People Divulge Which Instances Of The Mandela Effect Freaked Them Out The Most

People Divulge Which Instances Of The Mandela Effect Freaked Them Out The Most

The Mandela effect is when multiple people share the same, incorrect memory.

Its name stems from when paranormal researcher Fiona Broome falsely believed that the future president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, died in prison in the 1980s.

A false memory she shared with a number of others.

Our memories have been known to deceive us, as we might frequently forget someone's name or one of our numerous online passwords.

But when we share a memory that turns out to be false with many others, convincing ourselves it wasn't the truth can be a very difficult ordeal indeed.


Redditor Mysterious_Boat_1701 was curious to hear people's most unsettling experiences with the Mandela Effect, leading them to ask:

"Which Mandela effect freaks you out the most and why?"

A mysterious gym

"Just had one personally."

"Went to a mall where there was supposedly a gym, asked around and nobody that worked at the mall knew what I was talking about."

"Looked around and couldn't find it."

"Come back a few months later and it’s right there in front of my face, you'd have to be strung out to not notice it."

"idk how or when it just appeared but it freaked me out."- prex320278

A "fruit"ful logo.

"That the fruit of the loom logo never had a cornucopia."

"What’s crazy about that one is that someone emailed the creator of the logo about it and he said even he remembers it having one."- mrcock2·

Less well intentioned than they thought.

"I Mandela effected my whole family once."

"Years ago there was a football player on a rival team that always did a dumb celebration after he got a sack and my family and I always hated it."

"One night after he did it my family started trashing the celebration and I said as a joke 'we are all going to feel terrible when we find out he is doing that celebration as a request from a make-a-wish kid'."

"Fast forward to years later and our team is playing that team again."

"The player got a sack and did the celebration."

"I rolled my eyes and said 'I hate that celebration so much' my mom instantly turned and said 'don't say that, he is doing it for a sick kid'."

"'I actually like it."

"So I was like 'what?'"

"'No there is no sick kid', my whole family then proceeded to argue with me'."

"They all vividly remembered reading articles about it, seeing special report segments before games about it, and other information."

"Some of them even thought they knew the disease the kid had and even extra details about why the kid chose that specific celebration."

"They all had these shared memories that they were sure were true."

"I was floored by all this and insisted none of that was true."

"So we looked it up.'

"Not true."

'No kid like that ever existed.'

"They still have trouble wrapping their heads around this one."

"Turned out human memory is not near as reliable as we think"

"It was American Football and the player was Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings and his cattle roping sack celebration."

"This was maybe 10 years ago."- AUSpartan37

College Football Win GIF by Michigan State FootballGiphy

His eyesight was better than we thought.

"Mr. Monopoly's monocle."- Additional_Day9903

It's not easy being green.

"I have a personal one that to this day a decade later still destroys my mind."

"I had an old(ish) 2001 dodge neon."

"With BLACK SEATS.'

"I drove this car for years and years, like 80,000 miles.'

'All through college."

"I took work breaks in my car, commuted hours every day total, to college and then the opposite direction to work and back."

"I even lived out of this thing on several occasions.'

'The day I go and trade it in, I'm pulling misc things out of the car at the dealer."

'And the seats are GREEN."

"Not even a little."

'Like very unmistakably GREEN."

"In my black Neon, with black interior, that ALWAYS HAD BLACK SEATS."

"My girlfriend then, wife now, goes oh they've always been green."

"EXCEPT THEY F*CKING WEREN'T DON'T LIE TO ME."

"This is still upsetting to this day..... life is a lie and nothing is real."- ZakuLegion

Winona Ryder Omg GIFGiphy

An urban legend was born.

"Not a global one, just a family thing."

"Back in 2002 my grandma had her 60th birthday, my father took us home at 10.00pm, ready for bed."

"We, me and brother, were 12 and 14 at this time."

'All went well."

"Over the years, a story was made up that we went missing after visiting the local playground after dinner at said grandma's birthday party."

"Some neighbors help to search us, the whole train of 'missing children in a smal village'-thing."

"Fun fact: we never went missing."

"Dad brought us home, put on 'Toy Story' on tv and left."

"My brother and I heard first about this in 2015.'

"From different people on different occasions."

"'Ah your one of the missing boys'."

"I first thought they were mocking me for a different event.'

"I got lost, but it was 2013, alcohol inflicted, different story."

"But then they ALL tell us the same story about us going missing."

'And the stories are damn close to 'true' in every story my mum is driving around the same neighbors to different locations to search, old wine yard, old mill etc."

"Sometimes I think I got lost on the most brutal way."

"I was lost and changed this plane of existence with another one."

"It sometimes made me think about my whole life."- tjorben123

missing kenny mccormick GIF by South Park Giphy

Memories are a fascinating thing.

They can be changed or altered with even the tiniest suggestion.

And making the truth seem less believable than lies.

Empty movie auditorium
something magical/Unsplash

Cinema aficionados love to enjoy discussing and engaging in debates about their respective favorite films.

While there are many excellent movies in historical cinema, fans also enjoy trash-talking the absolute worst films ever made.

What they don't disclose, however, is the fact that they embarrassingly enjoy campy films and appreciate revisiting them behind closed doors.

Keep reading...Show less
muscular woman
Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

Some people just can't take a joke.

While we often find ourselves making sarcastic remarks amongst our inner circles, which are usually taken in stride, the same type of humor doesn't always go over quite as well with everyone.

Some might not see the humor in it and are easily hurt or offended.

In some cases, they might even get downright angry, making you realize all too late that this is the type of person you should never f**k with under any circumstance.

In these cases, people might have learned too late, but thankfully there are often some pretty telltale signs of when you are in the presence of someone you should never f**k with under any circumstances.

Keep reading...Show less
high school students
Photo by Eliott Reyna on Unsplash

No two people had the same high school experience.

Some of us just can't wait to put the years of popularity cliques, varsity jocks, and drama club nepotism behind them, and find themselves flourishing in their college and professional careers.

For others, high school was the greatest time of their lives, and they remain BFFs with their high school friends and would give anything to spend their afternoons chilling at their local hangout, getting drunk under the bleachers, and reliving their senior prom.

With some exceptions, these are the people who have trouble adjusting to life in college, even professionally.

Some might even say, these are the ones who "peaked" in high school.

Keep reading...Show less
girl and boy kissing on beach during daytime
Photo by Limor Zellermayer on Unsplash

Relationships -- any kind of relationship -- can be difficult to navigate. This is especially true when the nature of your relationship changes, or at least your feelings do.

It can be daunting when one person in the relationship starts to look at your bond differently... when one friend begins to view another in a romantic way. What happens then?

The women of Reddit have shared their stories of what happened when a close friend of theirs confessed to having romantic feelings for them, and as always, the stories are all very different.

Keep reading...Show less