Download the article Explore the origins of a creepy internet sensation
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Imagine endless yellow hallways, no furniture or decor to speak of, and something lurking just around the corner. Welcome to The Backrooms, a massively popular (and fictional) piece of internet folklore that has spawned countless fan-made stories, shorts, and video games. But what are The Backrooms? Can you really get there? And can you escape? We’ll tell you everything you need to know, from exactly what The Backrooms is to where it came from. I just hope you don’t find yourself there any time soon.
- The Backrooms are not real, but a fictional setting invented on the popular message board 4chan.
- Backrooms is described as an environment of endless, monotonous yellow rooms with harsh lighting and musty carpet. Besides, something lurks in the shadows.
- People are said to come to The Backrooms wandering through reality, though no one can say for sure how to escape them.
The Backrooms originated on a 4chan thread in 2019. An anonymous user on 4chan, a popular message board, started a thread where users posted “disturbing images” that feel “off” in some way. One user posted a picture of what appeared to be a beige-yellow interior without any notable features. Another user responded to the image with the following piece of flash fiction, prompting the creation of The Backrooms:[6]
- “If you’re not careful and don’t trip out of reality in the wrong areas, you’ll end up in Backrooms, where there’s only the stench of old damp carpet, the madness of monochrome yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms in with which you can be captured. God save you if you hear something wandering nearby, because it must have heard you”
The Backrooms thread was posted on Reddit, where it gained popularity. A Reddit user posted a screenshot of a 4chan thread on /r/greentext in 2019, where it garnered tens of thousands of hits and inspired a series of related creepypastas, elevating The Backrooms to Internet fame and spreading creepypastas to Twitter, TikTok, and other social media platforms.[7]
Fans have made short films and games inspired by The Backrooms. Soon after The Backrooms became widely popular, fans began creating their own Backrooms creations with their own interpretations and even stories for the setting, some of which featured various monsters.[8]
In that sense, The Backrooms is a bit of collaborative storytelling where the lines between “canon” and fan-made work are blurred, and everyone can contribute.- A number of fan-made video games have also been released, allowing fans to explore The Backrooms for themselves
- One series by creator Kane Pixels called “The Backrooms (Found Footage)” became particularly popular and featured characters in hazmat suits studying a strange place.
- On 6 February 2023, it was announced that A24 would release a feature film about The Backrooms directed by Kane Pixels in the future.
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