Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1982)
Season 2
Based on the travels and discoveries of oddity-hunter Ripley, this show looked at the people, places and events that made up the stranger side of human history. Subjects have included Nikola Tesla, The Bermuda Triangle, The Elephant Man, and Mad King Ludwig.
Where to Watch Season 2
23 Episodes
- September 25, 1983E1
September 25, 1983The second season begins with a look at the legendary Ninja at the Iga-ryū Ninja Museum, Onagadori; Onagadori cocks, hunting practices of lions, bats, Amazon river "Big Noise" (aka pororoca); Mojave desert Creosote bush and King Clone; CMI (computer musical instrument); Laser harp; George Landry's LYRA; Blacksmiths forging contest Malibu, South African snake sit-in; tobacco spitting, Talico, Ca; freshwater salamander eating contest; Hubble telescope; Wilson and Penzias radio telescope and the discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation; the sun; Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich. - October 2, 1983E2
October 2, 1983Rasputin assassination; Japanese tattoos; Sudanese (Masakan); Brazil (Krohole); Indian man with the longest fingernails; Asaro Mudmen in (Papa New Guinea); Ede & Ravenscroft limited wigs; birds of prey (Philippine eagle, marbled murrelet Korm in Peru, osprey); operating rooms; surgical techs; Dragon's Breath in China; Movieland Wax Museum; Rare photos and outtakes of The Jitterbug scene in The Wizard of Oz (1939 film); the curse of the Elgin Marbles British Museum. - October 9, 1983E3
October 9, 1983A segment on ritual celebrations includes the "naked festivals" of Japan; boat burning in the Shetland Islands; and the "trooping of the colors" in England. Also: reptiles, including the Komodo dragon, alligators and snakes; ancient sports; puzzle solving; water birthing. - October 23, 1983E4
October 23, 1983Segments include the legend of Jesse James; a school where frogs are trained to jump; a man who teaches Italian gestures to the Swiss; hand fan and romance; insect mating rituals; the origin of the match; ritual fire dancing in Suriname; a high-rise fire that killed 179 people in Sao Paulo, Brazil; exotic foods; Chinese imperial banquet; Rum-running; Horatio Nelson's body shipped in brandy. - November 13, 1983E7
November 13, 1983Segments include the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain; the Place of Refuge, a Hawaiian island sanctuary for criminals; a spy who operated undetected out of the British Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, during World War II; rituals to ensure a bountiful harvest; unusual horses, including the Lippizaners and bucking broncos. - November 20, 1983E8
November 20, 1983Segments on the Heike crabs of Japan; which are believed to be the spirits of dead samurai; accident research at the National Bureau of Standards; an Irish monk who sailed to America 900 years before Columbus; the origin of Sid Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. - November 27, 1983E9
November 27, 1983Segments on Black Bart (outlaw), a desperado with a penchant for penning pathetic poetry; revolutionary crime-fighting techniques and devices; airships including the LZ 129 Hindenburg; the monasteries atop the Meteora in Northeastern Greece; insects; David Rice Atchison. - January 8, 1984E12
January 8, 1984Segments on the octopus, garden eel, shark and sea urchin; a South Pacific ritual in which men dive toward the ground held only by a vine that breaks their fall at the last moment; modern artists who craft their works using bubbles, rocks, automobiles, and TV sets; and a Chinese ritual involving papers stained with blood from a human tongue. - January 29, 1984E14
January 29, 1984The story of the Hatfield–McCoy feud; China Camp State Park, San Rafael, CA (U.S.A.); Canterbury Shaker Village; Truganini in Tasmania; last of the Shakers; Shoichi Yokoi in Guam; Christopher Janney "Soundstair" (Musical Stairs) in Cambridge, MA (U.S.A.); Suzuki method music; Levi Celerio Filipino violinist; Kangaroo babies; Bulldog ants and larvae; Bison calves; John Milburn Davis Memorial gravesite; Dali people mourning; Chinese graves; a Manila cemetery suburb; Raymond Tse Mercedes Benz tombstone; Toraja graveyard; non-linear thinking. - February 5, 1984E15
February 5, 1984Operation Valkyrie; The century cactus; South Koreans celebrate the Moses Miracle at Jindo Island; The echidna; diving bell spider; African Vadoma tribe of two-toes people; World Eskimo-Indian Olympic Games; Wushu (sport); Landfills and garbage collection; University of Arizona garbologists; Sewage treatment in San Diego using hyacinths; Lufkin, Texas, sewage treatment using worms; Los Angeles sculptor makes sculptures from garbage; Man juggles bowling balls, flaming swords, and a chainsaw with two apples; Fire-breather street performer in Mexico City; Juggler balances a person in a chair on his chin; Artist recreates Michaelangelo paintings on Paris sidewalks; Benjamin Banneker's involvement in Washington, DC. - March 11, 1984E19
March 11, 1984El Cid of Portugal; Inuit diet and hunting; Modern English living as the ancient English; The Washington memorial and Monument; the Treasury Department; President Monroe's house; The United States Capitol; Mount Rushmore; Hananuma Masakichi in Yokohama in Japan; Festival of Bachelors in Lisdoonvarna Ireland; Shashti Poorthi rituals in India; Meoto Iwa in Japan; Wind farm; Inventor James L. Amick's wind-powered car; a solar-powered car (Solar car); Solar 1 generator; solar-powered devices; paper loop trick. - May 6, 1984E21
May 6, 1984Segments on King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Juana of Spain, who was driven mad by love; the development and use of the atomic bomb; Hiroshima; surgical implants that relieve arthritis pain; video-game therapy; early brain scanning; hypnotism with treatment. A feature on construction feats includes Washington Roebling and the origin of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Great Wall of China. Asmat people and unique totems and carvings; fingernail artist; ritual pilgrimage with head shaving in India; the Pony Express. - May 20, 1984E23
May 20, 1984Church of St Joan of Arc in Orléans, France; George Washington and Adolf Hitler's teeth; Pygmies human teeth sharpening; artist of teeth; daredevil museum in Niagara Falls, Ny; Japanese elimination contest; the fortress at Masada; the lost temple of Akhenaten; underwater ship graveyard in Chuuk Lagoon; insects used in Maceration (bone) for museums; Hell money rituals in Hong Kong; man grinds beef oil and predicts tornadoes; candle wicks.