Did CERN Break Reality?

Did CERN Break Reality?

From Crime at Bedtime by Jack Laurence

April 14, 2026 · 24 min · Season 2 · Episode 39

About this episode

The episode explores the claim that CERN's experiments may have shifted humanity into a parallel reality, as theorized by a young genius named Max Loughan.

In 2016, a 13-year-old genius named Max Loughan went viral with an extraordinary claim: CERN destroyed our universe. Not with an explosion—but by shifting us all into a parallel reality. When scientists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider smashed particles together in 2012 and discovered the Higgs boson, Max believed the sheer energy tore a hole in spacetime, sliding humanity into a neighbouring universe almost identical to our own. Almost. The proof? The Mandela Effect. Millions of people remember Kit Kat having a hyphen. It never did. They remember C-3PO being all gold. He's always had a silver leg. They remember the Mona Lisa with no smile. She's always been smiling. They remember the Monopoly Man wearing a monocle. He never has. Are these false memories—or scars from our original universe? Max's theories spread across the internet, educating millions. Then, in 2018, he vanished. Social media went silent. No interviews. No updates. Some say he simply grew up and chose privacy. Others wonder if he knew too much. Did CERN's experiments break reality? Are we living in a parallel universe? And what happened to the boy who tried to warn us? Become a Patreon or Apple + subscriber now…

People in this episode

Host: Jack Laurence

Topics covered

  • CERN
  • parallel universe
  • Mandela Effect
  • Max Loughan
  • reality
  • theories
  • science

Keywords

  • CERN
  • parallel reality
  • Mandela Effect
  • Max Loughan
  • Higgs boson
  • spacetime
  • false memories

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CERN

Products: Kit Kat, Monopoly Man

Books & works: Mona Lisa

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