A new conspiracy theory has taken the Internet and childhood nostalgia by storm. A popular kids book series known to most of the population as "The Berenstein Bears," is actually called "The Berenstain Bears."
For those who grew up reading the books and have the word "Berenstein" ingrained in their minds, the fact that the title really is "Berenstain" is quite a shock to the system. A quick Internet search of the book covers and the official PBS websitereveals that "The Berenstain Bears" have been there all along.
The shock of this revelation has led some to believe in alternate or parallel universes in which "The Berenstein Bears" were created and "The Berenstain Bears" is some massive, crazy, Internet hoax.
Over at Reddit, the reactions and comments about the subject became too much for their moderators, who banned the Berenstein/stain topic. Of course the discussion beneath the "No more Berenstain Bears posts" directive is full of debate among commenters about what is real, parallel universes, etc.
Responding to one commenter's admission that he/she always knew it was "Berenstain," one Reddit user TSA_jij wrote: "Clearly you came here from a parallel universe where people remember children's books' titles flawlessly"
"Naw man," countered user NamelessJ. "It was bear-stain with a hyphen in my universe before I got transported here."
Here's a clip of the PBS TV show's original theme song to get those nostalgic, improperly-remembered juices flowing:
