Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 183
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September 11, 2020
Indian Doctors Make A 15-Pound Hair-ifying Discovery
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
[September 7-September 13, 2020] Keys to a candy kingdom, the song you’ll never hear the end of, and a timber-y tale of survival—all round-up in this week’s weird news from Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
The Candyman is Back!
Someone get Grandpa Joe out of bed—there’s a golden ticket to find! Jelly Belly founder and real-life Willy Wonky, David Klein, has launched a nationwide scavenger hunt for the chance to win the key to a candy factory. The company has started hiding gold necklaces, or “tickets,” across the country, each with a code to verify the find via email. Every state will have a separate interactive hunt, with winners receiving the sweet treat of $5,000! Beyond the initial prize, everyone who joins in on the fun will be submitted to win the “ultimate treasure”—a trip to a candy-making university and the key to one of Klein’s candy factories. It should be noted that the candy factory included in the prize is not a Jelly Belly factory, as Klein has not been involved in the Jelly Belly business since 1980.
David Klein, affectionately known as The Candyman, is excited to announce his worldwide treasure hunt. ||
Source: Tricky Treasures
Slowing It Down
Fans flocked to St. Burchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany, last weekend when the world’s slowest musical composition changed chords for the first time in seven years! It’s been 19 years since “As Slow as Possible,” a piece by late American composer, John Cage, began playing at the church, on an organ built specifically for its extremely slow tempo. The song was designed to take 639 years to finish, with a projected end time in 2640. The performance began in 2001 and is so slow that it once had an 18-month long pause! Even though no one will ever hear the piece in its entirety, it has gathered a worldwide following, both in-person and via live stream. According to the project’s website, fans watched the momentous chord change last weekend as organists, Johanna Vargas and Julian Lembke, “completed the refurbishment of the organ pipes.” Fans have waited seven years for this change but won’t have to wait too much longer to experience the next, as it is due for another in 2022. The piece represents slowness during a fast-paced era and a “symbol of confidence in the future.”
Talk about a slow dance: A chord change is made on an organ playing the world’s slowest piece of music — set to run almost 640 years. The next change is expected in February 2022.https://t.co/0oDR6uuaIM
— CBS 6 Albany – WRGB (@CBS6Albany) September 7, 2020
Survival of the Fittest
Jonathan Ceplecha, of Redwood Falls, Minnesota, was rescued on Monday after being trapped under a tree for four days! Ceplecha, 59, was chopping down trees in his backyard when an oak tree fell on top of him. He was discovered days later when the sheriff’s department was notified after he didn’t show up for his teaching job for two consecutive days. Unable to alert anyone of the accident, the Iraqi war veteran survived off insects, plants, sweat, and some fortuitous rainwater during the 100 hours he was stuck. Thankfully, his hands were fully mobile, and he was able to cover his head in his shirt to protect his head from bugs while sleeping. The Redwood Falls Fire Department spent almost two hours meticulously working to free Ceplecha from under the tree, as one false move could have resulted an even bigger disaster. According to his son, Ceplecha’s in recovery at the hospital with two broken legs, no amputation needed, and is “fully cognizant and alert.”
Jonathan Ceplecha, 59, was cutting down oak trees in southern Minnesota when one of them fell and landed on his legs, according to the Redwood County Sheriff’s Office. https://t.co/0oEw5EpYe0
— NECN (@NECN) September 6, 2020
A Bear-y Great Escape
After a month on the run, a brown bear nicknamed Papillon has been captured and returned to his wildlife enclosure in northern Italy. On July 27, the four-year-old bear, whose official name is M49, escaped his 9,000-square-meter enclosure by breaking through an electric fence followed by even more mesh fencing. Papillon managed to avoid recapture for 42 days until forestry workers tracked him down in the Lagorai area of Trentino province. A bear on a mission, this isn’t Papillon’s first great escape. According to a spokesman for the Trentino province, he has “fled his cage multiple times,” including an epic escape in July of 2019, during which he had no tracking collar and was able to evade capture for over nine months! It appears that he became a professional escape artist during this adventure, considering he was able to escape again only hours later after being returned. Once back at home, the mischievous bear was castrated in an attempt to calm him, but even that couldn’t tame his wild nature and commitment to returning to the forest.
Though brown bears were reintroduced to the region in 1992, as an attempt to conserve them, they have grown to become a public safety issue, with several bear attacks reported in the last few years. Fortunately for Papillon, he has friends in high places, including Italian Minister of the Environment, Sergio Costa, who is vocally against killing bears during recapture. Costa made a statement on Facebook after Papillon’s latest break stating that the bear had not injured anyone and only caused material damage. He exclaimed that “every animal must be free to live according to its nature,” ending with a resounding “Papillon must live!”
A Hair-ifying Discovery
It was a hairy situation on August 31, when doctors in India removed a 15-pound ball of hair from 17-year-old Sweety Kumari’s stomach! The teenager was taken to a private hospital in Jharkhand’s Bokaro district after experiencing stomach pains. Though an ultrasound originally suggested a tumor, Dr. GN Sahu and his team were surprised to find a mass of hair in its place during the six-hour surgery. Kumari suffered from a rare disorder known as Rapunzel Syndrome, which occurs when a person chews their hair excessively over several years, causing a build-up in the stomach and intestines. Dr. Sahu said this is the largest accumulation of hair he’s seen in a body throughout his 40-year career. Kumari is expected to make a full recovery and has reportedly sworn off of eating her hair.
By Meghan Yani, contributor for Ripleys.com
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Source: Indian Doctors Make A 15-Pound Hair-ifying Discovery
September 10, 2020
A Behind-The-Scenes Look Into The Life Of Marilyn Monroe
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Marilyn Monroe is perhaps one of the most iconic pop-culture legends. The actress and public figure served as a symbol of Hollywood and all the glitz and glamor it stood for in the 1950s. She may have been typecast as a blonde bombshell with starring roles in the likes of How to Marry a Millionaire, but she was far more than a pretty, marketable face or vacuous starlet.
Her life was tragically cut short on August 4, 1962, at just 36 years old, but she lived in the fast lane and left a trail of extraordinary tales behind her. From the adorable, furry gift Frank Sinatra gave her to her not-so-glorious breakout moment as the first Artichoke Queen of California, here are some incredible facts you may not know about one of the most famous actresses of all time.
“Marilyn Monroe” wasn’t supposed to be her stage name.
The actress who became a global megastar as “Marilyn Monroe” was actually born Norma Jeane Mortenson. While stage names are nothing unusual for a star of her caliber, she would later become warranted one. What’s unbelievable is that it took some time before she settled on calling herself Marilyn Monroe.
Her sister reports that the name Marilyn Monroe originally decided upon was “Jean Adair,” which played off her real name. In the end, she settled on Marilyn, inspired by the actress Marilyn Miller, and Monroe, the maiden name of her mother.
In addition, Marilyn herself once stated that she was a direct descendant of James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States and the last President among the Founding Fathers.
Marilyn was “discovered” while making military drones during World War II.
Though she’s known for her impeccable beauty, Marilyn’s modeling career had a less-than-glamorous start. At the onset of World War II, she had a job making drones for the army. It was while she was working at the factory that she was spotted and became a model for pin-up photos to dispatch to the soldiers!
U.S. Army-June 26, 1945 Yank magazine photo of Marilyn Monroe as Norma Jeane Dougherty
Later, Stars & Stripes magazine would declare her “Miss Cheesecake 1951,” a dubious honor for the patriotic Monroe.
Marilyn (narrowly) earned the title of Castroville’s first Artichoke Queen in 1948.
Aside from her work in the field during World War II, where did Marilyn begin? With the proud early accolade of Castroville’s Artichoke Queen, of course!
Following her win in 1948, this small community would go on to be known as “The Artichoke Capital of the World.” But at the time, this wasn’t exactly the most prestigious title to take home. To make matters worse, Marilyn hadn’t even been the first choice for the honor! And yet, she was the first-ever Artichoke Queen of California.
Marilyn was so anxious in front of cameras that she often broke out in rashes.
There’s absolutely no doubt that Marilyn captivated the camera just as much as she did her audience. Here’s a woman who seemed born to be on the silver screen, but incredibly, that feeling wasn’t always reciprocated.
As Don Murray is reported to have said, Marilyn had tremendous issues with her confidence that would show in her craft. “She would constantly miss her marks, so she would be out of focus or out of the light or in a shadow,” said Murray, adding, “she was… terrified of going before the camera and broke out in a rash all over her body.”
Marilyn once studied with Jane Fonda.
Needless to say, as Monroe’s star continued to rise, she began to rub shoulders with well-renowned and respected stars. At one stage, struggling with her celebrity status, and wanting to prove that she was more than just a pretty face, Marilyn decided to commit to prestigious acting classes.
She was tutored by legendary actor and director Lee Strasberg for a year at the Actor’s Studio in New York. While there, she studied with the equally eminent Jane Fonda, who later recalled, “She and I would sit at the back of the room. She’d have no make-up on, dark sunglasses, and a scarf around her head. She was too scared to get up and do anything.”
Marilyn helped kick-start the career of jazz singer, Ella Fitzgerald.
Being such a force of nature, Marilyn had considerable influence not only over her own career, but she also kick-started the rise to fame of a friend: the then-unknown, Ella Fitzgerald!
Hard as it is to believe, the incomparable jazz singer may well owe her fame to Marilyn. The two women shared a bond that seemed impossible at the time, and Fitzgerald was certainly grateful for Marilyn’s friendship.
Despite her undeniable talents, the singer was having a terrible time securing bookings. As Fitzgerald herself later reported, “I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt… she personally called the owner of the Mocambo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately.”
How amazing to think that one pop-culture icon, in a roundabout way, kicked off the career of another.
Marilyn owned a personal library of over 430 books.
One of the most commonly-stated facts about Marilyn Monroe is that her IQ was 168, putting her at the level of a genius.
The science of the Intelligence Quotient, as we know it today, was in its infancy during Marilyn’s life. As a result, there doesn’t seem to be any true documented evidence that she took the test and achieved this astonishing score. One thing we do know, however, is that she was a voracious reader.
Marilyn was frequently photographed with books in hand and owned a personal library of 430 volumes, including a number of first editions that would impress many a fellow bibliophile.
Marilyn’s most famously-worn dress sold at auction for nearly $5 million.
Both on and off the screen, Monroe’s sadly brief life was full of unbelievable moments. Perhaps the last of these show-stopping moments happened on May 19, 1962, when she sang Happy Birthday to the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, at Madison Square Garden.
Monroe sings to John F. Kennedy during the Madison Square Garden event || Photo via White House Photographs
While the President’s birthday was actually May 29, the event was planned around a huge gala fundraiser. Needless to say, Monroe attended the glamorous occasion in one of the most stunning gowns to date.
The rhinestone-riddled gown, covered in more than 2,500 crystals, was put up for auction in November 2016, where it sold for $4.8 million. Marilyn’s dress now lives in our very own collection, here at Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
One of Marilyn’s beloved pups was given to her by Frank Sinatra.
Owning many canine companions over the course of her life, Marilyn was most certainly a dog person. In the early 1940s, she owned Ruffles the spaniel and Hugo the basset hound, who was given to her by her then-husband, Arthur Miller. She also had Josepha, a teeny chihuahua, Muggsie, a collie, and Tippy, a black and white canine, over the course of her life. But her loving pups didn’t stop there!
Marilyn also owned a Maltese, who was given to her by another one of her celebrity connections: Frank Sinatra! Mafia Honey was the dog’s name—Maf for short. She humorously named the pup after Frank’s alleged connection to the Mafia. After Marilyn’s passing, Maf was given to a member of Sinatra’s staff.
Even after death, Marilyn received roses from her husband, Joe DiMaggio.
After Marilyn’s tragic passing in 1962, her husband, Joe DiMaggio, had quite a difficult time speaking about and coping with the death of his wife. Despite their separation and marital issues, the two shared a love that lasted to her final days, and beyond.
Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio after getting married at the San Francisco City Hall from the May 1961 issue of TV-Radio Mirror.
DiMaggio claimed her body and arranged for her funeral. He never remarried and rarely spoke about Monroe during his life. Following her passing, he organized to have roses delivered three times a week to her burial site for 20 years.
“I’ll go to my grave regretting and blaming myself for what happened to her,” DiMaggio is quoted as saying in Dinner With DiMaggio. “Sinatra told me later that ‘Marilyn loved me anyway, to the end.’”
By Chris Littlechild, contributor for Ripleys.com
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON!
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Source: A Behind-The-Scenes Look Into The Life Of Marilyn Monroe
September 9, 2020
The Curious History And Remarkable Reinvention Of The Pyrophone
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Music fans in the mid-to-late 19th century had a blast playing the pyrophone—literally! That’s because the odd sounds made by pyrophone players—pyrophonists, naturally—were the result of explosions taking place inside a series of glass tubes, triggered by a keyboard.
It was back in the 1870s that physicist and musician, Georges Frédéric Eugène Kastner, invented the pyrophone, after picking up on an earlier discovery about the behavior of hydrogen flames when applied to glass tubes.
His first invention, the “fire organ,” just didn’t seem to catch on. But, that doesn’t mean it was entirely forgotten.
Back in 2014, Brooklyn-based inventor and artist, Andy Cavatorta, revisited the pyrophone for a collaboration with the band Cold War Kids. Cavatorta, who has also collaborated with artists like Bjork and Nick Cave, specializes in sound and robotics. “Making music with vibrating gasses and plasmas seemed full of possibilities,” he says.
In doing so, Cavatorta was able to rejuvenate sounds that had been lost to the ages. His modern-day pyrophone stood 13 feet tall and incorporated 24 tubes, capable of producing “low notes so deep that they shook your bones in your flesh,” he tells Ripley’s. “It sounded like a humpback whale fronting a death metal band.”
Photo courtesy of Dustin Cohen
He explains that a pyrophone works due to something called “entrainment.”
“The flame vibrates like the reed of a saxophone,” he explains. “But it vibrates chaotically, at many different frequencies. The chaotically vibrating flame sets the air column vibrating at its fixed frequencies. And the flame, surrounded by the vibrating air column, is forced into vibrating with the air, reinforcing the musical frequencies.”
All that vibration, he points out, creates quite an unusual hum. “It has layers and layers of rich harmonics,” he describes, “creating a complex ocean of sound. The flame is weightless and free to vibrate in any frequency in which the air can vibrate.”
Despite his own fascination, Cavatorta doesn’t expect the instrument to enjoy widespread popularity anytime soon. “While pyrophones would make a beautiful accompaniment for pipe organs,” he says, “I understand why we don’t use them. They’re terrifying! Like a lovely, controlled explosion contained in a bundle of glass tubing.”
B y Bill Furbee, 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: The Curious History And Remarkable Reinvention Of The Pyrophone
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