So a couple of weeks ago we talked about the Cerne Abbas giant, who is credited with giving Dorset women the highest birth rate in England. If you're trying to conceive and can't make it over to the UK, you might consider a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, instead. It appears that a pair of 5-foot-tall ebony fertility statues at the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium blesses couples with abundance as well. In fact, some 2,000 women claim to have become pregnant after touching the statues.
The statues first arrived at Ripley's headquarters in Orlando in 1993, and several staff members and visitors became pregnant - one assumes unexpectedly. In 1995, the statues began traveling around the world for exhibits, and were retired to a warehouse in 2001. They're now on a new world tour, and have been one of Ripley's most popular attractions.
The statues, reprensenting a king and queen, came from the Ivory Coast of Africa, where they were carved in the 1930s by Baule tribesmen. The king holds a sword and a mango, and the queen holds an infant. The is considered a fertility symbol in parts of Africa. According to legend, the staues are to be placed outside a bedroom door, and couples wishing to conceive should touch them as they enter the room.
The statues will be in Gatlinburg through August 29.
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The statues first arrived at Ripley's headquarters in Orlando in 1993, and several staff members and visitors became pregnant - one assumes unexpectedly. In 1995, the statues began traveling around the world for exhibits, and were retired to a warehouse in 2001. They're now on a new world tour, and have been one of Ripley's most popular attractions.
The statues, reprensenting a king and queen, came from the Ivory Coast of Africa, where they were carved in the 1930s by Baule tribesmen. The king holds a sword and a mango, and the queen holds an infant. The is considered a fertility symbol in parts of Africa. According to legend, the staues are to be placed outside a bedroom door, and couples wishing to conceive should touch them as they enter the room.
The statues will be in Gatlinburg through August 29.
Follow Pagan/Wiccan on Twitter or Join Me On Facebook.
Any idea where they will go next?
I wholeheartedly believe it. After my sister had been trying for 8 years to get pregnant I got her a stone egg, and charged it for fertility. I gave it to her for mothers day and a few months she concieved.