Believe It or Not!

Some things you must see to believe, and the art of microsculptor Willard Wigan is no exception. Now open for a limited time, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in Branson invites you to take some time to enjoy the little things – the really little things, the size of an eyelash or even smaller.

“In this all-new, limited engagement exhibit, visitors will get up-close with sculptures so small they fit in the eye of a needle and on the head of a pin,” said John Dixon, general manager of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in Branson.

“And when we say up-close, we mean it. To view Wigan’s unbelievable art, you must look through a microscope that can zoom in at least 400 times.”

British artist Willard Wigan has made a big name for himself by focusing on the small things. Taking between three and eight weeks to complete, each microsculpture is crafted between Wigan’s heartbeats to avoid even the slightest mistake. At Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, visitors can see if they have what it takes to remain as cool, calm and collected as Willard Wigan through interactive activities.

Wigan’s creativity goes beyond his art – he constructs his own tiny tools, such as a shard of diamond attached to a pin for cutting and a paintbrush plucked from his own hair. And, believe it or not, the ropes and strings seen in his work are made of spider webs.

The exhibit is a good example of how of how Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is changing the idea that museums are just a place where you go on a class field trip to see musty, old relics from the past.

“Yes, we have a lot of educational artifacts that are interesting and fun,” Dixon said. “But we also have lots of really cool artwork, like an 18-foot-tall tyrannosaurus rex made out of Pop Tart wrappers, and the world’s largest roll of toilet paper.”

Sound like fun? It gets better. The museum also features other fun exhibits like a huge Lite Brite wall and a giant, life-size game of Operation.

“We have all kinds of cool, interactive things,” Dixon said. “And there’s something at the end of your tour through the museum that I won’t give away, but it’s a spinning tunnel kids absolutely love.”

Of course, there are traditional museum displays, too. Check out their collection of shrunken heads. And if you like dinosaurs, you won’t be disappointed. The strange and unusual exhibits are all part of the legacy of the man who started it all over 100 years ago.

Robert Ripley was born in 1890. When he grew up, he traveled the world as an amateur explorer. In 1918, he began writing a comic strip called Ripley’s Believe It or Not! that featured the unusual facts and stories he had gathered during his travels. The comic strip had over 80 million readers at one point and is still published today.

The comic strip was later turned into a radio show and then a TV show. Today, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museums can be enjoyed around the country, still bringing those strange facts and unbelievable stories that Robert Ripley brought to light a century ago.

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in Branson is fun and educational for the whole family. You can enjoy eight galleries that feature an ever-changing collection of over 450 unique artifacts, unbelievable art, crazy illusions and wacky interactives.

Come and spend as long as you want on your self-guided tour that is sure to be sensational fun for the entire family, then ask yourself if you “Believe It or Not!”