8 Things We're Sure We've Seen In Films (But Actually Haven't)
You don't remember your favourite films anything like as well as you think you do.
The Mandela Effect is a bizarre phenomenon we've all experienced - where one event is misremembered in the same way by a large enough group of people that its origin is called into question. Named after Nelson Mandela, who a huge swathe of people seem to believe died in prison in the 1980s, the effect has shown up many times in cinema. Many famous misquotes are a direct result of the Mandela Effect: Darth Vader's iconic line "Luke, I am your father", or Captain James T. Kirk's catchphrase "Beam me up, Scotty" are two prime examples.
But what about when this phenomenon extends beyond simple quotes and entire moments or scenes in films have been fabricated by our collective subconscious? Cinemagoers infamously managed to create an entire film in this way. Shazaam, an early 90s comedy starring comedian David "Sinbad" Adkins as a bumbling genie, has a dedicated fanbase despite having never existed. When informed that they're mistaking it for Kazaam, the 1996 comedy starring Shaquille O'Neal as a rapping genie, they assert that they remember both films as separate entities.
Whether the product of insidious conspiracies peddled about movie scenes, wishful thinking on the part of viewers or just simply getting details wrong over the passage of time, the entries on this list are set to make one tear one's hair out with frustration. Prepare to have your cinema knowledge thoroughly challenged.
8. Munchkin Suicide - The Wizard Of Oz
What better place to start than one of the original urban movie myths - The Wizard Of Oz's infamous hanging munchkin, the result of an actor killing himself on the set of the film in full view of the rolling cameras.
At around the halfway mark in the film, Dorothy and The Scarecrow meet the Tin Woodsman, who desires a heart, and accompanies Dorothy to The Emerald City to have his wish granted by the titular Wizard. As the trio break out in song and dance, a figure can be seen, seemingly hanging from a tree - undoubtedly a munchkin actor who has hanged himself.
That take was then used in the final edit and screened in cinemas to an adoring crowd. But of course, it wasn't. Because no such thing exists. Anyone with two working eyes can see that it is clearly a large bird (most likely a crane) in the background.
The original theory stems from a now-defunct YouTube channel, claiming to have footage from an old VHS copy of the film showing the corpse in full. However, many other older VHS copies have since been brought forward and show no such thing.
Considering that the production of The Wizard Of Oz has enough tragedy and darkness attributed to it (such as 2 actresses being set on fire and the original Tin Woodsman actor being poisoned by his makeup), it seems reductive and pointless to spin yet another urban legend out of the affair.