Wisconsin in new Ripley's book, believe it or not

In 2016, from the world of politics to the Chicago Cubs, it's getting harder to believe what's hard to believe.

Not for the folks at Ripley Entertainment. Since 1919 — 11 years after the last time the Cubs actually won a World Series — "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" has been touting strange-but-true factoids in every medium possible, from newspaper cartoons to the franchise's Odditorium museum attractions, including one in Wisconsin Dells.

But for generations of fans of goofy stuff, the "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" books have been the quickest gateway to the world of weird, with potpourri-style collections of bizarre doings and trivia designed to amaze, distract and result in much shaking of heads in disbelief.

The latest "Ripley's" edition is called "Unlock the Weird!" (Ripley Publishing, $28.95). To longtime "Ripley's" fans, the exclamation marks are no surprise.

It also should come as no surprise that "Unlock the Weird!" found a number of offbeat moments to unlock in Wisconsin.

Ripley's news of the weird has more competition these days. Pictures of people with offbeat pastimes and animals doing crazy things — like a weasel hitching a ride on a woodpecker, as shown in "Unlock the Weird!" — have become staples of social media newsfeeds. The visual oddities that used to be the exclusive terrain of Ripley's now dominate Facebook and YouTube.

Some of the made-in-Wisconsin moments in "Unlock the Weird!" have already had their brief moment in the viral sun, too.

Like the 2015 story about a 92-year-old driver who managed to crash into 10 vehicles while backing out of a Piggly Wiggly parking lot in Mayville. (No one was injured, Ripley's notes; the Journal Sentinel later reported that no charges were filed in the incident.) The story's title in "Unlock the Weird!": "Reversing Chaos."

Or the story of Elsa, a 5-month-old terrier that "gnawed off her own leg to free herself after becoming tangled in a curtain cord at her home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin," in Ripley's words. Elsa's tale got a lot of attention on Milwaukee TV at the time (December 2014), in part because the puppy had been left home alone for two days — and the puppy found a new home in the new year. The item's headline in the book is classic Ripley's, curt and shocking: "Chewed Leg."

Speaking of animal oddities — a core part of any Ripley's ensemble — "Unlock the Weird!" includes notice of Toystory, a bull in Sauk City truly outstanding in his, um, field. The bull, Ripley's notes, "sired an estimated 500,000 offspring in more than 50 countries" — although the "Believe It or Not!" folks don't mention that that was via artificial insemination, or that the bull died in November 2013. Toystory was already a rock star, having garnered obituaries in major publications including The Wall Street Journal (“He was a dream bull,” Jan Hessel Bierma, editor in chief of dairy-breeding magazine Holstein International, told the national business newspaper).

Not all of the Wisconsin angles in "Unlock the Weird!" are necessarily weird. Some are poignant. Under the heading "Sunflower Tribute," the Ripley's folks noted the story of farmer Don Jaquish, who with his family planted more than 5 million sunflowers along a 4½-mile stretch of Highway 85 southwest of Eau Claire in tribute to his wife,Babbette, who died of cancer in November 2014.

But there's also a share of bigger-than-life wackiness. "Krispie Colossus" shares one of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's biggest triumphs: A group of students set a world record by making the world's largest Rice Krispie treat. The stats: 11,327 pounds, 6½ feet tall, and measuring 10 feet by 10 feet. (The treat was later chopped into smaller, more consumable chunks and sold, with the proceeds going to Madison charities.)