The Strange Ottomans in Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

By Jirair Tutunjian

Before the TV shows, the aquariums, and the museums, the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! franchise was famous for its comic strips and pocket books. The heyday of Ripley’s delightful pocket books were the ‘50s, the ‘60s and the ‘70s. The slim volumes included everything bizarre under the sun. For some reason most of the items about Turkey were about its rulers. These rulers were invariably condemned and mocked often for their cruelty and ignorance. Below is a bouquet of some of the items from 1954 to 1979.

1954: Sultan Mustapha III of Turkey (1717-1774) was the father of 582 sons—but never had a daughter. Voltaire referred to the sultan as “The Great Pig Mustapha.”

Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876-1909) had only 500 children (an approximate figure), but he rates mention principally because he accumulated 30,000 wives.

1963: Officers in the Turkish Navy were required to wear on their hats miniature wooden replicas of their warships.

1969: Mustapha, the Turkish commander-in-chief captured in the battle of Belgorad, Moldava, in 1754, was executed as ransom for his life was his weight in diamonds, twice his weight in gold or three times his weight in silver.

Sultan Osman III was the ruler of Turkey from 1754 to 1757. Having fallen into a trance was mistaken for death, was lying in his grave when he suddenly stirred. Grand Vizier Raghib Pasha aware that the sultan had executed five previous grand viziers and six of their assistants in two years ordered the grave-diggers to bury the sultan alive.

Mohammed Sokolli (1503—1579) grand vizier of Muslim Turkey had a brother who was the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

1972: The Butcher Ahmad Pasha, who ruled Syria from 1780 to 1804, suspecting that one of his 37 wives had been unfaithful had all 37 of them cremated together.

Mohammed II, Sultan of Turkey from 1451 to 1481, was guilty of the most sadistic practical joke on record. One day while he was at table he was called away before the watermelon was served. When he returned, a large juicy watermelon was gone. Fourteen of the imperial pages attending the Sultan were severely questioned but they denied the larceny. Thereupon the Sultan summoned his surgeon and ordered him to open the stomach of each servant. There was no trace of watermelon in any of them. The Sultan made his apologies with nonchalance that taxes belief.

1974: Niuman Koproli was one of the most famous grand viziers in Turkish history. He became convinced that he had a fly buzzing inside his nose. Dr. Leduc of France palmed a dead fly, told the grand vizier it had been removed by surgery—and Koproli never again was troubled by his strange malady.

1975: Admiral Gazi Hassan Pasha (1727-1789). When called before a government committee to explain his demands for increased funds for his fleet, always brought along a ferocious-looking lion. The commissioners quickly granted his request with a minimum delay.

The Sentimental Slayer. Ali Pasha (1741-1822) of Janina boasted that in his 40 years as a ruler he had murdered 30,000 men women, and children—yet he always wept and asked forgiveness when he picked a flower.

Sultan Mahmud II (1785-1839) of Turkey to save his own life during an army rebellion killed his brother’s four wives—each of whom was carrying a future heir to the throne. The rebellion ended because there was no member of the imperial family to succeed Mahmud.

1976: Sultana Lerkhann, the wife of Sultan Ibrahim of Turkey, aware that the life of her infant child, Mohammed, was threatened by his own grandmother, slept in a chair with her eyes always open for seven years! She was able to drop her pose of vigilance in 1648 when the child ascended the throne at the age of seven as Mohammed IV.

Armenians had fewer mentions than the Turks, but Ripley’s Believe or Not! was kinder to them.

1954: The King of Kings Tigranes II of Armenia used 24 kings as his servants!

1972: The Cathedral of Etchmiadzin (Armenia) erected in 303 by King Tiridates and still standing after 1,667 years was the first structure to be tipped by a cross.

1975: The man who was killed for his own good! Kheomurjian Gomidas the Armenian author was found innocent of a charge of high treason on Oct. 25, 1707 by a Turkish court, but to save him from assassination by political foes he was sentenced to be decapitated.