WHAT'S GOING ON? THE MANDELA EFFECT

--Author Rob Shelsky

“According to 'M' theory, ours is not the only universe. Instead, 'M' theory predicts that a great many universes were created out of nothing.”

— Stephen Hawking

Will the real Earth please stand up? This is a question we had better start asking ourselves, thanks to something called the Mandela Effect. The term, Mandela Effect was first used by MS Fiona Broome to describe a strange phenomenon. Specifically, it concerned the bizarre memory of many people that Nelson Mandela, while still a prisoner of the Apartheid regime in South Africa, passed away. He did so while still imprisoned. This, many people remember as having occurred in the late 1980’s.

Now, the number of people we’re talking about here is not a paltry figure, but a lot! In addition, this phenomenon of them remembering Nelson Mandela as having expired several decades ago is a worldwide one. For many, the man never lived to see his freedom. Yet he did and he went on to become president, no less. Despite this, this weird memory of many persists, even so.

These people, to put it concisely, remember two different versions of the death of Nelson Mandela, one from decades ago, and one much more recently. Both sets of memories exist in their minds at the same time! How can this be? Were they in error? Did they just get it “wrong?”

At first glance, one would think so, that being the obvious and easiest answer, but the sheer numbers of people who “remember” his death in the 1980’s is truly staggering. As one person put it, it is an “absurd” number of people who remember his death this way. Yet, these same people are also fully aware he died much later and only after the time he was no longer the president. This is a truly eerie set of circumstances, the idea that so many people could have two diametrically opposed sets of memories about something like this and at the same time.

Neither does the phenomenon stop with Nelson Mandela with the date and circumstances of his demise. There are numerous other examples. For instance, many thousands of people while still students in school, insist they were taught that New Zealand was in a much different location on the map than it really is. The same holds true for the island of Sri Lanka off the eastern coast of India.

This last one has particular relevance for me, because I was a strong student of geography, even when very young. Just for fun, while others doodled away in class while listening to a teacher drone on, I would draw the maps of the world on sheets of paper. I always put Sri Lanka in the wrong spot, apparently, and exactly where many others thought it was supposed to be, as well!

Why Sri Lanka, but no other place? Why would my memory of the location of that island be so wrong when all the other places I remember on maps were right? Moreover, it seems I wasn’t alone in this “error,” since it was a major example of the Mandela Effect. Therefore, it seems I’ve been a personal victim of this effect, as well, whatever it is…

The thing here is people can get the locations of islands on maps wrong. Nobody is infallible, of course. Nonetheless, the strange thing here is that so many persons get the same thing wrong, and only that one thing and in the same way! Even more telling is that they remember and so reposition the island in the same wrong place! How do we account for this peculiar fact?

Were we all just poor geography students? It’s certainly possible, but I assure you that in this particular instance, I was not. I loved geography and history to the point where I avidly read my textbooks through entirely in the first week that I received them. I had a truly keen interest in these subjects to the point, again, I drew world maps as a form of doodling, repeatedly, hundreds of times when bored and listening to my teachers going on about something far less interesting (in my opinion).

Always, I put the island in the wrong place, and in the same wrong place that many others did! Again, if this is just a result of bad geography lessons or a disinclination to pay attention, why this island and why did we keep placing it in the same wrong location? This is a massive and odd set of coincidences, at the very least…

Moreover, for those who still insist on claiming all of us were just bad geography students; do remember that these people didn’t make the same mistake with countless other islands and countries. They got those facts right. Furthermore, anyone who wishes to see my grades for geography in junior high, high school, and university are welcome to, if only to help prove my point.

Globes With Vanished Islands. There is another strange phenomenon of the Mandela Effect and that is standard globes showing the countries of the world, sometimes, if only rarely, showing landmasses that simply now don’t exist. Yes, this is a very strange thing, but it is true.

For instance, in the 1993 movie, Dazed And Confused, two students (actors, of course) are sitting in a real schoolroom and talking. One of them spins a real class globe in a desultory fashion while they speak. Clearly seen on the globe to the immediate west of Australia is a large island landmass, about one-fifth the size of Australia. Although the name can’t be made out (due to blurring from the spinning of the globe interfering), it is definitely a landmass with real topographical features and even a harbor or major inlet is clearly visible. Freeze-framed, it is definitely NOT a logo or any form of key. It is there and you can see it for yourself. This happens about 15 minutes into the movie. 

Another globe that also shows a similar thing near Australia is from the TV show, Friends. There is clearly an island landmass there, as well, but this one is smaller and further south of Australia. It is not Tasmania because that, too, appears on the globe, as well. Neither is this a key or logo, because again, it is clearly a landmass/island. No such island exists there now. This particular episode, titled, Bracelet Buddies, was in the second season, and also aired in the 1990’s. 

Now as a caveat to this, there is a third globe, one seen in the television show, Mad Men that also shows something similar near Australia. However, this is much larger, is “house-shaped,” and has obvious information printed on and below it, and appears to be definitely a key.

However, as one researcher of the Mandela Effect puts it, the fact it is positioned where it is with a depiction of three mountain tops on it, is a holdover memory of a timeline when a landmass did exist there. So the key with this illustration was placed there as a dim memory of what once was actually there, in her opinion.

Is this true? I have no idea, but it is an intriguing notion. However, I use only the two other globes, on in Dazed And Confused, and the one in Buddy Bracelets of Friends, because those are definitely landmasses and NOT in any way keys or logos. Why is the landmass on the one smaller and further south than the other? The answer is unknown, unless in different timelines, the island/landmass is different in size and position.

Do check these out, because they are fascinating to see. Moreover, it lends credence to the idea that something happened in the 1990s that changed our timeline/reality, but just what that was, is also a matter of conjecture. Did these islands once exist but not now in our reality? We simply don’t know the answer to that. Why do the images of them persist on certain TV shows and in some movies but not others? We don’t have the answer to that, either, but they are there. At least, they are there for now…

There are more such examples. As another illustration, many remember the “Berenstein Bears.” These were a series of children’s book by authors Jan and Stan Berenstain. In reality (apparently), the title of the series is the Berenstain Bears, with “Berenstain” spelled with an “a” and not an “e.”

This may seem a trivial example, but not so! So many insist they remember the title with the “e” in it, rather than the “a” that there is even a conspiracy theory surrounding the subject. In other words, this isn’t just a few people. Rather, many remember the name spelled differently than it now is. Did they all just get that wrong, too, or is this a symptom of something else? Again, these people are so adamant on this subject that they feel there is a conspiracy going on about it. That’s adamant!

There are more examples yet, numerous ones, in fact. As just a couple more instances, there is the case of the “missing portrait of Henry VIII.” Large numbers of people swear they had seen at some point in their life a copy of the portrait of King Henry VIII of England eating a turkey leg. Others argue this was a leg of mutton or perhaps some other bird, such as a swan or goose, but they don’t argue the fact they saw such a picture.

However, there is no such portrait as far as the experts are concerned and they say there never was one! So how do we account for so many people remembering this picture that never existed? Again, these are many people, all of whom agree on the same particular issue, this time about Henry VIII and his turkey leg and in the same wrong way! Why do so many people insist up on this portrait as having been real when it is not supposed to have ever existed? Then there is also the matter of the color, chartreuse, as well. Wikipedia defines Chartreuse as being:

“…a color halfway between yellow and green that was named because of its resemblance to the green color of one of the French liqueurs called green chartreuse…”

Yet, many people in their thousands either remember chartreuse as being a shade of red, magenta or sometimes referred to as “maroonish” in color. That’s very different from yellow-green. Besides this, they all remember it as being the same wrong alternate color, rather than various and different ones that they might have otherwise remembered. Again, not only did they all get chartreuse wrong, but also they all got it wrong in the exact same way! This seems to be a hallmark of a Mandela Effect.

There are more such instances, quite a few, but the point here is these serve to illustrate the Mandela Effect. Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people remember things as being different in some way than they actually are. Moreover, these differences are often about the same things and they are in error about them in the same way.

To add to the enigma, often such people will have two simultaneous sets of memories concerning the event or instance, as with Mandela dying in the 1980s. However, they also know he died much more recently. How does one account for this peculiarity, as well, this strange duality of memories residing in someone’s mind at the same time?

Yes, as I’ve said, it is possible different people remember different things erroneously and they often do, but for so many to remember things differently, yet in the same alternate way, is just downright bizarre. There is no other way to put it. Could they all then be mistaken and in exactly the same way, making the same error by sheer chance? What would the probability of such a thing be, other than a very low one?

Moreover, I have found my own evidence, new evidence, in the form of images of a globe from an old I Dream of Jeannie episode, (fourth season). As far as I can reasonably ascertain, these are new discoveries and made by me.

There appears to be two landmasses there, a bigger one, and to the west of it, a smaller one, the two islands divided by what appears to be a narrow strait. I have used every means at my disposal to enlarge, and resolve this image. It definitely does NOT appear to be a logo, key, or legend of any sort. There is a reflection, or glow spot to the west or left of the island(s), which is no doubt due to lighting conditions while filming.

Did you notice the strait in the southwestern area of the main landmass dividing it from the much smaller one below it?

Now, the next image is a “current map” of the Pacific Ocean area, as we know it now. Please notice Hawaii is barely discernible, being so small as islands, and certainly nowhere nearly comparable in size to the huge landmass as shown in the prior image!

Another landmass that shouldn’t be there is a very large island off the southwest tip of South America. This island does not exist as far as our current timeline is concerned. Note that this is a genuine depiction of a strange landmass, complete with mountainous terrain. AGAIN, THIS ISLAND DOES NOT EXIST IN OUR TIMELINE! The southern portion of South America and all of Antarctica are clearly shown, so there is no mistaking where this island is located.

Again, these landmasses are not to be confused with keys, logos, or legends. In fact, on this particular globe, those show up very well, as what they are. Please note in the next image just how clear and obvious they are. They cannot be confused with landmasses, since they have pictures of ancient sailing vessels in them. 

In the next image, we see what appears to be a decent sized island well to the west of Australia. Now this island is in a different location than the one in Dazed And Confused, and the same holds true with regard to the Friends episode island, again being further west and a little more northerly. However, there is no island there, either. The next island comparable in size or larger and which is west of Australia is Madagascar and that is NOT Madagascar! That lies right off the coast of Africa.

What can we make of all this, of landmasses on globes from other decades that now don’t exist, and it is as if they never did? Well, we can try to eliminate the obvious.

First, some would say the globes weren’t real ones, but ones designed just for the shows. This definitely does not appear to be the case. The globes are not important other than as mere background props. My research, as far as I could discern, shows they were just normal globes. Nothing strange was done to them.

Furthermore, one would have to ask why? Why, as in the movie, Dazed And Confused, would they bother to alter a real school globe by placing just one extra landmass on it? It makes no sense, no logic.

Moreover, why would so many different TV shows, separated by decades sometimes, decide to do this—deliberately alter a background globe that is nothing more than a minor prop. For what possible reason? One also has to note that if this was done, it was done VERY professionally, but again, what purpose would there be? It would be seemingly pointless. School globes are not cheap, some costing (at the time) hundreds of dollars! So why alter one for no reason for a low-budget movie? It just doesn’t make sense!

One also might consider the globes had errors on them, errors made by the manufacturers. Well, has anyone ever found a school globe, or bought one for home use with such glaring errors on it? I haven’t. Besides which, the globes are different, so either many different manufacturers are making very huge mistakes on their globes, or something else is going on here.

Another weird item is that in the movie, Dazed And Confused, as well as the TV series, I Dream Of Jeanie, and the show, Friends, all have the same oddity of a landmass/island(s) appearing just west or southwest of Australia. Why? Why would this be?

They all differ in size and shape, as if there was no one version of it, but they all have it. Again, why? Was there once something there that is now gone in our present time? Alternatively, did the globe manufacturers all make the same sorts of mistake repeatedly for the same region of the world, but simply did it with different sizes and shapes of islands that don’t exist? Hardly seems likely, though, does it?

No, whatever is going on seems to have no “normal” logical explanation. That these globes all show landmasses (and all showing ones near Australia) are real, is a certainty. To have altered them to do this seems absurd, since it would serve no rational function or purpose for the show, except to waste the prop personnel’s time on a totally useless and pointless task. So some other explanation must be found…

Besides this, the large landmass depicted in the Pacific, and the large island off the coast of the southern tip of South America are also extremely odd. Why are they there and in such detail? Are we, possibly, witnessing things from another timeline, or has ours been altered in such a way as to make these places vanish?

The truth is, we have no answer to these questions as yet. However, if you would like to see a more complete presentation on this, please go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0ShBpERqMM because there simply isn’t room in this article for all of the information. I welcome any questions or comments on this topic.

Some of Rob’s books:

Links:

robshelsky.blogspot.com

https://www.amazon.com/Rob-Shelsky/e/B002BO9RIE