Liminal spaces represent a transition. It could be a physical space, an emotional space, or a transition from a life stage. When you encounter one, you know it. From eeriness to deja vu, people get discombobulated by the experience. Get the spooky scoop after the jump.

What Are Liminal Spaces?

A liminal space is a transitional zone, both physically and emotionally. These are spaces or moments where the normal rules of time, place, and identity feel suspended. Often, you get a strange mix of nostalgia, unease, and detachment: You feel out of sorts (discombobulated), and this makes the place a fertile ground for spooky stories.

Key Characteristics of Liminal Spaces:

• Transitional or in-between by nature (e.g., hallways, airports, waiting rooms).
• Empty or sparsely populated, amplifying an eerie, otherworldly feel.
• Blend familiarity with isolation—both comforting and unsettling.

Physical Examples of Liminal Spaces

It’s easier to define a physical place rather than an emotional one. In the real world, you’d recognize these as liminal:

Deserted Urban Areas:

• Empty shopping malls late at night
• Vacant office buildings
• Neon-lit gas stations on empty highways
• Parking lots barely lit by streetlights
• Empty emergency rooms

Transportation Hubs & Routes:

• Train stations (off hours)
• Subways (off hours)
• Airport terminals (off hours)
• Tunnels (at any time)
• Bridges (at night)
• Crossroads (between midnight and dawn)

Abandoned Places:

• Derelict amusement parks
• Vacant and rusting playgrounds
• Forgotten motels
• Old houses with broken windows and overgrown lawns
  • Pay attention to hallways, stairwells and doorways

Natural Spaces:

• Foggy beaches at dawn
• Forests at twilight
• Confluence of rivers, creeks and/or lakes (with some kind of trigger like a specific phase of the moon)

Ghostly Activities Experience With Physical Liminal Spaces

Dude, I gotta tell you: Hallways, stairwells, and doorways tend to collect that ghostly energy created by liminal spaces. I’ve caught phantom footsteps walking down dark, empty hallways in hotels and houses (see Bailie House for that). Then, a cowboy ghost manifested in a doorway between a hotel lobby and (formerly) bank lobby at Shaniko. And the kicker, the energy draining spirit in the stairwell from the second floor to the attic at the Walker-Ames House. Really, you’ve got to be ready in a haunted hotel’s or haunted house’s liminal space.

Emotional and Temporal Liminal Spaces

While physical liminal spaces are the easiest to define by location, people can experience them as a state of mind or conscience. The most common ways to feel or experience them include:

Personal Transitions:

• Adolescence or the cusp of major life changes like having a child
• Moving to a new city or starting a new job

Dreamlike States:

• Hypnagogia: the state between wakefulness and sleep
• Déjà vu or moments of disconnection from reality

Seasonal and Temporal Transitions:

• The “witching hour” between night and dawn
• The week of Halloween, when the Veil thins between reality and something … else

Ghostly Activities Experience With Emotional/Temporal Liminal Spaces

One of my creepiest and spookiest encounters happened right after I moved to Los Angeles AND involved hypnagogia. I woke up on a random Saturday morning to a shadowy figure standing in my bedroom doorway and paralyzing me. Luckily, my pooch, Rhea, attacked it and stopped anything worse from happening. Now that I think about it: That house in Los Feliz had some other spooky things happen. Usually, it was while I was on my phone or using Facetime. That’s a tale for another time.

Liminal Spaces in Pop Culture

I get that it might be difficult to visualize what these spaces are like, so here are some pop culture references to help.

The Backrooms: An internet urban legend and horror meme about an endless series of liminal hallways.

Silent Hill: The horror game series uses foggy streets and decrepit spaces to evoke liminality.

Movies like The Shining (The Overlook Hotel) and Spirited Away feature unsettling in-between places that amplify the supernatural. The train station in the Harry Potter books and movies is another example.

Why Are Liminal Spaces So Spooky?

So, I think it boils down to the feelings of isolation and familiar places that seem out of context. You should feel safe and secure, but you don’t for some reason. It lets the mind start manifesting anxiety, nervousness and worry.

If your physical space met your expectations like a busy subway platform during rush hour, then you probably wouldn’t think twice about it. But, if you show up at 2 AM, then it’s out of context and counter to your experiences.

BAM! Your lizard brain stakes over and the spooky creeps in.

Closing Thoughts

As I look back on this article, it seems like the liminal space isn’t really the problem. It’s your brain and feelings that do it. To me, what happens in the space is your own creation: If you can imagine something odd happening, then the liminal space can make it a reality, even if it’s for a short time.

If you’ve had a liminal space experience, let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading Ghostly Activities. Much appreciated. Take care!

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Sources:

Parvez, Hanan. “Liminal Space: Definition, Examples, and Psychology.” PsychMechanics, 13 July 2024, https://www.psychmechanics.com/liminal-space/.

Wilson, Amy Morin. “Liminal Space: Examples and Mental Health Effects.” Verywell Mind, https://www.verywellmind.com/the-impact-of-liminal-space-on-your-mental-health-5204371.

“What Is Liminal Space?” Forbes Health, 6 Sept. 2022, https://www.forbes.com/health/mind/what-is-liminal-space/.

“Liminality.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liminality.

“Liminal Spaces in Psychology: How to Cope with the In-Between.” Healthline, https://www.healthline.com/health/liminal-space-psychology.

Last Updated on December 13, 2024 by Jacob Rice