# 878: New Lore Drop

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501/878-new-lore-drop
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501/878-new-lore-drop.md
Podcast: [This American Life](https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501)
Published: 2026-01-11T23:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/878-new-lore-drop--71324420
Audio file: https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/71324420/default.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/this-american-life-7814501/episodes/878-new-lore-drop
Duration seconds: 3497

## Resource

People discovering information about their own lives that they did not know, and suddenly everything looks very different. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: When Pete turned 18, his dad took him on a drive to reveal a family secret he was finally old enough to know. (11 minutes) Act One: Sometimes, a lore drop comes when you least expect it. That happened to Jake Cornell and his grandmother. Producer Aviva DeKornfeld talked to Jake about it. (14 minutes) Act Two: Ben Austen had a kind of new lore drop happen to him recently. But it was not the clarifying kind of lore drop, where everything suddenly makes sense — it was kind of the opposite. (29 minutes) Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org This American Life privacy policy. Learn more about sponsor message choices. 🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD: Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts? 👇 View the visual archive for this episode here: https://goo.su/XwNQm (Updated for each story)

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## Transcript

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