“Lucky the Painproof Man” will be one of the featured sideshow performers at a free event at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Orlando Odditorium on Saturday, May 28. The free shows will take place at 1 and 3 p.m. and the performers will be available to meet the crowds and sign autographs between shows.

Not only will the public get to watch some unbelievable sideshow performers, they will also be part of a live audience as Ripley’s Believe It or Not! shoots a video of the event to be shown in its museums around the world.

“Lucky the Painproof Man,” recent winner of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Unbelievable Talent Contest in New York City, will perform some of his amazing feats, which include:

• Eating molten lead
• Hammering a nail into his nose
• Drilling into his face
• Lying on a bed of nails
• Lying face-down on broken glass with several people standing on top of him

The other featured performer will be Jim Stilianos, runner-up in the Unbelievable Talent Contest. Stilianos’ specialties include:

• Walking on broken glass
• Mashing his face into broken glass
• Juggling fire

“People in attendance will see two very unique performers, bound to make them gasp, laugh, even squeal – believe it or not!,” said Edward Meyer, Ripley’s VP of Exhibits and Archives.

Ripley’s Orlando Odditorium is located at 8201 International Drive. For more information, please visit http://www.ripleys.com/orlando/.

“The installation piece Ben Cuevas chose to showcase at The Wassaic Project features a knitted skeleton seated atop a pyramid of Borden’s condensed milk cans and a cloud of screen prints on Plexi glass suspended above it. The knitted skeleton is seated in the lotus position. The prints are of disembodied anatomical parts photographed in high resolution with diagrammatic illustrative overlays. Ben conceives of the piece as a reference to material culture and Wassaic’s local history (The Borden Company had a condensed milk factory in Wassaic) and a meditation on transcendence.” -Bora Mici

“Robert Ripley spent considerable time, money and effort doing charitable fundraisers during WWII, and his most successful and memorable contest in 1945 was a testament to his patriotism and appreciation for the young men and women who so valiantly defended our beliefs and country – often making the ultimate supreme sacrifice for freedom,” said Edward Meyer, Ripley’s VP of Exhibits and Archives.  “Today we still pay honor and respect to our military heroes and their families with military discounts available at all of our participating attractions.”

As Memorial Day approaches, Ripley’s shares some of the unbelievable military facts and stories from the company archives.

WWI:

• Matthew Little, a seaman for 70 years, served in 4 wars. His ship was sunk by a German U-boat in WWI, sunk twice in WWII and he spent 5 days in a lifeboat; and was in charge of a ferry that rescued 1200 men at Dunkirk and was sunk forthe 4^th time. He survived them all – only to be hit by a truck in Baltimore.

WWII:

• In 1943 MSgt John Hassebrock of Buffalo Center, Iowa, received a 3-day pass to marry a WAC Corporal before he went overseas. They lost track of each other until one night in France he made a convoy to the front lines and went to a farm house to spend the night. There he unexpectedly ran into his wife – on the exact day and hour of their wedding one year earlier.
• Gunner’s Mate Allen C. Heyn was saved 3 times in 3 minutes by his equipment. When his boat, the Juneau, was sunk by a Japanese submarine, his life was saved by his helmet, which was crushed and his skull fractured. 2 minutes later, he sank with the ship, but his life jacket brought him up where he was saved by a raft. He was the only survivor of the 12 men on the raft.
• Pvt. Leo Carrara was the indestructible man. He was with the 6^th Armored Division. A German bomb destroyed his half track and killed 12 men and only Pvt. Carrara escaped, although he was badly wounded. His sergeant tried to save him and was killed, his lieutenant tried to save him and was killed and his litter bearer tried to save him and was killed.
• Lt. Commander Robert W. Goehring, aboard the Coast Guard Cutter U.S.S. Duane, was swept off his ship by a mountainous wave during a storm. The ship was turned around to rescue him when suddenly another giant wave tossed him back on board to safety!
• Joe Frank Jones of the 8^th Army Air Force fell 13,000 feet and suffered no broken bones. Returning from his 22^nd mission over Germany in a Fortress, he collided in mid-air and fell 13,000 feet in the severed tail section of his plane – without serious injury and no broken bones.

Korea:

• Lt. Fred J. Fees, Jr. continued to direct air strikes after he had been shot through the head!
• Walter J. Alliman carried an 1855 penny that brought good fortune to fighting men in 5 wars.
• James Ward of La Grange, N.C. enlisted in the Army at 14, served two years, including five months in combat in Korea, was made a Sergeant – then when discovered, he was discharged for being underage.
• U.S. Infantryman Donald Morehouse was shot through the chest while fighting in the Korean War and walked 35 miles to safety – and later learned that the bullet had gone through his heart!

Vietnam:

• Bob Weiland, who lost both legs in 1969 in Vietnam to a land mine while trying to save a fellow soldier,  “walked” 2,000 miles from California to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C., in 1986 propelling himself on his padded knuckles.
• Pvt. William Parker, a soldier in the U.S. Army fighting in Vietnam, survived after a shot to his head was deflected by the bible he kept underneath his helmet!
• Pfc. Billy Campbell of the 101^st Airborne Division serving in Vietnam, survived being shot in the chest when the bullet deflected off a spoon he was carrying in his breast pocket!
• During the Vietnam war, American soldiers tossed “Slinky” toys over tree branches to serve as radio antennas.
• Wayne Reymar of Alberta, Canada had two pieces of shrapnel removed from his chest 32 years after he was wounded during the Vietnam war.

Iraq & Afghanistan:

• U.S. Army Pvt. Channing Moss survived a body hit from an anti-vehicular rocket in Afghanistan when the explosive head broke off just before he was impaled by the rocket shaft.
• U.S. soldiers in Iraq use a child’s toy, Silly String, to detect tripwire-activated traps.
• Jim Dillinger, a 45-year-old retired soldier from Mount Orab, Ohio, spent a year-long tour of duty in Iraq as a combat engineer – due to a clerical error!
• For the help he provided to residents of Iraq, the locals have made U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Dale Horn an honorary Sheik.

One eye witness said: “On the floor below there were more people trying to hold her up by her feet while he pulled her back inside by her long skirt.

The bride was taken to a local hospital after the rescue.

Source: NY Post

The victim claimed that he thought the Slovakian man was playing nothing a “macabre fantasy game” but after speaking to the man on the phone, realized that he was serious in his request and called the police.

The cops sent in an undercover officer posing as the victim in a sting operation to catch the suspected flesh-eater.

But as officers attempted to arrest the man yesterday, in the north-eastern village of Kysak, a gunfight broke out and the man and a cop were shot.

A Kysak police spokesman said: “It appears this man was genuinely seeking to eat someone.

“His advert said he wanted someone who would agree to be put to sleep then killed, cut up, cooked and eaten.

“One of our officers and the suspect both suffered gunshot wounds during the arrest and are both being treated in hospital.”

Tastes like chicken.

Source: The Sun

The local Huaxi Metropolis Daily reported the twins weighed 9 pounds (4 kilograms) and measured 20 inches (51 centimeters). They have two spines and two esophaguses and share other organs. Doctors were quoted as saying it would be nearly impossible to separate them.

Source: Abc News

Saturday, May 21 at 2 – 3 p.m. If you’re brave enough to snack on a bug, you could save yourself some serious cash during Bug Fest 2011 at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Hollywood. During the Bug Fest, a cooking demonstration will be hosted by Daniella Martin, the host of Girl Meets Bug, the insect cooking/travel show. She’ll be cooking up delicious bug dishes, including larva tacos and deep-fried scorpion tail.

Believe it or Not!, bugs are the most environmentally-efficient animal protein source on the planet. Crickets, for instance, require hundreds of times less water to generate the same amount of protein as a cow, provide three times the calcium and iron as beef, and are said to taste like nutty shrimp.

If you’ve been avoiding a bug feast all your life, you actually are in the minority! The practice of eating insects is widespread – appearing on the menu of two-thirds of the global population. In addition to being widely available, insects are considered to be the planet’s most sustainable source of cheap, eco-friendly protein.

Eat a basic bug* and get a discount or
eat a totally SUPER AWESOME UBER bug ** and get in free.

BASIC BUGS: ants, spiders, termites, worms, caterpillars, grasshoppers, dung beetles, wasps and crickets.
SUPER AWESOME UBER BUGS: scorpions and cockroaches

Check out Daniella on:

The Doctors Show

Worm Tacos

Scorpion

The Cut Chair provides a stable place to sit, but creates an optical illusion that tells you otherwise.

A plate concealed by a thick carpet allows a robust cantilevered seat. Three well placed leg “stumps” and the chair looks as though it has just been magically sliced apart.

Source: Geeky Gadgets