The Mandela effect

The wizard of oz

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 musical/fantasy/comedy film adapted from the 1900 novel, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum and produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

It features a scene where the Scarecrow inexplicably has a revolver firearm. That isn't it however; the Tinman has a wrench (along with his normal axe), the Lion has a bug catching net, and a two-handed pump sprayer with the words "WITCH REMOVAL" (or REMOVER), and the Scarecrow actually has another item that isn't seen or heard from again after the scene; a walking staff/stick.

The items possessed by the other members are usually not even mentioned within the Mandela Effect community when reporting on it. It seems like the gun that the Scarecrow is holding is the most shocking to people. The Mandela Effect here is that people do not remember the gun and are convinced that either this scene never existed or he never had a gun.

My Experiences

I personally do not remember this scene, but I was just like the others in believing there's no way the Scarecrow had a gun. It doesn't make sense. Yet the scene is there. I wouldn't say I'm a devoted fan or anything, but I've seen the movie a number of times.

As an experiment, I asked my friend to watch the scene without telling her anything. She has seen the film numerous times. I asked if she noticed anything out of ordinary. She didn't notice anything. I showed it again, and yet again she couldn't see anything weird. I think that's at the heart of what we are dealing with here. It's an obscure thing that has no right or context to being in the movie, and it's hardly noticeable even when asked to be aware. It's only when we point out these oddities, the viewers become aware of them. While my impromptu experiment doesn't conclude anything, I feel it at least raises some points on how this could be missed or completely forgotten.

It was brought up again in popularity (and my mind) recently due to a Cinemassacre video on the subject.

Possible Explanations

Many long-time fans conclude that the scene exists as part of a larger deleted portion of the movie that explains all of these items. This has proven to be the case with "The Jitterbug", a found piece of footage that shows a home video created featuring the music and some rehearsal production from the movie: