It’s President’s Week here at Ripley Radio – An On-Demand Oddcast, as we present two amazing and unusual stories you won’t find anywhere else.
We hear that President Andrew Jackson may be the biggest party animal the White House has ever seen! Author and presidential historian Jacopo della Quercia visits and explains what Jackson’s big and boisterous Cheese Party was all about!

We learn from Ian Randall Strock that the fertility of the US Commander in Chief tells us a great deal about how we should judge the success of a president. His research is expansive and he tells us everything you ever wanted to know about fertility, kids, grandkids and siblings in the White House. Check out Ian’s latest presidential book project!

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Additional Amazing, Unusual and Totally Baffling Items Discussed This Week:

• The biggest hit so far this year on YouTube is a video of the up-to-now-unknown band, Walk off the Earth. Ralf talks with them about the video on which all five of them play “Somebody I Used to Know,” on the SAME guitar at the SAME time. Not to be outdone, the five members of the Ripley Ensemble gather around one guitar and play “Tequila,” a totally unmemorable and somewhat embarrassing moment in the history of Ripley Radio.
• Angela shares a few of the unusual customs associated with the 15 day celebration surrounding the Chinese New Year, including such rules that one should not gift a pair of shoes or a green hat to someone during that period.

• Believe It or Not! a student can now enroll in a class at Rutgers University dedicated to the study of singer Beyonce! If time allows, other divas, including Lady Gaga will also be covered.
• Sideshow historian James Taylor shares a piece of the past with us as he describes a most unusual type of carnival midway attraction – genuine medical exhibitions.
• Intern Abby helps those still wondering what they should do when they grow up with a few hints on which occupations NOT to pursue, including newspaper reporter, toll collector and chemist. Some of these will totally surprise you!
• Ripley’s official cartoonist John Graziano returns with a few fun and totally offbeat items created in the 1930s at the height of the Ripleyana craze in America.
• Author and fast talker Fran Capo tells the tale of the mysterious Leatherman, which she features in her new book, Myths and Mysteries of New York.

The Blairs in Vegas with Elvis

Dan Meyer, president of the Sword Swallowers Assoc. International, stops by to talk about the upcoming World Sword Swallowers Day on Feb. 25, to be held at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! odditoriums around the world. He notes that this year’s event will be the largest ever, with more than 30 sword swallowers “dropping solid steel” at 10 different Ripley’s.

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More absolutely weird and bizarre things discussed this week:

• Sideshow historian James Taylor tells us about one of the greatest female sword swallowers ever – Lady Sandra Reed – in his Jackpotting with James Taylor segment.
• Sam Gennawey reveals that Florida’s Walt Disney World would have been a totally different place to visit if Walt Disney had lived long enough to witness its construction. In his new book, “Walt and the Promise of Progress City,” Gennawey notes that the mega-attraction would have been more of an urban community than a theme park.
• The mysterious Montauk Project is discussed by Fran Capo, the author of Myths and Mysteries of New York.
• John Graziano, Ripley’s official cartoonist, tells us about the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! cartoon that has run continuously since 1918. While still carried in nearly 200 newspapers worldwide, the cartoon now can be delivered to a person’s email box daily- for free – from GoComics.com.
• Intern Abby discovers the Bunny Museum in Pasadena, Calif.
• Angela gives examples of how studying baby names of newborns today actually reveal cultural trends.
• Ralf tells us about an internet café where a games player was discovered dead in front of the computer screen – nine hours AFTER he died!

The Jersey Devil

Co-host Ralf discovers the North House Folk School in Minnesota where students learn to build their own caskets! The school’s Jessa Frost says the casket can serve as a coffee table or as a book shelf until you are ready to use it for the intended purpose.

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Further Weird, Bizarre, Fun and Unbelievable Subjects Covered this week:

• Jodi Pliszka, The Solutionologist, talks about a smelly weird medical malady simply known as Fish Odor Syndrome.

• Intern Abby relates the hilarious tale of a man dressed up as Frosty the Snowman who inadvertently terrorized a small town.

• Angela goes techie on us this week and discusses the Internet of Things. She explains how a person’s “things” will someday all be interconnected and will “talk” with and respond to each other, without any help from you!

• In our Jackpotting with James Taylor segment this week, the historian and author delves into his sideshow archives and tells us about the traditional 10 in 1 Sideshow presentations of yore.

• We learn of a man in Nome, Alaska, who was trapped in his car during a snowstorm for nearly four days and was able to survive the cold without food or water. What kept him alive? He ate the frozen beer from the 12-pack of Coors he had in the back seat!

• How far does a modern-day cannonball fly and how much damage can it do along the way? We hear of an unbelievable accident on the set of the TV show MythBusters that provides some answers.

• Dinosaurs are heading to Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, SC, and Ripley archivist Edward Myer talks about these huge robotic beasts as well as other related items in the Ripley collection – including prehistoric insects encased within an amber rock!

Ethan Trex of the popular web site and magazine, Mental Floss, stops by Ripley Radio this week to discuss the weird topics his publication carries, how they research the bizarre, and how it compares with Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

Ripley the dog

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Additional Bizarre, Unusual and Weird Topics discussed this week:

• Care for a cup of Pequod today? Starbucks was nearly named Pequod, after the ship in the literary classic Moby Dick! Intern Abby reports on that near travesty and other things we all should know about the popular coffee chain.
• In the segment, “Jackpotting with James Taylor,” the sideshow historian and author of Shocked and Amazed shares with us the colorful and unique life of Homer Tate, possibly the best sideshow gaff maker in the history of the business.
• Peter Minuet, who sold Manhattan to the Indians, was fired shortly thereafter by the Dutch Government. You’ll be surprised at the reason for his dismissal.
• A Seattle man’s decades-long guilt evidently led him to return money he had stolen from a Sear’s cash register in the late 1940s – with interest! He anonymously returned it to the customer service desk during the 2011 holiday shopping rush.
• Imagine this: You are a high ranking and award winning police official but get caught committing a crime. Ok, bad enough but how about this? You are spending time in the correctional institute that the city named after you for your years of outstanding service! Believe it or Not! it happened.
• Angela discusses a computer program that reacts to your mood, and other unbelievable techie-type of amazing products that remind us that Big Brother probably IS watching us.
• Ripley’s archivist Edward Meyer recounts his trip in late 2011 in which he traveled to the mountains of Thailand to meet artists who weld together huge statues out of used car parts.

Was Don a celebrated German pooch from the early 20th century, really able to talk as so many stories and legends proclaim? Huffington Post correspondent Marc Hartzman looked into the popular tale and talks with us this week on Ripley Radio – An On-Demand Oddcast.

Do you think all big box retailers carry virtually everything? Think again and tune in to see what WalMart has banned over the years from being sold in their stores! Intern Abby notes that “everything from the unexpected – Mattel Dolls, to the expected – CDs with explicit lyrics” has been shunned by America’s largest retailer.

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Additional Bizarre, Unusual and Weird Topics discussed this week:

• Ripley Archivist Edward Meyer continues his countdown to the Number One best acquisition he made during 2011 for Ripley’s Believe It or Not! It’s not Number One, but one of the top three is the Hogwart’s Castle, made by Pat Acton out of a million wooden matchsticks.
  
• In the “Jack-potting with James Taylor” segment, the sideshow historian and author of Shocked and Amazed, relates the incredible story about the oddest married couple ever – Jeanie Tomaini the half-girl and the Giant Al Tomaini.
• Kim Orlando, who heads up the Travellingmom.com website, drops by and tells us about a couple of warm and wonderful – albeit weird and funky – wintertime destinations, including what most travel writers call the most alien-looking country on earth.
• Angela delves into the unbelievable historical roots of monsters – Why we create them, why we love them and why so many popular creatures have been fashioned over the years. She reports that “we create monsters and give them life in a form that we fear in ourselves.”
• Our co-host Ralf with an F explains that stressed out law students at George Mason University Law School are given puppies to help them relax. Officials say the process does two very important things – it helps the students relax and it saves the life of a puppy! It’s an unbelievably successful program.
• AND to give our feline friends equal time, we hear about Daniel the 26 toed cat that lives at the Milwaukee Animal Rescue Center. His deformity has made him a celebrity and his keepers used him this year as a fund-raising feline to help raise money to cover the increase in rent for the shelter. To date, he has helped raise more than $80,000!

Nik Wallenda, the 7th generation high-wire walker in the world-famous Wallenda Family, is attempting to get official permission from the Canadian Government to walk across Niagara Falls in June 2012. Meanwhile, the New York State government has already given him the go ahead for that side of the Falls. Nik talks with Ripley Radio this week about what motivates him to risk his life in his world-record high-wire walks.
 
The mother of Amber Karlins felt that her daughter was living a ”small life” and needed to face her many fears – head on. The 25 – year old talks with Ripley Radio this week about her new book, “My Year of Living Fearlessly,” in which she chronicles how she faced 52 of those fears in 52 weeks.
 

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Other Freaky, Wild and Crazy Things Discussed this Week:

• It seems there are many unusual, and surprisingly accurate, economic indicators that shed light on how the US economy is going. Angela discusses the Lipstick Index, as well as other off-beat indicators.
• Paranormal and UFO writer for the Huffington Post Lee Spiegel, drops by and unveils his Top 11 UFO stories of 2011.
• We learn from Jodi Pliszka, Ripley’s very own Solutionologist, what the medical malady, trichotillomania is all about.
• Abby takes a look at food trends that experts are predicting for 2012, including a rush on potato dishes. She tells us there are high-end French Fry Bars in our future.
• We hear of a 16 year old girl who spent Christmas vacation skiing to the bottom of the world with her father – and how he threw away her school books that she brought along so she could study during her break.
• Ripley archivist Edward Meyer presents the first six of his Top 12 favorite acquisitions he made during 2011 for the Ripley Archives. On his list this week is a full-size Ferrari car knitted from 12 miles of yarn and the world’s only known Shrunken Face. The top six will be presented next week.

In the early 1900s, Typhoid Mary cooked for people and they soon became very ill or died. It was that simple, but was she a typhoid carrier?  Fran Capo joins us this week to discuss Mary Malone, better known as Typhoid Mary, from the research she did for a chapter in her new book, Myths and Mysteries of New York.   

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Walt Disney loved a big old fig tree growing along a residential street in Anaheim, Calif., so much that he sent his Imagineers out to take a casting of its roots and trunk to bring back and built an exact replica at Disneyland to house what is now known as Tarzan’s Treehouse.  Popular culture historian Chris Epting found the tree and climbed it.  He reports.

Other Crazy, Funky, Unusual and Unbelievable Things Discussed This Week:

• A Catholic Nun from Ionia College had an expensive gambling habit and lost nearly a half million dollars of her college’s funds in Atlantic City.  She was arrested and mustnow make restitution. Quite a Sister’s Act, we presume.
  
  Typhoid Mary 1909

• Bowser Beer Company makes beer brewed especially for dogs, including the tasty treat Labrador Lager. The group of taste-testing terriers has proven it safe for consumption.

• A Zombie Boot Camp now operates in Britain and teaches students how to survive a Zombie Invasion.  Reservations required.

• Wear Milk?  Return Intern Abby reports on an award-winning new fabric – made entirely from German, organic milk.  It’s soft to the body and is good for the skin, Abby notes.

• Sideshow queen The Great Cindini helped author Amber Karlins succeed on five new challenges in Karlins’ just released book, My Year of Living Fearlessly. She talks about coaching her through the skills, from walking on glass to eating fire!

• You will be amazed at the number of crazy lawsuits that are being filed out there, wasting resources and costing us all money! Angela researched a few of the more unbelievable claims AND the unbelievable outcome of several of the more ridiculous assertions.

• Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Hollywood has just reopened with a brand new show. All original displays and a fresh approach to the weird side of Hollywood!  Ripley’s archivist walks us through some of the more unbelievable exhibits.

Formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, Jim Morrison & The Doors created their own recording studio in a worn-down area of Santa Monica Boulevard.  Today, that location is a Mexican Restaurant and the sound booth in which Morrison recorded is the men’s bathroom. Pop culture historian Chris Epting tells us all about it on this week’s Ripley Radio.

Charlie Andrews is one tough dude!  He is the reigning world champion  jouster.  Yes, there is such a sport as professional jousting and National Geographic Television features Andrews and others in the series, Knights of Mayhem.  Charlie explains that it is definitely a sport in which you WILL get hurt.

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Additional Bizarre, Unusual and Weird Topics discussed this week:

• Man of many lives and careers, Pat Croce, the owner of St. Augustine’s Pirate and Treasure Museum tells Ralf that his crew has discovered two ships that were part of the Sir Francis Drake’s final expedition and that the body of Drake, which was lowered into the sea in a lead-lined coffin, could likely become their next discovery.
• A stash of items stolen from a local police precinct was found in one of the cop’s basement. His defense is that a ghost must have stolen the property.
• For Sale, read the ad on Craig’s List.  One video-game obsessed military veteran of Afghanistan. It seems the wife couldn’t get him to do anything but play the video war game. The ad was pulled by the web police.
• Let’s sign up for a Groupon Deal, get more business and save our cupcake shop!  Wrong. The owner of Need a Cake Bakery in the UK received 8,500 orders totaling 102,000 cupcakes – an order that eventually cost her more than $19,000 extra to fill  – more than her profits for all of last year.
• How about this claim to fame. A musician held a benefit concert in Africa – to raise money to build an electric fence around a compound – that contains blind elephants!
• Return intern Abby reports on an English historian who was found with 20 female corpses in his house, all dressed up as if they were going to a party!
• Angela researched mysterious deaths of magicians. Some died on stage, another died in the hospital while those in the audience thought appearing to be dead was part of his act!
• Archivist Edward Meyer tells of his journey late last year into the mountains of Thailand where he met a lady who welds together 19-foot tall replicas of Transformer figures – made from old auto parts!

This week  we learn that Aliens do exist. Jim Moroney tells us of the night he was abducted by Aliens and how it changed his life.

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Jerry Chubbuck, owner of the funky roadside attraction, Wonder Tower, in Genoa, Colorado, takes us on a fun tour of this landmark and promises that he will give us our $1 admission free back if we are totally happy about our tour!

Wonder Tower

Additional Unbelievable and Amazing topics we talk about this week:

• Our man on the street reporter Buck Wolf talks about his visit with the New York Towers, a dwarf basketball team.

• We hear about odd Japanese beverages.

• A bunch of Chihuahuas who ate their dead master.

• We learn of a 13 year old girl who looks three times her age.

• From an old Ripley Radio segment and we learn of an army commander who was so young that he had to be carried onto the battlefield.

This show is a rerun of Episode 25, originally broadcast on March 8, 2010

Christmas expert Robin Mains tells Ripley Radio that although she is a Christian, she and her family stopped celebrating the holiday a decade ago and speaks of the deviant and strange side of the holiday.

The world’s top couch surfer, Ori Bengal, explains how easy it is to get an invitation to sleep on stranger’s couches.

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Other Freaky, Wild and Crazy Things Discussed this Week:

• We learn of a Christmas gift that was lost at sea when the ship that was carrying it sunk, but the package still arrived only two days late
• We hear about North Carolina’s mysterious Judaculla Rock and its carvings. Jeremiah Greer takes us on a whimsical journey.
• We visit Ripley’s Believe It or Not Times Square in New York City and find out what a Reverse Santa is all about.

This Show is a Rerun of Episode 15, originally broadcast on Dec. 14, 2009