Ripley's Believe It or Not is one of the world's most recognizable names when it comes to displaying oddities throughout history. Ripley's is where you go to see things that can be seen as unreal or unbelievable. They display replicas and in some cases real artifacts in order to teach us about some of the world's most amazing attractions ever seen.
Take the two headed cow pictured above. Animals born like this do not usually live long but Ripley's shows that this sort of birth defect is actually more common than one would think. Ripley's has a wide array of animals and humans born with their twin either connected or sadly growing out of them.
This is a New Guinea Bat Totem (or as Ripley's calls it "Batman"). The bat totem was derived after Flying Fox from the islands of the South Pacific. It is the world's largest bat that has a six foot wingspan and a dog like head. The natives believe that the Flying Fox has a close relation to their tribe and often make these totems with human faces.
As seen on my Instagram page (@feastandfandom), this is the world's largest beer stein. It was crafted back in the 19th century and can hold up to 85 bottles of beer inside of it. This is my kind of beer stein when you think of my passion for beer.
This was a real life naval officer. I apologize that I don't know his name. Does he look familiar? Well if you answered that question by saying that he looks like the cartoon character Popeye, you are correct. Popeye was based off of this man. It's amazing how the artists really captured him in the old cartoons
Here is an example of an old medieval torture device. This Iron maiden is a great example of how bad torture could get. After doing some reading about the Iron Maiden, it was actually thought to never have been in use before the 18th century. The spike inside the standing coffin were said to not be long enough to immediately kill anyone, but they were long enough to pierce the body and some organs while inflicting incredible pain and suffering.
This was not my first visit to Ripley's. I have been to other locations such as Niagara Falls, Canada, Ocean City, Maryland and Atlantic City, New Jersey. I have enjoyed tours each time and often find myself wishing to have met some of the people in their exhibits. I have always found this sort of history fascinating and fun. I wish that I could have shown more examples from my visit to Ripley's, but there is just so much content and so much unbelievable sites to explore. The ticket price is worth every penny and I highly recommend heading over to Ripley's one day where you are looking for something to do by yourself or on a family outing. I had the pleasure of laughing with strangers and discussing the sites when I was here. It truly is an enjoyable experience.
