Conspiracy Theories and Urban Legends

Conspiracy Theory: The Berenste(a)in Bears

You might remember reading The Berenstein Bears books or watching the cartoon when you were little. The beloved series of children's book about a family of bears launched in 1962.

For most of us, the family of bears were a beloved part of our childhood, so you might be shocked to find out that we've been spelling their name wrong the entire time. We've been referring to the series as The Berenstein Bears, which probably seems totally normal to you if you're familiar with the series. BUT that's not right. The actual correct title of the series is The Berenstain Bears -- with an A.

Apparently, when many fans are made aware of this fact, they can't believe it, remember for sure that the books they grew up reading DEFINITELY said "Berenstein" on the cover. There are forums upon forums across the Interweb on sites like Reddit, insisting that the name was once Berenstein despite the fact that when fans go back and check their childhood books, the name does turn out to be Berenstain. Actually, the bears were named after the authors, Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Unable to come to grips with the fact that they had the name wrong this whole time, some fans have even come up with a crazy theory as to why the name was "changed." They believe that the name of the books was actually Berenstein at one point, but we've shifted into a parallel universe -- an alternative timeline, if you will -- where the title of the books is The Berenstain Bears.

There's actually a name for this theory: The Mandela Effect. The theory states that shared false memories are in fact glimpses into parallel worlds with different timelines and was named by writer and "paranormal consultant" Fiona Broome based on the fact that thousands of people apparently remember Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the '80s despite having been released from prison in 1990 and going on to become president of South America. Mandela didn't actually pass away until 2013. But Broome doesn't consider the theory to be crazy or a conspiracy. She believes it's based on quantum mechanics (which is way too complicated to even begin to explain).

There's a popular picture circulating around the web thanks to believer of this theory that they claim to be scanned from an actual book with the "Berenstain" spelling, which they say proves the theory. But others have insisted this popular image is fake because photo forensics proves it's photoshopped.

But not everyone thinks this is a huge conspiracy. There are many fans who believe a much simpler explanation for the mass misunderstanding: -stein is much more common suffix in names than -stain, so people simply remembered the series having the more  common spelling by mistake.

Guess we'll never know for sure. How about you? Do you remember the name being Berenstein or Berenstain?

A/N

I hope you enjoyed this conspiracy theory. I do want to know. How do you remember seeing the title spelled as? I saw -stein not -stain. Anyways. I hope you enjoyed! -J

Source: http://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/news/a32934/the-berenstein-berenstain-bears-conspiracy-theory/