Over the past few days, something has piqued my interest. Bear with me because what I’m about to tell you will either A) freak you out, or B) not affect you at all.

Here we go.

The Berenstein Bears.

Remember it? The cartoon about the family of bears (a mom, dad, son, and daughter)? There was also a lengthy book series that I’m sure most kids who grew up in the 90s/early 2000s remember slightly.

Or do you remember The Berenstain Bears?

Same series, different spelling.

A quick Google search will show that, contrary to popular belief, the actual spelling was with an “a” rather than an “e.” Freaky, right?

Well, since I have no life (other than my two jobs, weekly article writings, and family/social engagements LOL), I of course SCOURED the Internet looking for any viable explanation for the sudden name change.

Basically, if you remember it being “Berenstein” as many people do, you are either A) living in a parallel universe, or B) you’re remembering it wrong because it was always “Berenstain.”

Obviously, parallel universe, AM I RIGHT?

But, in all seriousness, this seemingly irrelevant situation has actually stirred up quite a buzz on many blogs and social media websites.

The “Berenst#in Bears Problem” quickly caught more and more people’s attention as the hashtags “#berensteinbears” and “#berenstainbears” were creating a mixture of questions about alternate worldlines and other conspiracy theories.

Being the—for lack of a better word—weirdo that I am, I couldn’t help but look up the different theories and see if I could get to the bottom of this crazy mess. In doing so, I stumbled across a page that suggests that parallel universes do, in fact, exist and that we (the “Berenstein” believers) are actually victims of a time traveler mistake or a flip on a different world continuum.

Makes TOTAL sense, right? (That was sarcasm if you didn’t pick up on it).

This is where things really start to get weird.

What started as curiosity about a slight misspelling in an old childhood favorite of mine, soon turned into a horrific question mark on my life as I knew it.

Not only are people not recalling the Berenstein Bears actually being the Berenstains, many people also have vivid memories of personal/widely known events playing out differently. Perhaps the most widely misremembered event is that of Nelson Mandela’s death. Many people seem to remember distinctly that Mandela died while serving in prison in the 80s, even though he actually lived until early December of 2013. This controversy eventually coined the phrase “the Mandela effect” to describe such instances. Déjà vu, dreams, and paranormal activities are other examples used along with “the Mandela effect” to suggest the possibility of parallel worlds.

Now, I do have specific memories of the show being The BerenstEin Bears, but I’m not 100 percent sold on this parallel universe theory. The idea that other worlds exist and that they all interconnect sounds pretty bad***, but I think I need a little more proof other than a misspelling and a few cases of déjà vu. I mean, Project Almanac was a good movie, but I’m not so sure we’re living it.

However, if any of you happen to believe any of this and find a way to jump between the different universes, feel free to take me to a world where I’m actually a millionaire.