The man behind Ripley's Believe it or Not!

I believe everyone has watched Ripley's Believe it or Not! (in AXN) show atleast once. The show in which bizarre things happen which we never imagined or believed existed like some of the images here



















This blog is about the man behind all that. Yes the man who started it all. Guess what his name is, it is Robert Ripley. Robert Ripley lived in the first half of the 20th century in which he was immensely popular and his whole life was a Believe it or not! type for people of that period. He was born in 1890 in Santa Rosa, California. His original name was LeRoy Ripley.

“Roy” was an avid artist and a great athlete at a very young age. He pitched semi-pro baseball at age 13 and also illustrated the posters advertising the games.
At age 14, he sold his first cartoon to LIFE Magazine for eight dollars.

By age 15, Ripley was working at the San Francisco Bulletin and soon moved on to the San Francisco Chronicle.

In 1913, he moved to New York and, as ‘Robert’, rather than ‘Leroy’, he began working at the New York Globe sketching sports cartoons. After having done this for several years, Ripley came upon a slow sports day and decided to draw up nine unusual sports event in small sketches. The cartoon was originally titled, “Champs and Chumps”, but after much deliberation, the title was changed to Believe It or Not!. The rest is history!

His cartoon became famous and he travelled all over the world looking for unbelievable stories. He had a special liking for China and the far eastern countries. Ripley was an extremely shy character and always used to wear flamboyant color combinations.

Even Ripley's death was like a believe it or not story. At 58, Ripley died while taping the 13th episode of his television series, an episode that dealt with death and death related rituals. He died while taping the show and was pronounced dead of a heart attack

Ripley’s legacy and what he brought to the world is alive in all of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museums and his traditions continue with the Believe It or Not! cartoon series. Today the daily cartoon is seen in nearly 200 newspapers worldwide, in 42 countries, and 17 languages. The majority of the exhibits in all of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museums are based on the collections of oddities obtained by Ripley throughout his world travels. Every year millions of people visit the Ripley’s museums to take part in the adventure, one in which they experience first-hand the incredible world of Robert Ripley!

The official website is www.ripleys.com

You can visit this site to have a look at some of the bizarre happenings around the world