One of the hottest trends going into 2019 has been the
mind-bending interpenetration of subjective and objective reality called the Mandela
Effect, or ME. The name derives from a collective experience in 1980’s South
Africa where Nelson Mandela was reported dead in prison and buried with much
fanfare, only to be released from prison many years later, and go on to the
become the President of a unified South Africa.
Stated in its simplest terms,
what countless people are now noticing is that there have been a large number
of small changes in the things they remember, be they names, brands, movie lines, book titles, slogans, map locations, historical events, etc.
that have been altered as if the former versions never existed. The collective memory
no longer matches, in other words, the historical record. People, of course,
misremember all the time, and assume lines like “play it again, Sam” or “Lucy,
you have some splainin’ to do” were actually said, and mishear phrases like
“there’s a bad moon on the rise” as “there’s a bathroom on the right.”
The Mandela Effect is altogether different, in that there
has been an actual change made in reality. Today, for example, I looked into my closet for
a bottle of crafting glue that, when I bought it two years ago, was called
Modge Podge. Today, after the Mandela shift, the bottle is labeled Mod Podge.
The old name of this product doesn’t exist anywhere, in fact there is no record it ever
existed.
The only evidence left of the former reality is a trace, known as residue,
of stray references to the old reality, such as a shot of the book cover of Portrait of Dorian Gray (now the Picture of Dorian Gray) in a still from
a different movie, an old newspaper review that refers to Reba McIntyre (now
McEntire), an Amazon listing under the Charles M. Schultz name we remember
where the actual book sold has the “correct” Charles M. Shulz name that has now
become the only possible spelling of his name, sporadic references
to the lion laying down with the lamb although the original bible verse it is
based on (Isaiah 11:6) only refers to “the wolf and lamb” laying down together.
The ME change can be small, such as Forrest’s Gump’s iconic line “life is just
a box of chocolates” now existing as “life was just a box of chocolates,” or it
can be big, such as the memory of so many of visiting the Statue of Liberty on
Ellis Island (when in fact there is no historical evidence it has ever been
anywhere but Liberty Island).
What specifically causes this I have to leave to the
many people in the field who are now pursuing it – suffice it to say there are
many theories, from CERN-based time-space continuum ruptures, to deliberate AI
gaslighting to keep us obsessed with our addictions to technology. One can
choose to look at the phenomenon from the victim standpoint as someone
powerless before forces trying to mess with us, alter our sense of reality a la
Philip K. Dick, and divide us along the lines of our subjective experience, or
look at it as evidence that life is much more miraculous and unknowable than
our former programming believed it to be, to the point where the past can be
seen as mutable and the veil over the illusion as starting to peel away.
It can be jarring, however, to have vivid memories of, say,
Tom Cruise dancing to “Old Time Rock and Roll” in the movie Risky Business wearing a white shirt and
sunglasses (which he iconically threw off mid dance), only to find that he was
actually wearing a pink shirt – and no sunglasses – in all historically preserved
versions of the movie (except, of course, parodies like the movie Never Been Kissed, where he is back to
white and sunglasses – the residue). Or to have built at least a part of one’s
cultural archive from Sally Field’s “immortal” acceptance line at the 1985
Oscars “You like me, you really like me,” only to find it is now rendered as
“You like me, right now, you like me.” Or to be told the startling revelation
from Star Wars “Luke, I am your
father” never happened, instead Darth Vader said “No, I am your father.”
It is all-too-easy to dismiss the pain of others when one
doesn’t have the same cultural touchstones. I, for one, do not remember
“Stouffer’s Stove Top Stuffing” so I cannot feel the frisson my wife feels at
the loss of this reality. On the other hand, I know for fact that Mr. Rogers
began every one of his Mister Rogers
Neighborhood shows by singing “it’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood,” NOT “it’s a wonderful day in this neighborhood,” as all the archival
footage now attests. But the change is so subtle, so seemingly inconsequential,
that others just look at me sadly, as if my memory has failed and my sanity has
become questionable. I can’t imagine what it would be like for those people who
watched the comedian Sinbad’s 1993 genie movie Shazaam – one I remember but never saw – only to find out the movie
never actually existed – even Sinbad himself claimed it was never made. And
then, when you insist, to be mocked for your false memory by mind control
websites like Snopes.
That is the heart of subjectivity’s darkness in this thing. But
it is a human choice whether to make it stay that way. To demonstrate, I’ll use
the example of one of many historical Mandela Effects, the change in narrative
involving the Charles Lindbergh Jr. kidnapping. Anyone of a certain age remembers
this as one of the great mysteries of the 20th century: What
happened to the Lindbergh baby? The inability of the authorities to ever locate
him or find his body made finding the perpetrator all but impossible. Even the Lindbergh’s
themselves were put under a cloud of suspicion. Finally a German immigrant
Bruno Hauptmann was apprehended – railroaded in many people’s estimation because
he had none of the ransom money and no apparent connection to the Lindbergh’s –
and convicted after a speedy trial amid a flurry of anti-German sentiment. Before
his sentence was even carried out, he committed suicide in jail under less than
clear circumstances, without a suicide note.
It was widely regarded as a Rosenberg-type
miscarriage of American justice based on ethnic stereotypes and a need for
closure. Without the baby, though, there was never closure, and the missing
Lindbergh baby became a fodder for late-night comedians for over 50 years. As
late as 1993 Grandpa Simpson woke up from a nap to claim he was the Lindbergh
baby.
Fortunately, thanks to the Mandela Effect, none of that
actually happened. The baby’s body was found shortly after the kidnapping,
Bruno worked for the Lindbergh’s, was identified after an
initial forensic problem of lack of fingerprints, and definitively put to death
by electric chair less than six months later. The only evidence that it was ever
anything different are the aforementioned Simpsons
episode and similar American Dad and The Good Wife references (“The Lindbergh
baby is an ongoing investigation” is the line from the latter – 2010 - TV episode).
So, in effect, they’ve solved one of the greatest forensic
cases in U.S. history by re-writing it! And not just the books; tangible
evidence, court records, newspaper accounts. It all appears to have been
operated on some alternative – more convenient – timeline.
I received personal verification of this myself when I
brought the Lindbergh ME to the attention of my best friend, in an effort to
interest him in this topic. Instead of his remembering the missing Lindbergh
baby as a long-running gag, he proclaimed himself an expert on the case and immediately
and passionately offered theories, arguments and details that fit the new
reality, as if he had been studying it his whole life. He considered my account to be like gibberish compared to
his detailed understanding of the case, which was equally baffling to me.
And this, I submit, is cause for wonder and awe, not
confusion and terror. Consider another example, the switching of the Superman Reeve(s)
names. What a bizarre coincidence of history that the two most prominent actors
to play Superman both died prematurely through inexplicably violent means
(known as “the Superman curse”) and, more to the point, both had last names
that were a variant of Reeve. 50’s TV Superman George Reeve was killed /
committed suicide by gunshot at age 45, while 70-80’s movie Superman
Christopher Reeves died of complications from a paralyzing fall from a horse at
age 52. Well, to show that the Mandela Effect is not without a sense a humor in
such grisly circumstances, their names have now been switched; it’s now George
Reeves and Christopher Reeve. And the
residue on this one is fascinating! We
have the spectacle of hard-core Superman fans bragging about their autographed
photo of “George Reeve,” but the actual photo is signed “George Reeves.”
Similarly, a later fan located a rare first contract for “Christopher Reeves”,
but the signature itself is by “Christopher Reeve.” The names that fans
remember have been excised from existence.
But it gets even weirder; one
researcher found a clip of an old Jay Leno show where Jay Leno referred to
Christopher Reeve (“you are friends, right, with Christopher Reeve?”) but his
guest Robin Williams referred to Christopher Reeves (“yes, Mr. Reeeeeves, Mr.
Reeeeeves.”) Are they operating on two different timelines, in alternate
realities? Or is the erasure process somehow not yet complete?
This picture was posted in 2017 on a d
ebunking theMandela Effect website as an example of how it’s so easy to confuse JCPenny with JCPenney even store
employees can put the wrong sign on the building. The only problem is that in
2019 the sign says JCPenney, indicating that it too has shifted to the new
reality.
A similar mid-erasure trace can be found in the Mt. Everest
explorer Sir Edmond Hilary, which half the time is spelled with one l, the
other half with two. I have an interesting theory on this. It has to do with a
long-refuted claim by Hilary (now Hillary) Clinton that the odd spelling of her
first name (one l) was because she was named after Sir Edmond (also one l).
Such statements would not make any sense, now that her name has been safely
changed for posterity, if the New Zealand explorer’s name wasn’t
correspondingly shifted.
But that’s just my theory. The work on this topic has barely
begun, and many new researchers have started congregating to the reddit and
other social media boards with new examples to vet. For the (ongoing) record,
here is a by-no-means exhaustive list of some documented Mandela Effects as of
this date. Happy hunting!
Brands (in all
these cases, there is little to no record any of these earlier brands existed;
this is not a case of re-branding -- like Cup O Noodles to Cup Noodles in 1993
or Herbal Essence to Herbal Essences in 1999):
Anheiser Busch became Anheuser Busch
Bragg’s natural products became Bragg natural products
Captain Crunch cereal became Cap’n Crunch
Cheez-Itz became Cheez-It
Chik-fil-a became Chick-fil-a
Chuck E. Cheese restaurant became Chuck E. Cheese’s
CliffNotes became CliffsNotes
Cracker Jack’s became Cracker Jack
Depends became Depend
Double Bubble became Dubble Bubble
Eddy’s Ice Cream became Edy’s Ice Cream
Etch-a-Sketch became Etch A Sketch
Febreeze became Febreze
Fruit Loops became Froot Loops
Fruit of the Loom logo lost its cornucopia around the
fruit
Funions became Funyons
Kit-Kat became KitKat
JCPenny became JCPenney
Jiffy peanut butter became Jif
JoAnn's fabrics became JoAnn
Lego Duplos became Lego Duplo
Little Tykes toys became Little Tikes
Mellow Yellow soda became Mello Yello
Mike N Ike’s became Mike and Ike’s
Modge Podge became Mod Podge
Oreo Double Stuff became Oreo Double Stuf
Orowheat bread is now Oroweat
Oscar Meyer became Oscar Mayer
OxyClean became OxiClean
Pixie Stix became Pixy Stix
The Quaker Oats man replaced his 3 pointed hat with a cowboy hat
The Raison Bran sun lost his sunglasses
Reddi-Whip became Reddi-Wip
Scott Towels became Scott’s Towels
SEVEN-ELEVEN became SEVEN-ELEVEn
Sketchers became Skechers
Subway logo went from one to two arrows
Target removed a circle from their logo
Tidy Cat became Tidy Cats (This
thread is a good example of “flipping,” where the names revert back -- and sometimes forth -- as underlying timelines change; as of today, however, every example of Tidy Cat cited is now
Tidy Cats)
Tony the Tiger's nose went from black to blue
Tostino’s Pizza Rolls became Totino’s Pizza Rolls
Vasoline became Vaseline
Vicks Vapor Rub became Vicks VapoRub (this
video has some interesting residue of a competitor brand comparing itself to Vicks
Vapor Rub, which otherwise never existed)
Volkswagen logo went from connected V and W to separated
Volvo logo went from a circle to a male symbol
WhiteOut became WiteOut
Lines:
“Mrs. Robinson,
are you trying to seduce me?" is now "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to
seduce me. Aren't you?" (1:22 at this
clip)
“Luke, I am your father” from The Empire Strikes Back is now “No, I am your father”
“If you build it, they will come” from Field of Dreams is now “if you build it,
he will come”
"Nobody bats an eye" from The Dark Knight is now "nobody panics."
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat” from
Jaws is now “You’re gonna need a bigger
boat” (
link)
“That’s not a knife, this is a knife’ from Crocodile Dundee is now “that’s not a
knife, that’s a knife.”
"Do you feel lucky? Well do you punk?" from
Dirty Harry is now "Do I feel
lucky? Well do you punk?" (see 2:00 in this
clip)
“Life is like a box of chocolates” from Forrest Gump is now “Life was like a box
of chocolates”
“Another fine mess you’ve gotten us into” from Laurel and
Hardy is now “another fine mess you’ve gotten me into”
“Fly my pretties, fly” from the Wizard of Oz is now “Fly!
Fly! Fly!”
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” from the
Wizard of Oz is now "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”
“Mirror, mirror on the wall” from Snow White is now “magic mirror on the wall”
“Heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s off to work we go” from Snow White is now “heigh ho, heigh ho,
it’s home to work we go”
“I see white people” from Scary Movie is now “I see dead people”
“Hello Clarice” is no longer a line in Silence of the Lambs
“Please may I have some more” from Oliver Twist is now “Please, sir, I want some more”
“Romeo, O Romeo” from Romeo
and Juliet is now “O Romeo, Romeo”
“The lion shall lay with the lamb” from the Bible is now “the wolf shall dwell with
the lamb”
Names:
Dan Ackroyd became Dan Aykroyd
Desi Arnez became Desi Arnaz
Berenstein Bears became Berenstain Bears
Hilary Clinton became Hillary Clinton
Sally Fields became Sally Field (
link of some residue)
Evil Knevil became Evel Knievel
Reba McIntyre became Reba McEntire
Proctor and Gamble became Procter and Gamble
Haley Joel Osmond became Haley Joel Osment
Joel Olsteen became Joel Osteen
Gordon Ramsey became Gordon Ramsay
George Reeve became George Reeves
Christopher Reeves became Christopher Reeve
LeAnn Rhimes became LeAnn Rimes
Smokey the Bear became Smokey Bear
Charles M. Schultz became Charles M. Schulz
Donna Summers became Donna Summer
Alec Trebek became Alex Trebek
Andrew Zimmerman became Andrew Zimmern
Lyrics:
“Tomorrow is only a day away” from Annie is now “tomorrow is always a day away”
“I got down on my knees / And I began to pray” from “California
Dreamin’” became “I got down on my knees / And I pretend to pray”
“Son, can you play me a memory?” from “Piano Man” became
“Son, can you play me a melody?”
“I’m a Barbie girl in a Barbie world” from Aqua is now “I’m
a Barbie girl in the Barbie world”
“Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap” (
link to residue) from “The Night Before Christmas” is now “Had just settled our brains
for a long winter’s nap” (
link to current)
Book and Movie Titles:
Cowboys vs. Aliens became Cowboys & Aliens
Interview with a Vampire became Interview with the
Vampire
Looney Toons became Looney Tunes
Mommy Dearest became Mommie Dearest
Portrait of Dorian Gray became The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Rum Diaries became The Rum Diary
Sex in the City became Sex and the City
Arts and Culture
The word “dilemna” is now spelled “dilemma”
The word “liquefy” is now spelled “liquefy”
The word “cemetary” is now spelled “cemetery”
Curious George lost his tail
Pikachu (male) no longer has a black stripe on his tail
Mickey Mouse no longer wears suspenders
Donald Duck's eyes changed from black to blue
Tinkerbell no longer flies over the magic kingdom
Rich Uncle Moneybags, the mascot of the Monopoly board
game, no longer has a monocle
Dolly, the metal-mouthed arch Bond villain Jaws’
girlfriend in Moonraker, no longer
has braces
The abominable snowman in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
no longer had his tooth pulled out by Hymie the dentist to cure his tooth pain,
but was ambushed and had all of them pulled out to prevent him from attacking
people
C3PO now has one silver leg, one gold leg
Big Bird now has white feathers on his/her head instead of yellow
Lincoln’s left hand is now under the arm rest at the Lincoln
Memorial
The Thinker by Auguste Rodin has moved his fist from his
forehead to his chin
The Mona Lisa has gained a smirk
Historical Events
Hitler’s eyes turned from brown to blue
Uncle Sam’s hat turned from red, white and blue to all
white
Tiananmen Square tank veered around protester instead of
running over him
Franz Ferdinand went from nondescript assassination in an
open car to an elaborate plot that included a bomb going off that killed
passer-by
JFK assassination went from 4 to 6 people in the
presidential car
Sri Lanka moved on the map from due south of India to SE
The Capricorn astrological sign now has a mermaid's tail
Fidel Castro died in 2011 and again in 2016
The kidneys are now considered to be underneath the rib
cage instead in the lower back
The union jack flag no longer has the red in the inner x stripe centered
The U.S. flag now has a white stripe under the stars instead of a red stripe
