Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 391
September 6, 2017
September 5, 2017
This Man’s Salt Art Will Leave You Thirsty for More
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Croatian artist Dino Tomic creates detailed pictures by spreading kitchen salt onto a black background! He carefully sprinkles the salt onto a giant canvas from a plastic bottle or a paper cone and uses his fingers to add any finishing touches.
Still salty about that dragon.
Dino decided to use salt as a medium because his wrist had started to hurt from too much conventional drawing, but that doesn’t mean this is an easy feat! One of his most intricate designs, a giant Indian Mandala, took him 25 hours to create!
When the colors of Dino’s artwork are inverted, they have a totally different appearance!
The negative is just as striking.
Since publication, Dino stepped it up a notch—literally lighting up his art—working with glowing sand and even gunpowder!
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!
September 4, 2017
The Charlatan Count Who Sold the Eiffel Tower
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Though he had no claim to the land or tower at all, one man managed to get two French scrap-metal dealers to pay him quite handsomely for Paris’ best-known landmark.
With at least 24 aliases, a fluency in five languages, and nearly 50 arrests in the U.S. alone, Czech-born “Count” Victor Lustig was an aristocrat among con men. He had already pulled off lucrative scams in Missouri and Montreal, and been called the “slickest bunko man who ever lived” after police found $32,000 in counterfeit money in a subway locker of his in Times Square.
“Count” Lustig being interrogated by the police and Secret Service.
The Eiffel Tower Scam
While sitting in a Paris café in 1925, he hatched his most audacious scheme. Reading a small newspaper article reporting that the Eiffel Tower was in such disrepair that the French government was exploring the possibility of having it demolished and rebuilt, Lustig saw an opportunity to exploit the situation. Posing as a government minister, he wrote to six scrap-metal dealers informing them that because the tower was too expensive to repair, it was to be pulled down and sold for scrap.
The six dealers were invited to Paris’ 7,000 of metal, all sworn to secrecy so that news of the demise wouldn’t cause public outrage. When the bids came in, Lustig chose that of gullible, provincial scrap merchant André Poisson, very much a fish out of water.
Informing Poisson that his bid had been successful, Lustig received a healthy sum for the contract, in return for which he handed the dealer a worthless bill of sale. By the time Poisson realized he had been conned, Lustig was spending his money in Austria. Poisson was too embarrassed to go to the police, allowing Lustig to return to Paris shortly afterward and sell the Eiffel Tower to a second businessman. Count Lustig sold the Eiffel Tower, not just once—BUT TWICE!
Lustig’s Ten Conmandments
Lustig went on to counterfeit some more in America, and to swindle Al Capone himself. He became so well known as a con man that a supposed set of “10 Con Man Commandments” has been attributed to his name.
Be a patient listener.
Never look bored.
Wait for the other person to reveal any political opinions, then agree with them.
Let the other person reveal their religious views, then have the same ones.
Hint at sex talk, but don’t follow it up unless the other person shows strong interest.
Never discuss illness.
Never pry into a person’s personal circumstances (they’ll tell you all eventually).
Never boast, your importance should be obvious.
Never be untidy.
Never get drunk.
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September 3, 2017
September 2, 2017
September 1, 2017
Elephant Graveyards: The El Dorado of Africa
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Deep in the heart of Africa, explorers and big game hunters were told eerie tales of an elephant graveyard. This alleged location was the resting place for hundreds of elephants who traveled to this unknown location to die, leaving behind an unimaginable fortune in ivory.
Little is known about the origins of this myth, but perceptions persist to this day that elephant graveyards indeed exist. Some believe it has something to do with the perception of elephants as intelligent and mysterious creatures, while others think it was a way to lure big game hunters and British explorers into the harsh wilderness, away from villages they might otherwise upend. Even the Lion King used it as a macabre backdrop the way many African folk-tales do.
The Facts
While the idea of a hidden cemetery filled with deceased pachyderms is just legend, elephant skeletons are often found grouped together. This doesn’t mean they have some preternatural instinct leading them to a communal grave, instead, the answer is found in their mouths.
Elephant teeth wear down from front to back. When the last tooth erodes, old elephants seek softer vegetation to chew, which is usually found in swampland. As these elephants are struggling to eat properly and are otherwise unhealthy, they often die in similar places.
This is also possible during severe famines and droughts, as a group of elephants gathers around a food source, and then starves, resulting in a mass die-off in a single location.
Conservationists remove the tusks from dead elephants today to discourage ivory trade.
Elephant Mourning
Despite the lack of organized cemeteries, elephants have been observed moving the bones of other elephants, and appear to mourn a fallen animal, sometimes for days—even those not in their immediate families. They have even been known to bury injured or dead humans. There are a number of reports from wildlife experts and local Africans of elephants burying sleeping people under leaves and twigs overnight, thinking that they are dead!
August 31, 2017
Tyler: A Well Balanced Young Man
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Tyler Scheuer, of Pennsylvania, can balance just about anything on his face, including a 10-ft ladder!
The 23-year-old discovered his unique talent when he was 11 years old and successfully balanced a bat on his nose while he was bored at baseball practice. After some experimenting and practice, he soon found out that if he can lift it, he can balance it!
When asked by Ripley’s what his favorite thing to balance is, Tyler told us “sunglasses…or babies sitting on chairs!” Believe it or not, he has never been injured or dropped anything!
From the Archives
A delicate balance of old and new, Tyler is like a blast from Ripley’s past! The images below were sent in to Robert L. Ripley himself to support contributors’ claims, and used as image references for the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! cartoon.
Joe Horowitz could balance an 18-pound saber on his nose. Billed as the “Man with the Iron Nose,” he performed his acts in theaters near Los Angeles in the 1930s.
Lawn mower hoister Robert Dotzauer of Lison, Iowa, although crippled in one leg, could balance three heavy iron mowers on his chin—a total weight of 150 pounds (Dotzauer only weighed 145)!
Robert Fern of Dallas, Texas, could balance a quarter on his nose for half a minute!
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: Tyler: A Well Balanced Young Man
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