However, for a long time the main competing theory for WIMPs was MACHOs (yeah, really), basically "familiar" dim, compact objects such as brown dwarfs and black

However, for a long time the main competing theory for WIMPs was MACHOs (yeah, really), basically "familiar" dim, compact objects such as brown dwarfs and black holes, scattered around in the galactic halo. However, gravitational microlensing surveys have found that the observed density of MACHOs is far too low to make up a significant fraction of dark matter.