“Luke, I am your father.” — Not an actual quote from Star Wars
He actually said, “No, I am your father.” in the movie. Don’t believe me? Watch for yourself:
That’s crazy, right?
I didn’t believe it myself at first, but here we are. And here’s a page full of 51 other weird Mandela Effects!
What is the definition of Mandela Effect?
These groupthink mistaken memories are a result of something colloquially called the Mandela Effect.
In medical terms, it’s called a false memory. But in this all-too-common case, it’s a collectively held false memory.
It’s when thousands — if not millions — of people share the same memory of something that never happened.
With the Mandela Effect, it’s not often something major that’s different — but still collectively remembered in the wrong way nonetheless.
While the effect has been around for probably thousands of years, the slang term for it was invented in 2010.
A woman by the name of Fiona Broome coined the term when she recalled a false memory of hers that Nelson Mandela had died in prison in the 1980s. (He actually passed away in 2013.)
She claimed this same memory was shared by at least thousands of people — and the name has stuck.
The psychology behind the Mandela Effect
While searching online for the reasons behind why the Mandela Effect may or may not actually exist, you can certainly find some colorful theories.
One popular one that can be found in the depths of forums is that CERN — which operates the Large Hadron Collider since 2008 — actually put many of us in an alternate dimension (or millions of them).
And that — of course — explains why we remember things slightly wrong!
In reality (or at least in this universe’s reality), the Mandela Effect is a great example of false memories.
These are often created from the mishmash of multiple sources of information blending together over time.
This is called the Misinformation Effect.
People are never able to 100% accurately recall memories as they occurred. Our memories get slightly changed as we age and learn new things over time. Other sources of related information can also start blending together with other memories — producing more of this effect.
While going through the list of Mandela Effect examples below, maybe you can spot why some of these are commonly held beliefs! Let’s get started.
51 other examples of the Mandela Effect in action
It gets even weirder when you see just how many famous movie lines, song lyrics, and brands didn’t actually appear exactly as we remember.
Let’s get started on the list!
1. E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial
“ET phone home?”
Check your 4G connection because the creepy/cute alien actually said “ET home phone.”
2. Dogs playing poker painting
You’re probably familiar with the famous painting that has a bunch of dogs sitting around a table smoking, drinking beers, and playing poker. And the one facing us is clearly wearing a green poker hat.
Right? Nope.
3. Curious George
Ah, the interesting childhood adventures of Curious George. Brown furred, cutely drawn face, and a tail on the backside.
Except there was no tail in reality.
4. Monopoly
The Monopoly Man (also known as Rich Uncle Pennybags) doesn’t wear a monocle or even glasses!
5. Forrest Gump
What’s the most famous line from Forrest Gump?
It’s probably slightly different than you remember: “Life was like a box of chocolates.”
6. Fruit Loops cereal
Mmm, that sugary contains-no-actual-fruit fruit cereal. Remember it? Because it’s actually spelled Froot Loops.
7. The Wizard of Oz
What’s the famous line from this movie right after Dorothy gets transported to the land of Oz?
“Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
Nope, it’s “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
8. The Thinking man statue
Many people remember The Thinking Man statue (actually titled The Thinker) with the man resting his forehead on his closed fist.
In reality, it’s on his chin.
9. Monty Python
Remember the scene where they’re collecting dead people on a trolley during the plague? Most people remember the still-alive dead-man as saying “I’m not dead yet”
Even this Youtube link is titled that.
The thing is (even if it’s minor), he never says “yet.”
10. The Wizard of Oz (again)
The Wicked Witch gleefully yelled, “Fly my pretties, fly!”
Except she didn’t. She only ever said “Fly, fly fly!”
11. Star Wars (one of the old ones)
C-3PO, that dopey golden robot that people loved to quote for decades to come. Well, mostly golden. Did you remember he had a silver lower leg?
Me neither.
12. Transformers: Darkside of The Moon
Maybe you saw this Transformers movie in 2011. But I bet you didn’t, because that wasn’t its name.
Its Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Maybe the Mandela Effect is from confusion with the popular Pink Floyd song, Darkside of the Moon.
13. Snow White
What did the Evil Queen say in Snow White? “Mirror, mirror, on the wall?”
Nope — “Magic mirror, on the wall” in the Disney movie.
Although the original book by the Brother’s Grimm used “Mirror, mirror” so the mistaken memory may have come from the novel into our everyday language.
14. Silence of the Lambs
Oh, Hannibal Lecter, that hungry evil genius. What’s his famous line, “Hello, Clarice?” Nope. He never said that line at all in the movie.
The scene we usually think it comes from is just “Good evening” and later on in a phone call he says “Well, Clarice.”
(Fast forward to 0:56)
I had to watch the videos to believe this myself — and it’s true!
15. The Matrix
This all seems to be a glitch in the Matrix right? Well, even The Matrix has its own Mandela Effect.
Have you seen that famous meme of Morpheus and his famous line “What if I told you…”?
Yup, sorry to say that never happened. It’s “Let me tell you…”
16. Field of Dreams
The wonderfully nostalgic movie with Kevin Costner was definitely one to remember. Although, apparently we all remember it wrongly.
“If you build it, they will come.”
Nyet! It’s “He will come,” referring to his dad.
17. Jaws
Dangerous shark fishing with strangers? Why risk yourself and say “we” when you don’t have to.
And that’s why in the famous scene right after the first encounter with the behemoth shark, he actually said: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
18. Shazaam
There’s even a Mandela Effect movie — that is, it never existed at all.
Thousands of people around the world have a memory of Sinbad appearing in a movie called Shazaam from the 90s.
But, it never existed nor did he ever star in a related movie. But that didn’t stop internet trolls from creating mock-ups to mess with people’s heads!
19. Peanut butter
What’s your favorite brand of peanut butter? Jiffy?
Sorry to say that you probably meant Jif Peanut Butter. Jiffy never existed. People might be mistakingly combining Skippy and Jif in their memories for this one.
20. Looney Toons
What’s one of your favorite childhood cartoons? If you were like millions of other kids, it was Looney Toons — with all those whacky adventures of Bugs Bunny and crew.
Except it was referring to music, not cartoons.
Looney Tunes. That is looney.
21. Berenstein Bears
Speaking of favorite childhood media, did you ever read the Berenstein books?
No? Oh, you’re catching on.
The wonderful series of children’s books was in reality called Berenstain Bears.
22. Sex in the City
I bet you fashion yourself a bit of a Samantha, don’t you?
Or perhaps one of the other 3 main characters in the award-winning show that was actually called “Sex and the City.”
23. Hot dog!
How’s that catchy hot dog commercial jingle go again?
“I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner
That is what I truly wish to be, etc etc”
For whatever reason though, many people on Reddit report remembering Oscar Mayer being spelled with an e and not an a.
Waird.
24. Lord of the Rings
Gandalf’s first most memorable scene has him seemingly sacrificing himself to fight a Balrag while saving the rest of the characters from death.
“Run, you fools!” he never yelled. He told them to fly instead.
25. Risky Business
Tom Cruise slides into the scene while Bob Seger’s Old Time Rock n Roll plays loudly in the background.
White socks, no pants, dress shirt, sunglasses, and singing into an old metal candlestick. Classic.
Except he was never wearing sunglasses in the scene at all.
26. Smokey the Bear
Remember this fire-fearing bear from your childhood?
Most of us have always called him Smokey the Bear, but weirdly there’s no “the” in his name at all.
Only you can prevent Mandela Effects.
27. Queen
“We are the champions, we are the champions, we are the champions…of the world!” were not the ending lyrics fading out to the song We Are The Champions by Queen.
Even though he sings “of the world” throughout the song, he doesn’t actually end the piece with this line.
Go listen to the ending of it again — trust me, it sounds weird.
28. Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood
You probably remember the opening credits’ theme song to the timeless Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, right?
But there’s probably one small word that you misremember: “It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood,” not the neighborhood, as we all sang.
29. I Love Lucy
Are you old enough to have seen the American classic called I Love Lucy?
If not, you may have still heard your parents jokingly say “Lucy, you got some ‘splainin’ to do!”
If so, they were actually experiencing a bit of a Mandela Effect. Ricky only ever said, “Lucy, ‘splain.” Or, “‘Splain that to me.”
30. Cheetos
“It ain’t easy being cheesy.”
But apparently it is because the ever-cool Chester Cheetah never said that line.
He always said, “It’s not easy being cheesy.”
It ain’t quite as catchy, is it?
31. Kit-Kat
One of my go-to chocolate bars in my house growing up was a decently delicious Kit-Kat.
“Give me a break,” you say? Give me a ‘dash’ because it’s KitKat with no space nor line in-between.
Delicious either way.
32. The FlinStones
“FlinStones, meet the FlinStones
They’re the modern stone age family
From the town of Bedrock
They’re a page right out of history”
Another great childhood memory — slightly wrong. There’s a sneaky ‘T’ at the end of Flin that I and many other people certainly don’t remember being there.
The FlinTsTones.
One of the most famous Oscar acceptance speeches was that of Sally Field.
Even if not many people remember the movie Places in the Heart, most of us have heard the reference to the award speech given for it: “You like me, you really, really, like me!”
In the real speech, however, she said: “I can’t deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!”
34. Billy Ray Cyrus
Most of you reading can hear this song play out loud in your head after reading this next bit, right?
“Don’t break my heart, my achy breaky heart”
But you’d be misremembering the song if that’s what happened. In reality, the lyrics went:
“Don’t tell my heart, my achy breaky heart.”
35. Ford Motors
Try to imagine the Ford logo in your head. American made. Ford tough. Distinctively manly styling of the letters F-o-r-d. Right?
Don’t forget the frills though — because many people apparently do — especially the accent on the ‘F’.
36. Odor eliminator
What’s your go-to spray bottle when you want to ‘freshen up’ the washroom smell? If you’re like millions of Americans, you’re thinking of Febreeze right now.
But it’s spelled slightly different than many of us remember — Febreze — oddly enough.
37. Writing neatly
When you made a mistake on your high school essay, you’d reach for that handy tool called White-Out.
But oddly enough, the manufacturer has always called it Wite-Out — spelling be damned!
38. Mickey Mouse
Everyone’s favorite Disney character had all the telltale signs of a cartoonified mouse. Cute ears, cute nose, big eyes, floppy feet, and a skinny offputting rat-like tail.
Oh wait, most of us forget that last detail — the opposite Mandela Effect of Curious George up above!
39. Three Little Pigs
What’s the most famous line from the Three Little Pigs children’s book?
“I’ll huff and I’ll puff and blow your house down!”
But it’s actually: “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and blow your house in!”
40. Publisher’s Clearing House
Perhaps you’re of the age to remember those giant Publisher’s Clearing House checks that were awarded by Ed McMahon in person at random people’s houses.
Exciting!
Except Ed McMahon never had any affiliation with Publisher’s himself. Instead, he supported a different organization called American Family Publishers. He also never went door to door as many people collectively remember (falsely).
41. Xanthum gum
Many people might remember the incredible food additive called Xanthum gum. But oddly, that was never the name — it’s spelled Xanthan and comes from the name of a bacteria species it’s derived from: Xanthomonas campestris.
I wonder why it wasn’t just called Xanthom, myself.
42. Secret Agent Cody Banks
You might remember that kids movie starring Hilary Duff and Frankie Muniz called Secret Agent Cody Banks.
For some reason, many of us strongly remember the word ‘Secret’ being at the beginning of the movie’s title — but it was never there at all.
43. The Forbidden Fruit
Here’s an odd one that may or may not be a Mandela Effect.
Many of us in the West have an image of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden apple from the Garden of Eden.
Those of us that went to church as kids must’ve come across it in the bible or scriptures, etc. The thing is, the bible never mentioned a specific fruit — and definitely not an apple.
In fact, many cultures around the world assume the ‘apple’ was actually different fruit — figs, grapes, wheat, mushrooms, pomegranates, or bananas.
44. Fruit of the Loom
Quickly try to picture the clothing brand Fruit of the Loom’s logo.
An apple surrounded by grapes and maybe lettuce all in front of a brown basket thing (cornucopia) right?
Strangely enough, no logo in the brand’s history ever contained the cornucopia!
45. Gangsta’s Paradise
According to a thread on Reddit, many people remember the chorus line going like this:
“We’ve been spendin’ most our lives living in a gangsta’s paradise.”
When the lyrics are actually “They’ve been spendin’ most their lives living in the gangsta’s paradise.”
If this is true, it’s certainly a change to the intention of the song.
46. Madonna
Another minor but strange one. Many people remember Madonna’s real full name as being Maria Louise Veronica Ciccone. But if people are remembering her name like that, then this is another example of the Mandela Effect as she never had Veronica in her full name.
47. Charlie’s Angels
The remake of the famous series with Lucy Liu, Drew Barrymore, and Cameron Diaz imitated many aspects of the original show. Most of us clearly remember them doing the classic gun pose with the three back to back.
Yet, they never posed like that at, in or out of the movie!
48. Alice in Wonderland
The Cheshire Cat had the classic line, “We’re all mad here.” Right?
I mean, think of all the thousands of tattoos out there with that line — if only it was the actual line from the movie!
The kitty said, “Most everyone is mad here.”
Oops.
49. Funions
Did you ever have that cardboardy delicious snack called Funions? I didn’t, because I only ever tried Funyuns.
What’s with brands and their weird spellings?
50. King Tut
Do you remember the iconic King Tut death mask? The elaborately golden cask that went over his head?
Ornate, beautiful tones of blue and gold, with a god-like serpent at the top. But why don’t we remember there also being an eagle located right beside the snakehead?
51. Donald Trump
Last but not least — Trump! Out of curiosity, I wanted to see if an example of the Mandela Effect existed for Trump.
I mostly just found a bunch of CERN related conspiracy theories…and this wild gem:
Yikes.
J.J. Pryor
Head over here for more of my written shenanigans.
You might also be interested in reading about 40 amazing ways bamboo is used today.
