Have You Heard of The Mandela Effect?

By KG Farrell

What is the Mandela Effect?

“…an internet phenomenon describing shared and consistent false memories of specific icons in popular culture.” ~ University of Chicago

Simply put the Mandela effect is when a large group of people remember something happening or being spelled a certain way or history being taught in a specific manner, only to find out that what you clearly remember has never been true. So what? You ask. I hear you out there. ‘It’s just false memory, people remember things wrong all the time.’ The problem with that theory is this is hundreds of thousands of people remembering it incorrectly but exactly the same way. If it were just false memory wouldn’t it be more individualized to the person remembering?

The phrase ‘Mandela Effect’ was coined by Fiona Broom, a Paranormal Consultant in 2009. She called it the Mandela Effect because it was the first notable time when a large group of people (myself included) remembered that Nelson Mandela died in prison, only to learn later that he did not die in prison. In fact he was released and he went on to become president of South Africa dying in 2013 at the age of 95.

Since that time, and largely due to the growth of social media, hundreds of Mandela Effects have been discovered. Right behind that came dozens of conspiracy theories. My favorite among the latter is that when the Large Hadron Collider( a super fast particle accelerator) in Switzerland was turned on in 2008 it caused two very similar dimensions to collide and absorb into one another creating historical revisions. It’s very scientific for a conspiracy theory, I don’t pretend to understand it. The effects themselves are the most fun, though. The following are my five favorite Mandela effects that I promise will make your head explode!

ONE: Dorian Gray picture or portrait?

The classic novel by Irish novelist Oscar Wilde is called The _____ of Dorian Gray?

I personally remember it being the portrait of Dorian Gray, as do thousands of other people but the reality is it is The *Picture of Dorian Gray and always has always been. Considering it is a painting calling it a picture doesn’t even really make sense to me. But what do you think?

TWO: The Man in not so Iron Mask?

Remember the historical figure known as The Man in The iron mask? What was his mask made of? I know that sounds like a ridiculous question considering the popular title (both book and film) but our new reality is that his mask was made of velvet and was never made of iron. And apparently the rumor that the Man in the mask was the twin brother of Louis the XIVth popularized by Voltaire and Dumas was apparently debunked long ago. Is that what you remember?

THREE: The Charles Lindbergh conundrum

Charles Lindbergh took his historic flight in 1927 as the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Is that the history you remember? It certainly sounds right to me. As it turns out, he was the 82nd person to fly across the Atlantic and it was 8 years after Albert C. Read took the first transatlantic flight. He wasn’t the fastest or even the first solo pilot to do it. So why was he so famous? Why when his son was kidnapped did the President of the United States call him and offer assistance? That’s the conundrum. Without the title of the first person to do a solo transatlantic flight, Charles Lindbergh didn’t do anything of note.

FOUR: The missing Super Mario Bros. Piranha Plant

This one is definitely for us gen-X-ers. We collectively spent many thousands of hours playing the Super Mario Bros. game when it first came out. The Mandela Effect involves the green plants that came up out of the sewer pipe to eat Mario. They are called Piranha Plants. When is the first time you encounter a plant in the game? Is it the end of level 1.1 or is it level 1.4? What do you remember? Warning, this will cause a bigger controversy than pineapple on pizza!

FIVE: Luke I’m not your father.

Probably the most iconic line in the Star Wars franchise is spoken in a gruff voice through cupped hands by millions of people who say “Luke! I am your father.” said originally of course by James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader. Except it wasn’t. He never said that line. In the movie where you would expect to find that line he now says “…NO! I am your father.” doubt me? Go pull out your DVD and fast forward to that scene. Prepare to have your mind blown.

These are just a few of hundreds of Mandela effects you can find on YouTube and Facebook and Tik Tok. Just to name a few. My favorite YouTube channel is a Creator called All Time. I credit him for a lot of the information in today’s article. You can find the same information in multiple locations but he really brings it when it comes to sources of information. If this article captured your attention his channel is worth checking out. Until next time, May the force be with all of you.

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