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When the lamp looks strange

18:18
A lamp. (Getty/Won Kim Photography)
A lamp. (Getty/Won Kim Photography)

"Have you ever felt a deep personal connection to a person you met in a dream only to wake up feeling terrible because you realize they never existed?"

More than a decade ago, someone posted this question to Reddit. It was a popular post with many responses. But one response would go beyond the realm of popularity into something else. Internet canon, perhaps?

The Redditor gave a detailed account of their life. It was a good life, they said. But one day, it came to a crashing halt — because of a lamp.

The post would go on to inspire hundreds of memes and boggle the minds of countless people. Endless Thread's Ben Brock Johnson brings co-host Amory Sivertson the story of the strange lamp.

Show notes:

This content was originally created for audio. An auto-generated transcript is available on Apple Podcasts. Heads up that some elements (i.e. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.

Headshot of Ben Brock Johnson
Ben Brock Johnson Director, Digital Audio

Ben Brock Johnson is the director of digital audio at WBUR and co-host of the podcast, Endless Thread.

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Headshot of Dean Russell
Dean Russell Senior Producer, WBUR Podcasts

Dean Russell is a senior producer for WBUR Podcasts.

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Headshot of Amory Sivertson
Amory Sivertson Host and Senior Producer, Podcasts

Amory Sivertson is a senior producer for podcasts and the co-host of Endless Thread.

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Headshot of Emily Jankowski
Emily Jankowski Sound Designer

Emily Jankowski is a sound designer for WBUR’s podcast department.

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