TRUE Backrooms Horror Stories That Go Too Far

Quick recap

This episode of the horror podcast Heart Starts Pounding (host Kayla / Kayn Moore) weaves backrooms lore with three real-life liminal-space nightmares to ask: how close are we to slipping out of reality?

What the episode covers

• Framing the backrooms myth: the 2019 4chan photo of endless yellow-walled office corridors, fluorescent hum, and non-linear geometry — and how that image exploded into creepypasta, YouTube lore, design work (e.g., Severance), and an upcoming A24 movie.
• Three real-life “backrooms” cases used to show how ordinary buildings can hide labyrinthine, deadly spaces.

The three standout true stories

1. Westfield Bondi Junction mall (Sydney)

   • Bernard Gore (71) disappeared on January 6, 2017 while meeting his wife. Security initially missed him on CCTV.
   • Three weeks later his body was found in a hidden stairwell / “backrooms” area under the mall — an eight-mile maze of concrete stairs, locked doors, dead-ends and poor sweep practices.
   • Contrasted with Donnie O’Sullivan (2014), who wandered into the same off-route stairwell, became lost, fell down 15 stairs and was rescued days later. Donnie lived; Bernard didn’t. Takeaway: one wrong door can trap you in a public building’s forgotten underbelly.

2. “Mike” — Montreal hospital anesthesia mix-up

   • A firefighter (pseudonym Mike) wakes from anesthesia in a deserted corridor/floor that looks almost identical to his assigned recovery ward but is actually a closed, unattended section of the hospital.
   • Staff had mistakenly taken him to the wrong floor and assumed a maintenance worker was on duty; he was left alone until he called his wife.
   • He was rescued and released. The story highlights how hospitals’ identical, fluorescent-lit corridors can feel like backrooms and how human error can turn them into prisons.

3. Tiffany Adams — left asleep on an Air Canada plane

   • On a short Quebec → Toronto flight Tiffany falls asleep; the plane is moved to a remote parking area and shut down with her still aboard.
   • She wakes in a pitch-dark, freezing fuselage, finds a cockpit light and a flashlight, manages to attract help and is rescued by a luggage cart operator.
   • Air Canada later admits the oversight. Tiffany suffers nightmares afterward. Presented as an airplane-version of the backrooms: isolated, soundless, and terrifyingly close.

Backrooms lore and the original photo’s origin

• Summary of commonly referenced backrooms levels (from the fan wiki):
  • Level 0: The classic yellow office — non-linear, disorienting, unreliable electronics, hallucinations common.
  • Level 1: Foggy warehouse with supplies that appear/disappear, flickering lights, entities that avoid light.
  • Level 2: Maintenance tunnels, hostile entities (e.g., smilers, giant moths).
• Internet-mystery update (May 2024):
  • A user on X (TJXZ_Z) found the original backrooms photo in the Wayback Machine. It originated from the back rooms of a HobbyTown / Roners location in Oshkosh, Wisconsin (a 2002 blog post).
  • For many listeners, that made the creepier point: the liminal image exists in mundane, real-life spaces.

Tone, memorable bits, and host notes

• The host leans into the “heart starts pounding” atmosphere: buzzing fluorescents, the urge to “wake up,” and the creeping idea that everyday buildings hide liminal thresholds.

• Repeated chilling line (used as atmosphere and warning):

  “Don’t lean against any walls that look off.”

• Promos/credits mentioned: an upcoming collab with Two Girls, One Ghost podcast, a shoutout to a listener (Luna) who works in a haunted hospital, and plugs for additional backrooms resources (Backrooms wiki, Cain Pixels).

Why it stands out

• The episode mixes established internet horror lore with sober, documented incidents (mall deaths, hospital screw-ups, airline negligence). That blend turns creepypasta into plausible fear: the backrooms aren’t just fiction — they’re a metaphor for real, dangerous hidden spaces in everyday structures.

Personalities mentioned / appearing

• Kayla (Kayn) Moore — host, writer/producer
• Bernard Gore — missing man found in Bondi Junction mall backrooms
• Angela Gore — Bernard’s wife
• Donnie O’Sullivan — shopper who got lost in the mall stairwell (survived)
• “Mike” — pseudonym for Montreal firefighter/patient who woke up on a closed hospital floor
• Tiffany Adams — passenger left alone on an Air Canada flight
• Lynn Spalding — referenced (San Francisco General missing patient found in stairwell)
• TJXZ_Z — X/Twitter user who helped identify the original backrooms photo source

Production & credits

• Additional production credits referenced: Matt Brown, Marissa Dao, Peach Tree Sound, Travis Dunlap, Grayson Jernigan, WME team, Ben Jaffy.