UNBELIEVABLE SINCE 1918!

The foundation of our museum exhibit collection was set by Robert L. Ripley (1890–1949), a cartoonist, explorer, reporter, adventurer, and collector, who traveled to 201 countries in 35 years seeking the odd, the unusual, and the unexplained.

“I have traveled in 201 countries and the strangest thing I saw was man”
Robert L. Ripley

He was nicknamed “The Modern Marco Polo”, and in his endless search for unbelievable stories to draw in his immensely popular newspaper cartoon feature, he acquired hundreds of exotic artifacts from around the world.




Today there are 32 Ripley’s Believe It or Not! attractions in ten countries, dozens of Ripley books, a huge internet web presence, and hundreds of television videos in the company’s archive vaults. 

“BIONs” – short for Believe It or Not – is the word we use at Ripley’s to refer to anything that is unbelievable and worthy to become part of Ripley’s lore and collection.