Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 319
September 13, 2018
September 12, 2018
War Pigeons And Their Tales Of Lifesaving Bravery
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Pigeons have been recorded being used in warfare as far back as the Roman Empire. They can be trained to return to specific locations, and are strong enough to carry small messages.
Pigeons themselves are capable of incredible physical feats. They can launch themselves to 60 miles per hour from a standstill in just two seconds and are capable of flying hundreds of miles in a matter of hours. They can navigate home from remote and strange locations by detecting the Earth’s magnetic fields, making them almost perfectly built for delivering messages on the battlefield.
Even after the proliferation of wireless radio technology in the early 20th century, soldiers still insisted on carrying pigeons into both World War I and World War II. Radio may have been practically instantaneous, but it was not yet reliable. Radios were expensive, heavy, delicate, and needed trained operators to work them. On many occasions, a unit in dire need of rescue would be faced with a busted radio and turn to a pigeon as their only means of asking for rescue.
Infantrymen would carry pigeons with their wings wrapped in a cloth vest, and then clip the birds to their uniforms the same way they might attach any other piece of equipment. Messages could then be loaded into containers on the bird’s leg or into a canister on their back before being set free. Once the bird got its bearing, it headed for the roost it had been trained to receive food and shelter at. A team of communications specialists monitored these roosts at all times, ready to coordinate action on the battlefield.
Foot-soldiers weren’t the only ones to use pigeons. Tanks would often have holes big enough to release pigeons, and even aviators were trained to toss messenger pigeons from their cockpits so that the bird wouldn’t get caught in the propeller.
After realizing their potential for sending messages, the military tried to find other uses for pigeons. Aerial reconnaissance was still a tricky task with early airplanes, so pigeons were fitted with small micro-film cameras and sent into the air to take photos of enemy territory. These brigades of spy pigeons could take 200 photographs during a single flight and were mostly employed by Germany.
Renowned behaviorist B.F. Skinner got in on the pigeon craze during World War II as well. He consulted on a project to produce a pigeon-guided bomb. A bomb would be placed on a glider, then piloted by a pigeon that was trained to fly towards a specific target.
While these other eccentric uses for pigeons didn’t prove very successful, pigeons were proven messengers. Many pigeons would earn medals throughout the war. A pigeon named Cher Ami, received the Croix de Guerre—an honor shared with legendary American general George S. Patton! Another pigeon, named William of Orange, was honored for flying over 250 miles with a distress call that is credited with saving 2,000 soldiers. William made the long journey in just a few short hours, suffering injuries along the way and landing with an injured leg. In total, 32 pigeons have been awarded Dickin Medals—the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.
September 11, 2018
Unraveling Mummified Cats From Ancient Egypt
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Cats were regarded as sacred animals in Ancient Egypt. Seen as representatives of the cat-headed Goddess Bast.
Bast was one of the children of Ra, the sun god. A principal and highly popular deity, Bast was given dominion over warfare. Her name can be translated to mean “devouring lady,” though most scholars now think her name is a reference to “bas” the phonetic symbol of an oil jar.
One of the goddesses known as the Eye of Ra, Bast was part of a story in which she almost destroyed mankind but was tricked into falling into a hangover nap after drinking blood-colored beer.
Bast’s personality was characterized as playful, gracious, affectionate, cunning, and fiercely powerful, many of the same traits Ancient Egyptians-and modern people—attribute to cats.
Harming one of Bast’s feline brethren on Earth was considered not just unlucky, but also criminal, with dire consequences for anyone who harmed them. Cats weren’t just subjects of religious importance, but also served the important purpose of keeping vermin at bay. Rats could destroy crops and carry disease, making cat’s central to the health and well-being of Egyptian society. Cats became so revered in Egyptian society, that an invading army was even able to avoid attack by using cats as living shields!
To protect themselves in death, mummified Egyptians would be accompanied by cats. The pets would be wrapped in layers of fabric, dried, and coated with resin much like a human mummy before being interred for thousands of years. Cats were often also used as offerings to gods, mummified and placed in temples to show devotion.
September 10, 2018
The Straw Hat Riot Of 1922: The Harsh Version Of No White After Labor Day
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Men in the early 20th century who wore straw hats after September 15 were commonly ridiculed. Their hats were snatched off their heads and crushed. During one fateful year, men in straw hats were physically assaulted by mobs of teenage hoodlums in New York City.
Men commonly wore hats in the Roaring Twenties, but societal norms strictly prevented them from donning the straw variety after September 15. No one’s exactly sure why that was the cut-off date, particularly since summer doesn’t officially end until September 21.
Straw hats became popular in the 19th century. Instead of wearing felt or silk hats in the summer, men donned straw hats, also known as boaters, to sporting events in the country. Eventually, the summer head-wear was deemed acceptable for city dwellers as well, and even professionals wore them to work.
Men who continued wearing straw hats after September 15 were mocked for their fashion faux pas. It was so common for a young passerby to forcibly remove a hat from someone’s head and crush it with his foot that newspapers cautioned people when September 15 was approaching.
An article from the Pittsburgh Press dated September 15, 1910, noted that police had to intervene on more than one occasion to “protect straw-lidded pedestrians.” The article explained that it was socially acceptable for stockbrokers to destroy each other’s hats because they are among friends. However, it was not right for a stranger to do so.
“If the informality should become general there will sure to be a number of obstinate gentlemen (most likely with English blood in their veins) who will coolly proceed to treat the fun-making as a physical assault and defend themselves in a manner which will spoil the fun for all concerned,” the Press added.
Their assumption proved true. Twelve years later, the unwritten rule was still in effect, and a full-blown riot took place in The Big Apple. It started on September 13, 1922, two days before the straw-hat ban was supposed to take effect. Young men got a jump start on the tradition by grabbing and stomping on the hats of factory workers in the former Mulberry Bend section of Manhattan. When the gang tried to pull the same stunt on a bunch of dock workers, the men retaliated and a brawl ensued. It was so bad, traffic stopped on the Manhattan Bridge. Police were forced to break up the riot and arrested several people.
The fighting continued the following night. Teen boys roamed the streets with large sticks, some with nails protruding on the ends to help hook the straw hats off people’s heads. Anyone who resisted was beaten, and several men had to be treated for their injuries. Many of the boys were under age 15 so they were not arrested. Their punishment? A good spanking.
The New York Tribune published an article, writing: “Boys who were guided by the calendar rather the weather, and most of all by their own trouble-making proclivities, indulged in a straw hat smashing orgy throughout the city last night. A dozen or more were arrested and seven were spanked ignominiously by their parents in the East 104th Street police station by order of the lieutenant at his desk.”
The New York Times reported that hundreds of boys terrorized straw-lidded citizens, forcing them to run through a gauntlet. Other hoodlums hid in doorways before leaping out to attack. A man named E.C. Jones claimed 1,000 teens were part of a roaming mob on Amsterdam Avenue. Harry Gerber, 25, was kicked and beaten so badly that he was hospitalized.
Even police officers, who were greatly outnumbered, were targeted. A group of boys threw Acting Detective Sergeant Brindizi’s hat in the street, and he fell into a gutter while pursuing his tormentors. Authorities would break up a gang in one district only for it to reform in another area.
Interestingly, the riot was a boon for hat stores, which stayed open late to provide soft head-wear for those who feared being attacked.
Although no one died in the Straw Hat Riot of 1922, the hat-snatching tradition continued for a couple more years, and one man was reportedly killed in 1924. In 1925, the Times published the article, “Discard Date for Straw Hats Ignored by President Coolidge,” which effectively ended the practice.
After the U.S. leader rejected the ritual, straw hat smashing eventually died out. Plus, alternatives such as the Panama hat became more fashionable, and straw hats eventually went out of fashion. Today, the closest fashion faux pas is wearing white after Labor Day, but that tradition is also considered an outdated rule.
By Noelle Talmon, contributor for Ripleys.com.
Source: The Straw Hat Riot Of 1922: The Harsh Version Of No White After Labor Day
September 9, 2018
September 8, 2018
September 7, 2018
The True Sideshow Origins Of Freaks And Geeks
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Over here at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! we’ve been gaining nerd points left and right, acquiring some of the most enviable objects celebrated in geek culture. In just this year alone, we bought Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber, the self-lacing shoes from Back to the Future, interactive R2-D2s and much, much, more. While we’re over here geeking out, where did the word “Geek” come from?
In the early 20th century, “geeks” were circus “freaks” whose specialty was biting off the heads of animals, typically chickens, snakes or rats, and drinking their blood. The feats frequently caused broken teeth and jaws, and the constant interaction with animals meant that geeks often suffered from animal-related sicknesses.
Geeks didn’t just get the worst lunch, but were also paid the lowest wages in the sideshow because they could be easily replaced. Anyone with the stomach to do the job could be a geek.
Now, geeks, in turn, were often associated with “freaks”, a term Robert Ripley and even P.T. Barnum shied away from. Believe it or not, Ripley banned Odditorium staff from saying the word, threatening to fire any employee who uttered “freak.”
Ripley’s buckteeth and awkward adolescence had fostered an understanding of those who weren’t quite like the rest. To the sideshow and world they were “freaks” but to Ripley, they were the ultimate underdogs, wonders of nature and worthy of happy lives.
While pioneers such as Ripley and Barnum cautiously guarded these terms against negativity, the eighties changed everything. With the dawn of the computer age, “geek” began to define those with strong technical skills but a lack of social skills. Within a decade the conversion from disparaging term to one of pride took place. Being is suddenly something to be proud of!
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