<P> Ripley's Believe It or Not! is an American franchise, founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims . Originally a newspaper panel, the Believe It or Not feature proved popular and was later adapted into a wide variety of formats, including radio, television, comic books, a chain of museums, and a book series . </P> <P> The Ripley collection includes 20,000 photographs, 30,000 artifacts and more than 100,000 cartoon panels . With 80 - plus attractions, the Orlando - based Ripley Entertainment, Inc., a division of the Jim Pattison Group, is a global company with an annual attendance of more than 12 million guests . Ripley Entertainment's publishing and broadcast divisions oversee numerous projects, including the syndicated TV series, the newspaper cartoon panel, books, posters, and games . </P> <P> Ripley first called his cartoon feature, originally involving sports feats, Champs and Chumps, and it premiered on December 19, 1918, in the New York Globe . Ripley began adding items unrelated to sports, and in October 1919, he changed the title to Believe It or Not . When the Globe folded in 1923, Ripley moved to the New York Evening Post . That same year, Ripley hired Norbert Pearlroth as his researcher, and Pearlroth spent the next 52 years of his life in the New York Public Library, working ten hours a day and six days a week in order to find unusual facts for Ripley . </P> <P> Other writers and researchers included Lester Byck . In 1930, Ripley moved to the New York American and was picked up by the King Features Syndicate, being quickly syndicated on an international basis . </P>

When did ripley believe it or not start