What is the Mandela Effect?
Well the Mandela Effect is defined as “an observed phenomenon in which a large segment of the population misremembers a significant event or shares a memory of an event that did not actually occur.” (Ivy Wigmore, July 2019). To put in simpler terms the Mandela Effect is when a lot of people remember a certain event or detail that never happened or was never a specific way. The term “Mandela Effect” was created by Fiona Broome, a self-proclaimed “paranormal consultant” who shared her experiences with the Mandela Effect online.
What causes the Mandela Effect?
There is no one answer to what causes the Mandela Effect, no one really knows how or why it happens. There are a few theories on how it happens but I will be brief and only talk about the main two. These theories range from math and science all the way to the idea that people are just lying. One possibility is confabulation which is when someone gives a false statement believing it to be true without any factual support. The second possibility revolves around Quantum Physics and “String Theory”. String Theory is the theoretical “framework that explains the universe and the very nature of reality in terms of tiny strings that vibrate in 10 dimensions.”(Marney A. White 2020). This means that everything in our universe is made up of tiny strings that vibrate. This would explain the Mandela Effect because our “string” has interacted with another dimension and those strings interacting caused tiny changes within our world.
Is there proof of the Mandela Effect?
Yes, there is so much proof of the Mandela Effect being real that it is almost scary. Most of the examples of the Mandela Effect being real are in pop culture but there are many that are not. One amazing example of the Mandela Effect is the origin of its name The name Mandela Effect comes from activist and politician Nelson Mandela. Many people believed that Mandela had died sometime in the 1980’s while in prison but he really died from a respiratory tract infection in 2013. This led people to share their experiences with this so-called Mandela Effect giving it a long list of things it has changed. One of the changes on the list revolves around everyone’s favorite cartoon monkey, Curious Gorge. You may be thinking that there is no way that a conspiracy theory could be tied to an animated monkey, but you would be wrong. When you think about Curious Gorge you think of a brown monkey, with black eyes, a tail, and sometimes holding a banana. Well you would be mostly right because Curious Gorge never did have a tail. That’s right the show millions of people grew up watching is tied with a scary theory.
What problems does the Mandela Effect cause?
The Mandela Effect doesn’t necessarily cause problems, just minor inconveniences. I say it causes inconveniences because it makes you wonder if anything you think is true is actually true. Although it causes you to go into a deep spiral of wondering who or what you are, it’s something very interesting to think about.
Overall the Mandela Effect is a cool yet strange topic to think about and look into. I can count about five instances while writing of me just falling into a “what’s the meaning of life and why does it matter” spiral. I hope that I was able to educate you enough on the topic in order for you to come up with your own opinion about whether the Mandela Effect is true or not.
Daniel Galvan – St. Laurence High School – DMSF Class of 2026
Image: nelsonmandela.org