Robert Ripley

Robert Ripley’s life was an unbelievable adventure. For over 40 years, he explored the uncanny and witnessed the amazing. Ripley was called “The Modern Marco Polo.” During his career he visited 198 countries, traveling a distance equal to 18 complete trips around the world! Wherever he went, he searched for the odd and the unusual.

As a newspaper sports cartoonist, Ripley created his first collection of odd facts in 1918. His early “Believe It or Not!” Cartoons were first published in book form in 1929 and were an instant best seller. Soon after this, Robert Ripley signed as a syndicated cartoonist with king features, part of the Hearst Newspaper empire, and a legend was born.

In his quest, Ripley felt most at home in China and became fascinated by its customs and culture. His travels took him to North Africa and Morocco, to New Zealand, Tibet, New Guinea and Russia. On One trip, he crossed over 24,000 miles in his search for the unbelievable. The journey included 15,000 miles by air, 8.000 by ship and over 1,000 miles by camel, donkey and horse.