was still unconscious lying face down on the ground adam went over to shake him awake hoping he had some clues as to what had happened the night before hey man wake up he said as he shook him another time he still didn't react oh boy that's not good he then proceeded to turn him over lisa and i immediately jumped back in shock as we noticed several bullet holes to his torso he was dead and probably had been for quite some time in addition there was a note stuck to his corpse lisa and i were speechless but adam didn't seem all that horrified he just took the note off the guy and started reading it aloud thank you for your purchase let the games begin on the paper i noticed an all too familiar logo it was the bullseye with a pill in the middle from the same dark website i'd purchased drugs from what you know this logo he asked me yeah i i bought some pills from there a few days ago i did the same lisa said the man's side guess we're all in the same boat then whoever these guys are they're not just drug dealers what do they mean by games though lisa asked i'm not sure yet but he was interrupted by someone knocking on the door we all jumped back from the sudden noise but none of us dared open up three knocks were all we got before a paper slid in under the door adam rushed to pull open the door but there was no one on the other side all that lay before us was a dense forest through which someone could easily vanish within a second we'd basically have to crawl to get through it he picked the note off the ground and started reading dear users thank you for participating in the yearly hunt you have 24 hours to escape the forest or you will be eliminated from the game hunters have been dispatched to track you down good luck he handed the letter to me and i read it over again just like the previous note it held the same logo what the [ __ ] are we going to do lisa asked on the brink of tears adam went from window to window making sure the rotten blinds and boards were properly covering them up we're going to get the [ __ ] out of here but first you need to get out of the neon yellow top of yours he said as he pointed to lisa what we need to stay hidden these bright clothes won't help he went to the nearby closet and started rummaging through it within seconds he found some old jackets and shoes that were wet and partially broken down over time put these on my clothes were already fairly dark as were adams he seemed experienced which gave me a minor glimmer of hope are you sure about this beat staying here and getting slaughtered we didn't need any further convincing adam seemed to be the only one with even the faintest idea on what to do because of that we diligently followed him outside keeping our heads low as we got ready to crawl through the dense forest it was about midday and still we couldn't see more than a few feet ahead even after a few hours passed we still didn't see any of the aforementioned hunters still adam kept telling us to keep quiet and to only step where he did lisa struggled to keep up as she had replaced her high heels with shoes that were two sizes too big for her feet suddenly adam stopped dead in his tracks causing us both to bump into him he'd notice something on the ground a tripwire it was connected to spikes that would have emerged from the ground it triggered killing whoever unfortunate enough to walk into the trap how the hell did you see that don't worry about that let's just say i have experience with it the day went on and my legs were getting to the point of total collapse adam kept looking up at the sky but the clouds had since fallen away behind a thick layer of dense clouds where are we heading south i think i'm not sure i was exhausted out of shape and hungry lisa didn't fare much better she sat down to take a break which seemed to annoy adam no sooner had she stopped moving before we heard a brief whizzing sound as if a bee had flown by at incredible speed what was it i tried to ask get down adam screamed another whiz was heard followed by a hole produced in the tree behind us splinters exploded from the hole through the air [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] i screamed as i realized someone was shooting at us lisa got up to run in panic adam called for her to get down but it was too late several more bullet holes were created in the scenery around her as she ran none even close to hitting her it was almost as if they weren't aiming at her instead they just let her keep running she didn't get far before running into a trap hole in the ground there she fell about four feet onto several spikes sticking up from the ground i didn't dare look down in the hole but i heard her hopeless screams we couldn't help her still i instinctively wanted to get up and check on her but adam held me down you want to die he asked just stay close to me we need to keep moving we basically crawled away from the gunshots but just like with lisa none of the bullets even came close to hitting us it felt more as if they were hurting us in a certain direction but i wasn't going to stick around and find out if that was truly the case what about lisa i asked she's dead keep moving we spent minutes crawling before reaching a hill once we'd gotten halfway down the shooting stopped adam pulled me to my feet and we kept running downwards at the end of the slope we finally found a clearing leading out of the forest we got out i almost screamed in victory but then i noticed something in the tall grass about a dozen darkly dressed men stood up each wielding a rifle they laughed at us as we retreated back into the forest they didn't even raise their weapons they just laughed and waved as we kept fleeing one of them even gestured for us to keep running and held up five fingers to signify how much time we had left we escaped from the open fields back into a forest constantly growing in density there were no bullets flying by but we both knew they'd follow us where we went we needed to get out of the forest but neither of us knew the way then we saw it a mountain in the distance only an hour's walk away but the closer we got to the mountain the darker it got the clouds above were thickening and the dense treetops blocked out every bit of light we could receive before long it would start to rain a prophecy foretold by the howling wind that accompanied us on our journey in the dark i kept stumbling over roots sticking up from the ground i told adam to wait but he couldn't hear me over the howling wind as i got back to my feet for the third time he was just gone i kept wandering on alone calling out for him then i almost fell into a deep pit dug into the ground inside lay several dozen corpses in various stages of decay then it hit me that the hunters wanted us to go here they needed us to see this pit so we could know what awaited us when we inevitably lost the game adam i called out but through the developing storm he couldn't hear me i just kept walking watching as darkness overwhelmed my surroundings i started to hear twigs breaking around me something stalking me almost in absolute silence then something caught around my leg and i came crashing down to the ground it was a tripwire but no trap had been activated i let out a mild sigh of relief when i heard someone call out for me i looked to the side to find adam nailed to a tree by the trap that had been activated he tripped it before me causing him to get impaled by metal spikes he couldn't move he was too wounded i found the exit but i got careless he groaned oh god i said as i tried to pull the spikes out from his abdomen it was a futile task he was pretty much nailed to the tree there was a cave in the wall behind me adam pointed to it with a trembling finger just go he let out in merely a whisper with that he let out his last breath and drifted off to eternal slumber without hesitating i started running into the cave once inside i had to rely on my other senses to get through it was pitch black but the draft produced meant that there had to be an opening on the other side i felt my way along the walls as i heard footsteps behind me i just kept going as fast as i could until i finally saw the light on the other end of the tunnel then i ran again my lungs burning and my legs wobbly i couldn't see any rain on the other side but the storm might just be trapped on the other side of the mountain there were footsteps following behind me followed by chuckles that echoed through the cave i had to keep going i couldn't give up then i finally entered open space again just in time for my legs to give in i was out from the mountain and in front of me laying nothing but empty open fields i tried to crawl but i was too weak i just turned around and saw five men in dark clothing come outside each of them with a rifle one of the men raised his weapon ready to fire upon me but one of the others stopped him stop he said he found the way out of the forest the hunt has ended they chuckled again before returning into the cave for them it had just been a game a hunt that they'd already gone through a hundred times before i was just a random victim that happened to purchase a drug off their website it took me another three days to traverse the massive landscape and find the nearest town but the hunters had at least let me live once home i called the police told them everything that i knew of course the website had been removed by then and i couldn't for the life of me find the forest they previously chased me through officially no one has gone missing because the people chosen for the hunt were people who wouldn't be missed including me my dad was the greatest man i ever knew he never shied away from helping others and always offered an ear when people needed to talk when he was taken away from us at the young age of 41 it destroyed my family last week i spoke to him again and now i wish i hadn't i'll be the first to admit the deep web always scared me i expected some illegal set of websites for drugs weapons and human trafficking in reality it's little more than a bunch of obscure forums sprinkled with the occasional leaked email password every now and then you might be lucky enough to find a gold nugget in the stream of useless [ __ ] if you're anything like me you might even enjoy the futile search the one time i actually stumbled across something worthwhile it scarred me for life it was a page called mortex a forum with thousands of active users all seeming to search for specific people looking for jack glover 1956 to 2003 passed from pancreatic cancer the top thread said it was an odd task searching for someone that had died so long ago i presumed they were distant relatives looking for a gravestone but once i browsed through the comments it peaked my curiosity it was odd searching for someone that had died so long ago i figured they were trying to find a lost family member's grave or something another thread read oh my god hannah i can't believe you found me at that moment i figured it was some sort of role play form each thread followed the same formula someone seeking to speak with lost loved ones despite my instinct saying it was all make-believe i decided to post my own search looking for clark henderson 1969-2010 passed from cardiac arrest that was the name of my dad he was the one person i'd give anything to see again after he unexpectedly died from a heart attack to my surprise i only had to wait a couple of minutes before someone left a comment henry it said along with a voice chat invitation my hands shook so much that i could barely navigate the menu before long i was connected and an all too familiar voice called my name henry it's really you isn't it it was [ __ ] it had to be yet the voice i heard clearly belonged to my dead father dad how is this i stopped dead in my tracks i love you so much henry and i'm sorry for leaving you i should have gotten my heart checked but i just didn't know i felt fine up till the moment i died it's not your fault but but how do i know this is real how do i know it's really you when you were three you attempted to make dinner you didn't know about the concept of pots and pans so you just threw the vegetables directly on the stove he chuckled cutting the story short right just as i'd forgotten about that i said you almost burned the house down he continued i've tried to tell people this story before but you made me swear an oath of secrecy i felt myself tearing up just by the sound of his voice unfortunately curiosity overwhelmed my sense of nostalgia i have so many questions i don't even know where to begin i said as a thousand thoughts ran through my mind then it hit me the situation didn't just entail my personal quarrels with life no it was so much bigger i could ask any question about what came after death after much contemplation i finally landed on a simple yet horrifying question dad where are you i asked henry please don't he trailed off don't what i replied they don't like it when you ask i can't tell he froze i should have stopped then and there but i couldn't i just need to know what comes after please i said my dad paused henry i'm sorry sorry about what i asked heaven hell it's not real this place whatever it is it's not what i thought we're just spare parts waiting to be our voice channel cut out and my dad's voice vanished i tried to call him back i tried to message i even attempted to make a new thread but he was just gone before i spoke to him i was never afraid of death now that i've heard the fear in the voice of my dead father i'm terrified have you ever made a friend online one you've never met in real life but whom you cherish nonetheless for me that friend was adam a random guy i met on a forum on the deep web nothing sinister just a place not categorized by the google search engine mostly used to discuss weird conspiracies and places to download movies in a less than legal manner adam was a funny person and a genius when it came to pop culture music and movies he'd seen or heard it all which made it extremely easy to find new things to watch because he always had something to recommend a few years passed and we spoke almost every day always using the same messaging service on our favorite dark web forum i suggested more common sights to him but he was adamant at keeping our friendship purely within the boundaries of that page be it for privacy reasons or whatnot other than that i never noticed anything off about him we never really delved into more personal areas but that's not exactly abnormal we never really put real life into the mix in a way i suppose he was my escape from the stress of real life that was how it went on until last year when adam asked me a very peculiar question that deviated from our usual topics of discussion what does the sun feel like he asked it's hot i guess i wrote back waiting for some kind of punchline he quickly changed the topic and i was left confused but decided not to push it any further as i was eager to return to her argument about which season of lost was the best then a couple weeks later he asked another similar question is it really that bright out there what do you mean i asked the previous question still lingering in the back of my mind outside in the movies it's always so bright and windy is it really like that he continued i replied why don't you just look out the window and tell me i can't he said what do you mean i said he replied i've never been there before i don't know how to get outside i couldn't tell whether or not he was joking but rather than calling him out on the prank i decided to dig deeper i asked you've never been outside like for your entire life never he said i proceeded to ask what about your parents why are they keeping you locked up you went on to say i've never seen them i've been in this room my whole life only talking to a voice through a speaker i wasn't even sure if any of the things i saw in the movies were real but after speaking to you i know there's more out there more than this dry dark room come on man you're [ __ ] with me right i asked a sense of dread rising in my body as the idea of a joke faded then he logged off months passed and i attempted to get in contact with adam to no avail he'd seemingly vanished from the forum and i started to worry then after being awol for five months he sent me one final message hey sorry about her last discussion everything is fine and i was just messing around with the never being outside thing let's just forget it ever happened please before i even got the chance to respond he logged back up i kept re-reading the last message and it didn't take long before i realized the message was a literal call for help based on the first letter of each sentence it was quite obvious and i guess he got caught by whoever was holding him captive because i never heard back from him wherever adam is now if even he's alive i hope you can find a way to feel the warmth of the sun like he so desperately wanted i just wish i could help him what the hell are these things the drugs was it the drugs it can't be the drugs mr z always gives me quality stuff if it's not the drugs then what the hell is happening [Music] my name is jake my life used to be mundane i did the same thing day after day every day went like this wake up go to school get bullied and come home it was a measly existence at best this all changed in the 11th grade for better or worse two things happened to me in the 11th grade kids started to experiment with drugs and i discovered the dark web this was a lethal combination my first time on the dark web was innocent my friend came over for a sleepover he said wanna see something crazy this piqued my interest i quickly responded yeah why not my friend grab my laptop and downloaded a vpn and the tor browser he copied and pasted a link into the browser and next thing you know my screen was filled with drugs i said no way this is real man so i can just buy anything on this page and it will just get shipped to my house my friend said yep that's exactly how it works you just need to encrypt your messages to vendors with a key and you're good to go the next day my friend left to go home i quickly jumped back on my computer and went back to the marketplace i scrolled through all the possible options weed wax mdma acid the possibilities were endless curious i bought one gram of weed this was also before weed was legalized in my state one week later i got a small envelope in the mail i opened the envelope and there was a pill box inside the pill box was one gram of weed after this success i quickly logged back onto the dark web to buy more i logged in and i received a message it was from the vendor who i bought the weed from his username was mr z it read hey jake i noticed you're a new buyer on the dark web this is an exciting place full of opportunity i became a really rich man in this place you remind me a bit of myself when i was young outcasted by society but eager to make it big and stand out i've done a bit of research on your area and it is a gold mine jake how would you like driving to your senior dance in your own lamborghini having any girl of your choice or maybe even buying your own place you can be the big man on campus this can all happen within one year's time if you partner with me i was shocked and didn't know how to reply part of me wanted to tell him to screw himself another part of me felt entranced by his offer imagining myself pulling up to prom in a nice car was intoxicating still i needed more information i was young but i wasn't stupid i typed back you don't even know me how do i know this isn't all just a scam well jake for starters you can look at my reviews i am one of the highest rated vendors on the marketplace these reviews can be faked as they are secured in blockchain technology after you purchased from me i looked into your life all i had to do was one search with your name in my software and what i found disturbed me anytime someone ever made a social media post with your name i can see it my software can even pull from direct messages between people if your name is in it i can see it let me just tell you jake what i found may disturb you i quickly typed back just show me what he sent shook me to the core he sent a series of screenshots it was a facebook conversation between my best friend trevor and a popular girl in my school named sarah the conversation was about a month old sarah messaged hey trevor let's hang out this friday trevor replied i can't i promised jake we would hang out sarah said jake that loser you can't be serious trevor messaged back jake might be a little socially awkward but he is cool when you get to know him sarah replied well the whole school thinks he's a loser if you want to hang out with me you are going to have to ditch that nerd it just looks bad if you are associated with him i could feel the rage building inside of me as i read this my blood was boiling it felt like steam was rising from my head i tried to calm down and take deep breaths i replied back to the dark web vendor i messaged him this is all photoshopped none of these conversations you screenshotted are real you are just trying to play me he replied well here's trevor's facebook username and password feel free to log into his account and read the messages for yourself i did exactly that and he was right all the messages were there right for me to see i was horrified my horror quickly turned to anger then rage i wanted revenge my only option was mr z the dark web vendor he could change my life for the better i messaged him back so now what he replied well i assume you don't have any money i will fund your initial startup the partnership was formed my dark web vendor sent me one pound of marijuana in the mail for starters it came in a normal brown box in a vacuum sealed bag what was weird is that i never saw a delivery van drop it off it just showed up at my door no knock no doorbell i figured he must have his own delivery system for the larger stuff he didn't charge me for the first shipment he told me to sell it around school and to wire him half the profit once i sold it i happily agreed it was a bit nerve-wracking at first carrying weed to school didn't feel good after a couple weeks selling became easy it didn't take long before i had consistent business i didn't even have to bring the weed to school anymore people would just come directly to my house to buy it this made it a lot less sketchy for me my parents were divorced and my mom worked nights so this was a perfect setup i sold that first pound of weed in three weeks since i sold it by the gram i made a lot of money on the first batch my vendor suggested i sell it for 15 dollars per gram i thought this was overpriced but the quality was so good people never complained i made two thousand dollars on that first pound i quickly became the cool kid at school just as mr z had predicted mr z was the nickname of the vendor he never gave me his real name for obvious reasons my popularity opened a lot of doors i got access into all of the exclusive parties what is even better is i never offered my services to sarah she tried her hardest to win me over she even came on to me at a party but i denied her and told her off this felt really good during my senior year i ended up driving a porsche 911 turbo s to prom it was rented but nobody knew the wiser i even had the hottest prom date in all of my school i was on cloud nine after high school i had so much money i didn't know what to do mr z told me everything would be fine that i just had to lay low and hide the money as best as i can he said when i got to one million dollars cash we would start a legitimate business to launder the money through even though i never met mr z i trusted him with my life i was forever in debt to him he changed my life around my confidence was through the roof mr z suggested i enrolled in a nearby college to expand our business empire i did exactly that i ended up renting a house with cash i could have bought five houses but that would be too suspicious i paid for everything in cash less records that way my college life started and let's just say mr z had me sell much more dangerous drugs than just weed he said the money was much better with these new drugs and he was right the money was better than ever the girls were better than ever and the parties were better than ever as the business continued to grow my ego and confidence grew tenfold i stopped being careful and started living in excess i bought a lamborghini in cash and a few other cars i also bought a nice house for myself did i tell mr z hell no i would never but mr z was too smart i knew he was on to me our messages were shorter and mr z stopped bringing up future business plans he had to know about my purchases the answer to my question and anxiety was answered one fall night a night that i will never forget a night that still haunts my life to this day i picked up the package like normal i unwrapped it and began dividing the substance into small batches to sell i noticed this particular substance had a blue hue to it all the previous orders the drugs were pure white this seemed very odd to me i quickly messaged zee about the order he said it was a slightly different batch and that it was fine i believed him why was there any reason not to there was a big fraternity party that particular night i didn't take the lamborghini because i thought it would warrant unwanted attention i just took my bmw pulling up to the house i couldn't believe my eyes the house was massive i couldn't believe how big it was the front had these massive white pillars i thought this was perfect a bunch of rich fraternity guys and sorority girls to sell to the middle of the house was a giant grass courtyard this is where i spent most of the party selling my product i couldn't believe how good looking the girls were but that's beside the point after selling all my goods i counted the money three grand all cash i was about to leave the courtyard when a frat guy chad came over to me he said hey man that's some good stuff you got some more i noticed chad was jittery and shaking almost uncontrollably i asked how much did you take chad replied i don't know man i just need more i need more i was getting a little weirded out i tried to think of some excuse to leave chad but nothing came to mind chad you need to calm down and drink some water go sit down chad angrily said no you don't understand i need more or else i'm going to die i stared into chad's eyes he blinked and i swear i noticed what looked like reptilian eyes he blinked again and they were normal chad continued to talk man i just need another hit i feel like i'm about to change what the hell do you mean about change i asked he said it's happening please please help me i stared into chad's face his face was blank he started to salivate my heart dropped i thought he must have overdosed then something bizarre happened his eyes turned they looked reptilian i glanced around at everyone around me they were all frozen salivating with blank stares i walked past everyone and bolted out of the courtyard out the back of the house i looked back and i noticed everyone was following me some were crawling they all were salivating from the mouth i ran deep into the forest the crazed pack in close pursuit after running for a while i let the pack catch up as soon as they got close i doubled back and ran towards the house hoping this would give me enough time to get home without them tailing me i got to my car and floored it as i rounded a corner i saw them crawling out of the forest towards me a few turns later and i lost them i quickly texted mr z what the hell did you give me [Music] he responded you better get going kid you caused a great deal of trouble for me i had to get rid of you you were flying too close to the sun did you think i wouldn't find out about the lambo and the new house i know everything you need to get a move on they can smell you for miles as soon as i got back to my house i quickly packed four black duffle bags full of cash and rushed out the door i fled and drove out of the country after a few years in south america i thought my life was getting back to normal even though i was running low on the drug money i used most of it to start new businesses i owned a few dry cleaners and one restaurant the money was nothing like it used to be but it felt good to be making an honest living my old life came back to haunt me one night it was 3am in the morning a crash at my window woke me right up i pulled up my blinds it was chad never ever start a career on the dark web you will regret it for my birthday i decided to treat myself to a dark web mystery box gift it was a service i'd used several times before and they had never disappointed sending heaps of useless but funny things to my doorstep happy birthday trevor a note on the box read i picked up the package placed on my doorstep and notice a letter attached to it there comes a time in every man's life where their skills and knowledge has to be tested with that in mind i shall set you out on a treasure hunt please follow the instructions within the box and for safety reasons burn every letter once it has been read or solved to my surprise the note was signed by pete my best friend since childhood it was a neat surprise but i was confused as to how exactly he'd gotten involved with the anonymous service whether he was just an active user there himself who'd recognize me or if he'd been contacted by the website i didn't know nevertheless it seemed like a cool gift my first clue would simply be a piece of paper with two incoherent words written on it van mace could it be a name maybe a location i sat down with it and contemplated the words in front of me after just a minute i realized it was an anagram the letters just had to be rearranged to form a new meaning man cave was the hidden message it was a reference to pete's basement a place we'd frequently spent our saturday nights playing video games and drinking whiskey i burned the letter in accordance with the instructions and quickly made my way to the man cave there i used my spare key to unlock the door half expecting a surprise party instead all i found was another clue an ace of spades and a picture both were pinned to a board with an unfamiliar knife i removed the knife and checked out the clues the picture itself was of a place we frequently went with friends to smoke and relax a beautiful field which no one knew about it was just a short hike outside the city i made my way there in about an hour our usual place was hidden in the shade beneath some trees once there i noticed a shovel sticking out of the ground on top was some fresh dirt spade ace of spades very creative i chuckled to myself without hesitation i picked it up and started digging through the ground after less than a minute i hit something solid expecting another clue i bent down and brushed away the dirt as i put my hand on the cold surface i immediately retracted it in chalk it was pete buried under the dirt dead from multiple stab wounds to his chest in shock i called the police devastated by the loss of my best friend while i waited i sat down and tried to figure out what the hell had happened that's when i realized that i had burned every note and that my fingerprints were all over the murder scene from the strange knife in the basement to the key and the shovel itself used to bury him i'd been set up to be perfectly honest i was never into all that dark web stuff i mean it's interesting enough and all but i never had the patience nor technological know-how to figure out how to use it productively in fact my whole family seems to be missing the technology genes we struggled with everything from computers and phones to toasters and microwaves my mother even got scammed a few times before she passed away luckily she never lost anything more than a few hundred bucks but still stung francis my best friend on the other hand was a tech whiz he loved that stuff and never shied away from looking up the most bizarre and horrific things online if he could reach it he would he even tried to set up a tour browser on my computer once but i just ended up ignoring it somehow deleting the shortcut and losing track of where he placed it still he'd periodically send me pictures from alpha bay which is apparently some dark web black market it was mostly strange or illegal products other times he'd find impossible random conspiracies it was usually weird and funny stuff but sometimes he'd send me darker things pictures of murder victims videos displaying horrific car crashes and other accidents it made me appreciate our friendship a little less but francis was all around a good guy albeit an eccentric one we stuck together on the rare occasions that he crossed the line i just politely asked him to stop which would work for a while then after the shock had worn off he'd send more stuff he found on the dark web it would always start off so innocent with funny pictures or forums but it inevitably got darker escalating to more disturbing areas of the dark web the most terrific thing he ever sent me however was little more than a picture of myself found randomly out there in the sea of onion sites it was just a screenshot he'd sent with a picture of myself and some text lined up next to it in a way it looked like a profile for some sort of social media page but it was plain simple and seemingly pointless it contained my name birth date address everything i'm so sorry tyler i didn't know how they found you francis sent me as a message what do you mean who are they what's going on i asked back in a flood of questions did you open any suspicious emails or sign up for something weird online i tried to think back i couldn't remember anything that stood out but in my business i dealt with hundreds of emails each day from various clients i don't know francis what's going on your name is on alicia listed as a participant what the hell is alicia a red roof it was supposed to be closed down but it's back i chuckled at his remark i wasn't much of a tech genius but even i knew red rooms were little more than myths told to scare teenagers and gullible adults come on man this is a joke right red rooms aren't real i think this one is after that i'd reach the maximum amount of francis antics that i could handle i told him to back off and leave me alone for a bit which had become somewhat of a routine between the two of us still i took his warning serious enough to dial the non-emergency line to the police i explained the situation but they didn't take it seriously after all my personal information leaked on a website shouldn't have been much of a threat they just told me to call back if anything more substantial happened i went about my week and nothing came of the mysterious website francis even admitted he might have overreacted a tad truth is most people have their email information leaked somewhere else even passwords and personal details are readily available all over the place but for most people that's just useless information then about a month later i received a letter in my mail it didn't have a return address nor any stamps it was just a plain envelope put in my mailbox the only way i could have received it would be if someone had personally delivered it themselves i opened the letter to find a perfectly black paper inside with little more than a single line of text in the middle it was just a string of random numbers and letters ending in dot onion to mark the fact that it was a dark web page at first i didn't even connect the dots i had long since forgotten the fact that all my personal details had been leaked instead of just throwing it away as i should have i decided to contact francis he was more intrigued than worried showing up about 15 minutes later to help me connect to the website he only needed about a second to dig up the tour browser and input the onion link i received [ __ ] he mumbled as the title of the site popped up it was alicia that's the site that has my name i asked to be sure francis nodded a few seconds passed as the site loaded before a black video player popped up in the center of the screen it didn't have a timer or anything else to let us know the duration of the video instead it just had a play button francis clicked it and though it was too dark to see what was going on i could hear something in the background [Music] turn up the volume i said francis did is commanded and we were greeted with the muffled sounds of someone struggling [Music] it was quiet just loud enough to make out what was going on without understanding the hidden context then it got brighter just enough to make out the walls and ceiling of a small room in the center lay a man tied to a bed with chains his face obscured by a bag pulled over his head [Music] what the hell is this last it's a it's a red room turn that [ __ ] off francis was reluctant to oblige whether it be due to curiosity or shock before i could reach out and turn it off myself a man entered the picture he was naked with his bare chest covered in old scars and fresh blood he pulled the mask off of the tied up man when i let out a loud gap what is it francis said i pointed a trembling finger towards the screen that's mr dawson my boss you're sure i nodded is this a live stream or something no i don't think so as far as i know you can't live stream on the dark web it has to be a recording i wanted so desperately just to turn it off and call the police but we were both frozen in our seats the naked man pulled out a knife from a bag on the ground and started peeling off pieces of skin from dawson's tried to scream in agony but he was gagged left unable to move or even call for help little by little the man cut off pieces of flesh moving his way from the legs to the torso can't say exactly how long the video went on for it skipped minutes at the time showing dawson at progressively more mutilated stages of the torture it wasn't until his skin had been almost completely removed before he lost consciousness i threw him up finally snapping back to reality as the screen turned black francis sat speechless in his chair what could we do dawson had to have been dead by the time we even opened the link [Music] naturally i called the police gave them all the information about the website that i had but by the time the police got around to checking it out the video was gone once it had been viewed it was simply removed they believed us though saying that they'd forward the information to the appropriate sources which turned out to be the fbi there was little more i could do without solid evidence that my boss had actually died he was just reported missing while the investigation went on i was questioned by various officers and an fbi agent a couple of times but that was about it a year passed my life went on my place of work just hired a new manager and dawson's disappearance remained an unsolved mystery i fully believe that would be the end of it i thought the horrors i'd witnessed would be a one-time occurrence that i would be fine during that time i also drifted away from francis we weren't even able to look at each other in the eyes anymore not after what we'd seen together then everything changed as i got another letter in the mail [Music] it was unmarked without an address just like before that time however i didn't hesitate to call the police i already knew what would be inside i wasn't about to ruin another piece of evidence the police redirected me to the responsible fbi agent who was working the case he was quick to act coming to pick me up within the hour alongside three armed agents mr larkin i'm agent vance we need you to come with us he said before they rushed me inside the cars if my life depended on it they took me to an office building in the middle of the city and made me wait in an interrogation room while they checked out the evidence i sat there with a cup of water a hundred thoughts running through my mind an hour passed before agent vance came to check up on he looked upset but had put on a brave face to talk to me we checked out the link in your envelope found a video like the one you described last time we've taken some still shots of the footage i'd like it if you could help identify the victim i shuddered at the thought but agreed to help vance guided me into a room full of computers a group of office workers sat in front of one staring at a picture trying to figure out who the person was they didn't need to analyze it any further because i knew exactly who it was francis he looked absolutely horrified the still picture showing him clearly alive for how long that would last i didn't know is he i began to ask he didn't survive i'm sorry vance interjected knowing what i wanted to ask did he die it's better you don't know the details but we're going to catch this guy i promise you that much again we went over each and every detail they promised over and over they'd do everything in their power to chase down the people doing it and to keep me safe but as weeks turned into months no culprit was caught eventually i stopped working instead i just hit at home afraid that anyone remotely close to me might be next i didn't have much in terms of family no siblings my parents had long since died i suppose that made me an easy target for the runners of the red room despite the fbi's best efforts the letters kept coming with random intervals my ex-girlfriend was the next victim though we'd broken up a few years earlier we'd remain friendly again i got the link to a video of her brutal murder i just forwarded it to the fbi unable to stomach another horror show then they took one of my old co-workers one by one they killed the people i knew and loved and i could do nothing to stop it i couldn't even contact the culprits and ask what the hell they wanted from me but then it hit me i was being tortured and while it wasn't physical like the others it was still mental torture like the horrors they committed to my friends the pain wouldn't end until i was dead maybe that's what they so desperately wanted for me to kill myself maybe it was some sort of sick game to see how long i could last sat down in front of my computer ready to give up if there was even the slightest chance that it would save lives i had to do it i looked up the best ways to do it but in the end i decided to go for the gun i picked it up pressed it against my temple i felt like hours passed i just couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger without letting every possible scenario run through my mind then the phone rang i almost dropped the gun in shock i glanced at my phone to see a call incoming from an unknown number hello i asked as i picked it up not like that a twisted robotic voice said from the other side not like what who are you you need to record it properly the voice continued whoever they were they were using some kind of voice changing software to make them unrecognizable how did you i began before noticing the camera on my computer of course they've been watching i didn't even need to ask i just stared at the camera and the mysterious person on the other end confirmed that's right we've been watching you i felt my heart drop so all i have to do is kill myself and the suffering ends yes face the camera when you do it you have 15 minutes or the next person will be taken i didn't have any other options i can't let anyone else die because of me i just pray that once i'm gone it'll finally stop i'm the only one on earth that doesn't own a computer it's my ultimate firewall they can't find me if they can't trace a url so now i conduct all of my online business at cyber cafes or public libraries six months ago i tried dabbling on the dark web i didn't have a specific purpose in mind just a burning curiosity i heard lots of cautionary tales but cautionary tales have a way of becoming urban legends that mutate into outrageous exaggerations how dangerous could the dark web really be it was a tuesday night my descent started innocently enough with some googling and a few links down some rabbit holes that looped back or just led to dead ends eventually i followed a few cookie crumbs which led me to some link locked away on some server the link's name funny death dot coming your way dot onion the moment i saw the link i felt a clawing sensation rake across my scalp i've never had such a physiological response in my life so i backed away from my computer leaving the link unclicked i made some hot pockets and watched some tv but the link kept gnawing at me after a couple whiskies funny death dot coming your way dot onion didn't seem so dangerous i plopped myself back down in front of my computer and clicked on the link the screen went black i thought my computer had crashed malware i slapped my forehead and prayed that my firewalls could keep me safe from whatever trojan horse i just invited in but then the black screen pulled back and back until i realized it was the close-up of someone's pupil a face began materializing from the slowly winding lens finally i was face to face with some guy in his forties bald as a cue ball with dark deep set eyes and a cold stare his blocky face was pock marked with adult onset acne and a zippered scar under his left eye which winked at me then he raised a hand into the frame and pointed it at me like a gun i heard the distant pop of an actual gunshot i jumped out of my chair and peeked through the blinds my neighborhood looked the same as any other night just parked cars and quiet rows of brownstones everything glowing yellow under the sodium vapor bulbs of the street lamps i sat back down at the computer the camera shot of the guy was pulling back into a wide angle shot i could see he was sitting in a metal folding chair in some vaguely dark environment he was burly wearing dark pants and a wife beater yellowed with age and he was loading a real gun a big revolver of some kind shiny and chrome i finally recognized it as a 357 magnum he pointed the firearm at me and pretended to pull the trigger which corresponded to another real gunshot somewhere beyond my window this time the shot sounded closer i tried closing my computer's browser but it wouldn't respond i slap the monitor and press the power button but the view of the nightmare gunman wouldn't go away the camera was now pulling back even further revealing that his folding chair was on an industrial roll of plastic in a dimly lit warehouse i stabbed my fingers at the keyboard pressing ctrl alt delete just as the gunman shot his revolver twice at the camera and just as a pair of real gunshots rang out like collapse right outside my blinds i ducked under my computer desk and ripped the cords from my desktop out of the wall then i yanked the cords to my monitor and speakers and printer disabling every component of my system severing every connection i had to the world wide web i stayed tucked under my computer desk for hours avoiding the window until my legs had fallen asleep and my butt and spine went numb when the sun came up i finally crawled out from under the desk and peeked through the blinds the outside world showed no trace of bloodshed or a phantom shooter but the damage to my psyche was too real to ignore i tossed out my computer that day and will never own another all because of one misguided foray onto the dark web and that's my cautionary tale to you but if my story doesn't sway you by all means try clicking on the link yourself funnydeath dot coming your way dot onion please stay away from the deep web i'd always been aware of the deep web you hear the craziest most messed up stories from people who have the courage to explore it websites that involve human experimentation hiring a hitman and even watching people through their own security cameras it screwed up but honestly i'd be lying if i said i wasn't just slightly interested and just to point out there was no malicious intent behind my exploration of the deep web i was just curious to see if it really was as bad as people said it was the first thing i stumbled upon was a website extremely centered around deaf which gave me a really uneasy feeling so i didn't hang around that web page very long it takes quite a bit to freak me out so it's safe to say i was a little surprised that i couldn't even stomach the first website i clicked on but hey it's not supposed to be all unicorns and rainbows right next i clicked a website that was dedicated to watching people through security cameras most of the screen showed empty living rooms and patios some of them showed oddly filled rooms like rooms that were packed with stuffed animals and another that was eerily decorated with christmas lights and fake santa claus statues another screen showed a young woman doing yoga that one had a lot of views i didn't watch that one very long something inside me felt ill and just wrong like what i was doing was sickening i shook my head blinking away more curiosity before i hovered my mouse over the tiny x to close the window right before i pressed the mouse i saw a blue link under a black screen that said proceed with caution i bit down on my back teeth yelling internally to leave the page don't click the link it's not worth it it could be murder that make me an accomplice what if it was someone skinning an animal or some weird thing like that but then again what if it wasn't i don't know what the hell propelled me to move my mouse away from the window hovering it over the link instead but that's where i ended up my curiosity always got the best of me and no matter how twisted my stomach felt or how strong the feeling of dread was that lingered right over my head i had to know i really just had to know what the link led to or i would go crazy until i figured it out so i pressed my mouse down and watched the link turn purple felt my mouth go dry and watched as the screen slowly loaded the page was just a large screen like the security camera page only it was just one the room was concrete it was dark there must have been a night vision camera or something because everything had a weird blue green tinge but you could tell there was little to no light there was a dark liquid on the floor and a medium-sized puddle i told myself it was gasoline don't ask me why movement in the far right of the screen caught my attention and i immediately perked in my desk chair inching my face closer to the screen of my laptop it looked like an arm like someone's forearm they were standing there not really moving but subtly swaying just enough to not look completely still hey i said before shaking my head slapping my mouth shut and the person walked they walked over towards the left of the screen i felt my stomach knot felt my throat tingle and tighten my mouth was open and my eyes were wide my face tensed up into an expression of pure disgust it was a young woman she looked like she couldn't have been older than 25 or so her long dark and dirty hair was in tangles like she'd been pulling at it her leg was dragging and her other skinny leg was doing most of the work as she limped weakly her head was down looking at the floor the sound of her dragging her foot across the concrete echoed in my silent room i didn't think it could get any worse i was so so wrong suddenly the woman raised her head and it looked like it weighed a ton on her tiny body i hadn't noticed it before only able to barely make out her side profile but now it was clear as day she looked around eyes watering with tears black makeup streaming down her face small strands of bloody thread were intertwined in her lips messily tied locking them together dark blood stained her chin probably from where she desperately tried to open her mouth to scream before realizing she couldn't her daddy fingers were stained as well the same color as the puddle on the concrete my whole body felt weak my stomach was sick and tried to tell myself it was fake and it was all a big hoax my eyes scanned to the bottom left of the screen 5 623 people were watching unable to fight it any longer i ran straight into the bathroom puking my insides into the toilet bowl everything in me felt disgusting wrong twisted once i was finally done i laid on the floor of the bathroom letting the cool tiles try to soothe my burning body my head was spinning i kept repeating to myself over and over in my head that i shouldn't have clicked the link i should have left i should have closed the window told my inner curiosity to go screw itself instead i was laying on the floor the bathroom wreaking a vomit my mind a complete mess over what the hell i was supposed to do should i get the link and send it to the police should i call them now my first instinct was to copy and paste the link just in case then call the police and inform them of what was happening maybe they could trace the ip address or something maybe they would recognize the girl and know where to start looking maybe i could save her life i'd feel really dumb if this was all fake just to get viewers but i wasn't about to gamble not with what was at stake i ignored the dizzy feeling flooding my head as i jumped up grabbed the doorknob and twisted it a bit too harshly when i flung the door open my phone buzzed in my pocket scaring the living [ __ ] out of me i stopped mid panic picked it up with shaky hands i saw my girlfriend's name and immediately answered it my voice was a complete wreck my eyes finding the screen where the girl shrunk down to the ground the sound of her cries bouncing around the room making my body feel rigid i had nothing left to throw up but i still felt so sick headline you're not gonna believe what i just saw what you are you okay have you been crying no i'm not okay i answered converting my eyes from the screen i know you said to stay away from the deep whip but are you kidding me her voice went from caring to mad in a split second i told you to stay away from that place you never listen to me you never do there's a girl i said weekly she's trapped in some basement or something her mouth is she's her mouth is sewn shut there's there's blood all over her face and hands i i don't know what to do madeline the woman's cries got louder more desperate but muffled i'm so sorry close it out clear your history and never go back there again i'm not kidding but but i should i should call no voice was stern now you don't know if it's [ __ ] it's probably staged to gain disgusting viewers apparently like yourself people do it all the time that's why i said it'd be best if you just stayed away from there you could get yourself into a lot of trouble i didn't say anything wordlessly walking over to the desk my hand shook as i raised my mouse to the small x once more my eyes watched the number of viewers slowly tick higher and higher before i closed the window i felt even worse than before okay we can file a report tomorrow just in case but for now go to sleep and stay the [ __ ] away i can't believe you even went there in the first place i didn't have the energy to argue with her guilt plagued my whole body drowning me it was all i could feel i told her good night and i was sorry but i loved her before i hung up and made my way to the couch to sleep or try to sleep it didn't feel right even being in my bedroom or being anywhere near my computer not while that girl was still trapped unable to scream for help unable to talk at all no it could be fake but was that really a risk i was willing to take looked up some google searches over what was fake on the deep web and read multiple stories about staged webcam videos which made me feel a little bit better it didn't make the sick guilty feeling go away though it's safe to say that i didn't get much sleep every time i closed my eyes or even began to drift off i would see the woman's face the thread laced into her lips the blood staining her mouth her fingers the floor i continued to grow more and more anxious and uneasy deciding that maybe getting out of the house heading over to the local cvs and picking up some melatonin might help threw my blanket off slid on my shoes and grab my keys and wallet from the nightstand the cool air felt amazing i did wonders to calm the whirlwind of thoughts in my head i went to check the time realizing i'd left my phone at home not a huge deal the store was only a few minutes away from my house i ended up buying melatonin and a stronger sleeping pill just in case those didn't work i also got a pack of bottled water to help rehydrate after i vomited up all the contents in my stomach earlier by the time i got home i felt much much better which lasted about three seconds before i noticed that my front door was wide open now i may have been in a state of shock and panic but i never leave my front door open or even unlocked my heart immediately began to race i got out of my car closing the door quietly and unlocking my trunk grabbing the crowbar that i keep in there who's there i yelled into the house waiting for any noise who is in there my own voice was shaking and weak i was met with complete silence keeping the crowbar up and ready to strike i walked to the couch and felt for my phone as soon as i found it i hit the emergency button and waited until i got a hold of a 911 operator letting her know that i think my house was just broken into she told me the police would be on their way after checking around the house for anything odd i decided to give my girlfriend a call letting her know what had happened the phone rang rang and then rang some more after getting her voicemail i hung up knowing she'd probably be asleep this late at night i waited about 20 minutes or so for the police to show up and walked around with them like a scared puppy as they checked every room they ended up just having me fill out a report telling me that they'll keep patrol cars in the area just in case anyone else gets hit as they were leaving i checked to see if madeline had called back yet there weren't any missed calls i did however notice several outgoing calls to her cell phone outgoing call to madeleine through 12 am outgoing call to madeline 3 14 a.m outgoing call to madeline 3 17 a.m outgoing call to madeline 3 20 a.m my mind went into an automatic panic knowing for a fact that i did not make those calls quickly check my texts reading one i'd apparently sent out at 3 23 am hey can't sleep i'm gonna come over i'm leaving the back door unlocked so i can get in i didn't send that message my stomach dropped my heart thudded loudly in my chest as i noticed to reply directly underneath sorry i was sleeping thanks for waking me up by the way who's your key again it's unlocked don't be too late without a second thought i jumped up keeping the crowbar tight in my hands as i ran to my car i drove as fast as my little civic would allow all the way to her house ignoring any stoplights it only took me three minutes to get there but still i knew it would be too late made my way to her back door feeling every cell in my body burn when i saw it was wide open my face was hot my hands were shaking but i stepped in crowbar raised like a bat ready to swing i tried to keep my emotions at bay as i looked around her dark house madeline i called out you okay babe nothing silence madeline small scream came from her bedroom just up the stairs my legs jerked to a run as i flew up the stairs slamming her door open i looked at her empty bed her empty room confused i heard the scream again only this time i heard that it was coming through her computer monitor i felt numb as i looked at the screen noticing the same website i saw earlier only instead of one woman i saw two first was lying on the floor not moving in that puddle of dark liquid i recognized the second girl just as i recognized her voice my heart shattered as i saw her face streaked in blood the same threading was sewn into her eyelids locking them shut her scream hit my bones surrounded my body it was all i could hear her face was twisted in pure terror i cried pathetically as your voice began to go out continuing to grow weaker and grasped i locked my jaw picking up my cell and dialing 9-1-1 for the second time only this time it barely rang once before the deep gravelly voice of another man answered you should not have called [Applause] chill shut down my body as i heard the phone thud as it hit the carpeted floor my breath hitched in my throat as i bent to pick it up hanging up the call and racing down the stairs how did he do that how did he redirect my call away from the police i felt my heart race as i darted out her back door in a frenzy as i sprinted to the closest house pounded the door screaming at the top of my lungs until the neighbor opened it her face tired confused and scared she let me in and i explained through frantic tears what had happened typing this on my phone to post as we both try to get a hold of the cops but neither of our calls are going through neither is her landline i think someone is messing with our cellular signal they may have cut her line we're going to keep trying i'm scared for me i'm scared for my girlfriend and i'm scared for my neighbor i don't know what's going to happen to me if you don't hear from me again please take this advice and this experience to heart stay away from the deep web ever open the door you wish you'd left alone i was ego surfing googling my name to see which parts of my life had somehow leaked onto the web usually it's a letdown that's been my experience in the past you suddenly see the world through a different lens one in which you're not much of a star you're a supporting character at best and the leading man has your name but a much better life this time i clicked on a story that was clearly about me it was the time i had won first place in the outer banks big mouth bass tournament i'd landed a 13-pound whopper and gotten my photo snapped at the end of the pier there i was happy as a soused clam holding my prize fish like a conquering hero but the photo had a strange tag see odds curious i clicked on it the link sent me to a betting website called diabolicalpropositionbets.onion where the participants for the fishing tournament were listed along with their odds of winning i had been the longest shot two hundred to one i got shivers who would have made a proposition bet about me the website included a historical index of proposition bets for many other events that rang very personal graduating from wakefield high school promotion to regional manager at gala sporting goods marriage to high school sweetheart purchaser of new home in willow springs new father of twin girls purchaser of lavish fishing boat in every proposition bet i had been the longest shot i ran a sweaty hand across my comb over and poured another long island iced tea then i resume clicking through more beds based on my life's past events not an adulterer with a teenage cashier not experiencing male pattern baldness by age 30 not suffering erectile dysfunction by age 31 not divorced from high school sweetheart by age 32 not losing job by age 33 not losing custody of twin girls by age 33 not bankrupt by age 34 not an alcoholic by age 35. i pushed away from the computer the worst parts of my life had been turned into online wagers and the bets had all been worded in such a way that i was the longest odds every time so that somebody could profit off my series of failures and miseries this had to be a sick joke somebody had put together one very elaborate prank however there were so many details being posted that no single person in my life could possibly have known them all for instance minnie the cashier with whom i'd had an extra marital fling was the only one who knew about the affair nobody knew about this affair except my ex-wife i suspected that minnie and my ex-wife might have teamed up to put this whole shenanigan together but even they didn't know about my recent alcoholic consumption of long island iced teas i rolled my chair back to the computer and drain my glass there were upcoming wages listed my eyes zeroed in on one in particular dead by age 36 bells went off literally bells were ringing on my computer somebody was trying to skype me i didn't recognize the incoming number i hovered my finger over the mouse could this be the person who'd been wagering and profiting on every one of my life's major events had they discovered that i blundered upon their vast online gambling conspiracy and if that's indeed who was calling me did i really want to know who it was damn right i wanted to know who it was i accepted the call the face on the screen hit me like a sidewinder missile my father hey there sunny boy sunny boy was his nickname for me dad this is a bad time i'm in the middle of something it's okay you're not a dark horse anymore sunny boy dark horse what's that mean i mean to the dark web has all sorts of interesting little corners corners where somebody can place a prop bet on anything under the sun he gave me a fatherly wink you've helped me build a splendid nest egg over the years sonny boy my mouth was hanging open so big i look like the prize bass mounted on my wall now listen to me sonny boy you've got to hang in there while longer understand hanging where dad hang in life right now the betting odds have you as the favor to die by suicide your life has been trending down and you're basically even odds to off yourself tears were running down my cheeks as i stared into my father's face hang in there for another couple years life will rebound you'll see and just when things are looking up and you're the dark horse again then we'll make a killing thanks for watching you can watch another scary animation here also don't forget to subscribe and to hit that notification bell to stay tuned for future videos

Channel: Dr. NoSleep

Views: 1,296,713

Rating: 4.8677926 out of 5

Keywords: Dr. NoSleep, dr nosleep, doctor nosleep, scary stories animated, horror stories animated, animated horror stories, scary animated stories, dr no sleep, animated stories, horror animated stories, scary animations, scary stories, horror stories, dark web horror stories, dark web horror stories animated, dark web horror stories compilation, deep web horror stories, deep web horror stories aniamted, dark web horror story, deep web horror story

Id: 2sVdmNBD9PQ

Length: 116min 19sec (6979 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 15 2020