The strangest, creepiest places on the internet

The internet is a deep, dark place.

I remember a phase in my “youth” (okay, fine, I’m not that old) when everyone was obsessed with these strange, scary things online. I wish I could specify what things mean, but I can’t. There was a computer program that, when executed, would make a screaming, horrifying ghost face appear on screen without warning. Then there was a seemingly innocent maze game. And then there were creepypastas.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the discovery—and even the creation—of these hair-raising digital content is just a natural result of this generation’s exploration of the world wide web. We are, after all, the ones who grew up the same time as the internet.

While I wish we can all just stick to cute doggos and funny memes, it is undeniable that there’s also something fascinating with this dark side of the web. Even for me, who honestly avoids anything horror-themed like the plague (Stranger Things is probably my only exception).

So in the spirit of the season, I will be facing my fears so I can share with you some of the strangest, shocking, spine-tingling websites out there.

The Ghost in My Machine

Let’s start with something relatively tame. This blog covers urban legends and stories of the haunted and paranormal. Sometimes it also talks about creepypastas and their origins and backstories. It features a pretty wide variety of media, really, including podcasts, videos, and the recently popular horror story Twitter threads. But what I really enjoy reading on this blog is its “The Most Dangerous Games” series.

It’s exactly as it says on the tin: These games are dangerous, mostly because they involve performing rituals of sorts wherein you either get to contact beings from other realms, or open portals to them.

White Enamel

If you’re into horror films, this interactive Flash game might be of interest. White Enamel is a “movie” set in a mental asylum. Except instead of just sitting there and letting the story unfold before your eyes, you technically have to live through it—by interacting with the different elements in the scenes. This point-and-click game appears to have ties to the Blair Witch Project.

Web Ouija

Before being used as a tool to commune with spirits, the Oujia board was actually just a simple parlor game by Hasbro. It was allegedly after a spiritualist used it as a divination tool during the first World War that its connection to the supernatural and the occult became popular. The “accuracy” so to speak of Ouija messages is disputed, but you can’t deny it’s pretty intriguing. If you can’t get your hands on a real board, you might want to try the web version.

All you have to do is type your question, and in place of holding the planchette in real life, you place your mouse’s cursor on the web planchette, and follow its movements to get your answer.

The Maze

I played this once, in high school. And I’ve never played it again since. Without revealing too much, it’s a game that requires intense focus: Using your mouse, guide the cursor through increasingly difficult levels of mazes without touching the “walls” of the maze. What happens if you beat the game? Who knows. I’m not even sure if it is beatable. But you’re very welcome to try.

Singapore’s Freakiest Online Ghost Stories

What used to be called SFOGS has now transferred to a new domain with a new (albeit not necessarily better) design. But I have to admit it’s a pretty comprehensive collection of ghost stories. You can view stories by category—in case you don’t want to filter through posts and you want to just read all stories set in schools, or offices, for example—or you can also view stories by country.

Reddit

As with a variety of topics, Reddit is a rabbit hole (or maybe I should say, a black hole) for creepy tales. The NoSleep subreddit is a very popular collection of horror stories. If you’re tired of the same old creepypasta and online urban legends, or if you just can’t take “real” ghost stories, you can check NoSleep for some more original content.

Alternatively, if you want to be disturbed by the internet without necessarily treading into horror territory, you can check out this AskReddit on the “creepiest, unexplainable, and darkest places of the internet.”

Scary Story Twitter Threads

Another surprising platform for spreading stories of the supernatural is the microblogging site, Twitter. One of the popular threads is one called “Dear David” by illustrator Adam Ellis. It’s an ongoing story—he continues to update the thread as more and more strange events happen to him. To keep track of the whole story, he even made a Storify. Another recent story thread is this recounting of a series of possessions, told by Twitter user Reeve.

Read more:

Once a year, my grandfather’s soul visits us

The Filipina Scream Queens to stream this Halloween

Local creatures that mainstream media never told you about