Red Room | The Myth Of Dark Web

People used cryptocurrency to watch the live torture. Anyway, after this video went viral, multiple agencies took to the field to arrest Peter Scully. The Dutch National Child Exploitation Team eventually tracked Scully down. Scully was caught and brought to face justice. This 2015 incident, after coming to light, shook the entire world. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had said, "Man is the cruelest animal." That seemed to be proven once again.

What Is the Red Room?

Alongside this, Peter Scully's documented crimes, his brutal torture, and the darkest side of the dark web remained subjects of discussion for a long time. With that, a terrifying dark web culture came into public view — its name: Red Room. The Red Room has long been discussed as one of the most brutal realities — or myths — of the internet. Simply put, the Red Room is essentially a popular torture system on the dark web. The entire event takes place inside a closed room. 

The color of the light in this room is red. The room is surrounded by transparent curtains. In the middle is a chair where the victim sits. Needless to say, their hands, feet, and mouth are bound. Inside the room is a second individual whose job is essentially to kill the victim. However, the victim is not killed immediately. Before being killed, they are tortured in unique and inventive ways. And this entire process is broadcast live on a special dark web website.

How It Works

People can buy a gate pass with Bitcoin and watch this live torture. Among them, those who spend more coins get the opportunity to give input on how the victim should be tortured. This is how the entire process continues until the victim's death.

Myth or Reality?

Many say the Red Room is actually a myth. Some say it is nothing but cheap fiction from an overactive imagination. Many others say this culture actually exists on the dark web — it is not fiction but reality. As the debate between the two sides goes on, the question arises in the mind — what is the Red Room really? Can such a horrific culture actually exist? Or is it just some trashy internet fairy tale? Everyone surely remembers the masked wealthy individuals in the popular series Squid Game — who came to watch people die. 

Do they represent the Red Room? Or Bangladesh's recently discussed "Aynaghar" — is that just another version of the Red Room? Many believe the name came from Japanese horror fiction. Others say the concept and name originated from the 1983 film Videodrome. However, whatever the main inspiration may be, what matters is this — the Red Room seems to have made a new discovery in the realm of crime. 

Just as people pay for OTT platform subscriptions to stream content, the Red Room's modality is quite similar. It is a secret online space where people buy viewership with Bitcoin and get the opportunity to watch live torture. There is yet another element here. During the live streaming, an auction runs. Those who win the auction direct the torture, punishment, or in some cases, the murder.

The Reddit Incident of 2015

On this note, let me mention an incident. In 2015, a Reddit user posted in a community saying they had found a Red Room online. According to them, while browsing the dark web, they came across a live video link. When they clicked it, a countdown was running. After the countdown ended, viewers were connected to a disturbing live torture stream. Though after watching for a bit, they were so frightened they could not continue. 

 After writing about it in detail on Reddit, many dismissed their account as a rumor. But the discussion did not die down at all. Let me remind you once more — that very same year, Peter Scully's Daisy's Destruction had taken the whole world by storm. So the space for dismissing the existence of the Red Room in one sentence was, by then, already quite thin.

2018: The YouTube Claim

Then, exactly three years after that incident — in 2018 — a YouTube channel claimed they had found a Red Room in an abandoned house. Alongside this claim, they uploaded a video. This stirred significant discussion and debate at the time, and by then people had begun to believe — for beings called the cruelest animals on earth, doing something this horrific is not impossible at all.

The Psychology Behind the Red Room

Those who follow notorious killers fairly closely will know of Rotenburg Cannibal Armin Meiwes. In 2001, he did something peculiar — he made a strange post on a dark web forum. The gist of his post was: he wanted to kill someone and eat their flesh. Was anyone willing? The request was undoubtedly terrifying. 

But what was even more terrifying — someone responded to his proposal and agreed to become his victim. Although this incident has no direct connection to the Red Room, it makes one thing clear: there is no shortage of people with twisted mentalities around the world. And if any of them were to embody the Red Room concept, that would not be an impossible occurrence at all.

Freud's Uncanny Theory

From here, let us move into the dark areas of human psychology. Since death is an eternal certainty for humans, people have always been more drawn to topics concerning terrifying or unknown death. That is precisely why people participate with tremendous enthusiasm in horror films, crime documentaries, and quirky bizarre concepts. In this context, the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, gave us the Uncanny Theory. The core of that theory is this — the familiar and the terrifyingly unfamiliar. Human curiosity about these two things is eternal. That is why horror and reality walk side by side in the human mind.

Negativity Bias

And the relevance of the Red Room increases precisely here. The Red Room awakens that primal fear of ours — of being overwhelmed and attacked by the unknown. A place of digital paradox where unknown death can be witnessed from up close. That people will be eager to watch it, that they will be thrilled by the chilling terror, that their primal fears will be triggered, and that ultimately such a culture will be celebrated — is there anything surprising about that? But it does not end there. Behind people's interest in the Red Room lies another psychological discord — Negativity Bias. The core of Negativity Bias is this: compared to positive or neutral subjects, people are generally more interested in dark and disturbing things. You can guess the rest.

The Dark Web: A Brief Look

Now let us take a look at the dark web. The dark web is essentially a suspicious space on the internet where only a few websites operate — websites whose information is not available to search engines like Google or Yahoo. Whereas the broader internet sphere has billions of websites, the dark web will not even cross 5,000 websites. 

And the majority of websites here deal with illegal matters. Since tracking down dark web websites is a bit tough for law enforcement, all the criminal activity continues in these dark corners. Moreover, since people come here with hidden layers of encryption or anonymity, for many it is a safe haven — and for exactly this reason, the argument in favor of such a brutal culture called the Red Room existing in this creepy space only grows stronger rather than weaker.

The Case Against: Why Some Say It Cannot Exist

However, the opposing side also has things to say. Around 2001, a group made some disturbing videos on the dark web called snuff films. Law enforcement later took to the streets to find them and tracked down this organized group. From that very point, the question arises — conversations about the Red Room have been going on for a long time. 

The concept has emerged in pop culture, which resulted in a Canadian psychological thriller called Red Rooms becoming globally popular in 2023. Whenever a disturbing video goes viral online, the Red Room is mentioned. Yet why, up until now, has no law enforcement agency from any country in the world found a single Red Room? Why does no one have any real evidence? Or is the network and connectivity of people associated with the Red Room so strong that no one has been able to touch even a hair on their heads? 

 Many say the concept of the Red Room is technically impossible to execute. Because high-quality resolution live streaming — while keeping everyone's identity hidden and evading law enforcement — is a bit too tough. But now, with technology far more advanced than at any other time in history, anonymity is a very normal scenario. And at that point, abruptly dismissing this concept becomes laughable.

A Reality We Cannot Deny

Whatever position people take — for or against the Red Room — the truth remains this: there is no real way to deny the Red Room. Which is why one must accept this reality — where, in a live stream on the dark internet, in some dark room, one human being is casually killing another, and a group of people are watching it with the utmost satisfaction. Moreover, history also bears witness that we have now arrived at a time when no brutality of man can be blindly denied. 

In this turbulent era whose representatives we are — marked by continuous wars and conflict and steadily descending into lower chambers of violence — that the horrific Red Room tradition is far more relevant than at any other time, there is no room left to raise a finger of doubt either. One is reminded of that long-old morning. The world is full of monsters with friendly faces.