It’s quite fascinating to see all these abandoned urban buildings and areas where it’s so easy to let your imagination flow thinking about all that took place in them when since were first built.

There is a fair share of urban explorers who seem to have no fear, surveying these dangerous locations to satisfy their curiosity or just for the sheer thrill of it. And it is because of them that we get to see places like this seemingly abandoned area under an active mall that Instagram user Rotting Midwest posted about. Scroll down below to see what he discovered!

More info: Instagram

Exploring abandoned areas is dangerous, but it can lead to many exciting and, at times, spooky discoveries

Image credits: Andrew Amistad (not the actual photo)

A couple of guys spotted a blocked-off area at a mall, which, when investigated, led them to deserted underground facilities

Everything began with a visit to the mall. The poster and his friend noticed a strange blocked-off area that caught their attention and raised their curiosity. It wasn’t long before they were already going to the basement through the secret entrance they found.

They came down to an abandoned area right under the active shopping center. Exploring it, they came across a relatively small hole that could barely fit a person, but that didn’t scare them off. They went right through it and found themselves in seemingly endless tunnels leading them to an abandoned office full of underground passage maps on the walls.

Exiting it, they found even more tunnels that seemed to extend under the whole city. At this point, the adventurers began to feel more and more scared, realizing that they were lost in a large underground maze, and the exit seemed to be nowhere near.

Image credits: rotting.midwest

Image credits: rotting.midwest

Image credits: rotting.midwest

The abandoned area was followed by tight corridors leading to another office full of underground maps

Although for entertainment purposes, the reel doesn’t show how the explorers make it out of the place in the end, with the video being posted online, we know that they turned out fine. But regardless of the conclusion, people online were both excited and spooked by this footage. The most terrifying part to many of the viewers was the fact the place had fully running electricity, and there was barely any dust to be seen, which implied that the area was unoccupied rather than abandoned and, for whatever reason, was still actually in use.

Many commenters also talked about the video’s striking resemblance to the fiction web series “The Oldest View.” There, the protagonist finds a similar staircase leading to an abandoned area underground and decides to go down and film a video for his YouTube channel, only for things to go horribly wrong.

At the same time, people were pointing out just how casually this guy walked into something that could potentially be The Backrooms. This built up the whole idea to a whole other level of scary.

Image credits: rotting.midwest

Image credits: rotting.midwest

Image credits: rotting.midwest

After the office came seemingly endless tunnels that spanned the whole city, and there seemed to be no exit in sight, but the adventurers prevailed, as you can see in the video below

@rotting.midwest Took us hours to find our way out of this maze #urbex #abandoned #fyp ♬ original sound – Joy♡

While, according to Wired, The Backrooms are not a real place, the idea is still as chilling as ever. It is a concept that was first encountered on 4chan in 2019 and was brought to life with only a single image, which managed to pull a strong reaction from internet users.

The picture in question showed an interior resembling a completely empty office space with no furniture or windows to the outside world. There’s only the fluorescent-lit room with mismatched yellow wallpaper, cheap brown carpet, and a seemingly open passage to another space where you can’t quite see where it leads.

After seeing this picture, netizens didn’t take long to develop an imagined place beyond our world that can only be reached by slipping through the cracks of reality. It’s essentially an abandoned and often endless maze. It’s filled with moist carpet and various horrors, both psychological and ones taking on physical form. 

Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)

The road to this idea was first paved in around 2010 by the appearance of Slenderman. However, there, the horrors are layered on top of our world, and it’s entirely possible to attempt to run for help, even if chances of succeeding are extremely low. On the other hand, The Backrooms are only accessible through the cracks of reality. Once in there, the person is completely and utterly alone, as if stuck in an endless nightmare with absolutely no escape.

However, in the end, The Backrooms, just like Slenderman and other similarly terrifying things, is just a piece of great fiction. Going down the hidden staircases and exploring seemingly abandoned areas is by no means safe as these facilities are often in poor condition, are easy to get lost in, and various kinds of humans and animals reside there that can be hostile. There may even be an issue of breaking the law. But otherworldly horrors hiding in the tunnels below the mall? There’s no such thing. Right?

What did you think about this story? Do you have any urban exploration stories you’d like to share? The comment section stage is yours!

The commenters were spooked as the poster’s video had striking similarities with a few other popular horror fiction creations

Image credits: Rene Schwietzke (not the actual photo)

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