Serial Killers and the Dark Web

This started as a horror prompt I found online, scrounging for ideas to break up the idea traffic jam that is writer’s block. As the wheels of my mind turned and the pistons fired, I wobbled in the possibility that it could be true.
​In fact, it might be...

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Okay, maybe not all, but an overwhelming number of them would undoubtedly benefit from a Hostel type dark-web service. Think about it. How many people go missing, and how many murder cases run cold? Sure, murder is rare from a grand scheme perspective. By the same logic, so are sexual assault and child abuse. That doesn’t negate the impact of such crimes, especially when you add them all together. Sometimes, they run together into society and get swept under the rug as exaggerations or anecdotal evidence because general awareness is below par. If my criminal justice and psychology classes have taught me anything, the most unexpected people are likely to be questionable. Red flag behaviour is deeply ingrained into our society. So much so that even the most innocuous comments can carry legitimately lethal consequences.
That’s not to say most people are criminals or psychopaths.Still, many more align with the spectrum than most people think. And those same people always like to argue, negating the experience or research being presented to them. Most parents are terrified of losing their children to a stranger in public and don’t think twice about leaving them with a relative of questionable moral direction. Truth be told, most abductions, rapes, and murders are committed by someone we know. Someone we think we know…
Right about now, someone reading this is wondering if I plan to cite my sources. I do not. You have access to the same internet as I do — same search engines, same questions I started with. So, I’m gonna tell you what my family told me when I was growing up a curious little cat: go look it up. I am not here to teach you how to learn things. If you question what I have to say here, dig for yourself — feel free to come back and share what you find; we can speculate together. Because honestly, at the end of the day, no one had a correct answer. We only have the information available to us — what I wouldn’t give for the FBI to provide me with uninhibited access to their vault! — which is gatekept like anything else.
Back to the original point. Why do we not talk about this possibility more often? Social media these days is riddled with people posting predatory garbage and viewers turning them into the authorities. Every time I scroll through TikTok in particular, there is another example from a local newspaper site crime bulletin tied to another user account. I’m not mad about it. Please do your part and help get these people off the internet — that only leaves the smart ones.
People seem to think all criminals are dumb, and the truth is that we can only say that about the criminals that get caught.What of the ones we don’t identify? What of the ones that placate their inner demons with surface manipulations and narcissistic abuse tactics, or the ones that hide in plain sight behind their spouse and community status? Why are we not vetting our board members with the inclusion of extensive psychological evaluations in tandem with their background checks? Are we that trusting, or do we not understand the potential for a manipulative person to fool everyone around them?
Predators rely on their ability to blend in with their chosen community almost as much as their manipulation tactics.These people weave in enough truth to maintain believability, making it all too easy for those around them to brush off socially questionable behaviour as quirks or cultural differences. It’s easy to look for the good in people, it’s not bad, but it is dangerous. Of course, most of you won’t take me seriously. My words will be brushed off as alarmist or conspiracy, which is fine. I suppose if you want to overlook grooming behaviours in your too-friendly uncle or the gaslighting of the strange man on social media, that’s your business.
However, I should recommend exploring the possibility that I’m not off my rocker…
The reality may surprise you.