ORLANDO'S ONLY ODDITORIUM
Open 365 days a year from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.
(Last Admission Sold at Midnight!) A trip through our odditorium is a self-guided experience
which can last as long as you wish, although the average visit time is one to two hours.
For over forty years the adventurous Robert Ripley explored the uncanny and amazing mysteries of the earth. His travels took him around the world in search of the unbelievable and inexplicable. First published in 1929, Robert Ripley's works were read worldwide in over 300 newspapers, translated into 17 languages and held a readership of over 80 million. Each of the 27 museums worldwide are 90% unique from the others. Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museums are proud to offer you this fantastic collection of the world's strangest oddities!
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Modeled after one of Van Goghs most famous paintings,
"Self Portrait In Front Of Easel, 1888," this gigantic portrait entitled Study For Portrait of Van Gogh
was created by Cornel Biereng of Amsterdam from 3,000 postcards depicting 115 different Van Gogh paintings
and drawings! Commissioned by the Netherlands Bureau of Tourism to celebrate the 100th anniversary of
Van Goghs death in 1990, the 26 ft. tall by 20 ft. wide mural toured several cities throughout the world,
including Paris, Berlin, Chicago and Toronto, as part of an extensive exhibition of Van Goghs paintings
before being acquired by Ripleys in 1992.
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Ripley holding a Shrunken Head during one of his many radio
broadcasts.
Ripley's stories of the odd and unusual entered millions of living rooms across
America via radio. Amongst the rarest curiosities in the Ripley collection of unbelievable artifacts
were shrunken heads from Ecuador, South America. Believe It or Not!, a shrunken head was once sent
to Ripley with the following note: "Please take good care of this. I think it is one of my relatives!"
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The practice of shrinking heads was once common amongst the Jivaro Indians of Ecuador.
It was a ritual that had been handed down through generations. The heads of slain warriors were valued
as trophies or symbols of bravery. When a fighter killed his enemy, the victim's head was removed.
The skin was then peeled away from the skull and hot stones and sand were poured into the cavity.
The head was sewn shut and boiled in herbs until it had shrunk to the size of a fist.
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Matchstick 'Silver Ghost' Rolls Royce.
This 1907 Silver Ghost Rolls Royce was made by Reg Pollard of Manchester, England
from 63 pints of glue and 1,016,711 ordinary matchsticks! This 13 feet authentically
detailed 3/4 scale model, complete with moving engine parts, wheels that turn, and
lights that work took Mr. Pollard 4,609 man-hours, spread over fifteen months, to
build! Suffering from acute arthritis, Mr. Pollard made over 550 matchstick models
during his lifetime. Believe It or Not! |