Ripley is a city in Tippah County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,395 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Tippah County. Colonel William Clark Falkner, great-grandfather of authors William Faulkner and John Faulkner, was a prominent resident of Ripley in the mid to late-19th century. W.C. Falkner's exploits in and around Ripley served as the model for Faulkner's character of Colonel John Sartoris.