False Memory

My best friend recently bought a church that was built in 1834. It is a stunning building filled with old New England architecture and history. Today, she gave me and my parents a detailed tour. I was excited for many reasons, one of which was the bell.

The bell in the steeple tower is said to have been created by an apprentice of Paul Revere. I had a vivid memory of seeing the bell on my first ever visit to the building. I remembered ringing it by pulling on a very long, thick rope, and looking up to see the underside of the silver bell.

My father is obsessed with history, so I knew he'd be as thrilled as I was to see the bell. I asked my friend when we got there, when we could see the bell. She cocked her head to one side,

"You can't see the bell. You have to open a false panel, then shimmy through a crawl space, then climb up a narrow tower."

"Wait, what?" was my confused reply. My friend repeated herself. I stood there with my mouth open. "What about the first time we came into this building with George, and he brought us to that room, and we pulled on the rope while looking up at the bell?" She stared at me funny,

"That...didn't happen." My mouth was agape,

"Wait...did I...oh my god, did I vividly imagine that?"

"Um, you did."

I was shocked. My memory is atrocious, but I swore that that had really happened. When I got home,  I researched having memories of events that never happened. Apparently, they're fairly common and are called false memories. I barely remember five minutes ago, so I was quite amazed that I could 'rember' things that never were!

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