“Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” Many people would find the previous sentence entirely normal, however very few may catch the mistake. In the 1937 animated classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the famous line is, “Magic mirror on the wall…” This is an example of the Mandela effect. The Mandela effect is the phenomenon that is centered around the idea that a large number of people believe in something that is not true.

The Mandela effect is named after Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela is a former South African president who was imprisoned for conspiring against the state. Many people believed that he died during his imprisonment, however he only died a few years ago, after serving 27 years in jail. He got released from prison in 1990, but he died many years later on December 5, 2013.

There are many examples of the Mandela effect, including the children’s franchise, Berenstain Bears. Many people of all ages believe that the series is called Berenstein Bears, with an “e” however it’s actually spelled Berenstain Bears, with an “a”. A second example is the popular TV show, Sex in the City. This show is often misconceived as Sex and the City, when really it’s Sex in the City. Another example is the the popular fast food chain, Chick-fil-A. When questioned, many believe that’s it’s spelled without the c, as Chik-fil-A. In addition to this, the famous line from Star Wars, “Luke, I am your father” is actually wrong. The line in the 1980’s film says, “No, I am your father”.

There are many different theories as to why this phenomenon occurs. One theory is that in the future, time travel is possible, therefore one person came back in time and changed something slightly. That, in turn, resulted in the false memories of a large amount of people. Another theory is that there are alternate universes, and for an unknown reason a specific moment changed. There are many other theories centered around this, though a valid reason as to why this happens is still unknown.