Liminal Space: What It Means and Why It Unsettles Us

Liminal space, derived from the Latin word “limen” meaning “threshold,” refers to transitional zones that exist between two distinct areas or states. These are in-between spaces where people feel caught between the familiar and the foreign, typically experienced in empty and abandoned locations. Liminal spaces create an atmosphere that feels detached from reality, sometimes eerie and disorienting. Speaking of disorienting, since the term “liminal space” hasn’t fully settled into common usage yet, you’ll see me alternating between the term throughout this article, using whichever version fits better with the flow of each sentence.

These spaces aren’t limited to just physical locations; they also represent shifts in time and emotional states. Liminal space expresses those waiting moments that accompany transitions—between the beginning and end of a journey. This concept affects people both psychologically and socially, and is particularly prevalent in art and digital culture.

What Is Liminal Space?

The concept of liminal space describes physical and mental transitional areas. These spaces are typically locations that feel familiar yet simultaneously foreign and empty. They create feelings of unease and uncertainty in people. To give an example here, think of a house during moving preparations, where rooms are slowly emptying out. It has gradually lost all its vitality and has begun to feel alien. The place that was once your most reliable sanctuary suddenly takes on a cold, meaningless quality. Perhaps I’m giving this example because I recently experienced this feeling firsthand, but I can’t think of anything that illustrates it better.

Additionally, spaces where human activity has diminished—vacant or unused areas—can serve as excellent examples of liminal spaces. Empty bus stops, corridors, or airport terminals can all exemplify liminal areas.

These places are expected to be crowded and bustling, yet when they’re empty and motionless, they create a disturbing atmosphere. Because liminal space makes one feel “stuck on the threshold,” it expresses both a physical and psychological state of transition.

Origin of the Limen Concept

“Limen” is a Latin word meaning “threshold.” This term has been used since ancient times to denote points of transition. Arnold van Gennep introduced the concept of liminality in 1909, defining the transitional processes in which individuals find themselves.

This concept was further developed by Victor Turner and became significant in social anthropology. Limen represents an uncertain interval where one has left an old state but hasn’t yet entered a new one.

The Phenomenon of Transition and Threshold

Liminal spaces appear not only in physical locations but also during psychological transition periods in human life. For instance, adolescence can be considered a liminal state; a person remains on a threshold while transitioning from childhood to adulthood.

In architecture, this concept refers to transitional areas such as doorways, corridors, or stairwells. These spaces function both as a place and as a gateway to another place. When empty or abandoned—unused by people—they can create an unsettling feeling.

Key Characteristics of Liminal Space

Liminal space stands out with its blend of familiar and foreign elements, its empty and isolated atmosphere. These areas represent a transition both physically and psychologically. This situation evokes complex emotions and mental experiences in viewers.

The Sense of Emptiness and Isolation

Liminal spaces are typically abandoned areas, far from people and silent. Their common feature is that they create a sense of emptiness. This emptiness intensifies feelings of loneliness and isolation in individuals.

The feeling of emptiness emerges from a disconnect with the expected order of the environment one finds themselves in. For example, an empty corridor or a shopping mall vacant at midnight triggers this sensation. The atmosphere is generally dark or dimly lit, creating an eerie and surreal feeling.

The departure from reality in these spaces also strengthens the isolating effect. Even though physically familiar-looking, the lack of use and activity disrupts the brain’s habitual relationship with the space.

The Balance Between Familiar and Unfamiliar

Liminal space creates a constant tension between the familiar and the unfamiliar. Although spaces often possess previously experienced elements, they are context-stripped and non-functional.

This situation triggers a discomfort known as the “uncanny valley” in people. The space feels familiar, but something is missing or has changed in a strange way. For instance, the thought of a school building being completely empty when it’s expected to be crowded disturbs the mind.

This balance leaves a person “between a rock and a hard place” in the space. They are both in a place they recognize and sensing an emptiness that shouldn’t be there.

The Effect of Nostalgia and Anemoia

Liminal spaces can create nostalgic feelings associated with youth or the past. In imagery, as seen in the Backrooms phenomenon,one of the most popular and, in my opinion, successful recent examples of liminal space—there are typically elements like old-fashioned carpets and yellowed wallpaper. These details cause a person to recall the past or feel a longing for it.

Anemoia, on the other hand, is a type of nostalgia for something never experienced but felt as if it existed in the past. In the liminal space experience, users may encounter this anemoia effect. Feeling as though something existed in the past but was never lived strengthens the surreal aspect of the space.

These nostalgic emotions lead to a complex state of mind that oscillates between comfort and discomfort. This situation makes the liminal space experience unique and increases its aesthetic value.

Examples of Liminal Horror in Cinema

The use of liminal spaces in horror cinema offers perfect examples of how effective this concept can be. Master directors have used these in-between spaces to create unforgettable horror experiences.

In Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), the Overlook Hotel is a classic example of cinematic use of liminal space. The hotel, which should normally be full of guests, remains completely empty throughout the winter, lending it an eerie atmosphere. The hotel’s endless corridors, empty ballrooms, and labyrinthine structure accompany the mental breakdown of both characters and viewers. Particularly the corridors where Danny rides his tricycle create an atmosphere that’s both familiar and threatening, these spaces designed for life but now filled with a ghostly emptiness.

It Follows (2014) presents an example of modern liminal horror through abandoned buildings on city outskirts, empty pools, and silent streets. One of the film’s most striking aspects is that despite largely evoking the ’80s, it’s impossible to make a clear inference about exactly when it takes place. This temporal ambiguity strengthens the liminal character of the spaces—the technology, clothing, and aesthetic elements used in the film mix different eras, plunging viewers into a feeling of temporal “in-betweenness.” This chronological liminality further intensifies the constant sense of being followed.

In Donnie Darko (2001), Richard Kelly combines everyday liminal spaces like high school corridors, empty movie theaters, and midnight streets with themes of time loops and parallel realities. These spaces reflect Donnie’s mental state while pulling viewers into an experience that questions the boundaries of reality.

Finally, I think we can close this section with Lost Highway, which I consider a liminal space film from start to finish. In Lost Highway (1997), David Lynch masterfully processes the liminal spaces between reality and dream. Fred’s questioning of himself and reality, along with empty highways and motel rooms, reflect the uncanniness of liminal space very effectively.

Examples of Physical Liminal Spaces

The concept of liminal space is typically associated with places where people transition, wait, or stay briefly. These spaces are usually silent, empty, and devoid of human presence. Below are the most commonly encountered examples of such physical liminal spaces.

Corridors and Elevators

Corridors and elevators are typical examples of liminal spaces. They’re generally used for passage from one place to another but don’t carry a completed purpose in themselves. Because of this transitional function, they create a feeling of being “caught in between.”

An empty corridor can increase a person’s loneliness and the uncertainty in the space. Elevators, being enclosed, confined spaces, offer a brief isolation experience during transition. Both areas are physically means of crossing spatial boundaries; in this way, they embody the liminal space experience.

Parking Lots and Waiting Rooms

Parking lots and waiting rooms also fall into the liminal space category. For example, shopping mall parking garages are temporary-function areas that exist between arrival there and entry into the interior space. People don’t stay here long; they’re in motion.

Waiting rooms are places that offer continuity yet often have empty or minimal personal presence. When appearing deserted and motionless, these spaces can create feelings of unease and disconnection from reality in visitors. This situation is one of the cornerstones of liminal space aesthetics.

Abandoned Buildings

Abandoned buildings hold a special place in liminal space aesthetics. These structures are spaces that have lost their function and remained distant from human activity. Empty, dark, and usually neglected, these places strengthen the feeling of being “stuck on the threshold” both physically and psychologically.

Such buildings are accepted as areas where the flow of time and space has stopped, outside the ordinary life cycle. When human presence is absent, a surreal and eerie atmosphere emanates from the space. Thus, abandoned structures are places where the liminal space concept is most intensely experienced.

Psychological and Social Effects of Liminal Space

Liminal space creates significant psychological and social effects in people’s experiences and social structures. These effects are based on the transition periods individuals experience in their mental processes and the in-between spaces that emerge in societies’ cultural structures.

Mental Liminality and Transitions

Liminal space expresses the mental in-between state an individual occupies during transition from one condition to another. This situation causes the person to feel anxiety, insecurity, and unease when they break from the usual cycle and enter uncertainty.

For example, the uncertainty experienced before changing jobs, moving, or making an important decision represents psychological aspects of this process. During the transition phase, a person may feel stuck between old and new states. This in-between space is both challenging and necessary for transformation.

Mental liminality can increase a person’s psychological resilience, but in extreme cases, it can also lead to anxiety disorders. Therefore, being aware of and managing this in-between state is important.

Liminal Spaces in Society and Culture

In society, liminal space emerges in physical and social realms. Places like empty, abandoned, or non-functional spaces create an in-between feeling between familiar and foreign. These areas are generally perceived as surreal and unsettling.

In cultural rituals, liminal spaces are transition points where people transform their identities and social roles. A ceremony representing a transition, such as a wedding or graduation, can exemplify this situation.

Liminal Space as a Horror Element

The effect of liminal spaces in the horror genre comes from the emptiness and unexpectedness the human mind encounters when expecting the familiar. These spaces have become a perfect tool for horror writers and filmmakers because they can create discomfort without anything actually happening.

The Tension Created by Silence and Emptiness

In the horror genre, liminal spaces typically rely on the principle of “invisible danger.” An empty corridor, an abandoned shopping mall, or a school building shrouded in midnight silence—all of these evoke fear even without any monster or supernatural entity.

This silence causes our brain to enter a constant search for danger. The feeling that “something is wrong here” persists even without a concrete threat. The buzz of fluorescent lights, the echo of footsteps, or distant ambiguous sounds intensify this atmosphere even more.

The Sense of Frozen Time and Entrapment

One of the most powerful aspects of using liminal spaces as a horror element is making time feel stopped and the space feel infinite. As in the Backrooms phenomenon, a person becomes lost in these spaces, unable to find an exit.

This situation triggers one of humanity’s most fundamental fears—the fear of being “trapped.” These areas, familiar yet equally foreign, feel like places where reality has broken down and normal rules don’t apply. In horror productions, this effect is used to keep viewers constantly on edge.

The Dark Side of Nostalgia

Another important element in the horror atmosphere created by liminal spaces is distorted nostalgia. ’90s aesthetics, old carpet patterns, yellowed walls… While these initially evoke comforting memories, when we encounter them empty and abandoned, they create a reverse effect.

This twisted nostalgia evokes the feeling of “the ghost of the past.” The current empty state of spaces once full of life strengthens themes of loss and extinction. In the horror genre, this situation amplifies the mystery element by bringing to mind the question “what happened in the past?”

Conclusion

The concept of liminal space has become an important part of popular culture in the modern digital age. The reason this concept has garnered such widespread interest is that it touches on the most fundamental aspects of human experience: transition, uncertainty, and change.

Whether we’re experiencing a psychological transition period or viewing Backrooms images in digital spaces, liminal spaces speak to universal emotions that resonate within all of us. These areas are a powerful tool in the horror genre, but they also carry strong meanings in non-horror fiction works. So what do you think is the greatest example of liminal space in life?