# Ripley's believe it or not. Believe it, or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2000, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388 "2000-08-30T19:05:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tzel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzel)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/1 "2000-08-30T19:05:13Z")
I was certain this must have been asked before, but a search of the forums and columns turned up nothing. Should I believe Ripley’s believe it or not? Some of the tales seem pretty far fetched. (people with lobster hands, anyone?) ---
**Author:** ![dietrologia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@dietrologia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dietrologia)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/2 "2000-08-30T19:08:05Z")
Hey, I’m skeptical as well. No documentation, no footnotes, no cites… very sketchy… ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/3 "2000-08-30T19:08:14Z")
Not. Tris ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/4 "2000-08-30T19:36:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tzel \* > \*\* (people with lobster hands, anyone?) \*\* I’m not going to swear to the authenticity of the lobster hands deal, but I’ll tell you one thing: it took ME 20 minutes to type this ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/5 "2000-08-30T19:37:01Z")
If you’re referring to the comic strip they don’t have a lot of details and often confuse the context like the so-called lobster claws. No, there isn’t anyone whose hands have a hard exoskeleton but there is a genetic condition that results in hands and feet with two digits. Former San Diego newswoman Bree Walker has this condition, often unnoticed even though she usually had her hands on top of her desk. [http://www.kobsd.com/bree.htm](http://www.kobsd.com/bree.htm) has a real video clip of Bree. ---
**Author:** ![TampaFlyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@TampaFlyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TampaFlyer)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/6 "2000-08-30T19:37:58Z")
Don’t you guys know the story of Robert Ripley? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/7 "2000-08-30T20:32:07Z")
Robert Ripley is the great-grandfather of what I call “Internet lists.” You know, those trivia factoids that come out of nowhere. They are similarly accurate. There was a very (in)famous case of murder involving Grady Stiles, a former sideshow performer (he might have actually been called the “Lobster Man”) with “lobster hands.” It’s a genetic condition, and all of his children are affected in varying degrees. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/8 "2000-08-30T21:15:16Z")
Behold, a picture of [Grady “Lobster Boy” Stiles](http://www.queenofcyberspace.com/freaks.htm). As for the accuracy of Ripley: an article I read recently (I’ll look it up if you want) said that Ripley took great pride in his accuracy and challenged readers to prove any of his stories wrong. In truth, about a dozen, maybe 20 of his “Believe It, Or Not!” stories proved false every year. Not bad, but not perfect either. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/9 "2000-08-31T21:51:58Z")
Well, there was the story about the tree that was “found growing naturally in the swamp that said “Ripley”.” Turns out it was a cultivated tree, specifically grown to say Ripley, not found naturally in a swamp. Of course one anecdote doesn’t answer one way or the other… ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/10 "2000-08-31T22:54:52Z")
I met a deaf guy who was in that book. So, yes, the stories are most likely true. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/11 "2000-09-01T00:48:11Z")
Well, they DID do the story of Phineas Gage, the guy who lived after he had an explosion had forced a tamping iron through his skull. And THAT was a true story, albeit a sad one. ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/12 "2000-09-01T14:33:53Z")
I don’t think he ever purposely put a false factoid in, but some of them just turned out that way. The one I remember is the claim that you could see stars during the daytime if you were in a deep enough hole. Actually he was pretty clever to name it “Believe it or Not.” That’s what let him off the hook when a story did turn out to be false. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/13 "2000-09-01T14:40:28Z")
What can I say? He chose the perfect title. ALWAYS take Ripley with a grain of salt. I loved the strip, and collected a lot of the paperback collections, and visited the “Odditoriums” in Chicago’s Old Town, Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, near St. Augustine in Florida, and the defunct one that was in Atlantic City, N.J. (and probably a few others). An awful lot of the things he chronicled were true, but I’ve encountered enough errors to make me wary.(The Gravestone that says “Lester Moore Four Slugs from a 44 No Les No Moore” That one’s been debunked on the Web.) Also, ripley often just made up the pictures, without any supporting pix or documentation. This becomes really obvious when he does multiple cartoons of the same item, and they end up looking different. (Such as the “Byeding Time” grave.) ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/14 "2000-09-01T17:24:44Z")
I used to think Ripley was the shit until I read in one of his earlier books that “if you picked up a guinea pig by its tail, its eyes will fall out”. At the time I had regular exposure to a guinea pig in elementary school and I knew quite well that guinea pigs damn well didn’t have tails. So thereafter I took Ripley _cum grano salis_. Shouldn’t this be located in IMHO, however? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/15 "2000-09-01T17:44:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > **An awful lot of the things he chronicled were true, but I’ve encountered enough errors to make me wary.(The Gravestone that says “Lester Moore Four Slugs from a 44 No Les No Moore” That one’s been debunked on the Web.)** Can you give me a link? I’ve been to Boot Hill in Tombstone, AZ, and I’m pretty durn sure there’s even a picture in a photo album at my parents’ house of that tombstone (although, IIRC, most of the “tombstones” there at present are wooden replicas, so if some of them are the product of “creative liberties”, I wouldn’t be too surprised…). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/16 "2000-09-01T18:03:55Z")
Max Torque: Great! Now that I look I can’t find the piece about the supposed gravestone of “Lester Moore”. I thought it was on Snopes, but it’s not, and a quick search doesn’t find it anywhere else. It might be in one of my Joe Nickell books at home. Part of the reason for doubting the stone – asde from the fact that the existing “stone” is a wooden replica, and that the name is too damned convenient – is that a true “period” stone would say “four BALLS from a 44”, not the 20th century “four SLUGS from a 44”. I’ll see what I can find when I get home. ---
**Author:** ![BullDawg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@BullDawg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BullDawg)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/17 "2000-09-01T18:08:14Z")
My Grandfather was in it because he could blow 200 smoke rings out of his nose with one drag off a cigartette. Yeah, I know, not as good as “lobster hands”, and possibly not even deserving of Ripley’s. Yet it was in there and I know he could do it. I sure do miss him. Oh yeah, he also had to bend down to go through doors because he was quite a tall man. But that has nothing to do with Ripley’s. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/18 "2000-09-01T19:03:51Z")
A quick web search shows that Lester Moore is alleged to have been buried in the Boot Hill Cemetary in Tombstone AZ, in the far-flung southeast of that state. That should be easy to prove or debunk. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripleys-believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not/31388/19 "2000-09-01T21:07:46Z")
I once read a book about how Ripley drew his cartoons: He often simply traced a simple outline off a photograph of the person in question and then filled in the details. He did make honest efforts to verify the things he published, but, because of deadline pressures, a few hoaxes did slip in under his radar. Robert L. Ripley was quite possibly the most famous man of his time. One year (1932, I think), he received more pieces of mail than any other American, including the President. Some of his mail was addressed simply, “Ripley” Other pieces had complex puzzles and anagrams that drove postal workers nuts trying to decipher them. One envelope had nothing more than rippling ("Ripley) lines on it. This got to be such a huge problem, Congress was moved to pass a law that mail must be clearly and simply addressed in English or it was not the Post Office’s fault if it wasn’t delivered. Besides the cartoons, he also made short subject films for theaters and clips from these are shown on the new TBS series with Dean Cain as host. He visited more than 180 countries, at a time when the fastest aircraft took nearly a day just to cross the Pacific. His collection of bizarre objects could’ve stocked several good-sized museums. If some of his cartoons weren’t exactly true, well, nobody’s perfect!