The Backrooms 4chan Post Is Still as Creepy as Ever

It took years for the Backrooms, which is the name given to creepypasta and heavily thought-out lore on the internet, to make it to the mainstream world. But it has, thanks to social media continuing the trend of sharing creepy empty rooms and an aesthetic of liminal space, and now, an A24 movie called Backrooms.

But where did it all begin? Some claim that the idea of the Backrooms started in a post on X (formerly Twitter), but others have shared the original Backrooms post from 4chan that many are sure started the Backrooms. Things took off from there, and while the actual Backrooms post might not be available on 4chan as it was, Redditors have managed to find the archived post to keep it alive and circulating on social media.

In a Reddit thread about the origins of the Backrooms, a user wrote that they heard the Backrooms started out on Tumblr or X, but that the original photo that inspired it all is from 4chan. And, it turns out, they were right about that last part at least. In the comments, someone shared the archived post on 4chan from 2019 with the photo of a creepy empty room with hallways and yellow floors and walls.

The picture looks like it was taken in the basement of an office building, but its open spaces and unknown origins make it even creepier. The user shared the photo and wrote, “post disquieting images that just feel ‘off.’” From there, other users shared similar photos. But the actual Backrooms lore came from somewhere else, and it's the lore that is forever tied to that 4chan image.

The Backrooms lore was created by Kane Parsons, known as Kane Pixels on the internet. He developed an ongoing story based on that original image, and others that were added to the creepy vibe of these unknown empty spaces. His YouTube channel is full of videos showing similar scenes, both outside and inside, and over time, he developed what some refer to as an Alternate Reality Game (ARG).

In 2023, Kane, who was 17 at the time, appeared on the Smosh Alike podcast and spoke about getting a deal with A24 and about how he came up with the lore of the Backrooms that eventually took off on the internet.

"I just came across one of the Backrooms images again," he said on the podcast. "I thought it was neat because I love environmental horror. I’m very obsessed with the look and feel of spaces, especially hostile spaces, just ones that feel like they don't really make sense."

He went on to say he began making short clips that look like a first-person filming from inside the Backrooms, which, until that point, had been images rather than videos. He said that he had a lot of the ideas already, but that the Backrooms was a "texture to wrap over everything," and from there, the Backrooms as his vision was born.