Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 209
April 8, 2020
April 7, 2020
The Hallucinatory Voices That Saved A Woman’s Life
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Some of the most tragic medical cases are those of patients whose symptoms go undiagnosed until it’s too late. How can they get the care they need? Sometimes, people are lucky enough to have something sinister discovered by happenstance during a routine check-up or test, but sometimes, there are greater mysteries at work. The curious case of a patient known only as ‘A.B.’ continues to confound the world!
According to one telling of the tale, A.B. was born in Europe in the 1940s, moving to the U.K. around two decades later. She married and started a family there, living an entirely unspectacular—and healthy—life until 1984. This was the year she heard from voices that would go on to save her life.
The Voices From Nowhere
The account reports that A.B. had been reading, one night in the winter of 1984, when she heard a voice in her mind, entirely unlike her own.
“Please don’t be afraid,” it said. “I know it must be shocking for you to hear me speaking to you like this, but this is the easiest way I could think of. My friend and I used to work at the Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street, and we would like to help you.”
A.B. was, as the story goes, understandably shaken by the experience and visited her doctor, who referred her for psychiatric treatment. Several weeks later, the voices hadn’t returned and A.B. took a soothing vacation. The voices weren’t done with her yet, though.
While out of the country, she heard them again. This time, they implored her to return to London, as she supposedly had a medical problem that needed to be resolved without delay. On arriving back in the country, they’d even relayed to her a specific address to visit!
A Correct Diagnosis
This address, it turned out, was that of a London hospital, and A.B. was advised by the voices to ask for a brain scan: she had a tumor, she was told, and an inflamed brain stem. She was skeptical, as was the hospital’s staff since she had no symptoms at all. But, the expensive treatment was arranged.
Sure enough, the Royal Free Hospital detected a brain tumor, and the urgent procedure was carried out without a hitch. Before physicians could have known, before A.B. herself felt the slightest ill effects from her condition, these mysterious voices both knew of her tumor and warned her of it. Both of these things, of course, should have been entirely impossible!
With the operation complete, the story goes that A.B. was given one final, simple message: “We are pleased to have helped you.” With this, the voices bade her farewell and A.B. never heard from them again.
It’s a fascinating tale that differs slightly depending on who is telling it but it certainly has some credibility. It was relayed by Dr. Ikechukwu Azuonye in the British Medical Journal, after all, so its roots are no folk legend or simple Internet creepypasta. The question, then, is what really happened here? Is there any possible explanation? A.B. believed she had a guardian angel, but the truth of the matter may have been simpler.
Guardian Angel Or Mundane Explanation?
In Switzerland in 2017, a woman in her late forties reported that he had heard voices from above, which asked her to offer herself as a divine sacrifice. Under their instruction, she stabbed herself multiple times. In reviewing the unique and disturbing case, psychiatrists have concluded that a tumor growing on her brain had affected her thinking throughout her life. Depending on the region of the brain affected, patients can hear voices, sometimes for prolonged periods and in vivid detail.
This woman reported hearing these divine voices earlier throughout her life, at age 13, 23, 32 and 41, experiencing surges of religious feeling each time. Recovering from her injuries, she was given an MRI scan, which revealed a very slow-growing tumor that she may have had since her childhood.
Was A.B.’s case similar? Did her brain tumor cause her to hear voices that warned her about her brain tumor? While there’s been no case quite like this in medical history, it’s certainly possible. After all, the voices are known to have disappeared following the successful operation and A.B. had no issues since.
She attended a medical conference with Dr. Azuonye where various possibilities were put forward. It was even suggested that A.B. may have created the fanciful story while in Europe, coming to the UK to have the expensive procedure performed for free under the National Health Service. However, A.B. had lived in the country for a decade and a half prior to hearing the voices, so that theory seems unlikely.
Perhaps the voices were symptomatic of her tumor, or perhaps she was vaguely aware that something was wrong herself—two possibilities that Dr. Azuonye personally supported. With no definitive answer, though, we can’t discount the possibility that something more spectacular saved A.B.’s life.
By Chris Littlechild, contributor for Ripleys.com
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Three Places The Ark Of The Covenant Could Be Hidden
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
While the movies might have you thinking the Ark of the Covenant is a Biblical superweapon, real scholars and holy men have some other ideas about this holy relic. Some believe it’s in Ethiopia, while others claim it has remained in the same place for millennia.
This week, we talk to three people who have searched for the lost Ark of the Covenant. Grab your fedora and bullwhip as Brent and Ryan explore their stories…
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For more weird news and strange stories, visit our homepage, and be sure to rate and share this episode of the Notcast!
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Source: Three Places The Ark Of The Covenant Could Be Hidden
April 6, 2020
The Century-Old Mystery Of Winged Cats
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Winged cats are a popular motif across art and literature, from renaissance art to the children’s book series Catwings. Their reoccurring appearance leaves us to wonder: could winged cats really exist? The answer might not be the resounding “no” you think it is…
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is no stranger to the vast world of animal anomolies. With everything from cow hairballs to unicorn goats and deer and two-headed cows, we have real taxidermy specimens of many animal oddities. Beyond those, we have many examples of so-called gaff-taxidermy—taxidermy specimens that are fake but often presented as real (think the jackalope). These winged cats, however, make no appearance in our collection.
Barring early history, where cats across millennia have been depicted with wings in mythology, the modern sightings of cats with “wings” can be traced back at least 100 years. One of the earliest known mentions of a winged cat is from Henry David Thoreau, who described a winged cat at a farmhouse in 1842. According to Thoreau, the cat had long hairy appendages sprouting from its body, but that they fell off in the spring and were kept by the writer in his private collection for a time. Thoreau had no reason to think the cat was capable of flight, however. Calling these appendages “wings” was just poetic. They were actually just clumps of matted fur.
Nevertheless, over a century later, news of winged cats still circulates the news cycle from time to time.
In 2008, newspapers reported a winged calico in China, and in 2012, the video of a winged cat above appeared, with people in the video touching and showing off its “wings.” Over the years there have been countless sightings of winged felines, reported from the public and veterinarians. There are even photos and videos of them, with pairs of tiny sheets of fluff coming from their backs.
This has led some to speculate whether Thoreau’s observations were just a coincidence. Some people have posted comments suggesting crossbreeding or even divine intervention to explain these creatures, but no bird or bat could ever make hybrids with cats. As for divine order, no one could say for certain, but experts have a few guesses as to what could cause these apparent growths.
Sarah Hartwell at Messybeast lists three possibilities for these strange creatures:
First, you may notice when looking through pictures of winged cats that most of them are long-haired. Some long-haired cats struggle to groom themselves, especially on their backs, and the hair can become matted. Humans can easily clip or brush out mats of fur, which look like flapping wings when the cat runs.
A second possibility is that some of the cats may have a condition that makes their skin overly-elastic and fragile. This is called cutaneous asthenia and is the feline equivalent of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. As a cat crouches, skin can bunch up behind her arms and stretch to form folds like wings on her back. In some cases, you could even stretch out their fur-covered skin flaps like wings long enough for a photo.
The third explanation is that the cat could have been born with extra limbs, as a mutation or a partial conjoined twin. If a kitten was born with extra arms in the right spot, they might sort of look like wings.
Sadly, all of these conditions can harm, or at least be uncomfortable for the cat. It’s lucky, then, that these mythical beasts are so rare.
By Kristin Hugo, contributor for Ripleys.com
Kristin Hugo is a science journalist with writing in National Geographic, Newsweek, and PBS Newshour. She’s especially experienced in covering animals, bones, and anything weird or gross. When not writing, Kristin is spray painting and cleaning bones in her New York City yard. Find her on Twitter at @KristinHugo , Tumblr at @StrangeBiology , and Instagram at @thestrangebiology .
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April 5, 2020
April 4, 2020
April 3, 2020
The Knowledge Of London Cab Drivers
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Nowadays there’s no shortage of ways to get around and plenty of technology to assist, but one of the most traditional methods of transportation is sticking to its guns—the London Black Cab. Officially known the Hackney Carriage, London Cabs are required to be tested on “The Knowledge”: possibly the hardest test in the world! Move over navigation, these cabbies have no need for you.
Back in the day, glove boxes were full of folded up paper maps depicting highways, interstates, and intertwined colored lines that were supposed to get you from point A to point B. Flash forward to today and that calming voice on your phone tells you turn-by-turn exactly which route to take. But what if I took away your paper maps and your cell phone voice and told you to rely on your mind to get you where you needed to go. Seems impossible, right? Not so much for the common London cab driver!
When you jump in a London cab, hailed down with the traditional method of a raised arm, you open the door and simply tell the driver where you want to go. And they take you there—no GPS, no navigation, no backseat driver. Believe It or Not!, London cabbies are required to have “The Knowledge.” Aside from intense memorization skills, The Knowledge is an extensive guide to the city that has been required learning for London cabbies since 1865! Great for you, but a grueling testing process that literally takes years to complete.
Think it’s all rubbish? The driver that our cheery English Cool Stuff correspondent, Adam Doricott, spoke to took a total of 42 months to pass The Knowledge from start to finish. He talked him through the whole process…
It starts with the Blue Book, but this one isn’t for car values. It contains 320 “runs” around Central London, a six-mile radius from Charing Cross Station to be precise, with a few main routes through the rest of London thrown in for good measure. It’s detailed, too. Not just your main route. All in all, you end up with 25,000 streets to learn. On top of the overwhelming routes, drivers also have to learn 60,000 points of interest. SIXTY THOUSAND. You name it, it’s on there—from hotels to hospitals, clubs to crematoriums.
We can all agree that this is a lot to take in. It isn’t something you can just sit at home and learn from the book, either. You’ve got to get out into the streets and explore for yourself—almost muscle memory style. Drivers usually drive their routes every single day, and it’s not uncommon to see trainees—known as Knowledge boys and girls—learning via scooter with the day’s lesson clipped to their handlebars—thought to give a better visual of the road and its surroundings.
Knowledge boys and girls are given two years to train. It’s not something you can crank out in a long weekend. The driver Adam spoke with said it ends up being a bunch of “nursery rhymes” you learn as you go.
The fun doesn’t stop with singing “Ring Around the Piccadilly.” There’s actually a written test. Drivers are quizzed on the required runs and the landmarks along them. Once the written test is conquered, the final stage is known as appearances.
Appearances are intimidating to say the least. Adam’s driver gave a very detailed description of how it goes: You sit face-to-face with an examiner. He described it like “being in front of the headmaster when you know you’re in trouble,” as everything is being judged here—not just what you’ve spent two years memorizing, but also your manners. When you “plonk your bum down,” as he so nicely put it, the examiner will call-out a start and endpoint. One must name where those points are on the street and cite the shortest and straightest route in parrot-fashion. For example, if I got the first run in the book, Manor House Station to Gibson Square, from memory I’d have to reply:
“Leave on the left Greens Lane, right into Brownswood Road, left into Blackstock Road, forward Highbury Park, forward Highbury Grove. Right into St Pauls Road, comply at Highbury Corner, leave by Upper Street, right into Barnsbury Street, left into Milner Square, forward into Milner Place and Gibson Square is facing.”
You do this four times every appearance, and start out doing them 56 days apart. Pass those and it drops to 28, then every 21. If you don’t pass, you have to start that set of appearances all over again. After appearances are passed, it’s a simple repeat of the UK driving test and then what should be a relatively easy test on the 25 suburban routes.
So there you have it, we’re now a fraction of the way to becoming a London Cab Driver. Do you think you’d be able to tackle The Knowledge, or is it truly the toughest exam in the world? Let us know in the comments below.
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