Have you ever remembered something so clearly for years only to find out that you were completely wrong? According to a study published by the National Academy of Science, “Memory distortions are basic and widespread in humans, and it may be unlikely that anyone is immune.” However, there is another explanation for those who are not satisfied with the one given: the Mandela Effect.

The collective misremembering of a fact or event within a group of people originally coined this name after numerous people on the internet in 2010 claimed they vividly remembered Nelson Mandela passing away in prison in the 1980s. While in reality, Mandela was released from prison in the ‘90s and lived until 2013.

Since then, countless other examples of this same widespread misremembering have shown up. One of the most famous examples of this is the Berenstain Bears books and television shows. Many people may have thought the above spelling looks strange; however, it is actually correct. Although masses of people claim to remember it as Berenstein, the right spelling is Berenstain.

Some other examples of the Mandela Effect can also be found in stories, television shows or even store names. Over the years, numerous people have claimed the famous chicken sandwich restaurant to be spelled Chic-fil-A, while the actual spelling is Chick-fil-A.

The name of a certain cereal has also caused some room for disagreement. Although the name of the popular multi-colored cereal is Froot Loops, many have claimed to have vivid memories of seeing the boxes with the words spelled out as Fruit Loops.

While many people have experienced these same effects, there are some varying opinions on just what causes this.

According to an article from the Odyssey Online, one theory about why this happens is the idea of parallel universes that shift back and forth. People who prescribe to this theory believe that everyone once started in a universe where everything was the original way, (“Berenstein Bears”) but then the world shifted into a new universe where things were spelled the way they are now (“Berenstain Bears”).

There is yet another group of people who believe the actual cause for the Mandela Effect is time travel. The idea is that someone from the future traveled back to our time period and changed little things that affected us later on in our lives as opposed to the beginning.

Some even go so far as to say that the world everyone knew really did end in 2012 and now the whole population has shifted into a different one where subtle details differ.

Regardless of the varying beliefs explaining why this happens, it is clear that these seemingly false memories are widespread and are not going away anytime soon.