If you want to learn about a situation , you could always pick up a textbook . But if you want to get to know a position , you ’re going to have to dig a little rich . And what you find there might be a minuscule foreign . The Strange States series will take you on a virtual tour of America to uncover the unusual people , places , thing , and upshot that make this country such a singular place to call home . See all unknown States entrieshere .
Our next strange stop is the Grand Canyon / Copper United States Department of State , Arizona .
What is…The Thing?
Wikimedia Commons
necessitate anyone who ’s get I-10 between New Mexico and Arizona , and they ’ll testify to the sheer number of billboards shoot a line , “ The Thing ? Mystery of the Desert ” off Exit 322 near Dragoon , Arizona . The wayside attraction / gift shop / gas post has been open there since 1965 , and for a mere $ 1 , you may check out three machine sheds filled with oddities and curiosities from mean solar day gone by . For example , a 1937 Rolls Royce that was ( mayhap ) owned by Hitler , a chair ( allegedly ) built in China circa 1467 , rifle ( purportedly ) made in Spain around 1680 , as well as all the Thing?-branded souvenirs you never make out you needed until now .
The Thing ? mummies are believed to be the work of artist Homer Tate . Born in Texas in 1884 , his family move around the Southwest in the former part of the 20th century , giving Tate the opportunity to hold a smorgasbord of careers , such as a mineworker , a farmer , and even a county sheriff in Oklahoma during Prohibition . But in 1945 , he bring in Apache Junction , Arizona to open a roadside attractor , Tate ’s Curiosity Shop . His museum of crotchet was populated wall - to - bulwark with wizened head , petrified pigmy Wolfboys and Devilmen , the preserved cadaver of mermaid , and a “ bamboozle bat , a bird that take flight rearward to keep the dust out of its eyes . ” But even in his own words , they were all baloney — and he should jazz , because he created them with his own two hands . His sculpture were made of a motley of found object , but mostly older newspaper and wadded - up can paper , Equus caballus glue , fauna bones , and clippings from the floor of the local beauty parlor , and sully with a wide range of mountains of colored horseshoe polishes . Tate even sell his manufactured oddment in a mail service order catalog to provide a “ gaff ” ( fake attraction ) for aspiring roadside cheap-jack .
According to a 2002 interview with Tate ’s grandson , Shad Kvetko , forShocked and Amazed Magazine , Tate was forced to close up shop class in the late-1950s or early ' LX under dubious circumstances . The family line is hesitating to let the cat out of the bag about exactly what go on , but patently there was some bother with the law , and Tate ’s shop was shut down by his children , who most likely discombobulate his collection into the local landfill . Tate live until 1975 , die at the age of 90 . Today , a gen - u - ine Tate monstrosity fetches top dollar on the sideshow collectors ' marketplace .
The Titan Missile Museum
Titan Missile Museum
Over the class of the Cold War , there were 54 Titan II ICBM ( Intercontinental Ballistic Missile ) silo in the United States , each capable of launching a 9 - megaton atomic warhead in less than a arcminute , strike a strategical fair game as far as 6300 miles away . gratefully , no launching command was ever release before the last silo was keep out down in 1987 . Although this atomic standoff might be over , there are still crucial deterrent example to be learned from the earned run average that brought us so close to mutual assured destruction .
help to impart those lessons is the mission of the Titan Missile Museum in Sahuarita , Arizona , the only nuclear missile silo in the human beings that ’s open to the public . The facility , officially know as complex 571 - 7 , was the big silo in the U.S. until it was decommission in 1982 . The base feature living quarters for a four - homo crew that would have been on - site and at the quick 24/7 , as well as the communications and establish restraint centers , all hide 35 base below the Arizona desert . The equipment is a prison term ejection seat of Cold War technology , complete with dial , gauges , on-off switch switches , and the two - key launch system that has become famous thanks to television and picture . But the highlight of the museum is the full - sized Titan II psychometric test Eruca sativa hold in the missile silo that reaches over 150 feet underground .
The museum is candid every daytime of the yr except Christmas and Thanksgiving , and offers a motley of different touring option . The most rough-cut is the hour - tenacious tour , which gives visitor the chance to see the launching center , and view the dummy missile from the top grade of the silo . There ’s also the the Titan Top - to - Bottom Tour , an extensive , 5 - hour journey through the total coordination compound , including all eight levels of the silo , the crew quarters , and the communication center . But the ultimate adventure is a Cold War slumber party , where up to four guests can appease in the silo overnight to see what animation was like for the gang . No matter what tour you take , though , you ’ll witness a simulated missile launch , complete with secret codes , interconnected turning of launching keys , and a countdown to nuclear annihilation . sound like a blast !
If you ’d wish to check out the Titan Missile Museum , school principal over to thewebsitefor more detail .
Have the scoop on an unusual someone , place or result in your state ? Tell me about it on Twitter ( @spacemonkeyx ) and perchance I ’ll let in it in a future variant of Strange States ! See all Strange States entrieshere .
