The Uncomfortable but Familiar World of Liminal Space 

"You have to wear Crocs whole you're here" That's the funniest thing I've heard all day

"Creepy nostalgia" is the best description of the way these make me feel that I've ever heard.

Looking at all these photos I have determined the ultimate liminal space: A long hallway with tile walls and a tan carpet, slightly flooded, has a window showing an American suburban street with a red sky, and ends in a dark stairwell.

The best use of liminal space in film is the shining. Super creepy and is everything you're describing

Liminal spaces always remind me of the settings in my dreams. Taking familiar things and making strange structures out of it. Things That sort of make sense, but not really. As far as dreams go, we do all have them. It’s not “I don’t dream” it’s really: “I don’t remember any of my dreams” What I’m saying is more of us have been to these places more personally than we think.

"the vibe is off" yeah that ballpit still gives me flashbacks of my tumblr dashboard

These images give me the same feeling I would get if I was ever in a school at night, usually for a talent show or dance but instead of participating, my friend and I would explore the empty rooms and halls.

Fascinating. I'm an older guy (65) and never knew liminal space stuff was even a "thing". I don't play video games ( my kids did, of course) so I recently started seeing liminal space videos on RU-vid. Most of that content appears to be game related. Anyway, after watching a few, I realized these type of "spaces" have in the last few years been in my dreams. I'd describe them as menacing/haunted with something just around the corner, but it never appears. The locations (two huge abandoned factories/warehouses, stairwells, and three different houses) are all super familiar in the dream, but upon waking, I realize I've never seen them before. The feeling in these dreams is dread, haunted, anxious - though in these dreams the monster/ghost never appears. Very unsettling feeling when I wake. Never knew others experienced similar dreams and feelings. These videos remind me of a game called "Myst" my kids played back in the 90's. Very eerie and empty.

Liminal space really does just feel uncomfortably familiar but you can’t place it which makes it even more uncomfortable

Before I had a slight idea what liminal space was. After reading that description I had no idea what liminal space was.

I love liminal space. None of these were uncomfortable to me, I'd love to actually go to them

Liminal spaces always reinforce the fact that I'm alone, yet make me feel like someone or something else is there too...

liminal spaces evoke a feeling of dejavu and a surreal familiarity for me. they work because they play off of nostalgia and emptiness.

D A S H C O N: lest we forget

Are we going to ignore the red eyes that gradually appear with the dark sky picture?

I love liminal space. The quietness and emptiness. Had a taste during covid and walking around nighttime in winter. So eerie

I live in Oregon and was like, less than a mile from the evacuation sites when we were having really bad wildfires and I felt like I was in liminal space for like a whole week because the sky was always a crimson red and the sun was like neon orange and it was so surreal. The sunsets looked like they weren’t even from this planet and then you throw the Oregon fog into the mix AND the fact that we were constantly being advised to not go outside because the air quality was at critically toxic levels just made me feel like I was in a sci-fi movie and it was so surreal and eerie yet beautiful that it creeped me out and amazed me all at once. I can’t believe I got to witness something so ethereal.

The first time I grasped the concept of liminal space is when I tried the beta version of Minecraft, I used to seeing all the mobs, grass, caves and mountains that when I see the world being really emty but not to the the point of flat world where it's completely empty is unsettling.

My friend told me about ur subnautica let’s play and since then I’ve been binging all of your videos

it's like the surroundings in a dream that, in the dream, you never focus on, but it's surreal to see what it looks like

This is like eartly 00s games where you could already render big scenarios in real time, but not make them very detailed, and because of that, it felt weirdly empty. Some ps2 creepy nostalgia right there.

So, I've been fascinated by liminal spaces all my life, but as an adult, I've gotten to explore such places. I usually find them when I'm out on a walk at night. I have a weird sort of hypnotic, euphoric feeling about such spaces. Partially entranced by the beauty, a little worried about being set upon by strangers, but also curious. Like if I keep walking, I'll end up in another world. I've had many such irrational walks where I actually end up by the highway, just trying to see how far I can walk before I find people.

I think a large part of it is that liminal space is always where there are no people. The minute someone is there is ceases to be liminal space. It's places where there should be life, where nothing looks wrong, yet for some reason it's abandoned, and that sets off alarms in your mind. There should be people here, or even animals, if it's outside. But there isn't. Which means something made them leave, or worse. It means there might be some danger you can't see. That combined with the pictures being places that embody many people's dream-space makes it feel like something bad has happened in a place that's familiar. Does that make sense? I'd love to talk about other ideas, this stuff is so cool to me lol. Edit: 4:26 Wait. That... that's the place. I did art of this lake, but it was winter, and I didn't know it was real... I put it in my book, too... a character has recurring nightmares about it. He describes it as a "huge mirror", and there was always a figure in the middle, and fog. In the story it represents something. I wish I could show the picture I drew, but I can't. That is really weird. Edit edit:16:42 isn't that... didn't someone pee in that ball pit?

holy shit i love liminal space… all of my dreams are like this, and i love it and i now know that theres a name for it

The best way I’ve had liminal space described to me is that it’s the Uncanny Valley, but applied to a place rather than a thing.

14:48 is a reading circle. I would have loved to have one at my school. I babysat at a daycare that had one. The stairstep amphitheater design is so all the kids can see and hear the reader at the bottom.

16:39 hit me with that dashcon nostalgia when I least expected it

7:16 I LOVE THIS ONE It's really strange, I really feel I've been there or at least a very similar place in my childhood or maybe in a dream, but even when you specified it's CGI it looks so well made and real.

These feel even more familiar to me since Liminal Space is almost all I dream about.

I remember very clearly that in the pool near our house there was a part that was rarely used and no one really swam there and it always gave me a weird feeling, now I finally know what that feeling was, pretty cool.

The neighborhood in the movie Vivarium is a great example of liminal space too. Just thought of it while watching this. Now I know why it was so eerie to look at.

I was always told that liminal spaces were "tween places.". They're used in some forms of Traditional Witchcraft, for various acts of sorcery. The edges of properties, especially ones where the landscape changes, for example cultivated yards and gardens, to forests, or overgrown fields. The edges of cliffs, shorelines of lakes, seas and oceans, etc. I think that they're related to The Fae (fairies,) too. Even door frames are liminal spaces. The only ones that really scare me, are like, the edges of high cliffs, and such. But that's more because I have a slight fear of heights. Edit: I have a fear of heights, when there's no safety rails or what not. It's the fear of heights for me. It's the fear of accidentally losing my balance and falling. Even that wasn't much of an issue until I feel with a ladder. Like, it collapsed under me, since it was defective.

Liminal space is like an image of something that just feels out of place. That's what I feel from it like it can be nostalgia and be like why is this here or like oh I've seen that before and it just feels out of place.

I live in a valley so when I can't see mountains off in the distance, it freaks me out. So empty, so... wrong.

The hotel hallway at 2:00 is creepy for me because of the angle in which it was photographed. You can't see around the corner. It's very easy to imagine something or someone hiding back there.

"A place that I feel like I've seen" Probably because we dream these types of random weird places all the time and are thus familiar from that odd archetypal fabric.

All these pictures just give me “The backrooms” feel. I know that whole creepypasta is a couple years old now but I always loved the look of those pictures when it was popular.

OMG that library for kids at the end gave me flashbacks that I had forgot about!! Those steps are for the kids to sit on for reading time!! The adult sits in the corner and all the kids can see the book! Our small town library had a similar set up but the whole floor was just that gross green 90's carpet and brown wooden shelves. The kids reading area that had this was also up a creepy narrow hallway of stairs to the smallish room like this! Similarly, the old church I was forced to go to had the same creepy 90's vibe. I don't have any pictures but it was the same green/brown/white color scheme, winding hallways, and empty a majority of the time 6.6;

The red picture was taken somewhere in or around Bend, Oregon last summer (2020) when we had record breaking wild fires. The sky was glowing orange and red for days

I really recommend “Superliminal”. It’s a puzzle solving game in first person and it’s all about making your way out of a “dream inducing program” that puts you through a series of “tests” in liminal spaces. It’s a real piece of art! Love your videos btw. Peace ✌️

You and your background are the only thing keeping youtube going for me

Liminal space is like a space you are very familiar with, but you’ve never seen it without people or lights, and you’re not used to it so it feels weird

It's really interesting, the 'creepy nostalgia' that you described fits it really well. But really who isn't somewhat scared or wary of liminal spaces. I mean just imagine a shopping mall, imagine yourself in there, but everything's empty, dark and silent. Who wouldn't be scared of that, I know I definitely would be. Liminal Spaces can literally be anything, a dark, empty and uncomfortably long hallway, an empty hospital.... That's literally what liminal spaces are, normal looking environments but with something in it that makes it scary or uncanny. There's actually a game which portrays that, it's name is Anemoiapolis.

Very glad you made a video on this! After mentioning it in your previous video, I was looking for a vid of yours on it

I have to admit it reminds me of the Nintendo 64 for some reason.. Almost like the uncanny valley in terms of digital space. I think that's it, why it's weird for some people. We spent a lot of our youth running around these types of environments except they were games. Now we're older it seems unsettling and nostalgic.

We should start a petition or some sort of fund raiser to have a liminal space/nostalgia attraction built. Maybe an escape room? Maybe some sort of maze? Regardless, I bet it would make tons of cash with the right marketing. You could even have eerie music faintly playing throughout the building as you walk through it (like six forty seven, or goodbye to our world). It would be even better if only one person could go in at a time so they could really feel the isolation. Idk, I just want something like this.

It's that last look into the apartment you're moving out of after the U-Haul is full of your furniture and belongings. A brief rush of memories and a distant sense of loss as you bid farewell to who you were here. A contemplation of the unknown as you might briefly think about who will live here next and what memories you will make in your new home

I love luminal space, looking at pictures make me feel very comfortable. Honestly, I'd love to be there

Even if the views don’t go all they way up pleaseeeee do more of these. This has been my fav video of yours ❤️

When I was going through serotonin syndrome every smell, touch, noise reminded me of some reality where I’m stuck in that exact place and can’t leave. Like it felt like life had one viewing angle, and I was hit with INTENSE anxiety. Fuck I wish I could explain it..

Usually some of the main reasons why we find it so unsettling is the lack of people where there usually would be, darkness and being unable to see where something leads, a lot of the times it’s taken at a weird angle or it is very blurry, or maybe it just falls into the uncanny valley.

Loving the videos bro, Keep it up!

14:26 dude, this is a relative's house that I was at once. This is the exact same room I see when I picture that one memory of being there.

Liminal Space for me are places that I saw on my dreams and nightmares, something that I've know somewhere but never been there. Or video games that somebody points out here. I remember walking around big fields or empty place on my ps2

your videos are really good paired with lofi late at night your voice is very calming

16:43 OK WHO PUT THE DASHCON BALLPIT IN HERE

Just found your channel and you are one of the few people that make "reaction" videos interesting for me! I don't know if you still look at the comments here but i would suggest a video game called superliminal, it's like a puzzle-narrative style game, really unique you might like it!

if your in a small town and you go driving past midnight everything feels like liminal space. everything is so empty but still have the lights on as if something caused everyone to vanish at a sudden.

I feel like that remind me a lot of rooms that I would see in my dreams, that’s why it creeps me out, they are slightly off just like when you are dreaming

Some of those places seem like a nice place to chill out. I've never understood the liminal space thing. It just doesn't do anything time. Some are even relaxing/comforting.

Far out I knew I remembered you from somewhere! I was thinking, ‘Wasn’t this guy an ASMRist? I was thinking ‘ASMR Aviator’ or something lol… I was pondering this for two days before discovering your ‘Other channels’ tab… this is surreal. I’ve been following that channel since it began. My god time has flown by. Regardless, you’re still GregBroDudeMan to me anyhow

In my mind, liminal spaces are sort of on the borderline of mundane horror. At least, that's the feeling they invoke in me. The sort of feeling you get going into an abandoned building. Like; "If I keep going, I'm not sure if I'll actually be alone in here."

the dashcon ball pit being described as creepy has me wheezing

The ballpit!

I’m glad you touched on this mate. I recently told a story of an eerie-ass ‘liminal space’ experience I’ve had not too long ago, and yeah… this stuff is the real shit.

I'd describe liminal space as the calm before the storm. It's just too blank and "quiet" to be true. Like in movies when everything/-one stops for a second and then hell's let loose.

Play other games like Minecraft or terraria they don’t have to be water based games :) please

5:58 single powerline. No, that's a telegraph line. We still have them around here. Some are still in use.

i’ve always defined liminal space as the uncanny valley for places. it looks fake and feels real.

I totally get the creepy nostalgia thing. Sometimes I will have a sense of familiarity, but a sense of distance, almost like a very early memory or a memory from a past life. It's quite interesting.

Some reason I love the feeling that liminal space and dreamcore(the odd nostalgia) gives me Especially when sharing it with others

I love these! Please make more 👏👏

Around 14:45 - I had a classroom like that in middle school. It was a music room. Bottom left door is probably a teacher’s office, door on the top left is probably storage or a way out of the room to the hallway, and the door on the right looks like a door to the outside (per the EXIT sign - we had one of those in our choir room too.)

So this is why I’d feel so anxious when walking out of my classroom to the empty hallways and student center of my school when getting picked up early 😭🤚

When you say you want to be an architect, yet really only want to look at liminal spaces.

17:16 I’ve seen rooms that look like this and it’s so unsettling walking past them

I don’t really feel nostalgia, and I don’t feel like I’m waiting alone. It feels like someone is watching me

Some of these remind me of being in a dream like state, where its familiar but also unreal at the same time.

The fake ones look like alternative album covers, like the pink building with the pool looks like a Glass Animals cover and the stairs half submerged in water looks like a Radiohead one

I think the biggest thing is why liminal space is so... off? It's like the living room one or the stairs that made no practical design, taps on the type of fuzzy weird space in dreams that aren't good dreams or nightmares but wabble on the of both that you can remember but can't at the same time.

6:14 that one looks real because it is. It's from an article talking about how a subway in Japan flooded.

14:14 oh my god, i swear my kindergarden classroom had a reading corner that looked just like this- with the weird steps and everything. the lights were different and I'm certain there wasn't a door there, but I have vivid memories of this

Who remembers when Liminal Space was called Places that feel like you've been there before

The train scene from spirited away gives me that sad nostalgia feeling. I've never been able to explain it.

When I was in lithuania in a sauna, there was this cold pool once you came out of the sauna. It was behind the corner, and for some reason the lights were off, so it was just this very dimly lit corner where there was a round pool (with tiles of course), it was so teriffying

All the cgi tile pools just seem so chill to swim in for me idk why 😂. They don’t feel creepy to me just tranquil

Man, some of these really get me. Especially those with white tiles and office spaces. I used to go to work and college really, REALLY early, to the point where there were some times when I was the only one there, and seeing those places (which are supposed to be full of people) empty, and on top of that, poorly lit because not all lights are turned on yet.... it just gives me some weird vibes. Also, some of the liminal pictures of malls or game zones in malls with those whacky carpets and colors feel weird yet familiar as well, don't really know why.

I think that what gets to me the most about these pictures is the color of the sky. Like the one in the picture with three slides and the one in the bus. It's just such a weird shade of blue and I think it gives it more of that dream like vibe.

for me, liminal spaces feel like somewhere you would wake up in when ure in a coma or something. the constant waiting and not knowing anything from the outside of that space, ure trapped there and its not quite uncomfortable but u just desperatly want to leave

our school had that semi circle levels thing in the library in the 90's

9:03, scary red eyes !

That book room, brought back some nightmares that I had as a kid x.x I was fine until that weird library

Room with a white and tan color scheme, L-shaped couch, and a bulbous little TV taking up more room than necessary. That really was 2004.

THE ONE WITH THE WALL,STAIRS, AND TWO DOORS IS FROM THE LORAX WHEN HE ESCAPES!!!!!!

2:29 I can 200% confirm that I saw this place in a dream, I even was able to feel the temperature of the water somehow

Oh wow I had a dream with space like this it feels familiar too. Hard for me to explain until I seen this video. Thanks for sharing

16:40 so who's gonna tell him?

That 2004 apartment is IDENTICAL to the one i lived in with my mom around age 9. Crazy how exact it is!

A real life liminal space "generator" is the main building of the university from my home city. It has a pretty sizeable hallway filled with creepy paintings. Normally it's full of people but after hours or during holidays it's pretty much void of life. Also it was built on a steep incline, so about 100 meters downhill there's 1 extra level; and there's a lot of internal courtyards, some which are locked and inacessible.

Liminal space is the strangest fear for people ever, I just see peace and quiet