Horton Plaza, San Diego
Photo Credit: Robert Stark
Mall World, also known as astral mall, is a dream realm that many people report visiting, that is like this endless creepy mall. While I think Mall World was first discussed on 4chan, there is a Mall World sub reddit, and countless videos about it on TikTok and YouTube. While unfortunately, I didn’t keep a dream journal like Carl Jung, I recollect a very disturbing nightmare from when I was about 7, in which I was abducted off the street by people in a van. I was taken to this bizarre mall, where each store had some type of sadistic torture. The main store was like a sadistic game show where I was tied to this spinning wheel, but the people pretended to be friendly which made it creepier. I eventually escaped from the mall, which I forget the details of. I was not abused as a child or watched horror films, so this all came from my subconscious which lends credence to the theory that Mall World is a metaphysical realm.
While not mall related, the earliest nightmare I recollect, was as a really little kid, about 4. I remember walking down the sidewalk with my family and then suddenly falling down a trap door, down a hole, that led to this massive dark underground room, that was either an abandoned theatre or a giant underground warehouse. The space was filled with these empty desks and lamps, that looked very 80s, similar to what my mom had at her work as a graphic designer at the time. I had this dread that I would be abandoned alone there forever.
I have had some very disturbing Mall World dreams more recently. One dream starts with me teaching art at a school, in which my art project gets ignored by the students, so I throw a temper tantrum. Then I hear about this secret hidden area behind the school, that is like a haunted house, which I am told is dangerous and to avoid. I’ve heard other Mall World testimonies where an old mansion is the gateway to Mall World. Out of curiosity, I decide to visit the secret haunted area. I was with this group of people who could either be family or friends. While their identities were ambiguous, there was some sense that I cared about them, thus felt protective of them. Once we entered the area, we realized we were stuck and it was too late to leave. Then these demonic entities started chasing us.
We hid in a closet but the demons found us and captured all the other people to do unspeakable acts, but I somehow managed to escape. After I escaped, I found myself in an area that more resembled Mall World and I was now a target of the security guards. The security guards chased me but I managed to steal a gun from one of them and started shooting indiscriminately at both the guards and inhabitants of Mall World. While this dream started out as a nightmare, the more guards I shot, the more powerful I became, as if I was consuming their energy. Kind of like how in video games you get hearts or points after killing an npc monster.
The guards continued chasing me and I managed to jump on a train which I intuitively knew would take me to this realm’s capital or imperial center where that group I was with were captives being tortured by the demons. When I arrived at the imperial core, I first went to a large prison to free the prisoners who would help me lead a revolution. Next I get to a drawbridge to the palace entrench, and like the mall area, the palace looked like a cross between Dubai, Las Vegas, a video game, and those Iranian propaganda lego videos. However, right before I could storm the palace, I awoke. Basically, the esoteric message is that I was stopped from attacking the imperial core of Mall World.
I had another very disturbing dream in which I was in this area that was a self-contained city that was kind of like a large school with a walled in central courtyard but with homes attached. There was this old man going around shooting people. I was scarred of getting killed, so me and this other guy decided to catch him. I snuck up behind him, hit him over the head with a metal rod and captured him. He surrendered and we took him in our car to turn him over to the police. He gave us directions to the police but he tricked us. I don’t remember arriving at this place by car, but we magically appeared at this venue, which looks like a spa. I peak behind the curtains and see this lava monster demon torturing people with lava, which could be harvesting their souls. There is a theory that you are the product in Mall World and these entities are consuming you. Regardless, the venue’s staff do not restrain me but rather act like everything is normal and try to distract me with small talk to prevent me from leaving. While I am unable to save the other people, I escape into a mall arcade. Security guards start chasing me, so I run down the arcade across a sky bridge to a giant atrium with all these escalators. The guards chase me down the escalators and then I awake.
SF Shopping Centre
Photo Credit: Robert Stark
Photo Credit: Robert Stark
That dream is in line with other Mall World testimonies that reference hidden darker and more demonic levels underneath the mall, such as through maintenance hallways, basements, or secret portals, in contrast with the NPCs of the main mall areas. In my dreams, there are particular stores in the mall that are more sinister or demonic. These hidden darker layers could be lower levels of the astral plane, which are analogous to hell, while the mall might be purgatory. Thus, Mall World could be a realm of the afterlife where souls who are still attached to the material realm get stuck, thus are unable to ascend. Mall World could be a facsimile of our world that functions as an astral prison.
There is a video by a Christian woman about Mall World which she believes is under satanic control to try to separate us from God. A Neoplatonic interpretation is that dreams are emanations from the astral realm, which has a higher level that is closer to the Divine and a lower level further from the Divine, which is that more hellish realm. A more Gnostic interpretation is that both our physical and dream realm are a metaphysical prison controlled by the Demiurge and that we need to become lucid in order to gain gnosis of one’s enslavement before we can escape or ascend to the Pleroma. Sometimes I end up escaping Mall World out into a park, nature, or to the night sky, or I just go back into the mundane. I will sometimes go outside to a beach and it has this fake feeling, like from a theme park, such as the artificial waterfront and night sky of the Pirates of Caribbean ride at Disneyland. Sometimes the mall is a destination and sometimes I just find myself there.
Tonga Room, San Francisco
Photo Credit: Robert Stark
Westside Pavilion, LA
Photo Credit: Robert Stark
I had another dream based on the old Westside Pavilion Mall in West LA, which was my local mall growing up. The mall would open temporally for people to come and go and then close. When the mall closes, the security guards start killing people off. I tried to escape by hiding out in one of the stores. I also vaguely remember the mall turning into a park. The mall security guards, sometimes described as the watchers, could be astral prisons guards that are gatekeepers of Mall World who try to prevent us from becoming lucid. A lot of people say that as soon as they mention Mall World in their dream they awaken. I’ve also heard that people stop having Mall World dreams after discussing it, much like how I dream about locations where I am not at, like an old home or places I’ve visited, but not my current location.
I had a dream where I became lucid in a mall and was about to commit heinous acts against the denizens of Mall World, which I won’t go into detail about what I desired to do. However, before I could take action, I awakened. I had another dream fairly recently that I was running in a park, thus not technically a Mall World dream, and this entity told me that I was lucid, thus encouraged me to harm people, but I resisted out of a visceral sense that it was wrong. I would say that I was semi lucid because it felt more like a stimulation, as I lacked the memory of the real world that one gets when one becomes fully lucid.
source: r/TheMallWorld
I have nightmares about escaping from a demon, in which I try to fly to escape but feel like I have weights attached to my feet. However, I have a lot more benign stress dreams in which I am lost in a labyrinth while trying to get somewhere in a hurry, such as making a test or appointment. I have dreams about being back in high school or college, and the school is this labyrinth. Sometimes I will be in the house I grew up in but it stretches out to become much larger or turns into this maze with hidden hallways that lead to other places. I also have these dreams that I am in LA and trying to get home to my old home on the Westside or trying to get to the airport. I am walking alongside the 405 but keep getting trapped or lost in these maze-like areas adjacent to the 405, which is almost Kafkaesque. I have had dreams about rushing to catch a flight and the airport is a network of mazes where one easily gets lost, which is how airports often are in reality. I also end up getting lost in these massive parking garages.
I had a dream about either a mall or theme park that was built into a canyon with a river running through it. It was really beautiful but I remember being stressed trying to get from one end of the mall to the other and getting lost. I have had plenty of dreams like that where I am just endlessly exploring and getting lost with this sense of claustrophobia, confusion, and anxiety while not trying to get anywhere or escape anything. The vibe is often malevolent while nothing horrific actually happens. It could be a metaphor for being stuck in life and not knowing which paths to take. I have also had these romantic dreams of looking for a crush in Mall World which harkens back to seeing your crush or checking out girls at the mall in adolescence. This represents the Jungian anima that the romantic ideal is within one’s subconscious.
source: r/TheMallWorld
I have had dreams about theme parks, including based on Disneyland, with aspects based on real Disneyland sections and rides while other aspects are totally different. One dream in particular stands out where it is this Disneyland-style ride like the Peter Pan ride or the Haunted Mansion. Instead of using the ride vehicles, I just walked in, which made me feel more vulnerable but at times I felt like I was floating through the ride. In one particular room, I felt this demonic presence emanating from a portal, which at the same time was kind of alluring, like a suppressed memory from early childhood. While I don’t remember the visuals in detail, I remember the ride had a night sky or was outer space with ominous stars and planets. I had another theme park dream where there was this slide ride that went through these tubes and caverns, which I slid down on my bare backside. I think not having a vehicle symbolizes vulnerability and facing fears and the unknown without protection.
Rio Vegas
Photo Credit: Robert Stark
I had a dream about visiting Las Vegas a couple years ago in which I stayed at this massive high-rise casino that was in a suburban area on the outskirts. While nothing sinister happened, the hotel was run down, the water park was filthy, and it just had this really unsettling and claustrophobic fever dream vibe. Vegas in my dreams is usually not along the Strip but rather a series of interconnected structures with a labyrinth of various streets and passageways that form a palm-like pattern, with other casinos further out. I later stayed at Rio in Vegas, after having that dream, which I had before I planned to stay at Rio, so there was this sense of deja vu from the dream. I arrived at Rio very early in the morning and entered through this back entrance that was like a deserted maintenance area. I then looked up and saw the iconic neon Rio sign, which gave off ominous vibes. At the time, Rio was rundown, so it had this eerie dead 80s mall vibe that also had a charm to it. There was also a tropical storm which added to the eerie atmosphere.
Liminal Space of Skybridge between Excalibur and Luxor in Vegas
Photo Credit: Robert Stark
Luxor Vegas
Photo Credit: Robert Stark
I recently visited Vegas and was walking around the various casinos at night in a semi-hypnogogic state, which reminded me of the aesthetics and vibes of Mall World. Everyone in the casinos were like an npc but I could sense their energy as one metaphysical force. Last year, I was stoned and found myself at the Luxor in a delirious and paranoid state which was more akin to a Mall World nightmare. Not to mention that Luxor is rumored to be haunted and has had a lot of tragedies, including murders and suicides.
Beverly Center in the 80s
There is a scene in my novel, Vaporfornia, in which the protagonist visits a fictional retro-futuristic mall based on the Beverly Center in LA. He leaves a Hollywood party at a restaurant out of romantic despair to go wandering around the mall and ends up in some old deserted area and has a trippy experience that is straight out of Mall World. I wrote Vaporfornia long before learning about Mall World online but it was influenced by my dreams. Also, it was a homage to my earliest hypnogogic memories, as a small child in the late 80s of the Beverly Center, which are imbedded in my subconscious. I remember the external glass elevator which had these neon numbers once you descend into the parking garage. I also remember being at one of the department stores with my mom, likely Bullocks, and going up this escalator which had a giant glass mirror on the side. I remember the colors reflecting from the mirror as both alluring and haunting, like it was a portal.
source: r/TheMallWorld
A common theme in Mall World dreams, which I’ve had are these massive bathrooms or locker rooms, where everything is dirty with wet floors, and the toilets and sinks are broken or have feces in them. Sometimes they are eerily empty and dark and somethings there might be naked guys, either changing, showering, or urinating, which harkens back to adolescent trauma. A lot of people mention endless toilets, which I don’t in particular recollect.
source: r/TheMallWorld
People are making these illustrated renderings and maps of Mall World which are eerily similar. However, I personally can’t map out my dreams because of how disconjointed they are and different from one another. Much like how videos games have a map, each dream is like a new map that is reset each time. However, some people are claiming to visit the exact same mall layout. The positive side is that I see these really amazing vivid architectural scenes, including exquisite retro futuristic structures, like these grand atriums and arcades, that do not exist in reality but relate to my architectural interests. There are often these portals like either tunnels or sky-bridges, such as inspired by Westside Pavilion’s old sky-bridge, which connect different levels of Mall World. In some of these dreams, I am traveling to cities that are based on real cities that I’ve visited. For instance, I recollect a fictional city that might be New York City and Las Vegas merged into one.
source: r/TheMallWorld
These Mall World dreams feel like an arcology, an architectural term for a self-contained city. An archology could be a utopian urbanist concept, as far as creating a place where people can live, work, shop, and have recreation in an interconnected structure, like how in Mall World you might go from a mall, to a hospital, to a school, and to an airport. However, it becomes a dystopia when you can’t leave the arcology, much like the rightoid conspiracy theory about 15 Minute Cities. This makes me think of how Vegas casinos are designed for you to get lost in these corridors and sometimes you struggle to find the exit because they want you to stick around to shop and gamble.
I believe the subconscious has similar metaphysical architecture as an arcology because, unlike with conventional urbanism, everything is interconnected. If you spend a lot of time online, your subconscious starts to operate like a computer, thus the need to “touch grass” to clear your consciousness. Mall world is also analogous to the backrooms 4chan meme, in which liminal spaces become a metaphysical realm, like purgatory, which there is a horror film out based on.
Original Backrooms image posted on 4Chan
There could be an anti-capitalist metaphor that there is a demonic underbelly to consumerism. Mall World can feel like a dead mall, with people describing broken escalators, while also be very futuristic, which is the perfect metaphor for late stage capitalism. Spending time in malls shaped our subconscious, even after the end of malls. Thus, it could be a manifestation of consumerism causing spiritual anguish but also the hauntology of nostalgia for what has been lost or a future that could have been.
People who have been in the GATE program for gifted students, disproportionally claim to have Mall World dreams. This is linked to a conspiracy theory that the GATE program was a CIA MK Ultra mind control experiment regarding paranormal realms. The Theosophists had this concept called the Akashic records which is basically that the astral plane serves as this endless library archive for all universal events, words spoken, thoughts, and emotions since the beginning of time. This relates to Jung’s concept of a collective unconscious which could be interpreted literally, as a shared astral dream realm, or rather that because of shared psychological traits and shared experiences, our brains replicate the same simulation, like how the same computer software is on different devices. Why do so many different people have the same dream, including dreams like one’s teeth falling out or being naked in a classroom, both of which I have commonly had. Do people in other cultures or past times that don’t have malls as a cultural reference also have these similar dreams, or do they dream about some other liminal space, like caves, that serves a similar metaphor? However, it may just be that our subconscious interprets something mundane and gives it deeper esoteric meaning.
Stop drinking iced tea before bed.
esoteric starkianism