There’s a criminal element hanging out in the middle of the Ripley’s attraction on Orlando’s International Drive.

The walk-through museum has installed exhibits collectively known as “True Crime: Blood, Lies and Alibis.” The limited-time displays mix cold, hard facts and trivia with comedy and lighthearted matter. How else to explain a wall that features O.J. Simpson, Judge Judy and Scooby-Doo?

There are jumping-off points for serious matters, as well, with physical displays that present Charles Manson’s prison shirt — which he signed — and furniture used by Lee Harvey Oswald at opposite ends of the room. Nearby is a pistol owned by outlaw Jesse James. (“He once shot the tip off his own finger … on purpose!” reads the Ripley’s display.)

This is content-rich territory, some of it delivered in the traditional quippy style of Ripley’s cartoons that may make you ask, “Really?” One wall states “The inventor of the polygraph machine married the first person he interrogated.” Really?

Modern animation is used as a backdrop in the Oswald corner, which includes the notion that the displayed items might have been used, passively, in planning the shooting of President John F. Kennedy. There’s a bill of sale for the furniture signed by the owner of Oswald’s boarding house in Dallas. On display is a section of fence from the famed grassy knoll where the assassination took place, plus the not-so-fun fact that Kennedy, Oswald and Jack Ruby — who killed Oswald — all died at the same hospital.

There are other modern touches in the exhibit, including a touch-screen game to guess which choice is a real law in each U.S. state and more animation in the form of digital mug shots that banter. Pablo Escobar, Al Capone, and Bonnie and Clyde are presented a la the talking portraits in Hogwarts Castle at Universal Islands of Adventure.

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Perhaps for crime-and-punishment balance, displays include crime-fighting facts about the Secret Service as well as “America’s Most Wanted,” true-crime podcasts and a 1957 cold case revived by TikTok creators.

Yet there are “breaking news” displays reliving “crimes that swept the nation.” Think Michael Jackson, JonBenet Ramsey, the Menendez brothers and Jeffrey Epstein. Florida is represented here by Casey Anthony and Joe Exotic (aka “The Tiger King”). The nearby serial killer section includes Ted Bundy and Aileen Wuornos, both put to death by the state of Florida.

It’s … a lot. Certainly, true crime has its devotees and is worth exploration. But anything related to the electric chair — a back panel of one is showcased in the exhibit — kind of triggers me. Happily, the traffic flow of Ripley’s allows quick escapes to the rest of the attraction and its two-headed animals, Egyptian relics, outer space trivia and Florida-related follies. In the lobby I learned how much juice you’d get out of me if I were an orange. Believe it.

POSTSCRIPT: A bit of research about the polygraph inventor reveals that William Moulton Marston also was a psychologist/author/comic book writer. His wife Elizabeth may have been the inspiration for Wonder Woman. Merciful Minerva! (But it’s even more complicated than that, so we salute Ripley’s boiling-down skills.)

Looking back at Audubon, Cypress Gardens

Made a double-dip trip to Orange County Regional History Center last week.

First up was “125 Years of Audubon in Florida,” a pocket exhibit on the ground level. It has about 20 blurbs and photos that cover a lot of territory including conservation, the Everglades, roseate spoonbills and bald eagles. True crime alert: There’s also info about two murders tied to “wading bird poachers” in 1905 and 1908.

In the small display case are items such as a great egret plume, tracking bands and an early 1900s feathered hat.

The exhibit remains in place through Feb. 8.

Round two at the downtown Orlando museum was a Lunch & Learn session about Cypress Gardens, the Winter Haven attraction that operated from 1936 to 2009. The land has been the home of Legoland Florida since 2011.

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Jeremy Hileman, assistant curator of collections, led the sessions and I had several takeaways.

• Although Dick Pope Sr. was the public face of Cypress Gardens at first, don’t undervalue Julie Pope, his wife. She was instrumental for her botanical knowledge as well as for launching the famed ski shows (partially to entertain military members) and Southern Belle motif.

• Once upon a time, you could take a bus tour from the San Juan Hotel in downtown Orlando to Cypress Gardens and nearby Bok Tower in Lake Wales. Things were different then. A Cypress Gardens ad that Hileman displayed included the phrase “An hour you will never forget.”

• It was a big deal when “Easy to Love,” a movie starring swimming sensation Esther Williams, filmed there in the 1950s. That led to creation of the 90-foot Florida-shaped pool that’s still on the Legoland property.

• It was also a big deal when Johnny Carson did a one-hour TV special called “Johnny Carson Discovers Cypress Gardens” that aired on NBC. It’s mostly lost to the ages, but it drew an audience of 88 million viewers.

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