The Comfort of Liminal Spaces (and The Desire to Disappear)

Interestingly, I’ve thought of liminal spaces when I was a kid before knowing what they were. They just felt so far away from home then, never wanted to be that far but, it was so interesting. Very nostalgic now, almost difficult to explain, just a feeling I got

Fun Fact, the Background from "Never gonna give you up", where Rick seems to be under a Bridge, is also considered a Liminal Space. Why? I don't know, but I know it is considered as one

THANK you. i know this is a year ago but what people dont understand is the horror should come from disturbing those comforting places not the place themself.

I Am in Eskew is basically liminal space as a podcast and i find so much comfort in it.

I've always been drawn to liminal spaces since so many of the large oddly distorted rooms look just like my dreams, and i found comfort in knowing i wasn't alone.

Intro OST : The caretaker Libet's Delay

the backrooms

Bro is the living definition of quality over quantity

It reminds me of an easier, simpler time. It brings me comfort to be just a little bit closer to that time.

I love liminal spaces, they can be really cozy

There should be a liminal space explorer VR game. No monsters, no creepy stuff, just the feeling of walking around in an abandoned place all by yourself.

As an autistic person, liminal spaces are my haven.

I notice I feel comfort when I’d sneak out and stand in the highway at 2am and walk for miles just enjoying the loneliness

Nope its still creepy. Other people may feel different but i always find them creepy.

This is my comfort video. If I'm ever in a dark place, a mental health dip, a... a place of loneliness... I watch this. And it's comforting. Not just liminal spaces, but an analysis of them, a video full of explaining liminal spaces, and agreeing with me. How I'm not alone. Thank you. For making this video. Thank you.

That there
That's not me
I go
Where I please
I walk through walls
I float down the Liffey
I'm not here
This isn't happening
I'm not here
I'm not here
In a little while
I'll be gone
The moment's already passed
Yeah, it's gone
And I'm not here
This isn't happening
I'm not here
I'm not here
Strobe lights and blown speakers
Fireworks and hurricanes
I'm not here
This isn't happening
I'm not here
I'm not here

Liminal spaces give me a sense of comfort... i love limilal space because it reminds me of the weirdcore/dreamcore world and the backrooms and makes me wanna go there even though it isn't real...

Liminal space is lonely and i like it because i don't like being social it makes me feel uncomfortable it's probably social anxiety but i don't know at all...

Being physically in such places makes you hyper aware of your state of just being. And awareness/mindfulness provides calmness, groundedness and peace. You crave not for these pictures or spaces, but the space within yourself.

Actually, old minecraft maps have feeling of liminal places

The exploration of liminal spaces through this video has offered me a unique perspective on a theme I once believed to be exclusively my own. It's fascinating how visual storytelling can evoke shared emotions and experiences within the seemingly solitary realm of liminality

Seems we've found our tribe at last❤ I adore liminal spaces, just liminal spaces. No entities. 😊

Your way of thinking about liminal spaces is about right. Somewhere to escape to that won't mock because they are as lonely as us. My question is, when your mind finds peace again, aren't you scared you will never escape?

I actually remember how Liminal spaces started off as something that most people agreed to be nostalgic, pleasant and mysterious. Then suddenly, it became very popular and Liminal was associated with horror.

Thank you ❤️

I always hear about liminal spaces being creepy and stuff, which they usually are, but regardless of that, I always find myself wanting to be there. I want to go into the photos, explore the endless liminal places, and never come back from them. I want to escape reality and be in a place where my mind and body are truly free. I especially love the backrooms, and I feel like I want to go there. Even though it would be dangerous, I would be free to roam without any responsibilities or limitations that reality has. This video perfectly encapsulates how I feel, and I really love it. I haven't seen anybody else talk about liminal spaces like this. Most just talk about how they are creepy and how they wouldn't want to go there. But this video breaks that and brings light to those of us who feel the opposite way. You did a really good job with this video. Thank you.

2016, come on, man, Edward Hopper did this years ago and artists before him. The sense that something has happened or is about to happen. In the head, not the image.

Hi artist/graffiti artist here idk any time I see white walls I feel like spray painting all over it.

I wonder if liminal spaces are not just bound to people born around the 1990's - 2000's. Maybe other generations have their own liminal spaces. Perhaps a person born in the 1960s could be shown images from their childhood and find them creepy. Likewise maybe if a kid born in the 2010's -2020's might feel nostalgic for things today when they're adults. If they were shown a picture of a modern-looking room from today they might get that uneasiness or creepiness like we do with these liminal spaces. Maybe what defines a liminal space could evolve but the basic premise of invoking nostalgia might still be there.

I was driving to work the other day at 5:30 a.m. on a rainy/misty Sunday morning.

It was so peaceful. Street lights left and right shining through the mist, nobody else on the road, and a factory off in the distance also contributing to the environment.

Idk, it was something different. Reminds me of what this video talks about.

Dunno why but this guys german accent makes this video feel a lot more philosophical than it already is

Ngl the monsters makes it less scary bc feeling like theres a monster altho there isn’t is worse than knowing theres one and being chased by it

I don't know if somebody will find it relatable, but i always enjoyed something that i can call an Epic liminal spaces. For example, endless field and a very big castle in the distance, or abandoned city towers.. My latest experience of this feeling was from game Elden ring though

nice

Dude I love this

Amazing Video,

Playing Gary's mod by yourself and spawning in a city map.

Im autistic and am extremely easily overstimulated. Life is filled with so many senses and feelings that even now are so overwhelming. Liminal spaces make me so happy, the idea of wandering peacefully through a place where it is only you and the place itself to explore sounds like heaven.

One of the most comfortable experiences I had was walking around at the beginning of the morning, when no one is up yet and it is still dark. Some popular places were deserted but you could see how life was there not so long ago and would be there not too long after. That and arriving in december at 7:30 am in my uni which had a power cut-out. Everything was dark except for small reflection from the security lock... It was peaceful and I was soooo hoping there wouldn't be class cause I wanted to sleep
Also, under stairs are underated as place to eat lunch and I don't know where I was trying to get at (and I should continue to watch the video)

Liminal spaces usually feel uncanny because they lack shades

Any room without shade looks flat and disconnected from reality
Even if it's a familiar setting

even IF you added people, as long as there won't be any shadows casted by them it would still look liminal, they will rather appear as manequins or wax dolls without any shadow

I never understood the "disturbing, creepy, unsettling etc." view of liminal spaces. I find so much nostalgic comfort in them, so much familiarity. I am a 90s kid so the bulk of my childhood photos have a similar look to them. Maybe I just crave that loneliness, that solitude that no one wants. Especially right now. You really summed it up, I just want to disappear most of the time, just plop into one of those "backrooms" and never return.

So two things about liminal spaces for me, and why I find them extremely comforting:
1: I feel as though, whenever I look at places like these, I feel like an anchor is pulling me through a vortex; a force I can't fight, and a weight is holding me down in a dimension where everyone my age once existed, but has since grew up and moved on from, while I remain as the last person to conciously observe these spaces. That's the depressing/nostalgic aspect to them.

But for the happy/comfort aspect:
2: The first time I experienced liminal spaces IRL was as a kid with boy scouts at my school. Our troop got access to the school after dark for activities (only staying in the cafeteria) but if you had to go to the bathroom, you had to step out into the hall which was always pitch black, seeing the tiled floor reflect the light until it dissapeared down the hall. Sure the darkness was scary, but I was a kid. Any kid is scared of the dark, that fear was common and known, it wasn't some "I don't know why im scared" feeling. But you know what? I also got EXCITED. Why? Because I knew there wasn't anyone else in the school. No security guards, no teachers, no principles, no older students telling you where you can and cannot go. If I wanted to vanish and run throughout the school, nobody could stop me.

I always wanted to run around certain bends and corners, see what's there when I never was able to before. You know, teachers never had any reason to lead students to those parts of the school, right? So you never got the chance to see them. But now, I could! There's no people to stare at you, watch you, judge you and say "What the heck is that guy doing walking over there? He's no supposed to be there."

I get that sense from liminal spaces. The comfort yet depression of nostalgia, mixed with the excitement of wanting to explore places I would normally never go to without the fear of being judged.

Is that a background from never gonna give you up in the intro?

dont you guys get the same feeling watching old tv shows

Walking around at 2am outside during the pandemic was the closest I got to that liminal comfort, it was a fun night that I hoped would've lasted longer

These photos remind me of when I was younger, with meanings of reality fantasized by my flawed, antiquated, and reinforced perception that lacked experience and the influence of strangers. A common theme I notice with liminal spaces is the lack of life and sense of loneliness, or peace, some of us have had in similar settings. I think I know why liminal spaces make us feel uneasy, or at least me. There aren't many public spaces anymore where we can just up and venture to escape the company of others. Now you will always be seen. There will always be eyes on you. There will always be someone around to witness you; or subtle reminders that you aren't alone, such as trash and other pieces of evidence we've left scattered around that break our immersion with nature. Someone notices when your lights are on at 3 a.m., they see your silhouette wandering, you're minded when you're out exercising, your devices share your location.
No matter how much you close yourself off from the world, the world will never be closed off from you. That's why liminal spaces can be discomforting, at least for me, because we, as a whole, can never escape ourselves. It's the liminal paradox. Notice how adding people or humanoid creatures to these settings makes us feel some type of way? That's because we're always surrounded by them, and the very thought of not being alone makes us anxious, while the very thought of being alone also makes us anxious, because reality has taught us *there's always someone around*. Although we can peacefully relate to these photos, our perception of reality has changed in such a way-anxiety-that we can't escape the influence we have on ourselves. Nearly every single day you live your life like you're standing in front of your classroom, except each day the classroom grows larger and larger. You're always being watched no matter what you do.
I think the feeling of "not being able to quite put your thumb on it" when it comes to these photos, is a manifestation of this anxiety that, collectively, we're unaware of. I think this anxiety is a factor in violence and it will continue to get worse.

i have the backrooms og post memorized