New Delhi: In the Ripley Entertainment's head office in Orlando, Florida, are two five feet tall wooden statues acquired from the Baule people of Ivory Coast in Africa. Within a year of going on display, 13 office staff and visitors became pregnant, claims Ripley's website.
So far, more than 2,000 women have reported that they became pregnant shortly after touching the wooden fertility statues.
Many of them had been told by doctors they would never be able to conceive.
Some are very serious about touching the statues, believing in their powers to help them conceive.
Others want to avoid touching the fertlity statues - for the very same reason.
The idea of fertility statues appear in a variety of cultures. Fertility statues serve both as a tribute to whatever fertility gods that the locals believe in, as well as often a mystical totem which helps the women of a given tribe to conceive and bear healthy children.
