WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:10.279 This episode is brought to you by my newest supporters, Marcus, Brian, Carmen, 2 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:14.480 and Ben. Thank you so much for making the show possible. 3 00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:33.880 Welcome once again, and thank you for being here. I'm 4 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:38.399 your host, Nick Ryan. In my last episode, I shared 5 00:00:38.439 --> 00:00:41.439 the first half of one of my listener's experiences regarding 6 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:44.679 the Mandela Effect. If you haven't listened to part one yet, 7 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:48.039 I highly recommend doing so before continuing this episode, as 8 00:00:48.039 --> 00:00:51.679 you'll be missing important details that are mentioned in tonight's episode. 9 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:54.439 I've added a link to Part one in the show notes. 10 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:59.159 In part one, I also mentioned the CERN Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, 11 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:01.399 but I didn't go in to any detail regarding what 12 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:04.480 the laboratory is or what they do there. I will 13 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:07.319 be going into this in greater detail in a future episode, 14 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:10.439 but if you're curious, just do an online search first 15 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:15.239 cern CERN and its possible connections to the Mandela Effect, 16 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:18.000 and you can start exploring the rabbit hole on your own. 17 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:22.879 But for now, let's continue with Anonymous's story. This is 18 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:28.680 chapter three, the missing chapter. After I graduated from high 19 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:31.239 school in nineteen ninety three, I didn't read a book 20 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:33.840 until two thousand and seven. I'm not proud of that, 21 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:36.280 but it is relevant to the next part of my story. 22 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:39.319 High school teachers had sucked all of the enjoyment out 23 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:41.760 of reading for me by forcing me to read things 24 00:01:41.799 --> 00:01:45.040 that I had no interest in. Unfortunately, as a result, 25 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:49.079 I lost all interest in reading altogether. In two thousand 26 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:51.799 and seven, I was working for a local courier service. 27 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:54.480 A friend of mine named Charles, who I had also 28 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:57.040 gotten to know a little from playing music in bands, 29 00:01:57.280 --> 00:01:59.959 also worked for the same company. Both of us were 30 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:03.799 assigned to running routes for specific companies. Charles drove for 31 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:07.079 an autoparts dealer and I drove for a hospital. The 32 00:02:07.159 --> 00:02:10.479 company had provided us and every other driver with those 33 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:14.000 old Nokia bricklike phones that could act like long range 34 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:17.919 walkie talkies. Since Charles and I were assigned specific routes, 35 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:20.319 we never had to use the walkie talkie function to 36 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:22.919 talk to our dispatchers the way that other couriers who 37 00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:25.479 were open ended and could be working for any company 38 00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:28.479 throughout the day did. We used those walkie talkies to 39 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:31.439 talk to each other all day every day. We became 40 00:02:31.560 --> 00:02:34.240 very close friends, even though we had started out as 41 00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:38.080 more or less acquaintances. Charles was a big fan of 42 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:41.479 a series of books called The Deathgate Cycle by Margaret 43 00:02:41.479 --> 00:02:44.520 Weiss and Tracy Hickman. He had read the seven book 44 00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:47.960 series several times over the years. Charles had always wanted 45 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:50.520 to talk about his favorite book series with someone, but 46 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:53.120 since the series was far less known than the author's 47 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:56.840 highly successful dragon Lance Chronicles series, he had never met 48 00:02:56.840 --> 00:03:00.639 another person that had read them. Charles was not very savvy, 49 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:03.520 so if forums about the books even existed in two 50 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:07.039 thousand and seven, he never found them. His solution was 51 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:08.800 to ask me if he could pay me to read 52 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:11.120 the books so that he could talk about them with someone. 53 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:13.879 I decided to read the books, but I told my 54 00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:15.599 friend that there was no way that I was going 55 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:18.360 to let him pay me to read them. Before he 56 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:20.840 brought me his copy of the first book in the series, 57 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:23.439 he read it again himself, which was at least the 58 00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:26.599 third time that he had read them, possibly more. When 59 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:28.840 he finished book one, he brought it to work and 60 00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:32.199 handed it to me. That night, I started reading again 61 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:35.199 for the first time since nineteen ninety three. It was 62 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:38.759 the day after Thanksgiving. He started reading book two as 63 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:41.240 I was reading the first one. He was always one 64 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:43.719 book ahead of me, refreshing his memory of all the 65 00:03:43.719 --> 00:03:46.639 details of the series. Every day I would come to 66 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:48.719 work and we would discuss what I had read the 67 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.039 night before, often for hours on end, before turning our 68 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:55.520 conversation to other things. I quickly became as much of 69 00:03:55.560 --> 00:03:58.680 a fan as he was now. I will try to 70 00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:01.560 go light on spoilers this series, just in case you 71 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:04.080 decide to read it, but there is one major spoiler 72 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:06.520 that I must reveal for this story to make any sense. 73 00:04:07.159 --> 00:04:09.919 One of the main characters in the series is Dog. 74 00:04:10.520 --> 00:04:13.560 Dog is a dog. He has no name other than Dog. 75 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:17.920 He belongs to Haplow, a powerful magic wielder known as Patrin. 76 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:21.000 From the beginning, it is evident that Dog is not 77 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:24.199 just the normal dog. Haplow had the ability to see 78 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:27.279 and hear through Dog's eyes and ears, making him a 79 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:30.959 perfect spy. The series is written mostly in third person. 80 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:34.600 Occasionally it would shift to first person, mainly when sections 81 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:38.079 from Haplow's journal or another character's journal were inserted to 82 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:41.399 fill in part of the story. Somewhere in book five 83 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:44.240 or six. I'm not sure precisely when, because at the 84 00:04:44.279 --> 00:04:46.639 time I had no reason to commit the exact location 85 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:50.160 to memory, a new literary device suddenly appeared for a 86 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:53.439 single chapter. The chapter was clearly not from a formal 87 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:56.279 journal the way that the other first person sections had been. 88 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:59.120 The chapter told a story of someone who is roaming 89 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:01.360 the deck and cabin of the ship that they were on, 90 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:05.040 and they were looking for something. For several pages, it 91 00:05:05.079 --> 00:05:07.879 was unclear which character this was and what they were 92 00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:10.959 looking for, but the character was determined to find it. 93 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:14.360 After a while, it finally becomes evident that the character 94 00:05:14.680 --> 00:05:18.240 is Dog and that he is searching for sausages. It 95 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:21.120 seemed like just a fun, little unique chapter up until 96 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:24.800 the last page, when Dog overhears Haplo's master talking to 97 00:05:24.839 --> 00:05:27.519 one of his other minions. It becomes apparent at that 98 00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:31.360 point that Haplo's master is not what he seems. Since 99 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:34.040 Haplo can see and hear through Dog. This is a 100 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:37.639 turning point in the story. Haplo begins to question everything 101 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:40.720 that he knows and the story goes in a new direction. 102 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:44.120 I loved this chapter. I found it to be an 103 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:47.879 incredible choice of plot device and entirely unique to anything 104 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:50.279 that I had ever read or even seen in a movie. 105 00:05:51.079 --> 00:05:53.480 I will never forget the beginning of the conversation that 106 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:57.399 I had with Charles the next morning. Dude, dog in 107 00:05:57.480 --> 00:06:00.720 first person, I said, I have been waiting for weeks 108 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:03.839 for you to get to this. He replied, Now, I 109 00:06:03.879 --> 00:06:06.680 cannot quote you the rest of the conversation word for word, 110 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.720 because we talked about this for hours, if not days. 111 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:13.360 This was also his favorite chapter in the entire series. 112 00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:17.600 I finished those seven novels before New Year's I went 113 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:20.360 on to become an avid reader. I still have never 114 00:06:20.439 --> 00:06:23.959 encountered a similar storyline in anything else. Most of what 115 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:26.399 I have read since then have been Star Wars novels, 116 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:29.439 and there's no dogs in space. I also have read 117 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:31.680 a lot of spy novels, and though there have been 118 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:34.879 plenty of dogs in those, there are no magic dogs. 119 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:38.639 Some time later, likely in two thousand and nine, I 120 00:06:38.759 --> 00:06:41.399 borrowed Charles copies of the books again and I read 121 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:44.800 the series for the second time. Again. We discussed them 122 00:06:44.839 --> 00:06:47.240 as I was reading, but not in the same detail 123 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:50.639 as the first time. However, we did still talk extensively 124 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:53.680 about the dog in first person chapter, as we came 125 00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:57.160 to call it when I read that section again. In 126 00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:00.560 twenty ten, I started a new job in a different industry, 127 00:07:01.079 --> 00:07:03.560 I remained close with Charles until he died of a 128 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:06.759 heart attack unexpectedly at the young age of forty two 129 00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:10.959 in early two thousand and fifteen. Just after he passed away, 130 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:13.480 I decided that I wanted to read the series again. 131 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:16.000 This was at least six months before I had ever 132 00:07:16.040 --> 00:07:19.480 heard of the Mandela effect. Since Charles was no longer 133 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:21.839 around to loan me his copies of the books, I 134 00:07:21.879 --> 00:07:24.759 had to find my own copies in second hand bookstores. 135 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:27.879 They might have been available on Amazon in new condition, 136 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:30.240 but at the time it never occurred to me to 137 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:34.079 try that. Nonetheless, I had no problems finding the full 138 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:38.720 series used again. I started reading the series from the beginning, 139 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:41.319 thinking of Charles and all the hours that we had 140 00:07:41.319 --> 00:07:44.519 spent talking about this wonderful story. I got the most 141 00:07:44.519 --> 00:07:47.360 excited when I started Book five for the third time. 142 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:51.279 I knew that the chapter was coming soon. I finished 143 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:54.839 the book, but I had not yet encountered the chapter. Obviously, 144 00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:58.879 it must be in the sixth book, but it wasn't there. Huh, 145 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.279 Maybe I've been mistaken and it was actually in the 146 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:05.920 final book. Of course it was not there. At the time, 147 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:08.800 none of this struck me as too crazy. Clearly there 148 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:11.680 were different versions of the novels in print. It seemed 149 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:14.480 very odd, but I knew this chapter existed, and I 150 00:08:14.519 --> 00:08:19.000 had not yet learned that reality could be rewritten. By 151 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:22.759 May of twenty seventeen, I had already discovered the mirror 152 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:26.079 warning when suddenly the missing chapter came to my mind, 153 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:29.439 and I decided to look further into it. I scoured 154 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:32.240 the Internet for any reference to it, and I found nothing. 155 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:35.080 I looked for variants of the series in an attempt 156 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:37.919 to find it, but I found nothing. As the last 157 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:40.960 ditch effort, I went to Margaret Weiss's website and I 158 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:43.799 found an option to email the author. On May thirtieth 159 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:47.159 of twenty seventeen. I didn't think that it was possible 160 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:49.399 that she would read it or write back, but I 161 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:52.159 decided to give it a try. I asked her about 162 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:54.559 the missing chapter and how I could locate a copy 163 00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:57.759 of the book that contained it. Much to my astonishment, 164 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:00.000 when I woke up the next day and I checked 165 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:05.000 in my email, she had replied, this is that email. 166 00:09:06.039 --> 00:09:09.039 Thanks for the question. That would have been interesting, but no, 167 00:09:09.480 --> 00:09:11.919 there was not a chapter from the VP of The Dog. 168 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:15.679 The Dog was Haplow's soul, so, like I said, it 169 00:09:15.720 --> 00:09:22.639 would have been very interesting. Thanks Margaret. Apparently reality was 170 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:25.519 telling me that this sacred memory of mine discussing the 171 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:28.840 dog in first person chapter of my favorite series of novels, 172 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:32.200 which occurred fully in my adulthood a mere ten years prior, 173 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:36.279 never really happened. I didn't have hours of conversation with 174 00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:40.440 Charles about it. I didn't read it twice. Charles was dead, 175 00:09:40.759 --> 00:09:43.559 so he wasn't going to be any help here. The 176 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:48.879 camel's skull was crushed. Before I continued the next chapter 177 00:09:48.919 --> 00:09:51.759 of Anonymous Experience, I'd like to just point out that 178 00:09:51.799 --> 00:09:55.200 they shared the exact email with me. That Margaret sent 179 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:58.679 word for word the exact email copy and pasted with 180 00:09:58.759 --> 00:10:01.919 the date, the time, and the sender, not to mention 181 00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:06.519 Margaret's automated signature at the bottom of the email. Let's 182 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:12.960 continue now with chapter four, Eddie's revelation. By twenty eighteen, 183 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:15.879 I was fully convinced that this phenomenon could not be 184 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:19.480 explained by rational means. Eddie was also convinced that it 185 00:10:19.559 --> 00:10:22.840 was real and not just unreliable memory. However, he had 186 00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:25.919 not yet accepted that it was beyond anything explainable by 187 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:30.000 our current understanding of reality, we still talked regularly about 188 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:33.440 dozens of Mandela effects. There were many, like the Turkey 189 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:36.320 Dolly and the mirror, that we were both confident had 190 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:39.840 changed from what we remembered. There were many many more 191 00:10:40.039 --> 00:10:43.039 that both of us discounted entirely as people just not 192 00:10:43.159 --> 00:10:46.480 remembering correctly. There were some that seemed wrong to us, 193 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:48.879 but neither of us were confident that we could trust 194 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:51.399 our own memories of these. I'm not going to go 195 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:54.840 into detail here about all of these, as individual reality 196 00:10:54.840 --> 00:10:58.120 shifts are not what this story is about. However, there 197 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:01.679 are three that fit into the final unsure category that 198 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:04.320 I'm going to discuss in detail, and you will see 199 00:11:04.360 --> 00:11:07.559 why later in this section. If you have been googling 200 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:09.879 any of the changes that I have mentioned previously in 201 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:12.600 the story, please refrain from doing that with the ones 202 00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:15.120 that I'm about to talk about until finishing the chapter. 203 00:11:15.879 --> 00:11:19.799 That request will make sense later. Now in the reality 204 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:22.480 that Eddie and I were experiencing at the time, one 205 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:25.120 of the main changes that was being discussed on Reddit 206 00:11:25.399 --> 00:11:29.320 and other places online revolved around the movie Apollo thirteen 207 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:32.399 starring Tom Hanks. It was a change to what people 208 00:11:32.440 --> 00:11:35.559 remembered as the most iconic line in the movie. The 209 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:37.879 line was in all of the trailers and even on 210 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:40.440 the poster of the movie. At the beginning of the 211 00:11:40.440 --> 00:11:43.840 crisis in Space, Tom Hanks's character looks at the camera 212 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:47.559 and delivered the famous line, Houston, we have a problem. 213 00:11:48.039 --> 00:11:51.039 At least that's what many people in these online forums remembered, 214 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:55.080 but by all accounts that had never existed the quote 215 00:11:55.080 --> 00:11:59.519 from mister Hanks now said Houston, We've had a problem. 216 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:02.600 I watched people argue back and forth about this for months. 217 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:05.759 The most compelling argument that most people made was that 218 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:08.120 it wouldn't have made sense for Tom to say we 219 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:11.240 have since there was actual audio from the real event 220 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:16.279 and it was clear that the astronaut Jack Swygert had said, Uh, Houston, 221 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:19.840 We've had a problem. Many people argued that this had 222 00:12:19.879 --> 00:12:22.440 been a point of contention with the movie version because 223 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:25.279 Tom had misspoken when they shot the film and simply 224 00:12:25.320 --> 00:12:28.240 got the line wrong, so it had not previously matched 225 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:30.879 what Jack Swygert had said to Mission control in the 226 00:12:30.919 --> 00:12:35.320 real event. Eddie and I thought that we've had sounded wrong, 227 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:38.320 but we also could not be sure. We both watched 228 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:41.720 YouTube clips of the scene. I watched the full movie. 229 00:12:41.799 --> 00:12:46.279 Every version clearly said we've had a problem. It sounded 230 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:49.000 wrong and it even looked wrong. It was a different 231 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:51.320 angle than what we thought we remembered, but we were 232 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:55.240 still not convinced. Nevertheless, we talked about it multiple times 233 00:12:55.320 --> 00:12:59.879 from twenty sixteen to twenty eighteen. Now. Another change that 234 00:12:59.879 --> 00:13:02.759 was being discussed in these groups at the time was 235 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:05.600 from the original Back to the Future movie. In the 236 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:08.080 scene where Doc Brown is telling Marty about his time 237 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:10.799 machine after he had already tested the device on his 238 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:14.679 dog Einstein, the Libyan terrorists show up and shoot Doc 239 00:13:14.759 --> 00:13:18.200 dead just before Marty gets in the DeLorean and accidentally 240 00:13:18.279 --> 00:13:21.240 ends up in nineteen fifty five. At the time that 241 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:23.679 I first discussed this with Eddie, many people on the 242 00:13:23.720 --> 00:13:27.080 forums were discussing that they remembered the terrorists driving a 243 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:31.080 VW Microbus, when in fact they were driving a silverish 244 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:34.279 Toyota van that had hard angles and not the flowing 245 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:38.279 curves of the blue VW microbus that many remembered. When 246 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:40.759 I asked Eddie about what he remembered about this, he 247 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:43.639 had no opinion. He remembered the scene, but he had 248 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:46.000 never paid any attention to what kind of van it was. 249 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:48.919 I was on my own with this one, and honestly, 250 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:51.159 I could not be sure of what I really remembered. 251 00:13:51.559 --> 00:13:54.159 I was fairly confident that I indeed remembered the blue 252 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:58.080 VW that others did, but I wasn't positive. My father 253 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:01.000 had owned a VW microbus in com and he talked 254 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:03.879 about it incessantly. It was very feasible that he had 255 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:05.679 mentioned it on the way to the movie theater to 256 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:08.279 see the movie, or on the way home. Heck, the 257 00:14:08.279 --> 00:14:10.399 way that guy would just talk through a movie, I 258 00:14:10.440 --> 00:14:12.279 couldn't rule out that he yelled out at the top 259 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:15.320 of his lungs. That reminds me of my VW right 260 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:19.519 in the movie theater. Such an event could easily cause confabulation, 261 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:22.679 but it did not sit right with me. It felt 262 00:14:22.759 --> 00:14:23.279 very wrong. 263 00:14:23.960 --> 00:14:24.279 Again. 264 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:27.519 I watched multiple versions of the clip on YouTube. They 265 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:30.480 all showed the silver Toyota. I decided that it was 266 00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:32.960 time to introduce my kids to the films, so we 267 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:35.960 watched all three of them. There was the silver Toyota. 268 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:39.519 I started looking at blogs dedicated to Back to the Future. 269 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:42.480 I remembered when Bond fans were arguing on their own 270 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:45.679 blogs about Dolly's braces were the Back to the Future 271 00:14:45.720 --> 00:14:49.559 fans doing the same thing. Yes, they were. A lot 272 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:53.000 of people also remembered the VW, and these people were 273 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:56.679 thoroughly ridiculed. I finally gave up on this notion of 274 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:59.000 it being a change after I read a post on 275 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:02.240 one of the blogs that confirmed its accuracy by rewatching 276 00:15:02.279 --> 00:15:05.120 clips of the opening of the film. It seems the 277 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:07.519 director had put it in a very sneaky Easter egg 278 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:09.919 in the scene where Marty is holding on to another 279 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:12.519 vehicle while on his skateboard on the way to school 280 00:15:12.519 --> 00:15:15.200 in the beginning of the movie. The silver Toyota that 281 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:18.519 the terrorists were driving is in that scene. It's parked 282 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:21.639 just around the corner from the strip that contains Cupid's 283 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:25.360 Adult presumably a gentleman's club, as well as other shops 284 00:15:25.399 --> 00:15:27.799 that mostly appear to be out of business. It is 285 00:15:27.879 --> 00:15:30.679 closest to the former movie theater that had been converted 286 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:34.080 into the Assembly of Christ Church. Since it's safe to 287 00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:37.320 assume that the Libyans are Muslim, they're obviously not at 288 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:39.919 the church, so it's implied that they're taking in some 289 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:43.879 nude ladies before going to murder doc. Okay, that's a 290 00:15:43.960 --> 00:15:48.000 damn good Easter egg. I must be wrong about this one. 291 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:50.360 The third change that I will mention is much easier 292 00:15:50.360 --> 00:15:54.480 to explain. Tidycat's cat litter was called tidy Cat in 293 00:15:54.519 --> 00:15:58.320 our version of reality from twenty sixteen to twenty twenty three. 294 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:02.120 Eddie and I discussed it several times. However, neither of 295 00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:05.480 us own cats. We are both dog people. We both 296 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:08.519 confirmed in stores while shopping for our dogs that it 297 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:12.639 was indeed called tidy cat. Whatever. We clearly had this wrong. 298 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:15.840 We don't care about cat litter. It felt wrong, but 299 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:18.720 it was more logical that we were just remembering it wrong. 300 00:16:19.799 --> 00:16:22.480 As you can see from these preambles, neither of us 301 00:16:22.519 --> 00:16:26.240 are irrational. Although by this time I was completely convinced 302 00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:29.000 that something spooky was going on, I still looked at 303 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:31.159 anything that seemed wrong to me, and I tried to 304 00:16:31.159 --> 00:16:34.080 find a reasonable explanation. I still do that to this 305 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:36.759 day if I discover something new that seems to differ 306 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:39.840 from my memory. We do not automatically assume that this 307 00:16:39.960 --> 00:16:42.639 reality is out to get us. We first assume that 308 00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:45.639 we are wrong, and we work from there. We still 309 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:54.720 do that even after the following occurred before I continue. 310 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:58.519 Please consider showing your support by subscribing, sharing, and giving 311 00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:01.440 the podcast a positive review. You You can also visit 312 00:17:01.480 --> 00:17:04.440 me on Patreon, buy me a coffee, or a PayPal 313 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:06.759 where you can make a donation or become a member. 314 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:09.400 You can even join my Patreon for free and get 315 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:12.640 access to future updates. And of course, just being a 316 00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:15.400 listener is the best support of all and I'm grateful 317 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:19.359 to have you here. Now. Please stay tuned and I'll 318 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:27.079 be right back. After these brief messages in the summer 319 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:30.000 of twenty and eighteen, I did what I do every day. 320 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:32.400 I open read it to see what people had discovered 321 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:36.039 about this phenomenon or what they were discussing today. And 322 00:17:36.200 --> 00:17:39.920 there it was a post stating that Apollo thirteen had 323 00:17:39.960 --> 00:17:43.160 flip flopped and it was now back to saying, Houston, 324 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:47.000 we have a problem. I quickly headed to YouTube. It 325 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:50.680 was true. There it was, That's the scene that I remember. 326 00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:54.000 Every single version was now what I had expected to 327 00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:56.720 see in the first place. I then went back to 328 00:17:56.759 --> 00:17:59.119 read it, and I did a search for Apollo thirteen 329 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:03.319 in the Mandela Affect subreddit as well as the retcond subreddit. 330 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:07.200 Gone were the mentions of we've had a problem. In 331 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:09.799 their place were people saying that they had grown up 332 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:13.160 with Tom saying we've had and they were confused that 333 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:16.920 he was now saying we have. The arguments about how 334 00:18:16.920 --> 00:18:19.319 the movie line differed from the actual words that the 335 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:23.640 real astronauts spoke were back. I was back home. All 336 00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:27.240 was right with the world. That was my reaction. However, 337 00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:32.839 Eddie's was different. I called Eddie immediately. It was mid afternoon. 338 00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:35.519 I was ecstatic because I knew that Eddie would be 339 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:38.559 fully with me after this. He could no longer pretend 340 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:41.680 like any of this was reasonable or rational. He would 341 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:44.519 now be forced to grapple with the undeniable fact that 342 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:49.559 something supernatural or otherwise unexplainable by anything within human understanding 343 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:53.000 was indeed at play here. I guess I was right, 344 00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:55.880 he would be forced to grapple with it. However, I 345 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:58.480 didn't intend for it to turn that grapple into a 346 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:03.000 full suplex body slam of a moment. Hey man, what's up? 347 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:05.319 He asked, You need to go look at Apoll of 348 00:19:05.400 --> 00:19:08.960 thirteen right now. Huh, you just need to go and 349 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:11.920 look at it. We ended the call, and within just 350 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:14.640 a few minutes it he called me right back He 351 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:17.759 was slightly chuckling when he asked, what is that all about? 352 00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:20.480 Edie had apparently thought that the scene that we had 353 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:23.920 just watched was another recreation of what people remembered before 354 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:28.680 a reality shift. No, it's back, Houston, we have a 355 00:19:28.680 --> 00:19:32.519 flip flop, I said. The line was silent for a 356 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:35.240 long moment. I could hear the panic setting in from 357 00:19:35.240 --> 00:19:37.920 the other end of the connection. I believe he asked 358 00:19:37.960 --> 00:19:40.960 me to clarify, so I did. I'm not sure of 359 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:43.799 the exact conversation after that, but I know that it 360 00:19:43.799 --> 00:19:47.119 didn't last very long. He cut me off and abruptly 361 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:50.680 ended the phone call. I was perplexed. Here it was, 362 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:53.640 this was the evidence that we had so long sought after. 363 00:19:54.039 --> 00:19:57.799 It was undeniable. Now, something bigger than anything we understood 364 00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:01.279 had to be responsible. Why was and Eddie as excited 365 00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:05.480 as I was. Later that evening, Eddie finally called me back. 366 00:20:05.960 --> 00:20:08.279 He told me about how he had experienced a full 367 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:11.559 on panic attack during our last conversation. He told me 368 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:14.519 how he immediately went back to YouTube and watched several 369 00:20:14.519 --> 00:20:17.240 clips and saw that everything was again as we thought 370 00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:20.079 that we had remembered. But instead of reacting with elation, 371 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:24.200 he was horrified. Eddie's wife had been asleep taking an 372 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:27.519 afternoon nap throughout all of this. Suddenly it hit him, 373 00:20:28.039 --> 00:20:30.759 Is she even real? Am I even real? He asked 374 00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:33.920 himself in a terrified panic. He sprinted down the hall 375 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:37.440 and threw open the bedroom door. She was there. He 376 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:40.720 broke down in tears. I apologized to Eddie for the 377 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:43.440 way that I had presented it to him. I was inconsiderate. 378 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:46.200 It had not occurred to me that he could react negatively. 379 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:49.400 I guess all those people that we had previously mocked 380 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:52.799 weren't such liars or lunatics after all. Although I am 381 00:20:52.839 --> 00:20:55.200 still regretful for the way that I presented this mind 382 00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:58.359 altering moment to Eddie, I will forever be grateful that 383 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:01.319 we experienced it together. I don't think either of us 384 00:21:01.319 --> 00:21:04.200 could possibly have maintained our sanity had we gone through 385 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:07.599 this alone and didn't have someone else to confirm that indeed, 386 00:21:07.960 --> 00:21:11.359 this really happened. I will be lifelong friends with Eddie 387 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:13.880 for more reasons than I can count, but this shared 388 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:16.480 experience is at the top of the list. I know 389 00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:19.240 that no matter what we go through, what disagreements, we 390 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:24.079 will someday have this moment formed an unbreakable bond between us. 391 00:21:25.319 --> 00:21:28.400 A few months later, it happened again, but this time 392 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:31.720 Eddie wasn't involved. He hadn't had an opinion on the 393 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:34.680 Back of the Future terrorist van. He hadn't rewatched the 394 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:37.920 scene countless times and all three of the movies. He 395 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:41.920 hadn't read the blog posts. I had. It played out 396 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:43.799 much the same way for me as it had the 397 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:46.759 first time, but I wasn't quite as excited because I 398 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:49.279 had no one to share it with. I opened read 399 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:51.119 it and there was a post about Back to the 400 00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:54.960 Future flip flopping. Sure enough, I went to YouTube and 401 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:58.160