“The Backrooms,” an online meme that posits the existence of an alternate reality of endless vacant rooms, has become the springboard for a series of internet horror fiction and even an upcoming feature film. And it turns the mysterious photo that launched the phenomenon portrays the inside of an Oshkosh HobbyTown in 2003.
Dani Di Placido of Forbes broke down how “The Backrooms” caught on in digital culture and how the internet, after a lengthy search, unearthed the location of a disquieting photo that has circulated message boards for more than a decade.
The image itself is a simple series of … well, it looks like back rooms, obviously. Yellow carpeting, off-white wallpaper and yellow, fluorescent overhead lighting. The image became the central component of a “creepypasta,” or horror-related legend circulated online, that suggested people could “no-clip” (basically teleport) into the extradimensional space, outside our own reality and get trapped in the endless space where untold dangers awaited.
In 2022, YouTuber Kane Pixels launched a series of short films focusing on “The Backrooms” with a “found footage” format.
The video was so successful that A24 announced plans in 2023 to make the concept into a full-length movie.
Located on Oregon Street in Oshkosh, HobbyTown’s back rooms have since been turned into a race track for radio-controlled cars.
HobbyTown manager Shawn Black estimates at least two dozen people stopped by just to see the space Thursday.
“I would have expected more than we what got because we’ve been getting phone calls saying we’re going to be inundated with people coming to visit the store,” Black said.
But those aren’t the only calls they’ve been getting.
According to Black, people just call to leave messages on the voicemail saying, “I found ‘The Backrooms,'” before hanging up.
“If I am being honest, I find it a little fascinating that a picture that was taken over 20 years ago has created as much interest as it has,” he said.
“I asked the owner (Bob Mazza) if he can even remember who took the picture and he said it was either him or one of the guys who worked on the building when they first moved in.”
