If you are anything like me… You have spent far too long going down Mandela effect rabbit holes! All of the different theories and explanations fascinate me! I’ve put this page together to keep an up-to-date page with all of the Mandela effects that I find (well, the ones that would affect me anyway!), I’ll also add any reasoning that I have found to explain them!
What is the Mandela Effect?
The Mandela Effect is a psychological phenomenon where a large group of people share the same ‘false’ memory about an event, fact, or detail. Most Mandela effects are false memories that affect a large portion of the population, but they could be false memories in a town or area too.
Why is it called the Mandela Effect?
The Mandela Effect gets its name from Nelson Mandela because many people vividly (but incorrectly) remembered that he died in prison during the 1980s. In reality, Mandela was released in 1990 and lived until 2013. The term was later coined by Fiona Broome, who noticed that this false memory was shared by large groups of people, not just individuals. This widespread misremembering became a defining example of how collective false memories can form, leading to the phenomenon being named the “Mandela Effect.”
Why do people think this happens?
This is where things can get a bit weird, but I like to let my imagination run wild with these sorts of things (Mostly because it’s more fun that way!). There are a set group of skeptics that just say that it is a coincidence that a lot of people just simply misremember. There is also the possibility that most of the things that people misremember was because of the media reporting on something incorrectly, and everyone back in the day just trusted what they were told and never questioned it.
But not for the fun one… The timeline being different! So this one, I find a lot of fun! The idea is that we have bounced into another reality where most things are the same, but there are slight differences. Some people point to the Hadron Collider being the cause of the timelines shifting too. This one is so much fun to think about because Scientists think that there actually might be an unlimited number of alternate realities, so it’s a bit like our own sci-fi fan fiction!
Okay so, let’s jump into the Mandela Effects that I have found the most interesting (I’ll keep updating this one, but I’m not going to put a load of crap into it like other websites, just for clickbait headlines like ‘100 real Mandela effects’! Just the main ones that I find interesting (and please let me know any that you find interesting too and I can include them)
Magic Mirror on the Wall
This Mandela effect is that the original quotes from the Disney movies are ‘Magic Mirror on the wall’, but everyone seems to remember it as ‘Mirror Mirror on the wall’.
When I have looked into this, people jump to the original books, or the books in German, and even there is a version of one of the books that has mirror mirror in it… but that doesn’t cut it for me. Most of us growing up wouldn’t have read that specific book, or had it in German, so that isn’t the case closed for me…
But after a long time… I finally found out why we think it is ‘Mirror Mirror’! SHREK! In Shrek, Lord Farquart says ‘Mirror Mirror’ instead of ‘Magic Mirror’, and let’s be fair… If you are a millennial, you have watched Shrek more times than you can count!
Fruit of the Loom Cornucopia
This is probably the most frustrating Mandela Effect I have experienced! Growing up, the only reason that all of us knew what a cornucopia was was because of the Fruit of the Loom logo! My memory can even pinpoint the location that I asked what it was, and my parents explained it to me (It was in Parkhead Forge Cinema!)
The company has come out and stated that there never was a cornucopia on their logo. So it is 100% confirmed that we were all wrong. This prompted people to look through their old clothes to find it too… but they all came up with the real logo, without the cornucopia… How is that possible?!
Well… I have a thought on why this is! Fakes!
Most of us at some point will have been given or bought counterfeit items, and in the 90s (and probably our parents in the 70s/80s), there was a lot of fake Fruit of the Loom clothing going about, too. The only reason that I can logically think of was that there was a cornucopia on the counterfeit products, and that is why the company confirms they haven’t had it, and the quality was probably so terrible that all the fakes were thrown away a long time ago once they were damaged!
What do you think about this one? I’m curious to know if that explanation seems plausible in your situation!
Looney Tunes/Toons
I’m sure you will have watched just as much Looney Tunes as I did growing up, but this Mandela effect is that there are a load of people (me included) that could have sworn that the title of the show was ‘Looney Toons’ and not ‘Looney Tunes’!
I suppose this one is probably because they were cartoons and it makes sense for us, but Looney Tunes was also well known for the music in them, which is probably why it was actually called TUNES.
I think I know why I at least thought this was toons though… A combo of Who Framed Rodger Rabbit, because Bugs Bunny and the rest of the TOONs lived in ‘TOON Town’, but also the spin-off show called Tiny TOONS (which I loved!). I watched both of these a million times growing up, so I’m not surprised that there was a false memory on this one!
Fly, My Pretties, Fly!
I watched the Wizard of Oz when I was growing up, but I didn’t watch it on repeat like the rest of my VHS back then, but it was almost always on around Christmas time, so it got its fair share of viewing.
This Mandela effect is that most people remember the Wicked Witch saying ‘Fly my pretties’ when she releases the flying monkeys, but she never actually said that in the film… the phrase was ‘Fly, fly, fly!’.
My wife is a musical buff. Even done musical theatre and acting at College/Uni (and got her Honour’s Degree, might I add!). I turned round just a second ago to ask her what the Wicked Witch said to the flying monkeys and she said ‘Something about my pretties’. So it’s not just the people that haven’t watched it a whole lot who know that phrase!
This one baffled me a little but, but then it clicked… I know exactly why we all think this was the phrase… It’s because of the Simpsons! In the episode where Homer and Mindy get room service, an alarm goes off in Mr Burn’s office and he then shouts ‘Fly my Pretties, Fly!’ to his flying monkeys!
I think The Simpsons has contributed to most of our knowledge of the world and pop culture to the point that if they get it wrong, we all just assumed it was correct!
Monopoly guy with a monocle
This one I have always found a good laugh, because when you ask people to describe what the Monopoly Man looks like, they always say ‘Top hat, moustache and monocle’, even though the Monopoly Man has never had a monocle!
The only thing that I can think of that might have made this image in my brain was the post guy in Ace Venuta 2, when he comments on the rich guy saying, ‘And yoooou must be the Monopoly guy’. Apart from that, I’m all out of ideas!
Tell me your favourite Mandela Effects!
There are a lot more Mandela effects that are out there, but most of them seem to me like just people misremembering, but if you have one that you are adamant on that I’ve not included, please reach out to me and let me know – john@geekygorevan.co.uk
