After 35 years of absence, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! is back, for a third time, in Times Square. The first Ripley’s opened on Broadway and 48th Street in 1938. It closed a year later. The next try lasted longer, from 1957 to 1972, and closed when Times Square took a dramatic shift away from family entertainment. This museum was replaced by a XXX movie theater.
Highlights of the Times Square Odditorium:
There are many items inside the Times Square Odditorium that will appeal to man’s basic curiosity and desire to know more about this world and New York City.
Here you will find only authentic, original and unbelievable exhibits including locks of hair that belonged to Elvis Presley, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and George Washington, Ripley’s collection of Olympic torches, and animal oddities such as a two-headed calf, a six-legged cow, a lizard man, cat man, a woman with the longest nails and an albino giraffe!
Some other key exhibits will include: Over 500 unusual artifacts from all over the world, representing the places and cultures visited by Robert Ripley during his travels, 24 shrunken heads from Ecuador, a Buddha statue stuffed with $1 million in shredded bills, a vampire survival kit made for 19th century European travelers, a roomful of medieval torture instruments and some “pranks of nature”.
Who was Robert Ripley?
Robert Leroy Ripley was an icon in the world of cartoon art, the first person to be elected to the Trivia Hall of Fame, and the founder of an entertainment empire based on the premise that truth can be stranger than fiction, first came to New York from San Francisco in 1913 at the age of 23.
Jack London was a friend of Ripley who encouraged Ripley to go to New York and pursue his baseball dream or at least make more money from his drawings. In New York he landed a job as an illustrator with the New York Globe and in 1914 he tried out for the New York Giants and made the team.
On May 5, 1939 in Madison Square Garden, Robert Ripley led a band of celebrities called the Believe It or Not’s to the plate against an equally elite team called the Nine Old Men, led by radio and newspaper journalist Lowell Thomas, to benefit the Boys Club of New York. In total more than 60 celebrities played for the two teams, including two of the greatest baseball players of all time, pitcher Walter Johnson, and heavy hitter Babe Ruth.
Unfortunately, in his very first game with the Giants, he broke his pitching arm. With his baseball career over, Ripley returned to his job at the Globe. He lived a full and rich New York City life including marrying a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl.
Ripley’s Times Square Odditorium houses the greatest collection of unbelievable odd and unusual items ever assembled under one roof, from this world and beyond! This fantastic collection captures the essence of Mr. Ripley, the eccentric collector who proved to the world that truth could indeed be stranger than fiction. The Odditorium will remain open until 1 a.m. on weekends, a reminder of how much Ripley himself enjoyed the nightlife.
Source: USA Today
