Some Lesser Known Examples of the Mandela Effect
The Mandela Effect is a phenomenon that has taken the internet by storm over the past few years. The effect, also known as confabulation or false memories, is when a large portion of the population share memories that are false in major or minor ways.
One of the more famous examples is the death of Nelson Mandela. Many people hold a memory that Mandela died in prison in the 1980s. That is not true. Nelson Mandela died in 2013. Another example popular with younger people is the children’s book series the Berenstain Bears. Many believe that the original title was the Berenstein Bears and at some point the name changed. This is not true. It has always been Berenstain Bears. Yet another example revolves around the spelling of the cereal Froot Loops. Many believe it was spelled Fruit Loops at one point in time.
You might wonder why this is happening. Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer to these commonly held misconceptions. Some feel it is a case of the brain, and more specifically memory, being a fragile, complex organism. That seems too simple… Some feel this is definitive proof of parallel universes. Realities crashing into one another and altering the very fabric of our existence. Or it could be definitive proof that our reality is a just a simulation or a hologram. These false memories are glitches in the software. Still others feel this might be the work of aliens. An alien spacecraft rocketing through the universe and ripping holes in the space-time continuum, leaving ripples of reality distortion in its wake. But perhaps the most convincing argument is that it is a result of those fuckers in the CERN lab and their Large Hadron Collider. As these scientists have been smashing atoms together to unlock the secrets of the universe, there have been dark, unintended consequences. An atom smashes into another and suddenly Nelson Mandela was alive up until 2013. Meanwhile in the lab itself the scene plays out like a taut Michael Crichton techno-thriller. Reality warps and changes in the blink of an eye and no one is the wiser. Only a scant few scientists who were wearing the necessary safety suits can observe the changes and try to right the wrongs that were made. They navigate the CERN lab carefully. In one second a wall could appear out of nowhere and suffocate them in place. All the scientists around them change too. One woman might have blonde hair and then red hair at the turn of her head. Another man who might be friendly is quite aggressive. The only way to fix reality is to enter the Large Hadron Collider itself. There it’s a kaleidoscope of reality constantly changing and fracturing before their eyes. The only thing to keep a man sane in that moment is to remember that reality—
Ahem.
Anyway, this article is to showcase a few more examples of the Mandela Effect. Don’t feel bad if you held these false memories. The whole point of this phenomenon is that memory can play tricks on you!
Snails don’t exist. Yes it’s true. You might scoff to yourself, but think about this: Have you ever actually seen a snail? The little slug-like animals don’t actually exist. Many people suspect the reason we think snails exist is because of the prevalence of cartoons featuring these little creatures in the early 1980s. These non-existent animals were created by cartoonist Barry Prince and since then he has been in an ongoing legal battle to regain copyright ownership of snails.
The Charmin Bears never checked their stool for irregularities. We all love those cute little commercials where cartoon bears wipe their asses on trees. What you might not realize is that there was never any instance of these bears checking their stool for blood other foreign objects. The best guess to explain this false memory is that people are combining these Charmin commercials with posters they saw in pediatrician offices that educated youngsters about blood in stool.
The Atari Jaguar only had 17 buttons, not 29. Everyone loved the Atari Jaguar. Who could forget playing such classic games like Checkered Flag, Flashback: The Quest for Identity, or Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer? What you might misremember is that the Jaguar controller only had 17 buttons instead of 29. No one is quite sure why people tend to think of 29 buttons instead of 17. 29 buttons doesn’t even make sense. 17 is the perfect amount on a controller. There’s pause and option buttons. Then the A, B, and C buttons. Finally there are 12 other buttons on the bottom part of the controller laid out like a telephone keypad. This is what made the Jaguar such a powerhouse in the home console market.
There was no Gallagher 3. We all love Gallagher, the prop comic with a penchant to make whimsical jokes about language and also smash watermelons. We also all love Gallagher Too, the younger sibling to Gallagher Prime who would perform at smaller venues with a similar routine. What you might not realize is that your memory of the runt of the litter, Gallagher 3, who would only perform at elementary schools, never existed.
You forgot to do your taxes. It’s true. I know you thought you did your 2019 taxes but that’s not the case. The reality is that you are stuck in a rut in your life. You’ve been at the same job for eight years. You’ve lived in your current apartment for seven. You go food shopping on the same day every week. You take the same long weekend every year to go to the shore. It feels like you did your taxes this year, but you didn’t. You should really call the IRS to sort out this issue.
The Burger King mascot was not beheaded by a group of farmers in revolt. I know this one might be hard to wrap your head around, but the Burger King mascot did not die in a political uprising. It’s wild to think about. We all have memories of seeing crude video tapes of the Burger King mascot being held in a dungeon in heavy iron chains. Many of us remember seeing the shocking images of the Burger King being dragged into a guillotine and seeing that heavy blade fall to lop off his head. What actually happened was that he gracefully stepped down and let his countrymen decide who to vote by shifting the country from a monarchy to a democracy.
The Mandela Effect is still a misunderstood phenomenon. The most important thing is to remember to relax. Everything is going to be okay. Do you understand? Just keep your head down, don’t look too carefully and you will keep your sanity. Everything is fine. Nothing is wrong. This is definitely not the result of CERN labs monkeying around with forces they can’t possibly understand.
Do you have any other examples of the Mandela Effect? Comment below!
