Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 312
October 17, 2018
The Secret Firefall Of Yosemite National Park
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Appearing like a mirage when conditions are just right, a small waterfall spilling off the side of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park turns from a misty stream of white water to a smoldering coil of what looks like radiant fire.
Officially named Horsetail Fall, this innocuous flow of water is easily overlooked when feating on the mountainous vista of El Capitan. To see it transform into the Firefall takes patience and luck, affording a rare visit for just two short weeks a year.
The fall itself only flows when the snow has built up enough and begins to melt. The snow conditions also have to line up with the las two weeks of February, when the Sun shines just right across the edge of El Capitan to illuminate the water. The sky itself also has to be very clear for the light to react correctly.
The temperamental conditions of the Firefall meant that very few knew about it for decades. Renowned National parks photographer Ansel Adams snapped images of the fall in the mid-century, but because he used black and white, historians aren’t even sure he knew the flow turned red. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the first picture of the Firefall is known to exist, but, since then, photographers from all over the world have gathered each February hoping for a chance at seeing the Firefall for themselves.
Onlookers note that the water doesn’t just look like it’s being cast in red light, but seems to glow. Though only a trickle of water is necessary to pick up the sunset’s color, 2018 was a paltry year. Extended drought reduced the flow to just drops, stunting the Firefall.
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October 16, 2018
Holding Han Solo’s Blaster
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Seeking to free the Rebel Alliance’s most iconic weapons from the clutches of dusty old boxes in attics on Hollywood Boulevard, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! has been on a quest to give fans new hope that they can see their favorite props—handled by their favorite characters—in real life.
We just bought Han Solo’s blaster for $550,000, our most expensive Star Wars purchase yet. Han Solo’s blaster is only eclipsed by lightsabers and death stars. The fast-firing modified DL-44 blaster is closer to Han than even his furry friend, Chewbacca.
Han’s blaster started as a real pistol. The base is a German Mauser C96 model made by a Japanese company. The accouterments included bits of spare parts that were later replicated with resin molding. A scope and iron sights sit atop the frame, supposedly allowing Han to quickdraw more easily. Apparently, he got a little too zealous on set, though, as our model has a damaged scope.
Firing and non-firing versions were made for Return of the Jedi, and ours is a non-firing type. Unfortunately, this means we won’t be doing any blaster-forensics to determine whether Han actually shot first. Since it didn’t necessitate a firearms safety officer on set, it was likely used quite a bit before it was broken.
Source: Holding Han Solo’s Blaster
The Confusion in Denver at the Capitol Building’s Mile High Steps
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Ready to get a mile high? It’s where the golf balls travel farther, the alcohol makes you drunker and the sun burns you more — because you’re closer to it. Not kidding.
Well, you can do it in Denver, the Mile High City, if you know exactly where to go. Locals will tell you that you must seek out the Capitol Building, specifically the West Side entrance, and only when you’re on the building’s steps will you officially be at 5,280 feet, or a mile high, in the sky.
Or will you?
Because somewhere along the way, the people who created the markers got confused. As of today, there are actually three separate granite steps — at three separate elevations — marking where the official Mile High spot should be. So which one is correct?
The 15th step says “One Mile Above Sea Level,” which it apparently was from 1909 to 1969. Then a group of Colorado State students remeasured, and they decided the marker should be placed on the 18th step. So they put a marker there.
This lasted until 2003 when a separate group of researchers again measured and discovered the 13th step to be correct. So a ceremony was held and the governor gave a speech, and a brass medallion was installed as a marker on the 13th step. It all took place a few feet away from the other markers.
The discrepancy here seems to lie in the method of measurement being used. The North American Vertical Datum is the standard measurement of orthometric height in the U.S., but in the 1960s, measurements were done using a different standard.
Maybe in a few years, we can use another measurement system to install yet another marker on the steps.
Dozens of rumors still exist attempting to explain the reason for the three markers. One person said the building is actually sinking a bit, causing officials to name a new official elevation. But don’t believe the hype.
It hasn’t deterred scores of tourists from visiting the capitol every day to get a selfie at exactly one mile high. That is, except for the Europeans, who always seem a bit less than enthused — possibly because they don’t care what a mile is. They don’t use it.
But for those who do make it part of their trip, it’s worth noting: Elevation sickness is a real thing, and it can make you disturbingly ill. Doctors advise to drink lots of fluids and take breaks if you’re going to be hiking up to high elevations (or if you’re doing any kind of activity).
Interested in other Mile-High markers? Visit these places in the city for more Mile-High views:
Coors Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies.
Highland Bridge
The High Line Canal Trail
Mile High Stadium, home of the National Football League’s Denver Broncos
Everything, it seems, is a mile high in this town. Of course, as we now know, it really depends on who’s doing the measuring.
By Ryan Clark, contributor for Ripleys.com
Source: The Confusion in Denver at the Capitol Building’s Mile High Steps
October 15, 2018
The Mutant Of Dance’s Unbelievable Moves
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Solto Esengulov twists, balances, and morphs his body into unbelievable ways that will have you questioning whether his anatomy is really human.
Originally from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Esengulov is now practicing his dance moves in Los Angeles, California. His moves include balancing on the top of his head, bulging out his shoulder blades, and displacing his abdomen. Esengulov himself describes his unique style as a combination of Bruce Lee moves with the precise actions of a robot.
Combining more than contortionism with dance, Esengulov’s signature move is to grab his windpipe and shift it from one side of his throat to the other. Adding to the awe-inducing moves, he likes to include sound effects into the music tracks he performs to in order to emphasize his body’s unusual movements.
From conga-dancing dogs and bicycling ballerinas, to hair-raising feats of strength and death-defying motorcycle stunts, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! A Century of Strange! is sure to delight readers of all ages. With over 1,200 weird-but-true stories from around the world and 256 pages of wild and wonderful photography, this year’s collection of all things odd is not-to-be-missed.
QUIZ: Which A Century of Strange Personality Are You?
Have your own moves ot match the Mutant of Dance? Find out which friendly (or freaky!) face from Ripley’s Believe It or Not! A Century of Strange you are! Take this quiz to find out!
Don’t miss out on being an ODDthority on everything strange, get your copy on Amazon today!
From Maury Island to Burien: Washington’s UFO Craze Continues
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
On June 21, 1947, Harold Dahl, his son Charles, their family dog, and a two-man crew patrolled the waters near Maury Island on Puget Sound in Washington. Just after two o’clock in the afternoon, six unidentified flying objects allegedly appeared, hovering over the boat. The discs measured 100 feet across with hollow centers like donuts. One of the six saucers struggled to maintain flight, and Dahl feared it would crash into his rig.
Suddenly, a “white metal,” lava-like substance exploded from the “spacecraft.” It showered the boat with fire and debris. Dahl’s dog died instantly. Charles received burns to his arm. Dahl ran his ship aground, and the boat’s passengers made a run for nearby cliffs seeking shelter from the firestorm. As quickly as they’d come, the UFOs vanished. But a new chapter in American history was born—the UFO craze. Read on to learn more about the Maury Island Incident and how it continues to inspire pop culture happenings in Washington.
The Alien Hysteria
By 6:30 am the next morning, a “man in black” stood outside Dahl’s front door threatening his family’s welfare if Dahl spoke a word about the strange events. In little more than 24 hours, two pop culture phenomena sprung to life—flying saucers and Men in Black. But the story doesn’t end there…
In late July, Dahl faced two days of interrogation in Tacoma, Washington, by Army Air Corp Intelligence Officers including Captain William L. Davidson and Lieutenant Frank M. Brown. On August 1, 1947, Davidson and Brown took off in a B-25 bomber with samples of material—slag—that allegedly fell from the Maury Island Incident’s flying discs. According to the plane’s manifesto, they categorized the material as “top secret cargo.”
Thirty minutes into the flight, the B-25 inexplicably caught on fire crashing east of Kelso, Washington. Some newspapers reported it was shot down by a .20 mm cannon. What we do know is that Davidson and Brown became the first two fatalities in Air Force history. August 1, 1947, marked the day the Air Force officially separated from the Army becoming its own military branch.
As reported in the Army’s Final Mission Report, the Army immediately secured the crash site near Kelso until another intelligence officer arrived and recovered the “top secret cargo.” FBI documents associated with the Maury Island Incident would remain classified for the next 50 years.
Summer of the Saucers
The June 21st sighting at Maury Island happened just three days before pilot Kenneth Arnold’s famous sighting of nine flying discs over Mt. Rainier and two weeks before the Army’s report of a crashed UFO outside Roswell, New Mexico. (The Roswell story was retracted just three hours after being announced.) These separate incidents inspired “the summer of the saucers.” Beginning with Maury Island in June, the summer of 1947 was inundated with hundreds of daily news reports of flying disc sightings.
Some proved hoaxes perpetuated by attention-seekers, and some appeared to be observations of unknown objects. But the question remains: why did so many branches of the government—the Army, the Air Force, the CIA, and the FBI—aggressively investigate these sightings?
According to The Maury Island Incident’s (2014) screenwriter and producer, Steve Edmiston, historical context matters. “In May 1947, President Truman announced the containment doctrine, identifying less than two years after WWII our new enemy—the Soviet Union. And it may well be that the purpose of aggressive government investigation of objects in the sky was a profound concern that the US was being overflown by a new hostile adversary.” Edmiston based The Maury Island Incident on declassified FBI documents directly tying then FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to the investigation and alleged coverup.
Washington’s UFO Craze Continues
What remains so compelling about the Maury Island Incident, according to Edmiston, isn’t just that Dahl stuck by his story. “I’m the skeptic as far as what Harold Dahl saw. [But] I believe that even if Dahl’s story was a hoax, the hoax itself is awe-inspiring in its complexity and attention to detail. Most UFO sightings are isolated accounts. Dahl’s sighting of six flying donut-shaped discs involves damage to his boat from exploding fire and slag, running aground to hide under beach cliffs, the death of the family dog, injury to Dahl’s son, and history’s first Man in Black—and that’s all before the strange and absolutely true and tragic part of the tale kicks in.”
Maybe that’s why Washington still can’t get enough of the story. Over the course of seventy years, the Maury Island Incident has spawned numerous books, The Maury Island Incident movie, the Maury Island Incident Historical Society, and two synergistic festivals: 1) Burning Saucer and 2) the Burien UFO Festival.
Burning Saucer & the Burien UFO Festival
Burning Saucer is a private event launched by the Maury Island Incident Historical Society to support the research and recovery of Dahl’s original story. But they know how to have fun, too. An irreverent comic vibe drips from the society’s tagline: “always remembering never to forget again forever together.”
Held annually on June 21st, Burning Saucer takes place at a beach-front plaza overlooking Maury Island. Structured as a business meeting with Robert’s Rules of Order gone amuck, society business gets conducted, special guests recognized, and craft cocktails (designed by the Area 51 Bar in Port Townsend, Washington) served. The event culminates in a “telling of the tale” around a bonfire and ceremonial burning of the saucer to “seal the memory.”
The Burien UFO Festival (BUFO) was launched by entrepreneur John White, the Executive Producer of The Maury Island Incident. Inspired by the story, the local roots of the film, and continued community interest in this history, White conceived of the one-day annual celebration as a way to extend the story through audience participation. Four years later, BUFO draws thousands of attendees each year.
The festival integrates film screenings including an annual viewing of The Maury Island Incident. The 2017 showing channeled Mystery Science Theater 3000 featuring live commentary. Think of BUFO as a “big geeky space party” featuring thousands of people and dogs dressed in extraterrestrial costumes, UFO-themed guest speakers, DJs, and a beer garden. The next festival will hit this planet on April 1, 2019. So, start working on your extraterrestrial costume now.
By Engrid Barnett, contributor for Ripleys.com
Source: From Maury Island to Burien: Washington’s UFO Craze Continues
October 14, 2018
October 13, 2018
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