Talk:Ripley's Believe It or Not!

Untitled

Does the jab about scantily-clad women on the current Ripley's TV series fall outside of NPOV? I would kind of think it does. --Shawn K. Quinn 04:41, 2004 Dec 20 (UTC)

• It only appears POV if someone has a problem with it, but then sex sells nowadays. Riffsyphon1024 23:51, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)
  • I haven't watched that much of the show, but I don't remember this being a problem to the point where it just jumped up and said "this is a bunch of women in bikinis". I can live with it if the majority say that's within NPOV, though. --Shawn K. Quinn 06:38, 2005 Feb 19 (UTC)
    • It seems out of place to me, but I haven't watched the new show MechBrowman 16:25, Mar 1, 2005 (UTC)
      • I agree about the scantily-clad women comment. I used to watch the show and it was quite good, then eventually they hired a baywatch actress (Kelly Packard) as co-host and it seemed to get worse and worse as the weeks went by. Eventually, you couldn't even enjoy the non-sexual bits because of all the constant advertisement at the bottom of the screen about all the half-naked women you're about to see in a few minutes. I'm a man and I like hot babes as much as the next guy, but this was rediculous. I can see why it didn't last long after that. - 216.78.96.108 11:34, 19 February 2006 (UTC)
• It could be rewritten NPOV (an example of going out of its way to sensationalise perhaps?) and the opinion attributed to a reasonably mainstream publication. Did a brief google but couldn't find one though, and I hadn't even heard of the series till reading this article. 65.33.156.96 00:42, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
• The bit in factuality says "...Ripley's Believe It or Not often does not cite sources[citation needed]", which (while quite funny) should probably be fixed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.30.187.18 (talk) 11:41, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Museums

This article neglects to mention the Original Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum in St. Augustine, Florida: CLICK ME! Which I highly recommend visiting if you are ever in ST Augstine, a lovely and historic town which I also highly recommend visiting if you are ever in Florida. You'll usually find best deals and best weather during the "off" season between March and May...Before the heat and hurricanes really start up.--R.D.H. (Ghost In The Machine) 06:34, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

There are also two in Texas. One across from the Alamo in San Antonio, and one in Dallas. They are both combined with a wax museum. Cornface 00:19, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

http://www.tourpei.ca/site/534/index.php --Dallin Tanjo22 06:47, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

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I heard of the Chicago museum being burnt down in a fire. I think there are a few museums that has been destroyed or vandalized (I think one in Indonesia).

-Bill Sun April 8, 2007

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The blurb about the Ocean City museum sounds like it was copied from some promotional/behind-the-scenes website or television show. 85.181.91.172 22:35, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Video game

An adventure game was produced in 1995: [1]

Books

The article also fails to mention the series of books, which frequently appear on bestseller lists.

I own so many of them, and yes, I think that they should be included. Go for it.
—Lady Aleena talk/contribs 14:49, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

PS. Please sign your comments. :)

Museum

Isn't there a Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark?. I recall seeing one there.--Ahmed 00:53, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

And I've been to the one in Hong Kong, but it closed last year (I don't know why, so I'm reluctant to add it to the list of closed Odditoriums).

There is also a meuseum in New Orleans that is still open even after Katrina. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.229.129.38 (talk) 03:33, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Television series

Should each series be given an article instead of having them jumbled in with this one?
—Lady Aleena talk/contribs 14:48, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

Anyone know how to prevent the three television infoboxes from drifting down into the museum section? Perhaps all three boxes could fit across on one row. Mtjaws 00:41, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

I merged them into one to avoid repeating the same things more than once and taking up more room than necessary.  hmwith  talk 17:24, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Wisconsin Dells

Does anyone know if the museum in Wisconsin Dells is still open? If it is, it should be added to the list. Zagalejo 14:49, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Products

A section should be made on where to get Ripley's Believe it or Not products like videos, books, games etc.

-Bill Sun April 8, 2007

Locations

The 'list' of museum locations is completely disorganized, making it difficult to read this page. Suggest following the format of Six Flags to better organize the display of museum locations. Maralia 21:38, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

I agree. I'll do it right now.  hmwith  talk 15:00, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Done! Feel free to make any changes if you see any way to better organize them, but I think the "Six Flags format" works just fine here.  hmwith  talk 16:33, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Thank you - it's much more readable now. Maralia 18:35, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Other suggestions for improvement

Syndicated panel

• The second paragraph is nonsensical at the moment; hope someone can clean it up.

Oddly enough it was still nonsensical today so I changed it Gr8white (talk) 03:26, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Films, television, internet and computer game

• I have removed the description of the computer game, as it was pasted verbatim from http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-the-riddle-of-master-lu.
• Suggest moving the ripleys.com and computer game info to a new section at the same level.
• The remaining info in the films & television section could benefit from some cleanup.

There are some citation & references issues.

• I noted within the article one particularly bold claim that should be sourced ([Ripley] 'was the first to broadcast to every nation in the world simultaneously').
• The external links could use some work. I moved one link to its proper place as a reference (in regards to the Yarmouth museum's closing); I suspect other 'external links' should be cited as references as well.

Thank you for your help! Maralia 18:35, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Other Formats for Possible Inclusion:

There's very little mention of Ripley's two radio shows: "Ripley's Believe It or Not" and "Ripley's Believe It Or Not 1 Minute Episodes."

The former was broadcast in a half-hour format which Ripley hosted; there were 149 episodes of which only 49 are known to exist according to the Old Time Radio Research Group. Ozzie Nelson and his future wife Harriet Hilliard (Ozzie & Harriet) provided musical entertainment.

The latter broadcast consisted of two Believe It or Not entries with a commercial announcement between them. There were 415 episodes. All of them are still in existence. Gestroud (talk) 03:26, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

New Orleans

Is there a museum in New Orleans? I only ask because the article on Alferd Packer states that his head, dissected and preserved, is on display at the Ripley's museum in the French Quarter of New orleans Blooddraken 12:21, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

I know this is an old question, but yes there is. It's either near or in Jackson Brewery. I've never been in it, though. — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 03:43, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Factuality: a synthesis?

I added the {{synthesis}} template to Factuality.Bettering the Wiki 20:13, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

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Accuracy

Where's the part that discusses the accuracy of the Ripley claims? As I recall, research revealed that most of the so-called "facts" were actually unverifiable or just plain false. Whether this is true, and if so whether this is consistent across the various aspects of the franchise, is something worth mentioning.Sonicsuns (talk) 04:27, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Movie

Jim Carrey is set to star in a movie titled "Ripley's Believe it or Not!" Does anyone have any good sources to make this a part of this article? Cactusjump (talk) 18:55, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Visit my userpage at User:Wildroot/Ripley. Wildroot (talk) 01:02, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

1994 film on Robert Ripley

I have found information on a 1994 film on Robert Ripley, but so far with three different titles. Before I add it in, which one would be preferable?

• Ripley's Believe It or Not at IMDb
• The Incredible Life and Times of Robert Ripley: Believe it or Not! at AllMovie
• Haunted: The Incredible Life And Times Of Robert Ripley: Believe It Or Not at the TCM Movie Database

Allmovie has an image of the box with the title it gives while IMDb and TCM don't have an image. Allmovie and IMDb have 1994 as the date, while TCM has 1996 as the date. TCM does list Richard Portnow as playing Robert Ripley as does IMDb while Allmovie has Portnow as an interviewee.

Okay, I confused myself enough for one day. :) LA (T) @ 13:53, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Buena Park

The Buena Park website says its closed until further notice. Does anyone know if they closed for good? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cousert (talk • contribs) 17:27, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Odditoria

I don't Believe It - I don't believe the listing of each odditorium is suficiently notable to consume this much space in the Wikipedia. Rebele | Talk ^{The only way to win the game is to not play the game.} 00:23, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

The Gold Key comic

Gold Key put out a "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" comic book: with three subtitles: True War Tales (#1 and #5), "True Demons and Monsters" (#7, #10, #19, #22, #25, #26, and #29), and "True Ghost Stories" and . Think it's worth mentioning?--BruceGrubb (talk) 09:18, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Yes, but is it true?

The article is sadly deficient as it gives no account of what this enterprise really is. It looks like it was written by someone who works for them. I would like to know what I believe just about any reasonably educated person reading WP would like to know.

1. Are these "factoids" all true. (The illustration given here shows a ship being struck by a meteor, and for one thing, I am pretty sure there is no documentation of such a thing ever happening)

2. While there are stats here on the thousands of drawings and items involved, and deals with the writers, artists, translators, editors and so on, there is nothing at all on who researched all this material, and how it was checked for authenticity. Can anyone throw some light on this? Myles325a (talk) 05:48, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

As the article explains, "Ripley hired Norbert Pearlroth as his researcher, and Pearlroth spent the next 52 years of his life in the New York Public Library, working ten hours a day and six days a week in order to find unusual facts for Ripley. Other writers and researchers included Lester Byck and Don Wimmer." Also, "Authorities at the company insist that they thoroughly investigate everything and ensure their accuracy before they publish their research. This is emphasized on their television show, where they often say "If you see it on Ripley's, you can bet that it's real". However, two myths[specify] dispelled by Mythbusters using the scientific method have appeared in their books. One myth dispelled by Snopes had previously appeared in Ripley's books.[11] If one sends a letter questioning an inaccuracy they will receive a card that says "Believe It or Not!"" - SummerPhD (talk) 14:07, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Replicas

It seems unlikely that there are enough genuine eg shrunken heads to go round all the Odditoriums. It is entirely unclear to me if their collections are in whole or part *replicas*

89.168.93.79 (talk) 22:21, 23 March 2011 (UTC)

Based on Shrunken_head#Trade_in_shrunken_heads, they don't seem to be all that rare. Are some in the Ripley's Museums replicas or, more likely "fakes" of one kind or another? Maybe. Unless we have a reliable source discussing that in direct relation to Ripley's Believe It or Not, though, it has no place in this article. - SummerPhD (talk) 00:23, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

Cartoon illustrators

Anyone know who did the cartoons for this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.56.3.230 (talk) 07:06, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

Yarmouth

I'm fairly sure I remember a Ripley's in Great Yarmouth so I disagree with this edit. Some sources (not necessarily reliable) that say this was a Ripley's are artilib.org, referenceforbusiness.com, and plus44.com. People also mention it on Facebook and Flickr. The reference pointing to the Mercury's article about it closing down implies it was a Ripley's from the article title which was "Believe it or not, collection has gone overseas" (February 28, 1997). The link is dead though and not in the Internet Archive. Angela (talk)

Hmmm, that's a tough one. The site mentioned in the edit seems fairly emphatic that is was not a Ripley's: "...which was an exhibition of weird and wonderful things similar to 'Ripley's Believe it or Not' exhibitions." (That source drew its info from http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/17921 which makes the claim just as clearly.) After a bit of digging, I find a lot of echo: identically worded claims that it was "similar to" a Ripley's and an equal number of claims that it was a Ripley's. I cannot, however, find any particularly reliable sources (or period photos) to provide a solid answer. Anyone else? - SummerPhD (talk) 21:37, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps the Internet Archive had a temporary hiccup as today it is showing up here. The site reports a quote from the Mercury which I'll copy here in case it disappears again. Angela (talk) 09:04, 8 March 2012 (UTC)

"Believe it or not, collection has gone overseas"

"You can believe it - the collection of oddities which made up Ripley's Believe it or Not! odditorium at Great Yarmouth has disappeared. The seafront attraction's lease on the old Windmill cinemas has run out and the collection has been sent back to America."

"The attraction was bought last year by leisure group Queensborough Holdings as part of a £4 million deal which also included Pleasurewood Hills American Theme Park at Lowestoft. Peter Hadden, operations director for Pleasureworld, which is part of Queensborough, said the odditorium had attracted 100,000 visitors a year - but it was time for a change."

""There was a option to renew - but 60 per cent of the people who come to Great Yarmouth return, so you need fresh attractions." he said, "Yarmouth demands constant change.""

"Windmill owner, Peter Jay, now aims to open a new attraction at the premises and is expected to unveil his plans next week. Orlando-based Ripley's has opened franchises around the world, including one at Blackpool."

"Great Yarmouth Mercury" Friday February 28, 1997

That locks it up. Thanks, Angela! - SummerPhD (talk) 00:39, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

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Most Smoke Ribs Cooked By One Person In A Life Time.

I have cooked over a million sides of smoked ribs by my self. Wanting to see how close I’m to being the most??

Jaxkson007 (talk) 01:53, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

Ripley's BION fan mail

There was previously an edit for this article that included: "If one sends a letter questioning an inaccuracy they will receive a card that says "Believe It or Not!"" (link)

It looks like this did indeed happen, (source) but there is a lack of reliable sources for it. If someone could provide reliable sources, that would be appreciated. --LABcrabs (talk) 05:33, 1 June 2018 (UTC)

Another comparable feature

Parking this here:

https://www.comicskingdom.com/trending/blog/2015/07/16/ask-the-archivist-r-j-scott http://pub.canadiana.ca/view/omcn.PortCreditWeekly_8/136?r=0&s=5

-- Zanimum (talk) 18:25, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

Changes to the Australian Ripley's Exhibit

The animatronic people aren't there anymore, there's a gorilla made out of tyres instead. I don't know when this change was made, but the band is now gone -bb (talk) 22:57, 10 November 2022 (UTC)

Zenescope Entertainment comics

Grand Comics Database lists the two issues on its website #1 (October 2018 - November 2018) and #2 (October 2018 - November 2018) Old issues can be easily found on Amazon. Easily confirmed with not even 5 minutes of googling. Heck, the thing was right there in the list of books Zenescope Entertainment published — Revenge of Wonderland #1—6 (July 2018—January 2019); Ripley's Believe It or Not! #1—2 (October—November 2018 ); Rise of the Djinn #1—3 (October 2021—March 2022)--174.99.238.22 (talk) 10:25, 10 December 2022 (UTC)

Links to the actual issues — "Ripley's Believe It or Not #1". Zenescope Entertainment. Retrieved December 10, 2022.; "Ripley's Believe It or Not #2". Zenescope Entertainment. Retrieved December 10, 2022. That should address the reliable source BS we are getting. (we really don't need references that are on the level of 'on a clear day the sky is blue').--174.99.238.22 (talk) 11:08, 10 December 2022 (UTC)