OpEd: The Mandela Effect of Bruce’s Burritos in Yarmouth, Maine

The Mandela Effect

The Mandela Effect is one of those crazy things that makes people overthink and feel a little nutty, kind of like how the Butterfly Effect may make you overthink your every move.

There are all sorts of examples you’ll hear if you mention the phenomenon to someone, like Curious George not having a tail or the misspelling of “Looney Tunes” and “The Berenstain Bears”.

For those of who you aren’t familiar, the Mandela Effect, as described by Medical News Today, is:

“The Mandela Effect describes a situation in which a person or a group of people have a false memory of an event” and “occurs when a person believes that their distorted memories are, in fact, accurate recollections.”

One person having a faulty memory is one thing but what really gets people going is when a collective large group of people are convinced they have the same memory and that there must be a glitch in the universe or simulation that we’re living in.

The internet is pretty good at getting people riled up over things like this. I’m sure there’s a Tik Tok Mandela Effect rabbit hole you can fall right into if you wish.

Bruce’s Burritos in Yarmouth, Maine

I had my own “Mandela Effect” moment this afternoon with the beloved Bruce’s Burritos in Yarmouth, Maine. I wouldn’t have necessarily found it worth writing about except that I reached out to multiple people of all ages asking them about it and they were all as tripped up as I was.

And now I need to know what other people think and feel about it, too, because this hurt my brain.

When the heck did Bruce’s Burritos open in Yarmouth?

I was convinced it opened in the 2010’s when I was in high school. I remember Bruce’s being a huge deal back in 2013 and all of a sudden everyone being obsessed with it. That’s when I, and many others after doing some personal surveying, thought the burrito joint opened.

I went to peruse their menu for my lunch selection of the day and saw loud and proud on their main page:

“16 years strong and still rolling!”

WHAT? 16 WHAT?! 16 years??

Apparently, they opened their doors in the plaza in Yarmouth in 2006!! I texted everybody and their mother asking when they thought it opened and unanimously everyone was convinced 2013.

So, I guess I was a wee 8 years young when they started slinging burritos, not the big bad high schooler I thought I was. And clearly I was not the only one tripping over this.

Mandela Effect or not, maybe I just didn’t know it existed until I got a driver’s license. Regardless, I’m glad I know it’s there now.

Does anyone know what used to be there before Bruce’s moved in?