{"id":23889,"date":"2025-11-05T13:09:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T21:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=23889"},"modified":"2025-11-05T13:19:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T21:19:28","slug":"the-mandela-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/the-mandela-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mandela effect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A photo of the Fruit of the Loom logo with and without the Mandela effect. | Photo from @sosupernaturalpod on Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nov 5 2025 | Abbi Duhart | News Editor<\/span><\/p>\n

Coined by Fiona Broome, the Mandela effect is a phenomenon that many people experience, whether they realize it or not, in which they have faulty memories of a certain person, character, event or anything similar. Each faulty detail is often experienced by a multitude of people, making the effect seem that much more mysterious and odd. Broome created the term \u201cMandela effect\u201d when she discovered that she, along with many others, believed that Nelson Mandela died in the 1980s when he in fact died in 2013. She was shocked that so many people remembered a key historic event falsely and thus put a name to the phenomenon.<\/span><\/p>\n

A common occurrence of the Mandela effect that many encounter is centered around Disney\u2019s well-known character Tinker Bell. Many people, including myself, remember in the old Disney movie era how Tinker Bell would come out at the beginning of VCR movies when they show the Disney castle logo and would circle around the castle and tap the top of the \u201cI.\u201d Supposedly, this never actually happened and, instead, there was only a white half circle that went around the castle, with Tinker Bell never actually showing up. However, many Disney fans speculated about this and tried to dig up old Disney VCRs and DVDs, with some allegedly proving that Tinker Bell did, in fact, appear. Whether she actually appeared or not is still up for debate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who are familiar with \u201cStar Wars\u201d often recall what is argued to be the most famous line in the franchise: \u201cLuke, I am your father.\u201d What if I said that this was never actually Darth Vader\u2019s famous line? In \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back,\u201d the line that Darth Vader actually says to Luke is \u201cNo, I am your father.\u201d Many fans distinctly remember the use of Luke\u2019s name in this line as Vader is talking to Luke, and the line is quoted this way by fans and non-fans alike. In the same vein, many Disney fans remember the famous line from the Evil Queen in \u201cSnow White\u201d being \u201cMirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?\u201d The correct line spoken in the original \u201cSnow White\u201d is in fact \u201cMagic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?\u201d Many people recall the use of \u201cmirror, mirror\u201d even though the Evil Queen never said this.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another common Disney Mandela effect happens when recalling the original Mickey Mouse. When thinking about the clothes that he wears, many remember his shorts with buttons having suspenders. If fans go back and look, though, they\u2019ll find that Mickey Mouse does not actually have suspenders, he only wears the shorts with buttons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who read or watched it as a kid may recall the popular children\u2019s show about Mama and Papa Bear as they raise their two bear cubs in Bear Country. But what comes to mind when prompted to spell out the name of this show? The correct spelling is \u201cThe Berenstain Bears,\u201d even though many recall it being spelled as \u201cBerenstein.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Video game fans aren\u2019t immune to the Mandela effect either. Those who spent their childhood playing \u201cPok\u00e9mon\u201d games or collecting Pok\u00e9mon cards commonly argue about the appearance of the famous Pok\u00e9mon Pikachu. Some fans recall his unique zig-zag tail having a black tip at the top, while some recall the black section of his tail being at the bottom. Fans who recall the black section being at the tip of his tail have fallen victim to the Mandela effect, because Pikachu does not have any black at the end of his tail.<\/span><\/p>\n

When thinking about the show \u201cScooby-Doo,\u201d people also often remember the character Shaggy as having a distinct Adam\u2019s apple in his appearance. This characteristic often stands out to fans too because Shaggy is seen eating food a lot, making his Adam\u2019s apple very clear. Shaggy also gulped a lot in the show out of fear, something that is believed to also feature his Adam\u2019s apple. Yet, if we go back to view Scooby Doo, Shaggy doesn\u2019t actually have an Adam\u2019s apple at all. He does have the bulge when he swallows or gulps, so it is theorized that fans are just remembering this.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Mandela effect is known as a phenomenon for a reason, but there are a few differing theories for why it occurs. One explanation is false memories. When we recall something that happened a while ago \u2014 more so the further back we go \u2014 our brains can set off neurons that are connected to other memories and details, potentially causing us to remember something incorrectly. Similarly, confabulation may happen, meaning that our brain subconsciously fills in gaps for things we don\u2019t quite remember. Human brains try to make sense of this lapse of knowledge by filling in a reasonable explanation, even if we don\u2019t realize it\u2019s false. Our brains can also subconsciously change a past memory based on what we encounter after it. For example, perhaps the reason many people remember Tinker Bell at the beginning of Disney movies is because something similar occurred at a later date with something that was related. The fact that our brains do this also contributes to the fact that eyewitness testimonies are not always reliable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A more unusual theory that some have surrounding the Mandela effect is alternate realities. In this theory, the individuals who make up the group believing that each instance of the Mandela effect happened are all from an alternate reality in which that version of the event is actually true. So, in the Tinker Bell Mandela effect, everyone who remembers Tinker Bell in the Disney intro somehow entered a different timeline in which Tinkerbell actually did appear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No matter if someone has experienced the Mandela effect for themself, it can be interesting to think about why this phenomenon occurs in the first place. It can be easy to write it off as a coincidence if a couple of people experience each event, but large groups of people all report remembering the same false events. As humans, we naturally try to find reasonable explanations, but perhaps some things just can\u2019t be explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlnews@mail.wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1645,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"The Mandela effect","_seopress_titles_desc":"Take a deeper look \u2014 the phenomenon of the Mandela effect leaves no survivors","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[7204,7207,4664,7205,1178,7190,7201,6622,192,3193,7195,7186,7187,7210,7194,7202,7193,7176,309,7200,7209,7191,7196,7184,2096,7192,7203,7199,7208,7185,7189,6737,1074,683,7188,6238,7198,7206,7197,684,39],"class_list":["post-23889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-alternate-reality","tag-alternate-timeline","tag-brain","tag-brains","tag-campus","tag-characters","tag-confabulation","tag-darth-vader","tag-disney","tag-event","tag-false-memories","tag-fiona-broome","tag-luke","tag-mandela","tag-mandela-effect","tag-memories","tag-mickey-mouse","tag-mind","tag-monmouth","tag-mystery","tag-nelson-mandela","tag-phenomenon","tag-pikachu","tag-pokemon","tag-psychology","tag-quote","tag-reality","tag-recall","tag-remember","tag-scooby-doo-2","tag-shaggy","tag-snow-white","tag-star-wars","tag-student","tag-the-berenstain-bears","tag-theories","tag-theory","tag-timeline","tag-tinkerbell","tag-western","tag-wou"],"modified_by":"saragerrick","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23889"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23898,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23889\/revisions\/23898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}