Ominous Stories

Underground Families

The Shadow Web is the side of the internet that can't be found using typical search engines, but instead can only be accessed using downloaded programs that grant you anonymity. It contains some of the sickest filth you could ever (and not ever) imagine, and is the topic of this traumatic tale.

*The Hidden Wiki is a Shadow Web site that informs you of many of the different, sick sites the Shadow Web has to offer.

I explored the Shadow Web once.

Getting there was difficult. All the programs that let you run around on the web anonymously have rather convoluted installation instructions, and I'm not the tech-savviest type, so it was a struggle. But after a few frustrating hours, I managed to do it.

My first stop was, no doubt, the coveted Hidden Wiki*. You hear about it all the time, and it really makes you curious to see it for yourself. People talk about how sick it is- how you need to be extremely careful of what you click. They're 100% right. I avoided so much, but still would wind up seeing an image or an article I really hadn't wanted to see. Things that no one should see. Disgusting, pure evil things that shouldn't exist. I'd been on the Shadow Web for ten minutes and was already expecting the FBI pounding on my door, and here my only crime was curiosity.

Weird comparison, I know, but the Shadow Web is sort of like doing drugs. You're alarmingly paranoid at first, constantly questioning your actions. Hell, my friend called me while I was on it and I about had a heart attack I was so sure it was the police.

But after a while, you sort of relax a little. Feel a little more confident. After a few days of being the most cautious I've ever been in my life, I started feeling more... adventurous. Started clicking links and exploring the interesting-looking sites. Human experiments, killers-for-hire, black market sites... Seems weird to explore these sites, I know. But the sites are so cheesy half the time, it's hard to believe they're real. You can find half these websites on the normal web, too. They're pretty much always fake.

I completely avoided porn links. There are so many sick, sick sites featuring minors- the Shadow Web is where pedophiles get their endless supply of child porn, after all. Even porn sites claiming to feature only people 18+, I simply didn't risk. I didn't risk most of the snuff film sites, either. Though I admit I did watch a video or two, purely out of curiosity. (Worst decision ever. Don't watch them.)

It's when several weeks of regular Shadow Web access had passed that I began feeling extremely confident. I'd gotten to a point where I could easily and automatically avoid links I knew led to bad things. I'd explored a few seriously gruesome sites, with no police visits. I was cocky. I was curious.

I joined a forum.

It was a pretty tame forum, compared to the others I'd stumbled across. This one was for, as they called themselves, "Underground Families." Literally, it was a ton of people who lived underground or in completely isolated areas with their families, all over the world. And they weren't like the backwoods inbred families you see in horror movies, or giant religious communities like the one discovered in Texas. Most of these families were pretty small in numbers, usually living in some warehouse or basement, or even a normal house, in some cases. What brought them together was that they never left their homes... ever. They were living completely secluded lives- only socializing with their own family and the people on this forum.

There was no talk of torture or human trafficking or kidnapping. No talk of murder or inbreeding. Seriously, they appeared to be totally normal families, who honest to God just wanted to live alone. Stay "off the grid" so to speak. Really not all that weird or uncommon, actually.

I'd joined the forum purely for access to the all the topics (you had to be a registered user to view them.) I wasn't planning on talking to anyone.
But one user caught my eye. He seemed to be extremely popular on the site; he'd posted several threads, and had way more thread views and replies than most of the others. He replied to everyone- even silly remarks you'd think would have gotten lost in such heavily populated threads.