Yasutarō Mitsui [安太郎三井], Steel Humanoid [スチールヒューマノイド]; the first known Japanese robot in humanoid form, Tokyo, 1932.
Robert Ripley presenting 'Atta Boy' in to the press in 1933. Part of the mystery of Atta Boy is whether or not he was a shrunken human or a mummified fetus. The origins of this artifact are not known and after the 1930s, he vanished into obscurity -- or into someone's private collection. "As far as I know, regarding Atta Boy, Ripley didn't leave behind any specific notes about where he obtained it or the background of the body of the boy -- it's a bit of a mystery. I know that Ripley portrayed Atta Boy as a real human as opposed to an alien. He believed that it was an actual miniature mummified human." "It appears to me to be a mummified fetus as opposed to a shrunken body," ...said Edward Meyer, Ripley's vice president of exhibits and archives. "Having seen actual shrunken bodies, it looks very, very different."
#Ripley's Believe It or Not!#Robert Ripley#South American Indian#magictransistor#had been shrunk#a Bolivian boy who had been shrunk#hand is seen holding#Atta Boy.#holding an unusual humanoid#acquiring#displaying oddities#Famed entrepreneur#humanoid#dubbed Atta Boy#South America#where he reportedly originated#cartoons#radio shows#museums#shrunken heads#Jivaro Indians#the Shuar
magictransistor reblogged
Illustration of a Waq-Waq Tree from the ‘Kitāb Gharāʾib al-funūn wa-mulaḥ al-ʿuyūn’ / The Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels for the Eyes, Egypt late 12th or early 13th century. The Waq Waq are said to be mythical lands, associated with trees bearing humanoid fruits, which were sometimes located in Africa and sometimes in the eastern Indian Ocean.
