Previous, analog generations told scary stories like “The Hook” around campfires, but modern, digital generations spread online “creepypasta”, like Slenderman, Sirenhead, Ted the Caver, and now, the Backrooms.
The Backrooms are an aesthetic and a horror story. Somehow instantly recognizable and inexplicably surreal, the Backrooms began as a labyrinth of yellow rooms and hallways. This seemingly-abandoned space is endless, dread-inducing, and weirdly nostalgic. The first image of the Backrooms, along with all the subsequent images that would appear online, resonate with both our past and our nightmares.
Andrew Quist, designer of the Backrooms-inspired video game Anemoiapolis, told us: “The Backrooms are about taking the bleakness of familiar, faceless architecture and making it antagonistic, if not the main antagonist.“
The Backrooms live at the thematic intersection of creepy, nostalgic, sad, and surreal. Backrooms content overlaps with the content you find within the hashtag worlds of #dreamcore, #weirdcore, #abandonedplaces, #poolcore, and #liminalspaces.
The digital artist onion.wave told us that part of the attraction to the Backrooms (and overlapping Liminal Spaces content) is the, “…eerie feeling of déjà vu. Like, maybe they are places I’ve seen as a child, in a dream, or in an old video game. There’s always a sense of uneasiness and nostalgia that I find oddly calming.”
TikToker Kalizarae explains: “At one point in our lives, we have all experienced that eerily nostalgic, lonely, otherworldly feeling. It could be as simple as a long walk down a long, empty movie theater. I enjoy that feeling. I find it thrilling and spooky.”
Where did the Backrooms first emerge?
An anonymous post on the 4chan board /x/ on May 12th, 2019, asked for submissions of “disquieting images that just feel ‘off.’” According to Vice, a user posted the now-infamous picture of the dilapidated, yellow office space with tan carpets and fluorescent lights. This single image would create the dominant visual aesthetic for the Backrooms.
An anonymous comment on the picture would become the defining story of the Backrooms. It described a space containing 600 million miles of yellow wallpaper, damp rugs, loudly buzzing fluorescents, and the vague dread that something else lurks in the distance. You enter into the Backrooms by accidentally “no-clipping” out of reality, which refers to the ability to pass through walls in video games.
What were the first pieces of viral Backrooms content?
The lore expanded beyond 4chan and Reddit as users posted additional Backrooms stories, images, TikToks, viral YouTube content, and even released indie video games.
Kane Pixels, a director and VFX artist, contributed one of the most viral, highly-produced, and influential Backrooms content since the initial 4chan post when he posted “The Backrooms (Found Footage),” to YouTube on January 7th, 2022. It has been watched over 33 million times. It begins with a cameraperson falling down and “no-clipping” through reality into the telltale yellow of the Backrooms. The dropped VHS camera starts to auto-focus across a long, yellow hallway, slowly bringing the harsh fluorescents into clarity. Over the next nine minutes and 13 seconds, the cameraperson continues to film, found-footage style, introducing a distinct horror element to Backrooms mythology. Kane Pixels has extended this terrifying and intricate narrative across 11 YouTube videos, so far.
What are liminal spaces?
The definition of “liminal” is “in-between or transitional.” Backrooms content and Liminal Spaces content can be nearly identical because the Backrooms are considered liminal spaces. Digital artist liminal_akiyo says Liminal Spaces and Backrooms “are like synonyms.” onion.wave told us that “The Backrooms, as a concept, are the ultimate liminal space…”
liminal_akiyo started making Backrooms content in April of 2022 because he liked the “feeling of loneliness and fear of the unknown.” For him, Backrooms content evokes something specific from memories of the past: “As a child, I often went to work with my grandmother, who worked as a nightwatch person in some kind of educational institution. These empty, long corridors always scared me, especially when it was getting dark outside…”
The Future of the Backrooms
In a recent interview with Inverse, Severance creator Dan Erickson shared that the Backrooms were an influence on the show. As we speak, the subreddits are active, creators are producing dynamic work, Backrooms video games are being produced, and it seems like it’s only a matter of time before we see more versions of the Backrooms in movies and TV shows. Like all authentic cultural products, the Backrooms is an idea that has grown and spread organically. Whether they continue to evolve or become diluted and uninteresting depends on who you ask.
Video game designer Andrew Quist told us “The moment an executive committee decides that [the idea of] the Backrooms is a safe financial investment for their TV network is the day that it dies, at least for creative types. Right now it’s still interesting and ripe for new ideas.”
Have you heard of the Backrooms? Email us at spiritblog@spirithalloween.com to let us know.
