Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 153
March 27, 2021
March 26, 2021
Betty the Frog Crowned Cadbury’s Easter Bunny
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
[March 22–March 28, 2021] Cinnamon Toast shrimp tails, an invasive water monster, and a lunar plan to save the animals—all round-up in this week’s weird news from Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Man Finds Cinnamon Toast Shrimp Tails in CerealCinnamon Toast Crunch is under a swirl of fire after a Los Angeles man took to Twitter claiming he found the taste you don’t want to see mixed into his bag of cereal. Writer, TV producer, and avid Twitter user, Jensen Karp, 41, set the internet buzzing when he posted a picture of what appears to be shrimp tails among the crazy squares he was craving.
The cereal brand’s social media squad was all over the scandal, offering an apology and a request for more information. However, things quickly soured when they declared that Karp’s discovery was actually “an accumulation of cinnamon sugar” in a separate post. Karp promptly accused the cereal manufacturer of telling tales, as evidenced by another image of the fishy findings.
At a friend’s suggestion, Karp began investigating the remaining contents of the two family pack bags of cereal and was disturbed to find not only more shrimp tails but also a string resembling dental floss as well as bits of a black substance attached to several pieces—presumably, rat droppings. To top off an already traumatizing situation, one of the bags was held together with tape.
Karp ultimately deduced that the odds and ends found in the bag were a result of a rat infestation but plans to take the tails and droppings to a lab for DNA testing to confirm.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch has followed up on their “investigation” with a statement saying that the findings in Karp’s cereal occurred outside of their facilities and requested any for any customers encountering oddities in their cereal bags to contact them immediately.
Amazonian Water Monster Invades Florida
Ok, we’ll after further investigation with my eyes, these are cinnamon coated SHRIMP TAILS, you weirdos. I wasn’t all that mad until you now tried to gaslight me? https://t.co/7DmADmoqUt pic.twitter.com/rSLE60pvoy
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 22, 2021
Each year, tourists flock to Florida to celebrate spring break with sunshine and warm waters. This year, they were joined by the state’s newest invasive species—an Amazonian river monster that grows to 10 feet long and weighs over 400 pounds!
A dead arapaima recently washed up on Cape Coral’s Jaycee Park’s shores, causing great concern that there could be more of the predatory giants lurking nearby. The arapaima is known to eat anything in its path, which could cause a major problem for the local ecosystem.
How the fish arrived in the waters of the Caloosahatchee River remains a mystery. However, some suggest it may have been the same journey of Florida’s other invasive species—irresponsible pet ownership.
As one of the world’s largest predatory fish, arapaima don’t exactly make great pets. But neither do Burmese pythons, which hasn’t stopped people from buying them only to release them into the wild when they shockingly grow to their anticipated size.
The good news is, unlike Burmese pythons, there’s no evidence that the discovery of the arapaima’s body is any more than a one-off situation. The water monsters theoretically shouldn’t be too hard to spot. Aside from being massive, they leap out of the water to suck up small mammals and breed in very specific areas. It would also take a lot more than one member of the population to create a sustainable population.
That being said, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is asking for anyone who may see a four-to-ten-foot monster popping out of the water to snap a quick photo and send it their way.
Arapaima at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies
Arizona Scientists Moon-Eyed for BiodiversityA team of scientists from the University of Arizona has developed an insurance policy to protect the world’s biodiversity in the event of global devastation—send it to the moon.
After seven years of research, Jekan Thanga, an aerospace and mechanical engineering professor, and five of his students have detailed how an underground biological repository on the moon could preserve samples of almost 90% of the world’s species.
Inspired by Noah’s Ark, the team’s plan includes rocketing 50 frozen seeds, sperm, egg, and spore samples from each species to lunar caves to be archived by solar-powered robots.
The caves, shaped by molten lava, are naturally suited to protect such samples, having been undisturbed for billions of years—a luxury we simply do not have on planet Earth.
The team’s grand plan is to send 6.7 million species to space. Ultimately, it would take about five years to complete the mission, with 15 rocket launches total. Each launch would take only four to five days to land on the moon.
Though the plan to get there is flushed out, the team is still working on details of what would happen once the samples reach the repository, including how the samples would react to microgravity.
For the time being, research will continue, with the mission depending on technological advancement to ensure its success, as not to lose the specimens forever.
Scottish Island Up for Grabs
Jekan Thanga and his team at the @uarizona created a concept for their doomsday vault which would store organic material such as seeds and sperm in cryogenic temperatures until needed. Curious how this facility would look? (Photos courtesy of ASU Prof. Mark Robinson) pic.twitter.com/FPAhgrQyTc
— Ethan Kispert (@ethan_the_fish) March 23, 2021
It’s time to brush up on your Scottish slang as auctioneers at Future Property prepare to sell off an 11-acre island in the Scottish Highlands with a starting bid of only $111,700!
Over the past year, we’ve seen plenty of destinations offering to pay people to live there or dollar home deals on some remote islands as a means of boosting tourism, but the sale of Deer Island is no marketing gimmick.
Located on Scotland’s west coast, Deer Island has been owned by the same family for 500 years but is still completely uninhabited, except for its resident wildlife, which includes red squirrels, seals, and dolphins.
New owners can keep an eye out for celebrities visiting the neighboring island of Eilean Shona, owned by Vanessa Branson, sister of Virgin-mogul, Richard Branson.
Interested parties should have their laptops at the ready today, March 26th, as Deer Island is expected to sell for $209,000 to $279,000—not too shabby!
Betty the Frog Wins Hop-portunity to Become Cadbury’s Easter Mascot
Up sticks to Deer Island in spectacular western Scotland for £80,000 ◌ Up sticks to Deer Island in spectacular western Scotland for £80,000
➥ Annabel Sampson
️ #Tatler ◌ Good read
pic.twitter.com/iJREnNl9m9
— FitCasually ™ (@FitCasuallyMODA) March 19, 2021
An Australian White tree frog named Betty is leaping into history as the first amphibian ever crowned Cadbury’s Easter Bunny.
Betty beat out over 12,000 other contestants, ready to take the stage as the candy company’s spokes-bunny. She’s not only the first ribbiting rabbit but also the smallest and the first female winner!
Along with the hop-portunity to star in the 2021 Cadbury Clucking Bunny commercial, Betty will receive $5,000 for her victory. Cadbury will also make a $15,000 donation to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
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By Meghan Yani, contributor for Ripleys.com
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON! Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!
March 25, 2021
Beyoncé: Star Search Finalist to Record-Breaking Phenom
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Few performers hold a candle to Queen Bey. She’s received a whopping 79 nominations—the most of any woman in Grammy history. What’s more, Beyoncé has cleaned house as the first woman to win six Grammys in one night. She currently holds 28 total wins. From her collaborative album, Everything Is Love, with her husband Jay-Z, to her most recent “Savage“ mix with Megan Thee Stallion, Beyoncé remains a driving force of the music industry.
Recognized as one of the greatest artists of all time, Beyoncé is more than an entertainer. She’s a veritable international icon, an emblem of confidence, power, and the feminine mystique. Besides an array of Grammy wins, Beyoncé’s also an actress and the owner of an activewear collection. Yet, she remains scrupulously private about her home life.
How much do you know about one of music’s most celebrated women? Get in “Formation” for these fascinating facts about Queen Bey.
Before big-time award shows, Beyoncé brought home her very first talent show win with John Lennon’s “Imagine.”Beyoncé has broken so many records, it’s hard to keep track. In 2001, she made her Grammy debut with Destiny’s Child before launching a solo career. Boy, has she come a long way since that time! In 2020, she became the only solo artist (apart from Mariah Carey) to hit No. 1 in four different decades. She soared through the Billboard Hot 100 ranks in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s before scoring her first No. 1 of the 2020s with “Savage.”
It’s incredible to reflect on her early days as a budding child performer. At the age of seven, she took first place in a talent show against competitors more than twice her age. She belted out John Lennon’s “Imagine,” to a standing ovation. This win got the attention of her dad, Mathew Knowles, who decided to enter her in other local talent shows. The future B went on to win 35 competitions in a row, stunning judges and audiences alike.
A soundbite from her Star Search days is featured in “Flawless.”In 1993, at the age of 12, she competed on Star Search along with the singing and dancing troupe, Girls Tyme. While the group received three stars from the judges, they ultimately lost to another group, Skeleton Crew. Thinking back on this time, Beyoncé has stated that her appearance on Star Search represented a defining moment in her adolescence. She even included a soundbite of this performance in her song “Flawless.”
Despite what could have been a Star Search setback, Beyoncé remained a natural performer. In her bio, Life is But a Dream, she reminisced about performing with her friends for the customers who frequented her mother’s hair salon, while sweeping up hair. Ironically, she noted that many customers didn’t want to listen to these performances. But she and her friends carried on anyway, insisting on money at the end.
Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com
To increase performance stamina, Beyoncé runs a mile regularly while singing.Her father also represented a significant factor in her growth as an entertainer. He insisted that she regularly run a mile while singing to increase her performance stamina. Years later, her personal trainer confirmed she still uses this technique to maintain endurance. She has also pushed her body and voice in other ways, including singing through an entire album in the Southeastern summer heat.
Beyoncé’s alter ego, Sasha Fierce, was created to help overcome stage fright.Despite her unique and rigorous vocal training program, Beyoncé still suffered from stage fright at the beginning of her career. To counter these feelings, she crafted an alter ego that allowed her to feel more daring and risqué on stage, Sasha Fierce. Fierce would become such an integral part of her onstage presence that she entitled her album I Am… Sasha Fierce (2008) stylized in all caps.
By 2010, she outgrew the Sasha Fierce persona, stating in an interview with Allure magazine, “Sasha Fierce is dead. I killed her.” Figuratively killing Fierce hasn’t slowed her career down any.
CC: José Goulão from Lisbon, Portugal via Wikimedia Commons
A record-breaking 10 million people visited the Louvre after Beyoncé’s music video was filmed there.As the first solo-artist to have six consecutive albums hit and debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, the singer made history with her sixth album, Lemonade. The album earned an incredible 653,000 equivalent album units in the first week alone.
But music isn’t her only love. She’s also a veritable fashion icon on the red carpet. She remains an avid lover of art, along with her husband, Jay-Z. Over the past decade, she’s visited Paris’s iconic Louvre four times, and she and Jay-Z filmed their groundbreaking “Apesh**t” video there. Following the video’s release, more than 10 million visitors flocked to the museum, shattering its previous record of 9.7 million from 2012.
Sky Cinema / Shutterstock.com
Beyoncé holds a Guinness World Record for “Most Tweets Per Second.”Following her 2011 MTV VMA Awards performance, Beyoncé ended her set with a nod to the camera and rub of her five-month baby bump. She followed with, “I want you to feel the love that’s growing inside me.” According to Twitter, her pregnancy announcement generated a whopping 8,868 Tweets being sent per second.
Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s first-born, Blue Ivy Carter, has since guested in tracks by both of her parents. She can be heard trying to pronounce her mom’s name as an infant at the very end of “Blue,” featured on Beyoncé’s 2013 self-titled album, as well as in the intro of Jay-Z’s album 4:44, in the song “Legacy.”
Beyoncé was the first Black woman to headline Coachella… or Beychella.Record-breaking is a recurring theme in Queen Bey’s life. In 2018, she became the first Black woman to headline Coachella. Her most ardent fans, the Beyhive, dubbed the performance #Beychella, and they’re still talking about it. The performance featured a live 200-person band dressed in “BK uniforms.”
The performance required eight months of intensive training because of the highly detailed nature of the choreography. Preparation for the concert was recorded in her Netflix documentary, Homecoming, which also featured the finished show. As you can see, B continues to slash through records and slay on stage, making her the ultimate Queen of the music scene.
A new species of horse fly was named after Beyoncé.Back in 2012, a previously unnamed species of horse fly was named in honour of Beyoncé. The head researcher the of Australian National Insect Collection, Bryan Lessard, officially named the fly Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae.
The rare species of horse fly was collected in 1981—the year that Beyoncé was born—with two other previously unknown specimens. Deemed the “all-time diva of flies,” its golden posterior presented an opportunity too “Bootylicious” to pass up.
By Engrid Barnett, contributor for Ripleys.com
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON! Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!Source: Beyoncé: Star Search Finalist to Record-Breaking Phenom
March 24, 2021
Achieving Sleight Of Hand With The Kepplinger-Style Holdout Device
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Today: Kepplinger-Style Card Holdout Device
A little sleight of hand is no problem for this sneaky card holdout device. Concealed on the card shark’s person, this Kepplinger-style device was used to secretly add or remove cards from the operator’s hand. It functions by using a tension string pulley system to glide that lucky last number or suit directly to or from the sleeve to the deck in hand!
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON! Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts like this one, and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!Source: Achieving Sleight Of Hand With The Kepplinger-Style Holdout Device
March 23, 2021
Beauty And Brawn: How Female Circus Performers Rewrote The Rules
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Some women have always been fierce and fearless creatures, refusing to fit into the dainty, delicate molds prescribed for them by society. These daring females refused to bow to expectations, forging their own paths. Along the way, some launched wildly popular careers, typified by both beauty and brawn. From sharpshooters to human cannonballs, check out these gender-role-defying entertainers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Maria Spelterini: Tightrope WalkerOn July 8, 1876, Maria Spelterini awed crowds by walking across Niagara Falls on a tightrope measuring just 2.5 inches wide. The first in a series of stunts to commemorate America’s centennial, Spelterini would raise the bar significantly four days later when she returned for another round at the treacherous crossing. Only this time, she upped the ante by completing the walk with peach baskets tied to her feet!
Seven days later, she traversed the falls with a paper bag over her head, completing the walk blindfolded. Just three days later, she shimmied across the Niagara Gorge once more, her ankles and wrists bound by shackles. As if that wasn’t enough, Spelterini also crossed the narrow trek backward, skipping and dancing across the tightrope’s 1,000-foot length to the wonder of onlookers.
Maria Spelterini walking across a tightrope across the Niagara Gorge, from the United States side to Canada, with her feet in peach baskets. || From the Niagara Falls Public Library. The original image is a stereograph published in 1876.
Katie Sandwina: Woman of SteelKatharina Brumbach hailed from a family of Austrian circus stars and began performing feats of strength at a young age. Over the years, her physique developed, further cementing her career as a circus strongwoman. By the time she hit her teens, she weighed 187 pounds and stood six feet tall, which meant a natural entree into other entertainment, including wrestling men.
During circus acts, she would invite a male volunteer onto the stage for a match and the chance to win a 100-German-mark prize. She never lost a wrestling contest. One night, Katie faced off against a young man named Max Heymann, prevailing in the competition but losing her heart. They soon married, and Heymann joined the family performing business. Later, Heymann and their infant son would happily submit to being hoisted into the air, supported by one of Katie’s muscle-bound arms.
Katie Sandwina, “The Lady Hercules” || Photo: Bain News Service, Library of Congress
But perhaps Katie’s greatest act remained beating Eugene Sandow, a renowned strongman, at his own game. According to contemporary accounts, she bested him publicly by lifting 300 pounds over her head, one-armed. As for Sandow? He couldn’t get the weight up past his chest. In commemoration of her Herculean victory, she changed her stage name to the female version of “Sandow.”
Zazel: Human CannonballA pretty, petite performer, Rossa Matilda Richter’s career as a tightrope walker and acrobat started conventionally enough. But everything changed for Zazel, as she was known on stage, at the age of 16 years old. That’s when she first squeezed her tiny body into a massive cannon’s mouth, getting blasted 70 feet into the air. The stunt marked a collaboration between her and her mentor, William Leonard Hunt, and it stunned audiences.
Zazel posing with her cannon at the Royal Aquarium in 1877. || Credited to London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company
How did she get shot from a cannon without being blown to smithereens? Fireworks created the illusion of an explosion. But what launched Zazel high into the air was a system of springs and tension concealed within the metal barrel. Over time, Zazel made the switch to compressed air, removing much of the risk from the act. Soon, other performers worldwide replicated her stunt. Zazel eventually blasted into retirement after missing the safety net and breaking her back during a show, but her trademark trick remains a staple of circus shows.
Annie Oakley: Trick ShooterSitting Bull nicknamed her “Little Sure Shot,” and monarchs, from Queen Victoria to Kaiser Wilhelm II, flocked to her international performances with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. In the process, Annie Oakley (née Phoebe Ann Moses) gained international fame. She also earned the funds to help her mother pay off the mortgage. In 1875, she outshot famed marksmen, Frank E. Butler, gaining celebrity status and his undying affection.
Annie Oakley || Photo: Baker’s Art Gallery, Columbus, Ohio
Soon, the couple married, combining their acts. Butler took spousal faith to the next level by permitting his wife to regularly shoot the tip from a cigarette pursed between his lips. In 1890, she performed the same feat in Berlin. This time, using her Colt .45 to dust the ash off a cigar held in Kaiser Wilhelm II’s mouth. With the launch of WWI in 1914, Oakley wrote the Kaiser an unanswered letter asking for another chance at the shot. After all, had she proven less eagle-eyed the first time around, the war might have never started.
By Engrid Barnett, contributor for Ripleys.com
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON! Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!Source: Beauty And Brawn: How Female Circus Performers Rewrote The Rules
March 22, 2021
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