the rix mix

NEW YORK — Late summer visitors to Manhattan's Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium be advised: The museum's newest exhibit famously favors those yearning to be creative—procreative, that is.

According to Ripley's, some 2,000 women reported pregnancies after touching its pair of ebony West African fertility figures. Acquired in 1993, the 5-foot totems did three world tours before returning to Ripley's Orlando headquarters in 2001, where they drew pilgrims. The nude king and queen figures, carved by the Baule people of Ivory Coast, kick off a new three-year circuit on Aug. 26 in Times Square.

Apparently hands that long to rock a cradle have so worn down the statues that one of the queen's breasts shows signs of wear and the king's male organ is about "2 inches less in diameter than it used to be when we got it," according to Tim O'Brien, Ripley's vice president of communications.

Visitors can touch the statues, the most popular exhibit in Ripley's history, for free, he said.

I had a small fertility figure from an African woodcarver who used to set up at a local mall. After awhile I decided I didn't like it & gave it to a friend. She had a larger collection of exotic objects & it could gather dust on a shelf in her house. She was nearly 40, recently married, & not trying to become pregnant. Apparently she wasn't not trying enough. A few months after she received the statue, she was with child, like they say.

She's been a great mom. I think she's always considered me & the carving somehow involved. Her husband wouldn't agree.

Labels: sex