Robert Ripley's life was an unbelievable adventure. For thirty-five years he explored the uncanny and witnessed the amazing. He was a world traveler who visited over 200 countries, seeing places few people had even heard of, from the tombs of the Ming Emperors in China, to a town called Hell in Norway!

Ripley was an artist, a reporter, an explorer, and a collector. The stories he gathered, illustrated by Ripley himself, would later appear in his popular newspaper cartoon feature Believe It or Not! Today the Believe It or Not! cartoons are still enjoyed by millions of readers around the world.

Wherever Ripley went, he searched for the odd and the unusual. In his quest, he documented the customs and beliefs of many ancient and exotic civilizations. Whenever possible he brought home artifacts from his journeys, which today form the heart of the greatest collection of oddities ever assembled. Today these artifacts can be seen in Ripley's Believe It or Not! museums around the world. Every year millions of people visit these museums to take part in an adventure, one in which they experience first hand the incredible world of Robert Ripley!