The Disturbing Reddit Lamp Story - MrBallen

Chris Williamson
5 May 202411:26

Summary

TLDRIn a chilling narrative, the storyteller recounts a tale of Mitch, a college senior who envisions an entire life with wife Kayla and two children after a head injury. The vivid hallucination includes a dream home and a mysterious, blurry lamp that captivates Mitch's attention, leading to a shocking revelation that his family and life were mere figments of his imagination during a brief period of unconsciousness. The story explores the profound emotional impact of losing a non-existent family and the struggle to cope with such a surreal experience.

Takeaways

  • 🏚 The story revolves around a man named Mitch who experiences a vivid hallucination of an entire life in a dream home with a wife and children.
  • 💑 Mitch's relationship with Kayla, a girl in his university class, evolves from a crush to a marriage and family life, which later turns out to be a figment of his imagination.
  • 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Mitch and Kayla's life together is depicted as the 'American Dream' with a white picket fence, two children, and a loving family dynamic.
  • 🏈 Mitch's hallucination begins with a blurry, moving lamp that captures his attention while he is watching a football game, leading to a medical emergency.
  • 🚑 Mitch is found by his wife in a trance-like state, unresponsive to her and the children, which prompts her to call for medical help.
  • 🤯 The hallucination escalates to the point where the lamp grows in size, causing Mitch immense pain and leading to a loss of consciousness.
  • 👮 Mitch wakes up to find himself in a completely different reality, with a crowd of college students and a police officer who takes him to the hospital.
  • 🏥 It is revealed that Mitch's entire life with his wife and children was a hallucination that occurred in the 10 seconds he was unconscious after hitting his head.
  • 💔 Mitch is left to grieve the loss of a family that never existed, which has a profound impact on his emotional well-being.
  • 📚 The story was shared on Reddit, where Mitch did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) to discuss his experience and the psychological effects of losing an imagined family.
  • 💊 The narrator mentions Fountain Life, a company focused on preventative medicine, offering services like full body scans and genetic testing to promote a longer, healthier life.

Q & A

  • What is the setting of the story told by the narrator?

    -The setting of the story is a spooky house, which the narrator finds fitting for the tale.

  • Provide a question here

    -Provide an answer here

Outlines

00:00

😱 A Haunting Tale of Illusion and Reality

The first paragraph introduces a chilling story set in a spooky house, told by a narrator who claims it's one of the best he's ever told. The story revolves around a man named Mitch, who in 2004 was a senior at a Louisiana university and fell in love with a classmate, Kayla. They eventually married, bought a dream home, and had two children by 2009. However, Mitch's life takes a bizarre turn when he notices a lamp in his living room behaving oddly—first appearing blurry, then moving and flipping upside down on its own. Despite his growing concern, Mitch avoids seeking medical help and becomes fixated on the lamp, which leads to a shocking twist.

05:01

😨 The Descent into a Lamp-Induced Trance

In the second paragraph, Mitch's obsession with the lamp continues as he spends a sleepless night staring at it, even after his wife and children have gone to bed. The next day, he feigns illness to stay home and continues to watch the lamp, which begins to grow in size, consuming his vision. Eventually, Mitch experiences intense pain, hears screams, and finds himself in a crowd of people, not at his home but in a public place. A police officer rushes him to the hospital, where Mitch learns that his entire life with Kayla and their children was a figment of his imagination, constructed during a brief period of unconsciousness after a football accident. The realization shatters him, leading to a life of grief and coping with the loss of a family that never was.

10:02

🏥 The Impact of a False Life on a Man's Reality

The third paragraph delves into the aftermath of Mitch's discovery, highlighting the emotional turmoil he faces as he tries to come to terms with the reality that his family never existed. The narrator mentions that Mitch shared his story on Reddit, attracting significant attention. Despite the public interest, Mitch wishes to distance himself from the story and seeks therapy to deal with the profound loss of a life and family that were only ever in his mind. The paragraph also transitions to a discussion about preventative medicine and the services offered by Fountain Life, emphasizing the importance of health checks and early detection of critical health issues.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Spooky House

A 'spooky house' refers to a building that has an eerie or frightening atmosphere, often associated with Halloween or ghost stories. In the video's theme, the setting is a spooky house, which sets the mood for the storytelling and complements the eerie narrative of the story being shared.

💡Storytelling

Storytelling is the art of narrating stories, often with imaginative or dramatic elements to engage an audience. The video revolves around the act of storytelling, with the speaker sharing a personal and impactful story that had a significant reaction from a live audience.

💡Twist

A 'twist' in storytelling refers to an unexpected turn of events that surprises the audience and adds depth to the narrative. The video mentions a significant twist at the end of the story, which is a key element that contributes to its impact and memorability.

💡Dream Home

A 'dream home' is a term used to describe an ideal house that fulfills one's aspirations in terms of comfort, location, and aesthetics. In the script, Mitch and Kayla's dream home in Louisiana symbolizes the American dream and serves as the backdrop for their seemingly perfect life.

💡Medical Emergency

A 'medical emergency' is a situation requiring immediate medical attention due to severe illness or injury. The script describes Mitch's experience with a mysterious blurry lamp, which he initially interprets as a possible medical emergency, indicating a critical turning point in the story.

💡Blurry Vision

'Blurry vision' is a common symptom where objects appear out of focus. In the narrative, Mitch's blurry vision of the lamp is a recurring motif that leads to a deeper mystery and is central to the unfolding of the story's twist.

💡Unconscious

Being 'unconscious' refers to a state where a person is not awake and is unaware of what is happening around them, often due to injury or medical condition. The script reveals that Mitch was unconscious for a brief period, during which his brain created an entire虚构 life.

💡Fictitious Life

A 'fictitious life' is a life that is imagined or invented, not real. The video's twist reveals that Mitch's life with his wife, kids, and home was all a figment of his imagination during the brief time he was unconscious, creating a profound emotional impact.

💡Grief

Grief is the deep emotional response to loss, often associated with mourning. The script mentions that Mitch had to grieve the loss of his fictitious family, which illustrates the emotional depth and complexity of the story.

💡Preventative Medicine

Preventative medicine involves采取措施 to prevent the development of diseases or health conditions. The script includes a promotion for Fountain life, which offers services in preventative medicine, suggesting the importance of proactive health measures.

💡AMA (Ask Me Anything)

An 'Ask Me Anything' (AMA) is an interactive online session where a person answers questions from the public. The script mentions that Mitch did an AMA on Reddit to share his experience, indicating his willingness to communicate his story to a wider audience.

Highlights

The narrator begins with a spooky house setting, setting the tone for a mysterious story.

The story features a man named Mitch who falls in love with a girl named Kayla in Louisiana.

Mitch and Kayla's relationship evolves from a classmate connection to marriage and a family with two children.

A seemingly ordinary day takes a strange turn when Mitch notices a blurry lamp in his living room.

The lamp's peculiar behavior escalates, flipping upside down and growing in size, causing Mitch distress.

Mitch's fixation on the lamp leads to a medical emergency, with his wife Kayla calling for help.

A shocking twist reveals that Mitch's entire life with Kayla and their children was a hallucination.

The reality is that Mitch is a college senior who had a head injury during a football game.

Mitch's brain created a detailed life in the 10 seconds he was unconscious, including a family and home.

The story explores the emotional impact of losing a family that never existed.

Mitch's struggle with the loss is profound, leading to therapy and a Reddit AMA to share his experience.

The narrator reflects on the psychological implications of Mitch's experience and the reality of his loss.

The story concludes with Mitch's ongoing struggle, including dreams of his non-existent son.

The narrator discusses the impact of the story on the audience and Mitch's desire for privacy.

An advertisement for Fountain Life is presented, promoting preventative medicine and health assessments.

The advertisement details the benefits of Fountain Life's comprehensive health snapshot services.

A special offer for listeners is mentioned, providing a discount on Fountain Life's services.

Transcripts

play00:00

we're in the right place for it which is

play00:02

a very spooky house yeah have you got a

play00:04

story that suits the surroundings I do I

play00:06

do I actually there's a story um that I

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think is one of the best ones I've ever

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told so I'm setting sting some pretty

play00:13

high stakes here but uh for reference I

play00:15

I told this one live last year in Texas

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to a soldout crowd at the Paramount

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Theater and this story had a a big

play00:22

reaction to it because the twist at the

play00:24

end is something else and it's house

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themed so uh in 200 4 there was this guy

play00:31

named Mitch who was going to a

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university in Louisiana and he's a

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senior and there's this girl in his

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class named KLA who's also a senior and

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he just loves this girl he he wants to

play00:42

date her more than anything and you know

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he's tried several times to to you know

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woo her but she's not that interested

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you know she's kind of playing hard to

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get but she he could tell there was

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something there maybe maybe she likes

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him and uh eventually she does kind of

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acques and say okay you know like let's

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go on a date you know and they hit it

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off you know and Kayla hit it off you

play01:01

know they're an item and they end up

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graduating and after graduation they get

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married and by 2006 Mitch and Kayla have

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bought their actual you know white

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picket fence Dream Home in

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Louisiana and you know life was great

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you know they they loved their careers

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they both of them were very intentional

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about spending time together on the

play01:21

weekends and really making you know

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their time together as a couple very

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important and then by 2007 so they've

play01:27

lived in this new home for a year now

play01:29

they have have they welcome their first

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child uh their daughter and then two

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years after that which puts us in 2009

play01:37

they have their son and then then

play01:38

they're done at that point they got

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their girl they got their boy and it's

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like life couldn't be better you know

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Mitch loves his job his wife loves her

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job they they had this this thing where

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every morning the the dad would uh he

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would sneak into the kidss bedroom and

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he'd like spook them to wake them up you

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know it was a playful thing and they

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always had you know family game nights

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on the weekend and and and the Mitch and

play02:00

Kayla made a point to still have those

play02:02

romantic dates you know anytime they

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could they always got babysitters to to

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spend time together so this is like a

play02:07

it's the American dream in many ways you

play02:09

have this this this young family living

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high school sweetheart white picky fence

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two and a half kids dog that's it so

play02:18

it's 2009 and uh Mitch is at this this

play02:21

little dream home and he's watching

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football he's sitting on the couch

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watching football and you know it's just

play02:27

like any other day and as he's watching

play02:29

the game there's this lamp that's in the

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back right corner of the room this this

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non-descript you know you know Target

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lamp you know it's a red lamp and Mitch

play02:39

he's he's seen this lamp a million times

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it's in his house and he's watching

play02:42

football but at some point he he notices

play02:45

something odd about this lamp and he

play02:47

looks over at it and for some reason the

play02:50

lamp itself not the light bulb but the

play02:52

actual physical lamp like the base was

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blurry the rest of the room is in Focus

play02:57

there's plenty of light in the room but

play02:58

the lamp is blurry and so Mitch he's

play03:01

he's you know he's looking at the lamp

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he's he's rubbing his eyes to see if

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there's something in his eyes but still

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the lamp is is blurry he goes back to

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the TV not blurry you know Mitch has

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good eyesight this doesn't make any

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sense and so Mitch finally you know he's

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he's worried about this you know there

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something wrong with me and he stands up

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and he walks over to the lamp and as

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soon as he gets up to it it's still

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blurry and he touches it still blurry

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and he's like okay I don't know what

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this is about but he does the typical

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you know kind of dude reaction like

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whatever the male medical problems yeah

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it's like I'm probably having a stroke

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but you know whatever uh so he he turns

play03:35

around and he goes back to the couch and

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just does his best to ignore the still

play03:38

blurry lamp and so he's watching the

play03:40

game he's watching the game he's

play03:41

glancing periodically but he's mostly

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focused on the game and then at some

play03:45

point towards the end of the football

play03:46

game the lamp changes it remains blurry

play03:50

but you know out of the corner of his

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eye he sees it moving around and he

play03:52

looks and the lamp with having not been

play03:55

interact no one's touched the lamp at

play03:56

this point but the lamp is now turned

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upside down which is you know it's not

play04:00

possible it's flipped upside down and

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now it's blurry and so now now Mitch is

play04:04

he's looking at this lamp thinking okay

play04:06

huge problems here there's something

play04:07

wrong I I I might very well be having

play04:10

some sort of medical emergency but for

play04:12

some reason that Mitch just could not

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place he couldn't bring himself to call

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the doctor I mean this is a this is a

play04:18

situation where you call the doctor

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there's something wrong and he knew it

play04:21

but he didn't do it instead he just

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could not stop looking at this lamp he's

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he's not watching the TV he's just

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staring at this upside down blurry lamp

play04:29

and at some point that day or that

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evening uh his wife Kayla and his two

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kids they come home and the second she

play04:34

comes in you know Mitch kind of breaks

play04:36

out of his his his fixation and he

play04:39

thinks I should tell Kayla about this

play04:41

lamp I'm having a medical emergency I

play04:43

should tell her but again he doesn't and

play04:45

in fact he quickly thinks to himself I

play04:46

can't tell her I'm I'm going to pretend

play04:48

this didn't happen he kind of forgets

play04:50

about the lamp and he goes and he sees

play04:51

his wife and his kids and it's a normal

play04:53

night she she is none the wiser that he

play04:55

spent the day staring at a lamp that's

play04:56

blurry and upside down and you know when

play04:58

Kayla came in the lamp was not blurry

play05:00

and upside down she's not experiencing

play05:02

this so that night regular night you

play05:04

know they put the kids to bed and you

play05:06

know Kayla and Mitch they go to bed too

play05:08

but then after Kayla had fallen asleep

play05:10

Mitch is wide awake you know he can't

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sleep and there's something telling him

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to go down and look at that lamp and so

play05:17

Mitch gets up and he sneaks downstairs

play05:19

and he goes to the couch and you know

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the light is not even on at this point

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but even in the darkness he can tell

play05:24

it's still blurry it's still upside down

play05:27

and he sits on the couch and he just

play05:28

stares at the lamp and all night Mitch

play05:30

sits on this couch and stares at this

play05:32

lamp in absolute silence and then in the

play05:34

morning Kayla gets up she comes down

play05:36

it's it's you know during the week so

play05:38

it's a work day she comes down and she

play05:40

she finds Mitch on the couch and she's

play05:42

like what are you doing and he kind of

play05:44

breaks out of it and he's like oh you

play05:45

know I wasn't feeling well last night

play05:47

you know he's lying to her I wasn't

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feeling well so I came down here and in

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fact he tells her you know what I I feel

play05:52

so sick I I can't go to work today and

play05:54

Kayla's like you've never taken a day

play05:56

off from work ever and you don't you

play05:58

don't seem sick to me like what's

play06:00

happening and he's like no I just just

play06:01

not feeling up for it and so Kayla's

play06:03

like okay but she's she's thinking

play06:05

there's there's there's a red flag here

play06:07

you know but she doesn't know what it is

play06:09

and so ultimately Kayla and the kids

play06:11

they leave for the day and Mitch stays

play06:13

home and he just stares at this lamp all

play06:16

day he is staring at this lamp and by

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the evening when Kayla comes home this

play06:21

is like 8 10 hours later when she walks

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in the house all the lights are still

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off ex except for the red lamp and she

play06:28

sees her husband who now is not breaking

play06:30

out of his trance he's sitting on the

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couch and he is absolutely focused on

play06:34

this lamp and when she walks in she's

play06:36

like what's going on with you no

play06:37

reaction Mitch is fully locked in on

play06:39

this lamp he's completely

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unresponsive and so Kayla is like

play06:44

putting it together that oh my God

play06:46

something's obviously wrong and so she

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she grabs the phone and she calls the

play06:50

doctor to be like what do I do about

play06:51

this and she's at the same time kind of

play06:53

yelling for Mitch on the couch there's

play06:54

no reaction she's shoo her kids away you

play06:56

know go upstairs you we'll deal with

play06:58

this and so as this is happening Mitch

play07:01

who can kind of tell you know his wife

play07:03

is on the phone with the doctor

play07:05

eventually he can't even hear her

play07:06

anymore she disappears completely and

play07:08

he's left with just this lamp and the

play07:11

lamp begins to change for a a second

play07:13

time now in addition to being upside

play07:15

down and blurry the lamp begins to grow

play07:17

inside the room and so as it's growing

play07:20

it's taking up more and more of this

play07:21

field of vision until this lamp is so

play07:23

big he now is basically consumed by the

play07:26

lamp and it's at this point that he

play07:28

begins to feel his blinding pain in his

play07:30

head and he doesn't know where it's

play07:31

coming from and then he hears a ringing

play07:33

in his ears and then all he hears is

play07:35

just people screaming everywhere and

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it's total darkness the lamp is gone and

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then he opens his eyes and he looks

play07:40

around and he's surrounded by a sea of

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people that are all looking at him and

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he's on the ground it's broad daylight

play07:45

he's not at his house anymore and he's

play07:48

looking around at this crowd of it looks

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like college kids and he's looking for

play07:52

his wife and his kids he can't see them

play07:55

and he stands up and he's he doesn't

play07:56

know what's going on and as he's yelling

play07:58

for his wife and kids Kaya he was

play08:00

yelling for his wife and kids a police

play08:02

officer comes charging through the

play08:03

circle and he grabs Mitch and without

play08:05

saying anything he lifts him up a grown

play08:07

man and just runs with him to his police

play08:10

car and the whole time Mitch is like I

play08:12

don't know what's going on here his

play08:14

head's still like you know he's still

play08:15

got pain in his head he has no idea

play08:17

where he is physically he has no idea

play08:18

where he is and he gets thrown in the

play08:20

back of this police car obviously

play08:22

there's some emergency happening right

play08:24

now and and the cop without saying

play08:25

anything he hops in the driver's seat

play08:27

and they they start speeding down the

play08:28

road and as they're driving Mitch just

play08:30

starts saying Where's My Wife and Kids

play08:32

what's going on and the police officer

play08:34

was like sir you just hit your head I'm

play08:36

bringing you to the hospital and so

play08:38

ultimately the police officer brings

play08:39

Mitch to the hospital and they end up

play08:42

you know he gets treated by the doctors

play08:43

and nurses but he discovers what's

play08:45

actually

play08:46

happened Mitch was a senior in college

play08:50

and he got tackled by a football player

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and he hit his head on the ground and he

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was unconscious for a fraction of a

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second like 10 seconds or something and

play08:58

in those 10 seconds his brain

play08:59

constructed an entire life with a wife

play09:02

with kids with the white picket fence

play09:04

the house none of it existed he never

play09:06

had a wife he never had his kids they

play09:08

they're not real and so he realized what

play09:11

had happened when he was at the hospital

play09:13

and he had to grieve the loss of people

play09:15

who never existed and it wrecked his

play09:17

life he did this huge Reddit post this

play09:20

ask me anything where he tried to tell

play09:22

people what it's like to have basically

play09:24

lost your entire family who don't exist

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and he said to this day he still has

play09:29

dreams where his little son will come

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running around the corner and he's

play09:32

perpetually 5 years old he you know and

play09:34

then that was his life and so it it

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wrecked his life and it never existed it

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was just a figment of his

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imagination dude pretty crazy right wow

play09:45

yeah have you reached out to this guy

play09:47

given that you've had so you've given

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this story so much attention yeah and

play09:51

what's he like no he doesn't want talk

play09:53

about it he did his AMA and that's it

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the dude wants to disappear he goes to

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therapy for this I he basically gave

play10:00

permission but doesn't want to be a part

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of it I mean he's trying to cope and

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he'll be about our age now or something

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maybe mhm yeah I mean for him I mean h

play10:09

how do you go about dealing with

play10:11

something like that because the to other

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people it's like well it never really

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happened you know come on but for him it

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was like years that in his brain was

play10:20

implanted like an entire history an

play10:22

entire family I mean that's real loss

play10:25

we'll get back to talking to Bing in one

play10:26

minute but first I need to tell you

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