Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 480
June 13, 2016
Antiques Roadshow Thinks High School Art is Worth $50K
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Someone went to Antiques Roadshow with an old jug they spent $300 on and was told it was worth between $30K – $50K. It turned out to be nothing more than an old high school art project.
The piece of art has been dubbed the “Grotesque Face Jug”
The expert said it was probably late 19th or early 20th century
The episode aired in January, and a viewer recognized the jug as the work of one of her friends
It had been made by Betsy Soule when she was a student in 1973
The expert, after finding out the news, reconsidered, admitted he’d been mistaken about the time frame, and said based on artistic merit, he still thinks the jug is worth between $3,000 – $5,000
Source: Antiques Roadshow Thinks High School Art is Worth $50K
June 12, 2016
June 11, 2016
June 10, 2016
Goanna Pulling
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
The Australian sport of Goanna Pulling is named after the Goanna Lizard whose stance the competitors imitate, and is a tug-of-war type sport using the neck instead of hands.
Only two people play at a time
They get on all fours with their bellies touching the ground like a lizard
Their hands go behind a white line and a leather belt is placed around their heads
When the ref says go, the contestants use upper body strength to pull their opponent across the white line
Championships are held yearly in Wooli, New South Wales, Australia
MINI BION
“BIONs” – short for Believe It or Not – is the word we use at Ripley’s to refer to anything that is unbelievable and worthy to become part of Ripley’s lore and collection.
Source: Goanna Pulling
Rabbits Eat Their Own Poop, but it’s Normal
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Roughly once a day, rabbits will eat their own poop in order to reabsorb nutrients.
It’s not regular feces, but a substance called cecotropes
It’s produced through the fermentation of food in part of the digestive tract called the cecum
Cecotropes have more protein and certain vitamins and less fiber than normal feces
It’s a process that mostly only happens once a day either early in the morning or late at night
MINI BION
“BIONs” – short for Believe It or Not – is the word we use at Ripley’s to refer to anything that is unbelievable and worthy to become part of Ripley’s lore and collection.
Unboxing A Scrap Metal Safari + Unbelievable Hippo Facts
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
In This Episode
Until today, we’ve kept it low key. Cracking open a crate with power tools or wielding a box cutter on a 9-foot-tall box seemed like a terrible idea for someone as clumsy as I am. Simple, small, boxes like last week’s hair wreath kept me safe, with all my digits intact. Well, in this episode we’ve thrown caution to the wind (not really) and present to you our largest unboxing yet!
Today: A Scrap Metal Safari
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Life-Sized Salvage
These scrap metal creatures, a hippopotamus and water buffalo, traveled all the way from Kenya, Africa to join our collection—which also includes a giraffe, a gorilla and a baby elephant. Shipped in one solid piece, they are truly life-size and skillfully crafted with phenomenal detail!
Hungry Hungry Hippos
Around 1910 the United States was dealing with a very serious meat shortage. The logical solution according to Congress? Farm raise hippos in the bayous of Louisiana.
Seriously.
This idea sounds absurd, but biologist Patricio von Hildebrand has the same idea in mind for Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar’s herd of herbivores.
When Escobar was shot in 1993, he left beind his lavish estate, Hacienda Nápoles—home to a menagerie of animals, including a herd of hippos he had purchased from the San Diego Zoo in 1981. Breaking free of Hacienda Nápoles’ fences, it is estimated that somewhere between 50 and 60 hippos now inhabit Colombia.
Believe It or Not! hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is the fear of long words!
Unbelievable Hippo Facts
Hippos sleep underwater and surface for air without even waking up.
Hippos are unusually quick for their size. Hippos can run up to 25 miles per hour over short distances. To put that into perspective, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt clocked in at nearly the same speed in the 100-meter sprint during the Olympics.
A common myth about hippos is that they sweat blood. That would be totally metal, but they don’t even have true sweat glands. Because of this, they secrete a thick, red, oily substance that creates a layer of mucus to protect their skin from the sun.
Exotic appetite
Inching toward the barbecue, Hildebrand says hippos taste like pork, but what about other off-menu animals?
Elephant – While exploring Mozambique in 1864, Scottish missionary David Livingstone was served elephant feet for breakfast, stating, “it is a whitish mass, slightly gelatinous, and sweet like marrow.”
Giraffe – Chef Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall claims “the meat has a natural sweetness that may not be to everybody’s taste.
Penguin – A 1898 account from Belgain naval officer Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache claims it is completely inedible.
“If it’s possible to imagine a piece of beef, odiferous cod fish, and a canvas-backed duck roasted together in a pot, with blood and cod-liver oil for sauce, the illustration would be complete.”
Galapagos Tortoise – Charles Darwin reported that “young tortoises make excellent soup, but otherwise the meat to my taste is indifferent.”
In the Galapagos, Darwin dined on a few giant tortoises, but at least two survived the voyage back to England. Recorded as “Mine from James” in his logs, Darwin collected somewhat of a pet during his stay on Santiago (formerly James Island).
Source: Unboxing A Scrap Metal Safari + Unbelievable Hippo Facts
Aussie Brewery Presents Whale Vomit Beer
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Robe Town Brewery is introducing a limited run of beer flavored with Ambergris, which is a rare and expensive sperm whale vomit.
It’s from a different company than the one presenting belly button beer, but it is for the same festival.
Ambergris is said to smell like marine fecal matter
According to the brewery’s website, “The result is a pungent, animalistic aroma, musky ethereal perfume”
It’s said that in taste, the beer is full bodied with caramel malt and fruity flavors to balance the bitterness
Called Moby Dick Ambergris Ale, they only had enough to make five 50 liter kegs and a few bottles to sell
MINI BION
“BIONs” – short for Believe It or Not – is the word we use at Ripley’s to refer to anything that is unbelievable and worthy to become part of Ripley’s lore and collection.
June 9, 2016
The Body of a Girl Found in a Coffin Under House
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
There are certain situations no one expects to find themselves in. Finding an ornate coffin buried under your garage floor is surely one of them. But that’s exactly the circumstances homeowner Ericka Karner found herself in on May 9th when remodelers broke through her concrete floor.
The coffin is lead and bronze with large glass windows looking in. It was so well made and sealed that the body of the young girl encased within it is still recognizable even though it’s estimated that she died 145 years ago.
Photo Credit: Elissa Davey
Given how glamorous the coffin is, it’s assumed the girl came from a family of means, but nothing else is known about it. She’s been dubbed Miranda for the time being.
The Problem
What exactly do you do when you find a coffin and dead body on your property? Kerner did what anyone would and called the undertaker. They quoted her a price of $7,000 to take custody of the body, and she had to go back to the drawing board.
An East Bay archaeological company said that they would take it off her hands for $22,000. I imagine the undertaker’s offer was starting to sound pretty good to her at this point.
It didn’t seem right. I understand if a tree is on your property, that’s your responsibility. But this is different.
It’s different because it’s a dead body, but it’s also different because the only reason Miranda was there in the first place is that the government messed up.
As we mentioned in a previous post about the city, San Francisco decided that no one was to be buried there, and all of their dead were shipped off to Colma, CA. Somewhere in the process of those bodies being moved, Miranda got missed.
145 years later, Karner understandably thinks the government should handle the cost of laying her to rest in a more appropriate place than the garage, but the government thinks differently.
Photo Credit: Elissa Davey
The Solution
The solution to this conundrum was found in Elissa Davey and her Garden of Innocence charity.
In 1998, Davey read an article about a baby boy whose body was dumped in a trash can, and she couldn’t get the tragedy out of her mind. A month later, she called the coroner to find out what had happened to him and was told that his body hadn’t been claimed yet and would go in an unmarked grave.
When she asked what she could do to ensure that that didn’t happen, the coroner told her to “Show me you have a dignified place to put him.” She did, and from that one selfless act, Garden of Innocence was born.
The charity organizes funerals for children who were abandoned after death.
Davey took on the task of ensuring Miranda would be moved to a grave in Colma.
The ordeal has ended, but it’s lucky that Davey and Garden of Innocence were concerned with doing the right thing. Or else Karner might have had no choice but to bury the coffin in the backyard and call it a day.
Photo Credit: Elissa Davey
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