Ripley Radio

In an enlightening interview, Ripley Radio listeners learn this week how to repel the harmful curses of the fairy kingdom, when we talk with the insightful Clint Marsh about the new insightful book, “Goblinproofing One’s Chicken Coop.” Chad Lewis drops by and tells us that much of what we know about Ma Barker, the legendary gang leader of the 1930s is myth. Also on the November 4 episode of Ripley Radio, the official radio program of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, we address the end of the world, as we know it. Author Laura Barcella joins us to discuss how pop culture has addressed 50 different apocalyptic visions. We also hear of a book written with disappearing ink and Mary Hayes from Cassadaga, Fla., the psychic capital of the world, explains how she channels and a little about the spirits on the other side who help her. When My Train Pulls In, by newcomer Gary Clark Jr., is our musical egress this week. ”

It’s Halloween week and we’ve gone a little crazy here at Ripley Radio, the official radio program of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Spooky and weird, but true, that’s what we’re all about. To really get us in the haunting mood, we visit with Patrick Konopelski, owner of Shocktoberfest, the Sinking Spring, Pa.’s popular haunted adventure that this year is offering a “Naked and Scared Challenge.” He’ll tell us how he got the idea and how much grief he is getting from local authorities. We also hear from TAP’s Ghost Hunter star Amy Bruni as she visits with Ralf while in St. Augustine Fla., in search of the paranormal. Additional Weird, Wild and Wacky Stories on the October 21 Halloween Episode includes: We return to Barry Anderson’s Ghoul School this week and learn that the mad professor’s passion for the macabre often turns into a way of helping criminal investigation authorities teach their own and solve crimes; Scott and Sprout, representing Florida’s Peace River Ghost Tracker group are in the studio with us to talk about their adventures; journalist Penny Musco set out to find America’s most haunted cities, and she’s hear to report her findings; and Ralf and Angela report on some fun facts about Halloween and how the bonfire and the Jack Lantern got their names. We have a lot of fun this week with creepy and silly music and we just had to end the show with a Halloween classic. Bobby Boris Picket provides our musical egress this week with the original, and still the best version ever of “Monster Mash.”

In celebration of Freaky October, we return to Ghoul School this week and welcome back its tenured professor, Barry Anderson. Bram Stoker Award horror writer and cemetery caretaker Owl Goingback joins us and talks about the horror genre of writing and about his haunting experiences at Central Florida’s spookiest resting place. We also talk with Mick Gooch of the United Kingdom who explains how he has set several world records by performing one finger pushups – most recently - on top of a nail! Believe It or Not! Additional Weird, Wild and Wacky Stories on the October 14 Halloween Episode of Ripley Radio, the official radio show of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, includes: Rick Davis, director and co-founder of the Darkride and Funhouse Enthusiasts group requests the help of all Halloween lovers to help the initiative to have Congress create a National Haunted House Day; In her Weird Medical Malady segment, Jodi Pliszka introduces us to a young woman who can’t gain, or maintain her weight, no matter how much she eats; and Angela reports on the October happenings at Ripley’s Haunted Adventures attractions around the world. Our musical egress this week is the haunting Who Can it Be Now? by the Australian group, Men Down Under.

It’s October and that means a month made for Ripley’s! This week we broadcast from Orlando’s Ghoul School and kick the month off right - sitting amongst some of the creepiest creations a human can make. Ghoul School proprietor and horror make-up artist Barry Anderson and horror film writer and director Steven Shea are our in-studio guests and they tell us why people love horror and what is so intriguing about the horror genre. Additional Weird, Wild and Wacky Stories on the October 7 Episode of Ripley Radio, the official radio show of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, includes: we hear from a San Francisco photographer who specializes in capturing frames of artistic fire while risking damage to himself as well as his camera equipment; manager of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in St. Augustine, Fla., Kim Kiff explains how she uses a live, two-headed turtle to help teach school kids about the badness of bullying; and a man who has been honored by four presidents for his part in helping clean up inland rivers talks about the amazing collection of weird stuff he has found along the banks of those rivers – including dead bodies, bowling balls and voodoo dolls. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins provides this week’s musical egress with his classic, I Put a Spell on You!

TWe salute the seductive sirens of the sea this week on Ripley Radio, the official broadcast program of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! We ask the question, are they real? Although she hasn’t seen one, Varla Ventura believes there are live mermaids in the vast depths of the seas. We talk with her about her new book, “Among the Mermaids,” in which she presents a wide array of stories, myths, and legends. Stayce McConnell, a “live” mermaid who has performed at Florida’s Weeki Wachee State Park for 14 years, stops by and tells us how cool it really is to be a working mermaid every day of your life. Additional Weird, Wild and Wacky Stories on the September 30 Episode of Ripley Radio includes: Jessica Mula of Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, SC, tells us about the live mermaid shows at her aquarium as well as Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, in Gatlinburg, Tenn.; Angela reports on a new Nike store in Japan that was built from the ground up with up-cycled garbage; Florida TV personality Scott Fais joins us in the studio to tell us about his mermaid experiences; and we kick off a new segment, The Weekly Wheel of the Weird, in which we pick a random location each week and search for its weirdness. This week, a little town in Wisconsin was selected and we found living there Don Gorski, who has eaten more than 26,000 McDonald’s Big Mac sandwiches during his life and at age 60, he continues to eat at least two a day. In keeping with this week’s theme, Train gives us our musical egress with “Mermaid.”

Been to the Devil’s Rope Museum lately? Or have you seen the huge Blue Whale? This week on Ripley Radio, the official broadcast program of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, Chad Lewis takes us on a funky road trip that the entire family will recollect forever. Also, we hear about a few of the new phobias found within our modern day culture. How about Nomophobia, the fear of losing one’s mobile phone. Additional Weird, Wild and Wacky Stories on the September 23 Episode of Ripley Radio includes: Cops in Seattle handed out Doritos to the stoners at the recent Hempfest in that city and the spokesman for the police department joins us to explain why it was a successful way to communicate the new marijuana law; In her segment, Weird Medical Maladies, Jodi Pliszka talks about a young woman who sees everything upside down and how she has coped with it since birth; Orlando and Tampa TV personality Scott Fais visits our studios this week and takes us on a few of his favorite road trips in Florida; and co-host Ralf (with an f), demonstrates just how hard it is to create a story for Ripley Radio, as he tries to track down a person who can talk about the wild animal that’s loose in Detroit. Bruno Mars provides this week’s musical egress with his current hit, “Treasure.”

The fall is a great time to take a family road trip and visit a bunch of weird and wacky festivals, fairs or events. This week on Ripley Radio, the official broadcast program of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, Chad Lewis visits three such festivals, all set for late September. He visits a Bugfest, Mayberry Days, and a Road Kill Cook-off. Meanwhile, we hear from a popular saloon in the Great Northwest Territory of Canada, that someone swallowed the revered sour toe, which was supposed to remain in the glass after that shot of Yukon Jack was gone. Additional Weird, Crazy, Bizarre and Strange Stories on the September 16 Episode of Ripley Radio includes: Ripley’s own Solutionologist, Jodi Pliszka, explains the weird medical malady in which a young girl cries tears of blood, at least twice a day; we hear of a tipper gone wild in Utah who leaves tips that equal 2,000% of the restaurant and bar tab; and Florida TV personality Scott Fais relates a couple fun stories of weird road trips he took within Florida – all in the name of entertaining viewers. AVICII provides the musical egress this week with his hit, “Wake Me Up.”

This week on Ripley Radio, the official radio program of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, we celebrate our fourth year anniversary of broadcasting. We begin our fifth weird and wacky year hearing from Don Donderi, a scientist who believes in the research that crews from UFOs landed on Earth and abducted humans and released them after who knows what took place. We also take a very humorous look at the worst song titles ever created. How about the country ditty entitled, “She Flushed me from the Bathroom of Her Heart?” Additional Weird, Crazy, Bizarre and Strange Stories on the September 9 Episode of Ripley Radio includes: Chad Lewis visits and tells us of his latest adventure – an expedition to find Peppy, the Lake Monster; Historian James Taylor explains what a pickled punk is and why they were such a popular exhibit on carnival midways as well as legitimate museums. They were also called Monster Baby shows, he explains; Florida TV personality Scott Fais joins us and shares some of his personal experiences tracking the weird through questionably the weirdest state of them all, Florida; and Ripley archivist Edward Meyer announces the outcome of the latest Ripley contest, in which he received all sorts of things in the mail, without any type of packaging. His treasures range from a bowling ball to a full size painted mailbox to a toaster to a pink birdcage inhabited by a neon green flamingo. The first country music super group, which includes Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell, provide us with our musical egress this week, a song that made both the Worst Song Title of All Times list, as well as the Billboard charts in 2004, “It’s Hard to Kiss the Lips at Night that Chew Your Ass Out all Day Long.”

Disneyphile Chad Emerson has compiled a book of essays from Disney aficionados around the world to celebrate the four decades of Florida’s Walt Disney World. This week on Ripley Radio, the official radio program of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, Chad shares with us some of the more unusual and amazing and unbelievable stories from his book. Additional Weird, Wacky and Wonderful Items Discussed on the September 2 episode of Ripley Radio: Intern Abby reports on a Knife Throwing Breast Surgeon; Author Dan Schlossberg covers some of the strange things we’re likely to experience during the Major League Baseball Season; Huffington Post’s Buck Wolf reveals what a lot of families are doing with the ashes of their dearly departed; We hear strange stories from Ripley’s Believe It or Not! book on Baseball Oddities; Edward Meyer tells us that fruitcakes play an important part in British family customs. B. Bumble and the Stingers provide our musical egress this week with “Baby Mash.”

Jody Pliszka visits us this week on Ripley Radio, the official radio program of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, and explains what the Chinese Year of the Rabbit means to all of us and what we should expect if we were born under one of the five signs of the rabbit.Additional random amazements discussed this week on the August 26 Edition of Ripley Radio: Well-known TV writer and author David Bickell has an unusual and somewhat kooky book and website called Creepiosity. He talks with us about what he finds really creepy in this already strange world; Sideshow veteran and entrepreneur Ward Hall explains why he feels that freaks are still a viable entertainment option on today’s carnival midway; We meet Father John, the Carny Priest who travels across America tending to his flock of itinerant circus and carnival people; Intern Kyle introduces us to a man who has run 365 full marathons in 365 days; Ripley’s archivist Edward Meyer explains how the marathon got its name and describes the amazing collection of Olympic torches in the Ripley collection. Our musical egress this week is Pat Porter’s “Blues for Father John.”

“Bats Sing, Mice Giggle” is the name of the new book by Dr. Karen Shanor, a researcher who reveals some amazing and surprising facts about the way animals communicate. This week on Ripley Radio, the official radio program of Ripley's Believe It or Not!, Dr. Shanor shares some amazing research that is totally unbelievable. Additional random amazements discussed during the August 19 Episode of Ripley Radio: UFO Phil, perhaps one of the most unusual and fun guests ever on Ripley Radio unveils his plan to build a huge pyramid on the top of Pike’s Peak in Colorado so the aliens will have a place to land. He also sings for us and very secretively lists ways for us to tell the good aliens from the bad; Intern Abby provides a tale of a dog being elected as the mayor of a small Kentucky town; We hear about parrots that are trained to prevent crime; and we learn that Ripley’s has an amazing collection of weird, strange (and stuffed) animals in its vast archives. The Twelve Girls Band provides the musical egress this week with “Carnival.”

TGail Rubin’s slightly irreverent but quite practical look at death and funerals led her to be a part of this year’s Frozen Dead Guy Festival where she unveiled her new game, the NewlyDead Game. This week on Ripley Radio – An On-Demand Oddcast, the official radio station of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, she talks with us about how to plan for your own funeral in a fun way.Other Unbelievable items discussed on the August 12 edition of Ripley Radio: Ripley’s favorite witch, Judika Illes talks about the recent edict from the Catholic Church about witches; Intern Kyle examines the Doomsday Seed Bank in Norway; Tim visits with sideshow legend 83-year old Ward Hall (seen at right in this amazing photo taken by Norman Blake) who talks about the importance of the sideshow talker, or the Bally, in any midway show; We find out what happened to the 100,000 t-shirts that were printed listing the wrong Super Bowl Champion (sorry Pittsburgh); We learn about the extensive collection of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! death-oriented exhibits, including Fantasy Coffins, the gallows from Chicago’s Cook County Jail, and the gas chamber chair from San Quentin Prison; and we are told that Robert Ripley’s last word spoken was AMEN, just before he collapsed on live television during a show on funeral customs. He died two days later. Our musical egress this week is the summer-time sound of Link Wray with his surf classic XKE Fender Benders.

There are still mysteries and controversy surrounding what many feel is the day the music died, Feb.3, 1959, when Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Richie Valens died in a plane crash. This week on the official radio station for Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, we talk with Gary Moore, author of the book “Hey Buddy” and he unveils what has not been told to us through the years. Additional random amazements discussed on the Aug. 5 Episode of Ripley Radio, the official radio program of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! include: We visit with a security guard in Nashville and hear about his Elvis sighting; Chris Epting explains what happened to the pyramid that traveled with rocker Todd Rundgren during the 1970s and in who’s backyard it is now standing; Edward Meyer, Ripley’s archivist tells us about a very large chunk of Elvis’s hair in the archives; Intern Abby unveils a very odd map of the US in which each state is identified by its biggest fault; Tim talks with the quirky CBS News correspondent Bill Geist as they walked through the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! odditorium in Orlando; and Ralf is impressed with the fact that a president of a country had a rap song recently on the charts.

Weird Animal Month continues on Ripley Radio, the official radio program of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, this week as Jack Kassewitz, the world-famous modern day Dr. Doolittle, explains the value behind being able to talk with animals and we hear of a very strange Kangaroo round-up in Florida. Additional Weird, Crazy, Bizarre and Strange Stories on the July 29 Episode of Ripley Radio includes: James Taylor reports on the famous Hubert’s Museum on Times Square in New York City, a hotspot of variety entertainment during the first half of the 20th century; Chad Lewis returns and tells us we should start getting in physical shape for two very off-beat festivals this fall – the Outhouse Races in Kentucky and the Coffin Races in Colorado; Ripley archivist Edward Meyer talks about the success of Ripley’s acquisition summer road show – The Bizarre Buying Bazaar; and TV personality and comedian Mitch English wraps up his month-long run with us by sharing more of his off-beat sense of humor. Ronnie Spector, former lead singer of the 60s group, The Ronnettes, and former wife of producer and felon Phil Spector, provides our musical egress this week with All I Want.

Imagine having a weird medical malady that turns your entire family BLUE! Jodi Pliszka tells us all about that group of blue people this week on Ripley Radio, the official radio program of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! You’ll also learn of a real-life, modern day Dr. Doolittle who successfully talks to the animals. Additional Weird, Crazy, Bizarre and Strange Stories on the July 22 Episode of Ripley Radio includes: a big-time Barbie Doll collector whose home has been over-run by the 3,000 Barbies in her collection; Chad Lewis hits the road again this week and tells us about two non-mainstream family festivals – John Dillinger Days and the Garlic Festival; Angela reports on modern day cannibals, and Ripley’s archivist Edward Meyer talks about items in the Ripley collection pertaining to cannibalism, including two different heads of proven cannibals; and TV personality and comedian Mitch English’s attempt at trying to think of a cannibal joke is much funnier than the joke he comes up with!The family pop act from the sixties, The Cowsills, provides us with this week’s fun, summertime hit, The Rain, The Park and Other Things.