Recently, “J” told me that she had an experience with someone insisting that they did something at such and such a place. However, the facts were that this person could not have done said thing at the specified place. Ironically, another person in the conversation corroborated the first person’s story.
There are three things that may explain this. First, the “facts” disproving the location were incorrect or tampered with. The second is that the two people made the story up or were out of their minds. The third explanation could be that confabulation has occurred.
You don’t know what confabulation is?
No problem; HitchHiker’s got your back!
Confabulation is a situation where a memory exists, but gaps in said memory are present. The mind fills in the gaps to complete the memory so that it is completely real to the person remembering it.
In our case, the person told “J” that they remembered doing that thing they did, but somehow, there was a gap in where it had actually occurred. The mind filled in the blanks with a location that is likely similar (and maybe not even that far away); to them, the memory was very real.
Now, let’s have some fun. If you add another person to the equation who “confirms” the first person’s claim in every detail, there is also a name for this: the “Mandela Effect.” How did this moniker derive? Some people swore that Nelson Mandela, who became the president of South Africa in 1994, had died in prison in the 1980s; they could remember it vividly. Ironically, one of those people, Fiona Broome, coined the term “Mandela Effect.”* You will also find that it has been scientifically studied and classified as the “Illusory Truth Effect.”**
*https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-mandela-effect-4589394
**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_truth_effect
To add one more feature, if you hear or read a story enough times, even if it is not factual, it becomes “true” to the listeners and readers. This, my friends, is the foundation of propaganda. But I digress!
Why did I spend all this time sharing this gobbledygook with you today? So I could say to you with all sincerity…
Happy Election Day!
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