Ripley is often referred to as the Modern Day Marco Polo, why?
Because he traveled to far away exotic lands. He especially loved the Asian countries. During his travels, from the mid-teens through the mid-1940s, Ripley visited more than 200 countries. To prove that the things he was writing about were true, he would often bring back hundreds of items from his travels. In the pre-television days, he felt having the genuine article would be the best proof of his outrageous, but absolutely true claims. Today, those exotic treasures form the heart of the greatest collection of oddities ever assembled.
