Picture this, you’re sitting at home and realize you’re hungry. So you decide to grab a Kit-Kat, but when you take a second look, you notice it is not the same brand name you recall. Actually, KitKat has no hyphen, contrary to what many believe. This is an example of the Mandela Effect. 

According to WhatIs, “The Mandela effect is the observed phenomenon of people having clear memories of events that did not occur or misremembering significant events and facts.” This phenomenon was named after Nelson Mandela, a former president of South Africa. Many people believe Mandela died in prison in the 1980s but he actually was released from prison in 1990. This term was coined by Fiona Broome, a paranormal investigator who noticed at Dragoncon, a science fiction and gaming conference, that a significant number of people believed that Mandela died in prison.

A possible reason for the Mandela Effect is a theory by Reece, a blogger. According to the physics graduate, our universe rotated by pi over two, like 90 degrees. This would create an alternate universe. If this occurred, most things would line up but some small things would not, like the Berenstain name.

After this phenomenon came into public eye, many people started realizing there were multiple examples of it. Youtubers Shane Dawson, Michelle Platti, and others create videos which show new examples to the theory. Chick-fil-A, a fast food chain, is an example of the phenomen. According to Dawson, many people recall it being spelled “Chic-fil-A.” Sophomore Tyler Moen said, “Chick- fil- A shocked me the most because I eat there all the time and I have never noticed that is how it is spelled.” One of the most popular examples is the Berenstain bears, a children’s book series. Over thousands of people recall it being spelled as “Berenstein” bears but actually it is spelled “Berenstain.” There is also physical evidence proving it was once spelled “Berenstein.” “Out of all the Mandela effects, the Berenstain bears shook me the most,” sophomore Chloe Davis said.

Students around AHS were given the task to pick what brand they recall from their personal memory. Sixty percent of students asked believed “Berenstein” was the correct spelling, but the other forty percent either remembered it as “Berenstain” or heard of the phenomenon before. The popular television show “Sex and the City” is remembered as “Sex in the City.” Fifty percent of students interviewed remember it as the second example, while others did not.

Some more examples that baffled students is a line from Star Wars, “Luke, I am your father” never occurred. The line was actually, “No, I am your father.” Sophomore Mckenzie Waters said,“It’s crazy. I always thought it was ‘Luke, I am your father.’” The Monopoly man supposedly had a monocle and Curious George had a tail, but neither of those characters had those.

If you’re still confused about what the Mandela effect is and the Berenstain bears theory, watch this video to get a better understanding.