Sometimes my ideas originate from various places, books I read, articles I stumble upon, programmes I watch on TV and many, many others. However, once in a while the ideas originate from my children. They say that children say the strangest things and to be fair I could not agree more, but sometimes some of those things are quite interesting for a number of reasons. Not only is the inquisitive mind of child one that reminds me that sometimes I can over complicate things and need to simplify the viewpoint, but equally my own children often present me with some interesting subjects related to the paranormal to explore. Often presenting me with an angle I had not thought of previously and as such end up exploring something new.

Recently my daughter asked the simple question; ‘Dad, have you heard about the Backrooms?’ My answer was simple; ‘what are the Backrooms?’ At that point she went on to provide me with a brief description of what she understood them to be and right away I understood them to be another urban legend that had began on the internet and then evolved online as more people picked up on it.

My daughters description of the scenario where you ‘noclip out of reality’ into this strange series of spaces similar to office rooms, that appear to be endless. ‘Noclip’ I believe means pretty much to disappear from our current reality and reappear in this odd environment. Then, according to my daughter, you can find yourself exploring these endlessly connected office spaces, which are also completely empty. You are essentially lost in this maze of rooms. Something which reminded me very much of Ancient Greek Mythology and the Minotaurs Maze.

If an empty series of office rooms was not scary enough, my daughter informed me that there are also some scary entities roaming around in there. Which I can only assume are out to get you, chase you down and end your existence. Scary stuff right.

Following our discussion about this odd urban legend, that seems to predominantly have evolved on Social Media like YouTube and TikTok, I started to think about it in other ways relating to the paranormal. However, first I wanted to take a look into the history to learn more of its origins.

Firstly it was obvious that this was a ‘creepypasta’. which is a horror-related legend shared around the internet. These are usually related to or focused on gruesome tales of murder, suicide and otherworldly occurrences; fundamentally the dark stories. One of which is more commonly known after the media brought our attention to it in 2014, when a 12 year old girl was stabbed to death by two of her friends that claimed that it was to silence the Slender Man. In fact there have been documentaries about that case, films and it has even been the obvious inspiration for a few TV series episodes that deal with crime.

Other Creepypasta tales are Ben Drowned, Jeff the Killer, Ted the Cavor and Sonic.exe. It certainly appears that these urban legends have evolved to a new level now and in some case bring with them some extremely dark results. Not to mention tragic conclusions.

The question still remains though; where did the Backrooms originate from? My own brief exploration into this creepypasta seems to indicate that it first appeared on the internet on the 12th May 2019, thats right exactly three years ago today (publish date of this post). An extremely brief post of only two short paragraphs was posted along with a few photographs.

That original post by ‘4Chan’ read as follows; “If you’re not careful and you noclip out of reality in the wrong areas, you’ll end up in the Backrooms, where it’s nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in.

God save you if hear something wandering around nearby, because it sure as hell has heard you.”

The Backrooms has rapidly expanded across the internet with dedicated fan websites, related video games, YouTube videos and even short horror films. There has also been expansion on the original post by ‘4chan’ that outlines three levels within the Backrooms. Level 0 being the one you originally enter according to the post, but after wandering through Level 0 for days you will happen upon Level 1. Level 1 has more industrial architecture, the lights flicker more and it is generally darker. This leads onto a more intense experience in Level 2; a darker environment, more industrial and certainly not easy to survive. This is know as the three level theory within the Backrooms.

A simple review of the Backrooms story indicates that it is certainly nothing more than an urban legend (creepypasta) story that has grown in popularity on the internet. It’s simple horror relations that always make us uneasy; like finding ourselves in odd empty locations alone which are never ending is both simple, but very clever in capturing the imagination. We have a blank canvas to project all our fears and personal demons onto that like a mirror reflects them back at us with magnification. Equally the concept of a location, that you can drop into and explore appeals both to the explorer within, the inner curiosity and also that part of us that likes to be scared a little.

However, from my own perspective the Backrooms also provide something else, a kind of thought experiment relating to ghosts, spirits and apparitions. If in theory we could ‘noclip’ into other realities from our own, then why not a scary Backroom. Equally if we could drop into these other realities, then could they not equally have some kind of cross-over where parts of the other reality are visible in this one. This could be our explanation for sightings of apparitions and potentially an explanation for physical phenomena; if the other realities could manipulate physical objects in both realities. A dimensional blurring if you will. Where one is so close to the other that they appear in the same space.

Of course, I have no proof to support such a theory which requires a greater understanding of physics, quantum physics and more than I currently have. Still if there are other dimensions, then surely they co-exist without a time space dimension relative to our own. Hence would be occupying the same space-time as ours. The Backrooms would then be right here with us and not somewhere else. Alternatively, is it possible that the ‘noclip’ is more like an Einstein-Rosen Bridge through space-time to a place far away potentially in both space and time.

Taking the above into consideration, the Backrooms does remind me of another idea within the paranormal and spiritual field, that is the concept of the Akashic Records. In order for the Akashic Records to exist holding all records of history; past, present and future would be somewhere beyond time and space. That way its huge size would not matter and its accessibility would be there throughout time, even if it was created in the future or the past. The Backrooms certainly seems to follow that concept of a space to huge to fit into relative time and space to us. Perhaps the Backrooms is basement of the Akashic Records?

The final potential explanation for the Backrooms is that its all in our heads, a place not restricted by either space or time. If indeed it is in our minds then it very much reminds me of the Sherlock Holmes mind palace, where he keeps all his memories. The only difference being is that the Backrooms is empty, apart from the decor and a few nasty entities of course. Although I am sure psychologist friends of mine would have a field day explaining the meaning of the Backrooms as something within our minds. However, it would certainly make sense; perhaps the Backrooms is a kind of lucid dream we can sometimes enter. It could certainly be seen as a nightmare.

Whatever theory you have about the Backrooms, its certainly another creepypasta story that is continuing to grow across the internet. It equally reminded that there are likely more stories out there like this, even more paranormal ones that many believe to be genuine experiences, but in reality started their lives in a similar way to the Backrooms.

What are your thoughts on the Backrooms?