Ripley's Believe It or Not! (comic)

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' (comic)}}[[File:Ripleys 16.jpg|right|thumb|165px|Issue #16.]]{{paranormal}}
'''''Ripley's Believe It or Not!''''' was a comic book published by Gold Key and Whitman from 1965 to 1980.<ref name=ripley1965/><ref>[https://www.comics.org/series/144001/ Ripley's Believe It or Not! Zenescope Entertainment, 2018 Series] ''Grand Comics Database''.</ref><ref group=note>Not to be confused with the 1953 Harvey Comic, 2002 Dark Horse Comics comic, or the two-issue comic of the same name published by Zenescope in 2018. The Zenescope book took liberties with the stories told in the newspaper strip, giving a similar "off" feel to them, told a fictional story ("Mother Nature"), and a legend ("Stingy Jack").</ref>

While the comic ''claimed'' to have the same authenticity as the newspaper comic strip, the overly dramatic way that many of the stories were told leaves much doubt in the reader's mind. Many stories read like fictional trope stories or have information so [[vague]] that there is effectively no way to figure where the story came from.<ref group=note>"Vampire of the Schloss" (August 1968) suffers from both these problems.</ref>

Some stories have factual flaws and yet are claimed to be entirely true.<ref group=note>For example, "Music Hath Charms" (October 1973) doesn't seem to know that snakes are deaf.</ref> From the first issue in June 1965 to the ninth issue in May 1968, it used relevant material from the newspaper strip to add to the authenticity of the other stories.<ref name=ripley1965>[https://www.comics.org/series/1701/ Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1965 series)], Grand Comics Database.</ref>[[File:The Sentry Who Was Saved By A Ghost.png|thumb|"The Sentry Who Was Saved By A Ghost" from Issue #1 (June 1965)]]

While most issues would have "True [[Ghost]] Stories" as an additional part of the title! "True [[War]] Stories" and "True [[Demon]]s and Monsters" were sometimes used instead.

==Examples==
*"The Ghost Ship" (June 1965) tells the story of how, in 1872, the crew of the ''Charletteille'' are saved by ''The North Star'' which had disappeared years ago and was captained by the father of one of the ''Charletteille''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s crew.<ref>[https://www.comics.org/issue/19230/ Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1965 series) #1], ''Grand Comics Database''.</ref>

*"The Woman in the Tomb" (June 1965) tells how two grave robbers discover their target is the victim of premature burial and how the woman would go on to become the mother of {{wpl|Walter Scott|Sir Walter Scott|.}}<ref>[https://www.comics.org/issue/19230/ Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1965 series) #1], Grand Comics Database.</ref>

*"The General Was a Spy" (June 1967) tells the story of {{wpl|Alexander Scotland||,}} who was supposedly known as General Schottlandt by German General Staff.<ref>[https://www.comics.org/issue/21050/ Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1965 series) #5] ''Grand Comics Database''.</ref> This story was told in the film ''The Two-Headed Spy'' (1958).<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052327/ The Two-Headed Spy (1958)]. ''Internet Movie Database''.</ref>

*Issue #7 (November 1967) includes the stories of the Golem of Prague, {{wpl|Arnold Paole}} (called Arnold Paul in the story), and the [[Werewolf|Werewolves]] of Poligny.<ref>[https://www.comics.org/issue/21438/ Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1965 series) #7], ''Grand Comics Database''.</ref>

*"Demon in the Glass Cage" (August 1968) claims the display of {{wpl|Jeremy Bentham|Jeremy Bentham's}} body manifested a [[ghost]] when it was put into a storeroom rather than being on display.<ref>[https://www.comics.org/issue/22081/ Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1965 series) #10] ''Grand Comics Database''.</ref> Bentham's body now sits at Student Centre at University College London.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://londonist.com/london/jeremy-bentham-ucl-body-auto-icon-where |title=Where To See Jeremy Bentham's Body At UCL |last=Corey |first=Alex |date=2021 |website=londonist |publisher=londonist |access-date= Dec 9, 2022}}</ref>

*"Spawn of the Wolf Pack" (December 1969) claims that {{wpl|Amala and Kamala|Kamala}} answered the call of her wolf pack and ran off with them, though other reports have her dying of either tuberculosis or typhoid fever.<ref>[https://www.comics.org/issue/23160/ Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1965 series) #17] ''Grand Comics Database''.</ref> Current scholarship suggests that the entire [[feral child|raised by wolves story]] was a [[hoax]].

*"Vampire of the Schloss" (August 1968) claims that in 1961, a man buys a ''Schloss'' supposedly haunted by a [[vampire]]. When attacked by the vampire, the man is told that driving an alpenstock into the grave will destroy it. The man is found dead of a heart attack having driven the alpenstock through his coat.<ref>[https://www.comics.org/issue/22081/ Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1965 series) #10] ''Grand Comics Database''.</ref> The story has two major problems — the man and the Schloss are unnamed (preventing research) and the story might as well be ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' episode "The Grave" without the twist.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734643/ The Twilight Zone: The Grave (October 27, 1961)] ''Internet Movie Database''.</ref>

*"The Sea Hags" (April 1970) tells a story regarding the Women of Moher (Sea Harpies that supposedly live in the Castle of Drumnacrogha).<ref>[https://www.comics.org/issue/23395/ Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1965 series) #19] ''Grand Comics Database''.</ref> A similar story ("The Ghostly Catch") appears in the book ''Ghosts in Irish Houses'' (1947):

{{quotebox|Out of the livid clouds, with such deadening impact that the corpse-white, glutinous mass of [[fish]] bodies sank beneath the surface, came dark, winged shapes. Streaming out behind them, tangling together, were rags or dank feathers. Were these [[bird]]s? Were they Harpies? Like a flash, I realized that they were the Dread Women of Moher feeding upon the Ghostly Catch at Drumnacrogh.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Reynolds|first1=James|date=1947|title=Ghosts in Irish Houses|publisher=New York , Creative Age Press Press|isbn=0517014343}}  Available for 1 hour check out [https://archive.org/details/ghostsinirishhou0000reyn/mode/2up at internet archive]</ref>}}

*"The Devil's Staff" (April 1973) claims that Major {{wpl|Thomas Weir|Thomas Weir's}} ghost haunted his home until a priest [[Exorcism|exorcised]] the spirit of the [[Devil]] from his [[soul]].<ref name=ripley39>[https://www.comics.org/issue/26122/ Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1965 series) #39], Grand Comics Database.</ref> The cover hearkens back to ''The fiery coach of Major Weir''.<ref>[https://www.scotclans.com/pages/major-weir Major Weir] ''ScotClans''.</ref>

*"What the Mirror Saw" (April 1973) tells of a mirror that reflected events that happened in front of it.<ref name=ripley39/> Something similar to this story was told in ''Dead of Night'' (1945).<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037635/ Dead of Night (1945)] ''Internet Movie Database''.</ref>

*"Music Hath Charms" (October 1973) claims that in 1967 Edgecombe, the American architect Alan Barlow was saved by the ghost of a woman who played music on a non-functional organ so he could escape a black mamba. One of the guides tells him that the ghost was that of a Miss Dennis who had died using the organ to pacify a black mamba some 20 years previously.<ref>[https://www.comics.org/issue/26753/ Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1965 series) #43] ''Grand Comics Database''.</ref> A key problem with the story is the fact snakes are deaf!

*"They Came Alive!" (June 1977) tells the story of two children who wake up the ghost of [[King Arthur]], his wife, and several knights, but fail to blow the hunting horn and cannot find the way back to the passage they found the room the group was in, leaving them as awakened [[spirits]].<ref>[https://www.comics.org/issue/31110/ Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1965 series) #70] ''Grand Comics Database''.</ref>
[[File:They Came Alive!.jpg|center|thumb|500px|Kids encounter the ghosts of King Arthur's court in "They Came Alive!" (Why do they wear clothes from about a millennium after the historical Arthur?)]]

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Cartoons and comics]]
[[Category:Paranormal]]

Categories: Books, Cartoons and comics, Paranormal