On the night of Wednesday, September 14th, I was at home minding my own business when the following Ogle Mole dispatch slipped inside the TLO inbox.
I don't know who sent it, where it came from, or why they chose us, but it will go down in history as one of the best news tips we've ever received.
Check it out:
It's good to be loved, I tell you!
After watching the video a dozen times, zooming in, and laughing my ass off, I figured I had a fun little story on my hands. The next afternoon, I confirmed with our friends at Patricia's that what I was seeing was actually what I was seeing, and shared the video on Twitter so I could easily embed it into an article I was writing.
I knew it would get some likes, replies, and retweets, but I'll admit, I was a bit unprepared for the international odd news / tabloid / clickbait / morning FM radio show banter breaking news event I was about to unleash on the world...
As I saw the tweet quickly explode like a teenage virgin on prom night across the Oklahoma Twitterverse, I hastily wrapped up the article for publishing. I knew I had to write the perfect headline to accompany the piece, and I'm proud to say I put my world-class skills to the test and hit a home run.
Sure, the material was served up on a platter, but I killed it.
From there, I sat down all fat and happy, and watched the clicks, likes, shares, and hysterical replies come in as the story went viral across the Internet, temporarily overwhelming our servers in the process.
In fact, by Friday afternoon, just about every major tabloid and clickbait media outlet had a story about the I-40 Sex Toy Spill on their website, with a decent chunk of them actually giving us credit...
D-List celebs got in on the action, too.
The story raced so fast across the Internet that it got the attention of Snopes! They confirmed our report as true!
I'm not going to lie, as a guy who's addicted to clicks, it was fun and fulfilling to watch this story go viral. As an Internet publisher, they're the rare types of stories you live for, and when you do experience one, you try to enjoy it because you don't know when or even if it will happen again.
Seriously, how often does Eddie Vedder of all people reference something you helped spawn while playing a concert in your hometown???
Actually, Eddie Vedder indirectly referenced a TLO article while playing at Chesapeake Arena back in 2013 when he responded to a news story we broke about him calling the people in OKC fuckers for stealing the Sonics, so I guess it is common. Either way, since he's apparently a loyal reader, can I ask that he add "Black" to the setlist the next time Pearl Jam comes to town? I'd appreciate it.
Anyway, out of the 10,000 or so articles we've published on this site over the last 15 years, the I-40 Sex Toy Spill rivals our expose on Skip Bayless's high school basketball career, our exclusive report that Jessica Alba vandalized downtown OKC with Great White Shark posters, and a few other scoops that have fallen in our laps over the years as one of the most popular Lost Ogle articles of all time.
We'd like to thank the Mole who made us aware of that erotic semi's slippery cargo, and – whether it was intentional or not – we'd also like to thank Jim Gardner and Lacey Lowry for the hysterical commentary that made the video extra funny, and News 9 management for being too prude to capitalize on it.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We'll make sure local news stories involving lube and dildos are never hidden inside the nightstand drawer.
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