eja vu is the term we use to describe that sensation when we feel like we’re experiencing something that we already saw happen. This is not something that most people experience often, but it is a feeling that most of us have had over the course of our lives. Dejavu can freak people out in its tiny dose, so imagine how it would feel to live with a kind of permanent sense of deja vu, that is the Mandela Effect.
Welcome to the Mandela Effect
The other strange thing about the Mandela Effect is that this is usually a false memory that many people experience, not just isolated cases in individuals. It is called the Mandela Effect because it was through the great apartheid leader and later President of South Africa that this condition gained widespread recognition. It is widely known that Nelson Mandela spent many years in prison. Mandela was eventually released from prison and saw his dream of a united South Africa come to fruition. Mandela died at the age of 95 in 2013.
For those who suffer from the Mandela Effect, they have a very vivid memory of Nelson Mandela dying in the 1980s. Not only do they remember the significant event of his passing, but they also recall the news coverage that accompanied his passing.
The big problem here is that Nelson Mandela obviously did not die in the 1980s, and there was no news coverage of that non-event taking place.
Something else going on?
It is unknown how many people in the world have this premature memory of Mandela’s death, but it is enough for it to have become a thing.
As it has become a thing, some people have suggested that this is much more than just some weird coincidence.
What is happening instead, according to some, is that the Mandela Effect proves the existence of alternate universes.
The fact many people have this memory is an example of where a slip in time momentarily placed people from our universe in the realms of another. In this universe, Mandela did indeed die in the 1980s.
Or maybe they are just lying
Doctors don’t believe in the muli-universe explanation. In fact, they think that these people are lying to themselves about what happened in the past.
Confabulation is known as “honest lying,” and it occurs when a person is merely trying to fill a gap in their memory.
As Mandela was such a significant historical figure, it would make sense that some people would use their own scratchy knowledge of him to make the leap that he actually died in the 1980s.
The Star Wars Effect
Another, less intense, example of the Mandela Effect is when people mistake the name of some popular character or brand from their past with one that is very similar.
Jiff, for example, is a famous brand of peanut butter. Still, a large number of people mistakenly refer to it as Jiffy.
And a good one is the famous line uttered by Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. A lot of people often repeat the classic words from this movie as “Luke, I am your father.”
All well and good, but what Darth Vader actually said was, “I am your father.”
So, there you have it. The Mandela Effect is a bit odd, but it also has a kind of plausible explanation.
Or is that just what they want us to think…
