I’m a sucker for conspiracy theories. I can believe anything and everything, even if I know it’s not true. From the moon landing being faked to aliens already being on Earth, I think they’re all fascinating. The best one, though, is the Mandela Effect.
The Mandela Effect is one of the craziest theories I've ever heard, and I'd be lying if I didn't say it made me cry more than once. Basically, this theory says that at certain points in time, the universe we know shifts into an alternate or parallel universe without us noticing, but sometimes, a group of people may remember certain things from the previous universe.
The most popular of these is the Berenstein/Berenstain Bears. This TV and book series about a family of bears is what really kicked off the popularity of this theory. Most people remember “The Berenstein Bears” as the title. However, when people look back at old books, VHS tapes, shows and merchandise, it was never actually Berenstein — it has always been Berenstain. I’ve seen pictured of toys with tags on them that have both spellings on them, which some people believe is the moment when the universe went into the parallel universe and the switch happened.
There's plenty of other effects with spelling, but it’s not just that. The name comes from a bunch of people remembering Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980s; however, he actually died in 2013. When this happened, a ton of people said they remembered watching his funeral decades ago. The same happened when Gene Wilder and Michael Jackson died.
Movies are another great source of examples for the Mandela Effect. For example, Darth Vader never actually said, “Luke, I am your father.” The line is actually “No, I am your father.” The crazy thing here is even James Earl Jones says he remembers the line starting with “Luke.” In “Snow White,” the Evil Queen never says “Mirror, mirror on the wall.” She says “Magic mirror on the wall.” Forrest Gump actually said, “Life was like a box chocolates.” When Sally Field won an Oscar, she didn't say “You like me! You really like me!” She actually said, “You like me! Right now, you like me!” All of these quotes have been quoted time and time again, but when you go back to the originals, it turns out, they never actually happened. At least not in the universe we are currently in. Oh, and that movie called Shazaam where Sinbad played a genie? Doesn't exist.
So why does it matter if people remember these things one way and then find out they’re wrong? Well, I like to think that these instances are small pieces of proof that parallel and alternate universes exist. If that’s the case, there’s probably thousands of versions of every person. How cool is that?
