This March, oddity enthusiasts around the world joined Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for a wild ride through March Strangeness—a head-to-head bracket of our most bizarre, mind-blowing, and totally unbelievable artifacts. Thousands of votes later, it all came down to four unbelievable finalists... and one ultimate champion.
Let’s dive into the Final Four!
Dark history made its mark with this unnerving entry. At Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Gatlinburg, you can get up close with the actual fingerprints of cult leader Charles Manson!
The prints were taken from his Folsom State Prison booking card and signed by Manson himself. A chilling reminder that truth is often stranger (and scarier) than fiction.
Equal parts eerie and sacred, this drum was crafted from a real human skull and used in Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies to drive away evil spirits.
Its haunting look struck a chord with voters, earning it a spot in the Final Four. Looking to take a deeper dive into the history of the Tibetan skull drum? Click here !
Meet Chamouni, "The Incombustible Man," who turned up the heat—literally.
This performer would climb into an oven with a raw leg of mutton and roast alongside it until the meat was fully cooked. It’s the kind of act that leaves you speechless (and sweating). However, even this red-hot oddity couldn’t survive the final round.
Fans voted, and the strangest of them all is the Shrunken Torso—one of only six in the world and formerly owned by Ernest Hemingway himself.
With its rare, creepy history and head-turning appearance, this torso beat out fierce competition to earn its rightful place as the Weirdest Wonder in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Gatlinburg.
Come face-to-glass with the Shrunken Torso and explore a world of the weird at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Gatlinburg —where truth is often stranger than fiction.
