Sophie James *, James Cronin
A B S T R A C T
Using ˇZiˇzek’s concept of ontological incompleteness, we theorise the touristic appeal of online
legend-tripping as derived from the fantasy of traversing reality’s uncharted horizons. While
online legends such as ‘the Backrooms’ invoke curiosity in suffering and the macabre, they
deviate from the sense of heritage, moral guardianship, and evidential integrity that characterise
physical dark tourism. Drawing upon an observational netnography of the ‘r/backrooms’ community
on Reddit, we unpack processes of temporal suspension, ‘good’ alienation, and transcendence
downward which enable online legend-tripping to function as a ‘para-terrestrial’ variant of dark
tourism. The importance of real-world referents recedes, giving way to subjective encounters with
the unknown. Obscene enjoyment displaces moral engagement, and participatory mythmaking
supplants the bureaucratisation and commoditisation of travel experiences.
Joseph Matheny 