Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 275
May 8, 2019
May 7, 2019
Mama Lou, A Strongwoman In A Strongman’s World
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
The strongman may have been the cornerstone of human power during the era of circuses, but Mama Lou redefines what it means to be a strong woman. She can tear phone books in half, crush apples with her biceps, roll frying pans into tubes, pound nails into wood with her bare hands, and even snap pencils with her butt.
Linsey Lindberg ran away with the circus in New York City. After polishing her comedy chops in a clown troupe, she started to make the transition to an aerialist. As she practiced hanging from ropes, lifting her body with her arms, and training physically, however, she noticed her body may not have had the flexibility needed to be an aerialist, but was incredibly tough and strong.
As she began performing on the streets, moonlighting her circus skills, she realized that bringing an aerial rig outside wasn’t realistic. So, she used her newfound strength to woo crowds by lifting and smashing things.
“It quickly became so much more than just a little side hustle. I really loved it, performing stunts for people, and I loved breaking things. It was the path that brought me to the exact perfect thing for me.”
Mama Lou quickly became a star, traveling across the world to perform for crowds all over the world—even for the president of Fiji.
While Mama Lou’s aerialist training led her to the life of a strongwoman, it’s more than practice that allows her to accomplish her feats of strength. Many times after performing her strongwoman show, she’s had men and women ask her to teach them how to rip phone books or bend pans. Some of them, she says, should be more than strong enough to rip a phone book in half, but she’s had men break down weeping trying to match her feats of strength. Likewise, she’s tried to train other women to break apples with their biceps, and found that they have a much harder time than she did, even when she was just starting out. She doesn’t train with weights or machines herself, but instead simply practices what she wants to do. “the best way to smash an apple with your bicep,” she says, “is to put an apple in there and do it.”
“I get strong by breaking things.”
While her body seems to have a special touch when it comes to strength, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a lot of hard work. She got where she is by never giving up, and hopes to stand as a model for young women. Mama Lou is more than just a powerhouse in strength. She’s easily just as funny as she is strong, and has found creative ways to take some of the stress off her arms and hands.
“The human arm is not meant to be a nutcracker.”
As she toured and performed daily, crushing pans and apples at will, she had to find some other stunts to entertain audiences. Looking to her other muscles, she trained her tongue to lift weights and her lungs to burst hot water bottles. Some of her stunts have even been inspired by audience members. After one show in Montreal, a little boy asked if she could break pencils with her butt.
“I looked at him with all my strongwoman-ness and I said, ‘Probably. Yeah.’ I went home that night to my room, and I got an entire box of pencils, and I shut the door. And I didn’t come out until I could bust things with my butt muscles.”
Just being strong sometimes isn’t enough to satisfy crowds. Despite tearing phone books with brute strength and rolling metal pans right in front of people, she finds she still has to bring a man up on stage and best him at a feat of strength to be truly believed.
“Otherwise they think I’m faking it somehow.”
While Mama Lou still has to challenge male audience members to contests of strength—which she always wins—the old-time strongman community welcomed her with open arms. They wanted to see what she can do, and teach her the old-time strongman ways. While strongwomen were a feature in the heyday of circuses and sideshows, Mama Lou notes that many either had to employ tricks or were marketed as brutish or ugly. She, however, doesn’t rely on tricks and doesn’t think that being strong means you have to give up your femininity. Women can be strong and beautiful, as long as they’re true to who they really are. There’s no shortage of little girls who approach her after shows in awe.
“The strongest thing we can do for ourselves is find out the most awesome version of who we are, and present that to the world.”
You can see strongwoman Mama Lou yourself and decide if you Believe It or Not! because she’s joining Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Carnival of Curi-Oddities to dazzle audiences with feats of skill and daredevilry in Asbury Park, New Jersey. From far-fetched feats to biological marvels, this collection of awe-inspiring curi-oddities will spark your imagination, ignite your curiosity, and showcase the truly unbelievable but undeniably true.
Mama Lou, a Strongwoman In A Strongman’s World
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
The strongman may have been the cornerstone of human power during the era of circuses, but Mama Lou redefines what it means to be a strong woman. She can tear phone books in half, crush apples with her biceps, roll frying pans into tubes, pound nails into wood with her bare hands, and even snap pencils with her butt.
Linsey Lindberg ran away with the circus in New York City. After polishing her comedy chops in a clown troupe, she started to make the transition to an aerialist. As she practiced hanging from ropes, lifting her body with her arms, and training physically, however, she noticed her body may not have had the flexibility needed to be an aerialist, but was incredibly tough and strong.
As she began performing on the streets, moonlighting her circus skills, she realized that bringing an aerial rig outside wasn’t realistic, so she used her newfound strength to woo crowds by lifting and smashing things.
“It quickly became so much more than just a little side hustle. I really loved it, performing stunts for people, and I loved breaking things. It was the path that brought me to the exact perfect thing for me.”
Mama Lou quickly became a star, traveling across the world to perform for crowds all over the world—even for the president of Fiji.
While Mama Lou’s aerialist training led her to the life of a strongwoman, it’s more than practice that allows her to accomplish her feats of strength. Many times after performing her strongwoman show, she’s had men and women ask her to teach them how to rip phone books or bend pans. Some of them, she says, should be more than strong enough to rip a phone book in half, but she’s had men break down weeping trying to match her feats of strength. Likewise, she’s tried to train other women to break apples with their biceps, and found that they have a much harder time than she did, even when she was just starting out. She doesn’t train with weights or machines herself, but instead simply practices what she wants to do. “the best way to smash an apple with your bicep,” she says, “is to put an apple in there and do it.”
“I get strong by breaking things.”
While her body seems to have a special touch when it comes to strength, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a lot of hard work. She got where she is by never giving up, and hopes to stand as a model for young women. Mama Lou is more than just a powerhouse in strength. She’s easily just as funny as she is strong, and has found creative ways to take some of the stress off her arms and hands.
“The human arm is not meant to be a nutcracker.”
As she toured and performed daily, crushing pans and apples at will, she had to find some other stunts to entertain audiences. Looking to her other muscles, she trained her tongue to lift weights and her lungs to burst hot water bottles. Some of her stunts have even been inspired by audience members. After one show in Montreal, a little boy asked if she could break pencils with her butt.
“I looked at him with all my strongwoman-ness and I said, ‘Probably. Yeah.’ I went home that night to my room, and I got an entire box of pencils, and I shut the door. And I didn’t come out until I could bust things with my butt muscles.”
Just being strong sometimes isn’t enough to satisfy crowds. Despite tearing phone books with brute strength and rolling metal pans right in front of people, she finds she still has to bring a man up on stage and best him at a feat of strength to be truly believed.
“Otherwise they think I’m faking it somehow.”
While Mama Lou still has to challenge male audience members to contests of strength—which she always wins—the old-time strongman community welcomed her with open arms. They wanted to see what she can do, and teach her the old-time strongman ways. While strongwomen were a feature in the heyday of circuses and sideshows, Mama Lou notes that many either had to employ tricks or were marketed as brutish or ugly. She, however, doesn’t rely on tricks and doesn’t think that being strong means you have to give up your femininity. Women can be strong and beautiful, as long as they’re true to who they really are. There’s no shortage of little girls who approach her after shows in awe.
“The strongest thing we can do for ourselves is find out the most awesome version of who we are, and present that to the world.”
You can see strongwoman Mama Lou yourself and decide if you Believe It or Not! because she’s joining Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Carnival of Curi-Oddities to dazzle audiences with feats of skill and daredevilry in Asbury Park, New Jersey. From far-fetched feats to biological marvels, this collection of awe-inspiring curi-oddities will spark your imagination, ignite your curiosity, and showcase the truly unbelievable but undeniably true.
May 6, 2019
Funeral Homes Were the First to Provide Ambulances
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Ambulance services became common after the Civil War, and funeral home directors were some of the first to get in on the gig. In the early days, the lifesaving vehicles were powered by horses and featured sparse equipment—usually just a stretcher, blanket, and some whiskey to numb the pain.
A horse-drawn Civil War ambulance.
Funeral directors were involved in the ambulance business through the early 1970s. It made sense, as a major requirement for transporting patients was a vehicle that could accommodate a person lying down—hearses were perfect for the job. Not only that, those in the funeral business were also available 24 hours a day and had some medical know-how.
Hearses served as both vehicles to transport coffins to funerals and to take sick and injured individuals to hospitals. These vehicles required just a few quick changes to serve one purpose or the other. By the 1960s, more than 50 percent of ambulances were hearses, station wagons, trucks, and vans.
Funeral homes typically had at least one vehicle that doubled as an ambulance, according to Kevin Kirby, a coroner and owner of J.C. Kirby & Son Funeral Chapels in Kentucky. Eventually, the ambulances were equipped with two-way radios and oxygen. Law enforcement had a list of funeral homes they would call for emergency assistance. Police officers even helped funeral directors load patients into the ambulances.
A photo from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, taken in 1911 depicts Southeast Missouri Undertaking Co.’s new ambulance, which was the first one in the county. The image shows embalmer E.P. Thomas at the back of the vehicle. A newspaper at the time described the vehicle as “one of the latest designs” and “equal to those used in the largest cities.” The undertaking company also received a new hearse on the same day.
Cape County’s ambulance had alarm signal gongs and was ahead of its time by providing a speaking tube that fostered “instant communication” between the driver and attendant. The horses and equipment were on call 24/7. The majority of patients involved injured or sick passengers from the county’s railroad depot.
The horses were replaced with modern motorized ambulances in 1917. By 1968, nine funeral homes in Cape County had ambulances, but that year they stopped providing services due to new regulations on medical transport.
The ambulance business changed drastically in 1966 after Congress passed the Highway Safety Act, which set regulations on ambulance design and emergency medical care. New standards on medical training, equipment and vehicles made it hard for funeral homes to abide by the regulations. Ambulance services also became very costly. This forced many funeral directors to give up the ambulance side of their businesses. Hospitals, fire departments, and private and volunteer operators took up the slack.
By the late ’60s and early ’70s ambulances transformed from basic transport vehicles into mini mobile hospitals. This was partially due to the Vietnam War, which expanded trauma treatment and demonstrated that well-trained combat medics who didn’t have medical degrees could save lives by providing on-the-spot care.
By Noelle Talmon, contributor for Ripleys.com
May 5, 2019
May 4, 2019
May 3, 2019
May 2, 2019
Octopuses Don’t Have Eight Arms
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Octopuses have six arms and two legs, not eight tentacles as they are sometimes mistakenly called. The eight-limbed mollusks even have a preference when it comes to which arm they use for eating. Disturbingly, in rare situations, they’ve been known to consume their own arms.
In a 2008 study released by researchers at Sea Life centers across Europe, scientists revealed that octopuses maneuver and crawl around the sea floor using two limbs located on the rear of their bodies. The remaining six limbs are predominantly used for feeding and propulsion.
Scientists analyzed octopus’ behavior and observed them pushing off with their back legs to get over rocks and the seabed. They used the remaining limbs to swim or propel themselves along the ocean floor.
The aim of the study was to determine if the world’s most intelligent invertebrates favor one side of the body or the other, or more specifically if they were left or right handed.
Following 2,000 observations of common octopuses, scientists concluded that cephalopods are ambidextrous; however, many prefer using their third arm from the front to eat. Researchers found that only octopuses who had a weak eye tended to favor one side of arms. This detail is useful for animal caretakers who can feed the cephalopods on their dominant side.
What about the suction cups on the underside of octopus arms? They are actually quite powerful. An average octopus has 240 suckers, and the larger ones can hold up to 35 pounds. The sea creatures can operate them individually and use them to move around and catch prey.
Bored Octopuses Eat Their Arms & Legs
One alarming behavior involving captive octopuses occurs when they get bored. The intelligent cephalopods have been known to eat their own appendages if they are restricted to an environment that doesn’t provide them enough stimulation. This is known as autophagy.
Octopuses also know how to use tools, just like chimpanzees, dolphins, and crows. For example, scientists have observed them stacking up coconut shells to create mobile homes. An octopus named Billye from the Seattle Aquarium was able to open a pill bottle with a snack inside. It initially took her 55 minutes to push, turn, and twist it open, but she eventually learned how to do the task in just five minutes.
And there’s an octopus from New Zealand named Ozy who twisted open a glass jar in just 54 seconds, breaking a record.
By Noelle Talmon, contributor for Ripleys.com
Source: Octopuses Don’t Have Eight Arms
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