The video examines the phenomenon of liminal spaces—empty, transitional places that evoke a mix of nostalgia and unease—highlighting their rise in popularity through online communities, the Backrooms concept, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It explains that these spaces trigger a psychological response of familiarity mixed with discomfort, reflecting broader cultural feelings of loneliness and anxiety amid a world increasingly dominated by technology and social isolation.
The video explores the phenomenon of liminal spaces—empty, transitional places like hallways, abandoned malls, or empty pools—that evoke a strange mix of nostalgia and unease. These spaces have gained significant attention online, especially after a 2019 4chan post introduced the concept of the “Backrooms,” an endless maze of yellow office spaces that people found both creepy and fascinating. The trend grew rapidly, with communities forming on platforms like Reddit and Instagram, and was further amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic when real-world spaces became eerily empty due to lockdowns.
Liminal spaces represent physical thresholds or in-between places designed to transition people from one location to another. The term “liminal” comes from the Latin word for threshold. The popularity of these images surged as people found themselves isolated in empty public spaces during the pandemic, which mirrored the unsettling emptiness depicted in liminal space imagery. This created a collective emotional experience of nostalgia, anxiety, and a sense of the world being paused or altered.
The Backrooms concept evolved into a viral video series created by teenager Kane Parsons, which caught the attention of Hollywood studio A24, leading to a feature film adaptation. The rise of AI technology has also allowed for the creation of more surreal and imaginative variations of liminal spaces, such as the dreamcore aesthetic, which adds bizarre and dreamlike elements to these environments. This has inspired video games and other media that explore the eerie, disorienting nature of these spaces.
Psychiatrist Dr. Gail Saltz explains that liminal spaces trigger episodic memory, recalling familiar places from childhood but without the presence of people, which creates a feeling of something being off or wrong. This combination of familiarity and emptiness generates both nostalgia and discomfort, a concept Freud described as the “un-homelike” feeling—something that is both familiar and strange. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified this sensation by making normally bustling spaces empty and dangerous, heightening feelings of uncertainty and fear about the future.
Ultimately, the fascination with liminal spaces reflects broader cultural feelings of loneliness, nostalgia, and anxiety in a world increasingly mediated by technology. These images symbolize “modern ruins,” remnants of a social world that has been abandoned as people interact more through screens than in physical spaces. The fear evoked by liminal spaces may not be about hidden threats but about mourning the loss of the familiar social environments of the past.