The Mandela Effect

By Arlin Cuncic
Updated October 10, 2019
Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD on April 29, 2019

Getty / Images by Fabio

In This Article

•
Origins
• Examples of the Mandela Effect
• Explanations
• Role of the Internet
•
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The Mandela Effect refers to a situation in which a large mass of people

believes that an event occurred when it did not. Looking at the origin of the
Mandela effect, some famous examples, as well as some potential explanations
for this strange confluence of perceptions can help to shed light on this unique
phenomenon.

Origins

The name "Mandela Effect" began when it was first coined in 2009 by Fiona
Broome when she published a website detailing her observance of the
phenomenon. Broome was at a conference talking with other people about how
she remembered the tragedy of former South African president Nelson
Mandela's death in a South African prison in the 1980s. In fact, Nelson Mandela
did not die in the 1980s in a prison—he passed away in 2013.
As she began to talk to other people about her memories, she learned that
she was not alone. Other people remembered seeing news coverage of his
death as well as a speech by his widow.

Broome was shocked that such a large mass of people could remember
the same identical event in such detail when it never happened.
Encouraged by her book publisher, she began a website to discuss what
she called the Mandela Effect and other incidences like it.

Examples of the Mandela Effect

The story of Nelson Mandela is not the only example of this type of false group
memory. As the concept of the Mandela Effect grew along with Broome's
website, other group false memories began to emerge.

Henry VIII Eating a Turkey Leg

People had a memory of a painting of Henry VIII eating a turkey leg,

though no such painting has ever existed. There have, however, been
similar cartoons created.

Luke, I Am Your Father

If you saw Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back, you probably
remember Darth Vader uttering the famous line, "Luke, I am your father."

You might be surprised to learn, then, that the line was actually, "No, I am
your father." Most people have memories of the line being the former
rather than the latter.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

If you watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, you probably remember
the line, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" You may
be shocked to learn, then, that the line actually began with the phrase
"Magic mirror on the wall" instead.

Oscar Meyer

There is some controversy over the spelling of the famous brand of hot
dogs, Oscar Mayer weiners. Some people claim to remember the brand
being spelled "Meyer" instead of "Mayer" (the correct spelling).

Location of New Zealand

Where is New Zealand in relation to Australia? If you look at a map, you

will see that it is southeast of the country. However, there is a community
of people who claim to remember New Zealand being Northeast instead of
Southeast.
Berenstein Bears

The famous children's book series the Berenstain Bears is not immune to
the Mandela effect. Many people report remembering the name being
the Berenstein Bears (spelled with an "e" instead of an "a"). This is similar
to the Oscar Mayer issue and hints at perhaps an underlying cognitive
reason for the Mandela Effect instead of parallel realities, as some people
believe.

Shazaam

One of the most well-known examples of the Mandela Effect is the

collective memory of a movie called Shazaam that starred the
actor/comedian Sinbad in the 1990s. In fact, no such movie exists,
although there was a children's movie called Kazaam and some other
coincidences that could help to explain how this movie became created (or
remembered) in many people's minds.

Explanations

Alternate Realities

One theory about the basis for the Mandela effect originates from
quantum physics and relates to the idea that rather than one timeline of
events, it is possible that alternate realities or universes are taking place
and mixing with our timeline. In theory, this would result in groups of
people having the same memories because the timeline has been altered
as we shift between these different realities.

You aren't alone if you think this sounds a little unrealistic. Unfortunately,
the idea of alternate realities is unfalsifiable, meaning that there is no way
to truly disprove that these other universes don’t exist.

This is why such a far-fetched theory continues to gain traction among the
Mandela effect communities. You can't prove it's not real, so you can't
totally discount the possibility of it. For many people, the excitement of a
bit of mystery to everyday life also likely comes into play.

False Memories

A more likely explanation for the Mandela effect involves false memories.
Before we consider what is meant by false memories, let's look at an
example of the Mandela effect as it will help us to understand how
memory can be faulty (and may lead to the phenomenon that we are
describing).

Who was Alexander Hamilton? Most Americans learned in school that he

was a founding father of the United States of America but that he was not
a president. However, when asked about the presidents of the United
States, many people mistakenly believe that Hamilton was a president.
Why?

If we consider a simple neuroscience explanation, the memory for

Alexander Hamilton is encoded in an area of the brain where the memories
for the presidents of the United States are stored. The means by which
memory traces are stored is called the engram and the framework in
which similar memories are associated with each other is called the
schema.

So when people try to recall Hamilton, this sets off the neurons in close
connection to each other, bringing with it the memory of the presidents.
(Though this is an oversimplified explanation, it illustrates the general
process.)

When memories are recalled, rather than remembered perfectly, they are
influenced to the point that they can eventually become incorrect. In this way,
memory is unreliable and not infallible.
This leads to the likelihood that problems with memory, and not alternate
universes, are the explanation for the Mandela effect. In fact, there are a
number of subtopics related to memory that may play a role in this
phenomenon.
Memory-Related Concepts

Post-event information: Information that you learn after an event can

change your memory of an event. This includes event subtle information
and helps to explain why eyewitness testimony can be unreliable.

Priming: Priming refers to factors that happen before an event affecting

your recall of an event. For example, studies have shown that suggestions
made by a researcher can affect participants' recall. Priming is also called
suggestibility and presupposition.

For instance, if you ask how short a person is, this influences people's
answers differently than if you were to ask how tall a person is. If you ask
"Did you see the black car?" instead of "Did you see a black car?" you are
making a suggestion that affects how people respond. In this way,
misinformation affects your existing memories.

In essence, memories are vulnerable bits of information stored in the brain

that can be changed over time. While we assume that our memories are
accurate, this is not necessarily the case.

Confabulation: Confabulation involves your brain filling in gaps that are

missing in your memories to make more sense of them. This isn't lying,
but rather remembering details that never happened. Confabulation tends
to increase with age.

Role of the Internet

The role of the internet in influencing the memories of the masses should not
be underestimated. It's probably no coincidence that consideration of the
Mandela effect has grown in this digital age.
The internet is a powerful way to spread information, and with this
spreading of information comes the potential for misconceptions and
falsehoods to gain traction. People then begin to create communities
based around these falsehoods and what was once in the imagination
starts to seem factual.

In fact, in a recent large study published in Science of over

100,000 news stories discussed across Twitter that had been contested
over a period of 10 years, it was shown that hoaxes and rumors won out
over the truth every time by about 70 percent. This wasn't the result of
manipulation or bots either—real verified accounts of real people were
responsible for spreading false information.

This notion of the speed with which false information spreads on the internet
could help to explain the Mandela effect.
As each person chimes in with their own experience or memory of an
event, those false memories could affect the memories of other people,
thus coloring them to remember the events in the same way.

Unpacking the Mandela Effect

Now that we have some more information about the underpinnings of the
Mandela effect, let's go back and consider one of the examples and see if
we can understand how it came about.

For instance, Sinbad did star in other movies in the 1990s and appeared in
a movie poster for the film Houseguest coming out of a mailbox (this
looked similar to a genie, which could explain the association with the
movie Shazam). Sinbad also dressed up like a genie for an event that he
hosted in the 1990s.

When one person mentioned this movie Shazaam (likely on the internet), it
altered the memories of other people who tried to recall the movies that
Sinbad made from the 1990s. Online communities spread this information
until it appeared to be factual.
 This explanation is supported by evidence that remembering something
repeatedly builds your confidence in the memory even if it grows more
inaccurate over time. As more and more people provided incorrect details,
these become incorporated into other people's memories as facts and
strengthened their conviction that they were correct.

A Word From Verywell

The Mandela effect continues to be hotly debated, despite reasonable

evidence that it is more likely explained in terms of the fallibility of human
memory than some form of parallel universes at work. Of course, we don't
know everything. As more incidents of the Mandela effect continue to
occur, perhaps more research into the origins will shed light on the causes.

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