Robert Leroy Ripley, the man who coined the phrase “Believe It or Not!” is an icon in the world of cartoon art and the founder of an entertainment empire based on the premise that “truth is stranger than fiction”.
The details of Robert Ripley’s early life are somewhat sketchy and shaded with controversy but at the tender age of 12, his English teacher first recognised his artistic talents.
On January 2, 1913 Ripley’s first illustration for The New York Globe and Commercial Advertiser was published. He put together a series of small sketches entitled “Champs and Chumps” which included sketches such as "A. Forrester of Toronto ran 100 yards backwards in 14 seconds,” and “S.D.See hopped 100 yards in 11 seconds”. Disappointed with his work, Ripley scratched out the original title and inserted “Believe It or Not!” across the top. To his amazement, the cartoon was hailed by the public as revolutionary. They wanted more of the same and Ripley became an overnight sensation.
Ripley was considered an eccentric character with a varied style of clothing. He was thin on top and had beaver-like protruding teeth. He was also terrified of using the telephone, fearing it would electrocute him and owned more than 100 cars even though he never learnt to drive. Ripley was the most unlikely celebrity.
Henceforth, his life was dedicated to travel which was both an obsession and a means of increasing his fame. He reported and experienced unbelievable things in exotic locales the majority of his readers would never get to travel to, and he would expand his daily cartoon subject matter from sports oddities to Believe it or Nots!. 
Upon his return to New York in 1923, The New York Globe newspaper which employed him, folded. Ripley was soon approached to produce a Believe It or Not! book. More than 500,000 copies were sold and in the eighteen months following publication of the first Believe It or Not! book, Ripley made more than $1 million. He was the first cartoonist to become a millionaire and, in 1936, was voted the most popular man in America by newspaper readers across the country.
Robert Ripley displayed his collection of objects from all over the world to the public for the first time at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933 - it attracted nearly 2 million visitors.
The 1930s and 1940s were the Golden Age of Ripley. People flocked to concert halls and theatres to hear his lectures and see his films. In 1948, he created a television pilot based on one of his radio shows. The pilot was such a success it became the basis for one of the very first weekly television series.
In 1949, Ripley had a heart attack and sadly died just three days later. He was 55.
However, his legacy lives on in the form of a collection of global attractions. Ripley's Believe It or Not!® is the largest, fastest growing and most successful chain of amusement museum-type attractions in the world! There are now 30 Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditoriums in operation with more opening every year. The unique attractions feature exhibits that one must see to believe - exhibits that are so bizarre, so odd, so strange, that even the most worldly and knowledgeable guests will be awestruck!
Each attraction appeals to man's basic curiosity and desire to know more about this world. They challenge and tease the guest to wonder if something so totally strange could really be true. Guests will find authentic, original and unbelievable exhibits in each of the Odditoriums. While many other popular attractions are forced to display reproductions and simulations, Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditoriums show real, original, true items, many of which were collected by Robert Ripley himself during his worldwide travels in the 1920s and 1930s. In each of the Odditoriums, Ripley's extensive collection of artifacts is showcased in dramatically-themed galleries.
