Ripley's Believe It Or Not at Fan Expo Dallas
Back at Fan Expo Dallas, we were invited out to meet the team from Ripley’s Believe It or Not & see all of the truly unique things that they had out on display. As this year is their 100th anniversary, they were pulling out all the stops! For many of you, when you think of Ripley’s, you think of strange oddities from around the world like shrunken heads or tribal statues that look like something out of a ghost story. The reason for this is that, from the very beginning, Robert Ripley made an effort to bring odd & unusual news to the world & he used these unique things that he found along the way to help tell his stories. These stories had such a fascinating appeal to western society that he was able to go from publishing a weekly column about his discoveries to creating an entire business around the search for & display of every interesting thing that he & his team could find. Now, Ripley’s Believe It or Not is considered one of the premiere places to find new stories about the more unusual sides of life!
Over the years, Ripley’s has found new ways to expand into all forms of media in order to better connect to their audience. While they started with a weekly cartoon & news column, they eventually expanded into books, magazines, museums, TV shows, &, most recently, a massive online database that is updated every day with new stories from around the world. However, of all their various media, there was one thing in particular that connected with us, here at Dallas Geek, from an early age. If you grew up in the 80’s or late 90’s & watched a lot of TV, then you likely remember that Ripley’s Believe It or Not had a TV show. In the 80’s, Jack Palance hosted the show for four years, while TV’s Superman himself, Dean Cain, hosted it for another four starting in 2000. While each version of the show had its own unique feel, they both inspired a sense of wonder in their audience. So, when they said that the show will be coming back to TV this year & that it will hosted by none other than Bruce Freaking Campbell (yes, for those of you wondering, that is the proper way to say his name…), we were immediately sold! If there is one person alive today that could possibly sell us on rediscovering that same sense of wonder from our childhoods, it’s him. Soon, the man who coined the term “boom stick” will be presenting the strange & unique stories from around the world to a new generation of kids & adults alike. The new season premieres on June 9th on the Travel Channel, so be sure to tune in!