There’s something very off about these empty places. We can feel it in our bones. The hairs on the back of our necks are standing on end and our guts are telling us someone’s watching us, lurking in the shadows, just out of sight. Can you feel it too, Pandas? The eeriness? The tension? The low-key anxiety? We hope it’s not just us.
Liminal spaces exist as thresholds between one place and the next. They are the ‘in-between’ spaces like empty streets, waiting rooms, hallways, stairwells, parking lots, and airports that mark a transition between your starting point and your destination. Often, they make us feel uneasy. Unsettled. Even fearful. Especially when captured through the lens of a savvy photographer. Bored Panda has curated this list of exquisite, dreamlike, liminal weirdness to share with you how bizarre some parts of our world, near and far, really are when there’s nobody but us around.
Photographer Dominic Sberna, from the United States, was kind enough to answer Bored Panda's questions about the role that lighting plays in setting the mood and tone of photos. Scroll down for the interview.
Are you ready to step across the threshold into the land where nightmares and reality mix like waves in a storm? Stay close, don’t wander off, don’t get lost, and let’s go explore. Oh, but if you do find your way back safe and sound, you might want to take a dive into our previous article about liminality right here.
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First Post Here, Does This Count? Clouds Over St Petersburg
Oregon Wildfires Making It Look Straight Apocalyptic
Hell
Ethereal Playground. I Saw A Bunch Of Kids Playing In The Slides And They Were Barely Visible Through The Thick Fog, You Could Only Hear Their Laughter And Scurrying Footsteps
Oh No
It Is A Portal
The Pool I Work At Kind Of Creeps Me Out When We Turn Off The Lights At Close
3:15 AM
Harbor Glow
You Are Waiting For A Train
"The missing couple were last seen boarding a train at 11.45 on platform 15. The stationmaster has denied that there is an 11.45 train from platform 15"
Oh Yeah
The Fog Makes The Funfair On The Meadows Seem A Little Creepy
Dystopian
Kolmanskop Ghost Town In Namibia
This is what would happen at a typical English seaside boarding house if the carpets were never vacuumed
No Power
Can You Hear The Buzzing?
Yes. Yes, I can hear the buzzing. Also the sound of something wrapped in black plastic inching it's way across the floor
Are You Sure You Can't Hold It Until Morning?
The Sky Is Falling
Vegas, probably. The Venetian is like this over the 'canals' - feels very strange.
Very Liminal-Looking Indoor Pool Area At The Place I'm Staying For A Vacation
I Think I Found A Level Fun Entrance
hey, who said terrifying, undead creatures don't want to have parties too?
Photo I Took Of A Quiet Street At Night
Beach Walk To Nowhere
Marienplatz U-Bahn Station
I Feel Like I Really Want To Be There
The Attic Of An Abandoned House I Visited
Day 926 Since The Pandemic Began
I've Been Going For Days Now. It Smells Like Must And Old Bedding. I Think I'm On A Ship
My Girlfriend Works In A Bingo Hall And Sent Me This
Several elderly ladies in my family loved bingo but I can't see the attraction. "Betty won £40 at bingo last night!" Yes, but how much of her pension money did she have to spend to win £40?
Market
Carlsbad Caverns National Park Snack Bar
I've been down there! It was super fun and an amazing experience! Didn't see any bats though, but gave me some good inspiration for a story!
Why Does It Have To End?
My Town's Library Is Under Construction, So They're Using An Old Grocery Store As The Temporary Library
Took A Ferry Tonight
The wet floor sign next to the closed table makes this worse. What made the floor wet?
The 5AM Ferry From Seattle
How Relaxing
Playground At Girlfriends' Apartment Gives Off Weird Smell
Local Town Hall
I Smell Metal And Mold
Permanently Closed
Kinda looks like when people horde all those toilet papers. Ah, the good old days.
Taken In Times Square Today, And Almost No One In Sight. Very Eerie
O-O-Oh-Omega Mart, You Have No Idea What's In Store For You
Run
Very Odd Looking Bathroom
If Someone Wondered, The Location Is Holiday Inn London Heathrow T4
This Unoperational Escalator Leading To A Black Void
My City's Governor Is Closing Our Old Mall In A Few Weeks. Went In Today And Not A Single Person Was There
Gone Shopping
The Hotel I Am Staying In Feels Like Stagnant In Time; As I Wander The Empty And Slowly Putrefying Halls I Feel As Though I Am In Limbo
Laundromat I Pass While Driving
Figure Y'all Would Like This One, A Computer Shop In My Hometown. Untouched Seemingly Since 2002
A Bowling Alley I Went To Last Night. My Girlfriend And I Were The Only Customers
Hoping This Works, 4AM At The Rec Center
I Think I'm Understanding The Meaning
Walk to the light ... keep walking to the light and don't turn back.
Hotel I Was In
I Can't Remember Which Door Is Mine, Guess I'll Have To Try Them All
Now What
This View Of The Hyatt Regency Houston At Noon On A Sunny Day
I’m So Terribly Afraid To Choose Which Way To Go. I’ve Never Seen This Writing On The Floor Before
It's Not Your Birthday
You Fell Asleep In The Bathroom Stall
You emerged to find that everything is being sold at 1969 prices and your parents haven't been born yet
This Place Was Kind Of Like A Maze
Paradise?
I Feel Like I'm Forgetting Something
The Tram In My City
a pale gentleman in a top hat sits down next to you. you say hello, but he doesn't seem to notice. confused and a bit crestfallen, you return to looking at your phone. it glows coldly like the lights. a minute later you look up, but he is gone. when the tram stops, you find yourself...ok next person, your turn! (this is called a Your Turn story, something my family does.)
Mom Is Coming To Pick Me Up, Right?
Execution Chamber In The Montana State Prison
Empty Office Space Looks Unreal
What Does This Picture Make You Feel?
Eerily Quiet In Cubicle Land
this reminded me of an incident about 20 years ago. i was a newbie at a company and i was working late, i was all alone and only the light above my desk was on. i was eating a kebab and i feel someone watching me. i turn to my left and i see a great dane beside me looking at my kebab. i slowly move it to and fro and he follows it. and as i think what should i do now? the boss lady shows up and takes him away. phew.
I Thought Y'all Would Like To See It
Employees Only
I scrolled halfway down and expected to see a mound of cigarette butts
An IKEA That's Been Cleared Of Furniture
Welcome To The Mall
Meeting in foreground: "Listen, it's simple - we just break through the pots, smash the tiles, then it's UP AND OUT! All we need is time!"
Just Took This Photo, Felt Like It Belonged Here
As Kids, Spending The Weekend With Grandma, We Would Fight Over Who Had To Sleep In The Mirror Room
"dont look into the mirror late at night" said grandma, eerily, "you may find someone looking back." I ignored her. She was an old lady, she didn't know what she was talking about. I rolled my eyes and walked back into the Mirror Room and looked in the Mirror. It was just my reflection staring back at me. No one, nothing was staring back at me. "Guess i'll have to wait a few more hours to find out if she's true" I said to myself wearily. That night, right before I went to bed, I covered the Mirror with an old blanket. "There. Now if she was true, there was no way I could see whatever she was talking about." I assured myself. I even stabilized it with duct tape and clothes pins. My eyes were getting heavy. The next thing I knew I awoke to a soft thud on the floor, followed by light shuffling. I looked around, confused. The clock on the bedside table said "3:22" I woke up in the middle of the night. Great. I looked over to where the soft thud had come from and I found the blanket on
It Looks Familiar But Also Unrecognizable
I Do Wedding Video And I Always Take Pictures Of The Empty Venues After Everyone Leaves. Extra Weirdness Courtesy Of The Broken Glass Over My Phone's Camera
I've Been Taking Pictures Like This For Years Trying To Capture An Inexpressible Feeling
Summer Camp Shut Down Because Of Covid. I Went There Every Summer. Seeing It Like This Made Me Feel As If I Phased Into Another Reality
This Entire House
Waiting For A Train That Never Comes
This was me yesterday. Half the trains in Yorkshire were cancelled or delayed due to breakdown, bad weather in Scotland or "slippery rails"
Stairway To Nothing
The Back Of A Spirit Halloween Location I Was At
Arcade In The Local Dead Mall
I Found It Eerie How The Light Cast Across The Chairs. It Was Very Intriguing Seeing A Place Intended For Hundreds Of People Filled With Just One, Me
Arrived To My Hotel. Not Many People Staying Here
Gates Of Darkness
Abandoned Thai Military Meeting Room
You've got to admire the precision of Thailand's elite Plastic Chair Regiment
The Train Leaves In 40 Minutes, Might As Well Grab A Coke
Found This At A Truck Stop
Happy Birthday, Blow Out Your Candles
We Are Gathered Here Today
My First "Liminal" Experience
Pictures From Today. Hurricane Harvey Is Definitely Taking A Toll
Come, Sit With Me
Accepts invitation, starts walking across the tiles but never gets any closer to the chairs
Floor 143
Eat
I worked in food service for 35 years, so I saw a lot of empty restaurants, before open or after close. It was always kind of weird, but special - like I had access to a secret. Now I work at a homeless shelter and I have the same thing when the shelter is closed.
Anyone Down To Grab A Slice? On Me
If you ring the service bell, someone will emerge from the darkness. It won’t be a worker, though.
The Laundromat At 10 PM
Yeah, this reminds me of the Backrooms, and the whole liminal space, slightly unsettling thingy. Here's a pic of the Backrooms! Backroom-6...5212eb.jpg
they are closing down a big-name dept. store in my town... the retail apocalypse has hit home... It was so vibrant & alive before the pandemic hit a year ago. Now nothing left but surplus empty fixtures & picked-over bargain junk nobody wants at 70% off... last day will be next Sunday. It felt creepy like people were watching when I went there yesterday.... can closed mall stores have ghosts?
Yeah, this reminds me of the Backrooms, and the whole liminal space, slightly unsettling thingy. Here's a pic of the Backrooms! Backroom-6...5212eb.jpg
they are closing down a big-name dept. store in my town... the retail apocalypse has hit home... It was so vibrant & alive before the pandemic hit a year ago. Now nothing left but surplus empty fixtures & picked-over bargain junk nobody wants at 70% off... last day will be next Sunday. It felt creepy like people were watching when I went there yesterday.... can closed mall stores have ghosts?
