Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 322
August 30, 2018
August 29, 2018
Longyearbyen: The Town That Bans Death
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
In the town of Longyearbyen, Norway, death is not allowed. If you’re sick or dying, they send you to the mainland, and, if you do happen to die in town, no one will bury you.
The town has had this policy in place for nearly 80 years, and the cemetery has been closed since 1918.
Reasons
Temperatures in Longyearbyen drop below -50˚ Fahrenheit, and the permafrost is thick. After burying bodies at the turn of the century, townspeople soon realized that the bodies simply weren’t decomposing. Bodies in the cemetery were so well preserved, that scientists found living traces of the Spanish flu pandemic still alive in Longyearbyen’s cemetery.
Spanish Flu
The Spanish flu was thought to have been eradicated shortly after World War I and is thought to be responsible for the deaths of 80 million people.
When scientists refer to the “100-year superbug”, the Spanish flu was the most recent one. Since the flu burned itself out before modern medicine could study it, however, treatment for the disease is still unknown. The samples recovered from Longyearbyen graves have actually given scientists a new opportunity to find ways to fight the disease.
The Arctic town was completely unaware of the disease still sitting in their cemetery for close to 100 years. This led them to double-down on their no-death policy.
August 28, 2018
You Won’t Want To Play This Medieval Shame Flute
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
In Medieval Germany, unappreciated musicians and other disturbers of the peace were punished by the schand flöte—the shame flute.
Brutally ironic, the shame flute was meant to humiliate and draw attention to the accused while denigrating their craft. The heavy iron flute was shackled to their neck, and their fingers were tightly screwed to the contraption.
An offender would likely then be subsequently marched through the city in shame with onlookers hurling rotten fruit and vegetables at them. At this point in history, social humiliation was hugely popular and was often one of the few means of entertainment small villages and hamlets had.
Once the “musician” was done with their walk, they’d likely be forced to stand in the town square until the people decided they had been punished enough.
A CENTURY OF STRANGE!
This shame flute—along with other amazing exhibits, strange stories, and wild photography—is featured inRipley’s Believe It or Not! A Century of Strange! 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.
QUIZ: Which A Century of Strange Personality Are You?
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!
Get your copy on Amazon today!
August 27, 2018
Hairculese, The Man Who Pulls Cars With His Hair
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
A veteran strongman, Chris “Hairculese” Rider of Thomasville, Pennsylvania, has a vast repertoire of stunts that display his great strength. Among them is the ability to pull something as heavy as a car with his hair! To pull off this amazing stunt, Hairculese separates his long locks into two braids and then weaves those below his chin and around a tow cable that’s attached to the car.
He faces down the car, then walks backward, pulling the cable taught and hauling the vehicle—sometimes up to 0.25 miles! Hairculese is able to perform other strongman feats like bending steel bars, ripping phone books in half, and folding coins with his bare hands. We even documented his artistic scrollwork in the past.
From the top of his head to the ends of his hair, Hairculese’s mane is 42 inches long!
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?
Are you like Hariculese? 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!
How The U.S. Once Hijacked A Soviet Space Satellite
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
In the early days of the Space Race, the Soviet Union was making bold moves putting itself far ahead of the United States. With the successful launch of the first satellite—Sputnik 1—in October of 1957 followed up by the launching of the first animal into Earth orbit a month later—Sputnik 2—the United States was in trouble of falling further and further behind with each successful Russian launch.
Sputnik 1 replica.
However, an opportunity in late 1959 presented itself that the United States government could not resist. The Soviet Union, flexing its muscle for the world, put on a traveling exhibition of its hardware and vehicles that included the Sputnik and Lunik satellites. American operatives gathered whatever limited intelligence they could throughout the exhibition, but it was determined that a closer look was needed at the Lunik satellite and its launching vehicle.
After a bit of reconnaissance, a plan was devised. Like something out of Ocean’s 11 (or 8 depending which Ocean you prefer) CIA operatives decided that they were going to “kidnap” the Lunik on its route from one destination to the next. The plan was simple enough, hijack the truck carrying the satellite, pull it over to a nondescript location, dissect it, then return it back to the tour the next day before the Soviets ever found out.
The whole plan was recounted by Sydney Wesley Finer in redacted CIA documents made public in 1967. In those documents, CIA operatives determined the most opportune moment to hijack the satellite. On a particularly non-descript evening, the Lunik, packed in a crate 20 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 14 feet deep, was loaded onto a truck to make the trek to the next location on the tour. Shortly after leaving the fairgrounds, when it was determined the coast was clear, disguised CIA agents pulled the truck over, switched drivers (escorting the original Russian driver to a local motel) and took the now hijacked satellite to a local salvage yard, they had rented for the occasion.
When Lunik was safe at the undisclosed salvage yard, all proceedings were stopped until it was verified the Soviets were none the wiser. Determining the coast was clear, the operation of dissecting the satellite began in earnest. A team of four men immediately went to work. As it turns out, kidnapping the satellite might have been the easiest part. Trouble began from the start with the Lunik’s shipping crate. Bolted from the inside, the only way into the massive crate was going to be from the top. With little room to maneuver, and the need to leave the crate as intact as possible, the crew eventually managed to remove the lid.
With Lunik’s launching vehicle now exposed, two of the men, armed with cameras, shimmied their way to the back of the crate, while the other two photographed the nose, inward. The men removed the inspection windows from the nose of the craft to get better pictures of the payload orb. The team at the tail of the craft ran into disappointment quickly. The engine of the craft had been removed. But, all was not lost. The engine mounts, fuel, and oxidizer tanks were all still remained in place. It would eventually prove to be enough information for the US government to back into the engine size upon later examination.
Meanwhile, the team at the nose of the craft ran into trouble of their own. A simple plastic Soviet seal was impeding progress to the satellite itself. Applied to where the Lunik was housed within the launching vehicle, a cut of the seal would be a dead giveaway that there was tampering. Acting quickly, the team contacted higher-ups. It was confirmed that local agents could easily replicate the seal in time for them to have the satellite back on the road. With that confirmation, the seal was broken, and the orb was removed from its compartment to be photographed in its entirety.
After a few hours, the Lunik and its carrying vehicle were completely dissected and photographed. All that remained was to backtrack through their footsteps and put it all back together in time for the early morning rendezvous at the satellite’s next checkpoint on the tour. Of course, the first and most crucial step was painstakingly long and tedious: Securing the orb back into its compartment. The team was stymied for nearly an hour, burning valuable time, getting the satellite back into its proper position. After several attempts and fraying nerves, the orb quietly snapped into place.
The heist was nearly complete.
With all traces of subterfuge removed, the freshly made duplicate Soviet seal was applied, the nose cone replaced and the top of the crate was nailed shut. All with an hour to spare. The crate was loaded back onto the truck and taken to the rendezvous point where the original driver took the satellite to join the rest of the traveling exhibition.
No one the wiser.
With the pictures and information in hand, the United States government was able to reverse engineer the satellite and apply that information to projects and programs already in the works. Until Sydney Wesley Finer’s tale was released to the public, it was firmly believed the Soviets were left unaware for years their prized position ever went missing.
By Jesse Gormley, contributor for Ripleys.com
August 26, 2018
August 25, 2018
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