The Mandela Effect

[poliphilo]

The Mandela effect is when you distinctly remember something having happened that didn't happen. Usually it's not just you but a whole bunch of people who have the anomalous memory. It's called the Mandela effect because there are lots of us who remember Nelson Mandela dying as a prisoner on Robben Island when of course he didn't. There was an example  in the news recently where quite a few people were saying they had clear memories of watching a movie that was never made.

Some say the Mandela effect is evidence for the existence of parallel universes. In one universe Mandela died on Robben Island but in the one next door- which is ours- he didn't- and the people who remember him dying have crossed over from one to the other without noticing.

Parallel universes are respectable science, by the way. Moving between them isn't.

There was another story I read recently in which a woman woke up one morning and went to work only to find things had subtly changed and that she was employed in the same building but doing a different job.

I experienced what felt like the Mandela effect this morning when I read that Alec McCowen had died. Now I could have sworn that he'd been dead for years- not just because he's been out of the public eye but because I was sure I'd read the reports. I suppose I must have been mistaken....

And that's how people generally cope. They put the percieved anomaly down to a memory glitch and forget about it- and so the crack in reality gets papered over...

Comments

[sovay]

that Alec McCowen had died.

I thought I had only ever seen him in two movies—The Cruel Sea (1953) and Personal Services (1987), the latter being where I noticed him and his character's immortal declaration that he flew two hundred and seven missions over occupied Europe in panties and a bra!—but I looked him up just now and realized he's been in a bunch of things that I've seen and one I'm actually planning to watch. I did not know his partner was Geoffrey Burridge. I liked reading that he wouldn't do This Is Your Life unless they acknowleged Geoffrey.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I saw him on stage in Antony and Cleopatra- with the great Dorothy Tutin as Cleopatra. It should have been wonderful but neither of them was in their comfort zone....

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

I do have such moments. Fascinating.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So perhaps you're wobbling about between universes.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

Yeah i teem to drift through parallel worlds.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You should post about it...

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

Not discounting your main idea, but - is it actually a common thing, to think Mandela died in prison? (I've never come across the idea.)
I'm wondering if maybe it's common in some places/countries, maybe, where someone categorized in the popular imagination as analogous to Mandela did die in prison, and hence the Mandela-prison-death notion.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Interesting suggestion.

But I'm not aware of their being anything distinctive about people reporting the Mandela effect. They're just random members of society.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

I do that a lot. Good to know it has a name.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

[faunhaert.livejournal.com]

I remember his previous death
what a huge glitch.

I saw an alternate chunk of video
about the Boston bombers
it was about the CIA doing a exercise .
then it turned into two boys I think
it was a child hunt killing the elder they
killed the one who would say it was wrong.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You're the third to report Mandela moments on this thread. Seems it's pretty common.