This Vinyl Collector Found a Heart-Wrenching Letter Hidden Inside an Old Record

Vinyl are more than just auditory records. They're also written records — physical artifacts with histories digital audio files simply can't touch. Your Spotify version of Soundgarden's Superunknown is exactly the same as every one else's. With a vinyl copy, one can make no such guarantee.

Reddit user Muctur felt the truth of this when they recently purchased a blue vinyl edition of the above album and found a note inside from the mother of its previous owner.

It revealed the heartbreaking reason why she was selling the record now — one that will pluck all the heart strings of any true music lover.

"Just in case you want to know where this record is coming from: I am Mark's mother," the note read. "Mark left us in 2002 — he suffered a heart attack at age 39 while running in the Oregon coastal mountains."

The vinyl records — Mark's mother, Sabine, explained — are some of the most significant memories of her son she has left.

"Mark collected this music in the '80s while attending college," the letter read. "I would ask him on occasion when he [schlepped] all this music home (2,000 CDs [and] over 600 vinyl LPs!), 'What do you want me to do with all this music if something should happen to you?'"

"'Listen to it, Mom,' he would say."

Sabine explained she has, but now she feels the need to share the records. She said it's "good therapy for me to see this music being shared all over the world."

The letter ended encouraging the reader, "When you play it, play it loud for Mark!" It seems the redditor who shared the photo has been doing so.

"This record now has sentimental value, and I just got it," the user wrote. "Definitely the most valuable record in my collection now."

h/t Smoking Section