WARNING: do not attempt to research this topic unless you have the necessary software to protect yourself. The exterior of the dark web is “harmless” enough. It’s when you start digging deeper that you need to be extremely careful.
In 2012, rumors started circulating the web. Information on accessing the dark net was becoming more frequent; so much that it was almost normal. Curious individuals were hysteric with excitement, but the more curious ones didn’t stop at the surface. There were whispers of something sinister hidden beneath the .onion links and hidden wikis: an inaccessible network.
In 2016, a frenzy of posts started popping up on both the surface web and the dark web. Several users began spinning tales of a classified, dangerous network. Many of the posts claimed different titles for the network – from the unheard of Dark Fantasy Network to the infamous Mariana’s Web. A post on 4chan’s paranormal board /x/ was just the start.
In the post, there are instructions on how to access the network dubbed “Mariana’s Web”:
“Marianas Web, also known as Zion, domains use a .clos domain and .loky domains. Clos means closed shell. Not sure what loky means. Both of these domains are accessed slightly differently. This is the deepest, darkest, most secretive and hardest part of the internet to access, partly because it isn’t even the internet, but is instead an internet within an internet, called an intranet (see i2p).”
The post then explains how most people believe quantum computers are necessary to gain access to MW – and how that is not the case. On Reddit and Intel Exchange, similar posts began popping up with more detail. The new information included unheard of domains like .dafy and .taur. These domains allegedly led to the Dark Fantasy Network.
Virtually, word travels fast. It wasn’t long before several users uncovered a post made by BlogSpot user Anastiel. The post includes a list of requirements necessary for accessing the Dark Fantasy Network, as well as a directory of websites ending in the unusual domains (.dafy, .end, .nept).
The blog post backfired, as users were even more adamant on the nonexistence of both the Dark Fantasy Network and Mariana’s Web. The how-to posts abruptly ceased. The supposed “classified network” fell back into the depths of the internet –
Until earlier this month, when new information on the Dark Fantasy Network was posted.