Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 411
May 18, 2017
May 17, 2017
You Can’t and Won’t Want to Unsee This Freaky Mask
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
There’s something sadistic about seeing an enlarged, young girls head on a man’s body. Yes, this is real, at least at first glance.
Landon Meier, the creator of Hyperflesh, produces the most realistic and outrageously creepy masks.
Cry Baby Mask CC Landon Meier via hyperflesh.com
Remember the cry baby? Yup, that was Meier. His specialties range from Donald Trump to Bryan Cranston’s character, Walter White from “Breaking Bad.”
These state-of-the-art-masks consist of latex, silicone, and of course Meier’s impeccable craftsmanship.
The Colorado native has sold a total of six Trump masks since he started creating them in 2016. These lifelike masks can cost you a pretty penny though. $4,500 to be exact. Meier can spend weeks and even months between sculpting and casting! Did we forget to mention the precise attention to details and the flawless hairdos?
Just look at those teeth on the North Korean leader. Yikes!
CC Landon Meier
Facts
Latex mask refers to a full-head enclosure or disguise.
Masks can be made of vinyl, silicone rubber or foam latex.
Latex masks were among the earlier techniques to be classified as special effects.
Iconic Mask
Leatherface– “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”
Dr. Doom – “The Fantastic Four”
Guy Fawkes – “V for Vendetta”
Hockey – “Jason”
Loki – “The Mask”
Michael Myers
HALLOWEEN, Nick Castle, 1978. © Compass International Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection
The Michael Myers’ mask is undeniably the most iconic horror prop. Believe it or not, William Shatner’s face was the inspiration, well Captain Kirk’s to be precise. The “Halloween” crew removed the sideburns including the eyebrows, teased the hair and stretched out the eyes. Not only that, they painted it completely white for that ghost-like chill.
Many consider the Halloween 2 mask to be the scariest of the franchise because of its deteriorated look. It was completely unintentional. The paint faded due to Debra Hill’s terrible preservation. Hill’s said she kept it under her bed where it collected dust and turned yellow from her heavy smoking.
“Khaaannnn!”
Ok, we get it, it’s a bit early to start thinking about your Halloween costume, but wouldn’t it be awesome to spook some of your friends?
Let us know in the comments below if you’d ever don a Hyperflesh mask.
May 16, 2017
Perfectly Preserved Dinosaur Confirms What They Looked Like
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
This perfectly preserved dinosaur is a nodosaur and is scientists’ best look at the appearance of cretaceous-era dinosaurs. Casual onlookers at the Royal Tyrell Museum might think the specimen is merely a sculpture, but they’re really looking a 110-million-year-old dinosaur in the face.
Discovery
This incredible fossil was discovered by Shawn Funk in 2011, at the Millennium Mine, 17 miles north of Fort McMurray, Alberta.
In early March, his excavator hit something much harder than he was used to. Shawn had run into bits of petrified wood before, but nothing like this.
Inspecting the large, strange gray and brown stones, Shawn and his supervisor, Mike Gratton, thought it might be ribs or a petrified tree stump.
“We gotta get this checked out.” –Mike Gratton, excavation supervisor
Later they found out they had found the remains of an 18-foot, 3,000-pound nodosaur.
A 3-D render of a nodosaur.
Study
Researchers believe the dinosaur originally fossilized whole but were only able to recover the front half of its torso.
To reveal this preserve dinosaurs scaly mug, technicians at the Royal Tyrell Museum have managed to carefully remove the rock surrounding the fossil’s face. The process took 6 years of gently scraping needle-sized jackhammers to prepare the fossil for exhibition and study.
This isn’t just a skeleton or a rendering of what scientists think a dinosaur might have looked like. It’s actually what a dinosaur looked like.
Next to its head, shoulders, and hip is an opened paw where you can count the scales on the sole of its foot.
Preservation
While a few other dinosaurs have been discovered with soft tissues preserved before, they have always been damaged by their environment. Feathered dinosaurs in China were squished flat, and duck-billed dinosaurs mummified in North America became shrunken and withered.
This specimen was slightly crushed, but apparently, its strong armor helped it withstand deformity over its 110-million-year slumber.
This particular dinosaur is also a new species of nodosaur. Unlike its more famous cousin who wielded a tail club, this creature only defended itself from predators using the spikes on its back.
From the Royal Tyrell Museum (via Facebook)
How Did It Die?
While many people are surprised to hear about a dinosaur hailing from the wintry reaches of Canada, the nodosaur’s contemporary weather would have been warm and humid.
Forensic experts theorize it once looked over the ocean before being swept up in a flood, floating belly-up as it was carried out to sea, and eventually burst after being bloated with gasses and sank to the sea floor to be covered in mud and be rediscovered in 2010.
Incredibly, if the perfectly preserved dinosaur had drifted just a few more feet out to sea, it would have been off of the mining company’s property, and never even discovered!
Source: Perfectly Preserved Dinosaur Confirms What They Looked Like
May 15, 2017
Beware of the Demon House. It’s Coming for You!
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Imagine finding your dream home only to realize that you’re living in an infested demon portal that leads everyone to hell.
From a possessed child crawling upside down to another levitating, what’s been nicknamed The Demon House, is downright mortifying. While these events might sound like something out of the Poltergeist and the Exorcist, it’s true, at least according to witnesses that lived and visited this home in Indiana.
The Demon House Via Believe a Paranormal Experience/YouTube
Events
In November of 2011, Latoya Ammons, a mother of three, moved to a white rental cottage at 3860 Carolina Street in Gary, Indiana. Yes, the city that was once considered the murder capital of the U.S.
After moving in with her children and mother, the family allegedly began to encounter poltergeist activities. Immediately after their move, the enclosed front porch was inundated with enormous black flies. How is that possible the family thought? It was the dead of winter.
Following the incident, it became a recurring event that after midnight both Ammons and her mother, Campbell, would hear footsteps coming from the basement, and the slow creaking of the door opening entirely to the exposed kitchen. Without fail, anytime either one would check the basement, no one was there.
One night, Layota’s mother felt a strange presence that awoke her. As she peeked outside her door, she was startled. She says there was a black shadow pacing back and forth in the living room. She removed herself from her bed to find giant muddy bootprints.
Not making a fuss over what had occurred, the family continued with their life at the Demon House. It wasn’t until March of 2012 that what seemed to be odd turned to dread. One night, around 2 a.m., family and friends were gathered at the Demon House to mourn a loss of someone close. According to Ammons, she went to check on her kids to find her 12-year-old daughter unconsciously levitating above the bed, and without hesitation, everyone gathered around the child and began praying until she fell back to the bed. It was then that Ammons sought help.
Seeking Help
Local churches refused to visit the home and suggested Ammons clean the Demon House by pouring ammonia and bleach throughout. Not only that but to draw crosses on every door and bathe her children in olive oil. It was also proposed the family create a makeshift altar in the possessed basement. Regrettably, It wasn’t doing much so Layota solicited two clairvoyants who claimed the house was possessed by more than 200 demonic spirits.
The family didn’t have enough money to break the lease on the Demon House. They had no other choice but to stay.
Ammons began to exorcise the home. She did everything from only wearing white to burning sage, and reading the Psalm 91 out loud. Instead of things coming to a clam end, it only worsened.
People insist that’s a spirit on the screen porch. Via dreadcentral.com
She also claims to have found her children speaking in tongues with bloodshot eyes, and sporting sinister smirks. Her daughter said she felt like she was always being choked. Her youngest son would lock himself up in his closet to talk to a boy no one had ever seen.
Around April, Ammons gave up and sought help from a physician. During their visit, the two boys, in diabolical yells, cursed the entire staff. A report filed by Department of Child Services (DCS) and police, stated that one of the boys had been magically thrown against a wall. After the incident, the boys proceed to pass out and were hospitalized after.
This is where things got a little out of hand.
The youngest boy kept growling and telling his brother he was going to kill him and began to hit his brother’s stomach by headbutting it. Following the gruesome act, he allegedly walked backward, up onto a wall, made it to the ceiling, and flipped over to land on his feet. During this time, the children were examined for any signs of abuse and Ammons went through a psychological evaluation. To everyone’s surprise, nothing was found.
Either way, what had occurred in front of the hospital staff and police convinced the DCS to take custody of the children.
Rosa Campbell and Latoya Ammons tell the story about the Demon House CC Chris Bergin via The Daily Mail
Investigation
Apparently, staff at the hospital reached out to Reverend Michael Maginot to perform an exorcism on one of the children.
The Reverend visited the Demon House where he insists he too experienced paranormal activity from everything to the muddy footprints and flickering lights that wouldn’t stop every time he investigated something supernatural. Maginot knew he had to exorcise Ammons. He placed a crucifix against her head, and she couldn’t stop convulsing. With four hours into his investigation, Maginot established the house was possessed and demanded they seek shelter elsewhere.
They couldn’t.
CC by Steve Duerr
The DCS was far from done with their investigation. They requested officer Austin to review the living conditions of the Demon House. He stated in a police report that he’d seen and heard some unexplainable things. His flashlight flickered uncontrollably in the basement until it eventually turned off by itself. It alarmed him because he had just replaced the batteries that morning. Austin took pictures of the basement where he said he could see a cloud resemble someone’s face, and even recorded audio where you can supposedly hear someone whispering “hey.” He claimed that he brought something back with him as his driver seat kept moving back and forth on his way home. The movement was so intense that his seat motor broke. A believer in the supernatural, the DCS still wasn’t convinced.
Without hesitation, Reverend Maginot continued to investigate the Demon House, particularly the basement with the police and Samantha Ilic, the DCS family case manager. During his many visits, Maginot was convinced there might be a body buried under the stairs of the basement, which would explain the poltergeist activity. Police dug a four by three hole. It’s here where they uncovered a pair of panties, socks, a cooking pan, and a drapery cord.
Freaky.
Ilic claimed to have felt her pinky going numb after touching a sticky substance she found in the house. That same liquid was allegedly found dripping from the venetian blinds in one of the bedrooms; however, no one could see where it was building. They cleaned it off the blinders to find the fluid dripping again.
Exorcism of the Demon House
Reverend Maginot insisted the Demon House needed to be exorcised. The two-hour ritual, which consisted of prayers and performing an exorcism on Ammons yet again, was accompanied by two police officer, and Ilic. According to Ilic, within 30 days after the exorcism, she went through a series of painful events that consisted of her breaking three ribs and obtaining third-degree burns.
Did something attach itself to her?
Maginot continued to purify Ammons even though she had moved to Indianapolis with her mother but returned to Gray for the court hearings. During months and months of “cleaning” her soul, Maginot said she was clear of any demonic presences, and eventually, the DCS returned custody to Ammons.
Believe it or not
Many speculate that these unforeseen tragic events were purely made up by Ammons, especially her landlord Charles Reed, to avoid any payment when living at 3860 Carolina Street in Gary.
Anyone who’s lived before and after Ammons has yet to experience supernatural activity.
The Demon House has turned into such a pop culture phenomenon that Zak Bagans, the investigator from TV Ghost Adventures, purchased the house to film his documentary The Demon House. There has been no release date as of yet, but Bagans did demolish the house in 2016. It looks like someone is spooked out.
Do you believe the story? Comment below and let us know!
May 14, 2017
May 13, 2017
May 12, 2017
I.Q. Zoo: Entertainment for All
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Cool Stuff, Strange Things
Hosted by Ripley’s lead researcher, Sabrina Sieck, let Ripley’s Believe It or Not! introduce YOU to the coolest stuff and strangest things.
Today: I.Q. Zoo
I.Q. Zoo
Once upon a time, in Hot Springs, Arkansas, you could watch Leonardo Duck Caprio, and Kate Winslet escape from the Titanic as Celine Dion belted out “My Heart Will Go On.” These ducks, yes ducks, were trained to melt your heart.
Delma’s Dance Hall CC Tichnor Brothers, Publisher
Creation
Founded in 1955, by married couple Keller and Marian Breland, I.Q. Zoo didn’t start off as a tourist attraction. This research facility was a place where the Brelands used a method called “operant conditioning” to train animals to do extraordinary things.
The couple met while working with psychologist B.F. Skinner who was recruited to work with him on a secret government assignment in 1942: Project Pelican.
Believe it or not, the project was created to train pigeons to guide missiles in World War II! Unfortunately, it never did take off, but the Brelands noticed that operant conditioning and positive reinforcement could be commercially successfully.
It’s here
Guests could come to I.Q. Zoo and watch a hamster go full Tarzan on a little trapeze, and even see a bunny kiss on command! The most popular exhibit was “Bird Brain.” It was there you could play tic-tac-toe against a chicken. By the way, the chicken ALWAYS won. Say what?!
As the I.Q. Zoo grew, so did their species of animals. They trained a reindeer to operate a printing press and parrots to roller skate.
The Kissing Bunny CC Tichnor Brothers, Publisher
The End
Keller died of a heart attack in 1965, but Marian kept the I.Q. Zoo opened till 1990. If it weren’t for this spectacular roadside attraction, we would never be able to cherish these amazing, heartfelt TV and motion picture moments.
Would you visit the I.Q. Zoo? Let us know a comment below!
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Source: I.Q. Zoo: Entertainment for All
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