Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 407
June 8, 2017
Believe It or Not, Chester Cheetah Is at It Again!
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
At Ripley’s, we’re excited to collaborate with the iconic Cheetos™ brand to bring you a dangerously cheesy summer! We’re helping launch the second annual search for the rarest, most sought-after Cheetos works of art by hosting the official Cheetos Museum exhibit.
Cheetos is asking you to answer the most important question of your life “What do you see in your Cheetos?” Use your imagination to find interesting shapes in your Flamin’ Hot or Cheesy Cheetos snacks, and submit them to the Cheetos Museum for your chance to share in the $150,000 of prizes.
Last Year’s Winner!
This was last year’s submission winner, Flamin’ Hot Cat! It’s unbelievable how much this looks like your favorite feline friend!
The Exhibition
We’ve outfitted our Ripley’s Believe It or Not! New York City Times Square location with an entirely immersive Cheetos experience where fans can get lost in a mirror-lined infinity room and search for hidden Cheetos shapes in the wall to wall exhibit made entirely of Cheetos.
The Greeter
Did we forget to mention you’ll be greeted by Chester Cheetah himself at the Odditorium? He’s entirely made out of, yep; you guessed it right, Cheetos! This outrageously cool Chester was created by Cristiam Ramos. 
Did You Know?
It took 320 hours to make.
He stands over 6-feet-tall
It took 30 different family size bags.
Open Now!
The Cheetos Museum Exhibition at Ripley’s New York opens June 8th, and trust us when we say, you have to see it to believe it. You can submit a photo of your one-of-a-kind Cheetos shape at www.CheetosMuseum.com. There will be a total of two weekly winners $5,000 each, totaling $100,000 in prize money!
Ripley’s is proud to be on the panel of judges! Will yours be a winner?
When Robert Ripley Tried to Buy a Volcano
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
In 1945, the world-travelling impresario of the odd, Robert Ripley announced to the world that he was going to buy a volcano.
His sights were set on the recently discovered volcano, Paricutin in the country of Mexico.
Paricutin
When Paricutin piqued Robert Ripley’s interest, it was just a baby. The mountain of magma had only just recently made its appearance on the world stage.
Farmers had felt the ground shake and heard thunder when there were no clouds around. In the corner of a small corn field, a geyser of steam eventually appeared.
Farmer Dionisio Pulido was moving some branches to burn when he saw the steam vent open up. It smelled like rotten eggs, as sulfurous gas poured into the air. Within a matter of moments, the ground swelled 5-feet high, and a fissure opened up.
Townsfolk thought the devil himself was clawing his way out of hell. In just 24 hours, the volcano had grown 160-feet high.
Paricutin grew 1,800 feet in just 10 weeks.
Where Ripley Comes In
Ripley was facing his own hell at the time, his radio show, tv appearances, and daily cartoon schedule had nearly pushed him to the breaking point.
Desperate to escape the badgering of his publisher, he fled to Cuba for the Christmas holiday. When he returned after New Year’s everyone was agog at the announcement he was going to buy a volcano.
Ripley celebrating Christmas in Cuba
Ripley had become obsessed with volcanoes since the eruption of Vesuvius earlier the same year. The press went nuts, and this even earned Ripley a rare mention in TIME magazine.
A publicity stunt at its core, he had all sorts of cheeky answers to reporters asking him, “what would you want with a volcano?!”
The Purchase
Ripley contacted the farmer right away with an offer to buy the land, but ownership proved elusive as the Mexican government stepped in and barred Ripley from buying the smoking mountain.
Even here at Ripley’s today, we are unsure of our founder’s true intentions. If he had managed to procure the volcano, we like to think he would have done everything in his power to have it dug up and moved to Long Island for the people back home to see.
“I could have charged admission, and made money off it,” Ripley told some, but to others, he made up stories of it filling a spiritual void within himself, or being a sound investment for mineral rights. He even thought a contest for volcano submissions might help him find another one to buy.
To this day, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! has yet to get its hands on a volcano (people will just have to enjoy our many odditoriums), but if you’ve got one, and are willing to part with it, we’re all ears.
June 7, 2017
Where Do All Those Weird Holidays Come From?
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While we would love to provide an exhaustive list of the weird holidays we’ve come across, here are some of our favorites:
January 27th: National Chocolate Cake Day
February 9th: National Pizza Day
March 23rd: Puppy Day
April 16th: Wear Pajamas to Work Day
May 21st: Talk Like Yoda Day
June 10th: Knit in Public Day
July 27th: Take Your Pants for a Walk Day
August 4th: International Beer Day
September 19th: International Talk Like a Pirate Day
October 7th: King Biscuit Day
November 15th: Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day
December 31st: Make Up Your Mind Day
Chase’s Calendar of Events
Today, Chase’s Calendar of Events is seen as the official source of “special days” for editorial and news departments. The book rose to prominence in the late 80s. For a long time, people wanted to keep the government out of the holiday game, but by the turn of the century, the government began making official stipulations for federal holidays.
In the late 80s, America was quickly transforming into a commercial society, and companies jumped at the chance to promote themselves with special days and commemorative days from Congress. During the 1985-1986 congressional session, one in every three laws was about making a holiday.
The government soon clamped down on all this, seeing it as a waste of time. All that energy was siphoned into Chase’s calendar.
The Contributors
Anyone can submit a “special day” to Chase, but one woman is renown as the de facto architect of holidays: Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith. She has created over 1,900 special days and is known as “America’s Premier Eventologist.”
June 6, 2017
Protected: Believe It or Not, Chester Cheetah Is at It Again!
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The Most Controversial Wicca Man, Gerald Gardner
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Pop culture has inundated our brains with an endless amount of Wiccan stories, movies, and well, culture. Oh, you bet I’m a fan of The Craft! Come on, we all wanted to be Nancy Downs, right?
Well, disregarding my obsession with this 90s classic, everything this movie preaches about Wicca is wrong. You might have thought it was centuries upon centuries old, but guess what? Wrong! Believe it or not, this religion was born of a nudist colony in the 1930s with a small coven who named themselves New Forest. No, they weren’t praying to the mighty god named “Manon,” who controls the elements. They helped Wicca rapidly grow in just a span of 70 years.
In the mid-1930s, Gerald Gardner—an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, returned to Britain for his retirement. Gardner felt that the climate here was making him sick and sought treatment. His doctor recommended he’d try nudism. Reluctant at first, Gerald gave it a try by visiting several nudist clubs. Positive nudity was the cure to his ailment; he created the New Forest Coven.
New Forest Coven
Gardner states that one night, in 1939, a woman stripped him of his clothes, blindfolded and lured into a room. Here he was pushed into a ceremonial circle, surrounded by other naked witches—how convenient—and could hear them whisper Wicca. He said the word was and English for witch since he was familiar with Margaret Murray’s theory of the Witch-cult. Here they gave him the secret and the power of an ancient religion.
To understand Gardner’s obsession with the occult, you have to dig a bit into his past. His family made a fortune in the timber trade which allowed them to send him abroad with his nanny. Left alone to fend for himself, Gardner found a passion for learning. He enjoyed studying about tribals rituals in the many countries he visited, mostly in the far east. His fascination: tribal magic. It was said that between his infatuation with magic and Arthur Conan Doyle—who delved in spiritualism, Gerald began to experiment with seances and finding what he considered to be his spiritual haven.
Arriving back in Britain, it was here he found many freemasons who felt the same passion and indulged in the new English ritual tradition: witchcraft.
The Witches’ Cottage, where Gardner and his coven performed their rituals via Wikipedia Commons
Magic
One night in 1940, Gerald and his coven ventured out to a forest where he claims they produced the biggest cone of power. He here the New Forest was able to ward off the Nazis from invading.
“Great Circle” was erected at night, with a “great cone of power”—a form of magical energy—being raised and sent to Berlin with the command of “you cannot cross the sea, you cannot cross the sea, you cannot come, you cannot come.” – Gerald Gardner
He knew this was the place and time where he could convince others that magic was real.
Gardner’s Book of Shadows via Wikimedia Commons
Book
In the 1940s, being an open Wiccan was seen as radical and could land you in jail. Britain was still Orthodox. Moving to London, Gardner wanted to share his power knowledge and in 1949 published his first book, “High Magic’s Aid.” His fictional book was filled with tribalesque rituals and ceremonies, slowly but surely indulging and baiting society with his craft.
Many people say this book is what lead to Britain banning their hate and laws against witchcraft.
Ripley Collection
During a moment in time, Ripley’s did own a small collection of Gardner’s treasures when we opened up “Museum of Witchcraft and Magic.” (It’s been closed)
Take a look for yourself:
Ripley’s Gerald Gardner Wax Figure
Talisman of Gerald Gardner. Brass plate on four legs. It is engraved with 7 astrological symbols.
Wicca lives on
It became Gardner’s duty to do whatever he could to make sure Wicca lived on for centuries to come. In 1954, he published yet another book, “Witchcraft Today,” teaching others how to embrace it fully. Following came the opening of his Wiccan museum that included newspaper coverage and television interviews.
The Magicians Room at his museum via geraldgardner.com
It seems that Gerald’s dream continues to live on even long after his death in 1964. While some of it can be found in your local Hot Topic, Wiccan symbols and religion continue to dominate our society and even television shows. Take for example the once successful T.V. show, “Paranormal State.” Eilfie music, occultist, and paranormal investigator used her Pagan beliefs to cleanse evilness away.
Do you believe in Gerald Gardner’s Wiccan religion? Let us know if the comments below!
June 5, 2017
Is This The Creepiest Tableware Ever?
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Ronit Baranga is a ceramic sculptor from Israel.
Just by peeking at her website you can see that none of her creations are normal: They’re creepy, crawly, and some will make your skin cringe—and her latest work is even better.
“Blurred Border Between Living & Still”
Hybrid tea set will walk away
Ronit created a standard set of tableware ceramics with human mouths, teeth, tongues, and fingers protruding from the plate.
It looks like some of the plates will try to crawl away or nip at you or your food if you tried eating off of them.
As cool as these are … I don’t think I could ever eat off of them!
“The useful, passive, tableware can now be perceived as an active object, aware of itself and its surroundings – responding to it. It does not allow to be taken for granted, to be used. It decides on its own how to behave in the situation.” -Ronit Baranga
Ronit Baranga asks you and us: “This is how I prefer to think about my plates and cups. Metaphorically, of course. What about you… ?”
I prefer to not think about my tableware at all. Tell us what you think!
A post shared by Ronit Baranga (@ronitbaranga) on Jan 23, 2017 at 12:27pm PST
Breakfast
The Crowd
Hybrid Tea Set
Running Bowls
Self-Feeding
Today
Ronit Baranga is at it again! She’s adding more disturbingly cute ceramics such as the “Grave Watchers Childhood.”
A post shared by Ronit Baranga (@ronitbaranga) on Oct 15, 2016 at 5:00am PDT
Have you seen her latest Tattooed Baby?
A post shared by Ronit Baranga (@ronitbaranga) on Mar 27, 2017 at 10:42pm PDT
To see and learn more about Ronit Baranga’s art visit www.ronitbaranga.com. We promise you won’t be disspaointed!
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