Or nightshifting as security Did that for while and was sometimes assigned to Shifts in a Hospital, with my Security-Walk (I don't know if theres a correct name for that right now) leading me through the basement of the Hospital and then up to All the actual hospital floors wich at nighttime obviously are very silent and devoid of life, besides the workers you occasionaly meet or some seldom noises like the patient alarm
I worked tech support second shift in a decent sized office building for a while. It was always kind of cool to watch these spaces drain into the uncanny. When I started my shift ever day, it was a normal office but by the time I went home it had been empty for hours. I really liked the building and looking out over the city late at night (especially during snow storms) but I could definitely see how it would unnerve people.
My favorite thing about liminal spaces is their resemblance to dreams. Even some common dream phenomenon are liminal such as hidden doors or rooms in your house you didn't know existed
I’ve always loved the idea of secret rooms or doors in my house also basement I love small spaces and I live in Florida so basements aren’t common here
I have a recurring series of dreams which takes place in my house. Except, the house is wider, and the third floor is unreachable because the stairs leading up to it are broken. I don't know why.
I went back to my old elementary school to visit. Nothing had changed, but the front hall which looked so big to a little kid seemed small to adult me, and I realized, it had always been this size.
I think my elementary school finna get shut down, the principal literally ignored kids that were getting beat up (like 5th graders ganging up on 3rd grader) and yelled at ME that i could carry 20 pounds of bags (I was in 1st grade)
it's always weird going into your old school. I went to the fall fair at my elementary school a little while ago, and my friend and I went into the haunted house. It wasn't unsettling because it was a haunted house, but because it felt so familiar; yet different at the same time.
You want something trippy? I have an exceptionally keen spatial memory, to the point where when I’m navigating around areas I’m familiar with, I do it in 3D in my mind being able to scroll ahead or back at will visualizing the roads and their surroundings as if it were a game engine render. Well, my strongest spatial memories were houses I lived in for periods of my life. The first one of these was the house I lived in from birth till about 6 years old. I was talking to my parents about that house on the phone one night and I described a virtual walkthrough to them. I described the rooms, described the colors and patterns of the carpet, walls, windows, furniture and where they were placed. My dad kept making these surprised sounds and I finally asked him what was wrong. He told me that right then he happened to be in the middle of digitizing photos from that very house, and as I was describing what I was seeing, he was pulling up pictures and verifying everything I was saying, as I was describing it, even stuff he himself had forgotten about. So how is that trippy? I have what I call a semi-autonomous overactive vivid memory and imagination, so what I was doing isn’t all that special. But here’s the thing: I couldn’t describe certain spots, like, at all. Why? Like I said before, it was a house I lived in from birth till about 6 years old. At best I was about 3 feet tall when we moved. I was doing the walkthrough at my current height of 6 feet (*every* place I can do this in are *always* from the viewpoint of my current height), with the rooms having shrunk due to knowing that they wouldn’t look as big as an adult, and my brain scaled everything to appropriate size as an adult would see it. Those spots I couldn’t describe? Those were the tops of cabinets and shelves that I couldn’t see when I lived there. Where there *should* have been stuff at those spots that my brain just filled in as a best guess (because the brain normally does that automatically), no matter how hard I try all I can see is a grey void, like the texture in a game engine that failed to load.
When I was a teenager I would sneak out at night and hang out alone in my small town’s main st. I’d lay in the middle of the busiest road and stare at the stars and listen to the silence. It was awesome, but lonely
I used to work overnights in Boulder CO. My buddy would come join me and we would play frisbee on pearl st. Right downtown. We would chuck it as hard as we could.
I used to take late-night walks for many years. Wondering through empty streets including major thoroughfares in the dead of night was definitely a trip. Seeing empty schools darkened houses and not a soul in sight was oddly peaceful and strangely fascinating
I did this under a huge cell tower at night. Laid on the ground looking up at the night sky in the still silence of the night and questioning my own existence while sneaking cigarettes. Did this for a long time until one night a wolf came out of the brush and was in attack mode. Thank GOD I had a Swiss cake roll in my bag, I was able to throw it towards him and while he snarled it down I ran until my lungs were on fire and my legs jello. Once I got in the front door I never did that again. But this weird piece of me craves it. So much. I want to disappear from society. Maybe my scars are too deep, the hurt and suffering without any hope for better has become my reality.
Forgetting and liminality work incredibly well together. I imagine a movie with no talking, one person just walking around liminal spaces, nothing happens, just walking, then it ends. It isn’t supposed to be good, it’s just there.
you should watch the movie “Skinamarink” it’s kind of like what you’re describing. movie isn’t necessarily scary, just very off putting and strange. there is little to no dialogue in the movie either. worth a watch.
I will never forget, way back in what was probably grade 3, my class had just finished the annual christmas concert in the gymnasium stage. all of the kids were supposed to leave with their parents, but for whatever reason, i stuck around, and lost sight of my parents. minutes later I decided to wander back to my classroom, thinking my friends or family would be there, but since it was past 7pm, I was met with nothing but dead, silent, empty school hallways. 8 year old me would NEVER be the same after the shock of seeing the once bustling halls now devoid of life.
I experienced something similar I had to go to school on the weekend because my grades were low and while trying to find the classroom I had to learn it I ended up in dark hallways that was supposed to be filled with kids I had to run to my classroom to get a study guide for my math test I left and I was terrified I was scared to go in the classroom alone it felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there I turned around and saw a teacher teaching in a classroom I felt comfortable again and I will never forget that…
The way I would be weirded out going to the school playground during the summer or weekends as a kid, just to hear the way my mind would make up for the lack of kids on the playground. All the yelling and playing and laughing, except it wasn't there. It bothered me for the longest time anytime I'd go back bc I knew what was once there.
Minor sad story involving the wooden playground thing. In my hometown there was a large wooden playground called Kid's Kingdom, it was awesome and had a vertical tire tunnel leading to a below section that was creepy but still fun. I moved away in early 2014 and it got lost to my memories. Last year I had the chance to take a trip back there with my fiancé and I wanted to show her the "Best playground I have ever been to"....but it was not the same....The sprawling wooden structure was replaced with some dinky "safe" standard playground fare, and the waterpark section which used to have a full water volcano feature... was gone as well.... It only exists in my memories now.... I was so disappointed....
I have a feeling that this literally is the same one in my town. I looked it up and “kids kingdom” is kind of a common name for the wooden playgrounds but the volcano just makes it seem like it’s the same one lol. The new place just feels so sterile now.
@@aealzh6125 Just remember that even then, the feelings are real, and that's what art does to you. Trigger emotions through fictional scenarios in text, images or sound. Like books, paintings and music!
When Minecraft was released on the Playstation I used to play quite a bit. I'd randomly generate a world.. set it to peaceful..and just wander all over it, seeing what there was to see until I had uncovered the entire map. Floating islands, waterfalls, amazing rock formations, different biomes, animals, caves, treasure rooms (there were always a few), villagers settlements.. you never knew what you would find. I wouldn't craft anything other than needed tools, or a boat. One day I found an entire herd of horses and just hung out with them. One day I found an entire temple inside a 1x1 hole in the desert. It was so relaxing and peaceful. My daughter found me playing and started asking what I was doing... talking about farms, and buildings, and redstone.. "I'm good.. just exploring". I don't think she ever got it. I know a lot of people get freaked out about liminal spaces, but they are peaceful to me. The only thing that is disturbing is if there is something or someone else in there.. that's the scary part.
Liminal spaces feel like either a structure or an entire world suffers from dementia rather than the individual, and that’s what makes them so deeply unnerving.
I think it is something else. Neither we not liminal dpaces have forgotten anything at all. Rather, they (and we to an extent) are a constant remonder that they have served their purpose and that thekr time is simply over. But we are unwillingly to accept that. Unwillingly to let go and let the entropy of the universe win!
the Minecraft segment hit me super hard, like now i cant look at my old worlds the same anymore, all that time on the 360, playing tutorial worlds with my brother and friends. then all the sudden, im alone.
@@joefaz1377 it can at times feel like that; I once heard that the best horror games are not horror games, they scare you because you don’t expect it unlike when you play a horror game.
I think that this is a fair analysis of liminal spaces as a concept and as an overall visual style. Kudos for finally mentioning Marc Augé and why his non-places book is so important to understand liminality from an anthropological standpoint.
Thanks! But I can't really take credit for including Marc Auge as another youtuber called Clark Elison put it in a video about The Backrooms which is what caused me to do more research and mention it, the comparison has been made before, just not specifcally to liminal spaces, I hope to find more things soley on my own one day!
The feeling I get from the liminal space pictures that affect me is a weird mixture of comfort, melancholy and yearning. It's a feeling hard to describe, but ever since 'liminal space' has become a social media phenomenon that people talk about at least I now know what to enter into the search bar to get to that mental/emotional place if I'm in the mood for it. I've also found that certain musical/sound pieces can get me to that state (mostly meditative music) and you're using a lot of them in this video. I guess people really are more alike than they are different.
"oh a liminal space video! I like those might as well watch it to pass the time" *47 minutes later* "that was the most beautiful and inspiring video I have ever watched"
I find airports really calming and peaceful when I'm not in a hurry. It's a bit similar to the way I feel about walking through my local mall with no intent. Your videos are well done and this one really cuaght my attention! I hope your channel continues to grow!
I recently spent the majority of a weekend in airports waiting for flights. This comment pretty much sums up the experience. Some of the bigger airports especially look and feel like malls. I was traveling alone and, especially on the return trip, had plenty of time to wait for my flight. So I was able to just wander around and explore. The only thing preventing it from giving that full "liminal" feeling was that they were packed with people.
@@retromacman620 I usually go to the smokers area at mine when I can see there'll be a spot far away from the people smoking cuz it has a great view. One time for like a minute there was nobody there can you can't see into the airport from that spot. It was really nice. A plane was taking off and I imagined it was like the future and the planes are like AI controlled or something and it's empty so there's nobody around in the world at all haha
After having the free time over the weekend I fully watched this. He might not see this comment but by the end it gave me a single tear. There's a lingering fear after he explained all this and greater detail. The fear of our own mortality.
i absolutely love this video. the message at the end is amazing. i love how all this silverlining was just from the topic of "liminal space". the meaning of life and how important we all are. how worthy we are. how much we matter. how grateful we should be about everything and that we should live life to the fullest. every aspect of this video was amazing. i'm saving this video so i could rewatch in the future sometime. after it has left my memory.
14:00 im actually so glad you mentioned places that dont strickly fit the definition of transitional space because a lot of my favorite liminal spaces dont include simple hallways and are more surreal almost dreamlike locations like stuff you cant remember if you actually experienced a long time ago or if it was in a weird dream. you pretty much said exactly this for the second defintion but i had wrote most of this before i got to that part and only hoped you would bring it up lol
Thank you for that ending❤ I’ve been struggling with depression and an intense fear of dying almost my whole life. Sometimes it’s so hard that the least scary thing seems to just die. I had this video on in the background but really focused on the outro. It somehow gave me a bit of meaning to everything I do. Thank you for making it a bit easier to continue❤
I used to sneak around the local community college during summer break as a teen. Those memories of the empty classrooms and lecture hall, stay with me 30+ years later.
my sister would have to go to college earlier than it started because of transport limitations. the empty halls of an old building, previously a manor. random sounds in the pre-sunrise morning being the only one there.
45:00 i was napping while listening to your video and entered a half awake half asleep state during this part. i continued to be in this state til the end of the video, and it felt weird listening to this part again fully awake. idk why i decided to share, thought it was cool
Hearing this while putting myself in a "staring off into space" moment to get close to your feeling made this interesting. It's like hearing a subconscious thought out loud that pulls you back to reality as it keeps speaking.
How can you guys fantasize about something so scary? Being the latest person on Earth must be so sad and lonely. And I say that as an introvert... But imagining myself so lost and alone... scary stuff
Easily my favorite TH-camr every video has so much thought and love put into it I can watch them for ever this was an absolute banger keep up the good stuff
The image at 00:29 is my home town Mogi das Cruzes, in Brazil. I used to cross that exact spot every day going home, so weird seeing it in one of these videos.
Bem que eu tava achando essa rua extremamente reconhecível, toda essa coisa de Liminal Spaces tem um certo de limite regional, sinto muito mais "liminaridade" ou "heimlich" quando vejo ruas brasileiras desertas do que ruas gringas
Back again with another banger of a video, I see The wooden playground thing! I almost made the exact same comment that so many other people did, because I've actually visited the wooden playground of my childhood recently. It's the Playground of Dreams in New Mexico, my uncle helped build it and it's still around to this day. It doesn't look exactly like the picture you showed but it is eerie how similar it is to that.
One thing I differ on with this is the poolrooms. They just unsettle me in a weird way, I can just imagine something splashing closer, and closer out from the dark leaving me powerless to stop it. I only really would feel comfortable in a poolroom of closed off walls because I'd be terrified of hearing the splash of something else in the distance.
In addition to this, consider how being in shin or knee deep water would not only slow you down if you have to move quickly, but you'll make a lot of splashing noise too. Fun times.
Yeah, those images are just terrifying. Especially the ones with the dark tunnels. I can just imagine being in there and hearing the echoes of splashing, getting closer and closer.
I get this feeling sometimes when walking through the streets at night. Empty car parks , town at night pretty much most places at night feel like a liminal space
I put this on as background noise while I wrote last night, but I didn’t end up writing anything because this was so friggin’ captivating. Beautiful video, dude
@@MySerpentine it's the same as someone seeing an eerily similar mcdonalds to the one they grew up with and their brain thinking it's the exact same one. It's just a specific pre-built playground that was produced by a company to be built across the United States.
You know, I've always tried to understand what is meant by "liminal space" and you managed to explain it in a way that I finally understood. Thank you for that!
Thank you for putting voice to the feelings I have whenever I look at liminal space images. I feel like similar video essays don’t put enough focus on the forgetting, the loss. So many other videos get hung up on spaces not fitting the definition, that a child’s bedroom or an empty pool is not a “transitional space”. They most definitely are, at least in this context. They are a space that WE, transitioned out of. They are the past, are we not continuously in space of transition? I will never get to experience how my childhood living room felt in 2008. I’ve left that part of my live behind, whether I knew it at the time or not. I’m only 25, but I can’t stop thinking about how much I’ve forgotten, and how much I will forget in the future. My past is slipping through my fingers and there isn’t much I can do about it, other than to cling to these imperfect recollections of what I used to know. It hurts.
Man, I absolutely love the ending monologues of your videos. If I'm having a bad day and then hearing some of those lines, it definitely helps me move my mind to a more positive place. Appreciate you and your videos dude, keep up the awesome work.
I will never forget my last day of elementary school. Back then I hated school, I often didn't wanna go, I'd rather stay at home and sleep longer and then play outside all day. Last day of elementary school we had party with all the students from out generation and teachers, after all was over, it was late noon, I stayed in last, school was pretty much empty, maybe few teachers left in their offices so I decided to just walk around the school for the last time to say my goodbyes, it was so liminal, so empty and familiar, I went down to the lower classes where I went when I was a kid, I had such a great memories from it, I will never forget that alone walk thought my elementary school and feelings I got while walking.
I ride in a saddle that is a British Calvary Officer's saddle from WWI. I had it restored. My favorite sweater I ride in is a pastel yellow one with the rocky mountains on it and has that quote. I didn't realize it was a Tolkien quote until just now. Synchronicity is a beautiful thing. To know I have a saddle from the men that inspired the riders of Rohan, I just had a real emotional moment there. I'm glad I saw this video. I'm so glad that object has a second life with me.
Lol, we are so different.. I feel immense dread just by looking at that pool pictures, but you describe them like comfortable. And i feel so good loking at most "scary" ones, especially if they placed outdoors 😂
23:49 out of all the pictures shown this one freaked me out the most. It's not 100% the same place but similar enough to one I went to for a star wars themed birthday party once.
The speech at the end funnily enough made me think of a line that Freddy Kruger said in one of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, "Being dead wasn't a problem, but being forgotten, now that's a bitch."
Horror movies actually have a ton of good quotes about mortality. They end up being very poignant when removed from context. My favorite is "Sometimes dead is better." It's from Salem's Lot, and in context is about not resurrecting the dead. But the movie also shows a character suffering slowly from an illness that leaves her sister resenting being a caretaker as just a child, and this poor child (and woman recollecting the trauma as an adult) admits to wishing her sister would just die. For the sake of the sister in pain, the argument could be made that dead is better. For the sister being a caretaker, the argument could be that dead is better. And anyone dealing with chronic health issues, caretaking those they love but know will never get better, or are experiencing a very nihilistic patch, the thought "Sometimes dead is better" can really ring true. And it's funny, the first quote from JRR Tolkien is out of context. It's meaningful to everyone who reads it but it was just a quote about wandering enemies being on the lookout for the protagonists.
When I was younger, the night in Minecraft scared me because of how empty it was. Even if I was in creative mode, when night came, I hunkered down in a hole until day. Now, I really like liminal spaces and really want to explore them. It feels like the places are saying something. Sometimes, when I go to historical places (there's a historical village from colonial times near my house) and the roads and bridges and houses that are left there always felt liminal. People used to use these things as just another aspect of their lives, like just going down the road and going to the tanner or something, but now that I look at these empty historical villages, it feels so liminal (especially since there aren't many people who visit the village, devoiding it of life). I think historical places like this is a good example of liminal spaces, a place devoided of life suspended in a time lost.
You have never made a video that was bad or was poorly made. The quality your your content is incredible. This is easily one of your best videos yet and is my personal favorite of the videos that you have made. You are a seriously underrated channel. Keep up the phenomenal work man. Edit: It is absolutely criminal that one of your videos hasn't reached 1mil views yet and your channel not having at least 100k subs for the amount of quality you have put into your content.
tbh ive never found such a perfect word for the feeling i felt about these places before i discovered liminal spaces. the feeling you explain at the beginning about exploring empty places is so resonant with me
An absolutely amazing way to end the video! I loved it. The ending moved me from the "being forgotten in time" feeling created throughout the video to the "live your life" feeling that is actually important. I thank you for this video, this piece of art.
This video made me realize that the lack of context, or the removal of context, is in some form present in literally every liminal space photo I've ever seen. That has got to be tied to our imperfect memories.
To me, they evoke a profound sense of nostalgia and possibility, like echoes of places we’ve been or dreams we’ve almost had. There’s something uniquely powerful about the way liminal spaces make us confront the void between the familiar and the unknown, and that’s exactly the kind of feeling I aim to capture in my music. Thank you for sharing this - it’s a perfect reminder of why I’m so drawn to these fleeting worlds.
I remember when I was a kid in elementary school, my school had a GIGANTIC field that was rarely used, and I'd go there during my lunch to read. Near the edge of the field was an abandoned kickball area with old wooden benches I'd always sit, and it was always so quiet. I miss those quiet days...
Just found your channel and absolutely fell in love. Your videos truly hit on some topics I think about often but rarely find anyone else discussing. Things which ultimately can be traced to our primal instincts and our evolutionary nature and subconscious but lead to some complex and profound thoughts. Like being afraid of the unknown because as animals we fear predators hiding. Such as when we play peaceful mode Minecraft. Or like in this video you have blown my mind. How as humans our very existence and world is based on our memory. Which we fear may fail or like when we see familiar looking structures or pictures. These liminal spaces and Deja vu make us question out memories and therefore question our entire world! And nostalgia can help reassure our memories and make us feel secure in our model of the world and in our own existence!
All objects are sentient and retain consciousness at a level. That’s why when we’re in liminal spaces there’s still a comforting feeling of not being completely alone. The framing of a door has consciousness, a ceiling tile, a garbage lid…….you may be the only person in the room, but you’re not alone.
@@f5tornado831 Read into all the mystic traditions, and trip experiences from people who have gone deep with psychedelics. There is a thread through each of these practices and experiences that demonstrates all things around us have some form of consciousness. So, no, you can’t have a conversation with the lamp sitting on the table to your left, but it’s aware of your presence, and you aware of it, though you may not be able to directly perceive it.
Ya know, i don't "👍🏻" that many videos but this is One of the first videos I have actively gone out of my way to like and suggest to others. It has such a meaningful impact, I had shown it to a friend of mine struggling at the time with some depression and That ending really made them feel better, So yeah I couldn't recommend a better video!
Dude, the image at 12:21 looks like a weird wacky version of my old house that I haven't seen since I was 6. It looks right yet wrong at the same time...
I feel like the concept of mental maps comes into play with liminal spaces a lot. I think that the liminal spaces we resonate the most with are the ones that resemble the mental maps of spaces we created as children. The spaces that are kind of an amalgamation between the sets of our favorite tv shows, our old houses, schools, doctors offices, places we saw in dreams, and all of the spatial information we absorbed as kids and then reframed into new spaces in our minds are liminal spaces.
26:33 This is honestly super interesting, Because those pool rooms are frankly one of the freakiest ones shown in the video to me. Many of the others feel weird, Yes, Out of place, Or without context, But they don't feel _wrong,_ But that pool just feels very wrong. Like everything about it. I'd be terrified if I were there.
This reminds me of the first episode of Twilight Zone. No one else being there, yet you are all alone slowly forgetting those who you loved who you are...
kinda off topic but Im not gonna lie, the end got me tearing up. I struggle with depression and those last lines were the first thing that genuinely gave me motivation, lol. Please continue doing this amazing job, ur videos are awesome
Thats cool! You gotta tell me the origins of the image at 20:45 I was looking at it for a good minute thinking it was an old Xbox edition map I used to play on but I'm not sure.
This video is a masterpace, i discovered your chanell about few weeks ago and i cant stop comming back to your videos, your good at what youre doing dude.
Last summer I worked in my old elementary school for a month to clean it for the next school year. It was really weird to see my school empty in the middle of summer. I saw my old classrooms completely empty of people and furniture and the dark corridors filled with desks. the felling of liminality was very present. What hit me the hardest was being alone in the library and finding the same old books that I read in my childhood and walking the same path to go to school and back home every day (once in the morning at 7am when nobody is awake, twice at lunch and once at the end of the day) was a really weird experience. I also got to see place in the school that I had never seen like the elevator and the janitor's storage room.
I have passed the whole video looking for eyes waching me in those pictures, movements in the corners, doors opening, but nothing. one of the best videos in quite a while.
Airports are one of my favorite places. Especially the ones in the other city, when I'm returning. They are so sterile that it lets me wonder in my thoughts and at the end they become quite profound. Would love to see one empty. The closest I can get is when the plane is really early or really late and there are barely any people and it is awesome.
I have always loved the feeling these types of images gave me but am now looking deeper and learning more. I really enjoyed this video and how well it was structured and explained things. You made connections I really appreciated as whale. I love connecting things and figuring how things can and are related. I will be in this rabbit hole for a while, if not eternity. And I am glad I have stumbled upon your channel as whale and get to see more of what you created and learn more.
There was a scene in "28 Days Later" Where the main character after leaving the hospital was wandering around abondoned London, I don't know how to describe that scene, it just makes me feel a surtant way.
This is an amazing video, I think you’ve described it all very well. And as someone who is still very young but struggles with memory, that fear of forgetting is very real. I don’t remember most of my life, so this nostalgia for a life you never experience is something I feel very often. I am so glad you talked about suburbs in this, as I think they’re really overlooked when it comes to strange terror you can’t explain easily. Anyways, me rambling aside, great video, I’ve subscribed.
The image at 20:47 is actually a mini game map on the old Ps3 and Xbox 360 additions of Minecraft and it brought so many memories back to me since it played a major role in my child hood. Thats why the new minecrafts music, textures, absence darkness, and absence of fear from unknown just doesnt feel the same and as fun to adventure like it used to
About a year ago I got the chance to work as a tech intern at my high school that I had just graduated from as a summer job. This eventually lead to working at the Elementary towards the second half of the summer that I had never gone to as a kid because I had switched schools. Occasionally after work or just before work ended, a friend and I would just wonder around the completely empty hallways that we had no recollection of. There were hardly any lighs on, no sounds no people ... nothing but what appeared to be a school, but with no one there. I always liked the thought of liminal spaces so this was pretty surreal.
17:49 this one had me pausing for a straight few minutes as I remember a similar place from a nightmare, that one had me in shock at how real some of these places feel from your dreams, amazing video dude this stuff is wild.
While I personally do think the back rooms are much creepier without entities, I do not think there was any ambiguity on whether or not an entity existed in the original post. The original point being made is “ If you hear something, it HAS heard you” . The conditionality here is whether or not you hear it, but once you have heard something, it has unquestionably heard you, which means we know what it is because we know it can hear you. The if does not apply to the creature existing. The if applies to you hearing it
THANK YOU for saying "those." I keep seeing "not all who wander are lost" stickers and everyone forgets the "those." IT'S "NOT ALL *THOSE* WHO WANDER ARE LOST." WITHOUT THE "THOSE" IT DOESN'T FIT THE METER OF THE POEM IT'S FROM yes this is the hill I'm going to die on
ever since you starting talking about the uncanny, I had to go to my parent's room multiple times in a row cause of how terrified I was. I'm so glad I decided to watch this when I'm not home alone. damn. I've only seen two of your videos so far (the last one I watched was how erie minecraft peacefull mode was. I immediately watched this one after that video) and I already love your videos. I've always loved the feeling I felt every time I saw a liminal space, so I think that's why I love your videos so much already. It only took me 10 minutes through this video to already subscribe to you. keep it up!
No, deadass tho, that wooden play ground is legit. Theres at least two playgrounds like that here in Michigan, I used to play on them when I was a kid and a few years ago with my siblings. It’s one of my favorite playgrounds and I’ll even go back there one of these days to prove that it exists.
There’s actually more than one in Michigan, look up TimberTown in Chelsea MI, Fort Fraser in Fraser MI, Danish Kingdome Playground in Greenville MI, Hager Park in Georgetown MI and Rayner Park in Mason MI. These playgrounds DO exist and I HAVE been to some of them.
Solid video essay! I'm glad to see an attempt to define liminality that captures the "feeling" instead of increasingly restrictive criteria that basically only includes suburban hallways. I also enjoyed and agreed with your breakdown of dreamlike, nostalgic, and scary subgenres. A lot of self-appointed arbiters of liminality try to exclude these things as their own distinct categories.
Love your videos, found you yesterday. The way you articulate to describe the undescribable allows me to understand your thought process on these complex topics
"A place between" is a good of a definition as any to me. Between what? Anytime and everything. Between here and there, between then and later, between consciousness and unconsciousnes, between use and disuse, between life and death, between remembering and forgetting, between familiar and unfamiliar. Liminality is the between state. And that between state can startles us or be uncanny because we usually don't focus on the background, because we feel like and for the most part, we weren't meant to actually see it, at least until it stares us in the face. A liminal space is the background between states given focus. Like imagine the apartment from Friends with no one on set and the lights off. Nostalgia or anemoia, or the thing between them, isn't a part of liminality in the truest sense, but it is at the same time, because it's between then and later, between life and death, between happy and sad, and between remembering and forgetting, like how a square is a rectangle but a rectangle isn't a square.
Anyone who wants to immerse themselves in uncanny and spooky liminal spaces should try being a 3rd shift janitor for a little while.
Or nightshifting as security
Did that for while and was sometimes assigned to Shifts in a Hospital, with my Security-Walk (I don't know if theres a correct name for that right now) leading me through the basement of the Hospital and then up to All the actual hospital floors wich at nighttime obviously are very silent and devoid of life, besides the workers you occasionaly meet or some seldom noises like the patient alarm
Overnight housekeeper here! Can 100% confirm
Retail graveyard shift too
I worked tech support second shift in a decent sized office building for a while. It was always kind of cool to watch these spaces drain into the uncanny. When I started my shift ever day, it was a normal office but by the time I went home it had been empty for hours. I really liked the building and looking out over the city late at night (especially during snow storms) but I could definitely see how it would unnerve people.
@@buffbelugaboi6520🥶🥶🥶
My favorite thing about liminal spaces is their resemblance to dreams. Even some common dream phenomenon are liminal such as hidden doors or rooms in your house you didn't know existed
WHAT I WAS JUST THINKING ABT THOSE DREAMS
I’ve always loved the idea of secret rooms or doors in my house also basement I love small spaces and I live in Florida so basements aren’t common here
I have a recurring series of dreams which takes place in my house. Except, the house is wider, and the third floor is unreachable because the stairs leading up to it are broken. I don't know why.
@@oracle372 interesting if the dream takes place in my house the most consistent things are the front and backyard though those can be warped too
not my dreams. Mine are VERY complex and involved XD Like a whole movie, several times a night
I went back to my old elementary school to visit. Nothing had changed, but the front hall which looked so big to a little kid seemed small to adult me, and I realized, it had always been this size.
Reading this gave me chills...
I think my elementary school finna get shut down, the principal literally ignored kids that were getting beat up (like 5th graders ganging up on 3rd grader) and yelled at ME that i could carry 20 pounds of bags (I was in 1st grade)
Luminal scale,, grow love big also..then wiser
it's always weird going into your old school. I went to the fall fair at my elementary school a little while ago, and my friend and I went into the haunted house. It wasn't unsettling because it was a haunted house, but because it felt so familiar; yet different at the same time.
You want something trippy? I have an exceptionally keen spatial memory, to the point where when I’m navigating around areas I’m familiar with, I do it in 3D in my mind being able to scroll ahead or back at will visualizing the roads and their surroundings as if it were a game engine render.
Well, my strongest spatial memories were houses I lived in for periods of my life. The first one of these was the house I lived in from birth till about 6 years old. I was talking to my parents about that house on the phone one night and I described a virtual walkthrough to them. I described the rooms, described the colors and patterns of the carpet, walls, windows, furniture and where they were placed.
My dad kept making these surprised sounds and I finally asked him what was wrong. He told me that right then he happened to be in the middle of digitizing photos from that very house, and as I was describing what I was seeing, he was pulling up pictures and verifying everything I was saying, as I was describing it, even stuff he himself had forgotten about.
So how is that trippy? I have what I call a semi-autonomous overactive vivid memory and imagination, so what I was doing isn’t all that special. But here’s the thing: I couldn’t describe certain spots, like, at all. Why? Like I said before, it was a house I lived in from birth till about 6 years old. At best I was about 3 feet tall when we moved.
I was doing the walkthrough at my current height of 6 feet (*every* place I can do this in are *always* from the viewpoint of my current height), with the rooms having shrunk due to knowing that they wouldn’t look as big as an adult, and my brain scaled everything to appropriate size as an adult would see it. Those spots I couldn’t describe? Those were the tops of cabinets and shelves that I couldn’t see when I lived there. Where there *should* have been stuff at those spots that my brain just filled in as a best guess (because the brain normally does that automatically), no matter how hard I try all I can see is a grey void, like the texture in a game engine that failed to load.
When I was a teenager I would sneak out at night and hang out alone in my small town’s main st. I’d lay in the middle of the busiest road and stare at the stars and listen to the silence. It was awesome, but lonely
I wanna do that so bad but I’m too scared!!!
I used to work overnights in Boulder CO. My buddy would come join me and we would play frisbee on pearl st. Right downtown. We would chuck it as hard as we could.
I used to take late-night walks for many years. Wondering through empty streets including major thoroughfares in the dead of night was definitely a trip. Seeing empty schools darkened houses and not a soul in sight was oddly peaceful and strangely fascinating
I did this under a huge cell tower at night. Laid on the ground looking up at the night sky in the still silence of the night and questioning my own existence while sneaking cigarettes. Did this for a long time until one night a wolf came out of the brush and was in attack mode. Thank GOD I had a Swiss cake roll in my bag, I was able to throw it towards him and while he snarled it down I ran until my lungs were on fire and my legs jello. Once I got in the front door I never did that again. But this weird piece of me craves it. So much. I want to disappear from society. Maybe my scars are too deep, the hurt and suffering without any hope for better has become my reality.
It’s 10 o’clock, do you know where your child is?
Forgetting and liminality work incredibly well together. I imagine a movie with no talking, one person just walking around liminal spaces, nothing happens, just walking, then it ends. It isn’t supposed to be good, it’s just there.
Might not really be what youre looking for, but "The Electric State" was the first thing that popped into my head when reading your comment.
@@DylansLapplandSimping I recently heard of it, it definitely fits.
you should watch the movie “Skinamarink” it’s kind of like what you’re describing. movie isn’t necessarily scary, just very off putting and strange. there is little to no dialogue in the movie either. worth a watch.
@@itsgxvin I’ve heard of it but haven’t seen it, maybe I will
@@matthewboire6843 u def should bro! especially with what ur saying! take care man
I will never forget, way back in what was probably grade 3, my class had just finished the annual christmas concert in the gymnasium stage. all of the kids were supposed to leave with their parents, but for whatever reason, i stuck around, and lost sight of my parents. minutes later I decided to wander back to my classroom, thinking my friends or family would be there, but since it was past 7pm, I was met with nothing but dead, silent, empty school hallways. 8 year old me would NEVER be the same after the shock of seeing the once bustling halls now devoid of life.
Such a cool story
I experienced something similar I had to go to school on the weekend because my grades were low and while trying to find the classroom I had to learn it I ended up in dark hallways that was supposed to be filled with kids I had to run to my classroom to get a study guide for my math test I left and I was terrified I was scared to go in the classroom alone it felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there I turned around and saw a teacher teaching in a classroom I felt comfortable again and I will never forget that…
@@NIAAESTHTIC god I've definitely had that happen too. it's such a surreal feeling, especially for a kid
@@KRcanondaisa definitely I had actually seen liminal spaces before and weridcore but to experience it yourself it definitely much more strange
The way I would be weirded out going to the school playground during the summer or weekends as a kid, just to hear the way my mind would make up for the lack of kids on the playground. All the yelling and playing and laughing, except it wasn't there. It bothered me for the longest time anytime I'd go back bc I knew what was once there.
A 47 minutes liminal space video is exactly what I needed
Fr
Especially when it is a good ones like this
Same
Minor sad story involving the wooden playground thing. In my hometown there was a large wooden playground called Kid's Kingdom, it was awesome and had a vertical tire tunnel leading to a below section that was creepy but still fun. I moved away in early 2014 and it got lost to my memories. Last year I had the chance to take a trip back there with my fiancé and I wanted to show her the "Best playground I have ever been to"....but it was not the same....The sprawling wooden structure was replaced with some dinky "safe" standard playground fare, and the waterpark section which used to have a full water volcano feature... was gone as well.... It only exists in my memories now.... I was so disappointed....
Sth that you won't ever experience anymore
Just so depressing , hope they rebuild it
I have a feeling that this literally is the same one in my town. I looked it up and “kids kingdom” is kind of a common name for the wooden playgrounds but the volcano just makes it seem like it’s the same one lol. The new place just feels so sterile now.
Was this in South Bend, Indiana?
Kids castle was the one I grew up with, looked identical to the thumbnail
I remember those wooden playgrounds fondly. Though they tended to be targets for hornets' nests.
Seeing that poor dog who's been sitting on that chair for half a decade almost made me cry...
me too but i gotta remind u that is is just a bunch of ones and zeros
Me too, idk why but whenever I see a mindcraft dog left and forgotten about I always get sad
@@aealzh6125 Just remember that even then, the feelings are real, and that's what art does to you. Trigger emotions through fictional scenarios in text, images or sound. Like books, paintings and music!
reminds me of hachiko
The building has deep-slate which is only 3 years old...
Ngl those pool rooms are the most eerily menacing feeling photos in this video to me
Furry
@@NVSPBKMG Cry about it
@@NVSPBKMGnot funny
@@hoshyro furry
@@NVSPBKMG You must really like me :)
When Minecraft was released on the Playstation I used to play quite a bit. I'd randomly generate a world.. set it to peaceful..and just wander all over it, seeing what there was to see until I had uncovered the entire map. Floating islands, waterfalls, amazing rock formations, different biomes, animals, caves, treasure rooms (there were always a few), villagers settlements.. you never knew what you would find. I wouldn't craft anything other than needed tools, or a boat. One day I found an entire herd of horses and just hung out with them. One day I found an entire temple inside a 1x1 hole in the desert. It was so relaxing and peaceful. My daughter found me playing and started asking what I was doing... talking about farms, and buildings, and redstone.. "I'm good.. just exploring". I don't think she ever got it.
I know a lot of people get freaked out about liminal spaces, but they are peaceful to me. The only thing that is disturbing is if there is something or someone else in there.. that's the scary part.
I am also someone who finds liminal spaces peace, it's places that I could see myself falling asleep and being able to just relax and exist there.
I wish I could do that, but my mind won't let me.
I can do that... On day and in an open place, closed = I crying in the corner
Liminal spaces feel like either a structure or an entire world suffers from dementia rather than the individual, and that’s what makes them so deeply unnerving.
I think it is something else. Neither we not liminal dpaces have forgotten anything at all. Rather, they (and we to an extent) are a constant remonder that they have served their purpose and that thekr time is simply over. But we are unwillingly to accept that. Unwillingly to let go and let the entropy of the universe win!
@@RealCodreXlove the entropy reference!
the Minecraft segment hit me super hard, like now i cant look at my old worlds the same anymore, all that time on the 360, playing tutorial worlds with my brother and friends. then all the sudden, im alone.
Minecraft single player is a liminal place, it feels so empty, and then, you leave.
Damn. Hit me hard too.
@@joefaz1377 it can at times feel like that; I once heard that the best horror games are not horror games, they scare you because you don’t expect it unlike when you play a horror game.
@@matthewboire6843Minecraft single player is nice. It’s the best example of being alone not necessarily being a bad thing.
@@d-boi9785 that is true
“If these wall could talk, they would say nothing”
is hereby rewarded as “Quote that the hits Hardest of the Year”!!
@@blox_buildz thanks, it’s not mine
Damn, that's good.
Saw that exact quote on dream core/weird core images
@@UnkownWonders yea I got it from some video
I think that this is a fair analysis of liminal spaces as a concept and as an overall visual style. Kudos for finally mentioning Marc Augé and why his non-places book is so important to understand liminality from an anthropological standpoint.
Thanks! But I can't really take credit for including Marc Auge as another youtuber called Clark Elison put it in a video about The Backrooms which is what caused me to do more research and mention it, the comparison has been made before, just not specifcally to liminal spaces, I hope to find more things soley on my own one day!
@@CresendexI love both of you guys' vids!!
Clark and yours
Okay, when a video starts with a quote from J. R. R. Tolkien and music from The Caretaker, you know it’s gonna be good.
The feeling I get from the liminal space pictures that affect me is a weird mixture of comfort, melancholy and yearning. It's a feeling hard to describe, but ever since 'liminal space' has become a social media phenomenon that people talk about at least I now know what to enter into the search bar to get to that mental/emotional place if I'm in the mood for it.
I've also found that certain musical/sound pieces can get me to that state (mostly meditative music) and you're using a lot of them in this video. I guess people really are more alike than they are different.
"oh a liminal space video! I like those might as well watch it to pass the time"
*47 minutes later*
"that was the most beautiful and inspiring video I have ever watched"
I find airports really calming and peaceful when I'm not in a hurry. It's a bit similar to the way I feel about walking through my local mall with no intent. Your videos are well done and this one really cuaght my attention! I hope your channel continues to grow!
I recently spent the majority of a weekend in airports waiting for flights. This comment pretty much sums up the experience. Some of the bigger airports especially look and feel like malls. I was traveling alone and, especially on the return trip, had plenty of time to wait for my flight. So I was able to just wander around and explore. The only thing preventing it from giving that full "liminal" feeling was that they were packed with people.
@@wallsocksProductions what's odd is being at any airport at a time when certain areas aren't packed with people, that's a little wild.
@@retromacman620 I usually go to the smokers area at mine when I can see there'll be a spot far away from the people smoking cuz it has a great view. One time for like a minute there was nobody there can you can't see into the airport from that spot. It was really nice. A plane was taking off and I imagined it was like the future and the planes are like AI controlled or something and it's empty so there's nobody around in the world at all haha
I've been appreciating and photographing liminal spaces for over thirty years, so I guess my consolation is to know I was ahead of my time....
"A future that might forget who i was but won't forget me" damnnnnn that hit hard bro i needed that
After having the free time over the weekend I fully watched this.
He might not see this comment but by the end it gave me a single tear.
There's a lingering fear after he explained all this and greater detail.
The fear of our own mortality.
I did see this comment, and thank you
I never thought about the word “unheimlich” like that because it just means “scary” or “eerie”.
Really enjoyed the video. Great work!
also 'heimlich' is mostly used for 'secretive' or 'stealthy'
i must have watched every single liminal spaces video essays on youtube. i adore this concept so much; and this was a great reflection on them!
Same I've watched all of them awhile ago....but I still comeback to them once in a while
i absolutely love this video. the message at the end is amazing. i love how all this silverlining was just from the topic of "liminal space". the meaning of life and how important we all are. how worthy we are. how much we matter. how grateful we should be about everything and that we should live life to the fullest. every aspect of this video was amazing. i'm saving this video so i could rewatch in the future sometime. after it has left my memory.
14:00 im actually so glad you mentioned places that dont strickly fit the definition of transitional space because a lot of my favorite liminal spaces dont include simple hallways and are more surreal almost dreamlike locations like stuff you cant remember if you actually experienced a long time ago or if it was in a weird dream. you pretty much said exactly this for the second defintion but i had wrote most of this before i got to that part and only hoped you would bring it up lol
Thank you for that ending❤ I’ve been struggling with depression and an intense fear of dying almost my whole life. Sometimes it’s so hard that the least scary thing seems to just die. I had this video on in the background but really focused on the outro. It somehow gave me a bit of meaning to everything I do. Thank you for making it a bit easier to continue❤
I used to sneak around the local community college during summer break as a teen. Those memories of the empty classrooms and lecture hall, stay with me 30+ years later.
my sister would have to go to college earlier than it started because of transport limitations.
the empty halls of an old building, previously a manor.
random sounds in the pre-sunrise morning being the only one there.
45:00 i was napping while listening to your video and entered a half awake half asleep state during this part. i continued to be in this state til the end of the video, and it felt weird listening to this part again fully awake. idk why i decided to share, thought it was cool
Hearing this while putting myself in a "staring off into space" moment to get close to your feeling made this interesting. It's like hearing a subconscious thought out loud that pulls you back to reality as it keeps speaking.
kinda interesting actually. thanks for sharing
your videos always make me feel better, ive been feeling kind of down lately. so thank you
Hope you feel better and I'm glad I could help in any capacity.
26:22 I dont really understand how that space is comforting to anybody. Just the sight of it gives me a feeling of isolation, sadness and dread.
"There was one a time in my life where I would always fantasize about being the last person on Earth"
Amen brother
How can you guys fantasize about something so scary? Being the latest person on Earth must be so sad and lonely. And I say that as an introvert... But imagining myself so lost and alone... scary stuff
@@koopanique It would be terrifying, but that's a small part of the appeal. Fear can be entertaining, motivating, captivating, etc.
Easily my favorite TH-camr every video has so much thought and love put into it I can watch them for ever this was an absolute banger keep up the good stuff
The image at 00:29 is my home town Mogi das Cruzes, in Brazil. I used to cross that exact spot every day going home, so weird seeing it in one of these videos.
Honestly in general walking and seeing completely any empty streets feels liminal and unsettling
Bem que eu tava achando essa rua extremamente reconhecível, toda essa coisa de Liminal Spaces tem um certo de limite regional, sinto muito mais "liminaridade" ou "heimlich" quando vejo ruas brasileiras desertas do que ruas gringas
Back again with another banger of a video, I see
The wooden playground thing! I almost made the exact same comment that so many other people did, because I've actually visited the wooden playground of my childhood recently. It's the Playground of Dreams in New Mexico, my uncle helped build it and it's still around to this day. It doesn't look exactly like the picture you showed but it is eerie how similar it is to that.
One thing I differ on with this is the poolrooms. They just unsettle me in a weird way, I can just imagine something splashing closer, and closer out from the dark leaving me powerless to stop it. I only really would feel comfortable in a poolroom of closed off walls because I'd be terrified of hearing the splash of something else in the distance.
In addition to this, consider how being in shin or knee deep water would not only slow you down if you have to move quickly, but you'll make a lot of splashing noise too. Fun times.
Yeah, those images are just terrifying. Especially the ones with the dark tunnels. I can just imagine being in there and hearing the echoes of splashing, getting closer and closer.
I get this feeling sometimes when walking through the streets at night. Empty car parks , town at night pretty much most places at night feel like a liminal space
I put this on as background noise while I wrote last night, but I didn’t end up writing anything because this was so friggin’ captivating. Beautiful video, dude
That playground is a specific pre-made one, so yes, those people did grow up with it.
Just not that exact one.
@@MySerpentine it's the same as someone seeing an eerily similar mcdonalds to the one they grew up with and their brain thinking it's the exact same one. It's just a specific pre-built playground that was produced by a company to be built across the United States.
@@hansdiedeutsch7881 Exactly.
You know, I've always tried to understand what is meant by "liminal space" and you managed to explain it in a way that I finally understood.
Thank you for that!
Thank you for putting voice to the feelings I have whenever I look at liminal space images. I feel like similar video essays don’t put enough focus on the forgetting, the loss. So many other videos get hung up on spaces not fitting the definition, that a child’s bedroom or an empty pool is not a “transitional space”. They most definitely are, at least in this context. They are a space that WE, transitioned out of. They are the past, are we not continuously in space of transition? I will never get to experience how my childhood living room felt in 2008. I’ve left that part of my live behind, whether I knew it at the time or not. I’m only 25, but I can’t stop thinking about how much I’ve forgotten, and how much I will forget in the future. My past is slipping through my fingers and there isn’t much I can do about it, other than to cling to these imperfect recollections of what I used to know. It hurts.
Man, I absolutely love the ending monologues of your videos. If I'm having a bad day and then hearing some of those lines, it definitely helps me move my mind to a more positive place. Appreciate you and your videos dude, keep up the awesome work.
I will never forget my last day of elementary school. Back then I hated school, I often didn't wanna go, I'd rather stay at home and sleep longer and then play outside all day. Last day of elementary school we had party with all the students from out generation and teachers, after all was over, it was late noon, I stayed in last, school was pretty much empty, maybe few teachers left in their offices so I decided to just walk around the school for the last time to say my goodbyes, it was so liminal, so empty and familiar, I went down to the lower classes where
I went when I was a kid, I had such a great memories from it, I will never forget that alone walk thought my elementary school and feelings I got while walking.
I ride in a saddle that is a British Calvary Officer's saddle from WWI. I had it restored. My favorite sweater I ride in is a pastel yellow one with the rocky mountains on it and has that quote. I didn't realize it was a Tolkien quote until just now. Synchronicity is a beautiful thing.
To know I have a saddle from the men that inspired the riders of Rohan, I just had a real emotional moment there. I'm glad I saw this video. I'm so glad that object has a second life with me.
Silent hill music hits so deep!
Team SILENT truly was first to truly express vibes of liminal spaces!
A wonderfully crafted video essay, I love this man’s content
Me too. Such a unique perspective
I think the most accurate way of describing a liminal space
Is “uncanny valley but instead of for people
For a place”
Great summation! I definitely agree.
Uncanny valley is a place
Lol, we are so different.. I feel immense dread just by looking at that pool pictures, but you describe them like comfortable. And i feel so good loking at most "scary" ones, especially if they placed outdoors 😂
I love liminal spaces. Glad to see you made a video on it. Ima watch it now
23:49 out of all the pictures shown this one freaked me out the most. It's not 100% the same place but similar enough to one I went to for a star wars themed birthday party once.
The speech at the end funnily enough made me think of a line that Freddy Kruger said in one of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, "Being dead wasn't a problem, but being forgotten, now that's a bitch."
Horror movies actually have a ton of good quotes about mortality. They end up being very poignant when removed from context. My favorite is "Sometimes dead is better." It's from Salem's Lot, and in context is about not resurrecting the dead. But the movie also shows a character suffering slowly from an illness that leaves her sister resenting being a caretaker as just a child, and this poor child (and woman recollecting the trauma as an adult) admits to wishing her sister would just die.
For the sake of the sister in pain, the argument could be made that dead is better. For the sister being a caretaker, the argument could be that dead is better.
And anyone dealing with chronic health issues, caretaking those they love but know will never get better, or are experiencing a very nihilistic patch, the thought "Sometimes dead is better" can really ring true.
And it's funny, the first quote from JRR Tolkien is out of context. It's meaningful to everyone who reads it but it was just a quote about wandering enemies being on the lookout for the protagonists.
Cresendex: I bet you can’t name 10 people from the 1500s.
Tudor History Nerds: Hold my beer.
When I was younger, the night in Minecraft scared me because of how empty it was. Even if I was in creative mode, when night came, I hunkered down in a hole until day. Now, I really like liminal spaces and really want to explore them. It feels like the places are saying something.
Sometimes, when I go to historical places (there's a historical village from colonial times near my house) and the roads and bridges and houses that are left there always felt liminal. People used to use these things as just another aspect of their lives, like just going down the road and going to the tanner or something, but now that I look at these empty historical villages, it feels so liminal (especially since there aren't many people who visit the village, devoiding it of life). I think historical places like this is a good example of liminal spaces, a place devoided of life suspended in a time lost.
You have never made a video that was bad or was poorly made. The quality your your content is incredible. This is easily one of your best videos yet and is my personal favorite of the videos that you have made. You are a seriously underrated channel. Keep up the phenomenal work man.
Edit: It is absolutely criminal that one of your videos hasn't reached 1mil views yet and your channel not having at least 100k subs for the amount of quality you have put into your content.
tbh ive never found such a perfect word for the feeling i felt about these places before i discovered liminal spaces. the feeling you explain at the beginning about exploring empty places is so resonant with me
oh and i love your videos, thanks
An absolutely amazing way to end the video! I loved it. The ending moved me from the "being forgotten in time" feeling created throughout the video to the "live your life" feeling that is actually important.
I thank you for this video, this piece of art.
This video made me realize that the lack of context, or the removal of context, is in some form present in literally every liminal space photo I've ever seen. That has got to be tied to our imperfect memories.
To me, they evoke a profound sense of nostalgia and possibility, like echoes of places we’ve been or dreams we’ve almost had. There’s something uniquely powerful about the way liminal spaces make us confront the void between the familiar and the unknown, and that’s exactly the kind of feeling I aim to capture in my music.
Thank you for sharing this - it’s a perfect reminder of why I’m so drawn to these fleeting worlds.
NEW CRESENDEX UPLOADDD
WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING
@@Fosi94 Lemongrab is that you?
Nah literally me when I saw the video
Wow what an incredible way to end the video. Actually started crying, great video man.
I remember when I was a kid in elementary school, my school had a GIGANTIC field that was rarely used, and I'd go there during my lunch to read. Near the edge of the field was an abandoned kickball area with old wooden benches I'd always sit, and it was always so quiet. I miss those quiet days...
Just found your channel and absolutely fell in love. Your videos truly hit on some topics I think about often but rarely find anyone else discussing. Things which ultimately can be traced to our primal instincts and our evolutionary nature and subconscious but lead to some complex and profound thoughts.
Like being afraid of the unknown because as animals we fear predators hiding. Such as when we play peaceful mode Minecraft. Or like in this video you have blown my mind. How as humans our very existence and world is based on our memory. Which we fear may fail or like when we see familiar looking structures or pictures. These liminal spaces and Deja vu make us question out memories and therefore question our entire world! And nostalgia can help reassure our memories and make us feel secure in our model of the world and in our own existence!
All objects are sentient and retain consciousness at a level. That’s why when we’re in liminal spaces there’s still a comforting feeling of not being completely alone. The framing of a door has consciousness, a ceiling tile, a garbage lid…….you may be the only person in the room, but you’re not alone.
Excusé moi?
@@f5tornado831 Read into all the mystic traditions, and trip experiences from people who have gone deep with psychedelics. There is a thread through each of these practices and experiences that demonstrates all things around us have some form of consciousness. So, no, you can’t have a conversation with the lamp sitting on the table to your left, but it’s aware of your presence, and you aware of it, though you may not be able to directly perceive it.
@@heyimgoingtoplaysomegames I don't think that's how that works...
@@f5tornado831 It’s my opinion on consciousness
@heyimgoingtoplaysomegames What separates one thing from another? Is each brick of a building conscious, or is the whole building conscious?
Ya know, i don't "👍🏻" that many videos but this is One of the first videos I have actively gone out of my way to like and suggest to others. It has such a meaningful impact, I had shown it to a friend of mine struggling at the time with some depression and That ending really made them feel better, So yeah I couldn't recommend a better video!
HES POSTED ONCE AGAIN! :D
LETS GOOO
Probably one of the most sensational, and well written liminal space video ive ever seen, well done
Dude, the image at 12:21 looks like a weird wacky version of my old house that I haven't seen since I was 6. It looks right yet wrong at the same time...
Its from amazing world of gumball
I feel like the concept of mental maps comes into play with liminal spaces a lot. I think that the liminal spaces we resonate the most with are the ones that resemble the mental maps of spaces we created as children. The spaces that are kind of an amalgamation between the sets of our favorite tv shows, our old houses, schools, doctors offices, places we saw in dreams, and all of the spatial information we absorbed as kids and then reframed into new spaces in our minds are liminal spaces.
Ive only ever found comfort in these spaces. Thank you for keeping the topic alive in 2024!
What a wonderful note to end this video on. Really uplifting. Thank you!
26:33 This is honestly super interesting, Because those pool rooms are frankly one of the freakiest ones shown in the video to me. Many of the others feel weird, Yes, Out of place, Or without context, But they don't feel _wrong,_ But that pool just feels very wrong. Like everything about it. I'd be terrified if I were there.
The most beautiful and uplifting video I’ve seen in a long while. Thank you
This reminds me of the first episode of Twilight Zone. No one else being there, yet you are all alone slowly forgetting those who you loved who you are...
Hi Pastel
@@Cresendex Hey Cresent
kinda off topic but Im not gonna lie, the end got me tearing up. I struggle with depression and those last lines were the first thing that genuinely gave me motivation, lol. Please continue doing this amazing job, ur videos are awesome
the minecraft images at 20:45 and 23:42 are my images, it's nice to see that my game photography is getting popular :3
Thats cool! You gotta tell me the origins of the image at 20:45 I was looking at it for a good minute thinking it was an old Xbox edition map I used to play on but I'm not sure.
Yo that's sick !
@@Cresendexold comment but I’m pretty sure this is a darker version of one of the hunger games maps, you know the mini games they added to console?
This video is a masterpace, i discovered your chanell about few weeks ago and i cant stop comming back to your videos, your good at what youre doing dude.
Last summer I worked in my old elementary school for a month to clean it for the next school year. It was really weird to see my school empty in the middle of summer. I saw my old classrooms completely empty of people and furniture and the dark corridors filled with desks. the felling of liminality was very present. What hit me the hardest was being alone in the library and finding the same old books that I read in my childhood and walking the same path to go to school and back home every day (once in the morning at 7am when nobody is awake, twice at lunch and once at the end of the day) was a really weird experience. I also got to see place in the school that I had never seen like the elevator and the janitor's storage room.
I have passed the whole video looking for eyes waching me in those pictures, movements in the corners, doors opening, but nothing. one of the best videos in quite a while.
Airports are one of my favorite places. Especially the ones in the other city, when I'm returning. They are so sterile that it lets me wonder in my thoughts and at the end they become quite profound. Would love to see one empty. The closest I can get is when the plane is really early or really late and there are barely any people and it is awesome.
I have always loved the feeling these types of images gave me but am now looking deeper and learning more. I really enjoyed this video and how well it was structured and explained things. You made connections I really appreciated as whale. I love connecting things and figuring how things can and are related. I will be in this rabbit hole for a while, if not eternity. And I am glad I have stumbled upon your channel as whale and get to see more of what you created and learn more.
There was a scene in "28 Days Later" Where the main character after leaving the hospital was wandering around abondoned London, I don't know how to describe that scene, it just makes me feel a surtant way.
A highly memorable, surreal situation, the certain way is unnatural and haunting I reckon.
This is an amazing video, I think you’ve described it all very well. And as someone who is still very young but struggles with memory, that fear of forgetting is very real. I don’t remember most of my life, so this nostalgia for a life you never experience is something I feel very often.
I am so glad you talked about suburbs in this, as I think they’re really overlooked when it comes to strange terror you can’t explain easily.
Anyways, me rambling aside, great video, I’ve subscribed.
The image at 20:47 is actually a mini game map on the old Ps3 and Xbox 360 additions of Minecraft and it brought so many memories back to me since it played a major role in my child hood. Thats why the new minecrafts music, textures, absence darkness, and absence of fear from unknown just doesnt feel the same and as fun to adventure like it used to
16:03 - feel like I was in the space between a sentence and a joke when I heard that one.
Love you content 🫶🫡
About a year ago I got the chance to work as a tech intern at my high school that I had just graduated from as a summer job. This eventually lead to working at the Elementary towards the second half of the summer that I had never gone to as a kid because I had switched schools. Occasionally after work or just before work ended, a friend and I would just wonder around the completely empty hallways that we had no recollection of. There were hardly any lighs on, no sounds no people ... nothing but what appeared to be a school, but with no one there. I always liked the thought of liminal spaces so this was pretty surreal.
This is the best video essay I’ve watched in months. Thank you!
I just realized that area shown at 25:02 is from never gonna give you up music video😂
You just got Rickrolled😂
Came looking for a comment like this, glad to know it wasn't just me :D
17:49 this one had me pausing for a straight few minutes as I remember a similar place from a nightmare, that one had me in shock at how real some of these places feel from your dreams, amazing video dude this stuff is wild.
While I personally do think the back rooms are much creepier without entities, I do not think there was any ambiguity on whether or not an entity existed in the original post. The original point being made is “ If you hear something, it HAS heard you” . The conditionality here is whether or not you hear it, but once you have heard something, it has unquestionably heard you, which means we know what it is because we know it can hear you. The if does not apply to the creature existing. The if applies to you hearing it
In short, we know the entity can hear. Therefore, if we know, the entity can hear, it must exist.
I love your message in the end. Thank you!
The minecraft part hit me hard
Me and my friends had so many servers
There all gone now and i dont even have a world file to revisit them
This is the second video i am watching from you and i already love your content keep it up definetly subscribing
THANK YOU for saying "those." I keep seeing "not all who wander are lost" stickers and everyone forgets the "those." IT'S "NOT ALL *THOSE* WHO WANDER ARE LOST." WITHOUT THE "THOSE" IT DOESN'T FIT THE METER OF THE POEM IT'S FROM yes this is the hill I'm going to die on
ever since you starting talking about the uncanny, I had to go to my parent's room multiple times in a row cause of how terrified I was. I'm so glad I decided to watch this when I'm not home alone.
damn. I've only seen two of your videos so far (the last one I watched was how erie minecraft peacefull mode was. I immediately watched this one after that video) and I already love your videos. I've always loved the feeling I felt every time I saw a liminal space, so I think that's why I love your videos so much already. It only took me 10 minutes through this video to already subscribe to you. keep it up!
No, deadass tho, that wooden play ground is legit. Theres at least two playgrounds like that here in Michigan, I used to play on them when I was a kid and a few years ago with my siblings. It’s one of my favorite playgrounds and I’ll even go back there one of these days to prove that it exists.
There’s actually more than one in Michigan, look up TimberTown in Chelsea MI, Fort Fraser in Fraser MI, Danish Kingdome Playground in Greenville MI, Hager Park in Georgetown MI and Rayner Park in Mason MI. These playgrounds DO exist and I HAVE been to some of them.
There's one in my town that still exists to this day.
How did you somehow miss the entire point that he was making with the playground
Solid video essay! I'm glad to see an attempt to define liminality that captures the "feeling" instead of increasingly restrictive criteria that basically only includes suburban hallways. I also enjoyed and agreed with your breakdown of dreamlike, nostalgic, and scary subgenres. A lot of self-appointed arbiters of liminality try to exclude these things as their own distinct categories.
24:59 Never gonna
Give you up
Never gonna
let you down
never gonna run around and desert you
Love your videos, found you yesterday. The way you articulate to describe the undescribable allows me to understand your thought process on these complex topics
"A place between" is a good of a definition as any to me. Between what? Anytime and everything. Between here and there, between then and later, between consciousness and unconsciousnes, between use and disuse, between life and death, between remembering and forgetting, between familiar and unfamiliar. Liminality is the between state. And that between state can startles us or be uncanny because we usually don't focus on the background, because we feel like and for the most part, we weren't meant to actually see it, at least until it stares us in the face. A liminal space is the background between states given focus. Like imagine the apartment from Friends with no one on set and the lights off. Nostalgia or anemoia, or the thing between them, isn't a part of liminality in the truest sense, but it is at the same time, because it's between then and later, between life and death, between happy and sad, and between remembering and forgetting, like how a square is a rectangle but a rectangle isn't a square.
First video of yours I’ve come across. 10/10 subscribed.