The “Berenstain Bears” was a popular series of children’s books and shows that engaged many children, and were a part of young lives everywhere.

The title “Berenstain Bears” is named after the authors, Jan and Stan Berenstain. While some people do recall the series as is, many people all over the world have recollections from their childhoods and memories of the series but under a slightly different name.

People all over vividly remember the bears having the surname of “Berenstein.” Of all the students interviewed, each remembered the spelling as “Berenstein.”

“I remember it with an E,” junior Alanna Hansen said. “The A just seems wrong.”

On the internet, there are many theories as to why such a large number of people have clear memories of the bears having an alternate spelling, including parallel universes, the Mandela effect, time travel, or most simply, collective false memory.

“I think parallel universes are a definite possibility,” senior Josh Forbes said. “I don’t remember the bears though.”

Few students do believe parallel universes could be to blame for these false memories amongst large amounts of people.

“It could be due to parallel universes,” junior Josh Bryant said. “It’s really weird that so many people are remembering it wrong.”

Most students are chalking up the conundrum to blatant misremembering on people’s part.

“That’s just the normal way you would spell it,” sophomore Chloe Prescott said. “You don’t see a lot of words that are spelled like that, so people probably just remember it how they think it should be.”

Freshman Justus Schwarz said people have a difficult time remembering small details as time passes.

“It’s been a long time since a lot of people have read those books,” Schwarz said. “Childhood memories fade and the parents are getting older.”

Sophomore Riley Spears said she doesn’t have a definitive opinion on what could be the cause, but thinks anything is plausible.

“It’s true until proven otherwise,” Spears said.

17rbasso@usd489.com