Abandoned Mall - Tumblr Posts

The flashlights illuminate our way as we walk towards the old carousel. No one has been in the old mall off of I-82 in years. People say that the old place is haunted. But I think they’re all being dramatic

The dust grows thicker the closer we get to the carousel. We can barely see two feet ahead of us. My heart begins to beat faster with every step I take. I glance left and right, afraid that something is going to jump out from the dark and grab me. ‘Calm down. It’s just a silly story Nana told you to scare you.’.

The dust breaks revealing the old carousel that brought many generations of the people in this town joy. I look at my surroundings and notice that the dust encircles the carousel like a barrier. ‘How odd.’.

“This is boring. Let’s go-”. “Why don’t you take a ride? You’ve come all this way.” I whip my head around searching for the source of the sounds. “Meredith? Is that you?” “Meredith is waiting for you Teddie. Why don’t you join her?” My heart rate speeds up dramatically. Sweat begins to run down my face as I feel tears well up in my eyes from fright. “This isn’t funny Meredith!” I yell to what seems like nothing.

A child-like giggle echoes throughout the empty mall as I spin in a circle out of fright.

Creak creak creak. The noise makes me freeze and turn my gaze to the carousel in front of me. A bright spotlight shines on the carousel as it turns with no operator. Broken music plays from the old speakers add to my fear.

The carousel finally stops turning and the light goes out. “Help…me…” a coarse and ragged voice emanates from the carousel. The light returns but is brighter than it was previously, it focuses on the horse right in front of me. My eyes adjust and my body breaks down as a guttural scream erupts from my body.

Strings were tied around Meredith’s wrists and they had been maneuvered into position that made her hands seem like they were holding the pole that connected the horse to the rest of the ride. A frilly pink dress took the place of her original clothing to illuminate the feeling of her being a young girl. Bows decorated her once straight, now curled, hair. Stockings adorned her legs and a pair of Mary Janes were on her feet. But her face was the worst of it. Her lips had been stretched to the point of a permanent smile and her eyelids had been sewn open so that she could never close them.

The light disappeared and the carousel began to spin again. But it spun faster with every turn it took. Soon it had become a blur and created a small gust of wind. I stood up and began to run away from the carousel as music began to play and echo. “Why are you running Teddie? Don’t you want to ride the carousel? Meredith has been waiting for you.” The voice calls out to me as I run as fast as I can to the exit. Shadowy tentacles begin to come after me as I reach the exit. “LEAVE ME ALONE!” I scream just as the tentacles reach me. With a final leap I make it out of the abandoned mall.

I keep running to make sure that the shadows can’t reach me. When I finally stop to catch my breath I process everything that just happened. Tears begin to fall as I remember what happened to Meredith.

“Why did you leave Teddie? I thought you wanted to ride the carousel?” Alarm bells start to ring in my head as the voice begins to speak to me. I feel something cold wrap around my ankle and drag me. My head hits the ground and I fall unconscious.

Karmen Fishing in Abandoned Mall

I think this turned out great! It also took about 1 hour and 49 minutes. Yeah uhh it took a while lmao. And yes, a reference was used as well.

After hours

iG @eth3realm

Gen Loss' shooting location

I'm super into dead/dying malls so I knew what mall it was as soon as I saw the ending of Ep 2, but I didn't wanna post anything about it until after Ranboo had left NY just in case. I'm not about to facilitate any creepy behavior, you know?

So GenLoss was filmed at the now-closed Galleria at White Plains, which -- fun fact! -- is the same mall used for interior mall shots in the movie Eighth Grade (so everyone who enjoys Ranboo/Bo Burnham connections, there's a fun one!). It opened in 1980 and positioned itself as the mall for "normal" people, in contrast to the more upscale Westchester mall nearby. Sadly, that other mall is still alive & kicking, while this one was closed at the end of March 2023. There are apparently redevelopment plans in the works to turn it into mixed-use (retail + residential) space.

I was too curious about what some of the stores used in the shoot used to be, and how much of what I saw in GL was set design and how much was already in place, so I looked up old directories & photos of the mall to see if I could sleuth some of it out. In case anyone else was curious about the set designers' work, or is into retail history, I figured I would share my findings!

The central elevator area of the mall in GenLoss, and how it appeared in 2019. (Screenshot from the 2019 video linked below)

Apologies for the multiple different angles on this one, but this is all the same area, first in GenLoss (right after Ranboo starts walking away from the panel where Hetch is appearing), then from the Fleabitten Adventures 2023 video, then from the Raw & Real Retail video from 2019. (Couldn't resist screenshotting the drone ad on that last one, lol)

In the GenLoss screenshot, at the far right edge of the Sears entryway, you can see a bit of the painting left behind, so my guess is the GL set decorators got rid of that artwork for the shoot.

The screen where Ranboo first speaks to Hetch in ep 3. The empty store behind them was an American Eagle Outfitters at one point, but it was already closed by February 2023. (screeenshot from Fleabitten Adventures 2023 video)

Here's a before & after of this directory panel. (Screenshot from the Fleabitten Adventures 2023 video)

The store full of "props". In the original store photo (Google's only photo of this shop), you can see how the existing shelves were repurposed for GL. Also way at the far end of the store there's a black & white photo of someone with a basketball that was left hanging up.

I had a hard time finding a closer angle of this Victoria's Secret, but in case you were curious, here's one from the Raw & Real Retail video lol.

Where Ranboo almost left but Hetch stopped them: a Kay Jewelers.

The streamers are sitting in the following establishments: My Kitchen, Bourbon Street Cafe, Sarku Japan, Dunkin' Donuts, and of course Charley's. The last empty storefront was a Burger King before it emptied out. (Photo from Foursquare, cropped by me)

The Dental & Foot Care storefront is unchanged except for the seating out in the open area. It was a rounded wooden bench set as of Feb 2023 (screenshot from the Fleabitten Adventures video), but for GL it was the standard metal benches found throughout the mall. Not sure why.

Going far back enough, this was a Radio Shack. Couldn't find ANY photos of this particular location though, so here's the only photo I could find of what it was in the interim: a dress shop called Gloria's. (Photo from Yelp)

This one is my favorite part. :) As of February 2023 (screenshots are from the Fleabitten Adventures video), the "Heart of the Facility" is this weirdly sparse artsy furniture store called Home Splash. But before this, what the shop's facade was designed for, was...

A Charlotte Russe location. Ranboo died in a fucking Charlotte Russe. When I learned this, I could not stop laughing.

More/Sources:

https://www.reddit.com/r/deadmalls/comments/zupwhw/the_galleria_at_white_plains_ny_in_late_afternoon/

A great youtube video from Fleabitten Adventures walking through the whole mall in February 2023

Raw & Real Retail walkthrough video (from 2019)

A shorter walthrough video from HELLOTHISIS4U

Photos from FourSquare

I didn't cover everything I learned here, just the stuff I thought was coolest (and that I had images of), so please feel free to flood my ask box with questions about what certain things used to be!