Is the Backrooms Real?

The Backrooms is a horror concept that originated on the internet: an infinite, unsettling labyrinth of empty rooms with yellow wallpaper, fluorescent lighting, and damp carpet. The idea is that you can accidentally "noclip" out of reality and end up trapped in this endless space.

The Origin

The Backrooms concept began on 4chan's /x/ board in 2019, when an anonymous user posted a photo of an unsettling, liminal office space with the caption describing how to accidentally "clip" out of reality. The image — likely a real photo of an empty commercial space — struck a nerve, and the concept exploded.

The Expansion

The community rapidly expanded the lore:

• Multiple "levels": Fans created hundreds of levels beyond the original yellow rooms, each with unique characteristics and dangers
• Entities: Creatures that inhabit the Backrooms were invented and catalogued in a wiki-style format
• YouTube series: Creator Kane Pixels produced a found-footage series that went viral, accumulating hundreds of millions of views and attracting attention from A24 for a potential film

Why It Resonates

The Backrooms taps into liminal space aesthetics — the unsettling feeling of places that should be occupied but aren't. Empty malls, abandoned offices, and vacant parking garages all trigger this response. Psychologists link this to our brains flagging "something is wrong" when spaces that should contain people are empty.

Our Verdict

The Backrooms are not real. They are a collaborative fiction (creepypasta) created by internet users, inspired by the unsettling aesthetics of liminal spaces. The original photo was a real image of an empty commercial space — the horror story built around it is entirely fictional.