Have you heard of the so-called “Mandela Effect?” It’s a strange trick of memory, where an event, image, or even a person is misremembered in a specific way. It’s named for Nelson Mandela, the anti-Apartheid campaigner and former president of South Africa, whose death in 2013 was met with confusion by some netizens – because they were *convinced* that he’d died years earlier!
This has led to a weird conspiracy theory of sorts. I’m not even sure if “conspiracy theory” is the right term – it’s basically complete nonsense! But some folks claim that the reason we experience these “Mandela Effects” is because of changes to the timeline. Somehow, parts of our souls, consciousnesses, or perhaps even our physical bodies have switched timelines – bringing with them memories of a world that never existed or is no longer accessible.
To be clear: I do not buy into this “timeline-hopping” idea, not one bit! To me, the principle of Occam’s razor applies: the least-complicated explanation is more likely to be correct. In this case, we’re talking about issues with memory and suggestiveness, amplified by social media channels which have promoted “Mandela Effect” content. Think about it like this: based on everything we know about how the world works, which of these two explanations is most likely: 1) Our consciousness, soul, or body slipped into a parallel universe where 99.9% of things are the same except for a few celebrities and brand logos, or 2) Our memories are faulty, and those faults have been amplified by social media?
To me, the obvious answer has always been number two!
But it’s spooky season – so I thought we could talk about the “Mandela Effect,” and I’ll even share a few of my own misremembrances that, some might say, are evidence that I’ve switched timelines!
Perhaps it’s because I visited South Africa while Mandela was president in 1997, and subsequently lived there for a short time, but the original “Mandela Effect” was never one that tripped me up. I never met Mandela, of course, but I visited Robben Island, where he was imprisoned, and I’ve always had an interest in South Africa and its difficult history. I even wrote about the country for one of my classes when at university. So I never had that “but isn’t he already dead?” moment that so many “Mandela Effect” believers did.
Nor do I have any experience with another commonly-noted “Mandela Effect:” the Fruit of the Loom logo. Some folks swear up and down that this brand – which makes clothes – had a different logo, one with a cornucopia. I’ve had a few Fruit of the Loom products over the years, but I either never paid attention to the logo or I’ve never noticed it change!
But there are a few places where I feel like something *is* different. As I said, this is undoubtedly due to faults in my memory – my brain has never been an especially well-run institution, and when we’re talking about memories from, in some cases, close to forty years ago… things are gonna get muddled up! But, in the spirit of the Halloween season, I share these spooky “Mandela Effects” with you today.
My usual caveat applies: please don’t take this too seriously! This is not a claim of a conspiracy theory, nor is it me trying to start drama. I’m 100% certain that these misremembrances are just that: tricks of the mind. I’m sharing them in the spirit of Halloween, and for entertainment only.
With all of that out of the way, let’s talk about a few spooky “Mandela Effects!”
“Mandela Effect” #1:
The song “Reflection” from Mulan.
I can distinctly remember being annoyed that I had to take my little sister (and one of her friends) to see Mulan at the cinema when I was a teenager. But what I absolutely *cannot* remember is the song Reflection. I like Mulan and I generally enjoy its other songs: Honor to us All sets up the story, I’ll Make a Man Out of You is stirring, and A Girl Worth Fighting For has a charm of its own, too. But I would swear up and down that those were the only songs featured in the movie.
I’d say it was maybe three or four years ago that I first heard Reflection. And I’ve watched Mulan more than once over the years: I had the film on VHS and DVD, and of course I’ve been able to watch it via Disney+ in more recent times. So… where’d Reflection come from, then? Did I fall asleep and miss it that day in the cinema in October or November 1998? And did I step out to use the bathroom every single time I watched the film on video? Was there a special home video version that, for some reason, cut out what’s generally considered to be one of the film’s best songs? Or… is this evidence of switching timelines?!
“Mandela Effect” #2:
Dates in sticky toffee pudding.
If you’re not British, bear with me, because this is probably quite specific! There’s a popular dessert here in the UK called sticky toffee pudding. It’s a dark sponge cake topped with a hot toffee sauce, often accompanied with ice cream or custard. But I would have sworn, in all of my memories of eating this dessert, that the sponge cake component was a plain dark sponge – not one made with dates.
I don’t dislike dates, though I don’t eat them regularly. But I must’ve had sticky toffee pudding dozens of times over the years, and I never once felt even the tiniest date flavour nor noticed pieces of dates. But recently, when I had sticky toffee pudding for the first time in years, I was surprised to detect the flavour and presence of dates. I wondered if I’d accidentally bought a new experimental variety, so I looked it up. But according to every source I can find – including in an old recipe book I inherited – dates have *always* been part of the recipe. How spooky is that?
“Mandela Effect” #3:
What do the Chuckle Brothers say?
Every British person who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s can remember the Chuckle Brothers. ChuckleVision debuted in 1987, and it was a slapstick comedy show for kids in which the titular Chuckle Brothers got into all kinds of mishaps. The Chuckle Brothers – Paul and Barry – had a famous catchphrase, and I must’ve heard them say it a hundred times or more. You know what it is, right? “To you, to me.”
The catchphrase was a big part of the show, repeated by the Chuckle Brothers whenever they carried something, moved something around, or needed to pass things to each other. But… the internet says it was always “to me, to you,” whereas I remember it the other way around. Did the Chuckle Brothers do it backwards in one episode that somehow got etched into my mind? Did my friends on the playground think I was being a goof by saying it the wrong way around? Or… are the Chuckle Brothers bound up in this universe-hopping conspiracy?
“Mandela Effect” #4:
The slide in Tall Tall Mountain.
I adore Super Mario 64, and I’ve played the game more times than I can remember. In fact, I played it just the other day. It’s a comfort title for me, and stepping back into Peach’s castle feels like going home. I’ve played every stage, every level, beaten Bowser, and returned to the game many times over the years. But one thing I genuinely cannot remember is the slide in the level Tall Tall Mountain.
There are other memorable slides in Mario 64. Cool Cool Mountain gives you the race against the big penguin. And who could forget the doubly-secret star in the Princess’s Secret Slide, which you only get if you make it to the bottom in less than 21 seconds? But a slide in Tall Tall Mountain? I’ve never heard of such a thing! It was only when I was watching a YouTube video about Mario 64 that I saw it for the first time, and I swear I thought the person was playing a modded version of the game, or something! But no, it’s real. There’s a slide in Tall Tall Mountain… or at least there is in *this* timeline.
“Mandela Effect” #5:
The rings around Jupiter and Uranus.
Forget whether Pluto is technically “a planet” or not! When I was a kid, I can distinctly remember learning about the planets in school. Saturn was the one with the most elaborate rings, but Jupiter and Uranus also had their own ring systems which were smaller, but similar. Every illustration of Jupiter and Uranus that I can remember seeing from the ’80s and ’90s depicted these planets with rings.
While neither ring system has “disappeared,” it seems that the consensus nowadays is that the ring systems – which I remember being impressive, even if not quite as spectacular as Saturn’s – are little more than a bit of rock and dust, and they aren’t even visible on most photographs of either planet. Modern illustrations routinely show both planets as being ring-less, yet I remember their rings being much more prominent. Is this simply a case of newer facts coming to light and science moving on? Or is NASA trying to cover up a terrifying change in reality?
So that’s it!
Five spooky “Mandela Effects” to mark the Halloween season.
As I said in the beginning, I don’t actually believe in these ideas of parallel universes, moving consciousnesses, and changing timelines. If such a thing were to happen, I’m pretty sure there’d be more of a difference than a Disney song or a video game level! It’s odd, isn’t it, that no one claiming to have switched timelines actually comes from a radically different timeline – like one where the Industrial Revolution never happened, where Christianity didn’t take off in the Roman Empire, or where technology is 250 years ahead of what we have today. All they notice are minor differences in corporate logos and the occasional “oh, I thought he’d died already” moment when a famous person passes away.
These are nothing more than tricks of the mind. And look at my examples: the most “recent” one is from 1998, when I was in my teens. The rest are all from childhood – a time when brains are still forming and memory isn’t perfect. Memories can also fade over time, and mingle with other bits of information we pick up over the years. Social media amplifies this, so what we see as “Mandela Effects” are, in my humble opinion, evidence of nothing beyond the inherent weaknesses of the human mind!
And on that delightful note… Happy Halloween, folks!
All titles discussed above are the copyright of their respective developer, publisher, broadcaster, and/or distributor. Some stock photos courtesy of Unsplash. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Trekking with Dennis 