What Is 'The Lamp Story' On Reddit And Is It Real? The Viral Creepypasta Explained

An old Reddit post is experiencing a second life on TikTok right now as users make creepy skits referencing it. Over the past decade, the post has become known online as The Lamp Story and now it's terrifying a whole new generation of readers on TikTok. But what is the lamp story and is it real, or just another creepypasta? Here's what you need to know.

What Is 'The Lamp Story' On Reddit?

In January 2012, Redditor /u/temptotosssoon responded to a post on /r/AskReddit asking users, "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?" The thread gained over 2,300 comments over the next 11 years, with /u/temptosssoon's response becoming the most popular with over 2,200 upvotes.

In the comment, the user tells a story about how he was knocked unconscious in college. During the unconscious state, he claims that he lived an entire life with a wife and two children. Then, one day, he got distracted by a lamp in his house because its perspective was "odd," writing that he stayed up all night looking at it. The lamp forced him to wake up and realize it was all a dream, sending him into "three years of horrid depression" while grieving their loss.

My last semester at a certain college I was assaulted by a football player for walking where he was trying to drive (note he was 325lbs I was 120lbs), while unconscious on the ground I lived a different life.

I met a wonderful young lady, she made my heart skip and my face red, I pursued her for months and dispatched a few jerk boyfriends before I finally won her over, after two years we got married and almost immediately she bore me a daughter.

I had a great job and my wife didn't have to work outside of the house, when my daughter was two she [my wife] bore me a son. My son was the joy of my life, I would walk into his room every morning before I left for work and doted on him and my daughter.

One day while sitting on the couch I noticed that the perspective of the lamp was odd, like inverted. It was still in 3D but… just.. wrong. (It was a square lamp base, red with gold trim on 4 legs and a white square shade). I was transfixed, I couldn't look away from it. I stayed up all night staring at it, the next morning I didn't go to work, something was just not right about that lamp.

I stopped eating, I left the couch only to use the bathroom at first, soon I stopped that too as I wasn't eating or drinking. 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…. 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!

The lamp started to grow wider and deeper, it was still inverted dimensions, it took up my entire perspective and 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.

at some point a cop scooped me up, dragged/walked me across the sidewalk and grass and threw me face down in the back of a cop car, I was still confused.

I was taken to the hospital by the cop (seems he didn't want to wait for the ambulance to arrive) and give CT scans.

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.

Is The Reddit Lamp Story Real?

While the lamp story may seem farfetched, there is no evidence to suggest it is fake. The Redditor never claims that it was made up and has never publically denied that it is real. There have also been other accounts of similar experiences happening to people in dreams or comas. For all we know, the lamp story is true.

How Is 'The Lamp Story' Used On TikTok?

Recently, the lamp story has gone viral again on TikTok. One of the first TikTokers to bring the story back into the limelight is @helen_christie, who posted a skit that now boasts over 14 million views where she imagines the moment the lamp sent the storyteller back into consciousness.

The success of the TikToker's video inspired others to make their own interpretations of the moment to similar viral success. The videos tend to use a variation of the caption, "When you're three years into a happy marriage with two kids, followed by a cut to a lamp that doesn't quite look right, turning the Reddit comment into a viral creepypasta trend.

For the full history of The Lamp Story, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.