Historical Events  People
Historical Events  People
Charles Schulz

Alternate:
Charles Schultz

Current:
Charles Schulz

It's all in the spelling

Was the creator of the Charlie Brown cartoons called Charles Schulz or Charles Schultz? There appears to be a Mass Memory Discrepancy Effect at work here, because many people are remembering it as "Schultz" whereas searches today on the internet mostly turn up "Schulz", and claim it always has been this way.

With these spelling related issues it is always important to think about how people say the words too, since it would be easy to conflate the pronunciation with a particular spelling irrespective of whether it is correct or incorrect. Charles' surname would always appear awkward to his main audience of Americans and so it could well be just a simple case of people remembering a version of how it was pronounced as being that of how it was spelled too.

Or as Charlie Brown would say: "Good Grief!".

Historical Events  People
Henry VIII

Alternate:
An old painting of Henry VIII holding a turkey leg exists

Current:
An old painting of Henry VIII holding a turkey leg does not exist

Did the painting exist?

Many people remember the larger-than-life figure of Henry VIII in a painting, often in school hallways or dining rooms, where he is featured holding a large turkey leg.

The problem is there is no record today of that painting actually existing, even though a few references to it exist - including a Simpsons episode.

Many paintings of Henry VIII can be found today, but there is a Royal protocol which means no member of the Royal family can be officially represented whilst eating.

There is a painting - shown here - where he is holding a mirror, and at first glance it could be mistaken for a turkey leg. Could this be the one causing the confusion? The connection between a big man and food may have subconsciously played its part on peoples memories down the years, leaving them with the impression they definitely did see the painting.

Historical Events  People
Kennedy Assassination

The Kennedy assassination is the subject of one of the biggest conspiracy theories of all time.

That fateful day in Dallas, 1963 when live television caught the presidents death in the open topped motorcade is, for good or bad, one of the iconic events of the 20th century. Countless theories ranging from him wanting to escape the privately owned Federal Reserves monopoly on lending money to the US government with interest, to the mafia and right through to aliens have been in circulation ever since.

Who did it?

The actual shooting was filmed. For years, the hunt has been on for the "man behind the grassy knoll" by conspiracy theorists who don't buy the official story that Lee Harvey Oswald fired from a warehouse.

But does the video itself now show something not present at the time?

Historical Events  People
Nelson Mandela

Alternate:
Nelson Mandela died in prison in the 1980s

Current:
Nelson Mandela died in 2013

The reason for the "Mandela Effect" term

When Nelson Mandela's death in 2013 was announced some people were surprised. This is because they were sure he'd already died, and they even seem to remember where and when - in prison in the late 1980s. Individual people would have normally just dismissed this as something they didn't quite remember correctly. Maybe they misheard it wrong, or maybe it was someone else who died and for some reason they were sure it was Nelson.

Then - somehow - this notion started getting discussed on the internet and this began a stream of "me, too!" type responses. Once this number became too big to ignore, and those experiencing it were not just dismissing it as faulty memory, we had what became known as The Mandela Effect.