Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in Pattaya exhibits a collection of weird, amazing, strange and surprising things from across the world.

Amazing, odd & weird items on display

Hundreds of oddities are on display, each with a label in English and Thai. Some items are originals, others are replicas. Several displays are interactive like a scale you can stand on to check your weight on the moon.

The tallest man that ever lived and the 17 inch man

Robert Wadlow was the tallest man that ever lived at 2.72 meters tall. He continued growing until his death at age 22.

Next to the tallest man locked up in a small cage is Alypius, a dwarf from ancient Egypt measuring just 17 inches tall (43 centimeters). According to legend he was imprisoned in a bird cage for treason.

Alypius the dwarf who was 17 inches tall in a parrot’s cage

Alypius the dwarf standing 17 inch tall
locked up in a parrot’s cage for treason

The man of chains

The man of chains was a Pakistani man who wore 670 pounds of chains for over 13 years as a self imposed punishment. The Believe It or Not Museum displays a lifelike model of him behind bars wearing the heavy chains.

The half ton man weighing 485 kilos

Robert Earl Hughes was the world’s heaviest man, also known as “The half ton man”. When he died at the age of 32 he weighed 1,069 pounds (485 kilos) and had a chest width of 3.15 meters.

Statue of Robert Earl Hughes who weighed 1,069 lbs

The half ton man
Who weighed 1,069 lbs

The world’s greatest glutton

Vitellius, emperor of the Roman empire was known for his excessive eating. He was a fat glutton who spent huge amounts of money on rare food. Vitellius frequently at more than 1,000 oysters in one day. As according to a prophecy he would rule longer if he outlived his mother, he starved her to death. Unfortunately for Vitellius the prophecy did not work, he ruled for only 8 months.

Shrunken heads

Another interesting item is a shrunken head reduced to the size of a fist. The Jivaro Indians who live in the jungles of Ecuador were known for their head hunting and shrinking of human heads of their enemies which they wore as trophies.

Shrunken Indian head

Cannibal skulls

A section of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is dedicated to the Indian tribes of the Americas. One of the items on display is a real Asmat cannibal skull. The Asmat people from New Guinea were head hunters who wore the skulls of their enemies as trophies.

The Okipa ceremony

Next is a representation of the Okipa ceremony as it was performed by the Mandan Indians of North America. The Okipa was a religious ceremony for men to prove their strength and gain the approval of the spirits. Warriors would hang down from the ceiling by skewers put into the chest and shoulders. Heavy buffalo skulls were tied to their legs to increase the weight.

Fur covered trout

The Canadian fur bearing trout allegedly caught in Lake Superior in Canada grew a thick coat of fur to protect itself from the cold of the icy waters. It later turned out to be a hoax. The fur from a rabbit had been attached to the trout.

A fur covered trout
From Lake Superior in Canada

The pilot who was stuck in the trees for 12 days

Walking over a jungle bridge you can see an old airplane crashed into the jungle, the pilot suspended in the trees still wearing his parachute. The English pilot crashed the DC-3 plane into the jungles of Sumatra. His parachute got stuck in the trees. Unable to free himself he was suspended in the trees for 12 days and survived on fruit brought to him by a monkey.

More oddities

Hundreds more odd, weird and interesting items are on display including torture devices in action used by pirates, a man who survived being impaled by a pipe nearly missing his heart, the fur covered trout from Lake Superior in Canada, a two headed calf, a man lying on a bed of nails, a large scale model of the Titanic made out of over one million matchsticks and a wooden model of a 1937 Jaguar that is not a car but a boat.

Scale model of the Titanic
Made out of over one million matchsticks

Location

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is located in the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! World of Entertainment complex on the top floor of the Royal Garden Plaza Mall on Beach road between Pattaya Soi 13/2 and Pattaya Soi 13/3 in Central Pattaya.