Many of us have memories that we hold dear, whether that be from our childhood or those we created as adults. But are they real? Or are they a case of the false memory phenomenon known as The Mandela Effect? The term came about in 2009 when Fiona Broome was at a conference and the subject of Nelson Mandela came up. Her and a few other people clearly remembered him dying in prison in the 1980s, his funeral, and the media covering it, in a great amount of detail. However, Mandela did not die until 2013. How did so many people, who, had never previously met, have the same clear memory of something that didn’t happen? Read on and see if you have also been a victim of ‘The Mandela Effect’…
· Bugs Bunny was never part of ‘The Looney Toons’; they were actually called ‘The Looney Tunes’.
· Pikachu from Pokémon never had a black tip on his tail.
· I am absolutely convinced that the Fruit of the Loom logo had a cornucopia on its logo but apparently it was never there.
· The Monopoly Man, Mr. Moneybags, has NEVER worn a monocle.
· Forest Gump never said ‘life is like a box of chocolates’ but in fact said ‘my momma always said life WAS like a box of chocolates’.
· Star Wars fan? You might be shocked to hear that C-3 PO wasn’t entirely gold but actually had a silver shin on his right leg.
· The Mona Lisa has always had a slight smile AND she’s wearing a veil.
· Curious George never had a tail.
· Shaggy from Scooby Doo never had a rather prominent Adam’s apple. Everything I know is a lie.
· Remember Spike from Gremlins? No, you don’t. His name was Stripe.
· The Wicked Queen in Disney’s Snow-White film never said, ‘mirror mirror on the wall’, although she did in the original book.
· Tony the Tiger, from the front of the Frosties box, does not have a black nose. It is, for some reason, blue.
· Hannibal Lecter never greeted Clarice with the famous line ‘Hello Clarice’. He actually said, ‘good morning, Clarice’. Creepy as fuck either way.
· Darth Vader said ‘No, I am your father’ despite everyone quoting him as saying ‘Luke, I am your father’.
· Tinkerbell never wrote out the word ‘Disney’ at the start of the films. I don’t know what’s real and what’s not anymore.
· One of them most famous Mandela Effects of them all is the film ‘Kazaam’, starring Shaquille O’Neal as a genie. But an outstanding amount of people are convinced the film was called ‘Shazaam’ and actually starred Sinbad. It became such a topic of conversation over the Internet that Sinbad actually dressed as a genie in a video, in a nod to this Mandela Effect.
So, what causes the Mandela Effect? There are a few different theories. In the past there has been research into the phenomenon of implanting false memories into someone. Elizabeth Lotus and Jacquie Pickrell are both memory researchers and conducted an experiment into false memories. They split a group of 120 people into 4 groups.
The first group saw a generic advert for Disneyland that mentioned no characters.
The second group watched the same advert, but there was a 4ft cut-out of Bugs Bunny in the room.
The third group saw a Disneyland advert featuring Bugs Bunny.
The fourth group saw the advert featuring Bugs Bunny and had the cardboard cut-out in the room.
30% of the third group, and 40% of the fourth group ‘remembered’, very clearly, meeting Bugs Bunny at Disneyland, even shaking his hand. But how is this possible, when Bugs Bunny is not, and never has been, a Disney character? The ability to ‘implant’ false memories can be a little worrying to say the least but can explain how so many people believe two different things. With the Internet being so easily accessed, it could be relatively simple to implant false memories into a huge group of people simply by typing it as fact enough times.
There are also the paranormal explanations which, unsurprisingly, are my favourite. Fiona Broome made comments about parallel universes and dimensions that cross over every so often. As the two different realities temporarily blend it results in two different sets of memories. Joanna Frederick, a licensed mental health professional, said ‘string theory is essentially a theoretical framework that explains the very nature of reality and the entire universe in terms of tiny strings that vibrate in 10 different dimensions. One can assert that our universe is only one of many potentially infinite, other universes known as the multiverse’.
And, of course, there’s the theory that it’s just aliens fucking with us for the fun of it. Have you experienced The Mandela Effect before? Please tell me your personal experiences and theories in the comments, thanks for reading, take care of yourselves and I will see you next time.
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