Inside The Mysterious Lore Of Google Earth Backrooms — Creepy Empty Spaces You Can Find On Maps
You won't be able to sleep after clicking around Google Earth.
KeyFame, Tomas Mikl, & Gary L Hider / Shutterstock If you've snooped around the internet, you've probably found your fair share of spooky videos. And you might even be familiar with something called backrooms. They are creepy, scary, and bad things have probably happened in them.
So why, all of a sudden, is there a surge of online discussions about backrooms and the places to find them? And how are people are finding them on Google Earth?
There are tons of videos showing the different spine-chilling rooms you can find on Google Earth by typing in specific coordinates and viewing the location in street view. Even big shows like "Severance" have used backrooms as an inspiration for their own set designs.
But what are these weird liminal spaces and how do you find them?
What are backrooms?
The concept is based on the video game "The Backrooms" which is described as, "a parallel dimension, which can be entered by noclipping out of reality in 'a wrong area'."
The mission is to exit the backrooms without getting caught by the backroom monster, "a strange entity referred to as It or the Being."
However, the theory about finding these backrooms on Google Earth went viral in an April 2022 Reddit thread, where one user posted a photo asking, "What the hell [did] I just find on Google Earth?" The thread is filled with conspiracy theories and a lore discussion of the game.
Word quickly spread to TikTok, leading to at least one viral video. In this video, which has over 218,000 likes, a user named TheJudderman explains the concept of a backroom.
The trending concept includes liminal spaces and strange parts of maps that give off a weird and creepy vibe.
One TikToker called Thegoogleearthguy made a video showing one of the many backrooms you can find on Google Earth. This one supposedly shows the monster.
Google has removed most, if not all, of the backrooms from Google Earth and Google Maps.
Since Google has deleted multiple backrooms, this has people wondering if this is some sort of conspiracy or cover-up, and perhaps Google knows more than they are letting on.
The first and most famous backroom spotted in Google Earth is located in the middle of Nara, Japan, at coordinates 34°42'03.5"N 135°49'16.6"E.
When you toggle into street view, you find an odd office-like space... turned upside down. If you look closely you can even find Billy le Robot, a YouTuber posing as a fictional character.
Another very creepy backroom was found in Australia, in the city of Karratha. The room is described as having multiple chairs organized in circles around Billy le Robot, who is looking up in the center of the dark room.
But perhaps the creepiest backroom was found in Day Valley, CA, at coordinates 37°02'11.1"N 121°52'44.0"W.
This backroom shows a grainy yellow-walled, dimly lit room, with Billy le Robot flying inside of it. However, there is also eerie writing on the wall which reads, "Don't search or you'll sink."
This begs the question: are backrooms found on Google Earth actually real?
Simply put, the backrooms seen on Google Maps and Google Earth were real... at one point.
It is, however, important to note that anyone can post a photo to Google Earth or Google Maps, including 3D ones, which was what likely happened to create this weird phenomenon.
Plus, considering that backrooms originated as a creepypasta, it's safe to assume that they aren't real and are simply created by people on the internet. Still, backrooms provide just the right amount of creepiness for horror fans.
Deauna Nunes is an associate editor for YourTango who covers pop culture, lifestyle, astrology, and relationship topics. She's had bylines in Emerson College's literary magazine, Generic. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram for more.