About

The Mandela Effect refers to a phenomenon in which a large number of people share false memories of past events, referred to as confabulation in psychiatry. Some have speculated that the memories are caused by parallel universes spilling into our own, while others explain the phenomenon as a failure of collective memory.

Origin

In 2010, blogger Fiona Broome coined the term "Mandela Effect" to describe a collective false memory she discovered at the Dragon Con convention, where many others believed that former South African President Nelson Mandela died during his imprisonment in the 1980s. That year, Broome launched the site MandelaEffect.com to document various examples of the phenomenon.

See, I thought Nelson Mandela died in prison. I thought I remembered it clearly, complete with news clips of his funeral, the mourning in South Africa, some rioting in cities, and the heartfelt speech by his widow.



Then, I found out he was still alive.

Additionally, Broome described other widely held false memories, including various nonexistent Star Trek episodes and the death of the Reverend Billy Graham.

Spread

On August 23rd, 2012, a post titled "Berenstein Bears: We Are Living in Our Own Parallel Universe" was published on the blog The Wood Between Worlds, which described a widespread memory of the children's book series Berenstein Bears as "Berenstain," explaining the false memory as the result of an alternate reality spilling over into our own. In December 2013, the /r/mandelaeffect subreddit was launched for discussions about the phenomenon. On November 29th, 2014, the YouTube channel ShineTheLight73 uploaded a video titled "The Mandela Effect Exploded After The 2014-2015 Biblical Blood Moon Tetrad," which garnered upwards of 900,000 views and 2,200 comments over the next three years (shown below).





On December 18th, 2015, YouTuber ReignBot uploaded a explanation of the Mandela Effect (shown below, left). On August 30th, 2016, YouTuber Shane Dawson posted a video titled "Conspiracy Theory – The Mandela Effect," which gathered upwards of 4.08 million views and 71,000 comments within five months (shown below, right).





On October 13th, BuzzFeed published an article highlighting various examples of the Mandela Effect. On December 8th, Redditor carc posted an infographic containing various Mandela Effect examples to /r/MandelaEffect (shown below).





Berenstein Bears VHS Tape

On August 5th, 2016, Redditor diamondashtry submitted a post titled "Holy shit – found Berenstein evidence while packing," claiming to have discovered a Berentstein Bears VHS tape with the names "Berenstein" and "Berenstain" appearing on the official label (shown below). Within 72 hours, the post gained more than 340 votes (93% upvoted) and 180 comments on the /r/MandelaEffect subreddit.





In the comments section, Redditor jumpsiedaisy replied that "basic analyses" on photos showed no traces of digital editing. That day, the news site Heavy published an article titled "Berenstein Bears: Did Reddit Prove the Mandela Effect?"

On September 16th, 2017, Redditor mochanutcoconut submitted a photograph of two stuffed bear toys with tags clearly displaying the name "Berenstein Mama Bear" and Berenstein Brother Bear" (shown below). Within four days, the post gathered upwards of 61,200 points (84% upvoted) and 3,800 comments on /r/mildlyinteresting.





Various Examples

Oscar Meyer vs. Oscar Mayer

Many people falsely recall that the American lunch meat company Oscar Mayer is spelled "Oscar Meyer."





Monopoly Man's Monocle

The character Rich Uncle Pennybags, also known as Mr. Monopoly or Monopoly Man, has never been illustrated with a monocle.





"Luke, I Am Your Father"

Many falsely remember the villain Darth Vader uttering the line "Luke, I am your father" during a fight with the protagonist Luke Skywalker in the 1980 science fiction film Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back.





Sinbad's Shazaam

A rumor that comedian David Adkins (a.k.a. Sinbad) starred in a 1990s comedy film titled Shazaam began circulating online, with many claiming to remember the film in detail. On October 3rd, 2016, Adkins tweeted that the false memory may have come from a block of "Sinbad the Sailor" films hosted in 1994 (shown below).





On December 23rd, 2016, Imgur user alexanderlik uploaded a picture of a VHS tape box for Shazaam, featuring Adkins as a genie on the cover (shown below, left). On December 28th, Snopes published an article titled "Sinbad in a Bottle," listing the rumor as "False" and speculating that people were mistaking it for the 1996 film Kazaam starring Shaquille O'Neal (shown below, right).





Additionally, the article noted that the VHS tape cover art appeared to use a picture of WWE wrestler Chavo Guerrero (shown below).





Search Interest

Know Your Meme Store

External References