Inside the Backrooms: The internet's creepiest place is becoming a tourist attraction

The internet is a busy place, but few corners hold as much attention as the Backrooms. First appearing in 2019, this concept began as a simple, unsettling image of yellow, fluorescent-lit, empty office rooms. It quickly grew into a massive digital phenomenon where thousands of people collaborate to map, write, and film stories about this fictional, infinite reality.

Unlike traditional horror movies where you watch from a distance, the Backrooms invites participation. Through platforms like Reddit, TikTok, and YouTube, users act as world-builders. They write journals, create survival guides, and film found-footage style videos that place the viewer directly inside the environment. This represents a shift in how we consume digital stories, moving from passive observers to active participants in an ongoing, collectively built legend.

Filmmaker Kane Parsons has taken this internet lore further, turning static concepts into high-quality cinematic explorations. With a feature-length film currently in production, these spaces are moving from niche internet threads into the mainstream spotlight. The appeal lies in the familiarity of the setting. It mimics the boring, liminal spaces of our daily lives—office hallways, empty hotels, and forgotten corridors—and twists them into something unsettling.

This phenomenon connects to the concept of dark tourism, where people seek out locations tied to trauma or the uncanny. However, the Backrooms requires no physical travel. It functions as a digital site where people gather to experience mystery. As our digital and physical lives overlap, the Backrooms shows that we are increasingly comfortable finding meaning in environments that exist solely in the digital ether. It is no longer just about the stories we read, but the worlds we collectively agree to inhabit.