[WorldUrbanLegend] Mandela effect
The Mandela Effect is a phenomenon where many people share a false memory of an event that did not actually occur or exist. This is believed to result from a combination of communication breakdown among the public and the distorted information absorbed through media, leading to misunderstandings and misconceptions.
The Mandela Effect is distinct from "confabulation," where individuals speak about unfounded facts, and from "misremembering." It also differs from the schema theory and framing theory, which explain how events are interpreted and how personal memories can be processed differently.
The term originates from the case of Nelson Mandela, the 8th President of South Africa, who was remembered by many Americans in the early 2000s as having died in the 1980s. When news of Mandela's illness emerged in 2009, many were puzzled by the fact that he was still alive. He was released in the 1990s, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, and served as South Africa's first Black president. Mandela passed away on December 5, 2013, at the age of 95.
The term "Mandela Effect" was popularized by blogger Fiona Broome at Dragon Con in 2010. Subsequently, she created a blog titled "The Mandela Effect." This term spread widely in North American internet communities and gained further attention through the 2012 blog post "Berenstein Bears: We Are Living in Our Own Parallel Universe."