By Dani Di Placido for Forbes - 30 May 2024
Link, Archive
The original photo that inspired the Backrooms creepypasta and memes | 4CHAN
Internet sleuths finally found the real location of “the Backrooms,” tracking down the original photo that first inspired the memes, creepypastas and many works of fiction.
The Backrooms resembles an empty office space, illuminated by sickly yellow lights that constantly flicker and hum. The stale carpet and sprawling rooms are said to smell of damp; the profound isolation is broken only by the presence of shadowy monsters.
Like Slenderman, the Backrooms started life as a creepypasta, a horror-themed internet legend that has entered into popular culture, inspiring countless posts, stories, games, videos and artworks.
The influence of the Backrooms can also be seen in related trends such as “Liminal Spaces” and “Dreamcore.”
In May 2019, an unknown 4chan user prompted his fellow anons to post “disquieting images that just feel ‘off,’” and one of the responses contained the now-iconic photograph of an unsettling office space.
The distinctive lore of the Backrooms was composed in the replies, and spread to the rest of the internet from there.
For many, the idea of an abandoned office with a menacing, otherworldly aura proved an oddly familiar concept.
Something about the image seemed to invoke fear and nostalgia — many have equated the popularity of the Backrooms to shared childhood memories of entering empty office and retail spaces.
For years, the Backrooms was kept alive by horror stories, languishing on Reddit, but was revitalized by ambitious YouTube videos directed by VFX artist Kane Pixels, which helped push the concept into the mainstream.
The Backrooms has since broadened almost beyond recognition, inspiring increasingly convoluted lore and many references on TikTok, YouTube and Roblox.
The source of the original image, however, remained a mystery.
While the image has no defining characteristics that would clue internet sleuths to its true location, the 2011 post was traced to a tweet from 2019 which casually revealed the original Backrooms location, but had been ignored by the rest of the internet.
The link in the tweet was broken, but sleuths used the Internet Archive to access the site, uncovering a 2003 blog post detailing the renovation of a HobbyTown store in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
In a spooky little twist, every image on the archived blog post is missing, except for the Backrooms image and another photo of the same room, taken from another angle.
Internet sleuths dug even deeper, and managed to find a black-and-white photo of the room back when it was a furniture store.
Ironically, the photo that inspired the Backrooms was, quite literally, taken in the back rooms of the store — it has since been converted into an RC racing track, the fluorescent yellow replaced with clean, white interiors.
Following the discovery of the real location, some commentators declared the Backrooms trend dead, the end of an era.
The Backrooms, however, has become too popular to die — the otherworldly realm has become part of internet history, and will always exist in musty, unused office spaces with a weird vibe.
Link, Archive
The original photo that inspired the Backrooms creepypasta and memes | 4CHAN
Internet sleuths finally found the real location of “the Backrooms,” tracking down the original photo that first inspired the memes, creepypastas and many works of fiction.
What Is ‘The Backrooms’?
The Backrooms is a piece of digital folklore, an ethereal place that exists beyond the borders of our world, that can supposedly be entered by "noclipping" through reality, like a player shifting through the wall of a glitchy video game.The Backrooms resembles an empty office space, illuminated by sickly yellow lights that constantly flicker and hum. The stale carpet and sprawling rooms are said to smell of damp; the profound isolation is broken only by the presence of shadowy monsters.
Like Slenderman, the Backrooms started life as a creepypasta, a horror-themed internet legend that has entered into popular culture, inspiring countless posts, stories, games, videos and artworks.
The influence of the Backrooms can also be seen in related trends such as “Liminal Spaces” and “Dreamcore.”
How Did ‘The Backrooms’ Meme Begin?
Like many of the internet’s most enduring memes, the Backrooms was birthed on 4chan, on the paranormal discussion board known as “x.”In May 2019, an unknown 4chan user prompted his fellow anons to post “disquieting images that just feel ‘off,’” and one of the responses contained the now-iconic photograph of an unsettling office space.
The distinctive lore of the Backrooms was composed in the replies, and spread to the rest of the internet from there.
For many, the idea of an abandoned office with a menacing, otherworldly aura proved an oddly familiar concept.
Something about the image seemed to invoke fear and nostalgia — many have equated the popularity of the Backrooms to shared childhood memories of entering empty office and retail spaces.
For years, the Backrooms was kept alive by horror stories, languishing on Reddit, but was revitalized by ambitious YouTube videos directed by VFX artist Kane Pixels, which helped push the concept into the mainstream.
The Backrooms has since broadened almost beyond recognition, inspiring increasingly convoluted lore and many references on TikTok, YouTube and Roblox.
The source of the original image, however, remained a mystery.
Where Did The Original ‘Backrooms’ Photograph Come From?
While the original 4chan post that inspired the meme was from 2019, a team of Discord users determined to source the photograph found that it had first appeared on 4chan in 2011.While the image has no defining characteristics that would clue internet sleuths to its true location, the 2011 post was traced to a tweet from 2019 which casually revealed the original Backrooms location, but had been ignored by the rest of the internet.
The link in the tweet was broken, but sleuths used the Internet Archive to access the site, uncovering a 2003 blog post detailing the renovation of a HobbyTown store in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
In a spooky little twist, every image on the archived blog post is missing, except for the Backrooms image and another photo of the same room, taken from another angle.
Internet sleuths dug even deeper, and managed to find a black-and-white photo of the room back when it was a furniture store.
Ironically, the photo that inspired the Backrooms was, quite literally, taken in the back rooms of the store — it has since been converted into an RC racing track, the fluorescent yellow replaced with clean, white interiors.
Following the discovery of the real location, some commentators declared the Backrooms trend dead, the end of an era.
The Backrooms, however, has become too popular to die — the otherworldly realm has become part of internet history, and will always exist in musty, unused office spaces with a weird vibe.
