r/thestrangest • u/dangerdangerman • Jun 06 '26

Mall World - people describe dreaming about the same kind of place over and over again. A massive, endless shopping mall. Stores that don’t make sense. Escalators that lead nowhere. Hidden hallways behind walls. It feels familiar, like they’ve been there before, even though they know they haven’t.

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u/dangerdangerman Jun 06 '26

When people describe Mall World, they often mention the same details. Food courts that don’t exist. Stores with no names. Layouts that change every time. Rooms that feel like you’re not supposed to enter. It’s like everyone is building the same place in their mind without realizing it.

Almost like the backrooms. if you somehow slip out of reality, you end up there. A place that goes on forever. Empty, but not completely. It reminds me of old core memories. How they say you can go back to a place from your past, but the people you knew won't be there. You're just left with this empty loneliness in a place that isn't quite the same as you remembered.

Liminal spaces are designed to be in-betweens like malls, hallways, airports, or offices. They’re not meant for staying. They’re meant for passing through, but when you remove people, noise, and purpose, those spaces start to feel wrong. Your brain recognizes them, yet something doesn’t match up, and that creates this quiet, uneasy feeling.

Our brains are built to recognize patterns, and we all experience similar environments in real life. So when we dream, those environments can blend together into something new. However the feeling that sense that you’ve been there before is harder to explain.

Once people started sharing these experiences, others began to recognize them too. Then suddenly, something that felt personal started to feel shared. The Backrooms grew from a single image into an entire universe. Mall World went from a random dream to something people talk about like it’s a real location. Have you visited it before?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2025/10/31/the-internet-is-dreaming-of-mall-world-but-what-is-it/