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Notes -
strange to see it framed as 'liminal horror' because i have always felt weirdly comforted by such spaces.
could be downstream of mild misanthropy, or perhaps a childhood+adolescence of being allowed to explore freely among such spaces: hallways, tunnels, theatre backrooms, rooftops, etc. the video game 'myst' also comes to mind.
It's all part of the same supernatural tradition, right? The same thin places can lead to a kid eaten by monsters or a kid being gifted magical treasure by fairies in two different legends. The liminal Shitbird Geography of every suburban town provides both the overlooks and reservoirs and abandoned camps and empty barns where teenagers make out or smoke weed, and the same places where every serial killer story is set when the slasher gets at the horny teenagers.
I think of it as 'urban exploration gone wrong'. It starts out as a curious adventure and then you realise you can't backtrack due to a locked door or getting lost. A very mild anxiety sets in (mollified by the mundane banal surroundings) where you try to calmly start thinking through your options. You check your phone battery and its dead. Your loved ones won't be expecting you until tomorrow. Uh oh.
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