Salussolia’s Believe or Not Saturday
Visiting Ripley's in St. Augustine
I imagined extravagant sights and oddities lurking within the lopsided walls as I drove by the Ripley's Believe It or Not on International Drive in Orlando. The sinking building was intriguing. But I never went. My siblings and I used to pour over the Guinness World Book of Records, gawking at the mile-long fingernails and imagining the dedication needed to hold your breath the longer than anyone ever. Just think what it must to achieve just one strange feat, to be the one to break the world record and claim the glory of an official Guinness certificate. That ageless fascination should have clued me into what fun it would be to visit Ripley's Believe it or Not.
- Ripley's Believe It or Not, 19 San Marco Ave, St. Augustine, FL 32084
What You Won't See
Visiting Ripley's is one of those St. Augustine day trip activities that is perfect for our family. Followed by a meal at a restaurant on St. George's Street, of course. Now, I was a bit mixed up and expected there to be wax figures at Ripley's, but that's at another venue. The Potter Wax Museum could be a destination for a future outing. I also have to visit the Fort, but I have toured Flagler College, the San Sebastian Winery, and seen the battle reenactments. I've also explored many restaurants and bars in the area. I've even done a ghost tour bar hopping adventure for Marilyn's birthday. But there were no adult beverages for this somewhat haunted adventure.
There are no "live" oddities Ripley's. There are no performing acrobats or sword swallowers. You have to go to a circus (or a flea market) to see the wild world breathing and on display. However, Ripley's has lots of pictures and recreations of much of the weirdness and wildness in the world.
Michelangelo & A Mustang
I was immediately impressed by the statue of David and the pretty gardens outside the museum. It's not Florence or Vegas, but the 18-foor marble replica was an inviting nod to history and art. Before walking in, we passed a striking mustang statue made out of chrome car bumpers.
Once inside, my husband, daughter, and I began a long game of "Oooo, look at this!" that lasted two hours. Even before we went through the turnstiles, we were reading placards and awing at the fantastic displays made out of human hair, teeth, matches, crayons, bones, silverware, and rice.
We did doubletakes of the many multimedia mosaics and works of art. We read bizarre descriptions. We peered closer at tiny details to see if we believe it. We walked quickly by the disturbing and disgusting, not appealing to a 5-year-old displays.
It ran the gamut of grotesque and unusual, horrible and strange, intriguing and awing, beautiful and wonderful, unlikely and unsightly. Really inspired all of the reactions.
There's a sense of wonder we are invited to partake in when visiting a place like this. We get to recognize moments in history, and humorous bits of life that really reflect that expansiveness of the universe. I liked it.
Bigfoot & Edible Bugs
We look at things that were amusing. There were fat things, feral things, frightening things, and fake things.
A billboard featuring the mothman was the catalyst for this visit. The Mothman is part of a cryptids showcase that includes bigfoot, Chupacabra, and other freaky creatures. That part of the museum was very small.
I enjoyed the section dedicated to optical illusions and riddles. There were interesting sights and activities using shapes, colors, gravity, mirrors, perspective, sounds, and space. We got to wander about having our minds tricked with visual displays. The walls moved, solitary objects jumped, sounds reverberated, locks hid, and movements mimicked actions. It was all a bit trippy.
We saw strange body contortions and formations. Replicas if animals and humans that just don't look quite like you'd expect. Some of it was sad, the unsightly or unpopular. It touches on those funny places you notice so vividly as a child. You notice what is extra large, extra small, extra hairy, extra short. There was everything from taxidermy to candy bugs you can buy and eat.
Funhouse Mirrors & Misleading Exteriors
Distortion mirrors made us dizzy. We posed to capture images of shadows and silly silhouettes. We crossed a bridge that made it seems the room rotated around us. We carefully crept down steep, narrow stairs. Our senses were fully engaged with the spaces around us.
The playfulness of the displays remind me more of Chuck E. Cheese than an art gallery. But at the same time, some of the replicas capture humanity's exploration of space, the feats of physics, and the abstract fantasy of the natural world. Some displays were more unsettling than others. Yes, weird is a catchall to describe it, but the collection extends much further. The museum celebrates the grandiosity of strangeness.
I think leaning into imagination, our limits, that unshackling of expectations, can take you somewhere new. The unexpected itself is a wonder to behold.
As a family, 5-year-old included, we stepped into the universal experience of letting curiosity lead the way.
Oh, the places we did go.
