Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson trace viral internet stories from Reddit threads to courtrooms.
Endless Thread follows the breadcrumb trails of viral posts, niche communities, memes, mobile games, AI tools, and online controversies. Its stories move fast, but the reporting keeps asking why beige children’s clothes, a tunnel under a house, or a mobile-game controversy can say so much.
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Endless Thread is produced by WBUR, Boston's public radio station, and hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson, with producer Grace Tatter and others occasionally co-hosting or bringing in stories they reported themselves. Episodes typically follow a narrative-reporting format, opening with an online artifact - a Reddit thread, a TikTok account, a meme, a lawsuit tied to a viral post - and tracing how it originated, spread, and what it caused. Some episodes lean more conversational, with the co-hosts working through a story together in a panel-style exchange. Guests are usually participants in the story itself: a librarian who runs a satirical beige-aesthetic TikTok account, a Scottish folk singer targeted by AI-generated images, a reporter who investigated a DIY residential tunnel project. Recurring themes include internet aesthetics and consumer trends, AI-generated harassment and non-consensual deepfakes, and defamation or First Amendment cases that arise once online content escalates into legal action. The show periodically revisits earlier subjects through 'Rewind' episodes that update listeners on how a story developed. Episodes run roughly 20 to 30 minutes and credit producers and editors including Meg Kramer and Kalyani Saxena. The audience is people interested in internet culture and online communities who also want the story followed past the initial viral moment into its legal, social, or personal consequences. Tone varies within a single episode, moving between comic (an anonymous margarine-burying saga) and serious (non-consensual sexual imagery, harassment statistics, courtroom testimony). Sponsor segments from outlets such as MathWorks and BU Questrom's 'Is Business Broken?' appear in some episodes but are distinct from the reported content.
Made for: Listeners interested in internet culture and online communities who want viral stories followed through to their legal, social, or personal consequences.
What sets it apart: Rather than just recapping a meme or trend, the show follows viral internet stories into their real-world aftermath - lawsuits, platform policy changes, harassment fallout - grounded in reporting and interviews with the people directly involved.
Untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL. Hosted by Ben Brock Johnson & Amory Sivertson.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Online curiosities become sharp, humane reporting about privacy, taste, memory, and the social judgments hiding inside everyday posts.
Endless Thread follows online curiosities until they reveal something larger about memory, risk, taste, privacy, or the judgments people make about strangers.
A mountain of margarine becomes your gateway to the internet's strangest rabbit holes.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A funny, observant read on sad beige parenting aesthetics as class signal, coping mechanism, and online identity.
A Beige New World turns the joke of sad beige children's clothes into a sharper look at taste, parenting, class, and control. The fun begins with Haley's Werner Herzog bit, but the episode is less interested in dunking on muted baby clothes than in asking why the look carries so…
A funny, uneasy look at Afroman turning a police raid into songs, merch, and Officer Pound Cake lore.
Endless Thread frames Afroman's lemon pound cake story as a culture tale about turning a frightening police raid into material: songs, videos, shirts, a broken door for sale online, and the instantly memorable Officer Pound Cake.
A funny, uneasy return to TikTok's "Tunnel Girl," where online spectacle runs into permits, neighbors, and fire risk.
Endless Thread returns to TikTok's "Tunnel Girl" as a story about internet fascination brushing up against ordinary safety questions. The hook is strange enough on its own: a woman digging a long passage beneath her Northern Virginia home, partly because she can.
A funny, lightly judgy look at what strangers think they can learn from a bookshelf.
Endless Thread takes a listener's tip about the subreddit Bookshelves Detectives and turns it into a small, nosy study of how much we think a shelf can tell us.
A Scottish folk singer's experience with Grok becomes a clear, human story about consent, image abuse, and speaking back.
Endless Thread gives Iona Fyfe room to be a person before she becomes a case study. She arrives as a Scottish folk singer and activist, someone drawn to traditional ballads, place names, old battles, and the pull of home.
A thoughtful look at Google Maps as disaster tool, memory machine, and uneasy measure of control.
Lost Without You turns Google Maps and Google Earth into a story about memory, disaster, and the strange comfort of seeing a place from above.
A funny, oddly gripping Reddit mystery about chives, kitchen banter, and a suspicious mountain of margarine.
Endless Thread starts with a loose knife-skills exchange, then follows Reddit straight into a gloriously strange kitchen-adjacent mystery: the Chive Challenge, the Kitchen Confidential subreddit, and a desperate plea about moving 13 pallets of margarine into a six-foot hole…
Internet drama, with the receipts in view.
Sad beige has jokes.
Officer Pound Cake gets the driest possible spotlight.
Tunnel Girl is back.
The hosts of Endless Thread discuss whether internet stories are beautiful or terrible, focusing on a time-traveling meme and its cultural implications.
Can your bookshelf give you away?
This episode explores a controversy in the mobile gaming world surrounding the game Lily's Garden through an interview with college student and mobile game enthusiast Cindy Charles.
Meet Iona Fyfe.
This episode features a lighthearted conversation about the value and enjoyment of obscure music, emphasizing that quality in music is subjective and based on personal joy.
The hosts discuss the new Melania documentary and its intersection with internet culture and politics.
The hosts discuss listener reactions to a previous episode about fruit and tease upcoming content about love for Valentine's Day.
This episode explores the satanic panic of the 1980s and 90s, a widespread conspiracy theory about devilish influences leading to violence and abuse allegations.
Hosts engage in a comedic debate about whether fruit should be eaten cold, room temperature, or hot.
This episode explores how a 1970 scientific book about wolves by David Meech inadvertently popularized the concept of the 'alpha male' in human culture, examining its origins and misconceptions.
The hosts of Endless Thread discuss a TikTok video sent by a friend, while promoting sponsors and a listener survey.
This episode explores the story of a pop etymologist from TikTok, discussing language origins and online culture.
This episode revisits a decade-old Reddit comment about kindness and humanity as a New Year tradition to inspire listeners to be more compassionate.
This holiday encore episode revisits a simpler time of internet memes before modern concepts like AI slop and brain rot emerged.
A map turns into a place to remember.
Hosts discuss a mysterious photo that appears to show a vast landscape but may be something much smaller, exploring its origins and meaning.
This episode of Endless Thread explores the culture, popularity, and controversies surrounding the TV show The Great British Bake Off.
This episode celebrates National Thanksgiving leftovers day by revisiting an earlier interview with a sandwich expert from New Orleans, highlighting the joy of leftover sandwiches.
Knife skills kick off the mess.
Hosts banter about trolling and internet pranks, leading into an episode about inventive online trolling.
This episode revisits a favorite story about a PhD student's atypical educational journey, highlighting personal struggles and resilience.
This episode investigates the origin and viral spread of Labooboo plush toys, starting with a TikTok video of NFL players reacting to them.
Hosts introduce a favorite episode about an online mystery or story, setting up a narrative exploration.
Hosts share spooky internet stories and go on a haunted hayride for Halloween.
This episode revisits a story about TikTok influencers giving shark encounter advice, featuring scientists' skepticism and a new Netflix documentary.
This episode opens with sponsor messages and a reminder about secure communication channels, then transitions into a playful discussion about condiment preferences.
This episode opens with sponsor messages and a reminder about secure communication channels for listeners to share tips.
This episode begins with sponsor messages and a reminder about secure communication channels before introducing a story about a life altered at age seven.
An exploration of fashion and style through the lens of internet culture, featuring menswear expert Derek Guy.
Hosts discuss their personal group chat habits and the culture of digital messaging.
The episode begins with a playful banter about amuse-bouche and then introduces a story about artificial intelligence online.
This episode revisits a story about dinosaur emoji and trans rights, sparked by recent political debates over public media funding.