Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 422
March 17, 2017
March 16, 2017
The St. Patrick’s Day Sham
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
We’re all Irish, right? Not likely.
St. Patrick was Irish though, right? Nope.
Well, he at least wore green! Actually, it was blue.
The snakes…? Just watch the video.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
According to census data, 33.3 million U.S. residents claim Irish ancestry.
That’s seven times Ireland’s total population! One person who can’t make that claim—SAINT PATRICK HIMSELF!
He wasn’t Irish and was likely born in Britain. He wasn’t even into the color green and was historically associated with blue!
Another sham? Those snakes. According to lore, St. Patrick rid Ireland of snakes in the 5th century. Silly! There have never been slithering serpents on the Emerald Isle.
But, Slainte! One thing we can get behind is the beer. Research shows a pint of Guinness helps lower the chance of blood clots that cause heart attacks. However, our research also shows that multiple pints can make you start to see Leprechauns.
About 13 million pints of Guinness will be consumed worldwide today, so drink up and good luck!
Source: The St. Patrick’s Day Sham
March 15, 2017
Emoji Snake Took 8 Years to Breed
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
After eight years of careful and selective breeding, Justin Kobylka has finished his masterpiece: the emoji snake.
A python breeder by trade, Justin is a veteran in breeding snakes with unique patterns to sell. By selectively breeding for recessive mutations, he’s able to shape the design of the patterns expressed by the snakes’ genes.
The above Lavender albino piebald python has three happy faces along its body. They’re even yellow.
Known for their non-aggressive personalities, ball pythons have become popular pets. While Justin’s train of slithering smileys could fetch him well over $4,500, he says he’s going to keep this one for himself.
MINI BION
“BIONs” – short for Believe It or Not – is the word we use at Ripley’s to refer to anything that is unbelievable and worthy to become part of Ripley’s lore and collection.
March 14, 2017
When Pink Water Poured out of Canadian Faucets
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Frighteningly pink water dripped from the faucets of Onoway residents’ homes. Nearly 1,000 people were affected by the luminous water.
Most were unsure what to do. They didn’t know if it was poisonous or just fabulous.
Eventually, the mayor released a statement, apologizing for the mistake.
“We are still assessing what exactly happened but it appears a valve may have stuck allowing the potassium permanganate to get into our sump reservoir and thereby into the Town’s water distribution system.” -Onoway Mayor Dale Krasnow
Unlike the soda ash that turns this lake in Africa pink, potassium permanganate caused the tap water’s color. The substance is a relatively harmless additive used to remove bad taste and odors from drinking water all over the world.
(Note that a can of beer is essential to every Canadian’s morning hygiene.)
The water returned to normal within a few hours of everyone flushing their home’s water system, but residents were not amused.
MINI BION
“BIONs” – short for Believe It or Not – is the word we use at Ripley’s to refer to anything that is unbelievable and worthy to become part of Ripley’s lore and collection.
March 13, 2017
Pioneertown, the Movie Set that Became a Real Town
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Pioneertown is the culmination of cowboy can-do and Hollywood money.
Tired of traveling to the remote country for every film, silver-screen cowboys Roy Rogers, Dick Curtis, and Russel Hayden decided to build their own town in the wild west to shoot their movies.
Roy Rogers and Hollywood extras relaxing on the still standing Red Dog inn./CC Don Graham via Flickr
A mere two hours outside of Los Angeles, it was Hollywood’s breeding ground for westerns on the cheap in the 1940s.
The town’s assortment of western-themed buildings with plenty of room to build anything film crews needed, including living quarters for directors and production staff.
So what do you do with a fully functioning cowboy town set complete with a bowling alley, homes, and saloons when the western goes the way of the buffalo?
Mane Street
Dotted along “Mane Street” are the saloon, bank, bath house, and livery stables. Wooden porches jut out of the building covered in a layer of desert sand, and even a few dynamite carts are scattered about the road. It looks almost exactly the same as it did before the town ended its Hollywood career.
It’s hard to tell where the props end and reality begins in this town. Men in rocking chairs in the shade aren’t actors or cowboys, but everyday residents of what looks like Disney’s Frontier land.
Over 600 people live in these buildings. Some just like living in curiosity, while others operate businesses for sparse groups of tourists.
The abandoned set sits as a remote attraction where visitors are just as intrigued with the town itself as the people who decide to live there.
CC Catchpenny via Flickr
March 12, 2017
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