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?

58 points

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

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37 points

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

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17 points

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.

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4 points

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?”

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2 points

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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8 points

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

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4 points

Probably confusion with Steve Biko explains it.

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1 point

US History doesn’t like to focus on men like him

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34 points
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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.

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6 points

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

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5 points

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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1 point

Yeah, that’s definitely the one that I have going on for me. Life is weird.

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1 point
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Edit: The proof I mentioned is just 2 images of shirts with the cornucopia in the logo. I’m not so sure anymore about what I said previously.

Its proven that there was a cone in the logo, the company is just acring like that for marketing reasons

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6 points

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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2 points

omg… but…but… I… I remember the logo… changing… oh god.

Berenstein is classic though.

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25 points
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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?

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Castro lives eternally in the hearts of cool dudes everywhere.

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1 point

He is since 2016, at least that’s what they want us to think.

There were probably a few things that contributed to the confusion. Hugo Chavez was very friendly with Castro and he died of cancer, before Fidel. Fidel was also super old, and his brother Raul took a more prominent role a few years before his death, so there was less visibility.

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18 points

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

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3 points

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

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1 point

Did your timeline manage to fuck up covid less? How do I immigrate? What stocks should I buy?

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17 points

I’m sure it was called the mandala effect

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5 points

You mean the Mengele effect?

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