Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 445
November 1, 2016
In Australia, You Can Go Crocodile Cage Diving
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
There’s a park in Darwin, Australia, that will allow you to get into the water and dive with live crocodiles.
The park is called Crocosaurus Cove, and it opened in 2008
It holds approximately 200 crocodiles and some of the world’s largest saltwater crocs
In the Cage of Death, customers can go crocodile cage diving for 15 minutes with some of the parks biggest crocs
While in the cage, the crocodile will be fed by professional handlers
The cage holds up to two people and operates 12 times a day
These two people would easily fit inside this croc.
Look at all the scratches on the glass!
Just a couple of chains keep you from falling to the bottom of the tank.
So big!
Just feeding the crocosaurus, no big deal…
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.
October 31, 2016
October 30, 2016
October 29, 2016
October 28, 2016
Meet the Pumpkin’s Punk Brother: the Pineapple Jack-O’-Lantern
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
We all reach for pumpkins on instinct when we want to carve a jack-o’-lantern, but why? Hailing from the Emerald Isles, Jack-o’-lanterns were traditionally carved from turnips and rutabaga. It wasn’t until large migrations to America that pumpkins replaced these bitter tubers.
If you want to know why we started carving jack-o’-lanterns in the first place, check out the Legend of Stingy Jack.
Enter the Pineapple Jack-O’-Lantern
With crisscrossed skin, a wild hairdo, and a filling you won’t have to bake to be edible, pineapples seem like the stuffy pumpkin’s fun brother.
If you make a pineapple jack-o’-lantern, you get a fresh aromatic take on Halloween that won’t rot into itself by the big night (and maybe even give you a head start on some piña coladas).
An experienced palate might be able to appreciate the pumpkins sweeter tones, but on the candy-crazed sugar rush that is Halloween, a fruit sweeter than a gourd seems more appropriate.
Welcome to the family!
Pineapples Used to be Status Symbols
As pineapples make a comeback as decorations you may want to know that they were actually super expensive curiosities at one time.
In the 16th-18th-centuries, pineapples were an incredibly exotic item. Getting a whole pineapple back to Europe intact was a nearly impossible feat, only affordable to aristocrats and royalty. A single pineapple could cost today’s equivalent of $10,000.
Lavish parties would pay to rent a pineapple by the hour in order to impress guests.
Pineapples were so rare that people didn’t usually know how to eat them. King Louis XIV, for example, severely cut his lips because he tried to eat a pineapple without peeling it.
Simply elegant.
Source: Meet the Pumpkin’s Punk Brother: the Pineapple Jack-O’-Lantern
Origins of the Jack-O’-Lantern: Legend of Stingy Jack
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Jack-o’-lanterns are synonymous with Halloween. They can be fun, they can be frightening—but just where do they come from?
Jack-o’-lanterns originated in Ireland, and though they didn’t have access to pumpkins, they would carve turnips and rutabaga.
Modern turnip jack-o’-lantern/CC Bodrugan
As Irish immigrated to America, they found pumpkins to be far easier to carve than turnips for Halloween.
Now jack-o’-lantern carving has exploded and the ghoulish gourds are everywhere.
1982 Largest jack-o’-lantern
But why did the Irish decide to make vegetables into lanterns?
The Legend of Stingy Jack
Irish folklore is full of descriptions of a mysterious character known as Stingy Jack. A drunkard and cheat, Jack manages to swindle the devil.
Traditional Irish jack-o’-lantern/CC rannṗáirtí anaiṫnid
According to legend, Jack convinces Satan to turn into a coin to pay his bar tab, explaining that the devil can then turn back into his demonic form and escape.
Satan agrees and Jack sticks the devil-coin into his wallet, which also contains a crucifix, sapping Satan’s powers and trapping him.
Another version says that Jack convinced the devil to climb a tree and then trapped Satan by carving a cross into the trunk.
Jack only releases the devil after he promises not to take his soul.
Eventually, Jack dies, but is refused access to heaven for his sinful deeds, and barred from Hell because of the deal he made.
Satan however gives Jack a single ember from Hell which Jack put inside a turnip to light his way as he roams the world between the dead and living, trying to lure people to their deaths in hopes of meeting the devil again.
Jack’s lantern is an alternate explanation for Will-o-the-wisps
And So the Legend Goes
Next time you see a jack-o’-lantern in the distance, make sure to double-check that it’s not old Stingy Jack trying to lure you to your death.
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Source: Origins of the Jack-O’-Lantern: Legend of Stingy Jack
October 27, 2016
October 26, 2016
Brigadier Penguin Sir Nils Olav Keeps Getting Promoted
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
You’ve heard of dogs becoming Sergeants and cats surviving multiple shipwrecks, but just to prove that household pets don’t get to have all the fun, meet Brigadier Sir Nils Olav, the penguin.
He became a Sir after being knighted in 2008, and in August of 2016, he was promoted to Brigadier. A Brigadier is a Junior General in the military and typically commands a brigade of over 1,000 men.
This cute little flightless fowl is more decorated than most of the population will ever be in their lifetime.
Nils Olav Being Knighted
Sir Nils Olav’s Climb Up The Ladder
Brigadier Sir Nils Olav III is a king penguin. He lives in Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland, and he is the official mascot of the Norwegian King’s Guard. However, he is more than a normal mascot – Nils Olav has been given multiple ranks and titles over the years.
It all started with the first Nils Olav back in 1972. On a visit to Edinburgh, Lieutenant Nils Egelien became interested in the Edinburgh Zoo’s penguins, and who cold blame him? He was so smitten with them that he organized the adoption of one. Named after Lt. Nils Egelien, and then King Olav of Norway, Nils Olav became the mascot of the Norwegian King’s Guard.
Edinburgh Zoo
After becoming the mascot, Olav’s ascendancy through the military ranks was swift. With each visit to the Edinburgh Zoo that the King’s Guard made, he received a new promotion:
1972 he was made Lance Corporal
1982 he was made Corporal
1987 he was promoted to Sergeant
1993 Regimental Sergeant Major
2005 Colonel-in-Chief
2008 he was granted a Knighthood
2016 promoted to Brigadier
Just a Mascot
Over the years, three king penguins have been named Nils Olav. Whenever one of them dies, a new Olav is named to take his place, and all of the honors and titles are passed on. In 2016, more than 50 Norwegian soldiers attended the ceremony promoting him to Brigadier.
According to representatives of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Sir Nils Olav III is a very special kind of bird.
“He is a very calm and regal bird and has an aura that suggests he knows how important he is.”
Even if Olav doesn’t realize just how important he is, his fellow soldiers certainly do. When they visit the penguin enclosure at the Edinburgh Zoo, they’ve all got to stand at attention and salute him.
Quite a life for a penguin.
Source: Brigadier Penguin Sir Nils Olav Keeps Getting Promoted
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