Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 243
October 22, 2019
October 21, 2019
October 20, 2019
October 19, 2019
The Ouija Board: Summoner Of Spirits Or Vintage Dating Game?
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
While some collectors stick to hunting more traditional pieces like minted coins or antique stamps, one group of enthusiasts takes the term “collection” to a whole other level with their totally above-average stash of Ouija boards. John Kozik, Treasurer of the Talking Board Historical Society, decided it was time to share his collection, years of research, findings, and knowledge with the public—and thus, the Salem Witch Board Museum was born. If you thought you knew everything there was to know about Ouija, we’re here to say, you may be sadly mistaken.
Leave No Stone Left Unturned
To no surprise, a museum of this magnitude was not born overnight. Kozik has spent the last twelve years on the hunt for Ouija and talking boards. His love began as a child, watching his grandmother independently use the board. As the planchette seemingly glided automatically from letter to letter, Kozik was fascinated by her connection to the Ouija. Knowing this personal family tie, we were eager to learn more about John’s experiences with the board, but his answer perplexed us—he’s never used one.
Coming from a man with over 300+ boards hanging in his home and museum, you can see how this news comes as a bit of a shock. His reasoning? Admirable.
“You know when you watch an incredibly talented artist—like Jimi Hendrix—play the guitar and think, ‘Well, why even try? I’ll never be as good as he is.’ That’s how I felt about my grandma with the Ouija.”
And though he’s not an avid user, Kozik is certainly an avid collector. His motto as a collector is to “Leave no stone left unturned,” a mantra proven quite successful in his years of hunting. He’s made himself known to hundreds of shops, antique stores, online vendors, Facebook friends, and passers-by so that, inevitably, when someone, somewhere stumbles across a new Ouija find, the first and only person they go to is Kozik. His plethora of Ouija-seeking friends across the world has been the key to his robust collection—the main ingredient to the Witch Board Museum.
Spelling Out Ouija History
Nestled in the heart of Salem, Massachusetts, between the storefronts of Essex Street, the Salem Witch Board Museum opened its doors this past September. Kozik curated the layout and structure specifically for visitors, giving everyone the ability to truly travel through time with the Ouija board.
Kennard Novelty Company Ouija Board
Talking boards are historically significant, having existed in one form or another since shortly after 1848, the birth of Modern Spiritualism. The first glass case upon entry of the museum takes visitors on a journey back to when the earliest handmade board was constructed. While the inventor of the talking board is difficult to truly define, we can date its start of booming popularity back to the wedding of Grover Cleveland.
Here Comes the Board
In 1886, President Grover Cleveland held office and was in the midst of planning his in-house wedding at the White House. Taking full advantage of this potential press opportunity, a Witch Board was sent to Cleveland as a wedding gift.
“I acknowledge with thanks the ‘witch board’ which you sent me as a wedding present. I accept it as an evidence of kind feeling and friendship and can admire it for its ingenuity, but I hardly think that I shall immediately test its power to ‘disclose the past and forecast the future.'”
And though President Cleveland never exercised the powers of the Witch Board while in the Oval Office, the media coverage of this gift, and his response, spring-boarded the popularity of the Ouija everywhere. Believe It or Not!, Kozik’s great-great-grandfather, William Gidley, was actually a part of Grover Cleveland’s secret service—another historically binding thread in Kozik’s family ties to the Ouija.
Aside from President Cleveland’s unintentional press, we can thank Helen Peters Nosworthy for a large chunk of the Ouija’s upbringing.
Not many people know about Nosworthy—the woman responsible for helping to get the board patented. Helen, accompanied by her brother-in-law, Elijah Board, headed to the patent office, talking board in hand. And to no surprise, clerk after clerk refused to grant the patent on this unordinary project until finally, they reached the chief patent clerk—his proposition? “I don’t know you and you don’t know me. If you can tell me my name, using the talking board, I will issue the patent.”
Helen was a strong medium, she used the board, told the clerk his name, and the patent was issued. Months later, Helen asked the board what it would like to be called— it spelled back O-U-I-J-A. With that, the most famous talking board, Ouija, was introduced in 1890 by the Kennard Novelty Company. And from here, the world of Ouija truly exploded.
Summoner of Spirits or Old-School Dating Game?
Moving along to the second case of the museum, the displays begin to depict the “commercialization” and off-brand imitations of the Ouija board. And while many companies attempted to replicate, duplicate, and loop-hole the design with their knockoff brands, each iteration was shut down as a result of the protected patent.
Post-World War II, the Ouija was extremely popular. Advertisements, posters, and ads flooded the media with the board shown in many different contexts. From post-mortem communication with lost loved ones to basement slumber parties to a new means of dating, the board was becoming a common household object. For just $1.50 a pop, the classic wooden piece was selling like hotcakes. And while to the public, it seemed as though the manufacturing companies had a smooth ride to success, there was a feud brewing in the interim.
Ninety-Six Years of Silence
At the time, William Fuld and his brother, Isaac, were producing the Ouija until the two began to butt heads, leaving the family no choice but to part ways. In the meantime, Isaac produced his own iteration of the board called “The Oriole Board,” while both William fought long and hard to hold sole ownership of the Ouija name. The two battled in court for many years.
On February 24, 1927, while overseeing the replacement of a flagpole, William Fuld was tragically killed by complications falling from the roof of his three-story Harford, Lamont, and Federal Street factory. He suffered a “concussion of the brain, five fractured ribs, a broken arm, a fractured leg, and numerous cuts and bruises.” An employee, who witnessed the fall, rushed him to the hospital where he later died from one of his broken ribs piercing his heart. His words on his deathbed to the rest of his family:
“Don’t sell Ouija.”
But despite his dying words, the Fuld family did just that. In 1966, Parker Brothers began manufacturing the board in Salem. It even outsold Monopoly in 1967!
Ree-murch-ing the Fulds
The Fuld family remained divided far past the lifetime of the brothers—96 years of silence. Until one day, a man named Robert Murch reopened the long-closed family book. He had seen the name “William Fuld” on the side of a Ouija box and decided that the Fuld family tree was a great place to start learning more about the board.
As an avid collector himself, Murch began contacting both sides of Fuld grandchildren—separately, of course—to learn the history of Ouija from their perspective. After much back and forth, Murch helped to bridge the gap and rekindle the broken flame of the Fulds, for the sake of the Ouija. He found great success in doing so and even attends their family reunions! Murch was also gifted the pocketwatch of William Fuld from his grandchildren. And while it may seem like a small token of their appreciation, the watch was actually in Fuld’s pocket at the time of his fatal fall—the hands were stopped at his “time of death.”
Robert Murch serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Talking Board Historical Society, which he founded. It was his idea to bring together this eclectic group of talking board enthusiasts. To no surprise, Kozik happily joined this group and is grateful for the role it has played in bringing the Salem Witch Board Museum to life. This corner of history houses some of the earliest boards, dating to the most recent iterations. Guests truly travel through time and across the world when they step through the door of the museum. And while it’s filled to the brim with classics, replicas, and even an original Ouija printing press, Kozik’s favorite board hangs high above the rest: a family heirloom, if you will—his grandmother’s Ouija.
The Ouija board evokes so many different emotions, perceptions, and opinions to those who use it. Some believe it summons all things evil, and some believe in the good. Some perceive the board as a toy and others would consider toying with it a true crime. Some are admirers of the mystery and are intrigued by the stories others tell. And others, are the storytellers themselves. So, whether you’re an enthusiast who loves the unknown, like John, or an avid user and spiritual believer, like his grandmother, it’s safe to say what we have on paper will never fully uncover what lies beneath the Ouija.
Source: The Ouija Board: Summoner Of Spirits Or Vintage Dating Game?
October 18, 2019
The Legendary Impaled Skull Of Phineas Gage
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
BOSTON — There it sat, in all its dreadful glory.
The skull, one of the most famous in the world, was there in the case—with two huge chunks of bone removed—sitting alongside a more than three-foot-long, iron rod.
Ah, yes. The legendary case holding the cranium of Phineas Gage.
There I stood alone on the fifth floor of Harvard Medical School’s Warren Anatomical Museum. Sure, I could hear voices of others behind thick wooden doors. But as for true company, the only human remains in sight were me, and the hollowed head of Mr. Gage himself. I tried to take myself back—imagining what it must have been like on Sept. 13, 1848.
Photo by Ryan Clark
On this day, Gage, a New Hampshire native, was blasting rock for the Rutland & Burlington Railroad in Vermont: boring a hole into the rock, filling it with blasting powder and adding a fuse. It was then covered with dirt or clay and pounded into the space with a tool called a tamping iron—a three-and-a-half-foot long iron rod.
As the story goes, Gage turned to say something to his fellow workers, which put his face in front of the blast hole. The tamping iron then sparked on the rock, causing it to explode.
And Gage’s life—and most importantly, his skull—would never be the same.
The 13-pound rod shot up into his face, point-first, entering at the left lower jaw and continuing through his cheek. It passed his left eye, shot the left side of his brain and exited the top of his head, passing through the frontal lobe.
It landed nearly 80 feet away.
Gage landed on his back, and according to some reports, went into convulsions. But after a few minutes, not only was he still alive, he sat up and began to speak. He even walked—with some assistance—back to a cart that took him to a local doctor who cleaned and treated his wounds.
Photo by Ryan Clark
The weeks that followed were uneven. Gage faded in and out of consciousness. Some days he remembered family members and friends while on others, he had no recollection of who they were. Eventually losing sight in his left eye, Gage continued on the road to recovery. Against all odds, he improved, and after a month, he was walking.
Ten weeks later, he moved back to his hometown with his parents, helping them with some light work on their farm. And while some noted a change in personality, as well as some memory loss, Gage seemed to be recovering.
After four years, he was physically well, though he couldn’t get his railroad job back. Instead, he started making appearances with the Barnum American Museum in New York City, telling his story to earn a living. He then went to work for a stable and coach service in Hanover, New Hampshire.
And while he seemed to be getting his life back on track, those close to him knew he wasn’t the same man. Personality-wise, he’d gone from courteous to selfish, and he’d transformed from someone with an acute business sense to someone who had no sense of how to handle money. He “was no longer Gage,” his friends would say.
However, he was alive.
In 1852, he was invited to Chile to do similar stable and coachwork. Here he stayed for seven years before falling ill and returning home. But this time, he never got better.
He died in 1860 at the age of 36—incredibly, almost 12 years after being impaled with the rod.
Sometime during his recovery, he donated the iron rod to the Harvard Medical School. After his death, his skull was donated, too. And there they were, right in front of me. Anyone can pay Phineas Gage’s skull and the impalement rod a visit—they’re housed in the Harvard museum, which is a part of the medical school.
And while Harvard Medical School is full of marvels and curious exhibits, nothing tops the man who took an iron spike through the head and lived to tell the tale.
By Ryan Clark, contributor for Ripleys.com
Animal Blood Mysteriously Floods Iowa Basement
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
This Week
[October 13-19th, 2019] A basement of blood, living whale carcass, funeral prank, and the rest of the week’s weird news from Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Basement Fills With Animal Blood
Just in time for Halloween, one Iowan family began living a nightmare as their basement filled with blood. Seemingly coming from nowhere, the Lestina family was getting ready to sell their house when the family basement filled with five inches of dark red liquid. Floating amongst the blood were animal bones and fat. It turns out, a meat processor next door had been dumping its waste down the drain, and the drain was overflowing into the basement. As they work with their insurance and the Department of Health, they’re left with a red basement and a blood-soaked racecar bed they had been saving for their toddler.
Live Whale Fall
A whale’s death is a momentous occasion for seafloor scavengers. Known as a whale fall, cetacean bodies become a source of food and nutrients for undersea creatures that eat their flesh, skin, and even bones. Rare to find in the various processes of decomposition, a team of researchers at Nautilus Live was overjoyed to find a whale fall covered in octopuses. They found the whale carcass while surveying the seafloor and were able to record the rarely captured early stages of whale decomposition.
The Last Laugh
We’ve covered deceased clowns before, but never has someone’s sense of humor lived so strongly in death. Shay Bradley died on October 8th, but he still had a prank in store for his loving family. As his casket was lowered into the ground at his funeral, a voice suddenly erupted from his grave. “Hello? Hello. Hello? Let me out!” yelled the deceased man. The pleas were followed by a series of knocks and curses. Some attendees didn’t know what to think, but soon realized it was a prank. The message had been recorded while Bradley was alive and ended with a farewell song.
Funeral in dublin yesterday he’s alive pic.twitter.com/j18uFJ5aA4
— Lfcgigiddy1122 (@lfcgigiddy1122) October 13, 2019
Goldfish Tariff
Amongst the steel, aluminum, and consumer goods tariffs placed on China in the past year and a half, a new industry has become an unexpected victim of international trade policy: goldfish. The goldfish tariff sits at 25%, meaning your typical ten-dollar goldfish now costs an extra $2.50. While this isn’t much for the casual pet owner, some exotic pet traders aren’t too happy. With fish that can sell for up to a thousand dollars, fish breeders are complaining they’re likely to pay an extra $300,000 in tariffs this year alone!
Shark-Bitten Great White
They say all’s fair in love and war, and apparently that also goes for massive great white sharks. A specimen tagged for research by OCEARCH turned up with a serious bite wound on the side of his face. Nicknamed Vimy, the 13-foot 1,200-pound predator of the seas is believed to have been bitten by an even larger shark. Researchers guess Vimy either got in a fight with another great white over a mate or perhaps got a little too frisky with a larger female. Either way, the attacker is believed to measure at least 15 feet long.
October 17, 2019
Does Alcohol Evaporate Out Of Food When Cooked?
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Lager-spiked beef chili, beer-broiled bratwursts, coq au vin, chicken marsala, pork brined in rum. Ah, nothing says delicious quite like alcohol-saturated dishes—especially when it comes to beer or wine-infused meat: tender, moist, and downright delectable.
Of course, if you’ve ever watched a chef on TV or cracked open a cookbook to make one of these recipes, you’ve probably come across advice like, “Let the dish simmer for a few minutes to cook out any remaining alcohol.”
This begs the question: does alcohol actually evaporate out of food when cooked? Yes and no. Read on for the skinny on cooking with booze.
Why You Might Get Burned by Your Next Flambé
In 1992, a team of researchers from the US Department of Agriculture’s Nutrient Laboratory took part in an in-depth study exploring alcohol retention during food preparation. They started by examining perhaps the most iconic alcohol-based dish of them all, the flambé.
Chef making a flambé.
The French term flambé translates as “flamed” or “flaming” and refers to food doused with cognac, brandy, or rum and then set on fire. The technique makes for an unforgettable dinner table display—although one that could leave guests springing for the fire extinguisher. From Bourbon Shrimp Flambé to French Caribbean Bananas Flambé, and even Mangoes Flambé, plenty of dishes get prepared this way.
So, researchers wanted to study just how much alcohol evaporates while the flambé briefly combusts. To do this, they prepared the dish and took alcohol content measurements both before and after ignition. What they discovered thoroughly shocked them.
Despite being engulfed by flames, the dish maintained approximately 70 to 75 percent of its alcohol content! Now, that’s a recipe for a hangover.
But, the research didn’t stop there.
The “Buzz” About Longer Cooking Times
Scientists next turned to other forms of food preparation to study alcohol retention. They soon realized that the idea of removing alcohol from a dish through cooking does contain a grain of truth. But, it requires more than a quick scorching.
Evaporating alcohol from a dish takes hours, rather than minutes. As the US Department of Agriculture’s researchers discovered, a dish heated to boiling point and cooked for 15 minutes still retains about 40 percent of its original alcohol content.
When you up this to 30 minutes, 35 percent of the alcohol content originally present in the dish remains. All told, it takes more than two and a half hours of boiling to reduce the alcohol content of a dish to just five percent.
Does that mean foregoing your favorite recipes forever?
Not necessarily. After all, alcohol greatly enhances the flavor of many recipes while providing a mouthwatering aroma. But, you’ll need to commit to much longer cooking times than those suggested on many television shows and in numerous cookbooks. Some chefs also suggest non-alcoholic swaps such as flavored extracts, vinegars, and juices.
The Great Disappearing Alcohol Myth
Simmering a dish for five to 10 minutes won’t do much to the wine, beer, or other spirits used in the recipe; neither will setting the entire dish on fire. But if you commit to cooking recipes for hours at a time, you can preserve the delicious flavor of alcoholic enhancement without the buzz. Or, consider extracts, vinegars, and juices to mimic the flavors and aromas of wine and spirits.
No matter what you decide, remain cautious about cooking booze-infused dishes for guests. While a final alcohol content of 10 percent or less might not bother most adults, it’s a different story when it comes to children and those who abstain from alcohol for a variety of personal reasons.
And whatever you do, don’t flambé and drive!
By Engrid Barnett, contributor for Ripleys.com
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