Somewhere between Tucson and the New Mexico border, the Arizona desert starts talking to you — through bright yellow billboards that repeat one cryptic question mile after mile: What is The Thing? This Arizona roadside attraction is extensively advertised by signs along Interstate 10 between El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Arizona, and whether you’ve driven past those signs once or a hundred times, curiosity always wins. This is the kind of place that defines American road trip culture — equal parts mystery, nostalgia, and wonderfully strange fun.
Known as the “mystery of the desert,” The Thing Museum offers an unusual blend of myth, history, and the explanation of extraterrestrial life. It’s a stop that raises far more questions than it answers, and somehow, that’s exactly the point.
The Story Behind the Mystery
The Thing was purchased by former lawyer Thomas Binkley Prince in the mid-twentieth century, who quickly based a tourist attraction on the strange object. His wife’s story of how they came to own The Thing is simple: a mysterious man passing through town sold them the figures for $50. That $50 investment would eventually become one of the most talked-about roadside curiosities in the American Southwest.
The expansion of the road into an interstate highway brought about the loss of Prince’s original California building, and in 1965 the Prince family packed up The Thing and moved to the current location in Arizona. Prince chose the location to be near Texas Canyon, a site that he had become “enchanted” with. Although Prince died in 1969, the attraction was run by his wife Janet for many years, and today the site is under the ownership of Bowlin Travel Centers, Inc.
What’s Inside: Aliens, Dinosaurs & the Thing Itself
The attraction, now completely enclosed in a temperature-friendly building, takes tourists from the Cretaceous Period to the present day, threading through a series of exhibits that follow two factions of space aliens as they battle for control of Earth. It’s an immersive, room-to-room experience that builds suspense as you go deeper in — and it’s genuinely hard not to get swept up in the wild, conspiratorial story being told.
A Conspiracy Wall — linking the aliens to everything from Stonehenge to JFK’s assassination — evokes memories of the kind of fringe history displays that have long captured the public imagination. As one of the museum’s operators explained, “The whole point of the museum is the ‘What if?’ — What if aliens exist? What if they had been around throughout our entire history?” It’s a playful, open-ended framework that invites you to believe as much or as little as you want.
Care was taken to preserve and reuse many of Thomas Binkley Prince’s original relics. As one of the designers put it, they wanted to incorporate as much of the original attraction as possible — and while the Hitler dummy didn’t make the cut, the Rolls-Royce did. They reimagined it as a vehicle transporting Winston Churchill instead, which, as they said, “works even better.”
Many believe that the mummy-like objects at the heart of the exhibit are the work of famed sideshow hoaxster Homer Tate, although other stories claim they are actually the bodies of a mother and child who died in a violent shoot-out or starved to death in the desert. Ultimately, The Thing has never really been about the thing itself — it’s all about the question. What it is and whether or not you buy the story or invent your own will always be up to you.
The Billboards: A Marketing Legend
RoadsideAmerica.com claims that over 247 billboards, spread out over a span of 200 miles, advertise the attraction. That’s not a typo. The sheer scale of the billboard campaign is a spectacle in its own right, and it’s become just as iconic as the attraction itself. When Lady Bird Johnson joined the Keep America Beautiful Campaign during the 1960s, many billboards across the country were torn down — and yet, The Thing’s signature roadside campaigning still thrives to this day.
Due to The Thing’s popularity, it has appeared in many books, such as Doug Kirby’s New Roadside America (1992) and Weird Arizona (2007), and it once was featured in a Jane Pauley television special on NBC. For a little stop in the middle of the Arizona desert, that’s a remarkable cultural footprint.
The Gift Shop & Amenities
In addition to the main exhibits, The Thing also includes a gift shop filled with alien-themed memorabilia, unique souvenirs, and authentic Mexican pottery. This shop adds to the experiential component, allowing visitors to take a piece of their adventure home with them — and whether you’re buying a trinket for yourself or a fun gift for someone else, the variety of items is sure to please a range of tastes.
The Thing is actually part of a larger rest stop that also has a Shell gas station and a Dairy Queen, making it a practical and entertaining place to refuel — in every sense of the word. It’s a genuinely convenient exit whether you need gas, a Blizzard, or a dose of the bizarre.
Atmosphere & Setting
In the summer of 2018, Bowlin Travel Centers doubled the size of the store and constructed a brand new museum to house many of the original curiosities. Gone are the old open-air sheds that let in the desert heat. The new building is climate-controlled and thoughtfully laid out, making the walk-through experience far more comfortable — and far more dramatic — than it ever was before.
Today the attraction is so much more than it was, with dioramas and displays that explore the possibility of aliens landing and whether there was extraterrestrial influence on the disappearance of the dinosaurs. The visual quality of the exhibits leans into a serious, detailed aesthetic that makes the whole ridiculous premise feel oddly convincing. Visitors often remark on its nostalgic charm and whimsical displays that appeal to both the young and the young-at-heart.
The location itself adds to the mood. Perched near the dramatic boulder formations of Texas Canyon in southeastern Arizona, the surrounding landscape is stark, remote, and quietly spectacular — the perfect backdrop for a place built around unanswered questions.
Other Considerations
So what does it cost to get in? Adult admission is $5.00, and a family ticket is $10.00. For what you get — a fully produced walk-through museum experience, access to the gift shop, and a story you’ll be talking about for the rest of the drive — it’s a genuinely affordable stop. It’s worth carrying cash, as card payment isn’t always guaranteed.
Is this a good stop for kids? Absolutely. Travelers of all ages, but especially kids, will be interested in the signs long before you even arrive. Once inside, the alien and dinosaur themes give younger visitors plenty to engage with. There are no screens, videos, or voice-overs — to fully get into the storyline, visitors have to read the placards. So if reading a long story shared on walls isn’t your thing, this stop may not be for you. But if you or your kids like aliens, dinosaurs, or a good sci-fi plot, The Thing is a great fit.
Is it actually worth stopping? That debate is part of the charm. Some visitors feel the reveal at the end is intentionally anticlimactic, and that’s a fair critique — stopping by to see The Thing certainly doesn’t answer many questions; if anything, it raises more. But for most people, that’s precisely why it works. The experience is about the journey through the museum, the conspiracy theories, the strange artifacts, and the shared bewilderment — not just the final exhibit.
When should I visit, and how long does it take? The Thing is open every day from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, making it easy to fit into any road trip schedule. Most visitors spend between 20 and 45 minutes inside, which makes it a perfect leg-stretching break on a long drive between Tucson and El Paso.
Where exactly is it, and is parking easy? The Thing is in Dragoon, Arizona, off I-10 at exit 322, near Texas Canyon. Parking is plentiful and free, and the exit is well-marked — though honestly, after 200 miles of billboard buildup, you’d have to actively try to miss it.
The Thing (Bowlin’s The Thing Museum)
📍 2631 N Johnson Rd, Dragoon, AZ 85609
Website: https://www.bowlinsthething.com
