Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 447
October 20, 2016
October 19, 2016
This Guardians of the Galaxy Patch Was Officially Issued by NASA
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Designed by comic book artist Juan Doe, the 2016 International Space Station National Laboratory’s patch features Rocket Raccoon and Groot from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
The Guardians of the Galaxy patch was made for CASIS (Center for the Advancement of Science in Space)
Nearly every project NASA oversees receives an official emblem
The patch was officially revealed at San Diego Comic-Con 2016
A spokesman said Rocket Raccoon and Groot were selected to appear on the patch for the “enthusiasm for space”
This is the first official NASA patch to feature a comic book character, raccoon, or tree-person
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.
Source: This Guardians of the Galaxy Patch Was Officially Issued by NASA
El Colacho: The Bizarre Baby Jumping Festival
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
There are a lot of odd festivals and customs around the world. Some of them are scary, others are a bit silly and funny, and a surprising number of them involve babies. The Spanish festival of El Colacho combines all three elements for an event that’s just all around strange.
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El Colacho
In most Catholic churches, a baby is baptized shortly after birth. The parents take the newborn to their priest, they bring along a couple friends, and some holy water is sprinkled on the child’s forehead. No muss, no fuss, maybe some tears, but certainly no harm is done. This is meant to cleanse the baby of the original sin of man and allow them a fresh start at life.
Embed from Getty Images
However, in the predominately Catholic city of Castillo de Murcia, the residents have a different way of wiping the slate clean. Once a year during the Catholic festival of Corpus Christi, some of the town’s adult men dress up like devils and perform their own kind of cleansing.
The men dress in yellow costumes and often wear devil masks. They start by roaming through the gathered crowd and hitting some of the people there with whips.
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With the crowd appropriately riled up, next comes the portion of the festival that sees the sins of babies wiped away. All of the children born in the last year are laid down on pillows and sheets in the middle of a busy street. The men in the devil costumes then proceed to run and jump over the babies. As the devil clears the air over the prone babes, all of their sins go with him, and they’re safe to start their fresh life.
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No Danger
The festival has been taking place since around the 1600s. In all that time, no deaths or injuries have ever been reported. While it might seem like there’s a significant worry of someone slipping or missing their jump, that worry seems to be misplaced.
For its part, the Vatican has tried to put an end to the festival and get the Spanish town to distance itself from such practices. But its attempts seem to be in vein as nothing’s changed in the last 400+ years.
October 18, 2016
Truly Twin Look-Alikes or DNA Doppelgängers?
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Truly Twin Look-Alikes or DNA Doppelgängers?
Imagine how surreal it would be to meet someone that looked exactly like you. Niamh Geaney set out to do just that. Using social media, and receiving hundreds of submissions from around the world, she found an uncanny match in just two weeks—but she wasn’t finished looking! Niamh has found two more Twin Strangers since and, through her website, is helping others find theirs.
Each time Niamh reveals a match, the obvious question arises, “Are they related?” With countless requests to get DNA tests done, Niamh obliged. Niamh and her third doppelgänger, Irene, took swabs of their saliva and sent the samples off to a lab to be tested for the probability of the two being sisters, half-sisters, or even being related at all based on lineage traced up to 20,000 years ago!
Since publishing Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Unlock the Weird!, the results have come in, and they are very surprising!
Since the chances of sisterhood were slim, the girls were confident that they would have a common ancestor, but that wasn’t the case! The lineage test provides users their haplogroup, which is a letter assigned to a genetic population group of people who share a common ancestor on a patrilineal or matrilineal line. Geaney had Haplogroup H, and Adams had Haplogroup T!
Geaney said that she believes the test has “fascinating implications” and that the test could suggest “doppelgängers really are, in fact, a mysterious phenomenon!”
First, Niamh found Karen, who lives just an hour away in Louth, Ireland.
Niamh’s second twin stranger was Luisa from Genoa, Italy. First, she met with Luisa’s family and friends to get a feel for what she was like—her mother even thought Niamh was her daughter from a distance.
Irene from Sligo, Ireland, was Niamh’s third match.
Move Over New Car Smell, New Mac Smell is all the Rage
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
As a joke, a company created a New Mac Smell candle, but then it sold out in 24 hours.
Andrew Green is the co-founder of Twelve South, an Apple Accessory firm
As a joke, he thought it would be funny to create a candle that smelled like a new Mac
Each $24 candle was hand poured in Charleston, SC
The candles had hints of mint, peach, basil, lavender, mandarin and sage
The smell is said to be the same as when you first open the box of a new Mac computer
All 100 of the candles the company created sold out in 24 hours
Twelve South has started ramping up production to meet the consumer need
Source: Move Over New Car Smell, New Mac Smell is all the Rage
October 17, 2016
75-Year-Old Ray Matthews Runs 75 Marathons in 75 Days
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Traditional wisdom says there’s a shelf-life on things like strenuous physical activity. But at Ripley’s, we don’t accept that outlook. Whether it’s a 70-year-old rowing across the Atlantic, or a 75-year-old running 75 marathons in 75 days, we love to celebrate amazing achievements.
Ray Matthews
Ray Matthews from Maltby, near Rotherham, England, got his start as a boxer. Through dedication and hard work, he’s been able to keep himself in peak physical condition. When he was 60, he saw the London Marathon and thought, like so many people before him, that he could do that too. The following year, he proved himself right by completing the entire 26-mile marathon in under four hours.
He got the idea to break a world record by running 75 marathons in 75 days. And when better to do it than during his 75th year?
To make the entire matter even more unbelievable, he’s attempting to raise £75,000 with his actions. The money is for the Newman School, in Rotherham. The school caters to the needs of physically disabled students. Matthews is hoping to raise enough money to install a soft playground and specialized equipment for the school.
Success and Stall
Matthews began his task in July and completed the marathons in mid-September. Completing the runs turned out to be the easy part. Raising the money has proven to be a bit more difficult. Matthews managed to raise £13,000 during his travels.
The fundraising efforts were going fine until Facebook denied Matthews’ ad.
His friend Charlotte Hush submitted a boosted post to Facebook about Matthews’ activities, but Facebook decided to deny the ad with this explanation:
“Your post wasn’t boosted because it violates Facebook’s ad guidelines by making claims that are unrealistic or unlikely.”
Facebook may not have believed it, but that didn’t stop it from actually happening. Matthews completed his marathons and still has hope that the rest of the money can be raised.
“I couldn’t believe it when I was told Facebook had rejected the ad. But the fact that they did made me all the more determined to succeed.”
Source: 75-Year-Old Ray Matthews Runs 75 Marathons in 75 Days
Man’s Pet Joey Follows Him Everywhere
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Internet comedian and prankster Jackson O’ Doherty posted a video of a day out with his pet kangaroo, Damien.
O’Doherty considers himself to be a social media entertainer
He has over 2 million likes on Facebook alone
Joey is a term used to describe a baby kangaroo
In the video, he performs a lot of staged acts with his pet joey, and she follows him everywhere
Kangaroos don’t imprint like ducks do, but they’re very social animals
A group of kangaroos is often called a Mob
The situation is reminiscent of Constable Scott Mason adopting Cujo earlier this year
Cujo has since been released back into the wild
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.
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