Episode 106, January 11, 2025 - Ripley's Believe It Or Not, Part 2

This week on Airchecks, this is the final part of a two part series of Ripley's Believe It Or Not.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Welcome to airchecks. Last week and this week we will
be playing all of the episodes of Ripley's Believe It
or Not. Tales of the absurd and bizarre made their
way to the airwaves through this strange and eccentric old
time radio series. Ripley's Believe It or Not starred none
other than Robert Ripley himself, as he shared as out
of this world discoveries and experiences while traveling around the globe.
His standard practice was to take note of the unusual

(00:44):
sites and practices he came across during his travels and
chronicled them in his journal. It was not until nineteen
thirty that the program was made available to a public audience.
Whereas other old radio shows focused on a particular story
of a character or a theme, Ripley's Believe It or
Not took a more informative with each episode and shared
odd bits of trivia and weird facts with its listeners.
Throughout the years, The program constantly evolved and changed formats

(01:08):
several times to meet the public's demands. However, like all things,
the show ran its course and officially ended in nineteen
forty eight after an eight year run. Here is the
final part of Ripley's believe it or.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Not truth is strange, Julie, this is Ripley, Believe it
or not.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Don Pedro, second Emperor of Brazil, sold titles of nobility
at ten thousand dollars each. With the money he raised,
he built an insane asylum. He put this sign in
front the vane to the foolish, believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about the shell that
had a man's number. George McMillan, a member of the

(01:54):
Royal Canadian Air Force, was in a dugout in France
when a piece of jagged shell casing the size of
a silver dollar, landed beside him with a sinister wine.
He noticed that it bore a number two six seven
five zero. With nervous fingers, he took out his Air
Force identity card. His service number was exactly the same.
The shell had his number on it, and he lived

(02:14):
to tell the tale. They leave it or not. Truth
is stranger the fiction. This is the truth. This is Ripley,
Believe it or not. The fastest living thing is the

(02:36):
frigate bird. Commander J. E. Kempstickdale clocked its flight by
means of a ship's chronometer in nineteen forty one and
found that it moved at a speed of two hundred
and sixty one miles per hour.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
They leave it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
In a moment, I'll tell you about the man who
sucks got him out of jail. Fred Treadwell was in
the Lion County Jail at Emporia, Kansas, in eighteen ninety nine,
charged with burglary for two months. He plotted a brake.
He wore homemade woolen socks, which he raveled in the yarn.
He covered the yarn with soap and rolled it in
sand and cement particles. The sanded yarn acted as a rasp. Nightly,

(03:10):
he drew the strands across his cell bars, over and
over until the bars were severed. Although his escape was ingenious,
he was recaptured and returned to jail. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Truth is stranger eviction, This is the truth. This is ripley.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
On November twenty fifth, nineteen eleven, three men were hanged
on Greenberry Hill in London, England, for murder. The names
of the three men in the order of their execution
were green Berry and Hill. Believe it or not. In
a moment, I'll tell you the greatest fish tail of
them all. The clippership Crusader and Immigrants ship, en route

(04:00):
from England to New Zealand with two hundred and fourteen
passengers aboard, was only five days out in the Bay
of Biscay when it sprang a leak. The water was
coming in faster than the crew could pump it out.
As they were about to abandon ship, the water mysteriously stopped.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Pouring in, and they made port.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
There. It was discovered they'd been saved by a gigantic fish.
The inrush of water had tightly wedged it into the hole.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Truth is stranger the fiction. This is the proof. This
is ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
Zachary Taylor was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when the letter
notifying him of his nomination for the presidency arrived. The
letter bore no postage and was marked collect so he
refused it.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a president who
slept through his entire term of office. Anchory Taylor refused
to be sworn in as President of the United States
on a Sunday. So David Rice Atchison, who was President
pro tam of the Senate, was President of the United
States from noon on March fourth until noon on March fifth,

(05:13):
eighteen forty nine, when Taylor at last took the ads
of office. Unaware of the great honor which had been
thrust upon him, Atchison spent the twenty four hours of
his presidency in bed.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Believe it or not. Cruf he strange the dition, and
this is the proof. This is ripleous, believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
One day Nimrod Robertson of the Yukon Territory shot a bear.
As he had lost all of his own teeth, he
fashioned a plate out of the bear's teeth. He then
proceeded to eat the bear with its own teeth. Believe
it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you about
the costliest bombardment of all time. The Mohammedan conqueror ala

(06:04):
Udin Kilji invaded India and laid siege to Delhi in
twelve ninety six. After the aggressor ran out of stone
cannonballs for the catapults, he opened his treasury and ordered
the engines loaded with bags of solid gold. After several
hundred rounds. The bewildered garrison surrendered the fortress. A single
round weighed about one hundred pounds, so this golden ammunition
cost the victor about fifteen million dollars. Believe it or not,

(06:32):
Truth is stranger, This is the truth.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
This is ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
In Berlin, Germany, a thief who had just robbed a
meat store attempted to escape by jumping through a skylight.
He was hanged by an armful of sausages which he
had stolen. Believe it or not, In a moment, I'll
tell you the weird story about an accident that was
reported before it happened. The police in Richmond, California, received

(07:07):
an urgent phone call asking him to hurry to San
Pablo and McDonald Avenues as the train had just hit
a truck, hurting a man badly. Upon arriving with an ambulance,
they found no accident. In fact, the train hadn't even arrived.
They were about to leave in disgust when the train
roared in colliding with a truck driven by Randolph Bruce.
He suffered a brain injury and a crushed chest. Believe

(07:29):
it or not.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Truth is strange to the lection. This is Believe it
or not.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
In eighteen hundred, when our presidential election was thrown into
the House of Representatives, William Claybourne cast his vote for
Thomas Jefferson, electing him president over Alon Burr by just
one vote. Believe it or not. In a moment, I'll
tell you how important one vote can be. In sixteen
forty nine, King Charles the First of England appeared before

(08:10):
a tribunal of one hundred and thirty five judges. It
was up to them to decide his fate. They were
charged with the responsibility as to whether he would live
or die. Sixty seven of the judges voted that his
life be spared. Sixty eight of them voted for his execution. Thus,
King Charles the First of England was sentenced to death
by a majority of one single vote. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Truth is strange to the ditch. This is the truth.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
This is ripley.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Corporal Joe Alo of Bronx, New York was forced to
bail out over Moritai Island in the Philippines. His ripcord
failed and he fell more than a half mile, landing
in a tree to return his parachute unopened. They leave
it or not in a moment. The real Cinderella story.

(09:10):
The original Cinderella was really a young Egyptian woman of
great beauty. Her real name was Rhodopus. In the original story,
the famous slipper was made of fur, not glass. It
seems the translator mistook the French word v a i r,
which means fur, for v e r r, which means glass.
Since then Cinderella and her glass slipper have been inseparable.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
They leave it or not. Truth is stranger than fiction.
This is the truth.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
This is ripley, Believe it or not. In the Johanneum
Museum in Dresden, Germany, there is a vase which was
bought by August the Strong of Saxony from Frederick William
the First of Prussia. The price paid for it was
four hundred human beings. Believe it or not. In a moment,

(10:06):
I'll tell you about the man who paid our national debt.
James Swan came to America as a youth from Fife,
years Scotland. He settled in Boston, where he prospered. In
seventeen eighty seven he moved to France, where he continued
to acquire wealth.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
At that time. The United States.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
Owed France the money advanced our struggling nation during the Revolution.
Swan decided to pay it out of his own pocket.
On July ninth, seventeen ninety five, he paid two twenty
four thousand, eight hundred ninety nine dollars and ninety three cents.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Truth is strangely the d This is the truth. This
is riply believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
Adrian Killo was the most fickle woman in the world.
She was engaged six hundred and fifty two times, married
fifty three times, and for twenty three years she changed
her mind on the average of once every twelve days.
They live it or not. In a moment, I'll tell
you about a discovery made on a camel. Veterinarians, who

(11:17):
spent a lifetime observing camels still confess that they know
less than.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
Nothing about them.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
However, one thing we do know is that the camel
was responsible for the discovery of butter. Some unknown Bedouin
in the remote period loaded a skinful of milk to
take with him on a journey. The peculiar ambling gait
of the camel turned it to butter, and humanity was
enriched by a new addition to its diet. They lieve
it are not.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Truth is stranger, then this is the truth.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
This is rippy.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Believe it or nothing.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
Newly hatched silkworms are so tiny that seven hundred thousand
of them weigh only one pound. Within six weeks, their
total weight will increase to ninety five hundred pounds, a
gain of nine hundred and fifty thousand percent. Believe it
or not. In a moment, I'll tell you about one
of the strangest court trials in history. In fifteen forty,

(12:19):
a clothes moth was brought to trial before Judge Corrector
put the Lero in Spain. The moth was charged with
having destroyed a tapestry of a priceless and luxurious weave.
After a formal trial, the moth was found guilty and
sentenced to have its throat cut. Now, no matter what
you think of this trial, the moth was innocent. Moths
don't eat cloth or tapestries. The true culprits are the

(12:39):
larva of the moth. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Truth is strangely dediction. This is the truth. This is rickles.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
If you happen to accidentally break a piece of your
best crystal, perhaps this will give you some consolation. In
the time of Nero, to replace an ordinary water glass
would have cost you six thousand dollars. Believe it or not,
In a moment, I'll tell you about a lighthouse built
on cotton. In seventeen sixty one, an American ship laden

(13:20):
with cotton from India was driven ashore in a storm
and wrecked near Lessau, England. The salvaged bales were piled
on the shore. The combination of cotton, sea water, and
sand turned the bales into a mass as solid as granite.
Less Aw Lighthouse was built upon this cotton foundation, a
sandy shore where before no structure of any kind could
be built. The cotton foundation has endured for over one

(13:42):
hundred and ninety years. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
Truth is stranger, then this is the truth. This is ripley.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
The moon exerts a greater gravity pull upon a ship
than it does upon the water, thus reducing a ship's displacement. Therefore,
every ship weighs more in the daytime than it does
at night. In the moonlight, they leave it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you the unusual story of
a mystery ship. If you have a tendency to be superstitious,

(14:23):
consider the strange fate of the Thomas W. Lawson, the
only seven masted schooner ever built. The Lawson was named
after the author of a book entitled Friday the Thirteenth.
One day in nineteen seven, the Lawson put the sea
and was shipwrecked. She sank with a loss of sixteen lives.
And what was the day on which the Lawson went
to the bottom of the sea. On Friday the thirteenth

(14:43):
of December. They leave it or not?

Speaker 2 (14:50):
Truth the stranger? Then this is the truth. This is ripley.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (15:03):
We think of the wooden barrel as a rather prosaic
object in our lives. However, when the Chinese finally became
acquainted with the wonders of the West, the simple barrel
impressed them as a technical miracle. They leave it or
not In a moment, I'll tell you about a priceless barrel.
When Rafael the Great painter saw a mother crooning to

(15:25):
her infant while an older boy stood beside her, the
sight so inspired him he decided to paint it. Today
it ranks with the greatest masterpieces ever produced. It's known
as Madonna della Sadia. Raffael gave it away in payment
for a twenty five cent meal. As Rafael did not
have a canvas or an easel at the time, he
painted it on the round top of a wine cask,

(15:46):
a simple barrel.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Believe it or not, Truth is stranger dediction. This is
the proof. This is ripley be leaded or not.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
Did you know that if you tried to arrange fifteen
books in all possible ways, and if you made a
change a minute, it would take you two million, four
hundred eighty seven nine hundred ninety six years to do it.
Believe it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you
how a man's intuition saved his brother's life. Francois de

(16:26):
Seville was declared dead in the year fifteen sixty two
and he was buried. However, his brother had a strange
intuition about it. As a result, six hours later he
had Francois disinterred, and sure enough he was revived. Francois
lived to enjoy seventy more years of life. In fact,
he died at the ripe old age of one hundred
and five from a cold he contracted while serenading the

(16:47):
lady of his heart all night long. Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
Not, Truth is stranger deliction. This is the truth. This
is ritly, Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
The Roman emperor Vitelius was the greatest glutton in all history.
He spent more than three hundred and seventy five thousand
dollars a day on food alone, yet he starved his
own mother to death.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (17:19):
In a moment, I'll tell you where the word restaurant
came from. Until seventeen seventy six, eating places were always
part of a hotel or inn. Then a chef named
Boulangear opened the first public dining place in Paris. He
placed a sign in front of his establishment with an
adaptation from the famous quotation from Saint Matthew. Come unto me,

(17:39):
all leave that are hungry, and I shall restore you
from that word restore restaurare in French. His place became
known as restaurant. This name has since been applied the
world over. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
String you dediction, This is the food. This is ripley
be needed or not.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
If you think your wife is costing you too much money,
consider the Sabayu women of money for India. They must
be bought and paid for anew each year. This makes
them the most costly wives in the world. Believe it
or not, In a moment, I'll tell you the strange
fate of a hanging. Judge Benedict Carpzau was President of

(18:28):
the Court of Sessions in Leipzig, Germany, from sixteen twenty
to sixteen sixty six. During his long term on the bench,
he passed more than thirty thousand death sentences, principally for
theft and witchcraft. About twenty thousand were against women convicted
of sorcery. This barbaric judge, who considered five death sentences
just today's work, died of a broken heart a few

(18:48):
minutes after.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
The death of his pet dog. Believe it or not,
truth is string to deliction. This is the truth.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
This is rile.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
Paul Ubert of Pordeaux, France, was convicted of first degree murder.
After he had served twenty one years in solitary confinement,
he was acquitted it was discovered that his supposed victim
was none other than himself. Believe it or not. In
a moment, I'll tell you about a very expensive cab ride.
William Lord Drags hailed a cab in Brighton, England one

(19:32):
day and.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
Asked to be driven to West Pier.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
Upon arriving, he asked Martin Holloway the cabby to wait
while he took a sale on his new yacht. Five
hundred and ninety nine days later, Drags returned and found
Holloway waiting. The Lord's bill came to nine hundred eighty
nine pounds, fifteen shillings and six fence. He paid a
cab fare of nearly five thousand dollars. Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Not, truth, bring you the diction. This is the proof.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
This is ripley.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
He leave it or not?

Speaker 3 (20:11):
Here's a real paradox for your collection. The flower known
as Sweet William was named after William, Duke of Cumberland,
who was better known as the Butcher for his cruelty
to the Scots.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
They leave it or not. In a moment, I'll.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
Tell you about a remarkable heat in lifting. On September
twenty fifth, nineteen forty four, an incredible feat of lifting
was witnessed by two hundred people. In winters, South Dakota.
Gardner A. Taylor, a sixty four year old blacksmith, lifted
one hundred and seventy five pounds an anvil weighing one
hundred and fifty five pounds with a twenty pound weight

(20:45):
on top of it. And the thing which makes this
lifting feat so incredible is that Taylor lifted the entire
one hundred seventy five pounds with his ears. They leave
it or not.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
This truth is stranger. This is the truth, This is
the he needed or not.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
The next time you're teeing up, remember the core of
a golf ball contains germs. As they multiply, they develop pressure,
which renders the ball more resilient, so germs make better
golf balls.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
They leave it or not. In a moment, I'll tell
you about the.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
Man in the Golden Mask. As the result of an
injury followed ed, Dean Grand Vizier of Bokara, Asia, wore
a mask of solid gold. The sight of his face
became so repulsive to him that he donned the mask
at the age of seventeen. He wore it constantly, never
removing it for eighty four years. During that time, no

(21:50):
one ever saw his face either his king nor himself.
He even directed that he be buried wearing the mask,
and his last wish was respected. They leave it or not?

Speaker 2 (22:03):
Truth is strangely the NICs. This is the truth, this.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
Is rip this Believe it or not. America is truly
the land of opportunity. According to official US statistics, there
are twenty three thousan five hundred and fifty nine different
ways of making a living in the United States.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Believe it or not. In a moment, I'll tell.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
You about one of the most spectacular walks in history.
In the dead of winter in eighteen ninety eight, a
whaling fleet got caught in an ice jam in the
Arctic Ocean. If the men were to survive, they needed
help from the outside. So to save his shipmates from
their icy tomb, George Tilton of Bedford, Massachusetts, volunteered to

(22:49):
walk from Point Barrow to Kodiak Island to get help.
He walked twelve hundred miles through darkness, blizzards, and ice.
His walk took him a total of one hundred and
forty six days.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
They leave it or not? Truth is strange, then, this
is the truth. This is Ripley's Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
We've all heard the expression it's raining cats and dogs.
But imagine the surprise experienced by the people living in Essen,
Germany when in eighteen ninety six a large hailstone fell
with a carp inside. They leave it or not. In
a moment, I'll tell you about the costliest minute in history.
The Roman emperor Vitelius bought one minute of time for

(23:41):
two hundred and fifty million dollars from Flaman, the chief
priest of the province of Gaul. It was the chief
priest's duty to determine the beginning and the end of spring.
For this quarter of a billion dollars, the Flaman agreed
to extend the spring of the year sixty eight by
one minute. Thus Vitelius could boast that he had purchased
the most unpurchasable of all commodity time.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
Believe it or not, Truth is stranger the fiction. This
is the truth. This is ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
Here's a word for you, folks who enjoy a Martini
backholder bern Brand van Heinen Schwantz. This formidable verbal giant
of thirty eight letters is simply the German way of
saying a gin cocktail. Believe it or not in a moment,
I'll tell you a fantastic story of motherhood. A new
chapter in medical history will have to be written to

(24:41):
account for the case of Missus Philippa Grihaba. She married
thirty two year old Fruto Aldana of Tunia, Columbia when
she was one hundred years old. A year later, she
was delivered of a healthy baby boy, making him one
hundred and one years younger than his mother. This statement
is based on official records of the municipality of Tuna
and was published a herald off Bogata on February twenty sixth,

(25:02):
nineteen forty five.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
They live it or not truth is strangely dediction. This
is the truth. This is riply believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (25:22):
And at Philon, a twelve year old girl of abbe
Vie of France, was able to reply to any question
put to her by having the answer appear in bold
read letters upon the skin of her arms, legs and shoulders.
They live it or not In a moment, I'll tell
you about the marriage of the unconscious brides. One of

(25:42):
the strangest marriage customs is in vogue among the Bugies
of Celebi's Indonesia. The bride may not raise her eyes
nor look upon a man until after her marriage is over.
She's also forbidden to set full upon the ground during
the entire three days of her wedding. To ensure this,
the bride is drugged until unconscious and then carried about
on the shoulders of the head of her family. When

(26:02):
she recovers consciousness, she's a married woman.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
They leave it or not. Truth is strangely in fiction,
and this is the truth. This is Ripley, believe it
or not.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
To distinguish his son from all the other smiths, a
father in Homerville, Georgia decided to give his boy a
fraction for a Christian name, so he christened him five
Eighth's Smith. Believe it or not. In a moment, I'll
tell you about history's costliest bald headed joke. Nine year
old Francis Selden of Ireland was heir to one of

(26:46):
the largest fortunes in Europe. He was a student at
Clermont College in Paris when King Louis the fourteenth honored
the school with a visit. The authorities decided to rename
the college the College of King Louis the Great. Since
the king was bald, and Claremont is French for bear
top seldom quipped that the current name was quite appropriate.
Upon hearing this, the king imprisoned him for sixty nine years.

(27:06):
They leave it or not?

Speaker 2 (27:12):
Truth is strange in this is the proof. This is riple.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
Soap was accidentally discovered by the ancients when the Greece
from the animals on their sacrificial altars, dripped through and
mixed with the wood ashes of the altar logs.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
They leave it or not.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
In a moment, I'll tell you about the greatest soldier
of fortune of them all. Charles James Patrick Mahon was
the last of the fabulous Irish gentleman adventurers. He served
six terms in the British Parliament, fought thirteen duels, and
accumulated more active army ranks than any other mortals. He
was a colonel in the Irish Militia and in the

(27:57):
armies of Turkey, Russia, Austria vs. Brazil, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru,
and the United States. Also a general in Uruguay and
a Chilean admiral.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
Believe it or not, Truth is stranger the n This
is the truth.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
This is riples. Believe it or not. You could bet
that the crab caught by George H. Goodbroad of Huntingdon
Long Island left him more than a little amazed. It
was wearing his wife's wedding ring, which he had lost
the previous year. Believe it or not, In a moment,

(28:38):
I'll tell you about a gesture that meant death. A
popular belief is that a thumbs down gesture condemned the
ancient Roman. This is not true. Neither was thumbs up
a sign of favor. When the gladiator was defeated, it
was up to the spectators whether he.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
Should live or die.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
If the crowd wanted him to live, they shut their
thumbs up within their fists so that they were not visible.
If they wanted him to die, they turned out their thumbs.
If the thumbs were visible, the gladiator was put to death.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Proof he strangely this is the proof. This is riples,
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
Ballplayers make spectancular catches to win ball games. However, one
of the most important catches was made by Frank Bruckman,
a Brooklyn mail carrier. He caught a child in his
male pouch as it fell.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
From a window. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a king with
a strange appetite. The things people eat are sometimes a
little startling. King Menelik of Ethiopia was a literal believer
in the curative property of the printed page. Whenever he
was sick or his heart was heavy, he always ate
a page or two of the Bible. Eventually, either the
king overestimated his capacity for reading matter, or he miscalculated

(30:02):
the length of the book he ate. He died as
a result of eating the heavy Egyptian edition of the
Book of Kings.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
Believe it or not, Truth is strangely in fiction. This
is the proof. This is riple. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
If your old gelafee burns a lot of oil, just
be thankful you don't have to replace it with watch oil.
It's the most expensive petroleum product. Watch oil costs eight
hundred dollars a gallon.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (30:39):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a duel that
lasted nineteen years. Two officers in Napoleon's army, Major Pierre
DuPont and Captain Fournier Solobice, first clashed in December seventeen
ninety four, the major's lady made a sarcastic comment about
the captain. It resulted in a duel, but they were
so evenly matched it was a draw. As a result,

(31:01):
they bought the same duel a total of two thousand,
one hundred times. The last duel in eighteen thirteen also
was a draw, and they ended their quarrel after nineteen years.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
They leave it or not. Truth is stranger the iction,
This is the truth, This is Ripley's believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (31:30):
In three h nine BC, Aristos, in charge of a
flute orchestra and the temple of Jupiter in Greece, called
out his men because they were buyed from eating lunch
in the temple, making musicians the first strikers. They leave
it or not In a moment, I'll tell you The
secret of the Sealed Book. A sealed book of one
hundred pages titled The Onliest and Deepest Secrets of the

(31:53):
Medical Art, was found among the effects of the celebrated
Dutch physician doctor Hermann Beerhof after his death in seventeen
thirty eight. The book was sold at auction for ten
thousand dollars in gold. The buyer discovered that ninety nine
pages were blank. Only the title page bore this inscription
keep your head cool, your feet warm, and you'll make the.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Best doctor poor. Believe it or not, truth is stranger
the fiction, and this is the proof. This is Ripley's
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
General Sir Arthur Sloggett was shot through the heart in
the Battle of Amdurmam in eighteen ninety eight. To the
amazement of his physicians, he survived for another thirty one years,
dying at the age of seventy two. Believe it or not,
In a moment, I'll tell you about a poet who
received over a million dollars a line. Felip Deport French

(32:54):
court Point wrote a three line poem for King Ari
third of France, who wanted to read it to his sweetheart.
The poem read, I would rather that Heaven let me
be born without a name and without honor, provided I
could always be with you. The king granted the point
the revenue of four abbies for life. In this way
he drew a total of three million, three hundred thousand dollars,

(33:14):
the largest fee in all history. Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
Not, truth is stranger than fiction, and this is the truth.

Speaker 3 (33:27):
This is ripley.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (33:36):
Count Octavio Morale of Rome, Italy never used a calm
or brush on his hair. He relied solely on rudimentary
muscles in his scalp. He could comb and part his
hair by willpower alone. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about one of the strangest religious celebrations
in the world. Once a year, in the morning of

(33:56):
the twelfth day of the third month, which is regarded
as the Prophet's birthday, and Sheriff of Cairo rides to
the Sadia Musk, his principal house of prayer. In his path,
the parishioners lie on the ground in the closest formation,
with legs extended and arms clasped beneath their forehets. His
horse walks over the prostrate bodies. However, it's very rare
for anyone of his living carpet to be hurt.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
Believe it or not. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
Father Rasmus Cristian Rats the University of Copenhaveen was a
linguist of such power and sculp that he outlived the
Wiso Ponte. He could speak two hundred and thirty languages.
Believe it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you
about avoided like it. A mostly bared book is the
grand said literally the book. It's the holy book of

(34:55):
the seat the religious sect of India. Servants fanned the
book all day with golden hands, old fans of peacock feathers.
An orchestra plays sweet music before it and sweet to
offered to it continuously. The Golden Temple of Amritsar was
built at the cost of forty million dollars for the
express purpose of housing it. The costliest book cover in
the world. Believe it or not, true danger lead this

(35:25):
is ripply.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
To the Kakatu Indian of British Columbia, his name is
his fortune. If he needs money, he simply pawns his name. However,
until the loan is repaid, the borrower is nameless. Believe
it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you about
nature's most remarkable memorial. In the year six sixty, the

(35:54):
Kingdom of Korea was invaded by the Chinese. The Korean
king put Jay, his sons and ministers were made prisoner.
Isn't transported to China, but the royal wife concubine seventy
one of them committed suicide by hurling themselves into the
river Kium from Nakuam Rock. Now each spring seventy one
flowers and only seventy one grow on the rock. Then

(36:14):
they fall into the river on the same day each year.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Believe it or not, Truth is inguicu. This is lily.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
Stephen south Walled, an English author, predicted the date of
the outbreak of World War II and Valiant Clay, a
book published in nineteen thirty one. He predicted Sunday, September third,
nineteen thirty nine. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about the strangest nuptials.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Of all time.

Speaker 3 (36:56):
Mazarina Anna Ivanovna, a cruel woman, became enraged Mikhail Galitzin.
He ordered him to marry the ugliest woman in Russia,
with all the dwarfs, freaks and buffoons of the Empire
in attendance. The bridal couple were sealed in a bedroom
of ice with seats and blankets of ice. The temperature
was at forty below zero, Yet the couple survived, and
later twins were born to them. The Empress died at

(37:18):
the time of the twins' birth. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
True? His stranger.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
This istantly he needed or not. Radford Williams, an Englishman,
was convicted of murder and sentenced.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
To be hanged. As a last request, he.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
Asked if he might be permitted to spring the death
half himself. He was and he did. Believe it or not,
in a moment, I'll tell you about a man who
stubbed his toe on ten billion dollars. George Walker, who
worked on farm not far from where Johannesburg stands today,
was on his way to church one Sunday morning in

(38:05):
March eighteen eighty six when he stumbled over a piece
of protruding rock covered by grass. He knelt down to
remove the cause of trouble and discovered the main reef
conglomerate containing ten billion dollars worth of gold. Although he
stumbled over the richest gold field in the world, Walker
died in poverty.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Believe it or not, proof is ingel This is rickly,
Believe it or not. Here's a good example of how

(38:44):
real estate prices are going up.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
The Feathers Hotel in Luglow, England sold recently for one
hundred twenty thousand dollars. It was built in sixteen three
for a mere one hundred ten dollars. Believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you how California got its name.
California was named after a mythical island in a romantic
novel published in Spain in fifteen hundred. The novel is

(39:09):
entitled The Exploits of Esplunbius. The book came into the
possession of a young law clerk in Sevilla, Spain. Years later,
while searching for this mysterious island named in the book,
he founded in what is today California. He named it
in memory of the romantic novel. The young man was
Ernando Cortes. Believe It or Not.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
True is stranger the nit this is with the Believe
it or Not?

Speaker 3 (39:47):
It's interesting to note the documents which will hold up
in court. For example, a will scratched with a pocket
knife on an auto fender was probated by the surrogates
court in Saskatchewan, Canada in nineteen forty eight. It or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you how cheese won a
naval battle. In a naval battle, between the Argentine and

(40:10):
Uruguayan fleet in August eighteen forty one, the Uruguayan fleet,
commanded by Captain John cod the United States, ran out
of cannon balls. Cole ordered a nearby pile of round,
grimy looking objects loaded into the gun. After two salvos
at shuck range, the Argentine fleet sailed out of range.
Thus the battle was won by round grimy Dutch cheeses

(40:30):
so hard they weren't fit to eat. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
Truth is stranger, and this is the truth. This is ripley.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
The tomb of Ezra, most celebrated figure of the Old Testament,
next to Moses, has been used as a maternity hospital
for twenty two hundred years. A priest in twenty two
midwives are in constant attendance. Believe it or not. In
a moment, I'll tell you the story of the Golden Mummy.

(41:09):
Chu Chi came to the throne of China at the
age of six in sixteen forty four. After ruling seventeen years,
he fell in love with a concubine named Tungki. Because
he couldn't marry her, the emperor withdrew to a monastery.
After his death, his body was embalmed and sprinkled with
gold dust. He was arrayed in the Imperial robes of
yellow silk, seated in a canopy drone, and has remained

(41:31):
in this position wonderfully lifelike after three hundred years.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Believe it or not, truth is strange of addiction. This
is the truth. This if we believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (41:53):
In Germany during the nineteenth century, all princes of the
Blood had a whipping boy, that is, a boy who
was brought up with the young prince and who was
spanked every time the prince misbehaved. Believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you where they sing the
oldest song in the world. The chadoop is a water

(42:13):
raising device operating on the principle of the water sweep.
It's been used for irrigation purposes in the Nile Valley
for at least five thousand years. The work of the
shadoof has always been and still is, accompanied by a
song which has never changed in fifty century. It's sung
by the farmers along the banks of the Nile in Egypt,
making the shadoof easily the oldest song known to man.

(42:36):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (42:42):
Proof is strangely the dis This is the proof. This
is riply Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
The surgeon, doctor Pullickman, the native of Lorraine, died at
the age of one hundred and forty, having been drunk
each day since he was twenty five years old. On
the eve of his death, he performed a major surgical
operations successfully. Believe it or not. In a moment, I'll
tell you about the first man to eat his hat. D. K. Thompson,

(43:16):
a city estate agent of Melbourne, Australia, said that if
he ever plucked a quiz, he would eat his hat.
When he failed to answer his first question, he proceeded
to keep his promise. He chopped up his stylish panama
hat and ate it. Mixed with mashed potatoes and roast beef.
Thousands of people blocked the streets to gain a glimpse
of the first half eater in history. He said afterwards

(43:37):
he would not recommend it as being at all appetizing.
Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
Not, truth is strangely. This is ripply Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
Glass does not have one of the properties of solids.
It does not show any crystals with definite form. It
flows with gravity, and it has no melting point. Therefore,
glass is not a solid, It's a liquid. Believe it
or not. In a moment, I'll tell you who was
the first President of the United States. George Washington was

(44:20):
not the first President of the United States. The Continental
Congress met from seventeen seventy four on, but it was
not until seventeen eighty one, when Maryland finally signed the
Articles of Confederation that a union of all the original
thirteen states became an actuality. Who then was the first president?
If not Washington? John Hanson, who signed from Maryland, was
elected President of the United States in Congress assembled in

(44:42):
seventeen eighty one.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
Believe it or not? True? Is stranger the did This
is the truth. This is with the Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
Frank Dammick of Chicago had a strange hobby. He compiled
a complete deck of cards by picking them up from
time to time in the street. After ten years, he
was fifteen cards short. To complete his deck took another
twenty years. Believe it or not. In a moment, I'll
tell you about a whale that followed a man. Scientists

(45:24):
declare that although the whale is the largest animal that
ever lived. It's thrown his so small it'll choke on
a herring. So the Cascilotto the sperm whale may have
been the great fish mentioned in the Bible as the
one that swallowed Jonah. Proof of this is in the
report of the French scientist M. De Parville in the
Journal They Debate, nineteen fourteen. It's an account of James Bartley,
an English sailor who was swallowed by a whale and

(45:47):
later rescued. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
Truth is strangers. This is the truth. This is riples.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
If you know that adding four or five drops of
black paint to a pail of white paint will make
the white paint more purely white, it will the black
drops act as a bleaching agent, making it whiter. They
live it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you
about a fire that destroyed a concrete bridge. In the
year nineteen twenty two, a heavy rainfall caused driftwood to

(46:29):
accumulate hunder and around a concrete bridge over the Navasota
River in Limestone County, Texas. At the same time, a
pipeline of the Mahea Oil Company nearby broke and released
oil that drained into the river and saturated the driftwood.
This oil soaked mass caught fire and burned so fiercely
that the heat caused the concrete bridge to crumble and

(46:50):
fall apart. They leave it or not?

Speaker 2 (46:57):
True? Is strange? This truth?

Speaker 3 (47:02):
This is riple. Believe it or not. The will of
that fire, the Great contained these words. Every man should
have four wives, a Hindu to bear children of Persian
for conversation, an Afghan to keep house, and a Turk
that beat up as an example to the others. Believe

(47:22):
it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you about
the man buried in a living tomb. In the village
of Nobdenitz, Germany, there stands a majestic oak tree. It
was Hans Wilhelm Vonsumol's wish that this great oak, which
he admired so much in life, should serve him after
death as a tomb. Vontumo died on March first, eighteen

(47:43):
twenty four. He was wrapped simply in linen cloth and
placed in a hollow in the tree. This living tomb
wrapped itself around him until the breach healed. There Vontumo
sleeps in peace and privacy. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
Truth is strangely.

Speaker 3 (48:05):
This is ripley.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
A Hindu, a Satache of Singapore, walked three miles in
the blazing sun with fifty spears embedded in his flesh.
This shows how much torment the human body can stand
under certain mental conditions. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about the world's worst thug. The Thuggi
sect was a gang of professional murderers who flourished in

(48:36):
India in eighteen thirty before they were suppressed by the English.
They were worshippers of Bowani and to this god. They
sacrificed anybody that came handy. However, they were careful to
keep the dead man's things themselves, as they believed the
God cared only for the corpse. The world's worst thug
was Draham. In forty years, he gleefully murdered nine hundred

(48:57):
and thirty one men. Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
Not, Truth is strange to the dition. This is the truth.

Speaker 3 (49:09):
This is lily, Believe it or not. In Massachusetts there
is a lake called chargangagog manchaw gagod chowdunagung Amag which
means in the Indian language. You fish on your side,
I fish on my side. Nobody shall fish in the middle.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
In a moment, I'll tell you about the fantastic wealth
of King David. According to the Bible, David, King of Israel,
possessed one hundred three thousand talents of gold and one million,
seven thousand talents of silver.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
The intrinsic value of.

Speaker 3 (49:46):
This hoard is six billion, forty one million, seven hundred
thousand dollars. Today, this would equal one hundred twenty billion dollars,
or more than twice the cash available in the United States.
This made David twice as rich as the richest country
in the world. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Truth is strange uliction. This this is ripley. Believe it
or not.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
The entire Dutch fleet was captured by the French cavalry
in seventeen ninety five. The Dutch ships were powerful, but
ice bound in the ciders E. The Housards galloped across
the frozen sea and captured the fleet. Believe it or not,
In a moment, I'll tell you about the Mystery House.
The Mystery House of Santa Clara Valley, California, is one

(50:43):
of the strangest testimonials of human eccentricity. It contained walled
up entrances, closet doors opening upon blank walls, trap doors,
and stairways leading nowhere. Its builder believed she would live
as long as she kept adding rooms to this house.
Her rambling mansion became a mystic maze of a hunt
hundred and forty four rooms. She kept carpenters busy for
thirty eight years. Believe it or not, the truth is.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
Bringing you thediction, and this is the truth. This if
with this, Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
Giuseppe DeMay of Naples was paid fifteen thousand dollars by
the London Academy of Medicine for the right to dissect
his body after death. Of course, Demaia was an unusual man.
He had two separate and distinct hearts. Believe it or not,
In a moment, I'll tell you about a strange fish
that can travel on land. The crawling fish in native

(51:45):
of Asia is remarkable for its apparent disregard of certain
natural laws. This singular creature has long been noted for
its powers of voluntarily leaving the failing streams, ascending the banks,
and proceeding over dry land towards some spot where it's
un aring instinct tells it that water is yet to
be found. They sometimes cover a distance of a mile
or more and can live for a week out of water.

(52:08):
Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (52:09):
Not, truth is stringe this if ripley, Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (52:27):
The weeping willow of Fishtoft originally was a steak which
had been driven into the heart of a suicide buried
at the crossroads in the village of Fishtoft. The stake
took root and grew into a tree. Believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you a little known story
behind a popular musical instrument. Ancient Egypt is the mother

(52:48):
country of a very popular musical instrument which later became
known in ancient Persia. It was the favorite instrument of
antique Greece and Rome, and appears on a coin of
Emperor Nero, who was a proficient performer on it. The
martial music of the Roman legions was supplied by it,
and the invading Romans introduced it into the British isild.
Eventually it came into favor in Scotland. They adopted it,

(53:09):
and today we know it as the bagpipe.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
Believe it or not. Truth is stranger and this is riples.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
General Townshend of London could control the palpitation of his
heart and suspend its action.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
Entirely at will, but he tried it once too often.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
He died eight days after suspending his heart action for
half an hour. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you the story behind the name Manhattan. The
Indian word for Manhattan is Mana Hatta. This name is
traceable to the year fifteen twenty four, when Giovanni Verrazzano,
the Florentine explorer, land for the first time and what

(54:01):
is now the lower extremity of New York City. He
gave the Indians their first taste of firewater. A good
time was had by all, and ever after the natives
referred to the island as mana Hata, which in their
Indian tongue meant the place of drunkenness.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
Believe it or not, Truth is strangers, This is the truth.
This is ripley, Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (54:34):
The Curtis family of London maintained an unbroken line of
doctors in the family for two hundred and twenty four
years until September twenty fifth, nineteen twenty seven, when the
last of this long line, doctor William Curtis, died. Believe
it or not, In a moment, I'll tell you about
some girls who sure have a lot of lip. Beauty,

(54:55):
of course, is a matter of personal opinion. But surely
nowhere in the world to people have stranger opinions than
the Tsarus Dingus of Africa. The large lips of their
girls are the result of one of the most astonishing customs.
Their lips are pierced with wooden discs of increasing size
to stretch the lower lip. After some time, the overgrowth
of lip becomes so enormous that the lower lip is

(55:16):
distended large enough that a fourteen soup plate.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
Can be worn. Believe it or not, true, stranger this
this is ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
There is a statue in the form of a lioness
without a tongue, which was erected to Leona, the Athenian courtesan.
To prevent herself from revealing a conspiracy, she bit off
her own tongue. Believe it or not, In a moment,
I'll tell you the frightening story of the man who
fell out of a plane during World War One. Lieutenant Makepeace,

(56:01):
a Canadian flying officer, and Captain Headley, an observer, were
in their plane when they were attacked over German lines.
In the running fight that ensued, the plane made a
sudden vertical die. Headley was dislodged from the plane. He
fell several hundred feet in a direct line with the plane,
but luck certainly was with him, for he alighted on
the tail of the same plane, and clinging there he

(56:22):
was brought down the safety. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
Troof is stranger the pitching, this is the proof. This
is rily Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (56:43):
HB. Applegate of Bogolalla, Nebraska really wanted to find out
how the fish were binding. He anchored his boat at
one point in the San Juan River and fished in
four states Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. Believe it
or not, in a moment, I'll tell you how owning
too much real estate wrecked demands for fortune. In sixteen

(57:04):
twenty one, Sir William Alexander, Earl of Sterling, received from
King James First a charter granting him in all perpetuity
Nova Scotia and practically all of Canada. King Charles First
not only confirmed this grant, but enlarged it to include
part of the present northern United States. Sir William invested
a million dollars in an attempt to improve the tremendous
territory given to him, and, staggering as the gift was,

(57:27):
he wrecked his fortune and died insolvent. Believe it or not?
Who is strange?

Speaker 2 (57:40):
Who this is?

Speaker 3 (57:41):
Ripley?

Speaker 2 (57:42):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (57:49):
Pierre Loti, on the occasion of his initiation ceremony as
a member of the French Academy in eighteen ninety two,
told his fellow members he had never read anything strange
when you consider Pierre, who who had never read a book,
was an author. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you how the thank got its name. The

(58:09):
British first began to build armored cars based on the
American caterpillar tractor in nineteen fifteen. It was feared that
the enemy might learn of the new weapon two thoms.
As a result, the factory foremen were instructed to reply
to questions that the strange vehicles were cisterns built to
carry water to the British troops in the Sahara Desert.
They were known as cisterns for some time. Eventually a

(58:30):
shorter word meaning the same thing was substituted.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
The word was tank. Believe it or not. Truth is
strange ldiction. Listen, this is with me? He needed or not.

Speaker 3 (58:54):
The longest name yet wished on a helpless infant was
bestowed some years back upon the daughter of Arthur Pepper, Liverpool, England.
Her initials exhausted the alphabet from Ana Jozino. They called
her alphabet Pepper for short. Believe it or not. In
a moment, I'll tell you an unusual story about a
wedding at knife point. The peoples of the world have

(59:16):
many odd ways of getting married. In parts of India,
a girl must marry a tree before he can marry
the man of her choice. And there's a tribe of
codyas in Morocco, where the married ceremony is really sharp.
The priest sticks the point of a knife against the
bride's throat. As soon as he's gone a single drop
of blood. She's a married woman. This is by way
of impressing her that symbolically he'll be at the mercy

(59:37):
of her husband.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
Believe it or not. Cruth is stranger the fiction this
is ripple, Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (59:57):
Gentleman Jim Corbett was the first great exponent of cleverness
inside the rope. Here is testimony to his remarkable skill.
Jim fought in the prize ring for eighteen years and
never had a black eye or a bloody nose. Believe
it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you about
a bloody war that was fought over the sex of
a bear. A bear is the emblem of the two

(01:00:20):
neighboring Swiss cantons of Aupenzell and Saint Gaul. In fifteen
seventy nine, Saint Gall published an almanac in which they
described their own emblem as a male bear and the
Appenzel bear as a female. Appenzell demanded that their neighbors
retract this insult. Saint Gall refused, and costly battles were
fought for two years. Thouzans died before Saint Gall solemnly

(01:00:41):
declared that the bear on their neighbour's emblem was a
male Theylieve it or not?

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
Who is strangely fiction? This is with the be needed
or not.

Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
In Coloniere, France, seventeen ninety two is a family name.
The seventeen ninety two family had four sons named January, February, March,
and April March seventeen ninety two. Died in September nineteen four.
Believe it or not, In a moment, I'll tell you
about the first man to receive double pay for overtime.

(01:01:26):
While painting the Last Judgment in the Vatican, the Fresco,
which is considered the world's most famous work of arts,
Michaelangelo contracted with Paul Third in fifteen thirty six that
he would draw one duct daily for work performed in
the daytime, and two ducats for work after sundowns. He
made himself a hood into which he stuck a lighted candle.
This permitted him to see his work after dark, making

(01:01:46):
Michaelangelo the first man to receive double pay for overtime.
Believe it or not, truth is stranger, This is lily.
Believe it or not. Mulay Ismael was the real father

(01:02:11):
of his country. He ruled Morocco for fifty seven years,
and when he died in seventeen twenty seven, he had
fathered five hundred forty boys and three hundred forty girls.
Believe it or not, In a moment, I'll tell you
the peculiar story of an empire that was lost because
of a butterfly. In eighteen two, France and England sent

(01:02:32):
ships to establish a colony in what is now the
state of Victoria in Australia. The Frenchman arrived first. A
few days later the British ship arrived. The French barque
was still there, but its occupants had gone into the
interior to hunt for an Australian butterfly. The French returned
with their butterfly, but by that time the British were
firmly in possession. Thus a beautiful butterfly cost France an

(01:02:53):
empire of eighty seven thousand square miles. Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
Not, truth is strange uliction this if ripley believe it
or not.

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
On March twenty eighth, one ninety three, a d the
Roman World was offered for sale of auction by the
all powerful Praetorian guard Didius Julianus. A wealthy Roman merchant
bought it for the equivalent of five minion in gold.
Believe it or not, in a moment, I'll tell you
about the girl. All Royalty wanted to marry. In the

(01:03:36):
sixteen hundreds, Portugal was the richest and most prosperous country
in Europe. The daughter of the king commanded the fabulous
dowry which dazzled all the crowned heads. Isabel Louise, daughter
of gom Pedro second of Portugal, was considered such a catch.
At the age of eight, an emperor, ten princes, two dukes,
and two bishops demanded her hand in marriage. She turned
them all down, and in sixteen ninety she died, an

(01:03:58):
old spinster of twenty one.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
Believe it or not, true the stranger, the ICs, this
system truth, This is ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:04:19):
Caligula, the Roman Emperor, bestowed the rank of consul and
coregent upon Inchitatus. He was accorded every honor of the office,
and was provided with a golden drinking goblet and an
ivory manger. For Inchitatus was a horse. Believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about the ship of
the dead. On September twenty second, eighteen sixty, the whaling

(01:04:42):
schooner Hope was operating in the Southern Ocean, south of
the Drake Streets when the walls of an ice barrier
parted and revealed one of the strangest crafts ever seen
on the seas. It was a schooner Jenny caught in
an ice jam on January seventeenth, eighteen twenty three. She
had just been released from the death grip of our
her prozen passengers still aboard after thirty seven years. Believe

(01:05:05):
it or not.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
True he is drum through the lens. Which is this
is lily Believed or not.

Speaker 3 (01:05:23):
Some of the world's greatest marksmen live underwater. The ketodon
fish of India has a beak like muzzle and uses
it to shoot insects. His ammunition drops of water. Believe
it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you just
how long true love can go on. Janos Rudin and

(01:05:45):
his wife Sarah had two golden weddings and almost lived
to see a third. They've been married one hundred and
forty seven years. When they died on almost the same
day in Hungary in nineteen twenty five. Janos was one
hundred and seventy two, Sarah was one hundred and sixty four.
At their bedside when they died was their son, age

(01:06:08):
one hundred and sixteen.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
They leave it or not? Who is stranger the niction?
And this is who this is, Lily be need it
or not?

Speaker 3 (01:06:29):
How long would it take you to make change for
five dollars in all possible combinations, at the rate of
one change a second, it would take you one hundred
and three years. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about some very dangerous clams. Man has

(01:06:51):
eaten clams for a long time, but did you know
that clams have also eaten men. The mammoth clams of
Malaysia are sure that to anyone careless enough to step
across their open jaws. Over the years, many natives have
died and been eaten in this manner. You see these
huge Malaysian clams averaged four feet across and weigh nearly

(01:07:14):
five hundred pounds. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
Truth is strangely deliction, and this is this is rippy
He needed or not?

Speaker 3 (01:07:36):
Nero did not fiddle while Rome burned. You see, the
fiddle had not been invented yet, and Nero was fifty
miles away in Antium during the fire and did not
return until Rome was in ashes. Beylieve it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about a small fish
that can kill a shark. A fish less than a

(01:07:58):
foot long can kill a shark. The little urchin fish
of South America frequently destroys savage monsters twenty five times
its size in a most unusual manner. This fish is
covered with spiny points, much like porcupine quills. When swallowed
by a shark, it rolls into a ball and calmly
eats and bores its way out completely through the sides

(01:08:20):
of the shark, thus killing it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
They leave it or not?

Speaker 4 (01:08:27):
Who the strange deliction?

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
And this is the truth.

Speaker 3 (01:08:33):
This is really believe it or not. Bad news travels fast.
If there was a murder at midnight and everyone who
was told about it told two other persons within twelve minutes,
everyone on earth would know about it by morning.

Speaker 2 (01:08:55):
They leave it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:08:56):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a deadly news item.
If you think your life a bit dead, listen to
the following news item from the Barstow, California Times. It
reads quote Bill Jarrett has just returned from the Death
Valley country. Bill worked for six weeks on the graveyard
ship for the Corpse Mining Company in the Coffin mine

(01:09:17):
located in dead Man's Canyon in Funeral Range at.

Speaker 2 (01:09:20):
The end of Death Valley.

Speaker 3 (01:09:22):
Bill is leading next week for a prospecting trip to
the Devil's Playground in Hell's half Acre.

Speaker 2 (01:09:27):
Unquote, believe it or not, truth is string.

Speaker 4 (01:09:36):
To the lead.

Speaker 2 (01:09:37):
And this this is Ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:09:44):
The last bottle of the before Prohibition brew of a
famous Milwaukee brewer was prized so highly that, being the
last of its kind, the manufacturer had it insured for
twenty five thousand dollars. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you a story about Thanksgiving when it was
known as a fast day until the year sixteen thirty one,

(01:10:10):
the stern Pilgrim celebrated their Thanksgiving Day by rigorously abstaining
from food and drink. In that year, at Charlestown, the
annual Thanksgiving fast Day on February fifth was changed to
a feast day for the first time to celebrate the
long awaited arrival of a ship which landed with provisions
from Ireland. It was not until President Lincoln's time that
Thanksgiving Day was generally designated for the last Thursday in November.

Speaker 2 (01:10:33):
Believe it or not, Truth is stranger the leash. This
is the truth.

Speaker 3 (01:10:43):
This is rile.

Speaker 2 (01:10:45):
Believe it or not. W. M.

Speaker 3 (01:10:53):
Wood of Eastland, Texas placed old Rip a horn told
in the cornerstone of the courthouse in eighteen ninety seven
and took it out alive in nineteen twenty eight. Old
Rip lived without food or water for thirty one years.
Believe it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you
about a deadly stone of slaughter. The National Museum in

(01:11:17):
Mexico City houses the bloodiest spot on Earth. There you'll
see a carved circular stone about seven feet across. This
sacrificial stone was used by the ancient Aztecs. All of
the Aztecs were comparatively mild and peaceful people who attained
the high degree of civilization. They believed in human sacrifice.
On this stone, more than a million human beings have
had their hearts cut out.

Speaker 2 (01:11:38):
Believe it or not, truth is strangeliction. This is the proof.
This is with this, Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:11:57):
One of the most amazing funerals of all time took
places in the townhouse of the Roman poet Virgil. Amid
barbaric pomp and splendor. Virgil spent one hundred thousand dollars
to bury his pet fly. Believe it or not, In
a moment, I'll tell you about the donkey that discovered
a mine worth a hundred million dollars. A lost donkey

(01:12:19):
wandering aimlessly over the Idaho Hills accidentally stumbled on the
greatest silver lead mine in the United States. The donkey
had been borrowed by two prospectors, O'Rourke and Kellogg. As
the prospectors had only borrowed the donkey, the owner of
the animal claimed the property. Judge Norman Buck, District Court
of Idaho in eighteen eighty five declared the official discoverer
of the mine was the donkey, and the owner of

(01:12:41):
the donkey obtained title to a half interest. Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (01:12:44):
Not, true, he is a stranger the h This is
the truth. This is rily be needed or not.

Speaker 3 (01:13:02):
General yanziska Bohemian Hussite leader, had a strange request on
his deathbed. He directed that his skin be made into
a military drum, so that even after death he might
still lead his soldiers against the Germans. Believe it or not,
in a moment, I'll tell you about a real distance
runner Menson Earnst to Norwegian was the greatest long distance

(01:13:25):
runner who ever lived. He ran from Paris to Moscow
in two weeks, over poor roads in all kinds of weather,
and swam thirteen rivers on the way, yet he averaged
one hundred twenty five miles a day. He averaged ninety
five miles a day for fifty nine days in a
race from Constantinople to Calcutta and return a distance of
five thousand, six hundred twenty five miles.

Speaker 2 (01:13:47):
Believe it or not? Truth is strange, ulic, this is
this is rily, eat it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:14:06):
Five letter blocks contain a total of thirty letters. All
the people in the world, working day and night for
a million years, could not arrange these five letter blocks
into all possible combinations.

Speaker 2 (01:14:17):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:14:18):
In a moment, I'll tell you the uncanny story of
a bullet that found its mark. Early in February nineteen
twenty eight, a the Bottom of Conter, Arkansas, saw smoke
and was startled to learn it was at his own house.
With the aid of neighbors, Bottom removed most of his
household goods, but he overlooked a loaded revolver in his
bureau drawer As he stood watching the flames a pistol

(01:14:40):
report rang out, and bonhom cried, I'm shot. He staggered
a few steps and fell dead. The heat had exploded
a cartridge in his gun, and the bullet found its mark.

Speaker 2 (01:14:50):
Believe it or not, truth, the stranger, the dish, This
is true, This be a fifty Believe it or not.
Here's a real brain teaser for you.

Speaker 3 (01:15:11):
Did you know that if all the Chinese in the
world were to march four abreast past a given point,
they would never finish passing, although they marched forever and ever.
Believe it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you
one of history's most curious coincidences. When General Eisenhower invaded
Normandy in nineteen forty four, he trod the same soil

(01:15:34):
from Whince William, the Conqueror embarked on the conquest of England.
Just before the battle, a Norman knight named Tullifer obtained
William's permission to strike the first blow. The knight's name
Tullifer is identical in meaning with the name Eisenhower. They
both mean smith. Tullifer died on October fourteenth, ten sixty six.
Eisenhower was born October fourteenth, eighteen ninety Believe it or not.

Speaker 4 (01:15:57):
Troof is strange.

Speaker 2 (01:16:02):
Julid This sister proof, this is with this, Believe it
or not.

Speaker 3 (01:16:14):
Charles Coglin died in eighteen ninety nine and was buried
in Galveston. When the flood came, his coffin was washed
out to sea, and the Gulf Stream carried him around
Florida two thousand miles to Prince Edward Island, where he
had lived.

Speaker 2 (01:16:26):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:16:27):
In a moment, I'll tell you about King Plenty in
his four hundred and fifteen wives. King Plenty's full name
was Plenty, Wife, Plenty Trouble. He ruled the Congo in
Africa for twenty one years. He differed from most royal
polygamists in that he showed a marked preference for sisters
among his wives, with one set of fifty five sisters
and another set of thirty five, each set including only

(01:16:50):
the daughters of the same father. Smaller sister teams constituted
the balance. Of course, his special achievement was obviously that
he was his own brother in law about one hundred
times over. Believe it or not, Truth.

Speaker 2 (01:17:07):
Is strange deliction. This is the truth. This is Ripley's
Believe it or.

Speaker 3 (01:17:13):
Not, rev Fromer did not speak a word or utter
a sound for thirty years. This remarkable penance was self imposed.
It seems that Promer, in an outburst of temper, cursed
his bride, who soon after met with a violent death.
Believe it or not, In a moment, I'll tell you
about a general small margin of defeat. General Francis Marion

(01:17:40):
Cockrell of Missouri lost the governorship by the smallest margin
in history at the time. Each county in the state
was represented by a full delegate if it had at
least five hundred inhabitant. If a county had less, the
representation was pro rated. Some counties were entitled to only
one sixth of a vote. General Conckrolle was defeated by
Charles H. Harden in eighteen sixty four. He lost by

(01:18:02):
one sixth of a vote. Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (01:18:05):
Not, truth is strangely this is the truth. This is
rily Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:18:22):
Albert Einstein, the great mathematician and author of the theory
of relativity, truly was a genius. However, when he was sixteen,
he failed his entrance exams at the Federal Polytechnic College
of Zurich. Believe it or not. In a moment, I'll
tell you how four hundred and fifty eight women were
convicted of.

Speaker 2 (01:18:37):
The murder of one man.

Speaker 3 (01:18:42):
Idolumbia en Cavinda, a money lender in South Africa, was
stoned and clubbed to death by villagers when he came
to collect some money owed him. Practically every woman in
the village admitted to having taken part in the slaves.
In April nineteen thirty nine, they were brought to trial
and four hundred fifty eight were found guilty homicide and
sentenced to serve from three to six months in jail,

(01:19:04):
a total of nearly one hundred and twenty years for
the crime.

Speaker 2 (01:19:07):
Believe it or not, the truth is stranger the fiction.
This is the truth, this is fly Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:19:26):
Madame de la Brace, a French eccentric, left her fortune
of one hundred and twenty five thousand francs for a
strange purpose. She specified that the money be used for
buying clothes for snowmen. Believe it or not, In a moment,
I'll tell you an unusual story of a man and
his anniversaries are Navere, a fisherman of Tree four, France,

(01:19:48):
celebrated a golden wedding with one wife and two silver
weddings with two wives in succession. He married in eighteen
nine and celebrated a golden wedding anniversary in eighteen fifty nine.
He married his second wife sixty and observed a silver
anniversary with her in eighteen eighty five. In the same year,
he married again and celebrated a second silver anniversary. In
nineteen ten, he died at the age of one hundred

(01:20:11):
and twenty one.

Speaker 2 (01:20:11):
Believe it or not, truth is strange, Juli. This is
the truth of this. If with this, believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:20:30):
If you like to cook and you have an unusually
large kettle, Sea N. Robinson of New Zealand had just
the dish for you. In nineteen twenty eight he grew
beans more than six feet long and ten to seventeen
inches around. Believe it or not, In a moment, I'll
tell you about the whiskers that caused the war. The

(01:20:51):
most faithful whiskers in history belonged to King Louis the
seventh of France. After the king returned from the Crusades,
he decided to shave off his whiskers. The result was
the Queen declared she had lost her affection for him.
She obtained a divorce and married King Henry the Second
of England. Lloyd declared war upon Henry, and this war
between England and France did not end until after the

(01:21:11):
Battle of Ruw three hundred one years later. Believe it
or not.

Speaker 2 (01:21:21):
Truth is strange uliction. This is the proof. This is
riply Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:21:33):
The annual pinsticking contest is a bizarre amusement of the
rural population of the Watawa section of Bohemia. In nineteen
twenty eight, Bugro, a gypsy king, carried off the honors
by embtting three thy two hundred needles in his arm.
Believe it or not, In a moment, I'll tell you
the story of the human lighthouse. The lighthouse man of

(01:21:55):
Chung King, China was a peculiar man, to say the least.
He went about the streets at with a lighted red
candle seven or eight inches in length stuck in the
vertex of his skull. He sometimes would act as a
human lantern and light the way for Western travelers down
the dark and dismal alleys of Chung King. He was
frequently used in this capacity, by Robert Smythe, the US
consul in China, and by some officers of the US Navy.

Speaker 2 (01:22:18):
Believe it or not, Troof is stranger. This is the proof.
This is with this, Believe it or.

Speaker 3 (01:22:31):
Not, I think you'll agree that a gallon of wine
would be a lot to drink during an entire evening. However,
Nobilius took photos of Milan could drink three gallons of
wine at one draft without taking a breath. Believe it
or not. In a moment, I'll tell you about the
incredible reward the duchess gave a stable boy. Gilea Gonzaga, widow,

(01:22:57):
Duchess of Fundi, Italy, was so in medibly beautiful that
Sultan su Yemen the Magnificent wanted her for his harem.
He sent the Turkish navy one thousand galleys strong to
Italy to capture her.

Speaker 2 (01:23:09):
A stable boy learned of the plot, and.

Speaker 3 (01:23:11):
Placing the duchess on his horse, rode all night to
save her. The beautiful duchess repaid the stable boy. The
next morning, she ordered his head cut off. Believe it
or not.

Speaker 2 (01:23:26):
Truth is strange. This truth, this is ripley. Believe it
or not, Bill Helm and Junzalorm.

Speaker 3 (01:23:40):
The ex Kaiser was reputed to be worth one hundred
million dollars. Both the German and the Dutch government granted
him immunity from taxes. Thus, one of the richest men
in the world paid no taxes. Believe it or not,
In a moment, I'll tell you about the craziest.

Speaker 2 (01:23:54):
Command ever given.

Speaker 3 (01:23:58):
Zar Paul, the first to Russia, known to history as
the mad Tzar, was a man with an uncontrollable temper.
In seventeen ninety nine, he was reviewing his bodyguard and
became displeased with a button on a soldier's cloak. The
Emperor's face became livid with rage, and he ordered about
face march without a murmur. Four hundred men, the pick

(01:24:19):
of the army, set out on a two thousand mile
trek into Siberia and were never heard of again. Believe
it or not.

Speaker 2 (01:24:31):
Truth is strange to the piction this truth.

Speaker 3 (01:24:35):
This is ripley.

Speaker 2 (01:24:37):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:24:44):
Sebastian's Finola, famous dancing master of the sixteenth century known
as the father of the French Beallet, achieved this distinction
in spite of the fact that both of his legs
were amputated at the knees when he was a boy
of eleven.

Speaker 2 (01:24:56):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:24:58):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a daughter's trains sacrifice.
The gigantic bell in the temple of Tatchunsu was cast
at the order of the Chinese Emperor Young Lo.

Speaker 2 (01:25:10):
The bellcaster made two.

Speaker 3 (01:25:12):
Unsuccessful attempts at casting. The emperor warned that a third
failure would result in his execution. A sooth sayer told
the bellcaster that only the sacrifice of a pure maiden
would result in a perfect bell. The bellcaster's daughter heard
the statement and leaped into the kiln, sacrificing her life
for a perfect bell. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (01:25:34):
Where truth is strange to the nation, this is the proof.
This is ship. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:25:46):
The woeful walls of Mecnus and Morocco were built from
mulay ismail. It took fifty thousand European slaves twenty years
to build the city, and their dead bodies were buried
in the walls to make them strong. Believe it or not,
In a moment, I'll tell you how the card game
bridge got its name. The card game bridge originated in Istanbul, Turkey,

(01:26:13):
where the Russian colony first played it under the name
of Russian Whist. It was brought to England about eighteen
eighty four. Two English families used to visit one another
on alternate nights to play the game. Their way led
across a rickety, unsafe old bridge. On partying, the visiting
family would sigh with relief and say, thank goodness, it's
your bridge tomorrow night. Gradually the game became known as

(01:26:33):
Bridge Whist and finally.

Speaker 2 (01:26:35):
Bridge They believe it or not, Truth is stranger, This
is the truth, This is ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:26:55):
A little known part of Paraguay in South America, in
the region of the Piranha River, near the border of
is the wettest spot on Earth. Rain has been falling
there continuously for millions of years. Believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about the greatest wastrel
of the nineteenth century. Paul antal Esturazzi, Prince of Galanta,

(01:27:17):
was the owner of the most princely fortune on the
European continent. His personal property included twenty one castles, sixty boroughs,
and six hundred twenty one villages. He squandered about nine million,
six hundred thousand dollars. His two most talked about scounts
were the shooting of his Derby winner and the destruction
of a priceless Titian painting with which he lined his coat.

(01:27:37):
Believe it or not, Truth is strange, fiction, this system,
this is ripple.

Speaker 2 (01:27:50):
Believe it or not?

Speaker 3 (01:27:56):
Missus. Teresa vonn aged twenty four, was arraigned in the
Police Corps Ward of Sheffield, England, on December nineteenth, nineteen
twenty two, on a charge of bigamy. She confessed to
sixty one marriages in five years. Believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you how a building was
saved by a shrieking statue. In seventeen ninety nine, Thomas Bruce,

(01:28:19):
the British ambassador, obtained the permission of the Turkeyish authorities
to tear down the Erectium, the famous temple situated on
the Acropolis in the Grecian capital. He planned to rebuild
it in London. The demolition began at night. They had
hardly started dismightling it when an unexplainable event occurred. A
statue shrieked. The laborers fled in terror, and the plan

(01:28:40):
was abandoned. Believe it or not, truth.

Speaker 2 (01:28:48):
Is strange to the fiction. This is sickly, believe it
or not.

Speaker 3 (01:29:00):
John Howard Payne was a wanderer all his life. He
once wrote to a friend that he never had a
home and never expected to have one. Strange that, mister Payne,
author of home.

Speaker 2 (01:29:11):
Strange, which is rily heeded or nothing.

Speaker 3 (01:29:23):
Joe Land of Winnipeg, Canaona, went a little off course
when he was golfing. One day he drove a golf
ball fifty two miles cross country. We're not sure what
cross country par Is, but Joe did it in seven
hundred and fifty three strokes. Believe it or not. In
a moment, I'll tell you about a most.

Speaker 2 (01:29:39):
Frivolous death sentence.

Speaker 3 (01:29:44):
Marsko Komyakov, a Russian, was an enthusiastic test player.

Speaker 2 (01:29:48):
In a critical game.

Speaker 3 (01:29:49):
One day, he confused the king with the queen and
soundly cursed the chess king, which is czar in Russian.
Some servile soul reported the incident to the authorities, although
it was clear that he was referring to a chess
piece and not the monarch. He was sentenced to death
at the last moment, the Zark commuted the sentence to
deportation to Siberia for life. Believe it or not, Truth.

Speaker 2 (01:30:16):
Is strangely pict.

Speaker 3 (01:30:19):
To is ridly.

Speaker 2 (01:30:21):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:30:28):
Harold Dobbins, government trapper of Ion, Oregon, found a newspaper
account of his appointment in the stomach.

Speaker 2 (01:30:34):
Of a coyote he caught. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:30:38):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a contractor who
built a house to save his life.

Speaker 2 (01:30:45):
Reddish Hall near Didsbury, England.

Speaker 3 (01:30:47):
Was under construction in sixteen fifty seven when the building
contractor was tried.

Speaker 2 (01:30:52):
And convicted of a murder.

Speaker 3 (01:30:53):
After his death sentence was pronounced, the condemned man requested
a delay of his execution long enough for him to
complete the structure. Strangely enough, the court agreed to his request.
Of course, the builder was in no hurry to die,
and he kept building and stalling until he died of
natural causes. Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (01:31:12):
Not, Truth is strange to the which the truth is sickly.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:31:30):
Missus Cordelia Stewart of San Jose, California's followed a.

Speaker 2 (01:31:34):
Needle in childhood.

Speaker 3 (01:31:35):
Years later, the needle emerged from the thigh of her
baby daughter. Believe it or not. In a moment, I'll
tell you about one half a cent that started a war.
A bloody war was fought over a coin what half
a cent which a tax collector tried to extract from
a poor farmer on the island of Corsica. The taxpayer's

(01:31:56):
countrymen became infuriated and took up arms in defense of
the farm. General a round in a large army on
the island, opening warfare which lasted forty four years and
cost eighty thousand casualties and untold treasure. Corsicans are proud
that the one half cent tax delinquency remains unpaid.

Speaker 2 (01:32:13):
They leave it or not proofs Dranger. This is the
truth of this, if they believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:32:33):
In this era of the coin shortage, consider the Commonwealth.
A Massachusetts penny coined in seventeen eighty seven and seventeen
eighty eight. It cost two cents to mint. They lave
it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you about
the woman who survived the hangman's noose. Mary Green was
hanged by the neck at Newgate Prison in London on

(01:32:55):
March twenty second, eighteen nineteen, she'd been convicted of passing
counterfeit banknotes. After being declared officially dead, her body was
turned over to her next of kin for burial. An
alert relative detected a spark of life and quickly summoned
the doctor. He wasted no time and in twenty minutes
of resuscitation restored her to life. She survived under another
name and identity for fifteen more years.

Speaker 2 (01:33:17):
They leave it or not. Truth is stranger, This is
the truth. This is quickly Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:33:37):
There is a new electronic gauge used in manufacturing airplane instruments,
which can measure the depth of a mouse's footprints on
a strand of wire.

Speaker 2 (01:33:46):
They leave it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:33:48):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a tree that
has to be scared into a year's growth. Near Palma,
on the Spanish island of Mallorca, there's an old, old
tree growing which has to be scared into a year's
growth each spring. For the last four hundred years, the
owners of the tree, aided by their neighbors, have assembled

(01:34:09):
around it to beat loud drums and shake giant rattles
till the tree appears to be sufficiently frightened. Without the scare,
the hollow tree would neither blossom nor bear fruit for
an entire year. Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (01:34:21):
Not, Truth ski stranger, dec This is the truth. This
is riply. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:34:39):
Beltazer Noos Bomber, an Austrian mountain climber, hurtled one thousand
feet down Mount Gross Benedegger when a rope broke, yet
he walked away unharmed.

Speaker 2 (01:34:49):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:34:51):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a custom which
would be very unpopular in America. The Bills, an aborige
no tribe inhabiting a wild and hilly country in central India,
have a very unpopular custom, indeed, at least to most
of the world. On the day when a couple are married,
the bride places a fragrant leaf between her lips. The

(01:35:11):
husband reduces the leaf with his teeth, bite by biden
until their lips meet. Sound romantic, Not so at all.
It's the only kiss they're allowed for the rest of
their married lives.

Speaker 2 (01:35:22):
Believe it or not, Truth is strange, youth and fiction.
This is the truth. This is riples. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:35:42):
Some people may live in glasshouses, but Raymond is a
door of Chartres, France made his home and all of
its furnishings out of one million broken dishes. Believe it
or not. In a moment, I'll tell you about some
people who found a sure way to reduce the divorce rate.
On the island of Saint Kilda in the Hebrides, Scotland,

(01:36:04):
a young man wishing to marry had to climb to
the top of Lover's Rock, eight hundred and fifty feet
over the Atlantic Ocean. There on the jutting edge, he
had to balance on one leg. It took acrobatic skill
and courage. Loss of balance met certain death below the
most gruelling pre marital test known. Rather than face it
again Swain's once wed stayed weed. Believe it or not?

Speaker 2 (01:36:32):
Truth is strangely depiction. This this is riples. Believe it
or not.

Speaker 3 (01:36:45):
There is an unusual lighthouse in Ulverston, England. In over
one hundred and twelve years, it has never once been lit.

Speaker 2 (01:36:52):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:36:54):
In a moment, I'll tell you about one of the
most desperate stratagems ever used by a warrior. General Zopiros
was one of the military commanders of the Persian king
Darius the Great. When the latter laid siege to the
city of Babylon, Soupiros cut off his nose and his
ears and fled inside the Beliguate metropolis. Pretending to be

(01:37:15):
a victim of darius Is inhumanity and thirsting for vengeance.
The Babylonians offered to make him chief defender of the city.
He accepted, and, once in possession of supreme authority, promptly
surrendered Babylon to his king.

Speaker 2 (01:37:28):
Believe it or not, truth is Strangeli, This is the truth,
This is rily. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:37:48):
Here is a statistic to ponder. The chances of two
typewriters producing typed words exactly alike are three trillion to one.

Speaker 2 (01:37:57):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:37:59):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a woman who
really knew how to live. Missus Harriet Ross of Northeast
Margherite Nova Scotia was first married in her native France
at the age of thirteen. She lost her first husband
by drowning. Her second husband was a Captain Briond of
the French Army who was stationed in French Canada. He

(01:38:19):
was killed in the Siege of Louisbourg. She married a
third time to James Ross. She died at the age
of one hundred nineteen one hundred, two years after the
death of her second husband.

Speaker 2 (01:38:30):
Believe it or not, Cruth is stranger the fiction This sister,
this is ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:38:49):
Westminster Abbey, or the Church of Saint Peter, was stripped
of its bells in favor of the newly constructed Saint
Paul's Cathedral. This was the origin of the famous expression
robbing Peter to pay Paul. They leave it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about a weird death watch.
John Drouet of Horsham, England, committed a crime for which

(01:39:12):
his son was hanged on April thirteenth, seventeen ninety nine.
The crime was robbery of a male coach, which was
punishable by death in the eighteenth century. The father later
performed a weird atonement. He sat day and night beneath
the gibbet on which his son's body was left hanging.
Four years later, in side of his son's skeleton, he

(01:39:32):
finally died.

Speaker 2 (01:39:33):
They leave it or not. Truth is stranger that this
is the truth. This is ripley. Believe it or not?

Speaker 3 (01:39:52):
Here is an instance where the United States literally applauds Canada.
The International Opera House in Rock Island, Quebec has its
stayed in Canada and the audience sits in the United States.

Speaker 2 (01:40:03):
They leave it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:40:04):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a very costly
cup of butter. In sixteen seven, the owner of the
town of Shahati in the state of Sunlei, India was
an Indian magnet named Anushkar. One night, while playing chess
with his wife, the light of the oil lamp began
to sputter. Wanting to finish the game, a noushcar offered

(01:40:25):
to trade the town for a cupful of oil. A
woman named Desai took the magnet at his word and
furnished some purified melted butter. She held into his word,
and as a result, the town was traded for a
cupful of melted butter.

Speaker 2 (01:40:38):
They leave it or not? Truth, the stranger the f
this is the truth. This is ripley be leave it
or not.

Speaker 3 (01:40:58):
An automobile that collided with a high in Saint Mary's, Ontario,
Canada was quickly located by the police. They found an
imprint of the license plate on the pole believe it
or not. In a moment, I'll tell you about a
doctor who had to make a strange life and death decision.
Doctor Mucarum, chief physician to Shah Jahan, the Mogul Emperor

(01:41:21):
of India, was an honorable man. When his master, Shah
Jahan was overthrown by his son Auranzeb in sixteen fifty eight,
the new emperor summoned the physician and ordered him to
administer poison to the deposed monarch under the guise of
a prescription. His honor and doctor's principles would not let
him murder a patient, so he solved the dilemma by
swallowing the poison himself.

Speaker 2 (01:41:43):
Believe it or not, truth is stranger the fiction. This
is rickly Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:42:02):
Captain Joseph Hay of Edinburgh, Scotland always wore a long
veil in public so he could allgo passing ladies without
arousing the indignation of their escorts. They live it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about the girl who
jilted a king. Her name was chuck Y naveet Its
meaning a piece of sugar. She was so enchanting that

(01:42:23):
she inflamed the hearts of two of the most prominent
men of her age. One was Sujah, king of the
Persian province of Fars, and the other a local boy
of her native Sharaz, whose name was Huffets. He was
one of Persia's immortal poets, a master of lyricism and
glowing imagery. She jilted her king and married the poet,
but she did not live happily ever after. The poet
was a brute who mistreated her, causing her early death.

Speaker 2 (01:42:46):
Believe it or not, truth is stranger, the sister viscously.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:43:05):
In ancient Sparta, an elected official was required to get
intoxicated every day and reel through the streets. It was
an object lesson for the young citizenry. Believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about a wig that
was thought to be smarter than the head who wore it.

Speaker 2 (01:43:24):
Henry Andrews, an.

Speaker 3 (01:43:25):
Astronomical calculator for the British Board of Longitude and publisher
of Old Moore's Almanac for forty years, was described as
one of the best astronomers of the age. He died
in eighteen twenty, but his wig continued to adorn another
head for half a century longer. The man who succeeded
Andrews was an astronomer named William Rogerson. He believed that
all of the dead man's learning resided in his wig,

(01:43:47):
and that he would inherit his talents by simply wearing
the hairpiece.

Speaker 2 (01:43:51):
Believe it or not, truth is stranger the system this isle.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:44:10):
A fly alighting on a steel bar will cause the
steel to bend under its weight. An instrument called an
interferometer can detect the deflection. They leave it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about leck Comalo, the
human top. The chiefs of the bush Hillily tribe in
the Republic of the Congo right along the Pungu a

(01:44:31):
wrap around dancing skirt made of the fiber of rafia
palm leaves. While dressing for a dance, the chief has
two attendants hold up the eighteen yard long skirt. He
spins into it by performing eighteen pirouettes. A chief named
La Comalo demonstrated his nimbleness by performing a total of
fifty eight thousand pirouettes. The NonStop exhibition required eighteen solar hours.

Speaker 2 (01:44:53):
They leave it or not? The stranger the truth? This
is rickly Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:45:12):
Carrying rain from the sky near Sheen, Argyllshire, Scotland in
March eighteen seventeen, a shower of young herring about three
inches long felt that the fields and lasted about an hour.
They leave it or not. In a moment, I'll tell
you how milking a cow saved a woman's life. In Islington, England,

(01:45:32):
Alice Owen was watching a maid milking a cow and
inquired if she might try her.

Speaker 2 (01:45:37):
Hand at milking.

Speaker 3 (01:45:38):
As she bent down to the task, an arrow whizzed
overhead and passed right through the crown of her hat.
Had she been erect it could not have failed to
kill her. In gratitude for her deliverance, in sixteen thirteen,
she built a free school.

Speaker 2 (01:45:51):
Owen's school is still in use.

Speaker 3 (01:45:53):
It's located on the spot where she so narrowly escaped death.

Speaker 2 (01:45:56):
May leave it or not. Truth is stranger? Did this
is the truth? Viscous riples? Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:46:16):
Jingling Lane and Kirkby Lonsdale, England, got its name because
when you walk there, every step produces the sound of
a jingling bell. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you how a man got his revenge five
years after he was executed. Sir John Fenwick was sentenced
to death for conspiring to assassinate King William the Third

(01:46:36):
of England. He was avenged five years after his beheading.
The doomed man had thrown himself upon the King's mercy,
but the king refused wintervene before he was executed. Thenwick
asked that his favorite horse, Sorrel, be given to the king.
Nearly five years later, while the monarch was riding, Sorrel
stumbled and threw the rider. The King sustained a broken

(01:46:57):
neck and died.

Speaker 2 (01:46:59):
Believe it or not, truth is stranger the fiction, this system,
this riple.

Speaker 3 (01:47:11):
Believe it or not, the Massachusetts Historical Society has preserved
the bottle containing some tea salvaged from Boston Harbor during
the famous Boston Tea Party on December sixteenth, seventeenth seventy three.
Believe it or not, In a moment, I'll tell you
about a man who was executed by a firing squad

(01:47:33):
four successive times. Daniel McMichael in Scotland had been sentenced
to death in absentia. He was sick in bed with fever.
When he heard that a detachment of soldiers was about
the capturing, He fled, but was overtaken at the pass
of Daldeen. A firing squad was ordered to execute him,
but the soldiers, moved by compassion that the shaky feverack

(01:47:55):
man missed him deliberately three times, the commander ordered a
fourth try.

Speaker 2 (01:47:59):
This time the.

Speaker 3 (01:48:00):
Bullets found their mark, ending Daniel McMichael's charmed life Beylieve
it or not?

Speaker 2 (01:48:10):
Truth is stranger than did this sister fisk I Riples
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:48:22):
Agnes Sorel, favorite of King Charles the eighth of France,
was the first woman to wear diamonds. It was in
her day that the art of cutting diamonds was first mastered.
They lave it or not In a moment, I'll tell
you about a woman who had six hundred eyebrows. When
Beautiful Venetia Anastasia Henley married Sir Kennem Digby in sixteen

(01:48:44):
twenty five, she brought three hundred pairs of false eyebrows
into the marriage. Each pair was different in size, shape,
and color. Public gossip was that she never wore the
same pair of eyebrows on two successive days. When she died,
the inventory set up for the benefit of the surrogate's
court listed among the movable assets three hundred pairs of
slightly used eyebrows assorted.

Speaker 2 (01:49:06):
Believe it or not, Truth is stranger the diction. This
is the truth.

Speaker 3 (01:49:17):
This is riples. Believe it or not. The anonymous statue
in Budapest, Hungary was erected to commemorate a twelfth century
historian whose name no one can remember.

Speaker 2 (01:49:34):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:49:35):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a place where
they have the most picturesque wedding ceremony honor. The Lallas
of Africa have the most picturesque wedding ceremony honor. The
marriage rights consist of having the bride's portrait painted on
a framed canvas, which the groom wears on his nuptial headdress. However,

(01:49:56):
the divorce proceedings are even simpler. The husband erases his
life's features from the wedding prain, and presently she not
only passes out of the picture, she passes out of
his life.

Speaker 2 (01:50:07):
Believe it or not, Truth is stranger than this system. Truth.
This is riples. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:50:25):
Henry Obermeyer of New York City, while sitting at the
same table at the same party, won the door prize
a new automobile for two successive years. Believe it or not,
In a moment, I'll tell you about the Long rain
Mokom Singhe and his son and successor, Raghunat Singhay ruled

(01:50:46):
the state of Jagowan for a combined period of one
hundred and forty seven years. The father's reign covered seventy
five years, while his son continued to sit on the
throng for an additional seventy two years. The son, who
had bowed the time his father's regal record, was prevented
from realizing his ambition by primature death. He died in
battle at the age of ninety two. Believe it or not,

(01:51:15):
Truth is stranger the truth this is riles. Believe it
or not. The palace of Shazma Shahi in Shrinigar, Kashmir
has been air conditioned for four hundred years. It's still
cooled by a river that was diverted to run through

(01:51:36):
it in the sixteenth century. Believe it or not, In
a moment, I'll tell you about a man who could
not count to one million. Shamil, a Caucasian leader who
waged holy war against the Russians for twenty five years.
Once captured the Tsar's uncle in an ambush, he was
offered a million roubles in ransom, but he slyly refused it.

(01:51:58):
I will not accept one opec less than five thousand rubles,
he announced. Actually he had no idea how much a
million was. Later, Shamuel was superseded by another native son,
one Joseph Kugashivli, whose conspiratorial name was Stalin Beylieve it
or not, truth.

Speaker 2 (01:52:19):
Is stranger the this sister truth, this ripley, sir, Believe
it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:52:31):
The oldest cattle brand crosses plus a number was found
engraved upon the wall of an ancient Egyptian tomb dating
back more than three thousand years. Believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you a story concerning the
treachery of kings. King Edward the fourth of England was
warned by an astrologer that one of his brothers, whose

(01:52:53):
name began with the letter G, would murder the king's
two sons. As a result of this macab prediction, the
king ordered his brother, George drowned in a cask of wine.
His foul dey did not save the lives of his sons.
The two princes were subsequently executed by the king's other brother,
the Duke of Gloucester, who was then crowned as Richard
the Third.

Speaker 2 (01:53:13):
Believe it or not, truth is stranger the fiction. This
is the truth. This is riples. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:53:32):
In the Olemba tribe in Africa, the prospective bridegroom must
pay for his.

Speaker 2 (01:53:37):
Wife in an odd way.

Speaker 3 (01:53:38):
There the standard price of a wife is four native dogs.
Believe it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you
about a very unusual coincidence in a man's life. If
I died this hour, I should die happy. Thus spoke
John Liston, the celebrated English comedian, on Sunday, March twenty second,
in eighteen seven, at ten am. At the time he

(01:54:02):
said it, he was being married in the Church of
Saint Martin's in the field. By a striking coincidence, thirty
nine years later, as the clock struck ten thirty am
on Sunday, March twenty second, eighteen forty six, Liston died
in his wife's arms.

Speaker 2 (01:54:16):
Believe it or not, truth is stranger the fiction. This
is the truth. This is ripleous, believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:54:35):
In Bridge, North England, there is a castle that refuses
to fall. It was blown up in sixteen fifty one
and has been defying gravity for three hundred and five years.

Speaker 2 (01:54:45):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:54:47):
In a moment, I'll tell you why you can't always
rely on doves. Richard Duncan of Kinkil, Scotland, was convicted
of killing a child and was hanged for it in
sixteen eighty three. He told his executioners that a white
dove would a light on the gallows in token of
his innocence. His prediction came true. A white dove settled

(01:55:08):
on the gallows immediately after Duncan's body was removed. But
Duncan was guilty beyond doubt, and the uncalled for appearance
of the white dove is a disappointing ending to a
sordid story.

Speaker 2 (01:55:18):
Believe it or not. Truth is strangely, believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:55:38):
The ubbelisk of Karuna, Spain is topped off by four o'clocks,
each of which shows a different time.

Speaker 2 (01:55:44):
This was done so that.

Speaker 3 (01:55:45):
Couples meeting there will never be late believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about a man who
witnessed a very unusual incident. Captain Edward Sabine, noted English astronomer,
went to Africa one half of the Royal Institute on
Cape Lopez and French Equatorial Africa. He witnessed the wreck
of a ship and saw the buoyant cargo rise to

(01:56:08):
the surface and drift out of sight. A year later
Sabine was sent to Hammerfest, Norway. There he saw the
same barrels wash ashore at the end of a six thousand,
two hundred and fifty mile drift.

Speaker 2 (01:56:22):
They leave it or not. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:56:41):
Here's an interesting item for the bird watchers and the curious.
The beak of a woodpecker moves forward and back with
a speed of one hundred miles per hour. They lave
it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you the
strange story of the spectacles of death. Domini Joseph Garon,
Minister of Justice during the French Revolution, was given the

(01:57:02):
frightful task of reading the death sentence to King Loyd
the sixteenth. His great remorse concentrated on his gold rimmed eyeglasses.
He vowed never to see or wear them again. Forty
years later, a curate visited Garra. He found the spectacles
and tried them on. When Ghara returned, the sight of
the spectacles literally shocked him to death. The curate, who
never suspected the fatal association, wore them while reading Ghara's

(01:57:26):
funeral services.

Speaker 2 (01:57:27):
Believe it or not, Truth is stranger that sh truth
viscus rily. Believe it or not. This may come as
a surprise to the ladies who.

Speaker 3 (01:57:48):
Own or have wanted to own an ermine ramp. The ermine,
which is highly prized, and the stoat, which is detested,
are one and the same animal. Believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about the curry of
a woman which few humans would dare to match. In
eighteen forty three, the Countess Rosa Bronica traveled to Germany

(01:58:09):
in search of medical advice. The German physicians diagnosed her
ailmudous cancer and urged immediate surgery, but the Countess, not
wanting to alarm her family, secretly purchased surgical instruments. Then,
locked in a room alone, she performed an astounding surgical
operation on herself, successfully removing the cancerous tumor. She survived
her surgery for nineteen years.

Speaker 2 (01:58:31):
They leave it or not? Truth? These strangers did this
thissrily Believe it or not?

Speaker 3 (01:58:50):
A jet fighter has a refrigerating system with a freezing
capacity equal to one hundred and seventy six thousand ice
cubes a day. They leave it or not? And I'll
tell you about a ceremony which will tax your belief.
The natives of the province of a Marina on the
island of Madagascar enact annually as ceremony they refer to

(01:59:12):
as Famadiana. Their time does not heal the grief of
relatives who lose a kinsman through death. Each September, they
dig up the bodies of their dear departed and provide
them with a change of clothing. Then they re enter
them in the same grave or transfer them to a
new and shurier sepulcher, depending on the state of the
family's finances. This macabre ceremony is repeated until either the

(01:59:33):
breeds die or there is nothing left.

Speaker 2 (01:59:37):
Believe it or not. Truth is strangely viscous. Ripley Believe
it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:59:56):
The only civilian whoever commanded a United States man of
war was Robert B.

Speaker 2 (02:00:01):
Forbes.

Speaker 3 (02:00:01):
He commanded the USS Jamestown, which transported food to Ireland
during the Irish famine of eighteen forty seven. They leave
it or not In a moment, I'll tell you about
the bride who didn't have a stitch to wear. On
February twenty second, seventeen eighty nine, Major Moses Joy of Putney, Vermont.

Speaker 2 (02:00:21):
Married Hannah, the widow of William Ward.

Speaker 3 (02:00:23):
The blushing bride was completely unclothed except for a rough
wooden box which enclosed her. Form the law at the
time made a second husband responsible for all the liabilities
of his predecessor if the widow wore any clothing at
all during the ceremony. All the finery the bride wore
was a rough wooden box, and she lived happily ever after.

Speaker 2 (02:00:43):
Be leave it or not. Truth is stranger thing she
this sister. Truth, This is rickly Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:01:02):
The French have a word which contradicts itself. Crevent is
a French word which means both screamingly funny and deadly dull.
They leave it or not in a moment, I'll tell
you about the white pigeons who are deadly jealous, may
pure white pigeons always nest in the beams of your house.

(02:01:23):
This was the traditional blessing of alibin Abu Talib, the
son in law and successor of the prophet Muhammad. Shortly
after Ali's death, thousands of pure white pigeons took up
their abode in the vicinity of his grave and have
been there ever since. The pigeons rigorously police the precincts
of the mosque. Should a pigeon with a single black
feather attempt to join the flock, the white pigeons drive

(02:01:45):
it away. They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:01:52):
Truth is stranger than this is the truth. This is
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:02:00):
The heart of a hummingbird beats twenty times as fast
as that of a human. The hummingbird's heart beats fourteen
hundred times a minute.

Speaker 2 (02:02:12):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:02:14):
In a moment, I'll tell you about an army that
killed with gold. Jakob ibn Litz, known as Alsafar, was
originally a humble kettle mender who collected a band of
desperate characters and became a bandit chief when he conquered
the throne of Kurissan. A large horde of gold bullion
came into his possession, he made use of the yellow

(02:02:34):
metal in.

Speaker 2 (02:02:35):
A strange way.

Speaker 3 (02:02:36):
He equipped one thousand cavalrymen with war clubs, having fourteen
pound heads of solid gold. Today, each mace would be
worth seven thousand dollars. A thousand of them would be
worth fourteen million dollars.

Speaker 2 (02:02:49):
Believe it or not, truth is stranger to us. Rily
believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:03:08):
The musicians of ancient Greece had an unusual way of
advertising their calling. They wore shoes that played music when
they walked. They leave it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about a different kind of marriage racket.
Women of the Kabbati tribe of Africa who've had the
misfortune of losing a husband have adopted what may be

(02:03:30):
described as a sound way of obtaining a new husband.
Custom requires each to stay near the grave of the departed.

Speaker 2 (02:03:37):
During the entire term of her widowhood.

Speaker 3 (02:03:39):
During her stay, she wheelds a stout club, with which
she drums a noisy tattoo on the resonant walls of
the grave. She also uses her vocal cords to good
advantage until some personable male looking for peace and quiet
wedds the noisy widow to shut her up. They live
it or not?

Speaker 2 (02:04:00):
Truth is stranger that pitch this truth this riples believe
it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:04:13):
Mulais's house on the island of Innish Murray, Ireland, which
was constructed entirely of loose stones without the use of mortar,
has endured for fourteen hundred years. They leave it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about a ballet star
who built a cathedral. The Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our
Lady in the Martyrs in Cambridge, England, was built through

(02:04:35):
the generosity of one donor.

Speaker 2 (02:04:37):
Madame Lynde Stephens, a.

Speaker 3 (02:04:38):
Native of Paris, had been a ballet star in her youth,
but left the stage to marry Stephens Lynde Stephens, a
wealthy English banker. Later she calculated her stage earnings added
the interest for forty two years, which totaled.

Speaker 2 (02:04:50):
Five hundred thousand dollars.

Speaker 3 (02:04:52):
This she donated for the construction of the cathedral in
the English city of her adoption. They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:05:03):
Truth, these stranger, the viscous ripley believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:05:15):
Fortune tellers in rural England still use magic cubes which
are made from the blood of a mouse, a dove
and a toad, the eyes of a crab, and moss
collected from a graveyard. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you an unusual story about a soldier who
became a celebrated painter. Ludimir benedict Witz, a Polish soldier,

(02:05:37):
lost both hands while fighting the Russians in the Polish
Uprising of eighteen sixty three. The nineteen year old youth
decided to become a painter. He specialized in vast historical scenes,
wielding the brush by means of a hook fastened around
the stump of his right arm. Ludimir attained great renown
both as an artist and the chess player, while mastering
his crippling disability for the next sixty three years. They

(02:06:00):
leave it or not?

Speaker 2 (02:06:06):
Truth is stranger the did this is the truth? Biscus ripleys.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:06:19):
A globe in the University of Krakau, Poland, built of
solid gold in fifteen nine, was the first in history
to include the American continent. It identifies America as a
reported new land. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about the man who paid a fortune
for a single letter of the alphabet. Mahmoud el Ghuzni,

(02:06:40):
king of Afghanistan, was granted the title of Bali by
the Caliph Kaden Billah, but Bali can mean either lord
or servant. As a result, Mahmoud paid the kliph one
hundred thousand golden drachma to clarify his rank by changing
his title to the Aa l i spelled with two
a's instead of the usual one A. He paid the
equivalent of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for a

(02:07:02):
single letter of the alphabet.

Speaker 2 (02:07:04):
They leave it or not. Truth is stranger. The fits
this sister, truth, This is ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:07:23):
If you have a sweet tooth that's hired to satisfy,
you can be happy you didn't live in seventeenth century England.
In those days, a pound of sugar cost as much
as fourteen chickens. They leave it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you how a game of chess was fatal
to a sultan. Sultan Malik al Salif najiml dain Ayu

(02:07:43):
ruled Egypt from twelve forty to twelve forty nine. The
monarch incurred the hatred of his wife, who decided to
liquidate her husband. He was a chess addict who played
the game every night, squatting barefoot on the floor in
oriental fashion. On the night of November twentieth, twelve forty nine,
the Queen's saturated the floormat with some highly corrosive substance.
As a result, the Sultan contracted a gangrenous sore and

(02:08:06):
died forty eight hours later.

Speaker 2 (02:08:08):
They leave it or not? Truth is stranger, the truth,
this is riple. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:08:27):
Thomas Schweiker of Swebbish Hall, Germany was born without arms
and with a body so crippled he could neither sit,
erect nor stand. Yet he excelled in beautiful penmanship while
holding the quill in his toes. They leave it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you an unusual story about
fire worshippers. Through the ages, man has found many ways

(02:08:49):
to pay homage to the gods or god in which
he believes. The Parihara or Panda caste of India are
literally the most ardent worshippers among India's teeming millions. They
adore a deity named Bill by dipping a strand of
cotton and flaming oil, and retaining the burning twist in
their mouths until the wick is consumed. They commemorate an
ancestral purifying right undergone in a pit of fire.

Speaker 2 (02:09:11):
Believe it or not, truth is stranger. The pitching systems ripley.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:09:30):
During the burial service of Captain Joseph G. Blaine in
the church of Gayhead, Massachusetts, a carrier pigeon flew in
from the sea and lighted on the bier, as if
in tribute to the man who had dedicated his life
to save the carrier pigeon from extermination. It stayed until
the service was concluded.

Speaker 2 (02:09:45):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:09:47):
In a moment, I'll tell you about the women in
Everlasting Morning in the Swiss village of Sholes. The women
have been in continuous morning since the year sixteen twenty one.
During that year, and invading Austrian army massacred one hundred
and twenty eight men, women and children in the village.
To show their grief, the women survivors of schools donned

(02:10:08):
black clothing, and generations of their successors to this day
still wear the black clothing. Their symbol of eternal mourning.
They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:10:22):
Truth is stranger the k this is the truth viscus reles.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:10:35):
Romanian peasants believe that a man suffering from rheumatism can
recover his full health by having a trained bear walk
back and forth on his back for a half hour.
They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:10:46):
In a moment, I'll tell you how a tower was
named after a monkey.

Speaker 3 (02:10:53):
In Rome, Italy. The Monkey's Tower got its name from
a near tragedy. A monkey, imitating a child's nurse, suddenly
an infant belonging to the powerful Frangipani family and climbed
with it to the top of this tower. There it
dressed and undressed the infant. As the mother, frantic with fear,
preyed below. Her prayers were answered. The monkey climbed down
with the unharmed baby. In commemoration. A light has been

(02:11:16):
burning on the top of the tower for the past
six centuries. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:11:26):
Truth is strange, feeling dish, This is riple. Believe it
or not.

Speaker 3 (02:11:38):
The wine Glass Tower in Urfenstein, Germany, was built on
a rock shaped like a stemmed glass by a man
famed for his drinking capacity. Believe it or not. In
a moment, I'll tell you about the people who eat underwater.
Once a year in India, five thousand people dine under

(02:11:59):
the surface of a river. The occasion is a three
day religious festival called tilset Kront. These pilgrims bathed in
a sacred pool in the Sonar River, about six miles
from the town of Hatta in southern India. The strangest
feature of the celebration is the one full meal each
one is required to eat in leisurely fashioned while holding
his head under the water of the Satsuma Pool.

Speaker 2 (02:12:21):
They leave it or not. Truth is stranger the fiction.
This system truth viscous relies. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:12:40):
A serving cart was excavated from a mound in Pacatel, Germany,
in the investigation of a legend which for one thousand
years had described the mound as once inhabited by dwarfs
who were served drinks from a wheeled cart.

Speaker 2 (02:12:53):
They leave it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:12:54):
In a moment, I'll tell you about the castle that
was destroyed by a kiss.

Speaker 2 (02:13:01):
The chateau of.

Speaker 3 (02:13:01):
Villeydeu Sirindri, France, was owned by Phelippe de Chauvne, he
stole a kiss from Isabel de Baumier.

Speaker 2 (02:13:07):
They outraged.

Speaker 3 (02:13:08):
Isabel reported the larcenary to the King of France, who
ordered the castle owned by the Kissing bandit demolished as
a warning to others. Ten years later, an older and
wiser Isabel returned the kiss to Philippe as a sign
of forgiveness. The king then gave his permission to Philip
to rebuild the castle, which is standing to this day.

Speaker 2 (02:13:25):
Believe it or not, truth, these stranger the fiction. This
is the truth. This is Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:13:45):
There is a belle the Lamasery of Perulla in Lasa,
the most sacred sanctuary of Tibet, and it's inscribed with
the first.

Speaker 2 (02:13:51):
Words of the Christian hymn Te Deum Laudamus.

Speaker 3 (02:13:55):
Believe it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you
the macabre story of the Silent Groom. Dorothy Ford was
betrothed to the Reverend William Street, rector of the parish
of Southpool, England. Her fiance died a few days before
their wedding at the urging of friends who said they'd
been visited by the Reverend Specter, which complained his soul

(02:14:16):
could not rest, while his pledge to Mary was unredeemed.
The coffin containing the rector's body was brought to the
local church. There in a public marriage ceremony, Dorothy Ford
was married to her dead lover.

Speaker 2 (02:14:28):
They leave it or not? Truth is strangers Viscus Ripley's
Believe it or Not.

Speaker 3 (02:14:44):
The Olympic Theater in DeScenza, Italy, built by Andrea Palladio
in fifteen eighty, is the first theater in history provided
with a roof. All previous theaters were of the open
air variety. It's still in use. They leave it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about the cruelest practical
joke on record. One day, while Mohammed's second Sultan of Turkey,

(02:15:09):
was dining, he was called away before the dessert course.
When he returned, a large, juicy watermelon was gone.

Speaker 2 (02:15:15):
Fourteen of the.

Speaker 3 (02:15:16):
Imperial pages were questioned, but denied the theft. The Sultan
summoned his surgeon and ordered him to open the stomachs
of all the pages. There was no trace of watermelon
in any of them. The emperor made his half hearted
apologies with a nonchalance that is not to be believed.
They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:15:38):
Truth, the stranger the teaching this biscus riles. Believe it
or not.

Speaker 3 (02:15:50):
Turks who are executed have graves marked by two tombstones.
The second is a small stone which is a replica
of a turban Beylieve it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about the world's strangest rainfall. The Indian
village of Bijori, in the district of Mandla in the
Central Provinces of India, boasts a precipitation that has no

(02:16:12):
counterpart anywhere on earth. Whenever it rains, beads of all
sizes and colors, already bored for stringing, cover the fields
in great iridescent profusion. The natives collect them eagerly and
prize them highly. They string them for personal adornment into
necklaces called sulimandana King Solomon's rosaries, and the mystery of
their origin has never been cleared up.

Speaker 2 (02:16:33):
They leave it or not truth, these strangers. This is
the true viscous ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:16:52):
The high chair used by King James First of England
as an infant, now preserved that aloa Scotland bears a
remarkable resemblance top high chairs used today nearly four hundred
years later.

Speaker 2 (02:17:03):
They leave it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:17:04):
In a moment, I'll tell you about the incredible cruelty
of a father for the sake of art. The woeful
statue of La Dolorosa, the Lady of Sorrows, in the
Cathedral of Mercia, Spain, was carved by the celebrated Spanish
sculptor Francisco Sarcio. He used his daughter as a model
in order to trick her into registering the proper amount

(02:17:25):
of grief. The artist handed his daughter a forged letter
announcing the suicide of the man she was engaged to marry.
The shock nearly broke the young woman's heart. Zarcio sketched
his daughter's sorrow and then explained the trick they leave
it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:17:44):
Truth is stranger. The hi this is the truth is rickly.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:17:56):
Coco Ramu, a Parisian aristocrat who suffered from insomnia, curled
up every night for six years in a carriage parked
in his garden. They leave it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about the strange way a governor's blindness
was cured. In the year three hundred, Saint Sylbinas had
his hands cut off by order of a Roman governor.

(02:18:18):
This was his punishment for refusing to venerate a pagan god.
Years later, the same governor fell victim to a serious
eye disease. In a few short weeks, he would have
been totally blind. Sabinus heard of his plight and returned
kindness for the governor's cruelty. Going to the ruler, he
placed the stubs of his arms against the governor's eyes,
curing him instantly. They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:18:46):
Truth the strange, this is the truth is riples, believe
it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:18:58):
The Church of Saint Peter and Mont Grammont, England, still
has some of the glass panes that were installed in
the year six seventy four, the first glass ever manufactured
in England. They leave it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you how an emperor really got in the
hot water. Because they would not pay homage to the
Great Emperor Maximilian, two men, Saint Crispin and Saint Christinian,

(02:19:22):
the patron saints of Cobblers, were ordered to be boiled
alive in a huge caldron of water. His orders were
carried out, but after some time in the water, both
of the condemned men were still alive, apparently unscathed. This
so infuriated the emperor that he jumped into the boiling
water to kill the man himself. He was immediately scalded
to death.

Speaker 2 (02:19:42):
They leave it or not, Truth is strangers. This is
rily beleeve it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:20:01):
In case you didn't know it, cats are more popular
than dogs in the United States. There are, according to
a survey, twenty eight million pet cats and only twenty
three million dogs. Believe it or not, In a moment.

Speaker 2 (02:20:13):
I'll tell you how flies saved the city.

Speaker 3 (02:20:19):
In the fourth century, the city of Nisibus was completely
surrounded by the Persians. Surrender was near, and the people
of the city were doomed. Saint James, then the bishop
of the besieged city, prayed that God would defeat the
Persian army. And then a strange thing happened. Clouds of
gnats and flies seemed to appear from nowhere, swarming over
the Persian hordes. They threw the Persian army into confusion

(02:20:42):
and retreat. As a result, they lost, and the battle
was won by flies.

Speaker 2 (02:20:48):
Believe it or not, Truth is strangers. This is rickly
Believe It or Nothing.

Speaker 3 (02:21:07):
Ship, a German police dog owned by Herbert Neff of Knoxville, Tennessee,
ran away from home, but returned to spend Christmas with
the NEPs for nine successive years. Believe it or not
In a moment, I'll tell you about the strong ties
of a first love. Elizabeth Alexander of Houghton, Leskern, England

(02:21:28):
was widowed by Robert Carr in seventeen eighteen, when she
was eighteen years old. She survived her first husband for
seventy two more years, and she was wed twice more,
the second time to Philip Bendlows and the third time
to doctor William Alexander. In spite of this, when she died,
her body was, at her request, laid beside the mortal.

Speaker 2 (02:21:47):
Remains of her first love, Robert Carr.

Speaker 3 (02:21:50):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:21:57):
Truth is strangely the dis Believe it or Not.

Speaker 3 (02:22:09):
The coat of arms of Georgian's Walled Germany shows a
forester killing a bear with a club, a feat performed
in sixteen twenty nine by Casper Common, who saved the
life of Duke George Bilhelm and was rewarded with the
land on which the town is located.

Speaker 2 (02:22:23):
They live it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:22:24):
In a moment, I'll tell you the story of a
twelve year old paleontologist.

Speaker 2 (02:22:31):
The true founder of the modern science of.

Speaker 3 (02:22:33):
Paleontology was a twelve year old girl named Mary Annig
of Lyme, Regis, England.

Speaker 2 (02:22:38):
In eighteen eleven, Mary Anning dug up.

Speaker 3 (02:22:40):
The first fossilized skeleton of a nick theosarius, an extinct
reptile that flourished on Earth millions of years ago. Later
in her life, she scooped out of the earth the
first fossilized skeleton of a placiosaurus and the first pterodactyl.

Speaker 2 (02:22:54):
They leave it or not. Truth is stranger than this
is less. Believe it or not. When Saint Barbara would

(02:23:14):
not renounce her faith, she was beheaded.

Speaker 3 (02:23:16):
Her accuser and executioner was her own father, Dioscorus, the
instant he murdered her, he was struck dead by a
bolt of lightning. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about a bizarre marriage right. The lord
he cast of the district of whos Hungabad, India, generously
allows a bachelor to marry a widow, but before he does,

(02:23:38):
he must undergo a bizarre right. He must first rid
himself of his bachelor status by marrying a pair of
ear rings. For a whole year, he decorates his ears
with this strange wife, after which he may discard his
earrings by way of a formal divorce. After that, he's
then free to marry the widow. Literally, he gets married
by ear Believe.

Speaker 2 (02:23:58):
It or not, who you scrange? You believe this is?
The food is believe it or nothing.

Speaker 3 (02:24:17):
The Russians have a word shiarami, which is derived from
the French charami or dear friend and begging for food.
Prince Straiglers in the Napoleonic invasion always addressed their hostess charami.

Speaker 2 (02:24:28):
In Russian it means a tramp. They leave it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about the animal tax
that supported a hospital.

Speaker 3 (02:24:38):
No hospital was ever supported as widely or as long
as the Royal Hospital of Santiago de Compostella, founded by
Ferdinand and Isabella in fourteen ninety nine. For a period
of three hundred and ten years, every Spanish farmer was
obliged to make an annual contribution to the hospital at
the rate of one third of a bushel of grain
for every pair of oxen mules or donkeys he owned.

(02:24:59):
The tax was finally terminated by Napoleon when he invaded
Spain in eighteen nine.

Speaker 2 (02:25:04):
Believe it or not true stranger rily be needed or not.

Speaker 3 (02:25:23):
The duty tree Eucalyptus himostoma of Australia has insects burrowing
beneath the bark, which always gives the tree the appearance
of a well scribbled scratch pad. Believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about the king who
died a beggar. Abdullah s zagal Moorish, king of Granada,

(02:25:44):
sold his kingdom for the equivalent of seventeen million dollars.
He then crossed over to Africa, where he looked forward
to a life of luxury and these. Instead, he was
arrested by Benamerin, king of Fez, who deprived the former
king of both his wealth and his eyesight. He was
thrust out, blind and destitute, reduced to begging for a living,
carrying on his ragged back a parchment reading this is

(02:26:06):
the unfortunate King of Andalusia.

Speaker 2 (02:26:08):
They leave it or not? Truth is stranger that this
is the truth is rickly. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:26:26):
Today dueling is against the law. However, did you know
that it's forbidden by the Catholic Church because it involves
a double sin, the desire to kill and the willingness
to die. They leave it or not? In a moment,
I'll tell you about one of the silliest statements ever
uttered by a head of government. While Tashi Mohammad Pasha

(02:26:48):
was both Turkish Grand Vizier and Commander in chief of
the Turkish Armies, in seventeen eleven, when a powerful Turkish
army encircled a Russian army commanded by Czar Peter the
Great near the River Proot in Moldavia, Romania, no power
on earth seems capable of saving the Russian army, Yet
the Turkish commander led his country's mortal enemy escape. Later,
when the Grand Vizier was asked why, he said, if

(02:27:10):
I took the Czar prisoner, who would rule Russia? Believe
it or not?

Speaker 2 (02:27:19):
Truth is this is rily, Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:27:32):
Henry D eighth had Saint John Fisher beheaded. Anne Boleyn
asked for the head, and she slapped it rudely. One
of the teeth pierced her hand, and the wound never healed. Later,
she too was beheaded. Believe it or not, In a moment,
I'll tell you about a man who was executed because
he was strong.

Speaker 2 (02:27:51):
In sixteen ninety two.

Speaker 3 (02:27:52):
The Reverend George Burroughs of Wells, Maine, was placed on
trial in Salem Village, Massachusetts, charged with witchcraft. The evidence
was the testimony of witnesses who saw the defendant insert
a finger in the muzzle of a heavy musket and
hold it at arm's length, a feat the court thought
was impossible without the aid of sorcery. The defendant pleaded
in vain that he'd seen an Indian perform the same

(02:28:14):
feat of strength. He was convicted and hanged. Believe it
or not, truth is stranger.

Speaker 2 (02:28:28):
I believe it or not. There is a place in
the world where you'll find women of a few words.

Speaker 3 (02:28:39):
An aristocratic woman in the Aruba tribe in Africa bites
on an iron nail day and night so she won't
talk too much. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you the story of a weird prophecy in architecture.
The architect who built the cathedral of Notre Dame in Turnai, Belgium,
in the year ten thirty left a pro headache ornament.

Speaker 2 (02:29:01):
On the structure.

Speaker 3 (02:29:02):
One of the pillars inside the church bears a sculptured
likeness of the craftsman. Strangely enough, it shows him in
the act of tumbling. The statue featured on the pillar
was the work of his own hands. A short time
after the figure was placed on the pillar, the architect
accidentally toppled from a.

Speaker 2 (02:29:16):
High scaffold and fell or tumbled to his death.

Speaker 3 (02:29:21):
They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:29:27):
Truth is stranger the legs. This is rickly Believe it
or not.

Speaker 3 (02:29:39):
Near Cooper Koy, Turkey, there's a tree that swallowed a
water fountain as it grew. A willow tree indulfed a
public countain, with the result that water now spouts from
the tree. They leave it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about the man who made two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars on a single news item. George Grant,

(02:30:00):
an American immigrant residing in London in eighteen sixty one,
acted with great speed and determination when he read in
the London Times that Prince Albert was ailing. He immediately
went out and purchased the entire supply of black crepe,
which was available in London and its vicinity. When the
Prince Consort died shortly thereafter, Grant, who by then had
a corner on the entire available quantity of mourning crape,

(02:30:20):
disposed of his holdings for a neat profit of.

Speaker 2 (02:30:23):
More than a quarter of a million dollars. Believe it
or not, truth is stranger the lids, and this is
the truth. This is quickly. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:30:45):
Thomas Meisberger, an Austrian mountain climber, ascended such peaks as
mon Blanc, Montrosa, the matter Horn.

Speaker 2 (02:30:51):
The Young Frau and the Miisi.

Speaker 3 (02:30:53):
Yet he was handicapped by a wooden leg.

Speaker 2 (02:30:55):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:30:57):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a boy who
saw dust and future. William Blake, the mystic point artist
and musician, quit his job the first day he was
a putts to William Rylands, England's foremost engraver. The reason
he left Ryland's employ was that whenever the fourteen year
old boy looked at his employer, he had the extra

(02:31:19):
sensory vision.

Speaker 2 (02:31:20):
Of Rylands hanging dead on the gallows.

Speaker 3 (02:31:23):
The vision became a reality twelve years later, when Ryland's
was hanged for forgery on August twenty ninth, seventeen eighty three.
They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:31:37):
Truth is strange to the fiction. Truth is ripleous. Believe
it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:31:50):
David Lamont, minister of Kirkpatrick, Durham, Scotland, for sixty three years,
married the girl who was the first infant he ever baptized.
She was twenty one when they were married, and they
lived happily together for thirty eight years. Believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about another unusual love story.

(02:32:10):
John Dixon, the carpenter and joiner of Newbury, South Carolina,
was so desperately in love with a young woman that
when she turned down his proposal of marriage, he decided
to end at all. He made an attempt to commit
suicide by hanging. The opportune arrival of a neighbor, who
severed the rope in the nick of time saved his life.
Dixon recovered, but he wrote a novel chapter in the
History of Happy Endings. He found a new love and

(02:32:32):
the willing mate in the person of the girl's mother.

Speaker 2 (02:32:36):
Believe it or not, Truth is stranger the h this
is the proof. This is ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:32:55):
A silver cup shaped like a flur de Lee was
bequeathed to the city of Neuschatel, Switzerland in sixteenthsfty seven
by Aurei Second to commemorate the fact that forty years
before its citizens had offered him the cup filled with
poisoned wine. They leave it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about the incredible professor. The University of Salamanca,

(02:33:16):
which was founded more than seven hundred years ago, is
the oldest in Spain. Among its lecturers bilst Christopher Columbus.
For one hundred and fifty years, the chair of Mathematics
was vacant because of the extraordinarily high standards it demanded
from its teachers. The vacancy was finally filled by the
appointment of Diego de Torres, whose only qualification for the
post was his experience as a highway robber, a dancer

(02:33:38):
and a bullfighter. They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:33:46):
Truth is stranger the fiction. This is the truth. This
is ripley, sir, believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:33:58):
Bach Singe, ruler of Marwa, India, was killed by his vanity.
He couldn't resist trying on a robe sent to him
by an enemy. The robe had been dipped in poison
and Bacht died. Beylieve it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about the father of one hundred crippled daughters.
King Kusinaba, who ruled over a great Hindu kingdom, was

(02:34:20):
the father of one hundred daughters, all of them hunchbacks.
To commemorate his great family tragedy, the king founded a
city and named it Kanyu Kajhba, the City of the
Deformed Maidens, and there he resided for many years. The
capital founded by the tragic king has survived to the
present day.

Speaker 2 (02:34:36):
It's now the principal.

Speaker 3 (02:34:37):
City of the district of Fara Khabad, India, its name
having been reduced to the modern kanyuaj They leave.

Speaker 2 (02:34:43):
It or not, Truth is stranger the diction this is riple.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:35:01):
A chasm one hundred and thirty feet deep was carved
from solid rock in the twelfth century to bar access
to the castle.

Speaker 2 (02:35:07):
Of Sayoun in Syria.

Speaker 3 (02:35:08):
A tower of stone was left in the center of
the chasm to support a drawbridge. Believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you the tale of a
shoemaker who became a king in Algiers in North Africa.
The ruler in sixteen ninety five was a renowned warrior
named Shaban. He was deposed by a group of rebels
needing a new ruler, They noticed an ancient cobbler mending

(02:35:31):
the local babushes or slippers. His name was haj Ahmad.
They snatched the frightened old man and had him formally enthroned.
He ruled Algeria for three years until he died in
an epidemic in July sixteen ninety eight.

Speaker 2 (02:35:45):
Believe it or not, Truth is stranger the k and
this system truth, this is ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:36:01):
The Church of Saint Nicholas in Bloy, France was built
in the village of Foy, whose inhabitants had been slaves
from birth. They were freed forever as a reward for
constructing the church. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you the story of the Golden Galley. When

(02:36:23):
Napoleon was a little boy, he was fascinated by the
book A History of Venice. Years passed, and then one day,
in seventeen ninety eight, the fate of Venice lay in
Napoleon's hands. He inquired for the Golden Galley, the ornate
state barge from which the espousal of the sea took
place for many centuries. Burnet, he decreed. As the flames
began to lick the Golden Galley, a stream of molten

(02:36:44):
gold flowed from the pyre. The galley had been truly named.
It yielded half a million dollars worth of pure gold.

Speaker 2 (02:36:51):
They leave it or not, truth is stranger the dish
this is rily, Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:37:10):
Dante, Italy's greatest point now lies in a tomb in Ravenna,
illuminated by an oil lamp lits at September nineteen eight.
Dante's hometown Florence, has undertaken to keep the lamp burning
for all eternity. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about a mad monarch's revenge. Abdul Hassan Ali,

(02:37:30):
who at the age of sixteen became the Caliph of Egypt,
invited two thousand, six hundred and sixty of the most
beautiful young ladies of Cairo to a sumptuous feast. As
soon as the building was filled, a company of masons
was ordered to seal up all exits with brick, and mortar.
Six months later, the mad ruler ordered the doors opened
and had the young captive's skeletons removed for burial. The

(02:37:52):
revenge was for a slight offered him by the Egyptian capital.

Speaker 2 (02:37:55):
Believe it or not, truth is stranger the fiction, and
this is the truth. This is riples. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:38:14):
Baron Oscar von Redwitz was the strangest hypochondriac in history.
During the last twenty eight years of his life, he
complained of and described more than ten thousand ailments, each
of them unknown to medical science. Believe it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about the colonel who
killed himself for his regiment. Lord Charles Grayville Montague, Colonel

(02:38:37):
of the Cumberland Regiment, landed with his men in Halifax,
Nova Scotia, in the dead of a very harsh winter.
The men complained, and the colonel promised to forward their
grievance to the commanding general in Quebec, six hundred miles away,
a three month round trip on snowshoes. The colonel made
the round trip in six weeks. The physical strain was
too much, and he died four days after his return.

(02:39:00):
They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:39:06):
Truth is stranger the.

Speaker 4 (02:39:10):
System.

Speaker 2 (02:39:10):
Truth this is rily Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:39:19):
John Breckinridge, a noted singer and poet of toll Cross, Scotland,
fought anybody who ever sang his compositions in public, and
shortly before he died he cast into the flames all
his works, poems, songs and epigrams. Believe it or not,
In a moment, I'll tell you how a hot bath
made a man a king. After Emperor Constant second was

(02:39:41):
assassinated in his bath in Syracuse, Sicily, his assassins looked
for a successor to the throne of Byzantium. Their choice
was General Messizi, who flatly refused to ascend the throne
to Churus him.

Speaker 2 (02:39:51):
The army commander.

Speaker 3 (02:39:52):
Simply tossed him, fully clothed and armored, into the same
hot bath in which Constance had perished. The discomfort of
the hot bath helped the reluctant Massezi to change his mind,
and he accepted the crown.

Speaker 2 (02:40:03):
They leave it or not. Truth is stranger, the fiction,
this system. Truth this is Ripley's Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:40:22):
On November twenty sixth seventeen three, the Great Eddystone lighthouse
off Plymouth, England, was demolished by a storm. Henry Wistonley,
the builder, died in the disaster. At the same time,
in Wistonley's home two hundred miles away, a replica of
the lighthouse felled from a shelf and was smashed the
Leave it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you
about a castle owned by the Devil. The last earthly

(02:40:46):
owner of the Chateaus Tifoorge in France was Shield de Ry,
who's identified as the original Bluebeard. He is said to
have murdered one hundred and forty young boys. Shield conveyed
to the Devil title to all his property. There's a
deed still in existence, vesting in the Devil the ownership
of the castle, thus making Satan the legal owner of
this bit of French real estate. Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:41:14):
Truth is stranger the fiction. This is the truth of
this is riples. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:41:26):
Laborers in China who use huge wheelbarrows to transport freight
avoid extra wear on their vehicles by taking them apart
at the end of each working day and carrying the
parts home on their backs. Believe it or not, In
a moment, I'll tell you about the strangest.

Speaker 2 (02:41:40):
Library in all history.

Speaker 3 (02:41:45):
Saheb ibn Abad, the scholarly Grand Vizier of Persia, was
a fervent reader and had a library of one hundred
and seventeen thousand volumes. Since he was obliged to travel widely,
he carried the library around with him on the backs
of four hundred camels. The beasts of bird of this
huge portable collection were specially trained to travel in alphabetical order,
and were attended by a host of camel driver librarians

(02:42:07):
who could locate any book their master desired in the
shortest time. They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:42:17):
Truth is stranger the fiction. This is the proofs Ripley's
Believe it or not?

Speaker 3 (02:42:30):
Great Tom, the huge Belle of Christ Church in Oxford, England,
has been wrung exactly one hundred and one times every
evening since twelve eighty four in commemoration of the one
hundred and one students of the first Oxford Class. They
leave it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you
about some very unusual food handlers. The food handlers employed

(02:42:51):
by the Maharajah of Udipur, India are always members of
the Jain sect who consider all forms of life so
sacred that they wear face masks. Food carriers are the
most practical solution for the hygienic handling of the Maharaja's food.
They perpetually cover their mouths to avoid inhaling small gnats
or other flying insects. They do this lest they inadvertently

(02:43:12):
harm an insect by inhaling it.

Speaker 2 (02:43:14):
Believe it or not, truth is stranger than this is
the truth This riples believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:43:33):
The Russian words sarok, meaning forty, also means a shirt.
In Old Russia, forty animal skins were always carried wrapped
in a shirt. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll have some more words for you, as well as
their interesting meanings. A flock of ships is called a fleet.
A fleet of sheep is called a flock. A flock

(02:43:55):
of girls is called a bevy. A bevy of wolves
is called a pack. A pack of feeves is called
a gang. A gang of angels is called a host.
A host of porpoises is called a shoal. A shoal
of buffaloes is called a troop. A troop of partridges
is called a covey. A covey of beauties is called
a galaxy. A galaxy of ruffians is called a horde.
A horde of gangsters is called a mob. A mob

(02:44:17):
of whales is called a school. Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (02:44:20):
Not, Truth is stranger the fiction. This is the truth.
This is riples. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:44:38):
An empty gallon can will hold one gallon of ammonia gas.
Yet when the same can is filled with water, it
will increase its capacity to six hundred gallons of ammonia gas.

Speaker 2 (02:44:49):
Belave it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:44:50):
In a moment, I'll tell you how a stroke of
lightning made a church. A stroke of lightning is responsible
for the Church of San mar eCos in Salamaika, Spain.
The shell of the building was originally a tower of
the city walls. In the fourteenth century, lightning struck the
tower and converted the spire into a side view likeness
of a human face.

Speaker 2 (02:45:11):
The natives declared that the.

Speaker 3 (02:45:12):
Miraculous profile was that of King Alfonso the.

Speaker 2 (02:45:15):
Eleventh, then reigning.

Speaker 3 (02:45:16):
He acknowledged the resemblance and felt impelled to convert the
tower into a church.

Speaker 2 (02:45:22):
Believe it or not, Truth is stranger the fiction. This
is the truth is riples. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:45:41):
Lincoln's Inn Fields, at twelve acres square, is the largest
in London. It was designed in sixteen eighteen by the
celebrated architect Inigo Jones to conform to the exact size
and shape of the base of the Great Pyramid of Egypt.
Belave it or not In a moment, I'll tell you
about a woman worth her weight in gold. Warren Hastings,

(02:46:01):
the great empire builder and first Governor General of British India,
fell in love with a baroness, Anna Maria Imhoff. Before
her husband would grant her a divorce, Hastings turned over
to him a quantity of gold equal to her weight.
It took eight years before they could be legally married.
By that time, Madame im Hoff was nearly forty years old,
and during forty one years of married life, he never

(02:46:21):
wavered in his love for the woman he priced above gold.
They leave it or not?

Speaker 2 (02:46:32):
Truth is strange, youthing that this truth? This if ripleas
believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:46:44):
The Hill of the Bells in Hermicio Mexico produces music
ranging from the sound of an organ to the melody
of a flute. It's caused by air currents escaping from
a cave within the mountain. They leave it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about the most seductive
murderous in the annals of justice. Madame Rietrollier of Brussels,

(02:47:04):
Belgium was tried on a charge of having poisoned her husband,
her parents, and her two sisters. The tribunal consisted of
five married judges, who unanimously declared the defendant not guilty.
The judge's deliberation was prolonged by an argument among them
as to who was entitled to marry her. Judge Vernoi won.
They might have lived happily ever after, but for the
return of her accomplice and ex lover he confessed. The

(02:47:27):
case was reopened. They were both found guilty and hanged.
Believe it or not, truth is stranger.

Speaker 2 (02:47:39):
This is the truth. This is riples. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:47:49):
The Sacred People Tree of Burma is believed to be
inhabited by spirits. Small houses are built beside each tree
to make the spirits more comfortable. Pilgrims donate rent money
lest the spirits be evicted. They leave it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you about a king who
died of double trouble. King Yasalama Katisa, who ruled the

(02:48:11):
Kingdom of Ceylon for seven years, was overjoyed when he
discovered that he had a double. The king appointed him
doorman of his palace. Whenever the king was in a
merry mood, he would swap clothes in places with the doorman.
He could then laugh at his courtiers and ministers of state,
offering homage to the false king. Then one day, during
the next masquerade, the double decided to take advantage of

(02:48:31):
his temporary authority. He ordered the real king seized and
executed on the spot. They leave it or not?

Speaker 2 (02:48:42):
Truth is stranger the fiction. This is the truth. This
is riples. Believe it or not?

Speaker 3 (02:48:55):
Kansen, the most famous singer in India's history, for a
single concert at the court of end Emperor Akbar the Great,
was paid the fantastic fee of three million, two hundred
and forty five thousand dollars. They leave it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you the story of the
Indestructible Pilgrim. The chamberlain of King Philip the First of

(02:49:16):
France offered a substitute for his master when the king
was unable to fulfill a vow to travel to the
Tomb of Christ in Jerusalem. The substitute made the pilgrimage
on foot, except for crossing the sea, never removed his
armor both coming and going, and carried a lighted candle
all the way. The round trip took a year, and
the grateful King rewarded the iron constituted pilgrim and his

(02:49:37):
descendants with eternal freedom from taxes. They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:49:47):
Truth is strange of the fiction, and this is the truth.
This is believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:50:00):
Farron was appointed hereditary Janitor of Skipton Castle in England.
He bequeathed his post to twelve successive generations, and they
held the job for four hundred and thirty eight years.

Speaker 2 (02:50:11):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:50:13):
In a moment, I'll tell you about the best dressed
women in the world.

Speaker 2 (02:50:19):
It's for sure.

Speaker 3 (02:50:20):
The American woman would not consider the women of the
Zadrina district of Albania the best dressed women in the world,
perhaps the most dressed, for this is what they wear
in summer as well as winter. Their attire includes a
heavy linen shirt, linen trousers, heavy wall stockings, gold embroidered shoes,
a wool skirt, two embroidered vests and apron scarves, silk kerchiefs,

(02:50:40):
and a heavy headshawl worn over two bonnets. It all
adds up to one hundred pounds of clothing. Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (02:50:47):
Not, Truth is strangers, This is the truth, this is really.

Speaker 3 (02:51:00):
It or not. Cardinal George Dumproche, prime minister to King
Louis the twelfth of France, inspired the phrase let George
do it. Four hundred and sixty years ago. King Louis
was lazy, and that was his reply to every request
believe it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you

(02:51:21):
about the woman who was killed by a prophecy. Sophia
Lady Beresford, who was born on February twenty third, sixteen
sixty six, had a dream that she would die on
her forty seventh birthday. Lady Beresford was quite concerned, at
least until she thought she had safely passed that birthday.
Once that birthday was over, she breathed easier. Then she

(02:51:43):
learns he had consulted the Georgian calendar instead of.

Speaker 2 (02:51:46):
The Julian calendar.

Speaker 3 (02:51:47):
As a result, she died of shock on February twenty third,
seventeen thirteen, on her forty seventh birthday.

Speaker 2 (02:51:54):
Believe it or not? Who is this is?

Speaker 3 (02:52:05):
Riply?

Speaker 2 (02:52:06):
Believe it or not?

Speaker 3 (02:52:12):
John Swain of Shape with England faced execution, but he
escaped from a squad of soldiers by two consecutive leaps
that were later measured and found to have spanned forty
feet eleven inches. Belave it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about the man who towed a whale
with one hand. Donald McCauley was outsetting lobster pots with

(02:52:33):
his five brothers when they discovered a dead whale off
Lewis Island in the Hebrides. He was worn by officials
that it would be crowned property if it washed ashore.
Not wanting to lose their prize to the crown, Donald
McCauley came up with what seemed like an impossible solution.
He cut a hole in the whale's tail big enough
to insert his hand, and, with the help of his
brothers pulling at the oars of their boat, told the

(02:52:54):
monster out to sea. They leave it or not?

Speaker 2 (02:52:57):
In truth he ISTRAINGELYI belied it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:53:14):
Tostin Cleven was declared dead of the Black plague on
the ship Emilia in eighteen forty. He was saved from
being buried at sea only because friends won permission.

Speaker 2 (02:53:23):
To bury him in New York.

Speaker 3 (02:53:24):
He revived in an undertaking establishment and lived for another
fifty eight years. They lave it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about a victory castle. A castle in
Corsica originally was part of Napoleon's Palace of the Tuileries
in Paris. This is the castle which was burned by
a French bob in eighteen seventy one. After that fire,

(02:53:46):
Duke Jerome Puzzo de Borgeau, whose family had long feuded
with that of Napoleon in Corsica, bought the debris and
then spent four hundred thousand dollars and fifteen.

Speaker 2 (02:53:54):
Years rebuilding the castle.

Speaker 3 (02:53:56):
He did it simply to display a symbol of his
victory over his old Believe it or.

Speaker 2 (02:54:01):
Not, truth is stranger than fiction. This is Rickly Believe
it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:54:19):
E Cook, Oklahoma University halfback swam to a touchdown. A
blocked kick fell into a river behind the goal posts,
and Cook swam the ball back for a touchdown. Believe
it or not, In a moment, I'll tell you about
the man whose waistline measured more than his height. Those
of you who've been fighting the battle of the bulging

(02:54:39):
waistline can appreciate the problem that Wooter van Twiller must
have had. Wood was the second governor of New Netherlands
from sixteen thirty three to sixteen thirty eight. He was
five feet six inches tall and six feet five inches
in circumference, making his waistline measure more than his height.
Van Twiller was recalled a Holland on the complaint of
residents of New Netherlands that he spent sixteen hours each

(02:54:59):
day just eating and sleeping.

Speaker 2 (02:55:01):
They leave it or not. Truth is stranger than this is.
The truth is Ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:55:19):
The standard measuring device by which all ancient fluid measures
of the Roman Empire were verified has been standing in
the marketplace of Pompey, Italy for more than two thousand years.
They leave it or not. In a moment, I'll tell
you about the deadly gate Posts. No one will ever
really know whether it was just a weird coincidence or

(02:55:40):
actually a prophecy coming true. But for centuries the two
gate posts of magam in Wales were left standing because
of a prophecy that if they were destroyed, the noble
Mansell family.

Speaker 2 (02:55:49):
Would vanish with them.

Speaker 3 (02:55:51):
However, in seventeen forty four, the full impact of this
frightening prediction came true when young Lord Thomas Mansell pulled
down the pillars. Within the year, the family was white
out by his death and that of both of his brothers.
They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:56:09):
Truth is stranger the ship, This is the truth, This
is rily. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:56:21):
The women snake charmers of Pakistan never used musical instruments
to charm the reptiles. They employ only the voice. The
reason for this is that a serpent's whispered advice led
to Eve's downfall in the garden of Eden. They leave
it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you about
the Bridge of Death. One of the weirdest bridges in

(02:56:42):
the world is the Bridge of Death, which is an
arch over the River Ludius near Clytie, Greece. It is
fifty nine feet long and twenty three feet high, and
is all that remains of an ancient Roman bridge that
was looted of all its other stones by the local farmers.
The looting continued until they came to the realization that
all of those who had carried away the stones from

(02:57:02):
the bridge had died within the year. They live it
or not.

Speaker 2 (02:57:11):
Truth is stranger than this is The truth is ripley.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:57:23):
Married men in the Akila tribe in Africa always cut
their meat into small chunks with a knife held between
their toes because before their wedding they were required to
knock out all their own teeth.

Speaker 2 (02:57:35):
They live it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:57:36):
In a moment, I'll tell you about the man who
bit a crocodile. There have been many stories told about
an instance when a man bites a dog. However, I
don't think you will hear many about a man who
bites a crocodile.

Speaker 2 (02:57:50):
When this man named Hannock was seized by a.

Speaker 3 (02:57:52):
Huge crocodile while swimming in the Kufu River in northern Rhodesia,
he decided.

Speaker 2 (02:57:56):
To bite back.

Speaker 3 (02:57:57):
He clamped his teeth on the tip of the reptile's tail,
forcing the crocodile to release.

Speaker 2 (02:58:01):
Him and retreat in the deep water.

Speaker 3 (02:58:03):
Although Hannak himself had been severely bitten, he recovered in
the hospital at Lusaka.

Speaker 2 (02:58:07):
They leave it or not. Truth is stranger than this
ritly believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:58:26):
A bride in the Matacam tribe in Africa always wears
half a pumpkin dyed red as a hat. Then when
she has a baby, the pumpkin is reversed on her
head to serve as the infant's cradle. They leave it
or not. In a moment, I'll tell you about the
Well of Death. The Well of Death, located in the

(02:58:47):
Prison of the Seven Towers in Istanbul, was aptly named.
It has a long and sorrowful history. Literally, thousands of
state prisoners who were beheaded by the order of reigning
sultans found no final resting place here. After their bodies
were dropped into the well, which because of its unusual location,
was bottomless. Once dropped into the well, the bodies were
always washed out to sea. They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (02:59:15):
Truth is stranger than this us rickly believe.

Speaker 3 (02:59:22):
It or not. The Djaya of Singapore, to celebrate each birthday,
hangs another lemon, the symbol of the Hindu god Subrahmanya,
on hooks embedded in his skin.

Speaker 2 (02:59:36):
Yet the wounds never bleed. They leave it or not.

Speaker 3 (02:59:40):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a colonel's strange wound.
Colonel James Gardiner of Scotland received a strange wound in
the Battle of Ramillies on May twenty third, seventeen six.
While shouting commands, he had a bullet passed through his
open mouth without injuring his teeth, his tongue, gums, or palate,
and it virtually did no damage at all. The slug

(03:00:02):
passed out the back of his neck, leaving a hole
that remained open until he died. The colonel died of
other wounds in the Battle of Prestopans thirty nine years later.

Speaker 2 (03:00:11):
They leave it or not, truth, he is strange the
leg This is the proof. This ill really, Believe it
or not.

Speaker 3 (03:00:27):
The first twenty one gun salute to the American flag
was fired in seventeen seventy six by Johannes de Graff,
Governor of the West Indies, whereupon.

Speaker 2 (03:00:38):
He was promptly dismissed for such an unlawful act. Believe
it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:00:43):
In a moment, I'll tell you about the most unusual
home run exhibition ever seen. You know, the greatest number
of home runs ever hit by a professional baseball player
in one hour. The man who set the record was
Babe roof that Wrigley Field, Chicago in nineteen twenty seven.
Babe stood at the plate for an hour while various
pictures tossed him balls to.

Speaker 2 (03:01:04):
Hit over the fence.

Speaker 3 (03:01:05):
When the hour was up, the amazed crowd had watched
the greatest home run exhibition of all time. The total
home runs hit was one hundred and twenty five. They
leave it or not?

Speaker 4 (03:01:17):
Truth is stranger the witch.

Speaker 2 (03:01:24):
This is the truth, Viscus Ripley. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:01:33):
Judge Henry Jadrel of the Criminal Court of Great Yarmouth, England,
after serving twenty one years on the bench, resigned to
avoid having to pronounce his first death sentence. They leave
it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you about
the corpse that stopped a mutiny. Many times superstition and

(03:01:54):
fear changes the course of events in history. When the
citizens of Toulouse rebelled against King Henry the third of
five Grants, they murdered John Durrante, speaker of the local parliament,
and as an act of contempt, propped up his corpse
in front of a portrait of the king he loved
and served. Suddenly, a strange thing happened Dourranti's body slipped
down to his knees in a position of reverence. The rebels,
upon witnessing this, were so unnerved that they abandoned their mutiny.

(03:02:18):
They live it or not.

Speaker 2 (03:02:23):
Truth is stranger, then this is the truth. This here, swiftly,
believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:02:36):
The masks which were worn by ancient Roman actors were
not only for the audience's eyes, they were also for
its ears. They served as voice amplifiers so the actors
could be heard throughout the vast Roman theaters. They live
it or not. In a moment, I'll tell you about
the prophet who could not change his own fate. Faddal

(03:02:56):
ben Shahar was Grand Vizier of Caliph Mamoun and Baghdad,
and it was also a thaned clairvoyant. He even predicted
his own death at the hands of Ali Arita in
his bath. In an attempt to change his fate, he
tried to make friends with his foe. He even persuaded
the Kiliph Mamound to name Ali Rita as his successor,
but his scheme backfired, for when Ali took over, his

(03:03:16):
first official act was to have Fudo assassinated, and it
was in his bath.

Speaker 2 (03:03:21):
They leave it or not. Truth is stranger the fiction.
This is the truth. This is reply Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:03:39):
Thomas Jefferson Chambers of Anoak, Texas was killed by an assassin.
The bullet passed through the victim's chest and lodged in
the identical spot in a portrait of Chambers hanging on
the wall.

Speaker 2 (03:03:50):
They leave it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:03:51):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a man who
married his own wife and didn't know it. Talk about
a man not knowing his wife. Henry Kinnaston, an English outlaw,
divorced a noble woman named Isabelle of Ashton after ten
years of marriage. Then fifteen years later he was married
again to a woman named Marian of Oswestry. It was

(03:04:12):
not until he was on his deathbed thirteen years later
that he learned both Isabelle, his first wife, and Marian,
the woman to whom he was married, was the same woman.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (03:04:29):
Truth is strange in fiction. This is Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:04:41):
If you think you spend a lot of time at
your hairdressers, consider Alongo, Chief in Tanganika, East Africa. His
badge of office is a hairdoo that requires five years
to complete. Believe it or not, In a moment, I'll
tell you about the woman who saw her husband die twice.
Julia Guidner Tyler, wife of former President John Tyler, in

(03:05:04):
a dream on the night of January sixteenth, eighteen sixty two,
saw her husband walking toward her with his collar and
tie in his hands as he cried out, I'm dying, Julia.
The dream prompted her to hurry to her husband, who
was in Richmond, Virginia. She found him in perfect health,
but the very next morning, Tyler came to his wife's
room with his collar and tie in his hands and
cried out, I'm dying, Julia. He died shortly after midnight.

(03:05:26):
They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (03:05:33):
Truth is stranger, This is the truth. This is rickly.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:05:45):
Ad Reika made a shroud for every person who died
in a German community for a period of forty one
years and always appeared at the doomed ones home seventy
two hours before a death. They leave it or not.
In a moment, I'll tell you the strangest crime detection
in all history. The story of Jonas Rushford would challenge

(03:06:06):
the imagination of some of our greatest super sleuths. When
Jonas was a boy of twelve in Bromley, England, he
was hypnotized by Timothy Crawther. While under the hypnotic expel,
he solved the mystery of the disappearance of John Simpson
of Bramley by looking into a mirror. Jonas said he
saw two thugs kill Simpson and conceal his body in
an abandoned coal mine. The police found the victim and

(03:06:27):
captured the killers. They leave it or not?

Speaker 2 (03:06:34):
Truth is stranger that this truth, This is Riley. Believe
it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:06:47):
Peter Paul Rubenz, the famous Flemish painter, was knighted by
King Charles the First of England because he could not
pay Rubens his fifteen thousand dollars fee for painting a ceiling.
They leave it or not. In a moment, I'll tell
you about the strangest treasure hunt in all history. John
Chapman made a trip to London because he had dreamed

(03:07:07):
that the trip would bring him a buried treasure. On
the way, he stopped to ask a stranger for directions.
When he confided his dream, the stranger scoffed at his story, remarking,
if I believed in dreams. I'd be on my way
to Swapham because I dreamed there's a treasure buried there
in the garden of a man named Chapman. Upon hearing this,
Chapman hurried home and found two treasure crocks buried there

(03:07:27):
right in his own garden. They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (03:07:36):
Truth is stranger the ship this riples, believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:07:48):
In the year sixteen sixty nine, the entire village of Brunswick, England,
slipped into the sea, yet not a single inhabitant was drowned.
All the residents were attending a funeral in a neighboring
village at the time.

Speaker 2 (03:07:59):
They or not.

Speaker 3 (03:08:01):
In a moment, I'll tell you about the foundling who
floated ashore. Many strange tales are told of the sea,
but one of the most unusual is the foundling who
floated ashore.

Speaker 2 (03:08:12):
From a foundered ship.

Speaker 3 (03:08:13):
The infant was discovered in a box on a crude
raft as it was washed onto the beach at Provincetown, Massachusetts.
He was the only survivor of a ship that sank
in a storm. The child was adopted and given the
name George Soper. He never learned his true name, the
nationality of his parents, or even the name of the ship.

Speaker 2 (03:08:29):
Believe it or not, Truth is stranger. This is the truth.
This is riple Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:08:48):
Jane Garron of Brothwell, England, was warned in childhood she
would die on her birthday, so she spent each anniversary
of her birth in bed, where she died on her
one hundredth birthday. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about the War Council that was ruled
by an empty chair. General Eumenus, secretary to Alexander the Great,

(03:09:11):
dominated the other generals after Alexander's death by convincing them
that the monarch had appeared in a dream and ordered
the council to hold all future meetings in the presence
of Alexander's throne, crown, and scepter. Eumenus was obeyed a
spokesman for the royal ghost until he himself was slain.
The War Council was ruled for eight years by an

(03:09:31):
empty chair. They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (03:09:39):
Truth is stranger than this is the truth us ripley
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:09:51):
Cornelius White of Pembroke, Massachusetts, was the perfect host during
one of his parties.

Speaker 2 (03:09:56):
He rode on.

Speaker 3 (03:09:57):
Horseback to Boston and back seventy five miles.

Speaker 2 (03:09:59):
In six hours to buy a bag of lemons for punch.
Belave it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:10:04):
In a moment, I'll tell you about the man who
officiated at his own wedding. Richard Bellingham was governor of
Massachusetts Bay Colony. In the year sixteen forty one, he
married Penelope Pillham. The thing which made the ceremony more
than a little unusual was that he performed the marriage
ceremony himself. Naturally, his act was a violation of the law. However,

(03:10:27):
he could not be brought to trial. The reason for
this was he was also chief justice of the community
and would preside over his own trial.

Speaker 2 (03:10:35):
They leave it or not, truth is stranger that he
could share this truth. This is ripleous, Believe.

Speaker 3 (03:10:48):
It or not. If all the diamonds in the world
mind from the beginning of the industry could be fused
into a single they would form only a seven and
one half foot cube.

Speaker 2 (03:11:03):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:11:05):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a temple that's
a huge lollipop. The Sanctuary of Kutra Madrigang in the
state of Potabgar Rushputan, India, was erected over a gushing spring.
The water is so richly saturated with sugar that it's
possible to distill thick molasses from it by boiling the

(03:11:25):
sacrain spring overflows at regular intervals and drenches the temple
with a sugary flood.

Speaker 2 (03:11:30):
As a result, the edifice is always.

Speaker 3 (03:11:32):
Thickly encrusted with sugar, and the walls of the temple
are eagerly licked by sweet starved children.

Speaker 2 (03:11:37):
Believe it or not, truth is stranger in fiction, and
this is the truth. This is ridleys, Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:11:56):
Bradgate House in England was burned by Anne Gray in
an unsuccess full attempt to force her husband to move
back to London. It has been preserved as a roin
for two hundred and sixty eight years, as an object
lesson to all wives they leave.

Speaker 2 (03:12:09):
It or not.

Speaker 3 (03:12:10):
In a moment, I'll tell you about the man who
tempted fate. The hand of fate is a fickle one.
It can be kind to some and extremely cruel to others.
And if Thomas Rodgers was at all superstitious, he certainly
would not have tempted fate by staying in the mining business.
Rogers was a lead miner of Yarnbury, England. On December sixteenth,

(03:12:30):
eighteen fifty two, he was killed by a rock fall.
It was the same type of accident in the same
mind that had taken the lives of his father, his
grandfather and his great grandfather. They leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (03:12:45):
Truth is stranger, This is the truth. This is ripley.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:12:57):
The Saint james Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland was leased
by a merchant in seventeen fifty nine for nine thousand years.
His successors are still operating it with more than eight thousand,
seven hundred years to go.

Speaker 2 (03:13:09):
They leave it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:13:10):
In a moment, I'll tell you about the House of
Unhappy Marriages. The subject of husbands and wives quarreling has
long been a topic for stories and jokes, particularly when
the little woman decides she's had it and goes home
to mother to seek understanding. However, in Asam, India, the
situation is a little different. They have a house of

(03:13:31):
unhappy marriages. It's a hut constructed forty feet in the
air in which the quarreling couples must live together for
a full week without even seeing they're in laws. They
leave it or not.

Speaker 2 (03:13:47):
Truth is stranger than fiction. This is the truth. This
is riple Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:14:00):
The hairdoo of a Zulu bride is literally a honey
moon coiffure. It's plaster with honey and she's forbidden to
undo it for six months. When she lets her hair down,
the honeymoon is over. They leave it or not. In
a moment, I'll tell you about the scorn of a
very angry woman. One of the best examples of deep

(03:14:20):
scorn by a woman was exhibited by Giles, Countess of Denoil, Ireland,
after seeing her husband hang by Cromwell's troops. She was
told she could retain her possessions only by marrying one
of the English officers. To show her contempt for all
of them, she walked along a line of officers whose
backs were turned to her. She then selected one of
the officers without even seeing his face. They leave it

(03:14:43):
or not.

Speaker 2 (03:14:48):
Truth is strange in fiction, and this is the proof.
This is Ripley's Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:15:00):
Captain Henry Stout, wounded by Comanche Indians near the Trinity
River in Texas, rode with an iron tipped arrow in
his thigh to fort tossin a distance of one hundred
and eighty miles. Believe it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about the most elaborate funeral in all history.
The peoples of the earth have found many ways to

(03:15:22):
pay a last tribute to their honored heroes when they die,
but probably the most elaborate funeral in all history was
when the body of Alexander the Great was carried from
Babylon to Alexandria in a duel studded hearse drawn by
sixty four horses over a road hacked through a wilderness
for a distance of one thousand miles. The funeral cost
a total of six hundred million dollars. Believe it or not,

(03:15:47):
truth is stranger than fiction.

Speaker 2 (03:15:54):
This is the truth. This is riples. Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:16:00):
A silver tea strainer in the Delaware Historical Society Museum
was hammered from the first silver dollar that was earned
by Benjamin Franklin. They leave it or not. In a moment,
I'll tell you about the woman who was so jaded
that she invited herself to her husband's execution. The wife

(03:16:24):
of the eleventh Earl of Shrewsbury was one of the
most faithless women in history. She ran away with the
Duke of Buckingham, so the Earl challenged his rival to
a duel. The wrong Earl died of wounds inflicted by
the Duke in the fight, unaware that his faithless wife
had been so eager to witness his death that she
dressed in the costume of a page boy and held
the Duke's horse while he killed her husband. They leave

(03:16:47):
it or not.

Speaker 2 (03:16:53):
Truth is stranger the fiction. This truth, this is riles.
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:17:05):
The goblet used by the Sultan of Fumban and Equatorial
Africa was made from a gruesome substance. Indeed, for some
strange reason, he had it made from the skull of
his bitterest enemy.

Speaker 2 (03:17:16):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (03:17:18):
In a moment, I'll tell you about a man who
believed it was never too late to learn. Bishop Richard
Cumberland of Peterborough, England, learned a new language in the
year seventeen sixteen, when he was eighty five years old.
The printer had given him an advanced copy of the
New Testament, which was translated into Coptic, a late form

(03:17:38):
of ancient Egyptian in order to read the new edition.
Bishop Cumberland mastered Coptic within a year. He never regretted
this great mental effort, although he died two years after
his crowning achievement.

Speaker 2 (03:17:49):
Believe it or not, truth is stranger than fiction. This
ripley believe it or not?

Speaker 3 (03:18:07):
Edward, Prince of Wales, the Black Prince, captured King John
of France in the Battle of Portier and entertained him
and his aides at supper, personally serving the entire meal
to his prisoners. They leave it or not In a moment,
I'll tell you about the man who turned down a
gold mine.

Speaker 2 (03:18:27):
The moral to the story of Albert.

Speaker 3 (03:18:29):
Eugene Carlton of Cripple Creek, Colorado is that a man
should never give up hope, no matter how dark his
future looks. When Carlton was twenty five years of age,
he was offered the Independence gold Mine for five hundred dollars.
He refused to buy the mine because he thought he had.

Speaker 2 (03:18:43):
Only six months to live.

Speaker 3 (03:18:45):
Carlton lived to be sixty five, and the gold mine
was sold to a British syndicate for eleven million dollars.
They leave it or not.

Speaker 1 (03:18:59):
That was the final part of Ripley's Believe it or Not,
we will have more different shows for next week. Air
Checks is a three hour podcast uploaded every Saturday and
can be heard on the k TI Radio network every Sunday.
See you on the same time and same channel.