Ripley's Museums Announce New World Tour for Fertility Statues

Ripley’s Entertainment Inc. is putting its famed fertility statues back on the road. The company says the statues – which came from Africa's Ivory Coast in 1994 – are linked to more than 2,000 pregnancies.

The phenomenon started in the mid-1990s when 13 staffers and visitors at Ripley’s headquarters conceived children within a few months of the statues’ arrival. Even the UPS delivery woman got pregnant, said Tom O'Brien, the company's vice-president of communications.

The carvings, which depict male and female gods, made three tours of the world. They were retired to the Ripley warehouse in 2001, but were put on display at the company’s Orlando headquarters due to demand.

From Aug. 26 to Oct. 26, the statues will be in the lobby of the Times Square Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Odditorium in New York City. They will also spend a month at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museums in Grand Prairie, Texas and Williamsburg, Va., and will travel to Ripley's Museum in Branson, Mo., for the start of 2009.