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
Make us preferred on Google

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

SONY PlayStation showcases its fun scenes in home consumption at AWE2026 in Shanghai, China.
CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Gamers Are Furiously Sounding Off After PlayStation Announces End To Physical Discs

Physical media fans just got hit with a game-over screen.

Sony announced Wednesday that it will discontinue physical PlayStation game discs starting in January 2028, a move that has already sparked backlash from gamers who aren't exactly thrilled about handing over the last remnants of ownership to digital storefronts.

Keep Reading Show less
Michael Che and Colin Jost
ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Michael Che Just Wished Colin Jost Happy Birthday With A Hilariously Brutal Post—And 'SNL' Fans Are Cackling

Perhaps no two celebrities are better at trolling each other than SNL's Michael Che and Colin Jost.

And for Jost's recent birthday, Che decided it was the perfect time to show his friend who's actually the best troll out there.

Keep Reading Show less
Danny Glover
Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images/Getty Images

Fans Rally Around Danny Glover After He Reveals That He's Living With Alzheimer's Disease In Poignant New Interviews

In an appearance filmed for the TODAY show that aired on Tuesday, actor and activist Danny Glover revealed he, like over 7 million other Americans, is living with Alzheimer's disease. The progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease causes memory loss and cognitive decline.

The veteran actor has 200 film and TV credits to his name going back almost 50 years. His theatre credits extend even further. Glover has also received several prestigious awards for his decades of humanitarian work and political activism, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2022.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots of Marsha Blackburn from elevator video
NewsChannel 5

MAGA Senator Tries To Dodge Reporter's Questions Only To Get Thwarted By Elevator In Super Cringey Viral Video

Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn was called out after attempting to dodge questions from journalist Ben Hall of NewsChannel 5, the CBS affiliate in Nashville, only to be thwarted by an uncooperative elevator.

Blackburn is the frontrunner in the Republican primary for Tennessee governor; early voting is less than three weeks away and Blackburn has kept a very low profile. That was true even after she just spoken to the Greater Nashville Technology Council for an event members of different media outlets had been invited to attend.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshot of JD Vance; Joe Biden
@atrupar/X; Scott Olson/Getty Images

JD Vance Just Tried To Make A Pitiful Joke About Biden To U.S. Troops—And It Fell Awkwardly Flat

Vice President JD Vance had people groaning after a joke he made about former President Joe Biden falling on the stairs was met with silence from those who attended an event meant to honor "American military excellence."

Vance was speaking to troops at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia, at one of many different events designed to honor the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

Keep Reading Show less