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Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not explores unusual people, places and feats through vintage radio entertainment. This Heritage Radio Vault collection preserves the curiosity-led presentation associated with the familiar Believe It or Not name. Choose a short recording and follow the trail from one unexpected subject to another. Hear these accounts as historical broadcasts, with their period language, presentation and extraordinary claims.
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Ripley’s Believe It or Not: Programme Guide.
An unlikely fact is offered with a challenge to the listener’s expectations. Ripley’s Believe It or Not turns curiosities, remarkable people and unusual events into compact narrated entertainment.
Broadcast history.
Robert L. Ripley’s newspaper feature developed into radio presentations from the early 1930s, with later versions continuing the brand. The history includes different formats and performers, rather than one uniform 364-episode original series.
Cast and creative team.
Ripley created and presented the original feature, with Doug Storer playing a major role in its radio development and production. Substitute or later narrators require identification from the particular recording rather than automatic attribution to Ripley himself.
Where to begin.
Turned Down a Gold Mine · Woman Invited Herself
These available recordings offer an introduction to this collection. Their current publication dates are separate from historical broadcast dates.
An interesting detail.
The programme’s claim of astonishing truth is part of its presentation. Individual assertions still need independent checking, especially where a short broadcast compresses historical, scientific or cultural information.
Listening appeal.
Try Turned Down a Gold Mine or Woman Invited Herself. Listen to the setup and the final detail that makes the anecdote surprising, while distinguishing that dramatic effect from proof of its accuracy.
Collection and date notes.
HRV lists 364 public recordings. The 364 records are a broad feature collection; duration, narrator and original dates need item-level comparison. Current podcast dates describe later archive publication, separately from original broadcast dates.
Sources.
Choose your next episode.
364 public recordings in this programme. Catalogue order is not a verified original broadcast chronology.
364 episodes available.
Lollypop Temple
1:02Never Too Late
1:02Married His Wife
1:02Man Bites Crock
1:03Crime Detection
1:02Strange Wound
1:02Well of Death
1:02Deadly Gateposts
1:02Home Run Show
1:03Victory Castle
1:04Word Meanings
1:05Golden Galley
1:06Tempted Fate
1:01Silly Statement
1:05First Love
1:03His Own Wedding
1:02Bridge of Death
1:02Foundling
1:00Strange Library
1:04Ballet Star
1:03Nice Profit
1:05Weird Prophesy
1:04Marriage Rite
1:04Towed a Whale
1:02Animal Pack
1:06Strange Rainfall
1:0212 Year Old Girl
1:04Pit of Fire
1:03Game of Chess
1:04Name a Tower
1:04White Pigeons
1:03Soldier Painter
1:03Silent Groom
1:02Marriage Racket
1:04Kills With Gold
1:04Unusual Incident
1:03Tax Your Belief
1:06Long Reign
1:02600 Eyebrows
1:03Milking a Cow
1:03Nothing to Wear
1:06Late Revenge
1:03Wedding Ceremony
1:00Human Top
1:02Hangmans Noose
1:04Scare a Tree
1:03Double Pay
1:04Tub of Butter
1:06Jilted a King
1:03Smart Wig
1:05Wasteful Man
1:02Bloody War
1:07Death Sentence
1:05Built a House
1:02Dangerous Act
1:04Butterfly
1:06Knew How to Live
1:01Lot of Lip
1:05Strange Scrifice
1:06Mad Tzar
1:05John Payne Part
0:23Too Much Land
1:06Living Tomb
1:04Bagpipes
1:04Big Reward
1:02Manhatten
1:03Shrieking Statue
1:03Human Lighthouse
1:03Death News Item
1:05Mystery House
1:03Strange Fish
1:04Margin of Defeat
1:04Donkeys Mine
1:04Anniversary
1:04King Plenty
1:05Strange Nuptials
1:03Kings Appetite
1:02Small Fish
1:07Deadly Stone
1:05Golden Mummy
1:02Distance Runner
1:05Well Paid Poet
1:04Thumbs Up
1:00Bald Headed Joke
1:0119 Year Duel
1:02Spectacular Walk
1:03Hanging Judge
1:02Mystery Ship
1:01Court Trial
1:02Priceles Barrel
1:02Feat in Lifting
1:02Before the Fact
1:02Fish Tale
1:03One Vote
1:02Unwritten Book
1:04Help Wanted Ad
1:03Holy Beach
1:01Sock Escape
1:03Walk to Russia
1:03Dangerous Clams
1:06A Lifetime by 20
1:05Table Manners
1:05Eternal Silance
1:01Ponderous Book
1:02Prolific Poet
1:03Generals Secret
1:04Vote Getter
1:00Way of Mourning
0:59Strange Army
1:02Glimpse of Life
1:00Bar Bill
1:02Ship of the Dead
1:04Not as Friends
1:01Never Forgot
1:02Ritual of Pain
1:03Motherhood
1:03Act of Faith
1:01Debt Payed
1:02Dark Secret
1:02Strange Decision
1:02Prayer Answered
1:02Bloody Oath
1:01Stone Cutter
1:00Game of Chess
1:02Princes Cruelity
1:01Greatest Nerve
1:01Useless Guard
1:02Queen for a Day
1:02Ruler in Jail
1:02Deathbed Wish
1:02Couldnt Say No
1:02Fate
1:02Labor of Love
1:02To Kill a Spy
1:02Oldest Language
1:01Opera Singer
1:00Great Talent
1:01Costliest Tree
1:02Living Library
1:00Toothache
1:02Water Drill
1:00Cows Gold Teeth
0:59Horrible Past
1:00Never Never Gate
1:01Never Grew Up
1:01Patriot in Exile
1:01Cheated Death
1:00Modern Warfare
1:03True Romance
1:00Home Sweet Home
0:59Trick on Nappy
0:59Marriage Test
0:58Last Reward
1:02Hates Money
0:59Makes a Point
1:00Good Manners
1:02Sight of Terror
1:00Strange Oman
1:03Literary Award
1:01Fainting Pastor
1:00Courages Queen
1:02One Track Mind
1:01Unfacts
1:00Ink Blot Test
1:01Loyal Soldier
1:01Sleepy Head
1:01Odd Way To Live
0:56Wedding Ceremony
1:00When Will He Die
1:02Baby Commander
1:01Strange Vigil
1:04Dress a Harem
1:02Dancing Corpses
1:04Gog Betrays King
1:01Hidden Treasure
1:01Womans Hats
0:59Exploding Casket
1:00Free Criminal
1:01Church Disaster
1:02Prophesy
1:01Unlikely Death
1:02Strange Death
1:03Great Talent
0:59Unusual Purchase
0:56Dream Came True
1:00Two Lives
1:02Killjoy
1:02Choosy Thief
1:01Greatest Lover
1:02Fish Story
1:02Builder of Roads
1:02Act of Courage
1:01Ye Old Sun Inn
1:03Unusual Temple
1:00Singing Sailors
1:03Moon Gate
1:03Funny Election
1:01Town Clock
1:03Man of Letters
1:01Dunder Rock
1:01Preston Hall
1:04Weaponless Duel
1:01Empty Grave
1:03Billy Dixon
1:03King Olaf
1:02Lord Brooks
0:58Kings Reward
1:04Remarkable Woman
1:04Never Bitten
1:01Grave Robber
1:02Inhuman Monarch
0:57Bono the Dwarf
1:03Unusual Pony
1:02Thrifty Nephew
1:02Witch Doctor
1:02Iron Man
1:04Deaths Head Moth
1:04Church Steeple
1:02Cliff Railway
1:03Egyptian Shoe
1:02
Questions about Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
Is Ripley necessarily the voice on every later item?
The brand includes different presentations and narrators.
Should every surprising claim be accepted without checking?
The historical broadcast’s assertion is separate from independent verification.
