top of page
Writer's pictureAlexyss Rubjerg

Day 1: Mandela Effect

Updated: Oct 8, 2020

Today kicks off the first day of #31daysofcrime where I put out a new episode every day! This year not only will I cover the creepiest true crime stories but I am also covering conspiracies, creepy stories, and cults.



The Mandela Effect is probably one of my top 3 conspiracies simply because of the wide range of things I seem to have misremembered that according to this effect I actually have not misremembered. Basically the Mandela Effect is a phenomenon where large groups of people remember something differently than what actually happened. It is kind of like mass memory replacement but the conspiracy goes much further with what they believe is actually happening.

Fiona Broome coined the term ‘Mandela Effect’ when she believed that she heard Nelson Mandela died in the 1980s when in reality he didn’t die until 2013. When she shared this memory many other people remembered it that way as well and they were confused to find that many others thought Nelson Mandela died in 2013.

Let’s go over what makes sense scientifically first. So mass memory replacement or mass false memory is something that has happened, apparently. I don’t know exact examples but from what I’ve read it has happened in the past. One’s personal level of suggestibility is something that scientists believe gives way to this conspiracy normally. If one person suggests that something was different years ago but they are able to find no proof of it then others may simply believe this person because they are kind of gullible.

That is not the only reason that mass false memories happen though. Through studies that were started with Freud and other scientists, they noticed that those with a more creative mind and those that are better at dissociate are ones who can get on board faster as well. Through their creativity, they can create vivid details that they never actually saw and this just ends up bringing more momentum to others seeing it that way as well.

Now getting into the more creepy side of the Mandela effect is what the conspirators believe. According to many people, the Mandela Effect isn’t an effect at all, it is something that has and is truly happening in our world.

Ever heard of the theory of multiple dimensions or the theory of parallel Universes? Well, that is what the Mandela Effect Theories ride on. Those who believe that it is not just a mass false memory think that we could’ve all switched dimensions or parallel universes from the time we had that ‘false memory’ to now. That would mean that it was not a false memory altogether. But only a false memory in this dimension or universe.

More specifically many believe CERN, the large hadron collider in Switzerland is to blame for the switching of dimensions. CERN has the main use of trying to find evidence of a multiverse or discover dark matter. If these experiments used to find this evidence got too big then it could change the world as we know it. Taking parts and leaving parts as it so chooses.

So keep the scientific and theoretical theories in mind as we work through many off examples of the Mandela effect.


The first Mandela Effect I ever learned bout was that of the Berenstein Bears, or as it is now the Berenstain Bears. Whether it be memory confusion or another dimension I remember it as Berenstein, it was pronounced stein, not stain. However, when you search it up on the internet or look back at your childhood books you will find it is stain instead. My grandma used to read me those books and so one day I asked her how she remembered it was spelled. Keep in mind she had no idea about this theory when I asked. She spelled it ein rather than ain. It could be nothing, she could just have a false memory as many of us might but that convinced me a little bit more than myself reading about the theory and then trying to remember. To this day no one has been able to give substantial proof that it was ever spelled the way many of us remember.

Now the next one is something pretty much everyone has seen or played. That is monopoly. I’ll give you a second to think about how the monopoly guy looks, the guy that’s on the box, and in the middle of the board.

If you thought he had a monocle then you would be wrong. There has never been a monocle on the Monopoly man. But if you thought there had been you are not the only one. Many people thought that along with his top hat he had the one glasses lense and chain on his face but there are no confirmed records of this ever being the case. When I saw this I thought maybe I had been thinking about the old 6Flags commercial guy. The one that was really old and use to jump around and hype up six flags. However, when I looked him up he had no hat and was wearing normal black rim glasses and nothing looked off there.



Since this is normally a true-crime podcast I had to include this famous case that also happens to be a case of the Mandela Effect. Remember the Lindbergh kidnapping in 1932? A huge kidnapping of a 20-month-old baby who was never seen again. It is still a cold case today…or at least that is what many people think. The fact is that not more than three months after the baby was kidnapped he was found deceased with a blow to his head.

Now I never really researched this case hard or got obsessed with it but as soon as I read the words Lindbergh Kidnapping I thought that it was a case where the baby was abducted but a body part (I can’t remember the exact one, maybe a hand or a finger) was sent back to the family and then the rest of the child was never found. Let me know if you thought that or if you know what case I am actually thinking of.

Star wars is one of the biggest movie franchises ever so many of its lines are well known. Most of all is when Darth Vader tells Luke that he is his father. When you think of Star Wars most people go straight to the phrase, “Luke, I am your father.” But that is not what he says. Everything except the first word is right, but Darth Vader does not say, Luke, instead he says No. So the real phrase is “No, I am your father.”




Those were all semi-specific examples of the Mandela Effect so now I’ve got some broader ones. You’ll see what I mean.

One extremely broad one is have certain things happened on September 22nd or 23rd? Apparently many people have events in their minds shift back and forth between these two dates and they can never recall what happened on which date.

Okay, what about the color called Chartreuse? What color do you think of when you hear that word? Maybe a pink or a red or a fusha? The reality is that chartreuse is actually a yellow/green color and it apparently always has been.

If you are in the USA you know Thanksgiving is a big holiday here. Basically we can overeat and feel no guilt about it because we are celebrating stealing land from the Native Americans’. Anyways, does Thanksgiving normally happen on the third or fourth Thursday of November? It is always the fourth Thursday, at least since 1941.



Here’s the last one which I was certain I remembered correctly. Kit Kat Chocolate Crunch bars. We all know it is spelled Kit Kat but was there a dash in the middle of the two words? I 100% thought there was but now googling the logo there never was a dash in between the two words.

No matter what theory you side with on the Mandela effect it is odd, there is no doubt about that. Mass false memories seem like a thing of movies where everyone goes crazy not a real-life phenomenon. But here we are remembering things link the Berenstein bears and ‘Luke, I am your father.’


Patreon: https://bit.ly/38XjzSK

Buy My Book: https://bit.ly/2Wl6Kwp

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GreatUnsolved

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greatunsolvedpod/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreatUnsolvedPod/

All other links: https://linktr.ee/thegreatunsolved

0 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page