Walked exactly 5,000 steps inside the old Franklin Mall food court before I even noticed how weird it was

I was exploring that dead mall out past Springfield last Saturday, the one where they kept the fountains running for like a year after everything else closed. I got into counting my steps on my phone just to kill time, and I hit exactly 5,000 steps just pacing around the empty food court area. There were still those old metal tables bolted down and a single flickering sign for a Chinese place that closed in 2019. It was so echoey in there that every footstep sounded like a drum, but I couldn't stop walking circles around the same tile pattern. Has anyone else ever tracked how much ground you cover in one of these ghost malls? I felt like a hamster on a wheel.

2 comments

2 Comments

dylan2654d ago

I mean, the hamster wheel comparison is uncomfortably accurate. I did the same thing at the old Franklin Mall back in August, except I was just pacing while waiting for my friend to finish vaping in the bathroom. I got to like 3,200 steps before I realized I'd been walking the same loop past a boarded-up Hot Topic and a dead pretzel stand for twenty minutes. The tile pattern really does hypnotize you, especially when it's that weird 90s geometric stuff. idk maybe it's just me but I feel like these malls are designed to trap you in a walking trance even when they're empty.

dakota4794d ago

The Franklin Mall tile pattern is legit hypnotic, I swear. I hit 4,200 steps looping that exact same food court last winter just because the reflection off the floor kept catching my eye and I'd lose track of where I was looking. The Chinese place sign is the one that says "Panda Express" but it's faded to just "PANDA" with a blurry panda silhouette right? That flicker is like a slow strobe light for your brain. I kept thinking I saw movement in the reflection of the tile but it was just me and that one pigeon that lives in the rafters. Dead malls feel like theyre running a simulation of themselves and we're just the ghosts that forgot to leave.