The Mandela Effect: Not Always A Mandela Effect

THE MANDELA EFFECT: Not Always A Mandela Effect

While not specifically looking for something on the Mandela Effect a YouTube video on the subject popped up on my recommended list, because I checkout a lot of Mandela Effect videos: This video attempts to explain the phenomenon with the psychological answers. I guess it is up to viewers to decide if does or doesn't explain things.

Many Mandela Effect videos are just about slightly different words or pronunciations of the words, or part of the word dropped off at the end, or the not as popular spelling variant of a name. Hmm was the Toys R Us giraffe mascot named Jeffrey or Geoffrey? I'm pretty sure it was the not as common Geoffrey not Jeffrey. Many people might "remember" it as Jeffrey because it is the more common spelling.

Misheard lyrics: For lyrics often improper grammar is used either to make a rhyme or to keep the timing and tempo of a song consistent. Or an entire new word will be created (see Steve Miller Band: The Joker and the line "'Cause I speak of the pompitous of love"). In transposing lyrics to the written word mistakes can be made. Also how a word is enunciated or spoken, well sung rather, can be misinterpreted. For instance do you know what Manfred Mann's Earth Band is singing in "Blinded By The Light"? It isn't the crude version that people think it is. Misheard lyrics are simply that misheard lyrics. They haven't been changed by the Mandela Effect. They are just commonly misheard and the "new" version of what they say is mistakenly passed along. There is a similar thing with misquotes from movies. I won't get into those here, but many people remember a quote in a specific way that was never actually said. In many ways it is like that kids game of Telephone. Where you sit in a circle (or organized line) and someone whispers something in the ear of the person siting next to them. That person then whispers what they "heard" to the next person, That person repeats the process and on and on til the saying gets to the last person. That person then says out loud what they heard and then the original person reveals what they started things with.

There is even a Mandela Effect for the opening title speech from the Original Star Trek series. The real line is and ALWAYS has been "Space THE Final Frontier..." The Mandela Effect has changed it to "Space A Final Frontier..." It is simply a matter of pronunciation. In the Speech William Shatner pronounces the word "T-H-E' as "Thuh" not "Thee" so it sounds like he is saying "A". There are similar misunderstandings exactly like this that people have labeled as a Mandela Effect.

The phenomenon that is called the Mandela Effect could just as easily be called the "Barenstain Bears Effect".

There is at least one ME video poster who has blocked all comments on his videos, you can't even vote thumbs up or thumbs down on them. He says he is tired of people commenting on his videos. I think maybe he was getting too many negative comments and didn't like people complaining about them or the Mandela Effect. I first noticed him from a video where he has compiled about 20 minutes worth of reports of John Lennon's death and points out some of the inconsistencies of the reporting. Many of the reports were the first "breaking news" reports that were broadcast within an hour or two of his being killed. Some details of those early reports were in error. As often happens with news reporting the first initial reports have inaccurate information. Unfortunately it is the first reports that people often remember. They will remember a celebrity being arrested for something, but not that they were found innocent a few months later, or that the charges were dropped and there was never a trial.

On some other Mandela Effect video I commented on how the first initial reports often contain inaccuracies and someone tried to correct me by mentioning some details of an event I wasn't even commenting on but apparently was mentioned in the video I was commenting on. I have also been "corrected" at times with comments that basically say the same thing I had just commented, or they think I am complaining about what I commented on. This sort of thing happens to me sometimes on Facebook also. I often think I should stop commenting on social media especially videos some of which are a couple of years old.

There are some Mandela Effect believers that say if you don't believe in the Mandela Effect and mock it. You have not been effected by it yet and are from this reality. Huh? Yes most people believe that part of the Mandela Effect is that we are currently in a moment of time where multiple realities are combining together as one reality and that is why many are experiencing the Mandela Effect. They refuse to believe that they might be wrong about one difference and they defend the entire phenomenon. They also say if you don't believe in the phenomenon you don't get it and don't understand it. The one thing to understand is people are finding proof of different spellings of things or of slogans or logos that are different than what they had remembered.

The Mandela Effect: What The Heck Is It?

If you have been watching YouTube for a few years or searching for weird things on the Internet you have probably heard of The Mandela Effect. It is a strange phenomenon that many have taken to heart to explain some things that are unexplainable or to finally pin something on the strangeness of CERN. There are some Vloggers (Video Bloggers) who specialize in discovering "new" Mandela Effects. There are just as many explanations and theories posted about this bizarre concept as there are things that have been effected by it. The whole subject is a gigantic can of worms.

At the end of this post I have a few related links that go into further detail about the ME and the theories about what it is and the origins. I think the concept has been around for as long as there have been people.

The basic beginning and the naming of the effect goes something like this. When Nelson Mandela died in 2013 many people got a major case of deja vu as they had a vivid memory of him dying some 30 years previously while he was in jail. Maybe they thought he had died during his major surgery mid to late 1980s. That coupled with a special musical tribute for Mandela in 1988 for his 70th Birthday. The fact that some years later in the mid to late 1990s he would become the president of South Africa, must also have slipped many people's collective minds. Another theory about why people thought Mandela had died was perhaps they were confusing him with another South African anti-apartheid activist Bantu Steve Biko and the 1980s movie based on his life "Cry Freedom". More recently I read a comment from a video I think that mentioned some conspiracy theory that the South African government had spread rumors about Mandela's death for some political reason and had staged a fake funeral even though he was alive and well.

Another major popular confusion that has been attributed to the Mandela Effect and one of the early effects from the newly coined phenomenon is a popular children's book series The Berenstain Bears by Stan and Jan Berenstain. With this book series the confusion is that many people could swear on a planet full of Bibles that the name was spelled differently and the Bears names were Berenstein. Either one of which are common misspellings.

There are many many misspellings that are remembered that many falsely attribute to the Mandela Effect. Simple memories of a misspelling of a name or remembering an alternate spelling is not a Mandela Effect but simply a mass misremembering. There are many Vloggers on YouTube that specialize in the misspelled effects. Some of them I have commented (in the video's comment section) stating that the specific misspelling of the subject name is NOT the Mandela Effect but just a very common false memory.

Most Mandela Effects fall under the "Wait a minute I thought that it was this way, not that" heading. There are many scenes from movies that are in this area of the effect. Like remembering a certain line of dialogue that ends up being totally different. It is the movie line version of Misheard Lyrics. Oh and misheard lyrics apparently are also a Mandela Effect. There is also the subject of product labels and product names and logos. Plus many other things that in some way now appear to many to be totally wrong. Some people claim they remember there being 51 or 52 states, and they weren't DC or Puerto Rico. One was supposedly "Columbia" but they couldn't remember where it was exactly. Some say the other state was North California or some area in North California. Say What?

My original intention for this particular post was to be a potential starting off point for a series of posts about the Mandela Effect. Concentrating on just one or two effects per post. There are a few that have me stumped (like the Moonraker braces thing) but most of what I have seen can often be attributed to remembering something that is actually a common misspelling. Thinking a celebrity named John Smith spelled their name "Jon Smyth", when they spelled it the most common way of "John Smith" all along. Or someone named Jeff who has always spelled his name Geoff.


Related Links:
Mandela Effect: Official Site
The Conversation: The Mandela Effect
Snopes: The Mandela Effect
Wikipedia: False Memory

Is That A Fact? Cracker Jack?

This post has nothing to do with researching or quoting actual "facts" about the snack food Cracker Jack as the title might suggest. It is just a telling of a snack eating event and possibly the reasoning behind doing it in the first place.

Actual bag I got from snack machine.

On Wed 09 May I got a pack of Cracker Jack. I got the snack pack from a vending machine at work. [in recent months our company has been bought out and the vending machines will go away soon.] It had been a long time since I had any Cracker Jack - Candy coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize. To show you how long ago it was, or I think it was, the last time I had a "pack" of Cracker Jack it was actually a BOX of Cracker Jack.

This is close to how I remember the Cracker Jack Boxes

Back in the day Cracker Jack was sold in individual serving cardboard boxes in a couple of sizes and I think a huge family box. Not sure how many sizes they had but usually you would get a small box that was like 6"x 4"x 1" or close to that size. As a child in the 1970s the mix of popcorn to peanuts was usually in favor of the peanuts but close to being evenly distributed. This time it was a small foil package like a potato chips bag and the popcorn to peanuts was pretty much a minimum of 90% popcorn. I'm not complaining I wasn't in the mood for peanuts especially with the skin or seed coat still on, but I was Jonezin for The Jack. Taste wise it is about what I remember but like most other classic treats not as sugary as it was back then. It didn't stick between my teeth as much as popcorn or the old CJ used to. Now days popcorn usually sticks between my teeth more often as I get older because of the teeth not the snack. That is also why I rarely even eat popcorn products. I was never much of a nuts or peanuts guy but liked CJ for the caramel covered popcorn.

I knew years ago when they switched over from boxes to bags/packs. That was no surprise, the little Cracker Jack Sailor mascot image however has changed in recent years. That was a little surprising. I'm too lazy right now to research that change and quite frankly not that determined to figure it out. Branding on products change and that is NOT a "Mandela Effect" as some might want to claim.

This is the current Cracker Jack Sailor and his dog.

Oh yeah and the "Prize". It was a little CJ branded sticker that has some promo for what they call "Blipp a Surprise". It has something to do with some silly smart phone app you download and "scan" your sticker or whatever to find out what you have won if you win anything.

 Front of Prize.

Inside of Prize. The quality of the image on the sticker is pretty bad. This enlargement doesn't help, but didn't hurt much either.