Before Nelson Mandela passed on December 5, 2013; he was in prison. A lot of people seemed to believe this and as a result, a phenomenon called The Mandela Effect was born.
Basically, many people thought that Nelson Mandela actually lost his life when he was in prison. Who wouldn’t believe this piece of information when it was backed up with news clips from his funeral, several rioting activities in cities, the mourning over his death in South Africa, and the heartbreaking speech of his widow. But then, it was announced that he was still alive and barely dead. These and more are as fascinating as the lost library of Hernando Columbus.
False Memories
For those who already heard about his death, their first reaction might be maybe, they just misunderstood some parts of the news. However, the fact that most people recall that Nelson Mandela died inside the prison only means that they have the same “false” memories. Then, there’s the death of Billy Graham. Just like Mandela, he was also alive during the time when people begun reporting about his death. There are some that stated that people were only confused or there has been a mixed up of information since Mr. Graham’s retirement was broadcast on television, as well as the funeral of his wife. People who clearly remembered the funeral coverage and the retirement announcement wholly disagree. To make everything clear, Billy Graham died in February 2018.
Present and Vivid Memories
People have a lot of encounters about odd conflicts between the world they are presently living in and their vivid memories. For instance, during the 2010 Dragon Con, there is a person who insisted that he saw a certain Star Trek episode that wasn’t even filmed according to one of the actors of the show. The person who recalled the non-existent episode was not wild-eyed or weird. In fact, he was just a typical person and was able to reference the episode through a routine conversation. When he knew that the episode was never filmed, he was surprised and instantly tried to look for logical explanations on why he had such “false” memory.
But the discovery that the “Berenstein Bears” books were never published and there was no movie that had the line, “Luke, I am your father”… that’s when everyone lost it for the Mandela Effect. This phenomenon instantly went viral.
Memory Errors
All of these are not just typical memory errors. As a matter of fact, it was as if they were carefully-planned sequential events or incidents that happened in the past. For many people, these are way beyond the regular range of forgetfulness. But the real question is what’s happening? And what’s the reason behind it?
Parallel Realities
According to several sci-fi explanations, the Mandela Effect is associated with quantum science, paralleled realities, alternate history, and real-life “Sliders” experiences. However, when it comes to the Mandela effect, there’s no such as things one-size-fits-all explanation. Some might be due to problematic memories, others are cause by online pranks or mistakes in news reports. But then, there are those that can’t be explained.
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