this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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See title. For those who don’t know, the Mandela Effect is a phenomenon where a large group of people remember something differently than how it occurred. It’s named after Nelson Mandela because a significant number of people remembered him dying in prison in the 1980s, even though he actually passed away in 2013.

I’m curious to hear about your personal experiences with this phenomenon. Have you ever remembered an event, fact, or detail that turned out to be different from reality? What was it and how did you react when you found out your memory didn’t align with the facts? Does it happen often?

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[–] clmbmb@lemmy.dbzer0.com 58 points 9 months ago (5 children)

Who the fuck remembers Mandela dying in prison??? The man was resilience itself!

[–] Shalakushka@kbin.social 37 points 9 months ago

Like 12 idiots on the Internet who then decided to never shut the fuck up about it.

[–] frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I know!

He was constantly in the papers in the 1990s, major figure, every mac madra knew he was alive, where do they get this shite.

[–] JCPhoenix@beehaw.org 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I never understood that either. He was the president of South Africa from 1994-1999. Yes, he kept a lower profile in the 2000s, but I remember even as a kid/teen seeing articles and photos of him in the news. Bizarre.

Now the Berenstain Bears one, I understand. At the same time, I just chalk that up to spelling. For what reason would I need to know how to spell "Berenstain?"

[–] frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Now the Berenstain Bears one, I understand. At the same time, I just chalk that up to spelling. For what reason would I need to know how to spell “Berenstain?”

I had one like this where I was shocked to learn there was never a band called Chumbawumba; they are called Chumbawamba and have been all along.

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[–] essellburns@beehaw.org 8 points 9 months ago

Enough people that there's this effect named after this happening

[–] SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social 4 points 9 months ago

Probably confusion with Steve Biko explains it.

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[–] paddirn@lemmy.world 34 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

The Berenstein Bears one and the Fruit of the Loom not having a horn are the ones that have me questioning reality and my childhood.

[–] Jaytreeman@kbin.social 6 points 9 months ago (7 children)

I vaguely remember noticing the fruit of the loom logo change which makes it weirder for me

[–] patman9@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Same here. It had the cornucopia. Then it didn't. "weird" I thought. Then 5 to 10 years later I was reading the hunger games and needed to look up what a cornucopia actually was. "a horn usually containing fruit - oh - like the fruit of the loom logo" Then 2 years ago learning it never existed at all, and we all hallucinated it, there have even been paradies of it. It's fucking weird.

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[–] hactar42@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

There is a theory that the Fruit of the Loom one is actually a viral marketing thing. Like the company scrubbed it on purpose and is playing into it to build brand recognition.

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[–] ExLisper@linux.community 25 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I'm never sure if Castro is dead or not. I was sure for very long time that he died already but it would turn out that he's still there. I also don't remember any events specifically related to his death. His brother (?) took over and he kind of fizzled out before he died. Or maybe he's still there? I'm never quite sure. I mean, it's 2024 now, he's definitely dead. Or is he?

[–] anarchoilluminati@hexbear.net 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Castro lives eternally in the hearts of cool dudes everywhere. fidel-cool

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[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I remember there was an AskLemmy question on the Mandela effect, but a week later we all realized it was just a dream.

[–] lyth@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm contacting you from an alternate timeline to tell you that I'm still angry

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[–] Tagger@lemmy.world 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm sure it was called the mandala effect

[–] ikilledlaurapalmer@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

You mean the Mengele effect?

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 16 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Somehow I had always thought it was Klu Klux Klan instead of Ku Klux Klan. I'm not sure where I got that or if anyone else thought the same thing though.

[–] frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml 8 points 9 months ago (4 children)

similarly: some people say "visa versa"

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[–] moody@lemmings.world 7 points 9 months ago

I believe it's actually Clu Clu Land

[–] HandwovenConsensus@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I thought that until just now.

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[–] Annoyed_Crabby@monyet.cc 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

When i got into monster hunter 4 ultimate(the one with a good story) i was told that Deviljho, a voracious monster that will eat anything mid combat to recover its stamina, will eat its own tail if you cut it. Everyone believed it, no one tried to capture it on camera because of the hardware limitation(no "clip that", no shadowplay).

Turn out, millions of Monster Hunter fans remembered wrong because it's a hoax.

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[–] notnotmike@programming.dev 12 points 9 months ago (3 children)

That gen 1 of Pokemon didn't have compound types (i.e. Pokemon with two types). In reality they did

[–] RampageDon@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

Ghost types are only weak to psychic in that game because they are poison types too. Ruined me for generations swearing psychic was super to ghost.

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[–] MimicJar@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

I've never heard that before and find it baffling.

Bulbasaur comes out of the gate with two types.

Charmander becomes Charizard with two types.

The first (or second) non-starter you encounter is Pidgy with two types.

The required Viridian Forest had Weedle with two types and if you only got a Caterpie, that becomes Butterfree who also has two types.

The number of two type Pokemon that you can catch at the start of the game is massive. Probably about half?

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 9 months ago

I argued with my partner so hard about this.

Then we looked it up.

I was soooo wrong. And I was the one who got Blue and Red when they came out.

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

A witch turned me into a newt.

[–] MrFunnyMoustache@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)
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[–] xia@links.hackliberty.org 9 points 9 months ago

I get the "feeling" of a mandela effect far more frequently than i can solidly know for sure. I guess my first experience was decades ago as a child. I recall staring at a Bernstein bears book, and being oddly transfixed by tye fact that the spelling of the title did not match that of the authors name, literally inches apart on the same page. Later i experienced a schrodenbug or two (which i think is the same phenomenon), and one really solid social ME were a church ceased to exist (or got merged into a neighboring church). After the first few, now I fully admit I am WAY too quick to believe odd circumstance is a ME, and usually find myself reluctantly disproving that to myself with notebook/journal entries... only to later wonder how they might change too.

[–] BertramDitore@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)
[–] RampageDon@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Wait isn't there a movie like this but it's Shaq as the genie. Kazaam.

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[–] crusa187@lemmy.ml 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Sinbad made this movie, 100% it happened.

[–] BertramDitore@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Lol I got into a pretty heated argument with a group of friends, half of whom definitely remembered the movie and even started recounting some of the plot. The other half had no idea what the hell we were talking about.

[–] crusa187@lemmy.ml 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

So fess up - which half were you siding with Bertram?

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[–] livus@kbin.social 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

None but I live in New Zealand and have met a lot of strange people online who think our geographic location has changed.

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[–] Pastaguini@hexbear.net 7 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I could have sworn Signs was a legitimately good movie when I saw it as a kid but I rewatched it recently and it’s absurdly bad. The acting is terrible and the cinematography is nonsensical. Roger Ebert gave it a full four stars. I’m convinced there’s a universe I grew up in where it was good and it’s the same one Ebert is from.

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[–] Owljfien@iusearchlinux.fyi 5 points 9 months ago

I could've sworn sprite didn't have lime in it in Australia, yet I can find no evidence of it ever being made without lime

[–] NuraShiny@hexbear.net 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)
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[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I just found out that you can't take someone's lead in order to behave like they are behaving, you can only follow their lead.

I thought that taking someone's lead, "I'm taking their lead", is an actual expression, while apparently it is not.

[–] twice_twotimes@sh.itjust.works 6 points 9 months ago (3 children)

It may not be the original idiom, but it’s definitely something people say. If the core expressions are “(I) take the lead” and “(you) follow my lead,” that lends itself easily to a merge: you take my lead. It’s not as common as the originals but it’s definitely out there. It will stick around because it’s really easy to unambiguously infer what it means in context.

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[–] Mechanismatic@lemmy.ml 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Taking someone's lead sounds like a British saying indicating the opposite of following someone's lead. It sounds like you're taking someone's leash in your hands and directing them where to go.

[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm not sure, but that makes sense.

I'll have to take your lead on that.

[–] indun@feddit.uk 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

"Take the lead" is certainly an expression used in the UK to denote guiding people, as in "I'll take the lead". I assume both come from ballroom dancing.

I'm sure it's used elsewhere but it may also simply be a conflation of the two.

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[–] TheDarkestShark@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Here's one I just experienced, was watching Star Wars: A New Hope and my brother asked me if I remember C-3PO every having a silver leg. I told him no, hes always been all gold. Next scene we watched his right leg from the knee down was all silver. Like wtf never have I noticed that before, I said meh maybe it was a Lucas later edit. Revenge of the Sith comes on the TV next and C-3PO's leg is so vibrantly silver that I could not even comprehend not noticing that contrast in past viewings.

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[–] nycki@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I had some Berenstain Bears books as a kid and I remember noting at the time "huh, weird name but okay". So like, I don't get why people think it was "Berenstein"? It looks wrong, but it's always looked wrong.

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[–] General_Shenanigans@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I could’ve sworn Jim Beam whiskey was Jim Bean. A friend of mine had a poster of a whiskey bottle on his wall that I stared at every time I was there. He was a minor at the time and didn’t drink, so I always wondered why he had it up. Years later I saw a Jim Beam bottle and had a Mandela moment. The Berenstein Bears and Mandela dying in jail were things I believed, too, but I think the whiskey one is one I haven’t heard from anybody else, yet.

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