Ripley's Believe It Or Not ! Odditorium in Times Square

There's Lizard Man, Cat Man, a woman with the longest nails and many more. These are just some characters you can find during Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Odditorium grand opening in Times Square in New York on June 21, 2007.

New York City will welcome back the spirit of Robert Ripley on June with the opening of Ripley's Believe It or Not!® Times Square Odditorium. The opening marks the return of Ripley to New York, his home for more than 30 years, and to the city that proved that truth can be stranger than fiction. Ripley's Times Square will house the ultimate in the odd and bizarre, as well as items that are truly New York ranging from 24 shrunken heads to a section of the Berlin Wall, a 3,197 lb. meteorite and Babe Ruth's "Believe It or Not's" New York team baseball uniform.

Robert Leroy Ripley, an icon in the world of cartoon art, the first person to be elected to the Trivia Hall of Fame, and the founder of an entertainment empire based on the premise that "truth can be stranger than fiction," first came to New York from San Francisco in 1913 at the age of 23. Working as an illustrator in San Francisco, Ripley was encouraged by his friend Jack London to go to New York and pursue his baseball dream or at least make more money from his drawings. He landed a job as an illustrator with the "New York Globe" and in 1914 he tried out for the New York Giants—and made the team! Unfortunately, in his very first game with the Giants, he broke his pitching arm.

With his baseball career over, Ripley returned to his job at the "Globe" and to living a full and rich New York City life including marrying a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl, living in a 28-room stone mansion on a private island off Mamaroneck and hosting grand parties during Prohibition that would dazzle even the most jaded New Yorker.