When you were a little kid, did you ever watch a TV show or read a book about a family of bears? Don't cheat and look up the answer! The family's name started with B. I want you to say it to yourself and spell it to yourself. Absolutely no cheating!!
If you did watch this show, chances are you probably remember the Berenstein Bears. But here's the problem, you're wrong. They're the Berenstain Bears. You heard me. The Berenstein Bears never existed. I want you to prepare your mind for one of the craziest (yet easily dismissible) theories that could possibly be true.
The Mandela Effect is the theory, named after Nelson Mandela, that states that alternate timelines do exist, and that humans can unwillingly jump between timelines. It's not something that happens every day to just a single person, but rather occurs to many people at the same time for some reason. The people behind this theory are still trying to figure out the best way to explain it, but some people say that "jumps" happen during very large scale tragic events, such as 9/11. Some also believe that these jumps can happen for a single person when something completely uproots their lives.
"The Berenstein Bears"
When my boyfriend asked me the same question I asked you, I thought about it hard for a few moments before saying "Oh, you mean the Berenstein Bears, right? I loved those books!" and he promptly told me I was wrong. Of course, I was a little upset. As a kid, I was a champion speller and I've always had a good memory for names. I demanded proof that I was wrong, because there was absolutely no way that I could've remembered wrong. I even had a picture in my mind of one of my books and it said The Berenstein Bears. When he showed me the covers and all of the proof saying Berenstain, I was highly upset, and I asked my parents. They said Berenstein, too!
This is often dismissed as deja vu or even just a large group of people remembering something entirely wrong. I suppose it's up to the reader to decide what they believe, but I'll give you more examples. Even if you think it's deja vu, it's kind of interesting to see how people can remember different things.
Nelson Mandela
I remember the day I found out that Nelson Mandela had died. I was incredibly confused, to the point that I had to do research. I clearly remember learning about and taking notes on Nelson Mandela, because he'd died a long time ago. This is when the Mandela Effect was named, because hundreds of other people remembered the same thing. I've also found this to be true with other famous figures and celebrities. I tried to think of people that I remember dying, such as Muhammad Ali. In my mind, he died around 1998. I asked around, and said "Hey, what's Muhammad Ali up to nowadays?" and a couple people told me I was crazy, Ali had died before I was even born! Nope. Muhammad Ali was alive and kicking until June 3, 2016.
Eli Whitney
As I said before, I had an amazing memory for what I'd learned in school, particularly names. One person that I looked up to was Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin. My favorite thing about Whitney was the fact that he made a way to get slaves out of the field, and he himself was a black man. I always thought it was 1) Ironic that a black man made the cotton gin and 2) Honorable that he was able to create something to relieve pressure off of his comrades. And then someone told me he was white. I had to scratch my head for a while on that one because again, I had a very clear picture of what Whitney looked like in my head, and when someone showed me a picture of the Whitney that really existed, he doesn't even look similar!
The names of TV shows, places, and products that are spelled "wrong"
Remember Looney Toons, and Fruit Loops? Or, do you mean Looney Tunes and Froot Loops? My head hurts! There are a ton of products and stores, such as Barnes & Noble (no 's' on the end) that people remember wrong. Some of these, of course, could definitely be easily chalked up as just collective misremembering, but some of them seem so vivid that it's hard to think they might be different.
Words are spelled wrong
This is one that I just can't buy into. Words get spelled wrong all the time, but people swear they were different before. Decide for yourself on these ones, but be cautious and laugh about the absolutely ridiculous ones.
How to learn more
The Mandela Effect is a very opinionated theory about how the world works and what is wrong with certain things. This causes a few things to go completely out of hand and they mount in intensity until you just laugh at how ridiculous it gets. That being said, there definitely are theories that even if you don't believe, they will make you scratch your head a little bit. To learn more about The Mandela Effect, or report an effect you think you've found, head to r/MandelaEffect. If you don't want to wade through hundreds of links, posts, and comments, u/iminterestingplease has compiled 2 lists so far of effects that people have reported. Be aware though- the lists seem to contain effects that have absolutely no basis! Check the first and second lists out to see if you recognize anything!
I hope you find every strange thing you wanted about this crazy theory. Happy timeline jumping!
