Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 380
November 2, 2017
November 1, 2017
The Nic Cage Pyramid Tomb in New Orleans’ Oldest Cemetery
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Actor Nicolas Cage is an eccentric man. Born Nicolas Kim Coppola, nephew of The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, Cage adopted his working name to avoid nepotism on the job and claims to have gotten inspiration from Marvel superhero Luke Cage.
Cage’s acting style has been described by many as “operatic.” He is well known for his emotionally theatrical style, which he dubs “Noveau Shamanic.”
As interesting as his acting career is, his personal life is equally enigmatic. His celebrity success has allowed him to buy private islands, dinosaur fossils, English and German castles, shrunken heads, albino cobras, exotic artworks, a supposedly haunted mansion, and a very strange mausoleum in New Orleans.
CC Nelo Hotsuma
The Eternal Cage
In New Orleans’ oldest cemetery, the famous St. Louis No. 1, amongst crumbling century-old graves stands a modern pyramid. It’s the future tomb of Nicolas Cage. The white pyramid stands nine feet tall and is inscribed with the words “omnia ab uno,” meaning “Everything from One.”
The tomb puzzles everyone, even people who give tours of the graveyard for a living. Since its installation, the tomb has even become the subject of tourists’ attention, with women leaving red lipstick marks on its white surface.
The pyramid sits among figures throughout New Orleans’ history, including its first mayor, Étienne de Boré, and the famed queen of Voodoo, Marie Laveau. Laveau has had an immense impact on the culture of New Orleans, and her influence is still apparent to this day. Not only does a Voodoo shop bearing her name still stand in the city, her grave is often visited by people who leave an “x” on her tomb, believing she will protect them with good luck.
The tomb of Marie Laveau.
The Infamous LaLaurie Mansion
Some people think Marie Laveau may be the reason Nic Cage chose St. Louis No. 1 as his final resting place. In the midst of his windfall of cash in the late 2000’s, he was buying all kinds of strange things. He outbid Leonardo DiCaprio for a $276,000 dinosaur skull and bought New Orleans’ infamous LaLaurie mansion.
Cage bought the mansion in 2007, and must have been aware of its sinister legacy. The mansion was home to the Creole socialite Madame LaLaurie. A massive estate on the French Quarter, LaLaurie had a full detail of black slaves whom she tortured. Authorities had heard rumors about her cruelty for years, including a rumor that she had chained her cook to the stove.
When a fire broke out in the mansion, people tried to get inside to save the group of slaves within, but LaLaurie refused to give them the keys as her house became engulfed in flames. Eventually, a mob broke the door down and found her cook chained to the stove. The chef had intended to commit suicide but was rescued along with others who had been brutally whipped and beaten, forced to wear spiked collars and mutilated.
Cage only owned the mansion for three years, but the superstitious in New Orleans think the actor carefully chose his final resting place next to the queen of Voodoo so she would protect him from the vengeful spirits of the house.
A bank now owns the Lalaurie Mansion.
The Unpredictable Cage
Despite the possibility that Cage chose his grave based on Voodoo superstition, none are sure if Cage is the superstitious type. Despite claiming that he bases his acting on the ancient art of shamanic ritual, Cage has refused to speak of anything he believes spiritually in interviews. While there’s a lot of stories to tell if Cage did buy his tomb to protect himself from eternal haunting, other people think he’s an Illuminati enthusiast, explaining the neo-Egyptian architecture.
Perhaps there’s no reason Cage bought the tomb, other than he thinks it’s cool. Either way, it remains as inexplicable as the rumored tattoo on his back of a lizard wearing a top-hat.
Source: The Nic Cage Pyramid Tomb in New Orleans’ Oldest Cemetery
October 31, 2017
IncrEDIBLE Carvings
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Each Halloween, carved pumpkins peer out from porches around the world, a practice that stems from Irish folklore about a man named Stingy Jack. Originally, turnips and potatoes served as an early canvas, but as Irish immigrants came to America in the 1800s, the tradition soon turned to pumpkins as they were larger and easier to carve.
Today, Italian artist Valeriano Fatica is stepping it up a notch—outshining jack-o-lanterns everywhere, carving detailed animals and pop culture characters out of a variety of fruits and vegetables. It takes him about 20 hours, or two full days, to complete a piece!
Valeriano Fatica originally wanted to become a Japanese manga artist, but he soon realized his true passion for sculptures, creating intricate watermelon carvings for his family’s restaurant La Roccia.
“I try to get my inspiration from the characters that made my childhood so beautiful.”
Inspired by Valeriano’s creations? It’s not too late to start carving for tonight! Happy Halloween!
Sensing You Want More?
Filled with remarkable photos and over 1,500 all new—all true—stories to immerse yourself in, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Shatter Your Senses! is the newest book in the bestselling series from Ripley Publishing—so incredible you won’t believe your eyes…or ears…or nose!
Spark your senses here, on the blog, weekly for a feature from the 2018 annual, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Shatter Your Senses! and follow us on social media for a chance to win a copy, among other unbelievable prizes!
Source: IncrEDIBLE Carvings
October 30, 2017
Ouija Board + Fidget Spinner + Vinyl Record = Art
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
When we discovered New Zealand artist Carl Ingram’s art, we loved it, but had no idea what to call it.
Ingram spins a vinyl record covered in paint on a Ouija board on top of a fidget spinner. It’s the most eclectic blend of retro style, occult fascination, and pop-culture fad that you could make. Perhaps we’ll call it the Ouija Spinner?
Ouija Spinner
Ingram was interested in dark surrealism and horror movies leading him to experiment with different ways of painting. The paint he uses is an acrylic base with “secret ingredients.” After painting the vinyl record white to make the paint stick and show up, he attaches it to the Ouija board and spins. The centrifugal force spreads the paint out from the center, and as more colors are added, mysterious and random shapes come into being.
Once the record dries, he goe sin afterward with oil paints to enhance certain patterns that appear in the paint. The shading and depth created allows some spooky “creatures” to take shape.
October 29, 2017
October 28, 2017
October 27, 2017
Giant Robots Battle and Noise-Canceling Forks
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
[October 22-28, 2017] A noise-canceling fork, a giant robot battle, and dogs who stay up all night thinking about their days.
5.Venice Local Beats Top Marathon Runners Who Take a Wrong Turn
In a stunning upset, Italian local Eyob Faniel beat out long-time marathon veterans during the Venice Marathon. He was far from first place when the leader of the pack followed chase vehicles off of the marathon route. It took the racers nearly two minutes to realize they had made a wrong turn, leaving them unable to catch up in the remaining distance. Faniel is the first Italian in 22 years to win the marathon and says he’s only ever run one marathon prior. You can watch the video below to see the top runners realize their mistake.
4. Noise-Canceling Ramen Fork
In Japan, you’re actually supposed to slurp your noodles. The noisy sucking cools off your ramen and lets the chef know he did a good job. Nissin, the giant behind everyone’s favorite cup of noodles, however, has introduced a technological solution for people who don’t enjoy loud slurping. This new and innovative piece of culinary technology emits a counter-frequency to your own ramen slurping so that no one hears you eating. The fork costs $130 and is only available in limited quantities, but we don’t think you’ll mind missing out. The noise it makes is so loud, we think most people would prefer the slurping.
3. Dogs Stay Awake Thinking About Their Problems
According to a study conducted by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, dogs who have had stressful days will stay awake thinking about their problems. The scientists compared dogs who got to play fetch and spend time with their owners to dogs that were isolated and tied to a door. Then they measured the dogs’ brainwaves and found that the stressed dogs had trouble sleeping, so be sure to play with your pets if they’ve had a hard day!
2. Einstein Tip Sells for $1.3 Million
Instead of leaving a tip, Albert Einstein left a note for his waiter at Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel in 1922. Describing his formula for happiness, it read:
“A calm and humble life will bring more happiness than the pursuit of success and the constant restlessness that comes with it.”
The auction only expected to sell the note for about $8,000, but the winning bidder paid $1.3 million to take Einstein’s note home!
1. Giant Robots Fight
We’ve been hyped for the giant robot fight between American and Japan for three years. The event finally took place last week, and we were pumped to see Japan’s smile-activated gun face off against the cannon-armed (literally) Megabot. Unfortunately, the fight was a huge disappointment. The robots were slow and kind of just got stuck on each other a lot. The half-hour long battle featured some interesting feats of engineering but wasn’t the Pacific Rim-style slugfest we had hoped for.
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