I have memories of things that never happened?

Question

A couple years ago, I brought up a memory I've always of my family finding puppies underneath our house. I've always had this memory, and when I brought it up, they told me this never happened. I have no idea why I have this memory of finding puppies underneath our house if it never happened. Now just last night, I brought up another memory that apparently never happened. My cousin died from getting hit by a car when I was 8 years old. Ever since last night I've had the memory of my family and I driving to the hospital to see him before he died but me and my brother falling asleep in the car before we got there. We started talking about my cousin last night, and I brought it up and my family had no idea what I was talking about. They said only my dad went to the hospital while the rest of us stayed home. There was never a car ride or falling asleep.

What the hell? Why do I have memories of things that never happened? Has anyone else ever gone through this or know anything about it?

Answer 1

They could have been dreams that seemed so real they became a memory. I've heard of that happening, when someone has a dream that is similar to a real life event and its as though the dream really occurred. It really could be anything though.

Answer 2

Memories are flawed. After a crime scene people disagree on what happened. This is not years later, but minutes after it. They do experiments in college where they stage an event. Then they asked what happened and people disagree. So you could be right and them wrong or your memory is incorrect. The more you take care of your mental health, the better your memory will be. You could say that almost everyone has dementia (Alzheimer's disease) to some extent.

I know a 60 year old and his memory is awful. Here is a fact. People who had a great deal of stress can have memories that are a mess at a young age. I mentioned something that a woman said to me a couple of weeks ago and she did not remember it (she is 23) and figured that I must have figured it out. In courtrooms they keep a record (and at meetings) because afterwords people remember things happening differently. I have a powerful memory but I meditate.

Answer 3

Well, some of what you remembered WAS true, it's just some of it was inaccurate. That oftentimes happens because memories suffere from decay over time. Recent research found that the more someone remembered something , the more decayed and corrupted it became. People would add stuff from other memories and they would get meshed. I would not worry about it too much. My family accused me of the same thing. When we discussed it, it became clear that it was not so much that they were saying what I remembered was wrong, but that they thought I was implying bad intentions, which I was not. I just thought it was interesting. Families are funny that way. What lessons you draw from your memories may be more important than the memories themselves, as long as they are good lessons and fond memories. Continue to treasure them, they could be right and they are wrong, but in the end it does not matter,

Answer 4

As a psychologist, I'd say you're mentaly unstable. I would reccomend consulting a doctor or talking with someone.