A lot of times, what you remember about your life is…well, it’s pretty inaccurate. Flat-out wrong, in a lot of cases. That’s because you’re suffering from “The Mandela Effect”. But what exactly is The Mandela Effect?

A blogger by the name of Fiona Broome actually coined the term back in 2009 when she attended a conference where she talked about the passing of South African president Nelson Mandela back in the 1980s. A lot of the folks she talked with also remembered Mandela dying in prison. Some even said they’d watched TV news coverage of it. The problem was…Mandela was very much still alive in 2009 (he didn’t pass until 2013, four years later).

The Mandela Effect, defined as a false memory shared by multiple people, seems like it should be a rare happenstance, but the phenomenon is actually pretty common. Do you remember the Berenstein Bears from when you were a kid? Or maybe “Shazam”, the movie about a genie played by Sinbad? Or what about the line from Star Wars, “Luke, I am your father”?

Yeah, about that…none of it actually happened. All of those are instances of The Mandela Effect: The Berenstein Bears were actually the Berenstain Bears; the genie movie was actually “Kazaam”, starring Shaquille O’Neal; and Darth Vader actually said “No, I am your father”. Yet, many will still swear by their false memories, even after they learn the real truth. So, what’s behind all this?

Psychologists say The Mandela Effect is a product of how our brains process info. Human memories aren’t perfect snapshots of what actually took place in real life. When we try to recall something, we’re only able to access part of the true story. So, to fill in the gaps, our brains pull different info from other memories.

So, try not to be shocked when I tell you that the Monopoly man never had a monocle, and that Tom Cruise doesn’t actually dance in his Ray-Bans & underwear in Risky Business. (He did dance in his underwear, just not in his shades.)

Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via social media (@AndyWebbRadioVoice), or shoot me an email at [email protected].

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It’s not pleasant to think about, but, one day, each of us will pass away. When your time comes, where will you be laid to rest: a cemetery, or a graveyard? To most folks, the two words interchangeable. But, while both refer to places where we bury the deceased, cemeteries & graveyards are actually different in multiple ways.

1. Location
Cemeteries refer to large burial grounds not affiliated with a church. A graveyard, however, refers to a burial ground located on a church’s property. Graveyards also tend to be much smaller than cemeteries.

2. Space Requirements
Starting around the 7th century AD, churches had total control over burials, which meant that most took place in the graveyards adjacent to the church. But as time passed & the population grew, graveyard space began to dwindle. And that’s when cemeteries, which weren’t affiliated with churches, came into being.

3. Religious Constraints
Because graveyards are attached to a church, they may have stipulations that only members of that particular church/faith can be buried there. Cemeteries, on the other hand, are secular, which means people of all faiths can be interred there.

4. Headstone Requirements
Similarly, church-owned graveyards may also have particular headstone requirements. Many churches typically demand that headstones be made of granite or natural stone, uncolored, unpolished, and without elaborate memorial messaging or inscriptions. Cemeteries, on the whole, have far fewer restrictions as far as headstones go. They can be as simple or as over the top as you want.

Wherever & however you’re ultimately laid to rest, hopefully we all live good enough lives so that nothing but nice things are said about us at our respective services, whether they be in cemeteries or graveyards.

Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via social media (@AndyWebbRadioVoice), or shoot me an email at [email protected].

BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Airtron Heating & Air Conditioning