Commonly known as "The Reddit Lamp Story", this is the tale of a Louisiana man who was living the American Dream along with his wife and two children.

The disturbing truth?

The idyllic, perfect life he was living never existed.

Unsplash Via Scott Webb
Unsplash Via Scott Webb
loading...

The Reddit Lamp Story

This is the heartbreaking tale of "The Reddit Lamp Story" as told by the MrBallen podcast and is widely believed to be a true story.

MrBallen says he has personally spoken to the main character in this story.

The last names are omitted, and you'll find out why later.

In 2004, a Louisiana college student known as Mitch was a graduating Senior, and was madly in love with a fellow student named Kayla.

Mitch repeatedly asked Kayla out, and eventually she agreed to go out with him.

The two hit it off and the rest, as they say, is history.

After graduating college, Kayla and Mitch got married, and shortly there after bought their first home.

Over the next 2 to 3 years, the couple had two children, a girl and a boy.

The Louisiana couple were seemingly living the American Dream; They loved their jobs, their home, their children, and were very much in love with other.

Unsplash Via Patricia Prudente
Unsplash Via Patricia Prudente
loading...

One Sunday in 2009, Mitch was watching football, sitting on the couch in the family's living room.

While watching the game, a lamp in a corner of the room caught Mitch's attention.

Oddly, the lamp appeared blurry.

Nothing else in the room or the house appeared this way, it was only the lamp in the corner of the living room that appeared this way.

Mitch eventually got up to look at the lamp closer and touch it. The lamp felt normal to the touch but still appeared blurry, even up close.

He became a bit concerned that he might be having a medical issue, but chose to ignore it and continued to watch the game.

Red Lamp Reddit Story
ChatGPT
loading...

 

Towards the end of the game, he noticed the lamp was not only blurry, but was now upside down.

As MrBallen tells the story, Mitch became completely fixated on this blurry lamp, but despite his concern, he could not bring himself to stop staring at the lamp or call a Doctor.

Later that evening Kayla and the kids come home after a day out, but Mitch never mentioned to her what he's been experiencing and what he's seeing.

In contrast, Kayla noticed nothing odd or off about the lamp or anything else in the house.

Later that night the couple went to bed, but after a few hours Mitch is compelled to go back downstairs into the living room to stare at the blurry lamp.

The next morning, Kayla finds Mitch alone on the couch in the living room.

Couch
Unsplash Via Sasha • Stories
loading...

Wondering what's wrong, Mitch tells her he's not feeling well, couldn't sleep, and won't be going to work that day.

Apparently Mitch never missed work, so Kayla was pretty worried about what was going on with him.

Although concerned, Kayla brings the kids to school then goes to work for the day, leaving Mitch at home.

While at home alone, Mitch continues to sit in the living room for the entire day, staring at the blurry lamp in the corner.

8 to 10 hours later, Kayla and the kids return home to find Mitch silently sitting, staring at the lamp, completely disconnected from everything else that going on around him.

From the original poster, believed to be Mitch, via Reddit -

"I stared at the lamp for 3 days before my wife got really worried, she had someone come and try to talk to me, by this time my cognizance was breaking up and my wife was freaking out. She took the kids to her mother's house just before I had my epiphany."

In the Reddit post, Mitch claims the lamp continued to grow wider and deeper as he continued to stare, eventually taking up his entire perspective in the room.

This is where this story goes from strange to heart breaking and tragic.

Mitch's epiphany was that "the lamp is not real....the house is not real, my wife, my kids... none of that is real... the last 10 years of my life are not real!"

Mitch claims that suddenly "all I could see was red, I heard voices, screams, all kinds of weird noises and I became aware of pain.... a ton of pain... the first words I said were 'I'm missing teeth' and opened my eyes. I was laying on my back on the sidewalk surrounded by people that I didn't know, lots were freaking out, I was completely confused."

Police Lights
Photo courtesy of Michael Fortsch-y5lav9iec_g-unsplash-1
loading...

Mitch says next a police officer quickly picked him and rushed him to a nearby squad car.

Mitch continuously yelled "Where is my wife? Where are my kids" while in the back seat of the police car.

He was then told he had suffered a serious head injury and needed immediate medical attention.

Once at the hospital Mitch underwent a battery of CT scans and rigorous cognitive testing.

Sadly, Mitch's wife and children never showed up to see him while he was hospitalized.

You see, Mitch's idealistic, happy life he was living...wasn't real.

CT Scan
Unsplash Via National Cancer Institute
loading...

Apparently Mitch had gotten into an altercation on campus, reportedly over a parking spot, and during the argument was either punched or pushed to the ground, hitting his head on the pavement, and was knocked unconscious for roughly 10 seconds.

During that 10 seconds, Mitch began living a life in which he married the love of his life, had 2 perfect children, bought a house, landed a dream job...but none of it was actually real.

At this point in his life, Mitch had never married, never had kids, hadn't graduated college yet, and hadn't bought the house with the picket fence.

It was all an unconscious "fever dream" of sorts.

What makes this so tragic is that, to Mitch, this was all incredibly real.

From Reddit -

"I went through about 3 years of horrid depression, I was grieving the loss of my wife and children and dealing with the knowledge that they never existed, I was scared that I was going insane as I would cry myself to sleep hoping I would see her in my dreams.

I never have, but sometimes I see my son, usually just a glimpse out of my peripheral vision, he is perpetually 5 years old and I can never hear what he says."

Although this sounds like Science Fiction, stories like this aren't completely uncommon. Rare, but not uncommon.

Mitch has said this experience has ruined his life and has only told this story publicly once. He doesn't want to benefit financially from his harrowing ordeal and wishes to stay as anonymous as possible.

Interestingly, others have reported similar stories after sustaining a serious head injury, or even after being put under sedation during surgery.

You can read more in the original Reddit post HERE, and watch MrBallen tell the story below.

LOOK: 20 of the biggest insects in the world

Stacker compiled a list of 20 of the biggest insects in the world using a variety of news, scientific, and other sources.

Gallery Credit: Andrea Vale