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If you ever find yourself in a space that brings up a feeling of ‘not knowing what’s up but something’s definitely up’ you may have encountered a liminal space. Obsessed over by fans who chase the unsettling feel, liminal spaces have become somewhat of a mysterious phenomenon surfing around the internet.

According to Imgur user RobJustice, “The liminal space is the 'crossing over' space, a space where you have left something behind, yet you are not yet fully in something else. It's a transition space.”

And thanks to the r/LiminalSpace subreddit with 237k members, we now have some of the most captivating examples to rest (or stress) our eyes on. From bowling alleys and abandoned buildings to almost surreal window views and places that feel strangely familiar although you have never been there, it’s hard not to stare for more.

And let us know how you feel about these liminal spaces in the comments below!

#3

2020

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joe
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No-one mentions how much better the traffic situation will be after the apocalypse, do they?

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To find out more about these mysterious spaces that have been capturing the internet's imagination, Bored Panda talked to Lillie Marshall, an English teacher and writer who runs Around the World "L" Travel and Life Blog. Lillie is also a self-confessed fan of liminal spaces and discussed the phenomenon in her articles that you can check out here and here.

Lillie said she has been fascinated by the concept of liminal spaces since she was little. “I loved thinking and writing about them. So much of our lives are spent in these in-between spaces, and yet we so often ignore them,” she said and added: “Once you can see the importance and beauty of liminal spaces, it makes it much easier to be in the moment and enjoy the journey as much as the destination.”

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Picture I Took A Few Years Ago In Poland

Picture I Took A Few Years Ago In Poland

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It’s Christmas Eve And You’re All Alone

It’s Christmas Eve And You’re All Alone

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When asked how she’d describe a liminal space, Lillie explained it has to do with a magical and transformative quality. “Liminality can exist in physical space, time, and states of being, and refers to that in-between moment where you're between two things.”

Moreover, “It is a sometimes uncomfortable—but extremely important—era of transformation and shifting. Often we get impatient with these transitional spaces, but they are KEY, and are beautiful and profound if you allow yourself to truly be in them and understand their magical gifts,” she concluded.

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Don't Turn The Corner

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Grant Barke
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This kind of setting is when the aliens come out to play. Suddenly bright lights, strapped down on a table inside their craft, bug eyed humanoids staring down on you, wake up in your car with a sense of lost time and a very sore bum, lol.

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Billy The Kid
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know this bend. Just around that corner is....... a big fairground with unicorns and music playing and everyone having fun.

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John Baker
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's just for kids. For adults, there's a small town that isn't on any map. You stop at the local diner for a burger and a coke, and you can't help noticing that your waitress looks exactly like Janis Joplin. As she's giving you your check, she passes you a note reading "get out while you still can." But it's already too late.

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Kira Okah
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There i a road like this on the Isle of Wight, somewhere around Sandown I think. Tree tunnel, no lights, no stripes, single lane, scary as heck at night due to the surprisingly high likelihood that you will encounter a car around the bend going the other way and one of you has to back out.

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K Witmer
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is what my road looks like at night there's a stretch that's a bridge that's only one way. I live in a state park and I think it's beautiful and peaceful at night. Just me and the animals. The first time I heard foxes screaming was another story though.

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Abigail Leffler
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is the only way to get around the interstate in southern Illinois lol-we even have an area called the gates of hell where all the ghost sightings and paranormal stuff supposedly happens

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Kay blue
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Lots of roads near me are like this. When I first moved here I would get really freaked out driving at night, now I find it comforting.

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Kendra Miller
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is like the reverse of my back roads. Here it's narrow, twisty and there's nowhere to go if you meet someone. On mine, they are narrow and hilly with deep ditches you could roll a couple of times before getting to the bottom. Plus the sides get soft after a good rain and the valleys get washed out. Meeting people isn't too bad if you have enough warning and are able to strategize where you pass, such as on a hill top or lane way. Honestly, this is probably a perfectly lovely drive as long as you don't meet any on coming cars.

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Amery
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Looks like the roads in & around Mohican, here in Ohio. We do this 'for fun' often. Barely room for 1 way . . .

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RaroaRaroa
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh yeah, I always find country roads at night, with no street lights, so creepy. You can see absolutely nothing beyond your headlights and I always have this sneaking feeling there's something lurking just beyond view.

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Matthew Smith
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've been on many roads like that, scary is an understatement...

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Andrie Sapto Nugroho
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've been in this situation, with my bike which has no light and depending on moon lights

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joao pedro poncio rodrigues
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

haha looks like the entrance to a part of my city that contains 50 percent of my family :]

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*~opal~*
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i went on a skiing trip and there was a turn in the trail that looked exactly like this...

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Siddharth Kumar Yadav
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

After seeing all this comments let me tell you guys i live in place like this and my house is on a graveyard(which existed there before) but still we got graveyard in front of us.

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Hugh Walter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The back ends of Surrey, Hampshire . . . Devon, Cornwall . . . most of the UK away from the urban centers are full of these!

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Casey B
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've drove roads like this since I learned to drive. It's a typical night's drive in a rural county of 14,000 people.

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Madre_Dr4gnZFly
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Here's where the car breaks down, a big creepy vehicle comes around the bend at 100+mph or you pull a U turn in the middle of the road and get the f**k outta there!

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Saksham Tiwari
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Look up "You are on the fastest available route" by Local58 on YouTube.

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Bama Belle
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2 years ago

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Nubmaeme
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For some reason, this is not as foreboding to me as the infinity pool picture above. Maybe because I live in the country.......

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Kevin Camp
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Whatever is around the corner, rest assured I will put a fender in its ass before it can get me.

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#9

Google Maps Said This Is Where I Can Find Taco Bell, And I Just Realized That The Last Car I Saw Was An Hour Ago...

Google Maps Said This Is Where I Can Find Taco Bell, And I Just Realized That The Last Car I Saw Was An Hour Ago...

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Bisexual Backflipping
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One time Google Maps told my family our hotel was down River Road, it was a long-ass gravel trail that led to literally nowhere, and we ended up with a 6-inch nail in our tire. F****n Google Maps, man.

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Bored Panda also spoke to Rob Justice, a table-top role-playing game designer and software engineer living in Kansas City, Missouri who is a fan of the liminal aesthetic and has shared an illuminating post on the topic on Imgur.“

A few months ago I saw a picture on Twitter, it's actually the very first one in the imgur post you linked above, and just couldn't stop thinking about it,” he recounted. Rob said he hadn’t heard about liminality so he did a bit of reading. “A few days later I was looking through old pictures on my phone and realized I'd taken a few liminal space pictures myself over the years. Just places that felt unique or odd to me. It's always weird to realize you're a fan of something before you know what it is.”

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#10

Stay On The Light. They Won't Be Able To Get You If You're On The Light

Stay On The Light. They Won't Be Able To Get You If You're On The Light

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Kira Okah
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Darn caption, just did a game quest that required me to do that, was creepy enough in the game!

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#11

It's Not Safe To Go Outside But Inside Feels Haunted

It's Not Safe To Go Outside But Inside Feels Haunted

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Samantha Lomb
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

naah Just feels like literally any Eastern European apartment block. I can smell the cigarettes and cats

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The Oval Office Between Us Presidents

The Oval Office Between Us Presidents

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Rob believes that there’s “something strangely powerful to the human psyche about transitionary places. The feeling of being between two places is an uncanny feeling, whether it's literal or psychological.”

This feeling can occur in any place. “I recently took a family vacation and we spent several hours in airports, where I kept thinking about the concept of liminality; We're not home but we're not on our vacation yet.” Rob explained that just like most transitions, “it's stressful but there is something comforting knowing that it's temporary. I think that's where people find themselves drawn to liminal pictures. It's temporary places made permanent."

#13

This Memory Belongs To Everybody And Nobody

This Memory Belongs To Everybody And Nobody

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Nigel Rodgers
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can hear the wipers and other cars splashing past. And of course, there's a tragic jam. Edit: I only saw this auto correct 5 days later😂🤣

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The Entrance To The Infinity Pool. Once You Enter, There Is No Going Back

The Entrance To The Infinity Pool. Once You Enter, There Is No Going Back

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When it comes to describing this phenomenon, Rob said that his favorite definition is that “a liminal space is a 'crossing over' or transition space. It's a place where you have left something behind yet you are not yet fully in something else. It's the space between other spaces.”

Turns out that, “liminal is from the Latin word limen, meaning 'a threshold' so a liminal space is often a boundary point of one space beginning and another space ending,” he concluded.

#16

Lemme Get Some Uhhhhhhh

Lemme Get Some Uhhhhhhh

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#17

Only A Faint Hum And My Footsteps Can Be Heard.

Only A Faint Hum And My Footsteps Can Be Heard.

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Dhukath
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is the type of place where your instincts say no but you go anyway, then half way you hear footsteps, could be your echo or not! Do you go forward, backward or wait?

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#18

My Grandmother’s Basement

My Grandmother’s Basement

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#21

My Friend Was Tested For Covid, This Is The Room He Waited In

My Friend Was Tested For Covid, This Is The Room He Waited In

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#22

The Lower I Go, The Higher The Water Gets

The Lower I Go, The Higher The Water Gets

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#23

Empty Aquarium Restaurant, Made Me Feel Sad And Empty For Some Reason

Empty Aquarium Restaurant, Made Me Feel Sad And Empty For Some Reason

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#27

Feels Like I Shouldn't Turn Around. Just Keep Walking

Feels Like I Shouldn't Turn Around. Just Keep Walking

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#28

View From The Laundry Room Looks Fake

View From The Laundry Room Looks Fake

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#30

The Exam Will Take Place Down The Hall And To The Left, Good Luck

The Exam Will Take Place Down The Hall And To The Left, Good Luck

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#32

Driving To The Airport

Driving To The Airport

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Green Machine
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe I'm the only one, but I love fog and how it seems to transform places by changing nothing but the perspective.

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#34

Found An Artist Doing Some Pure Liminal

Found An Artist Doing Some Pure Liminal

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#36

An Old Pic I Forgot I Had On My Phone

An Old Pic I Forgot I Had On My Phone

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#37

A Nice Place To Make A Best Friend That You'll Never See Again

A Nice Place To Make A Best Friend That You'll Never See Again

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Railway

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#40

8821

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Note: this post originally had 56 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.