Watching this as someone who’s developing schizophrenia, its really odd because the feeling I get from these places is exactly how I feel when in an episode. Like I’m in a place I’m not ment to be, surrounded by people and things that don’t exist. That’s what it’s like for me a lot, it’s different for everyone. Amazing video
Liminal spaces capture that feeling when a dream starts transitioning into a nightmare. It’s that sudden realization that you’re not supposed to be here and a dreadful sixth sense that something unnatural and omniscient is lurking nearby. Ive always been so fascinated by nightmares… that feeling is so distinct from anything I really experience in real life.
As someone who used to be a security guard and has very regularly patrolled empty buildings, spaces that usually have many people in them, etc, I feel almost immune to these images. I do recall feeling certain things in such spaces initially, but it all has faded with time. Many of these images make me feel nothing, but some make me feel depressed. They remind me of certain events I wish I never witnessed.
Walking through those empty parking lot buildings at night was a trip though-every floor looks the same and then you wonder if you are dreaming-until the point some weirdo comes out of the corner and scares the crap out of you 😆 Freaking security dude
@@morningbee4328 I always will remember the experience fondly, bad things included. Hardest part about quitting was still seeing the empty buildings and centres in my dreams for so long afterwards.
When I was young, I remember complaining to my mom and dad about a "feeling" it was like a bad nostalga sort of emotion. They just looked at me like I just spoke in a different language. This is what I was feeling, I think. I was feeling as though I were seeing a subliminal space all the time, which, in a way, I was. It was the end of the school year and I had helped all my teachers to clean their rooms up for the summer in my last year of middle school. It must have been so emotionally straining that my brain just couldn't process it properly.
@@lloyddragon2036 mines have like three common places. the city where i live in. most specifically the road leading up to the hill where i live in. an overly large place with the litteral same style that my aunt's house has for some reason. and a really really odd metalic underground facillity that has probably the most distinctive and undescribable feeling that i have experienced in my entire life, even though it's mostly extremely dark corridors with broken wall lamps on the wall and closed neon lights on the celling. there is also wierd cylindrical shapped ladder room in which it's one ladder that goes up a floor from one side and continues to the opposite and every floor has a slightly alternating lighting color. with sometimes human sized containement tubes that are always broken and all of the walls are diamond plated metal in a black color. but in the end most of them are liminal and the ones that are not liminal are just filled with people that holds conversations that apears to be coherent but makes no sense when thinking about it..
A lot of my dreams have familiar locations mixed up with each other in a way that is different from what they actually look like. My dreams often have places from my childhood or generally places I often spend time at, but mixed with other, more unfamiliar places. It is fascinating how dream take parts of familiar places and mix them up into something new.
My dreams have been taking place in a hybrid of my childhood hometown and my current hometown for about 10 years now. Its so familiar but different and my dreams always take place at night.
I do not know if this is something common but whenever i am about to fall asleep, i start to briefly dream about “something” but that thing never makes any sense and by that i mean any to the point that i cannot even explain what that thing is and i quickly forget about it like in a second. But i am sure that whatever it is that i am dreaming about changes everytime this weird thing happens.
I had a real world liminal experience once. I was outside, late at night, around 2AM or so because I was taking out some garbage. It had just snowed. For some reason, the world around me was indescribably, dead silent, a silence I have never known before or since. Yet, the outside is never silent. There's crickets. There's wind. There's the distant ambience of the highway. Even in the dead of night, there is some distant reminder of life. On that one night, there was nothing. Truly, utterly, the sound of complete nothing. It is not the same as sitting in an empty room. It was something else. I struggle to explain it. I was just astounded and mesmerized with how silent and calm the world was in that moment. Outside, there is nothing for noise to reverberate off. Even the gentle ringing you hear in your ears when all else is quiet, that too was absent. Even my own voice did not echo back to me when I spoke. It was quiet beyond comprehension on a cold snow-covered night. Inky black sky above. No light but the lamps illuminating the property. It was strangely beautiful.
I love those moments its like the world is standing still even for a small minute, and one of the only times I can enjoy silence. (side note tinnitus is a bitch)
i feel u. me and my dad go to a lot of concerts so we get back past midnight. we live in very fieldy areas. theres loads of forests fields and trees. driving past and through those at midnight. its like u say but im with someone in the moments thank goodness. kinda cool u find it beautiful. :)
16:04 As many times as I have been Rick Rolled, I'm surprised I never even recognized that this was the bridge that Rick Astley was dancing under until you said so.
As someone who was stuck in a two-year depersonalization episode, liminal spaces is exactly what it felt like living day to day life. It’s scary, everything felt unreal, like a dream.
@@moppenboek I would recommend seeing a therapist. They can help you identify what triggers your depersonalization, and help you learn self soothing methods that can either stop it before it happens or lessen the effects of it. While you could certainly find general resources online, there is A LOT of bad advice out there and your triggers are likely unique to you. So having a person there to walk you safely through learning how to manage something like this is essential. If you don’t know where to look, try asking your primary care doctor to refer you. And avoid online services like betterhelp as they are incredibly sketchy. Good luck!
@@NutyRiver Yes. Because there was this issue with Betterhelp… people who claimed to be professionals/therapists, ect… they never had a license or degree of any sort. Scary as shit.
Exactly how it feels! To give people hope here. After 10 years of off-and-on derealization but pretty much daily obsession, just realized I haven’t felt it in like six months. Then, one anxious thought in the gym shower today triggered the cycle again-lost in a liminal, disoriented state where I almost felt blind but could see, like I knew where I was but I didn’t. But this time, all the practice before I instantly recognized the pattern, did a “worry appointment” and instantly snapped me out of it. Awareness alone broke the loop, restoring clarity within 24 hours.
One thing to note about minecraft, is that in its early versions, it was a liminal space in and of itself. This was mainly due to the bright, desaturated colours of the game and the tiny render distance which expressed itself in a white fog which covered things quite close to the player. The music also elevated this feeling to its extreme.
Liminal spaces feels like a corrupted memory, like the feeling of having been in a place, but it being reduced to its base components in the ways of memory.
As a kid, I got this feeling all the time, playing outside during summer when a propeller plane would fly over. It was terrifying. Something about the aimless summer and the sound of the plane made it seem infinite and meaningless
I'm a 15 year old guy, I feel like even when I was 7 or 8 the summers seemed endless, school just got out a few weeks ago for me and yet we're already moving into July, and since my family is gonna vacation at the end of July, August will sneak up on us, and with August comes school (I'll be a sophomore), with school comes fall sports, with fall sports comes official cross country practices (not including the cross summer group runs), with fall sports also comes football, with football comes Homecoming and pep band, with Homecoming comes the dance, with the dance comes my depression at not being able to be with the girl of my dreams, (been crushin' on her since 7th grade, but started to truely fall for her in 8th) *AHEM* With Homecoming comes all the festivities and such, but it'll quickly pass, October and Halloween will breeze by... Cross country will end... Thanksgiving will come and go... Christmas will come, and leave as soon as it comes... then finals will arrive... after finals comes semester 2, and spring... with spring comes spring sports... with spring sports comes track... track will breeze by, the school year will end, rinse through the summer and repeat, except I'll be a junior, that will breeze by and before I know it I'll be hugging my buddies, getting their Discord usernames to stay in touch, applying for a college with a welding course... maybe I'll get with my high school sweetheart (though unlikely) and we would spend the rest of our days together, maybe even having kids (although I was born with a medical condition that would make it very risky for me to have kids) and I'll get old and die, and then rejoin my family beyond those golden gates
You were just completely present as that's ones natural state. In reality you can glimpse into the infinite nature of things and spaces if you are present enough. Infinity is terrifying.
@@BoobleBnCaca to what is this in reference? I agree, but I didn’t write “as someone who used to be a kid,”. I wrote “as a kid,” simply to provide a setting for the anecdote.
I remember being stuck in an airport at around 2am, it was so eerily quiet and empty in some areas, and it definitely reminded me of these liminal spaces.
I've always loved the feel of liminal space. As a teenager I would write in my journal about this feeling and my desire to catch it, induce it, hold onto it, but struggle to explain it. Finding this community a few years ago was like an enlightenment moment that other people know that glowing light feeling in their upper chest... Here are some extra things not mentioned: Todd Hido Dan Bell Sovietwave / soviet nostalgia Post soviet liminal space Dreamcore Weirdcore Edward Scissorhands John Register Yes! We're Open! album
Its like a mix of coming home and being in love. Almost like you can close your eyes, imagine the place, open your eyes and just continue living your life you have in that place almost like reality was just a daydream and the place you think of is suddenly reality. It gives a feeling of belonging and freedom for me.
Liminal spaces sort of resonate closely with thalassophobia for me. The dread of knowing that you're alone, but also feeling like something is lurking just behind that one wall, in a space that makes you feel like you've lost all sense of direction and control. That one horror game, Anemoiapolis, really puts these two together with the swimming pool concept. Rooms with large bodies of water that descent into darkness and rooms that feel right but absolutely wrong at the same time.
11:40 I know I’ve seen this exact picture in a dream! I remember the window and the door vividly with the blue sky appearing out of it, and the pattern of old fashioned wall paper with the fan under the window. I’ve been watching liminal space content for over a year now and this might be the most familiar one yet, the craziest thing is that I know why it’s so familiar
UHM WHAT THATS DISTURBING ASF I KEEP HAVING THIS DREAM BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP EVERY NIGHT THATS KIINNDDAAA LIKE THAT IMAGE WHERE IM FLYING OUT OF SOMWEHRE THAT LOOKS LIKE THAT ON A CARPET
@Lazar Vlaskovic I still have a mental image of the dream in my head after not watching the video for quite for some time. I was aware of the dream before I saw the liminal space so it is in fact real, it just looks very similar to the timestamp. And supposedly the Deja Vu explanation you mentioned, while I appreciate it, is just a theory.
i’m someone that enjoys liminal spaces. i seek them out, i seek out the feeling of being in them. i can only describe the feeling of it as being alone but getting the eerie feeling that you’re not entirely alone in there. i love the nostalgia of dreamcore/weirdcore because they utilize a lot of abandoned, dark places from childhood that once were full of children/adults and were bright and happy. i just love liminal spaces, weirdcore, and dreamcore.
I’ve cleaned out old business buildings and the feeling you get is unlike any other. You’re instantly taken back in time when the business was thriving. When you snap out of it, you’re looking over your shoulder in fear but don’t know what you’re in fear of. I’m a big believer in residual energies. Maybe that feeling you get in liminal spaces is your sixth sense kicking in.
I remember a story I heard once of a group of people who found an isolated bar, and business was booming, so they went to get a drink, and after a few shots and conversations with the locals, a few of them went to the bathroom, where they found a painting of the exact scene they were in. They alerted the others who came to see the painting, but this time all the people in the painting were looking at them, and as soon as they took their eyes off of the painting, they looked back to the bar, which was abandoned, and looked like it had been for years.
I remember when I was a little girl and we'd travel and stay in someone's guest room.... The feelings that would come to me in an empty room. It was like I was feeling old leftover feelings layered in the room like emotional archeology.
Liminal spaces coming to light scares most people but it makes me cry because I'm autistic and have experienced this uncanny feeling a lot throughout childhood without ever being able to name or describe it. This endless place, that feels like people have lived in but is now empty forever. I remember going to some trip with my aunt when I was 5 and I started crying because I had a meltdown and the trip felt like a giant liminal space with a green field and wind turbines next to the high way. It's so beautiful to see how I can finally put these sensations that have tortured me into words. It makes me feel human and understood. I can't wait for the Internet to dive deeper into these sort of weird emotions we usually never speak of
I literally find those liminal spaces comforting ;___; the pictures you've shown make me feel calmer, as in: "there are still things to do, to see, to explore"
ive always found eerie things calming. i love feeling a unique yet peaceful emotion ive never felt before. there's an odd beauty to it. when i was a kid i used to call that liminal space feeling "the creepy wonderful feeling". i remember going to a doctor's office that was in one of those strip mall things with different offices you know (idk if anyone outside the US knows what this is) and how there's usually some kind of hallway between offices, i remember one that my mom went to that had a jungle mural along the hallway, with designs of monkeys, parrots, giant leafed plants, etc, and it had a really cool unique lighting effect. i remember being obsessed with the "creepy wonderful feeling" i got whenever we walked down that hallway, no one else there. in hindsight that hallway was definitely a liminal space. part of this may be related to my autism and sensory issues. generally i prefer being in a peaceful, quiet place void of people. there's no sensory overload or anxiety or overwhelming distractions and i can just enjoy the environment for what it is. it's fascinating to just appreciate what probably took a lot of work to make yet was never meant to be seen alone. yet here it is. and it looks bizarre and unique and the atmosphere is so ethereal and eerie.
Me too. A lot of the indoor room liminal spaces have carpets, nice colors and small rooms which makes some of the places look very cozy. And the whole feeling of nostalgia in some places can also make them feel cozy, because nostalgia can feel very comforting.
With regard to the Windows 95 maze: That was NOT a game. It was a screensaver that would randomly generate maze layouts, and then explore every single path in each layout. I used to use that screensaver when I was a teenager.
For me, liminal spaces, that cause any sort of feeling, usually relate to something vaguely trauma related. It's trauma I'm not allowed to remember or access, but I know when I see some of these photos, it's what it relates too.
that's the same feeling that i get when looking at the "living room" in the beginning of the video, it's eerily familliar to me since my aunt has a very similar house but it's really not the same at all and yet i can almost feel like i have been there before many many times. it's like if something happened there and i was involved somehow
I just commented this on another video, but I actually wanted to do a survey based on liminal images and childhood trauma. When I first found liminal images, it made me feel the same kind of uncomfortable I get when I have a PTSD episode or trying to remember what happened. Only specific ones though, and I'm wondering if it has something to do with what trauma does to a child's brain.
The photo at 6:41 of the interior of the house literally made me have a mini existential crisis. It was so weird. It was like... my grandmother's old house mixed with any weird house I'd see in a nightmare. Freaked me out a little, man.
For me a lot of liminal spaces make me feel grief. Because of trauma, I have significant memory loss. A lot of liminal spaces bring back memories of feelings or still images because that’s all I have left. And that makes me cry sometimes. Because I’m sad for what I’ve lost. And because I’m frustrated that it’s just out of reach.
Don't know why, but I find liminal spaces comforting. It's like that feeling of walking into the gym early in the morning, with no one else there; I love it. Literally been considering to switch to a 24/7 gym, just so I can go work out alone, in the middle of the night when I can't sleep. Same thing for visiting spaces that are usually crowded during more quiet hours. I'm autistic and easily overwhelmed by external sensory stimuli, though, leading me to actively seek out these spaces. I try my best to tailor my schedule so that I can go to places that are usually busy, when they're not. Maybe that influences my fondness of liminal spaces.
Some liminal spaces feel like I accidentally stumbled into somebody's dream. I feel like I invaded something deeply private and beyond my understanding. The more familiar ones make me feel like my childhood has rotted and decayed. Like walking in to greet your pet only to find them dead (which has happened to me before). Don't get me started on driving through your old neighborhood as an adult. The deep-seated feeling of familiarity mixed with this feeling that you're somehow trespassing on sacred ground. Like that part of a temple where only the priest is allowed to go, and your past self is the priest while you are not.
I’m glad I found this community. I experienced a weird unnerving feeling loads of times but could never properly explain it until I found out what liminal space is. Walking around on old call of duty maps in a private game when no one else is there and just looking around always gives me the creeps, perfect example of liminal space. Great video
i get the same feeling from liminal spaces than locations in my dreams. they both are things that are really familiar because they come from something you most likely saw and yet they are all different, distorted and off. every single liminal images and dreams have all a slighlty different vibe, but in the end. they are all rooted from the same place
i'm one of the people in the photo of the "liminal hotel" at 10:15! it's a reflection of me standing on a bridge overseeing the courtyard, taking the original picture. people usually don't believe me, but i was there during a layover on a trip to the united states. so cool to see it show up in compilations and even in animations and video game level recreations. thanks for including it!
Liminal spaces give me the same feeling as when I'm in a military building. My dad was in the army, so we sometimes went with him on bases for events that military families were invited to. During these events, the rooms and hallways always feel empty or cobbled together for the purpose of the event taking place, not really as a place of work or otherwise
I think the reason people feel nostalgic when they see empty rooms or houses, is the because our minds fill in the gaps, and turn the empty space into a memory
I once experienced something that may be considered limilal. There were 80's themed decorations including smiley faces, balloons, and rainbow things. There was no one in the hallway besides me.
52:20 Hey! This is a puppet from the "Giant Parade", an art project showcased at Valley View Center Mall, Dallas, TX. The mall is now demolished and the puppet was bulldozed along with the mall, and I'm presuming that this was taken after the mall declared it's out of business. The puppet is a representation of the greatest botanist of all time, Julien Reverchon. This puppet was popularized by the new series created by Kane Pixel, "The Oldest View". He's not all that scary when you see him out parading with the other giants, though.
I'm an electrician and I specialize in tenant fit out (reconstructing office spaces for companies renting the space) I've been all alone in empty office buildings many times, sometimes the entire structure is vacant but every room, every space is built out and ready for viewing. It's such a weird feeling. I love it. I get to be in these real spaces every day.
27:14 When I saw that pic my jumpscare defense mechanism activated because I'm sure I've been jumpscared by that very bedroom before, but I still don't quite remember.
I actually plan on making a liminal space horror film. It's Superliminal and Anemoiapolis combined with The Backrooms with the weirdness of Alice in Wonderland. It's gonna be very out of the box, and it has a plot twist that requires the audience to make it happen.
49:00 I was in a situation like this in 2020, coming back from Houston. It was the middle of the night and I was less than an hour from home, driving through Tropical Storm Cristobal. Low fuel light came on, and I pulled out of the darkness into a well lit gas station in the middle of nowhere. Nobody for miles and miles... Except the clerk, still working in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere. He was friendly, at least. It felt like a nice reprieve before diving back into the dark maelstrom outside, with home just sixty more miles away.
I’ve fallen down the liminal space rabbit hole again. I’m at a loss for words.. the cartoony image with the houses & the water tower up on the hill?! My childhood home was a two story house (exactly the same frame) at the bottom of a hill with two windows up top & three on the bottom. Guess what was at the top of a rolling hill up from my house?! A GRAY WATER TOWER. I.. truly have no words. I sent the image to my mom & she thought that I created it.
During the pandemic I sought out liminal spaces without thinking about it. I did a lot of driving around Washington, stopping at empty rest areas to sleep or waaay outta the way truck stops in the middle of nowhere. I thought it would horrify me(and I was kinda dumb about it) but it actually comforted me. I think it’s because it’s a place where nobody expects anything of me. I don’t have to do anything but exist. And that’s nice. I am pretty socially awkward so I’ve always had to try really hard not to stick out. So not having to care about those social obligations is nice.
Is it like the early AM? The way you describe it, the lack of expectations, makes me think of that 1-3am sweet spot. There's no one awake but yourself. Just silence and emptiness, but it's sort of comforting.
Has anyone checked out Titanic Honor and Glory? It's a CGI recreation of the RMS Titanic, considered to be the most accurate recreation both real or simulated to date. It's fully lit, clean interiors, long hallways, info cards and voice acted read outs despite no people seen have an intense liminal sensation, that's not to mention the feeling once you activate the sinking simulation.
I had a liminal experience at school one time It was the end of the day, and everyone was already gone because i stayed late at school for a club. It was winter, so the sun was already starting to set, and it was kinda cloudy and the grass was all dead. And I was walking downstairs and into the commons, which usually has lots of tables and lots of people there, but I noticed no one was there and all the tables and chairs were gone. I was basically in a large empty room, one where people were supposed to be, where furniture was supposed to be, but it was all empty. It was The familiar interior of my high school, but something was off...I assume they took the tables and chairs in order to clean them, but that was an interesting experience!
YEAHH EXACTLY. i remember finding it so peaceful and calm that i would go outside and it was just dead silent?? (not everyone might share this view but coming from a loud agressive household it was always nighttime or early morning that i loved)
the absence of people is the key here, at least to me. that factor by itself can caused you both frustration/fear and relief/freedom. at first, I felt alone, scared that no one was gonna be there with me or to protect me. but the more I look into the picture and completely mentally placed myself into it, I felt free, I felt comfortable. there was no one to judge or stop me and I could do everything I’ve deeply craved for a long time, even if it’s illegal. but after having them all done, I turned back to the start where I feel.. empty, alone. and the loop went on.
When he said it’s a Transition, the first thought that popped into my head is when you’re looking around and glance at something, think nothing of it and then forget, there is no moment and that’s what these pictures are
I really like liminal spaces, its eerie, comforting, and feels strange, it captures the vibe of dreams, like when you are in a familiar place but in a dream, for example your house, it looks the same but there's something a bit off, it feels nostalgic but strange. I really liked this video, its interesting and well-researched, kinda relaxing too.
My personal definition of liminal space is “where you’ve always been, and where you’ve never been, and where you’ll never leave” it also gives the energy of an untouchable place that you were never supposed to see, but it was made for you.
Gotta love how many and yet how few liminal spaces were shown throughout this video. That shows just how huge the actual scope of liminality is and how anyone can see liminality similarly yet uniquely. Glad it's popping off
I really always appreciated liminal spaces. As a child, I never was exactly scared by being at a mall a little to late, but more fascinated and I always wanted to stay and explore, to see if anything changes, I always wanted to explore those places alone. I constantly tried to find these places by going to school and looking in the closed bathrooms or the empty portables, just for that nostalgic feeling. Now that I'm a teenager, I can be allowed to explore these places alone and take pictures to share my love of liminal spaces to the world. I used to always watch abandoned building documentaries on RUclips and I always felt the urge to create these kinds of places. I now can, because I've learned 3d modeling and I am learning to 3d animate, so I can explore these places without getting in trouble by just animating a viewer perspective. It feels amazing to be able to be so talented because I am an artist, 3d modeler, musical artist and book writer because I can share my interest I've had for so long by creating art. This video would have never given me the confidence to share this and to realize everything I've ever said. It is inspiring me to become a photographer so I can always look at liminal spaces whenever I want and know that I've really been there. Thank you.
Most the time the liminal spaces that give me feelings are places that look familiar like I’ve been there as a child or in a dream. Gives me an uneasy feeling of nostalgia that I don’t understand
I work at a mall and often get stuck with closing shift. It usually ends up being me and one other person alone, quiet staticky music drifting through the closed gate. Every footstep from outside has a hostile edge. It's very creepy, highly recommend experiencing a mall right before the store opens or right after they close.
A lot of liminal space photos almost never have any natural light / windows, it’s always dark or artificial light. And even when you are outside in the photos , the ground takes up almost the entire sky or the sky has no clouds. This all could just be me though, but it’s interesting to think about regardless.
Makes me think of the lockdowns during the pandemic. I was born in NY and grew up there for half of my life then moved a few states away. After I came home from my trip to DC days before the US declared lockdowns, I drove down to NY to see what it was like and went through liminal overload. For the first time, you could park so close to time square, it felt so weird, almost as if it was I am Legend. After that, I drove down to Chinatown. There were barely anyone and the sun already set. Seeing everything closing at 6pm made it extremely liminal. Honestly I will never forget it.
The shortest horror story ever written goes like this: "The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door." The liminal space is like this, they elicit simultanous feelings of abandonment and an impossible presence.
I remember spending hours playing Super Mario 64 on my Nintendo. It was so much fun! I played it again a few years back after finding my 64 tucked away in a box. It was one of the most nostalgic and weirdly unsettling experience it’ll definitely be a while before I play again.
13:20 I was surprised when you named dropped the biggest mall in my state that I used to go to all the time as a kid. There was a play place there and it always felt like a liminal space. The whole mall is just nostalgic for me.
There was always some kind of creepy about the Ispy books, but comforting at the same time. Its hard to describe and the games for Ispy, especially the one for the wii can feel liminal and nostalgically creepy. I still love looking at those pictures as an adult. I remember before Covid and before ever learning that liminal spaces were a thing going to the Sears where I live before it closed down and it feeling oddly surreal and/or nostalgic being in a store with such wide open spaces. Almost like being in a dream. It didn't help that at the time I was addicted to Urban Exploaration videos including people exploring malls that were closing. No matter where they were it felt nostalgic or like going back in time. Another place that made me feel that way as a kid was Pea Patch Island here in my home state Delaware: had a field trip there when I was little and it is rumored to be haunted. Overall I find liminal spaces oddly comforting despite how creepy some of then look. I thinks its why i enjoy some of the art used for soundscape videos.
To me liminal spaces aren't really scary or unnerving, I find them immensely relaxing and calming. They often take me away from my feelings of sadness and loneliness, because they feel like places out of time and place; within the 'worlds' of these liminal spaces, you don't have to worry about the problems or insecurities in your life, and can simply feel at peace. They feel like an escape, even if only briefly.
there’s something about these liminal spaces that just have some charm to it. some may dislike it or some may like it, i’m overall in the middle. however, i do have a huge fascination with liminal spaces as some can trigger nostalgia or memories that have never existed before. and that’s what i like. it’s the thought of something existing, existing. if you get what i mean, it just brings back something that was probably never there to begin with and that’s what makes a liminal space so special.
Hearing you say that Toys R Us went out in 2017 gave me such a time warp vibe! It’s so weird! I can’t remember what happened a week ago, but I can remember going to a Toys R Us as if it were just 2 years ago, when it was actually more like 5 or 6 or 7! Holy moly that is a weird feeling 😳
As you were showing the pictures of the pool mazes I was like "God, I REALLY would hate being stuck in a place like that" just as you say there's an actual first-person-pov game in development 😂 I'm interested, but damn, does it make me nervouss.
People always say that there's something off about liminal spaces, or that they are creepy, but personally I get so happy when I look at them. It could be some nostalgia, but I also just love the idea of being somewhere no one is. I can be alone, and no one can look for me, or know of my existence. I would just roam around endlessly looking at the places around me.
13:20 I live near where this mall (Washington Square Mall) is located and I was surprised to see it on here. if vacant/empty malls are a staple of liminal spaces, I understand why this particular mall in on this list. It used to be a super active mall with tons of shops and shoppers, but over time it lost business and more and more stores pulled their shops out and less customers had reasons to go. now its quite desolate.
yes i was just about to comment something like this because i live right but washington square mall. i use to go there all the time as a kid now it’s so dead and empty😭
i had a liminal space experience a few weeks ago. I’m part of my high school marching band, so i stay after school pretty often. One day I had forgotten to bring water, so I got some money from my bag and walked across the school to get a gatorade from the vending machine. As my back was turned, it felt as if I was being being watched, and I walked slowly back to the band hall because I didn’t want to practice. It was an eerie feeling, amplified by the fact that I’m a freshman and at the time was still unfamiliar with the building. I remember having a feeling of being lost. Maybe it was a bad idea to go alone 😅
holy shit thats my old kitchen at 0:28, i completely forgot i posted that image on the liminal space subreddit and it scared the shit out of me seeing it here
i love being in liminal spaces, i dont know why but the inability to perceive the passage of time and the feeling that every thing is just little of, soothes me so muchand lets some part that i never know is there just fully relax
Stanley Parable is actually funny in some ways, the fact that you are not just alone, but you have a narrator, with that very familiar voice, and the fact that you can even troll him, like entering the cutscene room and then going down the elevator, but then deciding to go up and narrator says “oh well, looks like Stanley in not ready for the secret yet, but we’ll wait”. I don’t know why some people think it’s liminal
I was talking with my mom about liminal spaces and she mentioned how she was invited to take a course for architecture and they were talking about how architecture can play a great role in invoking certain emotions. We were talking about how a lot of the liminal space pictures (mainly interior) might invoke certain feelings on us such as nostalgia if we have ever been around similar architect before. Not necessarily because we have been to that exact place, but different types of architecture may have been popularized for certain places. For example a popular liminal space location would be things like malls or fun/playrooms. Maybe these were places we always wanted to go to- seeing them often and being mesmerized by them as a kid makes us nostalgic… now as for eerie sensations, I think it often has to do with the emptiness and lighting. However it can also be a result of some sort of trauma or past incident. Me for example, I always wanted to go into fun playrooms as a kid, often I didn’t because it was so full of kids and I am an introvert. However I always remember being terrified of the play equipment at my local McDonald’s as a kid. I could only go up with someone with me. I found the colors to be weird, and lighting in the tunnels and slides creeped me out. I hardly ever played in it. I also was weirded out by the ball pit often had no balls in it, and recall hearing stories about the ball pit having had a heroine needle in it - I don’t remember if it was local or not - the point is that combining my nostalgia over viewing such places with awe but also being terrified as a kid for one of them, it adds to the emotion invoked by the architectural design of playrooms.
My personal liminal experience is in Skyrim after I cleared a Nordic dungeon and came back once the draugr enemies corpses had despawned but enemies hadn’t spawned back in yet and I went through the whole dungeon feeling like I should have been attacked and battle music should have started by many points Yet it didn’t. I went round observing stuff in the dungeon I usually wouldn’t notice and it was so damn weird to take the time to absorb the atmosphere properly
I used to live in Evansville Indiana where Washington Square Mall is located and it always gave me a "liminal" impression when I visited it as a kid but I never had the words to describe it. I am 17 now and have not been to the mall in years, but all I remember about it is a mostly empty food court with a shop that made average tasting cookies with colorful icing (my mom got them for birthday parties sometimes because they were pretty), an antique shop (already liminal because of the nostalgia of seeing used items from past decades), and a Sears. You have no idea the jaw-dropping-double-taking epiphany I had when I heard you mention its name in this video. I recently visited an old friend in Evansville and I wish I would have visited Washington Square Mall while I was there if it's still open at least.
The Poolrooms were originally created as 3D art pieces by Jared Pike. Multiple interpretations, including some of Jared's own work on his RUclips channel, tie it in with Backrooms lore in some way, be it as a level, sublevel, or other, greater concept within the same framework.
The thing that makes Liminal spaces creepy and unnerving is the fact that the human mind is so conditioned to seeing spaces occupied by people when we see spaces like an office for example, we expect to see it populated and busy but when it’s an empty office space like Level 0 of The Backrooms, it gives that unnerving feeling since it’s a human structure devoid of life so that transition of busy to empty gives that creepy feeling
My love for liminal spaces is very deep-rooted: When I was a kid my parents were usually invited to a huge fashion mall by a friend of them who was a designer and owned a shop there. He would only invite very few people and usually his shop was the only open shop. As a child I had no interest in fashion, still I really liked going there. Together with my dad and later my brother I went into the other stories of the 12-storied building. Only the emergency exit lamps were on, and I remember finding the mannequins creepy. The only real light came from the windows at the end of the hallways, and I remember music playing silently in the background sometimes, probably like Bruno mars or something. This place reminds me so much of liminal photos, because of the carpet floor, sometimes the ramps leading into other sections of one story, these dark rooms behind glass with mannequins in them, and these crosswalk rooms where there were some at that time modern benches to sit on. It was such a vibe, and I would love to experience it once again, but after some years we were told not to go there because of security an stuff, like we could steal something I guess. My parents still recieve invitations to go there though every year. I want to ask the shop-owner if we can go one more time, and yes for the photos of course
52:34 this image is actually a picture of a currently dead mall called Valley View Center Mall, which was located in Dallas, and it was about to close at the time this picture was taken. The "man" is a statue that was one of the many art pieces in the mall. The mall was known for having lots of art and such.
So I will admit, I never actually went to this mall, I found where it is from research but there is videos of people exploring the mall like this one ruclips.net/video/8lmAHZcpwx0/видео.html the statue is at 7:51. At the time this video was recorded the statue was in a different place
I could talk for hours about liminal spaces and dreams and the connection they have. Im just so fascinated by it and have had so many dreams that have this unnerving feeling liminal spaces have which can be very scary. It’s like they’re not nightmares but can feel very eerie still. Especially the liminal spaces that contain pools. I’ve had a handful of dreams that have same vibe this picture 13:07 has and that’s why it makes me feel the most anxious
I've always felt an eerie vibe from Titanic (1997) especially in those sank ship scenes. It used to give me the creeps (and honestly they still do!!!).
The bedroom painting actually gives me a ton of nostalgia because the math books in 3rd or 4th grade had that painting on it and always had the caption "Can you think of where math was used in this painting?"
Im so glad you mentioned the Funtopia in New York City. I lived near the area and I usually went to the mall as a kid with my dad and i vividly remember enetering in the FunZone. It had a weird looking tree with eyes indoor playgrounds and arcades. it felt like chuck e cheese but also something completely different. Its been years since ive entered there or even stepped inside but I would like to go back and experience that strange little place. :)
When I write I usually load up an old game on an empty map offline and walk around in between writing, I’ve been doing this ever since the first lockdown and it really helps me think.
Have you ever heard the album Ｃｌｅａｒａｎｃｅ Ｓａｌｅ by S p o r t 3 0 0 0? It is a concept album about the last days of a department store. Each track gets progressively darker - with glitch and distortion echoing in the ruins. I feel like it perfectly captures the feeling of liminal spaces.
I worked in a Borders from 2007-2011, and those photos at 7:25-7:40ish gave me such a weird feeling. The photo would have probably been from between January and April, 2011 unless it was a store closed much earlier in an event unrelated to the chain shutting down.
My extended family used to have birthday parties for my great-grandpa at his house. I loved visiting my him. He was a really cool person and young at heart. However, he'd lived in the same place for several decades and a lot of the rooms had not been updated in many years (I'm guessing since maybe the 60s, when my grandpa and his siblings were kids.) The living room, main bedroom, laundry room, kitchen, and bathroom were dated, but cute and sunny. However, the bedroom that had all the vintage toys was... unnerving. It was dimly lit, with sheer curtains partially covering the window, blue and red striped wallpaper, and old woven rugs scattered across the wooden floor. I think there was a rocking chair in there too. I don't think any of us great-grandkids would go in there alone. We'd just grab the basket of toys and leave to play with them in the living room. I could see how it could have been a great bedroom for boys a long time ago, but it was so old now that it was just creepy. The basement had a similar effect. It was dark and dusty. You'd walk down the narrow stairs, and to your left, you'd find a miniature kitchen with retro appliances. I believe my great-grandparents canned preserves from their garden there, but now it was never lit and seemingly never used. Beyond that was the game room - a place with wood paneling, concrete, a large map on the wall, and an ancient pool table that would perhaps only be played on every couple of years by our family. Next to that room was an unused bathroom, I believe, and beyond that, a workshop/storage room that no one dared venture into until one day someone turned on the light and we found that it was much brighter and more comfortable than we'd initially thought. Going back again towards the stairs was the playroom. Again, it had 60s-style decor, with wood paneling and an old orange and brown carpet and a lamp that emitted dull golden light. There were a few toys and pillows thrown about, a tiny playhouse, and in the corner, my great-grandmother's piano. My great-grandmother, one of the sweetest and most joyful people I have ever met, had left that piano behind a long time ago, I think before her passing. It was covered in chipped white and cream paint and held sheet music that hadn't been played in years, though it still looked as though it was ready to be. The keys that weren't broken were severely out of tune. Oddly enough, that piano was the most welcoming part of the room, and I often found myself trying to play it even when I knew it would never sound lovely again. Aside from the area that held that instrument, I felt as though the room was an unbearable environment if you found yourself in it alone, even more so than that bedroom upstairs. Thankfully, it was made much less unnerving in the company of my sisters and cousins. My great-grandpa passed away in February of 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic began to affect the United States. He was 98. His house was passed on to his children and sold. It's highly likely that the next owners renovated at least a little bit, enough to remove those remnants of the past. As strange as it was to be in those rooms, it's even stranger to know that they are gone, at least as I knew them.
Watching this as someone who’s developing schizophrenia, its really odd because the feeling I get from these places is exactly how I feel when in an episode. Like I’m in a place I’m not ment to be, surrounded by people and things that don’t exist. That’s what it’s like for me a lot, it’s different for everyone. Amazing video
Wow I've always felt that, too
@@d3l3tes00n oh no
@@boch2411 It's a slow burn, apparently...
Take care of yourself ❤️
Continue to see yourself as an individual, not a condition. You’ll be alright man
Liminal spaces capture that feeling when a dream starts transitioning into a nightmare. It’s that sudden realization that you’re not supposed to be here and a dreadful sixth sense that something unnatural and omniscient is lurking nearby. Ive always been so fascinated by nightmares… that feeling is so distinct from anything I really experience in real life.
I wholeheartedly second this! Just a perfect description.
Wow that makes so much sense. I’ve had night terrors my entire life and that’s exactly what it is.
Perfect description
I've been saying this, but you definitely worded it better than me lol
word
As someone who used to be a security guard and has very regularly patrolled empty buildings, spaces that usually have many people in them, etc, I feel almost immune to these images. I do recall feeling certain things in such spaces initially, but it all has faded with time. Many of these images make me feel nothing, but some make me feel depressed. They remind me of certain events I wish I never witnessed.
Like what kind of event
i shortly worked as a guard and had to patrol a nearly finished shopping center overnight, prolly one of the most unnerving experiences ive had
Walking through those empty parking lot buildings at night was a trip though-every floor looks the same and then you wonder if you are dreaming-until the point some weirdo comes out of the corner and scares the crap out of you 😆
Freaking security dude
@@morningbee4328 I always will remember the experience fondly, bad things included. Hardest part about quitting was still seeing the empty buildings and centres in my dreams for so long afterwards.
@@Chadimir did something bad happen there? like an accident of some sort or did the building have a dark past?
When I was young, I remember complaining to my mom and dad about a "feeling" it was like a bad nostalga sort of emotion. They just looked at me like I just spoke in a different language.
This is what I was feeling, I think. I was feeling as though I were seeing a subliminal space all the time, which, in a way, I was. It was the end of the school year and I had helped all my teachers to clean their rooms up for the summer in my last year of middle school. It must have been so emotionally straining that my brain just couldn't process it properly.
I had this same issue. My mom always said I was feeling lonely.
I think liminal spaces perfectly describe dreams. Most dreams feel real but the locations aren't perfect, they feel kinda half-done.
my dreams always have a huge focus on creating liminal spaces and cool environments to evoke specific feelings
@@lloyddragon2036 mines have like three common places. the city where i live in. most specifically the road leading up to the hill where i live in. an overly large place with the litteral same style that my aunt's house has for some reason. and a really really odd metalic underground facillity that has probably the most distinctive and undescribable feeling that i have experienced in my entire life, even though it's mostly extremely dark corridors with broken wall lamps on the wall and closed neon lights on the celling. there is also wierd cylindrical shapped ladder room in which it's one ladder that goes up a floor from one side and continues to the opposite and every floor has a slightly alternating lighting color. with sometimes human sized containement tubes that are always broken and all of the walls are diamond plated metal in a black color. but in the end most of them are liminal and the ones that are not liminal are just filled with people that holds conversations that apears to be coherent but makes no sense when thinking about it..
A lot of my dreams have familiar locations mixed up with each other in a way that is different from what they actually look like. My dreams often have places from my childhood or generally places I often spend time at, but mixed with other, more unfamiliar places. It is fascinating how dream take parts of familiar places and mix them up into something new.
My dreams have been taking place in a hybrid of my childhood hometown and my current hometown for about 10 years now. Its so familiar but different and my dreams always take place at night.
I do not know if this is something common but whenever i am about to fall asleep, i start to briefly dream about “something” but that thing never makes any sense and by that i mean any to the point that i cannot even explain what that thing is and i quickly forget about it like in a second. But i am sure that whatever it is that i am dreaming about changes everytime this weird thing happens.
I had a real world liminal experience once.
I was outside, late at night, around 2AM or so because I was taking out some garbage. It had just snowed. For some reason, the world around me was indescribably, dead silent, a silence I have never known before or since. Yet, the outside is never silent. There's crickets. There's wind. There's the distant ambience of the highway. Even in the dead of night, there is some distant reminder of life.
On that one night, there was nothing. Truly, utterly, the sound of complete nothing. It is not the same as sitting in an empty room. It was something else. I struggle to explain it. I was just astounded and mesmerized with how silent and calm the world was in that moment. Outside, there is nothing for noise to reverberate off. Even the gentle ringing you hear in your ears when all else is quiet, that too was absent. Even my own voice did not echo back to me when I spoke.
It was quiet beyond comprehension on a cold snow-covered night. Inky black sky above. No light but the lamps illuminating the property.
It was strangely beautiful.
That is one of the most poetic things I've ever read. Amazing 👏👏👏👏👏
I love those moments its like the world is standing still even for a small minute, and one of the only times I can enjoy silence. (side note tinnitus is a bitch)
DUDE, I'VE BEEN THERE
Being outside in the snow in the dark is such a vibe and I love it
Snow is a great sound insulator, so it is perfect to trap all of the sounds that you should hear, I imagine that it was beautiful
i feel u. me and my dad go to a lot of concerts so we get back past midnight. we live in very fieldy areas. theres loads of forests fields and trees. driving past and through those at midnight. its like u say but im with someone in the moments thank goodness. kinda cool u find it beautiful. :)
16:04
As many times as I have been Rick Rolled, I'm surprised I never even recognized that this was the bridge that Rick Astley was dancing under until you said so.
Yea very unusual
@@Bottoms-Park_Lake beat me to the first reply
why are you everywhere-
The Rick Roll Video was so popular that the bridge became a real thing! No waYYYy
istg this is ur only comment having less than 100 likes (for now xd)
As someone who was stuck in a two-year depersonalization episode, liminal spaces is exactly what it felt like living day to day life. It’s scary, everything felt unreal, like a dream.
Thanks for this term. This is really something I feel a lot. however researching it just now helped me identify it. How did you get rid of it?
@@moppenboek I would recommend seeing a therapist. They can help you identify what triggers your depersonalization, and help you learn self soothing methods that can either stop it before it happens or lessen the effects of it. While you could certainly find general resources online, there is A LOT of bad advice out there and your triggers are likely unique to you. So having a person there to walk you safely through learning how to manage something like this is essential.
If you don’t know where to look, try asking your primary care doctor to refer you. And avoid online services like betterhelp as they are incredibly sketchy. Good luck!
@@NutyRiver Yes. Because there was this issue with Betterhelp… people who claimed to be professionals/therapists, ect… they never had a license or degree of any sort. Scary as shit.
Exactly how it feels! To give people hope here. After 10 years of off-and-on derealization but pretty much daily obsession, just realized I haven’t felt it in like six months. Then, one anxious thought in the gym shower today triggered the cycle again-lost in a liminal, disoriented state where I almost felt blind but could see, like I knew where I was but I didn’t. But this time, all the practice before I instantly recognized the pattern, did a “worry appointment” and instantly snapped me out of it. Awareness alone broke the loop, restoring clarity within 24 hours.
Nostalgia can be a beautiful thing
But it can also be a terrifying thing
the Backrooms in a nutshell
ok
Well said
Said edgy 13 years old kid
Im pretty sure the only nostalgia you all get is the hospital room while you were being born 4 years ago.
One thing to note about minecraft, is that in its early versions, it was a liminal space in and of itself. This was mainly due to the bright, desaturated colours of the game and the tiny render distance which expressed itself in a white fog which covered things quite close to the player. The music also elevated this feeling to its extreme.
It has the perfect liminal playlist. Notch really nailed selecting the OST. Pure nostalgia that holds up today
Probably why Herobrine became such a big thing
Liminal spaces feels like a corrupted memory, like the feeling of having been in a place, but it being reduced to its base components in the ways of memory.
Right, or the way your mind reconstructs places in dreams but doesn’t get them quite right
As a kid, I got this feeling all the time, playing outside during summer when a propeller plane would fly over. It was terrifying. Something about the aimless summer and the sound of the plane made it seem infinite and meaningless
I'm a 15 year old guy, I feel like even when I was 7 or 8 the summers seemed endless, school just got out a few weeks ago for me and yet we're already moving into July, and since my family is gonna vacation at the end of July, August will sneak up on us, and with August comes school (I'll be a sophomore), with school comes fall sports, with fall sports comes official cross country practices (not including the cross summer group runs), with fall sports also comes football, with football comes Homecoming and pep band, with Homecoming comes the dance, with the dance comes my depression at not being able to be with the girl of my dreams, (been crushin' on her since 7th grade, but started to truely fall for her in 8th)
*AHEM*
With Homecoming comes all the festivities and such, but it'll quickly pass, October and Halloween will breeze by... Cross country will end... Thanksgiving will come and go... Christmas will come, and leave as soon as it comes... then finals will arrive... after finals comes semester 2, and spring... with spring comes spring sports... with spring sports comes track... track will breeze by, the school year will end, rinse through the summer and repeat, except I'll be a junior, that will breeze by and before I know it I'll be hugging my buddies, getting their Discord usernames to stay in touch, applying for a college with a welding course... maybe I'll get with my high school sweetheart (though unlikely) and we would spend the rest of our days together, maybe even having kids (although I was born with a medical condition that would make it very risky for me to have kids) and I'll get old and die, and then rejoin my family beyond those golden gates
You were just completely present as that's ones natural state. In reality you can glimpse into the infinite nature of things and spaces if you are present enough. Infinity is terrifying.
people who comment ''as someone who _____ '' typing the most egocentric comments ever
@@BoobleBnCaca to what is this in reference? I agree, but I didn’t write “as someone who used to be a kid,”. I wrote “as a kid,” simply to provide a setting for the anecdote.
@@TrillMurray 🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓
I remember being stuck in an airport at around 2am, it was so eerily quiet and empty in some areas, and it definitely reminded me of these liminal spaces.
I've always loved the feel of liminal space. As a teenager I would write in my journal about this feeling and my desire to catch it, induce it, hold onto it, but struggle to explain it. Finding this community a few years ago was like an enlightenment moment that other people know that glowing light feeling in their upper chest...
Here are some extra things not mentioned:
Todd Hido
Dan Bell
Sovietwave / soviet nostalgia
Post soviet liminal space
Dreamcore
Weirdcore
Edward Scissorhands
John Register
Yes! We're Open! album
I have that feeling too, and the wanting to hold on to it and understand it.
Agreed
Dan bell is so refreshing to watch for some reason.
Its like a mix of coming home and being in love. Almost like you can close your eyes, imagine the place, open your eyes and just continue living your life you have in that place almost like reality was just a daydream and the place you think of is suddenly reality. It gives a feeling of belonging and freedom for me.
@@Hephaestios01you describe it perfectly. They’re almost beyond dreamlike, in a way they feel so real that they make reality feel like the dream
Liminal spaces sort of resonate closely with thalassophobia for me. The dread of knowing that you're alone, but also feeling like something is lurking just behind that one wall, in a space that makes you feel like you've lost all sense of direction and control. That one horror game, Anemoiapolis, really puts these two together with the swimming pool concept. Rooms with large bodies of water that descent into darkness and rooms that feel right but absolutely wrong at the same time.
11:40 I know I’ve seen this exact picture in a dream! I remember the window and the door vividly with the blue sky appearing out of it, and the pattern of old fashioned wall paper with the fan under the window. I’ve been watching liminal space content for over a year now and this might be the most familiar one yet, the craziest thing is that I know why it’s so familiar
One sec leaving a timestamp so I can look at it just ignore this 17:40
UHM WHAT THATS DISTURBING ASF I KEEP HAVING THIS DREAM BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP EVERY NIGHT THATS KIINNDDAAA LIKE THAT IMAGE WHERE IM FLYING OUT OF SOMWEHRE THAT LOOKS LIKE THAT ON A CARPET
@Lazar Vlaskovic I still have a mental image of the dream in my head after not watching the video for quite for some time. I was aware of the dream before I saw the liminal space so it is in fact real, it just looks very similar to the timestamp. And supposedly the Deja Vu explanation you mentioned, while I appreciate it, is just a theory.
31:28 sorry just need to keep my position so I can look at it
@Lazar Vlaskovic not for me! I get deja vu alot
Came for the Twin Peaks in the thumbnail, stayed for the really enjoyable content. You’ve earned my subscription!
The twin peaks hotel? Right? The one full of windows?
One day, the sadness will end.
@@SaltyCrabOfficial the red room
@@SaltyCrabOfficialno
i’m someone that enjoys liminal spaces. i seek them out, i seek out the feeling of being in them. i can only describe the feeling of it as being alone but getting the eerie feeling that you’re not entirely alone in there. i love the nostalgia of dreamcore/weirdcore because they utilize a lot of abandoned, dark places from childhood that once were full of children/adults and were bright and happy. i just love liminal spaces, weirdcore, and dreamcore.
im the same way, i love them and they make me feel safe somehow
been taking lsd to do this for years now haha so i relate to this
I’ve cleaned out old business buildings and the feeling you get is unlike any other. You’re instantly taken back in time when the business was thriving. When you snap out of it, you’re looking over your shoulder in fear but don’t know what you’re in fear of. I’m a big believer in residual energies. Maybe that feeling you get in liminal spaces is your sixth sense kicking in.
I remember a story I heard once of a group of people who found an isolated bar, and business was booming, so they went to get a drink, and after a few shots and conversations with the locals, a few of them went to the bathroom, where they found a painting of the exact scene they were in. They alerted the others who came to see the painting, but this time all the people in the painting were looking at them, and as soon as they took their eyes off of the painting, they looked back to the bar, which was abandoned, and looked like it had been for years.
Oh my God totally
I remember when I was a little girl and we'd travel and stay in someone's guest room.... The feelings that would come to me in an empty room. It was like I was feeling old leftover feelings layered in the room like emotional archeology.
Liminal spaces coming to light scares most people but it makes me cry because I'm autistic and have experienced this uncanny feeling a lot throughout childhood without ever being able to name or describe it. This endless place, that feels like people have lived in but is now empty forever. I remember going to some trip with my aunt when I was 5 and I started crying because I had a meltdown and the trip felt like a giant liminal space with a green field and wind turbines next to the high way. It's so beautiful to see how I can finally put these sensations that have tortured me into words. It makes me feel human and understood. I can't wait for the Internet to dive deeper into these sort of weird emotions we usually never speak of
I literally find those liminal spaces comforting ;___; the pictures you've shown make me feel calmer, as in: "there are still things to do, to see, to explore"
I also find them very calming, but for the reason that it feels like I can just be left completely alone indefinitely.
ive always found eerie things calming. i love feeling a unique yet peaceful emotion ive never felt before. there's an odd beauty to it. when i was a kid i used to call that liminal space feeling "the creepy wonderful feeling".
i remember going to a doctor's office that was in one of those strip mall things with different offices you know (idk if anyone outside the US knows what this is) and how there's usually some kind of hallway between offices, i remember one that my mom went to that had a jungle mural along the hallway, with designs of monkeys, parrots, giant leafed plants, etc, and it had a really cool unique lighting effect. i remember being obsessed with the "creepy wonderful feeling" i got whenever we walked down that hallway, no one else there. in hindsight that hallway was definitely a liminal space.
part of this may be related to my autism and sensory issues. generally i prefer being in a peaceful, quiet place void of people. there's no sensory overload or anxiety or overwhelming distractions and i can just enjoy the environment for what it is. it's fascinating to just appreciate what probably took a lot of work to make yet was never meant to be seen alone. yet here it is. and it looks bizarre and unique and the atmosphere is so ethereal and eerie.
i agree, a lot of people seem to be terrified of them which i just don't get
Weirdly eerie, weirdly comforting
Me too. A lot of the indoor room liminal spaces have carpets, nice colors and small rooms which makes some of the places look very cozy. And the whole feeling of nostalgia in some places can also make them feel cozy, because nostalgia can feel very comforting.
With regard to the Windows 95 maze: That was NOT a game. It was a screensaver that would randomly generate maze layouts, and then explore every single path in each layout. I used to use that screensaver when I was a teenager.
And it was amazing
For me, liminal spaces, that cause any sort of feeling, usually relate to something vaguely trauma related. It's trauma I'm not allowed to remember or access, but I know when I see some of these photos, it's what it relates too.
that's the same feeling that i get when looking at the "living room" in the beginning of the video, it's eerily familliar to me since my aunt has a very similar house but it's really not the same at all and yet i can almost feel like i have been there before many many times. it's like if something happened there and i was involved somehow
I just commented this on another video, but I actually wanted to do a survey based on liminal images and childhood trauma. When I first found liminal images, it made me feel the same kind of uncomfortable I get when I have a PTSD episode or trying to remember what happened. Only specific ones though, and I'm wondering if it has something to do with what trauma does to a child's brain.
Took the words outta my mouth
That is spot on to how I feel about liminal spaces. I don't feel like they're just familiar spaces, rather spaces that come from a place of trauma
This is exactly it for me... Especially the "ball pit" ones. And a lot look like my cousin's old suburban homes they lived in.
The photo at 6:41 of the interior of the house literally made me have a mini existential crisis. It was so weird. It was like... my grandmother's old house mixed with any weird house I'd see in a nightmare. Freaked me out a little, man.
12:57 the creepy thing about that photo is that the pipes almost appear to have mouths that are spitting the water into the pool!
EWWWWWW
glad I'm not the only one that thought that
For me a lot of liminal spaces make me feel grief. Because of trauma, I have significant memory loss. A lot of liminal spaces bring back memories of feelings or still images because that’s all I have left. And that makes me cry sometimes. Because I’m sad for what I’ve lost. And because I’m frustrated that it’s just out of reach.
Deep
That opening statement just resonates with me. Everyone thinks of liminal spaces but doesn't know what they are at first.
Lack of Circles, Cheap Feeling, Un natural Lighting.
From the look of these Pictures ( especially the ones that peak interest ) fit all 3.
Don't know why, but I find liminal spaces comforting. It's like that feeling of walking into the gym early in the morning, with no one else there; I love it. Literally been considering to switch to a 24/7 gym, just so I can go work out alone, in the middle of the night when I can't sleep. Same thing for visiting spaces that are usually crowded during more quiet hours. I'm autistic and easily overwhelmed by external sensory stimuli, though, leading me to actively seek out these spaces. I try my best to tailor my schedule so that I can go to places that are usually busy, when they're not. Maybe that influences my fondness of liminal spaces.
Same but it's depression and anxiety for me. Medication and therapy changed everything but I'm still very fond of empty places. They're so calming.
Some liminal spaces feel like I accidentally stumbled into somebody's dream. I feel like I invaded something deeply private and beyond my understanding.
The more familiar ones make me feel like my childhood has rotted and decayed. Like walking in to greet your pet only to find them dead (which has happened to me before).
Don't get me started on driving through your old neighborhood as an adult. The deep-seated feeling of familiarity mixed with this feeling that you're somehow trespassing on sacred ground. Like that part of a temple where only the priest is allowed to go, and your past self is the priest while you are not.
I’m glad I found this community. I experienced a weird unnerving feeling loads of times but could never properly explain it until I found out what liminal space is. Walking around on old call of duty maps in a private game when no one else is there and just looking around always gives me the creeps, perfect example of liminal space. Great video
Liminal spaces to me are like nostalgic dream places. There’s certainly something calming about them. Good vid
i get the same feeling from liminal spaces than locations in my dreams. they both are things that are really familiar because they come from something you most likely saw and yet they are all different, distorted and off. every single liminal images and dreams have all a slighlty different vibe, but in the end. they are all rooted from the same place
i'm one of the people in the photo of the "liminal hotel" at 10:15! it's a reflection of me standing on a bridge overseeing the courtyard, taking the original picture. people usually don't believe me, but i was there during a layover on a trip to the united states. so cool to see it show up in compilations and even in animations and video game level recreations. thanks for including it!
Cool!
This is the coolest thing I've read in like, my whole life
I'd like some proof if you have a link or somewhere to point me
Liminal spaces give me the same feeling as when I'm in a military building. My dad was in the army, so we sometimes went with him on bases for events that military families were invited to. During these events, the rooms and hallways always feel empty or cobbled together for the purpose of the event taking place, not really as a place of work or otherwise
I felt this. My dad used to take me to the army office to work sometimes and it felt pretty damn eerie.
I think the reason people feel nostalgic when they see empty rooms or houses, is the because our minds fill in the gaps, and turn the empty space into a memory
I once experienced something that may be considered limilal. There were 80's themed decorations including smiley faces, balloons, and rainbow things. There was no one in the hallway besides me.
52:20 Hey! This is a puppet from the "Giant Parade", an art project showcased at Valley View Center Mall, Dallas, TX. The mall is now demolished and the puppet was bulldozed along with the mall, and I'm presuming that this was taken after the mall declared it's out of business. The puppet is a representation of the greatest botanist of all time, Julien Reverchon. This puppet was popularized by the new series created by Kane Pixel, "The Oldest View". He's not all that scary when you see him out parading with the other giants, though.
I'm an electrician and I specialize in tenant fit out (reconstructing office spaces for companies renting the space)
I've been all alone in empty office buildings many times, sometimes the entire structure is vacant but every room, every space is built out and ready for viewing. It's such a weird feeling. I love it. I get to be in these real spaces every day.
27:14 When I saw that pic my jumpscare defense mechanism activated because I'm sure I've been jumpscared by that very bedroom before, but I still don't quite remember.
I actually plan on making a liminal space horror film. It's Superliminal and Anemoiapolis combined with The Backrooms with the weirdness of Alice in Wonderland. It's gonna be very out of the box, and it has a plot twist that requires the audience to make it happen.
Dang gl
49:00 I was in a situation like this in 2020, coming back from Houston. It was the middle of the night and I was less than an hour from home, driving through Tropical Storm Cristobal. Low fuel light came on, and I pulled out of the darkness into a well lit gas station in the middle of nowhere. Nobody for miles and miles... Except the clerk, still working in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere. He was friendly, at least. It felt like a nice reprieve before diving back into the dark maelstrom outside, with home just sixty more miles away.
I’ve fallen down the liminal space rabbit hole again. I’m at a loss for words.. the cartoony image with the houses & the water tower up on the hill?! My childhood home was a two story house (exactly the same frame) at the bottom of a hill with two windows up top & three on the bottom. Guess what was at the top of a rolling hill up from my house?! A GRAY WATER TOWER. I.. truly have no words. I sent the image to my mom & she thought that I created it.
Time stamp 6:43 for reference
During the pandemic I sought out liminal spaces without thinking about it. I did a lot of driving around Washington, stopping at empty rest areas to sleep or waaay outta the way truck stops in the middle of nowhere. I thought it would horrify me(and I was kinda dumb about it) but it actually comforted me. I think it’s because it’s a place where nobody expects anything of me. I don’t have to do anything but exist. And that’s nice. I am pretty socially awkward so I’ve always had to try really hard not to stick out. So not having to care about those social obligations is nice.
Is it like the early AM? The way you describe it, the lack of expectations, makes me think of that 1-3am sweet spot. There's no one awake but yourself. Just silence and emptiness, but it's sort of comforting.
Yes definitely that early am sweet spot.❤️
These places can being a sence of comfort when you don't want to be around people.
I know that since this is an iceberg, it is supposed to get more and more darker, but for me it just gets more and more nostalgic. Love this video.
Has anyone checked out Titanic Honor and Glory? It's a CGI recreation of the RMS Titanic, considered to be the most accurate recreation both real or simulated to date. It's fully lit, clean interiors, long hallways, info cards and voice acted read outs despite no people seen have an intense liminal sensation, that's not to mention the feeling once you activate the sinking simulation.
Dang that sounds cool..-
I had a liminal experience at school one time
It was the end of the day, and everyone was already gone because i stayed late at school for a club. It was winter, so the sun was already starting to set, and it was kinda cloudy and the grass was all dead. And I was walking downstairs and into the commons, which usually has lots of tables and lots of people there, but I noticed no one was there and all the tables and chairs were gone. I was basically in a large empty room, one where people were supposed to be, where furniture was supposed to be, but it was all empty. It was The familiar interior of my high school, but something was off...I assume they took the tables and chairs in order to clean them, but that was an interesting experience!
Honestly the 2020 pandemic was the closest we got to experiencing liminal spaces in real life
Would you still say we are still in a pandemic
@@doug9778 same like i haven’t wore in in months maybe a year
YEAHH EXACTLY. i remember finding it so peaceful and calm that i would go outside and it was just dead silent??
(not everyone might share this view but coming from a loud agressive household it was always nighttime or early morning that i loved)
Walking through downtown was a lot more eerie, especially at night.
not where I live (I'm in Sydney, Australia).
the absence of people is the key here, at least to me. that factor by itself can caused you both frustration/fear and relief/freedom. at first, I felt alone, scared that no one was gonna be there with me or to protect me. but the more I look into the picture and completely mentally placed myself into it, I felt free, I felt comfortable. there was no one to judge or stop me and I could do everything I’ve deeply craved for a long time, even if it’s illegal. but after having them all done, I turned back to the start where I feel.. empty, alone. and the loop went on.
Liminal spaces actually make me feel really really calm. They are quite comforting oddly
When he said it’s a Transition, the first thought that popped into my head is when you’re looking around and glance at something, think nothing of it and then forget, there is no moment and that’s what these pictures are
I really like liminal spaces, its eerie, comforting, and feels strange, it captures the vibe of dreams, like when you are in a familiar place but in a dream, for example your house, it looks the same but there's something a bit off, it feels nostalgic but strange. I really liked this video, its interesting and well-researched, kinda relaxing too.
My personal definition of liminal space is “where you’ve always been, and where you’ve never been, and where you’ll never leave” it also gives the energy of an untouchable place that you were never supposed to see, but it was made for you.
Literally a perfect statement
Gotta love how many and yet how few liminal spaces were shown throughout this video. That shows just how huge the actual scope of liminality is and how anyone can see liminality similarly yet uniquely. Glad it's popping off
I really always appreciated liminal spaces. As a child, I never was exactly scared by being at a mall a little to late, but more fascinated and I always wanted to stay and explore, to see if anything changes, I always wanted to explore those places alone. I constantly tried to find these places by going to school and looking in the closed bathrooms or the empty portables, just for that nostalgic feeling. Now that I'm a teenager, I can be allowed to explore these places alone and take pictures to share my love of liminal spaces to the world. I used to always watch abandoned building documentaries on RUclips and I always felt the urge to create these kinds of places. I now can, because I've learned 3d modeling and I am learning to 3d animate, so I can explore these places without getting in trouble by just animating a viewer perspective.
It feels amazing to be able to be so talented because I am an artist, 3d modeler, musical artist and book writer because I can share my interest I've had for so long by creating art.
This video would have never given me the confidence to share this and to realize everything I've ever said. It is inspiring me to become a photographer so I can always look at liminal spaces whenever I want and know that I've really been there. Thank you.
I stg the iSpy image has been something in the back of my mind for YEARS. I hadn’t been able to place it before, but this is it. Thank you.
Most the time the liminal spaces that give me feelings are places that look familiar like I’ve been there as a child or in a dream. Gives me an uneasy feeling of nostalgia that I don’t understand
I work at a mall and often get stuck with closing shift. It usually ends up being me and one other person alone, quiet staticky music drifting through the closed gate. Every footstep from outside has a hostile edge. It's very creepy, highly recommend experiencing a mall right before the store opens or right after they close.
A lot of liminal space photos almost never have any natural light / windows, it’s always dark or artificial light. And even when you are outside in the photos , the ground takes up almost the entire sky or the sky has no clouds. This all could just be me though, but it’s interesting to think about regardless.
1:21 That actually scared me because I thought there might be a jumpscare, but in the end we got something way scarier
Makes me think of the lockdowns during the pandemic. I was born in NY and grew up there for half of my life then moved a few states away. After I came home from my trip to DC days before the US declared lockdowns, I drove down to NY to see what it was like and went through liminal overload. For the first time, you could park so close to time square, it felt so weird, almost as if it was I am Legend. After that, I drove down to Chinatown. There were barely anyone and the sun already set. Seeing everything closing at 6pm made it extremely liminal. Honestly I will never forget it.
The shortest horror story ever written goes like this: "The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door." The liminal space is like this, they elicit simultanous feelings of abandonment and an impossible presence.
The man said "finally my pizza is here!"
I remember spending hours playing Super Mario 64 on my Nintendo. It was so much fun! I played it again a few years back after finding my 64 tucked away in a box. It was one of the most nostalgic and weirdly unsettling experience it’ll definitely be a while before I play again.
13:20 I was surprised when you named dropped the biggest mall in my state that I used to go to all the time as a kid. There was a play place there and it always felt like a liminal space. The whole mall is just nostalgic for me.
I always dreamed spaces similiar to the poolrooms since I was a kid, I never knew there was a name for that
Me, too. 😂. Dreaming of hallways being poolroms and swimming areas.
There was always some kind of creepy about the Ispy books, but comforting at the same time. Its hard to describe and the games for Ispy, especially the one for the wii can feel liminal and nostalgically creepy. I still love looking at those pictures as an adult.
I remember before Covid and before ever learning that liminal spaces were a thing going to the Sears where I live before it closed down and it feeling oddly surreal and/or nostalgic being in a store with such wide open spaces. Almost like being in a dream. It didn't help that at the time I was addicted to Urban Exploaration videos including people exploring malls that were closing. No matter where they were it felt nostalgic or like going back in time. Another place that made me feel that way as a kid was Pea Patch Island here in my home state Delaware: had a field trip there when I was little and it is rumored to be haunted.
Overall I find liminal spaces oddly comforting despite how creepy some of then look. I thinks its why i enjoy some of the art used for soundscape videos.
To me liminal spaces aren't really scary or unnerving, I find them immensely relaxing and calming. They often take me away from my feelings of sadness and loneliness, because they feel like places out of time and place; within the 'worlds' of these liminal spaces, you don't have to worry about the problems or insecurities in your life, and can simply feel at peace. They feel like an escape, even if only briefly.
Exactly 💯
Same with me! Especially nostalgiacore helps me calm down when I’m having anxiety or depression.
there’s something about these liminal spaces that just have some charm to it. some may dislike it or some may like it, i’m overall in the middle. however, i do have a huge fascination with liminal spaces as some can trigger nostalgia or memories that have never existed before. and that’s what i like. it’s the thought of something existing, existing. if you get what i mean, it just brings back something that was probably never there to begin with and that’s what makes a liminal space so special.
Hearing you say that Toys R Us went out in 2017 gave me such a time warp vibe! It’s so weird! I can’t remember what happened a week ago, but I can remember going to a Toys R Us as if it were just 2 years ago, when it was actually more like 5 or 6 or 7! Holy moly that is a weird feeling 😳
Viewing liminal spaces is the closest I get when I'm awake to how I feel when I'm dreaming.
As you were showing the pictures of the pool mazes I was like "God, I REALLY would hate being stuck in a place like that" just as you say there's an actual first-person-pov game in development 😂 I'm interested, but damn, does it make me nervouss.
52:33 This image never fails to trigger my fight or flight responses
same thing goes for me at 47:35
ong
People always say that there's something off about liminal spaces, or that they are creepy, but personally I get so happy when I look at them. It could be some nostalgia, but I also just love the idea of being somewhere no one is. I can be alone, and no one can look for me, or know of my existence. I would just roam around endlessly looking at the places around me.
22:59 Thanks for mentioning Shookey! 🥳 He is a great youtuber, I also discovered him through his liminal space videos which are well researched👍
13:20 I live near where this mall (Washington Square Mall) is located and I was surprised to see it on here. if vacant/empty malls are a staple of liminal spaces, I understand why this particular mall in on this list. It used to be a super active mall with tons of shops and shoppers, but over time it lost business and more and more stores pulled their shops out and less customers had reasons to go. now its quite desolate.
yes i was just about to comment something like this because i live right but washington square mall. i use to go there all the time as a kid now it’s so dead and empty😭
I live in Indiana and I might have seen that photo
I was just about to comment this! I'd love to see it revitalized but I know that'd be really difficult. It was such a pretty mall too :(
@@vagueshape1552 I live in Indiana and I see a few cars there sometimes, but castleton exists so there’s no reason to really to washing square anymore
i had a liminal space experience a few weeks ago. I’m part of my high school marching band, so i stay after school pretty often. One day I had forgotten to bring water, so I got some money from my bag and walked across the school to get a gatorade from the vending machine. As my back was turned, it felt as if I was being being watched, and I walked slowly back to the band hall because I didn’t want to practice. It was an eerie feeling, amplified by the fact that I’m a freshman and at the time was still unfamiliar with the building. I remember having a feeling of being lost. Maybe it was a bad idea to go alone 😅
holy shit thats my old kitchen at 0:28, i completely forgot i posted that image on the liminal space subreddit and it scared the shit out of me seeing it here
23:29 I remember taking that test at some eye glasses store a few months ago, those photos always looked odd to me.
When moved out of my parents house. I went to my old room and felt weird, it felt empty but I used to sleep it in the room.
HE’S BACKKKK🥶
hello, backrooms man.
BROOGS!
Oh boy
Hi broogs
i love being in liminal spaces, i dont know why but the inability to perceive the passage of time and the feeling that every thing is just little of, soothes me so muchand lets some part that i never know is there just fully relax
I find it strangely comforting. The unknown yet familiar feeling that the pictures invoke- I like it.
Stanley Parable is actually funny in some ways, the fact that you are not just alone, but you have a narrator, with that very familiar voice, and the fact that you can even troll him, like entering the cutscene room and then going down the elevator, but then deciding to go up and narrator says “oh well, looks like Stanley in not ready for the secret yet, but we’ll wait”. I don’t know why some people think it’s liminal
I was talking with my mom about liminal spaces and she mentioned how she was invited to take a course for architecture and they were talking about how architecture can play a great role in invoking certain emotions. We were talking about how a lot of the liminal space pictures (mainly interior) might invoke certain feelings on us such as nostalgia if we have ever been around similar architect before. Not necessarily because we have been to that exact place, but different types of architecture may have been popularized for certain places. For example a popular liminal space location would be things like malls or fun/playrooms. Maybe these were places we always wanted to go to- seeing them often and being mesmerized by them as a kid makes us nostalgic… now as for eerie sensations, I think it often has to do with the emptiness and lighting. However it can also be a result of some sort of trauma or past incident. Me for example, I always wanted to go into fun playrooms as a kid, often I didn’t because it was so full of kids and I am an introvert. However I always remember being terrified of the play equipment at my local McDonald’s as a kid. I could only go up with someone with me. I found the colors to be weird, and lighting in the tunnels and slides creeped me out. I hardly ever played in it. I also was weirded out by the ball pit often had no balls in it, and recall hearing stories about the ball pit having had a heroine needle in it - I don’t remember if it was local or not - the point is that combining my nostalgia over viewing such places with awe but also being terrified as a kid for one of them, it adds to the emotion invoked by the architectural design of playrooms.
3:00 "the feeling of liminality is like looking at something you shouldnt be looking at it"
ok then spamton g spamton is a living liminal space then.
My personal liminal experience is in Skyrim after I cleared a Nordic dungeon and came back once the draugr enemies corpses had despawned but enemies hadn’t spawned back in yet and I went through the whole dungeon feeling like I should have been attacked and battle music should have started by many points Yet it didn’t. I went round observing stuff in the dungeon I usually wouldn’t notice and it was so damn weird to take the time to absorb the atmosphere properly
I used to live in Evansville Indiana where Washington Square Mall is located and it always gave me a "liminal" impression when I visited it as a kid but I never had the words to describe it. I am 17 now and have not been to the mall in years, but all I remember about it is a mostly empty food court with a shop that made average tasting cookies with colorful icing (my mom got them for birthday parties sometimes because they were pretty), an antique shop (already liminal because of the nostalgia of seeing used items from past decades), and a Sears. You have no idea the jaw-dropping-double-taking epiphany I had when I heard you mention its name in this video. I recently visited an old friend in Evansville and I wish I would have visited Washington Square Mall while I was there if it's still open at least.
The Poolrooms were originally created as 3D art pieces by Jared Pike. Multiple interpretations, including some of Jared's own work on his RUclips channel, tie it in with Backrooms lore in some way, be it as a level, sublevel, or other, greater concept within the same framework.
The thing that makes Liminal spaces creepy and unnerving is the fact that the human mind is so conditioned to seeing spaces occupied by people when we see spaces like an office for example, we expect to see it populated and busy but when it’s an empty office space like Level 0 of The Backrooms, it gives that unnerving feeling since it’s a human structure devoid of life so that transition of busy to empty gives that creepy feeling
My love for liminal spaces is very deep-rooted: When I was a kid my parents were usually invited to a huge fashion mall by a friend of them who was a designer and owned a shop there. He would only invite very few people and usually his shop was the only open shop. As a child I had no interest in fashion, still I really liked going there. Together with my dad and later my brother I went into the other stories of the 12-storied building. Only the emergency exit lamps were on, and I remember finding the mannequins creepy. The only real light came from the windows at the end of the hallways, and I remember music playing silently in the background sometimes, probably like Bruno mars or something. This place reminds me so much of liminal photos, because of the carpet floor, sometimes the ramps leading into other sections of one story, these dark rooms behind glass with mannequins in them, and these crosswalk rooms where there were some at that time modern benches to sit on. It was such a vibe, and I would love to experience it once again, but after some years we were told not to go there because of security an stuff, like we could steal something I guess. My parents still recieve invitations to go there though every year. I want to ask the shop-owner if we can go one more time, and yes for the photos of course
I can concur that grocery stores with most of the lights off are some of the most haunting places you can be
Is it weird if I find it comforting
52:34 this image is actually a picture of a currently dead mall called Valley View Center Mall, which was located in Dallas, and it was about to close at the time this picture was taken. The "man" is a statue that was one of the many art pieces in the mall. The mall was known for having lots of art and such.
CREEEEPYYY
Dang that creepy
I found the "man" on Google after searching up the mall. The statue is pretty creepy.
So I will admit, I never actually went to this mall, I found where it is from research but there is videos of people exploring the mall like this one ruclips.net/video/8lmAHZcpwx0/видео.html the statue is at 7:51. At the time this video was recorded the statue was in a different place
I miss that mall so much
I could talk for hours about liminal spaces and dreams and the connection they have. Im just so fascinated by it and have had so many dreams that have this unnerving feeling liminal spaces have which can be very scary. It’s like they’re not nightmares but can feel very eerie still. Especially the liminal spaces that contain pools. I’ve had a handful of dreams that have same vibe this picture 13:07 has and that’s why it makes me feel the most anxious
I've always felt an eerie vibe from Titanic (1997) especially in those sank ship scenes. It used to give me the creeps (and honestly they still do!!!).
24:00, FINALLY, SOMEONE SAID SOMETHING ABOUT THE STANLEY PARABLE!
I think I would legit die of a heart attack if I woke up in any of these places. Just looking at them already makes my heart go crazy in my chest.
The bedroom painting actually gives me a ton of nostalgia because the math books in 3rd or 4th grade had that painting on it and always had the caption "Can you think of where math was used in this painting?"
Im so glad you mentioned the Funtopia in New York City. I lived near the area and I usually went to the mall as a kid with my dad and i vividly remember enetering in the FunZone. It had a weird looking tree with eyes indoor playgrounds and arcades. it felt like chuck e cheese but also something completely different. Its been years since ive entered there or even stepped inside but I would like to go back and experience that strange little place. :)
When I write I usually load up an old game on an empty map offline and walk around in between writing, I’ve been doing this ever since the first lockdown and it really helps me think.
Have you ever heard the album Ｃｌｅａｒａｎｃｅ Ｓａｌｅ by S p o r t 3 0 0 0? It is
a concept album about the last days of a department store. Each track gets progressively darker - with glitch and distortion echoing in the ruins. I feel like it perfectly captures the feeling of liminal spaces.
I worked in a Borders from 2007-2011, and those photos at 7:25-7:40ish gave me such a weird feeling. The photo would have probably been from between January and April, 2011 unless it was a store closed much earlier in an event unrelated to the chain shutting down.
My extended family used to have birthday parties for my great-grandpa at his house. I loved visiting my him. He was a really cool person and young at heart. However, he'd lived in the same place for several decades and a lot of the rooms had not been updated in many years (I'm guessing since maybe the 60s, when my grandpa and his siblings were kids.) The living room, main bedroom, laundry room, kitchen, and bathroom were dated, but cute and sunny.
However, the bedroom that had all the vintage toys was... unnerving. It was dimly lit, with sheer curtains partially covering the window, blue and red striped wallpaper, and old woven rugs scattered across the wooden floor. I think there was a rocking chair in there too. I don't think any of us great-grandkids would go in there alone. We'd just grab the basket of toys and leave to play with them in the living room. I could see how it could have been a great bedroom for boys a long time ago, but it was so old now that it was just creepy.
The basement had a similar effect. It was dark and dusty. You'd walk down the narrow stairs, and to your left, you'd find a miniature kitchen with retro appliances. I believe my great-grandparents canned preserves from their garden there, but now it was never lit and seemingly never used. Beyond that was the game room - a place with wood paneling, concrete, a large map on the wall, and an ancient pool table that would perhaps only be played on every couple of years by our family. Next to that room was an unused bathroom, I believe, and beyond that, a workshop/storage room that no one dared venture into until one day someone turned on the light and we found that it was much brighter and more comfortable than we'd initially thought. Going back again towards the stairs was the playroom. Again, it had 60s-style decor, with wood paneling and an old orange and brown carpet and a lamp that emitted dull golden light. There were a few toys and pillows thrown about, a tiny playhouse, and in the corner, my great-grandmother's piano. My great-grandmother, one of the sweetest and most joyful people I have ever met, had left that piano behind a long time ago, I think before her passing. It was covered in chipped white and cream paint and held sheet music that hadn't been played in years, though it still looked as though it was ready to be. The keys that weren't broken were severely out of tune. Oddly enough, that piano was the most welcoming part of the room, and I often found myself trying to play it even when I knew it would never sound lovely again. Aside from the area that held that instrument, I felt as though the room was an unbearable environment if you found yourself in it alone, even more so than that bedroom upstairs. Thankfully, it was made much less unnerving in the company of my sisters and cousins.
My great-grandpa passed away in February of 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic began to affect the United States. He was 98. His house was passed on to his children and sold. It's highly likely that the next owners renovated at least a little bit, enough to remove those remnants of the past. As strange as it was to be in those rooms, it's even stranger to know that they are gone, at least as I knew them.