Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

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 Football Giphy

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 GIF Giphy

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.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Donald Trump
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

People Bring Receipts After White House Claims Photo Of Trump Asleep During Oval Office Event Was Just Him 'Blinking'

After President Donald Trump appeared to fall asleep during an event on maternal health in the Oval Office on Monday, people brought the receipts when an official White House account claimed he was simply "blinking."

The event was used to launch moms.gov, a new federal resource hub focused on prenatal care, nutrition, and postpartum support, along with information on employer fertility benefits and expanded childcare options, including assistance for stay-at-home parents.

Keep Reading Show less
Dr. Mehmet Oz
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Dr. Oz Just Made An Alarming Comment About Fertility Rates That Sounds Straight Out Of 'The Handmaid's Tale'

Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump's administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, made an alarming comment about fertility rates, declaring that 1 in 3 Americans are "under-babied."

In the United States, infertility affects roughly 9% of men and 11% of women, while globally the figure is estimated at about one in six people.

Keep Reading Show less
Stephen King; Donald Trump
Mathew Tsang/Getty Images; Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Stephen King Just Said What We're All Thinking After Trump Admin Released First Batch Of UFO Files

Horror icon Stephen King said what is on everyone's mind after President Donald Trump's administration released the first batch of files related to UFO sightings.

Earlier this year, Trump issued an order to different agencies to "begin the process of identifying and releasing government files on aliens and extraterrestrial life."

Keep Reading Show less
Donald Trump Jr.; Donald Trump
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Don Jr.'s Old Tweet Praising His Father For Avoiding War With Iran Just Resurfaced—And It's Aged Like Milk

As President Donald Trump's war with Iran rages on, his son Donald Trump Jr. is facing criticism after an old tweet he wrote praising his father for avoiding war with Iran resurfaced.

Back in April 2024, the president's eldest son wrote the following on X:

Keep Reading Show less
Images of Savannah and Nancy Guthrie
@savannahguthrie/Instagram

Savannah Guthrie Shares Heartfelt Video Of Her Missing Mom On Mother's Day: 'We Miss You With Every Breath'

Today co-host Savannah Guthrie's mother, 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, was declared missing on February 1, 2026, after she did not routinely arrive at church that morning, and a well-check confirmed that her home was empty and the door was left wide open.

Due to her need for multiple medications, including for her pacemaker, and her limited mobility, the Pima County Police Department deemed her case a high priority, soon welcoming the help of the FBI.

Keep Reading Show less