The Mandela Effect

About

The Mandela Effect is a slang term for the phenomenon in which a large group of people shares false memories of past events, referred to as confabulation in psychiatry. [13] Some have speculated that the memories are caused by parallel universes or alternate realities spilling into our own, while others explain the phenomenon as a failure of collective memory. The term was coined by Fiona Broome in 2010 and became an increasing subject of interest in 2012. As the concept and term became more commonplace throughout the 2010s, it became a prevalent topic around social media, as well as appearing in memes.

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 in prison in the 1980s during his imprisonment. That year, Broome launched the site MandelaEffect.com [1] to document various examples of the phenomenon. Additionally, Broome described other widely-held false memories beyond the belief of Mandela dying in prison, including various nonexistent Star Trek episodes and rumors about 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, [2] which described a widespread memory of the children's book series Berenstain Bears as "Berenstein," explaining the false memory as the result of an alternate reality spilling over into our own. In December 2013, the /r/mandelaeffect [3] subreddit was launched for discussions about the phenomenon. Many publications have published stories about the Mandela Effect throughout the 2010s, including BuzzFeed, [4] Vice, [5] The A.V. Club, [6] WGN, [7] Seventeen Magazine [8] and Heavy. [9] 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 an 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 [14] 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). [15] On April 7th, 2017, James Rolfe of Cinemassacre, known as the Angry Video Game Nerd, posted a video to YouTube exploring examples of the Mandela Effect in movies, gaining over 4.4 million views in five years (shown below). In 2020, the medical advice blog Healthline [17] published a piece on the Mandela Effect offering examples of it and trying to explain how it happens. 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 [10] 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 [9] 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 . [16]