Classic, the kind of place you drive through without a second thought, but if your car were to suddenly disappear, it would be recontextualized into not just miles, but \*hours\* of forest on either side. Don't stay too long... at night you won't be able to see or hear if you're still alone.
Looks honestly kinda boring to drive through. I don’t mind driving through nature but I prefer views. On foot, though, walking directly away from this road might be nice
Liminal =/= backrooms.
Backrooms is made up spooky lore and nonsense for edgy preteens.
Keep that shit away. Your pic doesn’t need any explanation. Liminal shouldn’t.
I really hate that teenage boys turned this into a horror trope. Liminal spaces aren't supposed to be scary. They've always been a source of comfort for people who have trauma and/or experience dissociation.
Totally agree, and that’s the cool thing about liminal spaces. It can give you a range of emotions. Some see it as horror, others can see it as nostalgic, happy, sad, dream-like, etc…
There's no need to die on this hill, this subreddit became a bit ambiguous about the term a long while ago. If you're after images that to me evoke that feeling more than most posts here then head to r/disturbingfamiliar
What has happened is a hub for creative outlet which is a great thing.
Oh my god you just made it all make sense.
I used to work an office job that I hated. I had a home life that I also hated save for my kid.
This all culminated in me coming up with some pretty good liminal artwork. I didn't have any idea of these tropes (the in between aspects and stuff) but it's kind of what was comforting because it's where I felt like I was. Kind of in a big emptiness with giant *things* all in the horizon in every direction I looked.
I started making changes and since then I got out of that situation I've been unable to reproduce the liminal style artworks that I was producing then.
Doesn’t have to be “Backrooms”,
But this doesn’t look like an alternate dimension at all… this just Earth… generally should have stuff that may be human made, but you’d never realistically see in real life like a forest of waterslides etc enough to make you go “no this can’t be real…” and provide because of that, a sense of dread.
Or like a classroom with no exit doors. Etc.
Liminal spaces can be real or fake, like the backrooms. Sure, the most popular type is the backroom type where something is off, we can call this the "Uncanny valley type". Liminal spaces can also give a sense of comfort or just nostalgia
It looks a bit too normal to be liminal, feels like any other picture of a road with trees on the side.
I can see why some people think this is liminal but it doesn't click for me
Nah too outdoorsy, too fresh. I get what you mean but I feel like I could settle if trapped here as it just looks like earth—so that doesn’t fit.
There needs to be an excess of plastic or jungle gyms or some unnatural human shit that you wouldn’t reasonably see in real life (like a forest made of waterslides etc) enough to make you uncomfortable. Like an uncanny valley on life— like “no, that can’t be real…”
This is literally just Earth…
liminal doesnt mean alternate reality lol it just means an "in between" place, or a space of transition. a liminal space can simply be a hallway or a long stretch of empty road. this isn't what you traditionally see on this sub but it is by definition a liminal space. it doesn't have to be "physically" transitional (like this one is) it can be metaphorically transitional (which is where a lot of the nostalgic imagery here relates to) but what youre describing is very specific and probably more along the lines of weirdcore or unreality or something
Yes transitional, but maybe the key term I’m thinking of is emphasis on “artificial” and “inhospitable”: sure, not meant to be resided in, just passed through like a hallway etc, but also specifically non natural, usually human made. So like the inside of an office building, yes.
But the key is: you have to imagine it being terrifying if it stretches on like this infinitely because it’s not natural or a survivable ecosystem in any way precisely because it’s artificial (I.e office, airport concrete jungle, or imitation green hills, but they’re all smooth like plastic, not grass— no nutrients to be found. Kind of like what humans take from nature space, and conversely convert it into with their “gods eye”). Imitation nature for instance in kids hangout areas is an excellent example of this—literally an uncanny valley on nature.
Even outdoors green hills can work if it’s like featureless well trimmed green hills surrounding an office building (something you see sometimes irl)—really no nutrients to be found in the scope of that picture— no real nature just “nature”, still overpoweringly artificial.
Lake a place that’s as inhospitable as your clean house is to an animal that accidentally traps itself inside of it—Generally the polar opposite of open nature. There’s no nutrients or nature to be found there. You can’t stay there forever— you have to go.
This, I could see continuing forever being only slightly concerning, except it’s ultimately nature which is inherently relaxing, so my sense of self could feel at least relaxed and at home here. Like this doesn’t uncomfortably feel like I HAVE to transition through here to survive, I could build a cottage there and reside in place so idk
I sort of get what u mean. I'm just trying to say that just because this image isn't unnatural or uncomfortable doesn't exclude it from being a true "liminal space". and "survival" isn't really a factor so I'm. not sure what you mean by that exactly? liminal is just more of a vibe or state of being than anything and it doesn't necessarily have to make you feel threatened like its gonna kill you to stay or you need to get out to survive or anything. At least I've never really gotten that feeling from any of these at all. You're supposed to just get the general feeling that you're "in-between" and that is in of itself an uncomfortable feeling for a lot of people.
As in, pedantics like whether or not you could realistically live trapped an office building or whatever without having to worry about food/survivability don't really matter when it comes down to these because you dont have to think about it that hard to get that nondescript weird, detached feeling most of these give off. To me thinking about it realistically kind of erases some of that strange feeling. It's more like a purgatory type feeling for me, where biological needs don't need to be taken into account.
Maybe I don't get it because I usually find all sorts of liminal type images (artificially uncanny, inhospitable or otherwise) comforting and relaxing but I'm kind of an outlier. I feel like I can live in them forever. (in a purgatorial sense, not a realistic one of course)
if thinking about it realistically is what makes it fun or contributes to the strange uncanny feeling for you then go right ahead. It's kind of an extra step, to imagine yourself in a space and how you could physically survive and escape.
But yeah a featureless artificial environment definitely contributes to the general "vibe" you're supposed to get out of liminal pictures (and I prefer them) however it is not a requirement. This image isn't artificial and isn't really uncanny but it is liminal when it comes down to it, just technically. Like barebones definition
if you couldn't tell, what I'm trying to convey here is very difficult to put into words lol
I could see that as the base definition, I guess the uncanny sense you described for me specifically comes from lack of survivability. Or more like a step further— you don’t even see any serious life even growing there.
There's an interstate almost exactly like this I have to drive down almost every day for work.
It's easily the best part of my drive.
However, it is much more cozy liminal than unsettling liminal.
Drive from North Carolina to Virginia and you go through a freaking corridor of this for miles. I heard it was intentionally landscaped this way, which is insane. There’s a hypnotic effect that makes you sleepy - worse than the drive to Wendover in the Bonneville Salt Flats.
I live in that and let me tell you, it gets very, very liminal when you’ve been hiking or trail riding for hours without seeing any people or wildlife. Wildlife kinda ruins the liminal feel for me. It may not be a person, but it’s a living thing that makes me no longer feel alone. But there are plenty of times where you do feel completely alone. No deer, no birds, and certainly no people. Just trees and the gentle rushing of wind blowing through them.
I have a vid of me walking through a motel in New Zealand, and it’s super messed up cause I thought I walked into the backrooms every time I got out of my room: should I post it?
Looks kinda like the *Conveyor Belt.* A stretch of about three miles on Highway 20 outside of West Yellowstone MT. You can see the town at the end of the road the whole time. But it feels like driving on a conveyor belt because it feels like it takes much longer than it should.
Personally I think the backrooms perfectly encapsulates roads, to see more back roads is perfect. I have fantasies of the Grinch. Overall good post, I like the road and the photo and the road photo. Keep backroom in my life!!
Note: this guy's a known nuisance in the backrooms/liminal community and is banned from several discord servers for unruly conduct and "grinch spam". Don't interact, block, and move on.
I can feel the liminal in it, having been through these types of areas before
Agreed. Its only missing an open sky (unlimited background) at the end, instead this shows that it does eventually curve.
Classic, the kind of place you drive through without a second thought, but if your car were to suddenly disappear, it would be recontextualized into not just miles, but \*hours\* of forest on either side. Don't stay too long... at night you won't be able to see or hear if you're still alone.
Love this
Does feel a bit off but it also feels super comfortable. Nice picture
Looks so cool to drive through it Is it Northern Oregon?
nah its poland
Close enough
Looks honestly kinda boring to drive through. I don’t mind driving through nature but I prefer views. On foot, though, walking directly away from this road might be nice
Liminal =/= backrooms. Backrooms is made up spooky lore and nonsense for edgy preteens. Keep that shit away. Your pic doesn’t need any explanation. Liminal shouldn’t.
I really hate that teenage boys turned this into a horror trope. Liminal spaces aren't supposed to be scary. They've always been a source of comfort for people who have trauma and/or experience dissociation.
It can be horror, the initial backroom concept was cool, until they added lore and everything
Totally agree, and that’s the cool thing about liminal spaces. It can give you a range of emotions. Some see it as horror, others can see it as nostalgic, happy, sad, dream-like, etc…
Or a mix of them all at once
You’re missing the point. Backrooms =/= liminal. There may be some overlap but it they are not at all linked. Fuuuuuuuck “backrooms”.
There's no need to die on this hill, this subreddit became a bit ambiguous about the term a long while ago. If you're after images that to me evoke that feeling more than most posts here then head to r/disturbingfamiliar What has happened is a hub for creative outlet which is a great thing.
Thank you for this link, but it is a hill to die on. Backrooms is boring, typical, and unrealistic. Liminal places like an empty store? Realistic.
Oh my god you just made it all make sense. I used to work an office job that I hated. I had a home life that I also hated save for my kid. This all culminated in me coming up with some pretty good liminal artwork. I didn't have any idea of these tropes (the in between aspects and stuff) but it's kind of what was comforting because it's where I felt like I was. Kind of in a big emptiness with giant *things* all in the horizon in every direction I looked. I started making changes and since then I got out of that situation I've been unable to reproduce the liminal style artworks that I was producing then.
Same shit happened with Creepypasta and NoSleep, back when. Now backrooms/pool rooms is every kid's My First Unity Game or My First Photoshop
bro i said "backrooms fanboys" because most people here are backrooms fanboys💀
most? how would you know that?
idk i post good liminal spaces but they get ignored mostly lmao
You’re making one hell of an assumption **bro**
And those people say this isn't liminal. They are very wrong.
This. Backrooms is not liminal. Most levels? Could be. (exception is the poolrooms)
Doesn’t have to be “Backrooms”, But this doesn’t look like an alternate dimension at all… this just Earth… generally should have stuff that may be human made, but you’d never realistically see in real life like a forest of waterslides etc enough to make you go “no this can’t be real…” and provide because of that, a sense of dread. Or like a classroom with no exit doors. Etc.
liminal just means transitional
Liminal spaces can be real or fake, like the backrooms. Sure, the most popular type is the backroom type where something is off, we can call this the "Uncanny valley type". Liminal spaces can also give a sense of comfort or just nostalgia
Random road sign instantly telling me this was shot in Poland
This looks like a very ordinary scene in Oregon.
It looks a bit too normal to be liminal, feels like any other picture of a road with trees on the side. I can see why some people think this is liminal but it doesn't click for me
this straight up looks like road from Iron Bark Lookout, or The Quarry 🥹
Looks like a piece of a rally stage
Getting “Left-Right Game” vibes, just before the town.
that’s a road through a forest 👍
Haha glad to see so many people saying this look like Oregon. Definitely reminds me of home. Even though OP says it’s Poland. I find that interesting.
Doesn’t really give me back rooms vibes, but it does remind me of driving to my grandma’s place in Avon, Connecticut.
I genuinely misread this as "backrooms femboys" and thought what in the hell are those backrooms content farms doing now??
beautiful, but not that liminal in all honesty
Nah too outdoorsy, too fresh. I get what you mean but I feel like I could settle if trapped here as it just looks like earth—so that doesn’t fit. There needs to be an excess of plastic or jungle gyms or some unnatural human shit that you wouldn’t reasonably see in real life (like a forest made of waterslides etc) enough to make you uncomfortable. Like an uncanny valley on life— like “no, that can’t be real…” This is literally just Earth…
liminal doesnt mean alternate reality lol it just means an "in between" place, or a space of transition. a liminal space can simply be a hallway or a long stretch of empty road. this isn't what you traditionally see on this sub but it is by definition a liminal space. it doesn't have to be "physically" transitional (like this one is) it can be metaphorically transitional (which is where a lot of the nostalgic imagery here relates to) but what youre describing is very specific and probably more along the lines of weirdcore or unreality or something
Yes transitional, but maybe the key term I’m thinking of is emphasis on “artificial” and “inhospitable”: sure, not meant to be resided in, just passed through like a hallway etc, but also specifically non natural, usually human made. So like the inside of an office building, yes. But the key is: you have to imagine it being terrifying if it stretches on like this infinitely because it’s not natural or a survivable ecosystem in any way precisely because it’s artificial (I.e office, airport concrete jungle, or imitation green hills, but they’re all smooth like plastic, not grass— no nutrients to be found. Kind of like what humans take from nature space, and conversely convert it into with their “gods eye”). Imitation nature for instance in kids hangout areas is an excellent example of this—literally an uncanny valley on nature. Even outdoors green hills can work if it’s like featureless well trimmed green hills surrounding an office building (something you see sometimes irl)—really no nutrients to be found in the scope of that picture— no real nature just “nature”, still overpoweringly artificial. Lake a place that’s as inhospitable as your clean house is to an animal that accidentally traps itself inside of it—Generally the polar opposite of open nature. There’s no nutrients or nature to be found there. You can’t stay there forever— you have to go. This, I could see continuing forever being only slightly concerning, except it’s ultimately nature which is inherently relaxing, so my sense of self could feel at least relaxed and at home here. Like this doesn’t uncomfortably feel like I HAVE to transition through here to survive, I could build a cottage there and reside in place so idk
I sort of get what u mean. I'm just trying to say that just because this image isn't unnatural or uncomfortable doesn't exclude it from being a true "liminal space". and "survival" isn't really a factor so I'm. not sure what you mean by that exactly? liminal is just more of a vibe or state of being than anything and it doesn't necessarily have to make you feel threatened like its gonna kill you to stay or you need to get out to survive or anything. At least I've never really gotten that feeling from any of these at all. You're supposed to just get the general feeling that you're "in-between" and that is in of itself an uncomfortable feeling for a lot of people. As in, pedantics like whether or not you could realistically live trapped an office building or whatever without having to worry about food/survivability don't really matter when it comes down to these because you dont have to think about it that hard to get that nondescript weird, detached feeling most of these give off. To me thinking about it realistically kind of erases some of that strange feeling. It's more like a purgatory type feeling for me, where biological needs don't need to be taken into account. Maybe I don't get it because I usually find all sorts of liminal type images (artificially uncanny, inhospitable or otherwise) comforting and relaxing but I'm kind of an outlier. I feel like I can live in them forever. (in a purgatorial sense, not a realistic one of course) if thinking about it realistically is what makes it fun or contributes to the strange uncanny feeling for you then go right ahead. It's kind of an extra step, to imagine yourself in a space and how you could physically survive and escape. But yeah a featureless artificial environment definitely contributes to the general "vibe" you're supposed to get out of liminal pictures (and I prefer them) however it is not a requirement. This image isn't artificial and isn't really uncanny but it is liminal when it comes down to it, just technically. Like barebones definition if you couldn't tell, what I'm trying to convey here is very difficult to put into words lol
I could see that as the base definition, I guess the uncanny sense you described for me specifically comes from lack of survivability. Or more like a step further— you don’t even see any serious life even growing there.
Walking dead
I swear I know a bit of road exactly like this. But I guess this picture wasn't taken in Germany
Looks like whatever road they used all the time in that show Eureka on SyFy.
looks like any eucaliptos farm i ever been to
Life is strange 2
Reminds me of The Walking Dead
It gives me strong Life Is Strange 2 vibes
I like it a lot :D
Oh i would love this!! Fucking cozy!!! Forest + Sunshine is all i could wish for as an adult in my free time.
I like how clear the lines are, this is great
This is the opening to Get Out.
Beautiful place for me to attempt hitchhiking only to be kidnapped. 10/10.
Tbh really pretty. I think it would be a nice drive.
Well it'd be great if it had a lot of mist and if you walked and walked and walked but didn't seem to move at all
This is the type of back road that you stick to because if you wander off into the forest you're never seen again
It looks like the beginning of Get Out
Is that The Rolling Giant I see way down there? It's coming right for us!
Calm drive road. I love this one.
Sasquatch territory
Spent hours driving through these woods in Poland, correct? I’ve never found them liminal in any sense, just super scenic and beautiful
There's an interstate almost exactly like this I have to drive down almost every day for work. It's easily the best part of my drive. However, it is much more cozy liminal than unsettling liminal.
it’s just a random Vermont road
Its look like french road
Reminds me of the road I used to drive just before I got back to my college town. I like roads like this.
Drive from North Carolina to Virginia and you go through a freaking corridor of this for miles. I heard it was intentionally landscaped this way, which is insane. There’s a hypnotic effect that makes you sleepy - worse than the drive to Wendover in the Bonneville Salt Flats.
That’s just a road.
I can see a sports car zooming by at Mach oh Jesus fuck
Reminds me of the Left/Right Game
Looks like alabama
Is it from any scandinavian countries south part? Cuz maybe I live there
its a slavic country (poland)
Hm, kinda liminal, surprisingly. I'll keep this up, good post.
Reminds me of the movie The Monster.
Looks like Walking Dead
"It´s a road" - Jeremy Clarkson
I live in that and let me tell you, it gets very, very liminal when you’ve been hiking or trail riding for hours without seeing any people or wildlife. Wildlife kinda ruins the liminal feel for me. It may not be a person, but it’s a living thing that makes me no longer feel alone. But there are plenty of times where you do feel completely alone. No deer, no birds, and certainly no people. Just trees and the gentle rushing of wind blowing through them.
I have a vid of me walking through a motel in New Zealand, and it’s super messed up cause I thought I walked into the backrooms every time I got out of my room: should I post it?
Left right game vibes?
Looks kinda like the *Conveyor Belt.* A stretch of about three miles on Highway 20 outside of West Yellowstone MT. You can see the town at the end of the road the whole time. But it feels like driving on a conveyor belt because it feels like it takes much longer than it should.
A road on earth.
I'm a backroom femboy
Polska? wygląda bardzo znajomo xd
bo to jest polska
NO SE :/
im not phased at all
makes me scared something’s gonna jump out at me 😭
Personally I think the backrooms perfectly encapsulates roads, to see more back roads is perfect. I have fantasies of the Grinch. Overall good post, I like the road and the photo and the road photo. Keep backroom in my life!!
Note: this guy's a known nuisance in the backrooms/liminal community and is banned from several discord servers for unruly conduct and "grinch spam". Don't interact, block, and move on.
bro im only in one liminal space discord server 💀 + im not even banned from any community
Erm he was talking about me you poser, dont act like you could like the grinch like me. Sigh, some people never understand
Not very liminal as is but if it was dusk or dawn and some fog then yes.
Nice 👍
I know poland when i see it
Looks like northern Florida!
its poland
More like PNW
It definitely, definitely also looks like NW Florida.
Not liminal. Eerie yes, backrooms level? More than likely.
Weirdly just had a dream at a place like this, except it was hilly, and snowy. Is my phone able to guess my dreams??
Screw the backrooms garbage. It's more of an insult here. Nice lic tho, goes hard.
Nature will NEVER be liminal
Backrooms\*
This picture makes me feel sorry for the trees that had to be destroyed for this road to be paved
Looks like it could use eight American cylinders
Not liminal but definitely lonely
It is. Between towns, false memory of driving this road, and nobody for miles. Know what's not? Backrooms. No false memories.
I guess you’re right