Welcome to the museum of UNnatural history.
These oddities, along with thousands of other bizarre artifacts, are just a small part of a vast collection that rotates among the 26 Ripley's Believe It or Not Museums around the world.
While the bulk of the stock remains the two million or so objects Ripley himself collected, Edward Mayer, vice president of exhibits for the museum division of Ripley Entertainment, Inc., still remains on the look-out for the strange and unique.
"Just yesterday," says Mayer "we acquired the alleged murder weapon of Abraham Lincoln, a derringer inscribed 'J Wilkes Booth' for $77,000." Also purchased at the same gun auction was a 12-foot, 200-pound goose hunting gun, designed for bringing down an entire flock with one shot and a revolver hidden in a peg leg modified to fire at whomever it was aimed. According to lore, the weapon was said to have claimed more than 20 victims along San Francisco's waterfront in 1880 alone.
Meyer, who also edits the syndicated "Ripley's Believe It or Not" cartoon that still runs in 200 newspapers in 43 countries and 17 languages, appreciates the ease with which technology enables him to add to the collection. "With the fax, the copier, and the computer, I can acquire a lot of things right here from my desk," said Mayer. In Ripley's time "If he wanted to buy something to use in his cartoon, he had to go see it for himself."
And go he did - Ripley's travels took him to more than 180 countries. Born on Christmas day in 1893 in Santa Rosa, California, Robert L. Ripley pursued his first love - baseball -and earned a tryout at age 20 with the New York Giants. His big league aspirations were shattered, however, when he broke his arm while playing in his first professional game. Luckily, Ripley also had a second passion. A talented artist, he landed a spot illustrating sports stories for the San Fancisco Chronicle, and later with the New York Globe.
Late one afternoon and facing a deadline with no idea for a sports cartoon, Ripley drew his first "Believe It or Not". It became an instant hit, and within days he was flooded with letters from readers who eagerly submitted stories for inclusion in his cartoons.
