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The word liminal comes from the Latin limen, meaning “threshold”—and that’s exactly what these places are. Empty hallways, quiet airports, abandoned malls, long stretches of road at dusk: spaces caught between one moment and the next, familiar yet somehow completely strange.

They’re unsettling in a way you can’t quite put your finger on, and beautiful in a way you can’t quite explain. You just know you can’t look away.

The Facebook page Liminal Photography has built an entire community around that feeling. We’ve rounded up some of their best shots below—scroll down and prepare to feel like you’ve stepped sideways into a parallel universe.

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#1

I’m a real estate photographer. Sometimes I stumble upon 70 year old time capsules. This one has stuck with me.

#2

The oldest part of my medieval village in Italia. I love liminal photography.Glad I found the group. I’m enjoying all of your photos.

#3

My front yard. No edits. Taken from my phone 20 minutes ago.

So what exactly makes these transitional spaces feel so off? Researchers Alexander Diel and Michael Lewis of Cardiff University think they’ve found an answer. They attribute the unsettling nature of liminal spaces to something called the uncanny valley.

Usually, this term describes how humanoids that almost look human make us uncomfortable. But the same principle applies here. When physical places appear familiar but subtly deviate from reality, they create that signature sense of eeriness.

#4

Not my usual walk home

#5

Last night in South Dakota

#6

About an hour before dusk the forest suddenly turned this cold blue. No filter on these.

Think about a classroom you walk past after school hours. You’ve seen it a hundred times filled with students and teachers, desks cluttered with backpacks and papers. But empty? Something feels wrong.

In the Journal of Science and Culture, Peter Heft calls this a “failure of presence.” Drawing on the work of Mark Fisher, Heft explains that eeriness happens when we see a situation in a different context than we expect. The schoolhouse should be busy and alive. When it’s unnaturally empty, our brains struggle to make sense of it.

#7

Girlfriend was in a deep sleep while I was tossing and turning, so I decided to step outside, hit the pen, and walk around our hotel, the Stanley. Roamed around for about 2 hours, inside and out, not seeing another person, not even workers, the entire time. Silent, alone, and eerie. Here’s Johnny

#8

Just an endless tunnel underneath a worldwide crossroad

#9

“When people look at liminal spaces, they may feel a sense of uncertainty, unease or even fear. This is because liminal spaces are often associated with transitions, which can be unsettling for some people,” Keely Smith, lead interior designer at JD Elite interiors, tells HowStuffWorks. “They may also feel a sense of disorientation or a loss of sense of place, as these spaces lack clear markers of identity or ownership.”

#10

This is a vending machine at my work. Every time I see it at night I get this weirdly surreal feeling

#11

Photo my friend took a while ago

#12

But not every empty space qualifies as liminal. Your own home, even when vacant, doesn’t have that quality because you inhabit it constantly. You notice what needs fixing or cleaning. You’re used to it being yours.

Liminal spaces are different. They’re shared areas like airport bathrooms, hotel corridors, or stairwells where people don’t naturally linger. When you stop and really pay attention to these in-between zones, it feels almost subversive.

That focused attention on places we typically pass through without thinking is what gives liminality its strange power.

#13

#14

The view from my son’s bed as I tuck him in for the night.

#15

Cul-de-sac in the woods. Lacey, WA.

The current liminal space phenomenon really took off in 2019 when a creepypasta story about “the Backrooms” went viral on 4chan. The Backrooms are a fictional location described as an endless maze you can accidentally stumble into by “noclipping” out of reality, borrowing a term from video games where players glitch through walls.

The story featured an image that became iconic: a hallway with yellow carpets and wallpaper, fluorescent lights humming overhead, stretching on forever with no one in sight. The Backrooms have also been portrayed as inhabited by supernatural entities lurking in the empty corridors.

#16

Old Logan Cemetery in Logan, Ohio

#17

Foggy night at the dog park in Winnipeg,MB. Feb.12.26

#18

Valentine’s Day in Albion,MI.

Then came COVID-19, and the phenomenon exploded. The first major spike in popularity for liminal space imagery came in March 2020, right when lockdowns began. Suddenly, the entire world was living in an in-between state.

University of Missouri professor Dr. Timothy Carson, who teaches liminal studies, calls the pandemic an “involuntary social liminality, a time/space that was full of uncertainty and ambiguity, all the landmarks gone, the future undefined.” During situations like this, “disorientation reigns,” he tells HowStuffWorks.

That feeling resonated with people in a profound way. “Most of the people I explain liminality to end up saying, ‘Ah! That’s what I’ve been in! I just didn’t have words for it!’” Carson says. The pandemic made transitional spaces and the emotions they stir impossible to ignore.

#19

Lone Live Oak – Oat Mountain Road, Chatsworth, California by me.

#20

my great grandmother’s house

#21

Basilica di SS. Cosma e Damiano (Roma)

Which raises an obvious question: if these images make people feel untethered and uneasy, why do millions actively seek them out? Smith offers one explanation.

“In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in liminal spaces in architecture. This is partly due to the pandemic and the general uncertainty of life, which has made people more aware of transitional spaces and the emotions they evoke,” she says.

“Liminal spaces are being talked about as spaces of potential where people can reflect on their experiences and engage with their surroundings in new and meaningful ways.”

#22

#23

Hall of Doges, Davenport Hotel, Spokane WA, Built in 1890.

#24

This was an elevated corridor I came across today. Have a great day.

Maybe that’s it. In a world that often feels chaotic and overwhelming, there’s something almost meditative about sitting with the discomfort of these empty, in-between places. They don’t demand anything from us. They just exist, suspended in time, waiting for someone to pass through.

And in recognizing them, in giving them a name and a community, we’re acknowledging something true about the human experience: that we’re all just passing through, caught between one moment and the next, trying to make sense of the threshold.

#25

Minutes to midnight.

#26

#27

The night shift that never ends.

#28

Henniker, NH. Late night walk through town 🖤

#29

Buffalo, NY

#30

Felt like this belongs here. My apartment kitchen in Dayton, OH.

#31

A house I visited. Didn’t want to leave for some reason.

#32

#33

sopa de luna, houston

#34

Silent, empty tunnel 9 floors beneath street level of London. Only completely silent place I found there.

#35

This is the inside of an Abandoned Chuck E Cheese from childhood. My elementary used to give us free tickets to go there.

#36

Park City Mall in Lancaster PA. This specific area has always felt very liminal and almost eerie to me

#37

Taken just after sunrise. What does it make you think of?

#38

My drive to the store. Dahlonega GA

#39

Just an endless tunnel underneath a worldwide crossroad.

#40

#41

It’s raining at 3 am. Here is a picture looking down my street to the cul-de-sac. I liked it.

#42

The Big House at Malabar Farm in Lucas, Ohio

#43

Somewhere deep in Ozarks….

#44

Taken at Fort Morgan in Alabama.

#45

#46

A parking garage in downtown St Joseph Missouri

#47

Someone in another group recommended this one, glad they did! Here’s an image I took last week.

#48

What lies beneath, Bridge in Jacksonville, Florida. 2012+-

#49

Some warehouse in the 80’s filled with hundreds of returned defective Teddy Ruxpin bears is rather spooky and sad

#50

Lonely Chinese restaurant in Bristol, Tennessee.

#51

Washington Township, NJ. Which sign would you obey?

#52

#53

Vinyl Lounge in Nashville, TN

#54

Foggy night on main street, Eureka, Kansas.

#55

parking garage at Kimbell Art Museum

#56

Atlanta Omni

#57

Meadow Grove, Nebraska I drive by this every time I go into town. Of course, I had to stop eventually.

#58

My flight was cancelled and I got to stay here as a courtesy. If anyone here has played Control, it gave me those vibes. I figured I’d add the other pictures I took.

#59

Come on through to the other side…..

#60

Dragon city mall, Calgary Alberta

#61

#62

Antique store I was in, their basement. Staunton VA.

#63

Abandoned school in Butte, MT. Gave me some Wes Anderson vibes.

#64

I regret too much, and remember too little.

#65

#66

My company bought a new building and we haven’t moved in…pipes froze and the building flooded. My first time here, to let the gas company in….

#67

So close, yet so far. CC

#68

#69

Albion, MI

#70

Dusty

#71

#72

Hope I catch the last train of the night – Chicago, IL

#73

The air was so crisp and fresh for the downtown core.

#74

On my way home from my over night shift, stopped to check my phone out of the rain and sent this to my bf. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

#75

im sad and high and walked all the way to the pier , I thought this looked alright sorry

#76

#77

Lewisburg, TN

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