CAVENDISH, P.E.I. — Ripley’s fertility statues are on a world tour and the stop includes Ripley’s Believe It or Not! In Cavendish.
The statues will be on display for the rest of the month.
The statues were carved by the Baule tribe from the Ivory Coast in Africa. According to the tribe’s legend, the statues are placed on either side of a doorway leading to a bedroom and if a woman touches either statue on their way into the room, they will soon conceive.
According to staff at Ripley’s headquarters in Orlando, Fla., and within 13 months, 13 women who had come in contact with the statues had become pregnant, including three staff.
The statues were acquired by Ripley’s in 1993 and have since become one of their more popular exhibits.
“We’ve had several phone calls from around the world asking when the statues will be arriving,’’ said Matthew Jelley, president of Maritime Fun Group P.E.I., the group that operates Ripley’s in Cavendish. “We’ve had a call from a woman who is living in the United States but the Ivory Coast originally and wanted to see the statues.’’
Ripley’s in Cavendish will donate one dollar from every admission sold in July to the Prince County Hospital’s maternal child care unit.
