1598x900 The Backrooms"> [ DIRECT ◉ ]

For years, the origin of the photo was a mystery. In May 2024, internet sleuths discovered the photo was taken in 2002 inside a former furniture store in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

This is , a pinnacle of liminal space horror that began as a simple 4chan post in 2019 and exploded into a massive collaborative universe of stories, games, and, more recently, high-quality found footage, including iconic visual interpretations that fit perfectly within a resolution frame. 1598x900 The Backrooms">

The lore is divided into "levels," with Level 0 being the starting point. For years, the origin of the photo was a mystery

If you've spent any time in the darker corners of the internet over the past few years, you’ve likely stumbled upon the image: a disorienting, slightly Dutch-angled shot of an empty room with dull yellow wallpaper, damp, patterned carpet, and humming fluorescent lights. The lore is divided into "levels," with Level

In this canon, the Backrooms are opened in the late 1980s by the Async Research Institute to solve overpopulation and storage issues.

It was part of a HobbyTown renovation blog from 2003, showing an upper-level room with varied wallpapers.