ORLANDO, Fla. — Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is known for its large collection of strange and odd artifacts.

And to ring in the new year, the Orlando attraction will drop one of its newest additions — the world's largest ball of human hair.

The giant hairball dubbed “Hoss” will be lowered during a New Year’s Eve countdown.

Ripley’s allowed Spectrum News inside its massive Orlando warehouse where Hoss and other items in its collection are being stored.

In preparation for the live countdown, the team has been testing the drop using a crane.

Hoss has an interesting history. Several years in the making, the hairball was originally created by Ohio stylist Steve Warden.

In 2019, it hit a milestone when it reached 100 pounds. Most recently, Hoss was put on display at the Orange County Convention Center during the IAAPA Expo in November.

Convention attendees were asked to contribute hair to the ball as part of Ripley’s Shave the Beard and Make it Weird campaign as the company attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the largest ball of human hair ever created. It did, by the way, by more than 55 pounds.

The campaign wasn’t just about breaking records, it was also about helping Give Kids The World Village, a nonprofit known for providing free wish vacations to critically-ill children and their families. The campaign helped raise more than $34,000 for Give Kids the World.

Since then Hoss has continued to grow. Sitting in the warehouse, waiting for its New Year’s Eve moment, Hoss now weighs more than 225 pounds. It’s the culmination of thousands of hair contributions throughout the years — with a bulk of the hair collected from Floyd's 99 Barbershop locations across Central Florida.

As the hairball grew in size, it presented some challenges.

Sabrina Sieck, Ripley’s creative content manager, said it took some creativity and some science to keep Hoss together.

“We had to give him a little more structural integrity,” she said.

Hoss will join an exclusive club of weird New Year’s Eve drops in other parts of the country.

In Tallapossa, Ga., a taxidermy possum surrounded by holiday lights is dropped, In Eastover, N.C., residents have a tradition of dropping a 30-pound ceramic flea named Jasper.

Ripley’s plans to live-stream the New Year’s Eve hairball drop on its Facebook page on Dec. 31. The broadcast will begin just before 12 a.m. EST.