Ever had that eerie feeling when you step into a place that's both familiar and foreign? That's the magic of liminal spaces. These are the spots that give you a sense of "I'm not sure where I am, but I'm definitely somewhere."
Liminal spaces often give people a sense of being in a surreal moment, and they've become a popular subject for online communities who appreciate their unique and sometimes eerie atmosphere. Thanks to the r/LiminalSpace subreddit, boasting 661k members, we've got a treasure trove of these uncanny pics to admire. From empty waiting rooms to desolate hallways, there's something inexplicably intriguing about these in-between places.
So, let's explore the spaces that are on the border between reality and dreams. So, let's explore the spaces that are on the border between reality and dreams. And don't forget to upvote the most peculiar places below!
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Train Station In Denmark
In their teens Thomas, James and Gordon went through a brief Satanic phase.
Proof It's Not Flat
"AI! AI!" says someone who just knows that vaccines are made out of dead babies and contain a microchip that lets Bill Gates track one to the end of the Earth (the flat earth, obviously). 😉
Old Water Reservoir
If you’re not familiar with the concept, liminal spaces can be described as places or moments where you feel like you're in between two different things, neither here nor there. It's like that strange feeling you get when you're in an empty parking lot at night or in a quiet, empty hallway.
To get to know more about why liminal spaces can feel so unsettling and intriguing, Bored Panda spoke with Francis McAndrew, Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology at Knox College. Keep scrolling to learn more about the psychology behind these eerie but fascinating experiences and what makes them so captivating.
Starting To Look Like Christmas
I Made It To The Very End Of My Neighborhood, What's Next ?
Does This Count? I’m Currently Here. Airport. Alone
“By definition, a liminal space represents a transition from something familiar and safe to something new and uncertain. It can be an actual physical space that one moves through or a more abstract period of time during which a significant life change is taking place. In either case, it is unsettling and is often experienced as unpleasant,” McAndrew told us. But why do these places make us feel this way?
According to the professor, creepiness is entirely about uncertainty. “We are uncomfortable with ambiguity and unpredictability. A place that is hard to figure out is troubling to us because we are unsure about whether there is something to fear from it or not. This feeling of getting ‘creeped out’ marshals our resources and keeps us paying attention in order to resolve the uncertainty.”
This Makes It Feel So Much Worse
Who Loves Nature?
An Apartment Building In My City
Liminal spaces can be fascinating and a bit eerie at the same time. They grab our attention, but they can also make us feel uncomfortable. So, why do we find them both creepy and captivating? McAndrew shared that liminal spaces capture our curiosity - “we don't usually like them, but we can't look away. Liminal spaces violate our expectations; empty places that are usually crowded or places with features that seem out of context are fascinating because we feel compelled to try and make sense of them.”
Seattle Public Library - Love The Red Floor
Everything Looks So Perfect And Beautiful, Which Is Not Normal
Found On A Camera Phone From 2009
So, the next time you find yourself in a quiet, empty space that's neither here nor there, remember that you're experiencing a liminal space. What are your thoughts on these pictures? Did you find them eerie and unsettling? Share your experiences in the comments!
My Sister Took This Picture, I Don't Like This
I Got To Pull An All Nigther In A Mall And This Was So Eery
End Of Life Care?
A "Green Space" Being Built In A Hospital
My Hotel Room Feels Like It’s Straight Out Of The Backrooms
Garden
I Have A Liminal Space Outside My Window
We have plenty of this here. And plenty a******s that try to go under my truck because they don t know how to take a roundabout. Recently I ripped all the front part of a car with my rear part of my truck because a young lady decide she fits in left side while I was turning.....the cops laughed because she said she was right .
Was Told This Would Fit Here. A Pic I Took From Our Hotel Balcony In Turkey On A Family Holiday
The End Of Time
If You Wander Through A Khazakstani Exclusion Zone, You'll Eventually Be Surrounded By Irradiated Alien-Like Metal Structures. These Are Known As The Geese And Sit On The Site Of The Most Nuclear-Bombed Site In The World. Semipalatinsk
Just long enough to post a foto, apparently ;)
Load More Replies... Folks, I just read about this, starting at Wikipedia. It's astonishing. Semipalatinsk is the Soviet name for Semey, a fairly major city (350,000) also once known as Alash-qalah. The Soviets didn't bother finding an unpopulated area to test its bombs, continuing to test around this city right until the fall of 1989. Local survivors believe they are adapted to the radiation, especially because of the perception that those who move AWAY from Semey are more likely to die.
Probably should pick a different limb for that joke. But what if I told you the notion that radiation causing permanent changes to the genes of a population was just a myth, and that this place helped demonstrate that?
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this is when u put on the power armor, pop a rad-x, and watch out for deathclawa
Is It Just Me, Or Does Barbieland Feel Liminal To You Too?
Visited My Childhood Mall, It Always Had So Many People. I Can Still Hear Them But... I Don't See Anybody
Think I Captured The Liminal Feeling
A Hotel My Mom Worked In Growing Up, Closed In 2013ish
My Workplace Is Looking A Little Like A Liminal Space-
Bedroom With A Pool
My Local Indoor Playground Is Really Creepy In My Opinion
Went To The Therapist. Greeted By This
Road To Nowhere
The Inside Of A Pool Table
Liminal Neighborhood I Saw While Doordashing
It's No Use To Run In This Hallway. You Won't Even Make It In A 100 Years
The Bathroom At A Campground I Was Recently At
Lights Went Out At Walmart
That place is creepy enough with the lights on let alone with them off!
Strawberry Fields Forever
This Is From Ikimisho From A Suburb In Tokyo. Looks So Eerie But Calm
Got Lost Visiting University Dorms... Should I Cut Through The Grass ?
A Photo Of A Road I Took Last Winter
The Sun Room In My Parents New House
Old Mall Out Of Business
This Place Is Called The Square In My Town. Tiny Dead Shopping Center
Photo My Grandma Took Of The Decorations Before My Birthday Party Years Ago
why does this remind me of when your a young kid and no one shows up at your birthday lol
Found On Pinterest. It Reminds Me Of My Childhood
Mom Took It
Television
Do they live on a cliff or something? How is the whole window taken up by the sky at that angle?
The Place I’ve Worked At For The Past 2 Weeks (Job-Site)
NYC, Abandoned Highway
Just Walked Out Of Reality
Lowlight Photos I Took In Rawlins, Wyoming
This Render From A New Build Listing
Hidden Hallway Behind A Macy’s In A Mall
All malls have hidden hallways it's how shipments get around to all the different shops and such. Some have storage spaces shops can rent for stock, etc. Me and a couple friends had jobs as teens at different shops and would play hide and seek or just go exploring the tunnels out of hours, it's so creepy.
Low Clearance
Bedroom Nostalgia Or Nightmare Fuel
Picture Of A Japanese Ryokan I Took That Looks Very Much Like A Ps2 Screenshot
Grocery Store During The Early Morning
Took This At Work
My College Campus Is A Bit Odd
The Hallway To My Psychiatrists Office
Took That Pic 9 Years Ago Now I Wonder Where I Have It From
My First Post Here, Felt Strange In Person
Somewhere, Someplace At A Hotel
Some Kind Of Museum
A Random Mc Donalds Toilet On The Austrian Highway
Depressing Space In Front Of My Store
Abandoned Diner, Pa. Closed In 2015 Due To Funding And Never Reopened
Mike Tyson’s Abandoned Mansion
My Grandfather Died And I Decided To Explore The Newly Empty Basement And I Was Not Expecting This
Backrooms nerd here, I went through and commented a level number on all the pictures I thought looked like certain levels. Feel free to look them up to read more about them!
I know nothing abt the backrooms tell me more pls
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I absolutely love these and want to go to them all. Just to be there. Breaks my heart to think they are probably just going to be vandalized or destroyed.
What is a „Liminal Space“ and what is a „backroom“ in this context? Please explain to a non native speaker. Thank you so much. Edit: ok… I‘ve read the link provided by KiwiTriviaKween and I think I understand it, but I couldn‘t explain it to anyone else.
Backrooms nerd here, I went through and commented a level number on all the pictures I thought looked like certain levels. Feel free to look them up to read more about them!
I know nothing abt the backrooms tell me more pls
Load More Replies... I absolutely love these and want to go to them all. Just to be there. Breaks my heart to think they are probably just going to be vandalized or destroyed.
What is a „Liminal Space“ and what is a „backroom“ in this context? Please explain to a non native speaker. Thank you so much. Edit: ok… I‘ve read the link provided by KiwiTriviaKween and I think I understand it, but I couldn‘t explain it to anyone else.
