The Mandela Effect has gone mainstream. Now that the internet is buzzing with wild theories and new examples every day, it's time to go over where the ideas originated, and consider in detail what exactly might be causing it.
- Ian Scott 0 Comments
Elisa Lam: Found dead in a hotel water tank
MMDE: When Elisa Lam was found, the hatch to the water tank was closed
Current: When Elisa Lam was found, the hatch to the water tank was open
The tragic story of Elisa Lams' death is still a huge mystery today.
She was the Canadian student who was found in a hotel's water tank in 2013 after being dead in there for some time. The disturbing thing is the guests had been complaining of the water being discoloured and smelling off, which prompted the hotel staff to investigate the tanks and find her body in one.
Many people remember it being widely reported at the time that the hatch was closed from the outside, which would have been impossible for a single person to do once inside. The Mandela Effect they are experiencing now is that it is being reported as being open when she was found, and apparently has always been reported that way.
- Tracy Cooper 0 Comments
Not the contact lenses we know today
MMDE: Leonardo Da Vinci did not invent contact lenses
Current: Leonardo Da Vinci invented contact lenses
The idea of contact lenses seems like a modern medical advancement.
As it happens, in 1508 none other than Leonardo Da Vinci described the concept in great detail in his "Codex of the eye, Manual D".
They weren't the small modern eye lenses we know today, but the description proves he was perfectly well aware of the properties of light refraction, and the mechanism required to tune it for vision using a contact substance, his case water.
He wasn't doing this to correct faulty vision, but to enhance what the eye could already see, much in the same way a telescope does.
- Tracy Cooper 0 Comments
What color packet are Walkers cheese and onion crisps in?
MMDE: Walkers cheese and onion are in a green packet
Current: Walkers cheese and onion are in a blue packet
Look at this packet of crisps. Notice anything odd about it?
An almighty kefuffle has broken out again. Not for the first time, the color of the cheese and onion Walkers crisp packet is being hotly disputed. For any non-UK readers, "crisps" are what is generally known as "chips" in the rest of the world - the fried potato slice snacks with popular flavors such as salt and vinegar, beef or prawn cocktail.
It turns out there are so many people claiming they definitely remember the packet color once being green, whereas now there is no trace of this ever being the case, that it's being classed as a Mandela Effect.
Even the company is involved - they were forced to issue a statement stating categorically they never sold cheese and onion crisps in a green packet.
- Carter Tweed 0 Comments
Wise words but who said them?
MMDE: He said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result"
Current: He never said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result"
Most people know the quote, and most people attribute it to Einstein when asked.
So it comes as quite a surprise for them to hear it wasn't him who originally said it.
Even weirder, it turns out the attribution is all a big mistake. An editor used the wrong version in Montana's Bozeman Daily Chronicle, and as a resut found it was said by a character in a mystery book titled "Sudden Death".
- Helen C. Phillips 0 Comments
Where did tomato sauce originate?
MMDE: Tomato sauce originated in Italy
Current: Tomato sauce originated in Mexico
Pizza, Spaghetti, Lasagne, Tortellini... what do they all have in common? Tomato of course! So when you think of where the first tomato sauces came from, you'd be forgiven for assuming it must have been Italy.
However, that's not the case - it was Mexico, and the earliest documented use is a recipe from 1540. This was taken to Spain shortly afterwards by Bernardino de Sahagún, a Franciscian friar.
The first country to use tomato sauce with pasta was Italy, and that's used in a recipe from 1692, and the first recorded use in France is at the relatively later date of 1807.
- Evelyn M. Clemmons 0 Comments
Where is London Bridge?
MMDE: London
Current: Arizona
Come on everybody, sing along with the children's nursery rhyme: "London Bridge is falling down, falling down...".
Is there anything to this? It turns out there is. Not to be confused with the equally famous Tower Bridge, distinguished by its, err, twin towers, London Bridge originally had houses and shops built on it and was in poor repair after standing for nearly 150 years since it's construction in 1831. Yes, it really was falling down.
So the City of London decided a new one was needed, and to fund this would sell the old one. It was bought by Robert P. McCulloch, a US oil magnate who wanted to use it as a tourist attraction to a new city he founded by Lake Havasu, Arizona. There's no truth in the rumor he thought he was buying Tower Bridge, by the way.
The bridge was purchased for $2.46m, disassembled, and was finally opened on 23 September, 1968 in Lake Havasu City.
- Ian Scott 0 Comments
Is Switzerland is a third world country?
MMDE: Switzerland is not a third world country
Current: Switzerland is a third world country
When you think of third world countries, it's usually the most poverty stricken. So if someone told you Switzerland is one, you'd probably ask what they've been smoking.
However, it turns out there is a reason it's true. The origins of the terms First World, Second World and Third World to describe global areas goes back to the cold war, when the groups meant (broadly) "those aligned with the West" (First World), "Those aligned with the East" (Second World) and "The rest".
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the term "Second World" fell into disuse, so it just left the countries not aligned to either of the first two left over, and since Switzerland is neutral, it logically falls into the Third World category.
