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!
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Uniformed Forest
A Phone Box In Snow
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.”
No No No. Not Good
Picture I Took A Few Years Ago In Poland
It’s Christmas Eve And You’re All Alone
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.
Well, That's Not A Good Sign...
Don't Turn The Corner
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...
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.
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.”
Stay On The Light. They Won't Be Able To Get You If You're On The Light
It's Not Safe To Go Outside But Inside Feels Haunted
naah Just feels like literally any Eastern European apartment block. I can smell the cigarettes and cats
The Oval Office Between Us Presidents
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."
This Memory Belongs To Everybody And Nobody
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😂🤣
The Liquid Void
The Entrance To The Infinity Pool. Once You Enter, There Is No Going Back
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.
Lemme Get Some Uhhhhhhh
Only A Faint Hum And My Footsteps Can Be Heard.
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?
It reminds me of that terrible rape scene in the movie "Irreversible"
What a horrific movie - I couldn't get through that scene and gave up on the rest. Such pointless brutality triggered PTSD.
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This is one of those places where you and your beautiful girlfriend are escaping something. Naturally she trips over her high heels and can't walk. This is also one of those places where you leave her and look for a new girlfriend.
Irreversible, anyone? If someone appears holding a fire extinguisher, run!!!
Then you realise there's another pair of footstaps you didnt notice...
Most VA medical facilities have tunnels underground from one building to others. Used in inclement weather, or to avoid traffic - or your boss....
Reminds me of the old pedestrian Clyde tunnel, people use to end up running through it because the sound of their footsteps would reverberate around the tunnel so much it sounded like someone was running at them from behind and when they looked back and saw nobody they would get scared and run😂
What strikes me most is the lack of graffiti and garbage. Or maybe I'm just used to everything being covered in s**t
I LIVE for places like this! Natural reverb acoustics are SENSATIONAL! Walk with a rhythm and start singing! Don't waste this space!
Yeah and a great place for a haunting. We have a couple of resident ghosts at the hospital who would show up down in the tunnel sometimes. They mostly stayed in the data center and we actually got used to them. One liked to turn water faucets on and off...I kid you not...saw it happen several times! They are not see-through. They were totally solid!
Load More Replies... I LIVE for places like this! The natural reverb acoustics are SENSATIONAL! Walk with a rhythm and start singing! Don't waste this space!
On your way to an interview for a job with the government!
I've seen this before. Somebody used it as a video for The Backrooms.
why did i feel the sudden urge to just dart through that hallway as fast as I possibly can?
I don't know if it's the monitor I'm working on but when I scroll the picture into frame the steps at the back aren't there but within a second they appear. It's truly bizarre and creepy
Whoa! But if you keep your eyes on the staircase "in the back," it looks like they (the stairs ONLY) MOVE when scrolling! Ha!
OMG I used to work in IT at a hospital and the data center was in the basement. It looked just like this....sometimes, you shared the corridor with some uninvited guests....of the rodent variety! This was also the road to the morgue. These corridors ran under the hospital and you could stay underground and under the block to get outside. Would be such fun to roller skate around on them. There are some places you can go up to the ground level, or secretly make your way up and into the parking garage. I laughed my butt of when I heard tRUMP was visiting. The reason was tragic, and not humorous at all. There have been a mass shooting in the area and he was there to "visit" some of the victims. I KNEW that he would be using the tunnel system. I told a friend to watch this one area that just looks like bushes, but actually had a door to come and go without detection. All the black SUVs were parking by it, and yes, I was totally right!
This reminds me of TWD pilot episode. Rick is walking thru the hospital and you can hear the electricity humming....right before he sees that chewed up dead person on the floor.
That looks like the area where Austin Powers was driving the cart and got it stuck sideways.
It will happen, right here. Right after the lights go out. Prepare they self.
Looks like the tunnels under Friend's Hospital in Philadelphia. A psych hospital...
I feel like this is the one place in the horror movies that nobody wants to go in, except that one idiot trying to be cool. Also who else noticed that when you try to scroll past, that set of stairs in the far end of the tunnel sort of vibrates, as if the lights are flickering?
This looks like the tinnels of an old state hospital I visited and I don't EVER want to go back.
this one gave me flashbacks to a french film that i can't remember the title of in which there was a brutal attack that even sent the actress to the hospital. i think i blocked it from my brain as it was so disturbing.
Just been in a new underground passage painted rainbow colours and blasting techno. That was interesting. Need more of those.
This is how we had to cross the street in some city in Canada. Can't remember which one. It smelled exactly as you would think it does.
Looks like a communist spy meet. The lost dog is always happiest in the rain... do you have a package for me?
My Grandmother’s Basement
The International Space Station At Night
Pool Tunnels
My Friend Was Tested For Covid, This Is The Room He Waited In
The Lower I Go, The Higher The Water Gets
Empty Aquarium Restaurant, Made Me Feel Sad And Empty For Some Reason
I want to say what the title does. It gives me a feeling of hopelessness
No No No No No No No
Dust And Laundry
Aesthetic Liminality
Feels Like I Shouldn't Turn Around. Just Keep Walking
View From The Laundry Room Looks Fake
Waiting The Turn
The Exam Will Take Place Down The Hall And To The Left, Good Luck
Bliss
Driving To The Airport
Maybe I'm the only one, but I love fog and how it seems to transform places by changing nothing but the perspective.
Blue Aesthetic
Found An Artist Doing Some Pure Liminal
Sandy Desert
An Old Pic I Forgot I Had On My Phone
A Nice Place To Make A Best Friend That You'll Never See Again
Railway
Hello? I’m Here For The Conference
8821
Marte Marte Architects Presents Dramatic Exhibition Hall In Red And Black
This one is gorgeous! It just needs some oversized art and sculptures and someone handing out champagne.
The Infinity Room In The House On The Rock, Located Between The Cities Dodgeville And Spring Green, Wisconsin. The Room Is 218 Feet Long
Empty Poolroom
Liminal Space
Elevator
A Hallway
Anchorage Grand Hotel
Around The Corner
Those Stairs Could Lead Anywhere Or Nowhere At All.
Something tells me you walk up one set and appear walking down the others.
Nightclub
This looks like the stairwell in that Madness song - one step beyond
Pov: You Lost Your Mom On The Aquarium
You are stuck in that tunnel forever as it just goes around and around....
Oz
Empty Labs
My Swimsuit’s Still Dripping Water!
I LOVED it. The shining vibes all over. There must be a (genetic? Neurological?) reason why this kind of scenario scares us all
It's mostly places were we're used to seeing other people. It's odd and unnerving to see them empty. A while back, I worked at a 24 hour Walmart. We only closed on Xmas eve. It was really bizarre being in there when it was devoid of customers. Airports after midnight, subway stations when the trains aren't running, an empty waiting room. All are a little spooky.
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Enjoyed these. Some of them were weirdly inviting. Forbidden fruit?
I still don’t understand it. These are just artistic pictures of empty places and interesting architecture. I see no transition between whatevers or anything weird. Also, this got attention again because of Inside, by Bo Burnham, where he mentions his sock puppet lives in liminal space when unused.
None of these scared me either. They merely looked interesting or peaceful to me.
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When I was still a security guard I sometimes had to patrol an abandoned mental ward, built in the 1920's, at night. Flickering fluorecent lights, doors moving in the wind, old style isolation units and art-deco stained glass windows. Too bad I wasn't allowed to take pics. They would have fit nicely in this post.
When I was walking in there I tried not to think of the tremendous amount of suffering and suicides that had taken place within those walls. Also apparently during the war the 'undesirables' living in the ward got 'cleaned up' by the nazi's.
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Oh gosh... thank you for the hellish experience, I enjoyed it all xD
Most of those pictures were scary. Those that took them photos sure have some guts!
Ok I am a bit confused cuz so,e of these pictures make me uncomfortable and others made me calm. What is liminal supposed to mean?
As it says in the article, it is a transitional space like a hallway or country road. There’s nothing really going on there and it is the ignored area when you go from Point A to Point B
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😅 I enjoy a creepy and empty space here and there, it lets me turn my brain off for a bit.
I was impressed by the entries on this list--I almost upvoted all of them! This is a great collection, both because of the photos and the fact that it is rooted in something deep and primal but not mean. Thank you!
I love liminal pictures, I find them very calming and interesting, not creepy at all. Something about them, If I just look at the picture long enough I feel like I'm there in the area.
So glad I don't watch horror movies. Genuinely not triggered or shivering from any of these.
These are so fn scary! Some of these are going to haunt me tonight
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I LOVED it. The shining vibes all over. There must be a (genetic? Neurological?) reason why this kind of scenario scares us all
It's mostly places were we're used to seeing other people. It's odd and unnerving to see them empty. A while back, I worked at a 24 hour Walmart. We only closed on Xmas eve. It was really bizarre being in there when it was devoid of customers. Airports after midnight, subway stations when the trains aren't running, an empty waiting room. All are a little spooky.
Load More Replies... Enjoyed these. Some of them were weirdly inviting. Forbidden fruit?
I still don’t understand it. These are just artistic pictures of empty places and interesting architecture. I see no transition between whatevers or anything weird. Also, this got attention again because of Inside, by Bo Burnham, where he mentions his sock puppet lives in liminal space when unused.
None of these scared me either. They merely looked interesting or peaceful to me.
Load More Replies... When I was still a security guard I sometimes had to patrol an abandoned mental ward, built in the 1920's, at night. Flickering fluorecent lights, doors moving in the wind, old style isolation units and art-deco stained glass windows. Too bad I wasn't allowed to take pics. They would have fit nicely in this post.
When I was walking in there I tried not to think of the tremendous amount of suffering and suicides that had taken place within those walls. Also apparently during the war the 'undesirables' living in the ward got 'cleaned up' by the nazi's.
Load More Replies... Oh gosh... thank you for the hellish experience, I enjoyed it all xD
Most of those pictures were scary. Those that took them photos sure have some guts!
Ok I am a bit confused cuz so,e of these pictures make me uncomfortable and others made me calm. What is liminal supposed to mean?
As it says in the article, it is a transitional space like a hallway or country road. There’s nothing really going on there and it is the ignored area when you go from Point A to Point B
Load More Replies... 😅 I enjoy a creepy and empty space here and there, it lets me turn my brain off for a bit.
I was impressed by the entries on this list--I almost upvoted all of them! This is a great collection, both because of the photos and the fact that it is rooted in something deep and primal but not mean. Thank you!
I love liminal pictures, I find them very calming and interesting, not creepy at all. Something about them, If I just look at the picture long enough I feel like I'm there in the area.
So glad I don't watch horror movies. Genuinely not triggered or shivering from any of these.
These are so fn scary! Some of these are going to haunt me tonight
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