Arizona's 'Mystery In The Desert' Is A Kitschy Roadside Stop With A Huge Gift Shop, Exhibits, And Aliens

The Southwest is home to some weird stuff. In New Mexico, you've got Roswell, a quirky town with UFO museums and outlandish landmarks. In Nevada, you'll find perhaps the most iconic alien destination at the gateway to Area 51. And in Arizona, the "Mystery of the Desert" is no different, serving up alien gift shop kitsch on a silver roadside platter.

The Thing (aka the "Mystery of the Desert") is Arizona's freakiest roadside attraction. Located in Benson, Arizona, right outside of Tucson, it's a popular destination that pulls in visitors heading in and out of the city, enticed by promises of oddities and "high strangeness" (per onlyinyourstate.com). If you're traveling on Interstate 10 in southern Arizona, it's located at exit 322 — but the site will be impossible to miss. Blue and yellow billboards leading up to the rest stop alert you that... The Thing? It's unclear what The Thing is, though, unless you step inside, which is part of this roadside stop's appeal. Some signs leading up to an attraction are normal highway fare; however, signs for The Thing stretch on for miles, running in both directions from Tucson to Texas and California.

Billboards give no more context than "The Thing?" and how many miles until you'll pass it. This is both unsettling and intriguing and brings visitors into its expanded gas station/gift shop set-up every day. In the Texas Canyon of Arizona (which, yes, is innately confusing if you're not from the area), you'll find what looks like a gift shop in a gas station parking lot, with the familiar blue and yellow sign painted over the top. Surrounded by the empty expanse of the Arizona desert on all sides, this place feels as eerie as its advertising, making it a great place to stop if you're seeking some good old-fashioned southwestern weirdness.

Calling your attraction "The Thing" is intentionally unspecific, but what did you expect? The stop is considered to be one of the weirdest in Arizona and has been around since the 1950s. Renovated in 2018, the exhibit is now massive at 12,000 square feet. And that's saying something. Upon entering, you'll be greeted with a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle quote: "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth," which sets the tone for what you're about to experience.

The roadside attraction is primarily a museum that you wander through and take in the absurdity that is alien tourism. To enter the museum, you do have to pay a small entry fee ($5 per person or $10 per family at the time of this writing), but it's an experience worth it if you're into kitsch or doing a Southwest road trip (spoiler alert: you may see a lot of alien-themed rest stops out there). Inside the museum, you'll find a long tale about aliens and dinosaurs and aliens riding dinosaurs, complete with statues to really paint a picture. If you do go inside, be sure to take your time and read all of the plaques, as they do try to weave together a complete story. If you're making your way to Texas after visiting this attraction, there is a state park that boasts real dinosaur footprints. But, of course, the dinosaurs at The Thing are real, too.

In addition to the museum, in the new, renovated complex, you'll also find a gift shop, where you can probably buy a little green guy of your very own; a Dairy Queen in case you've worked up an appetite for something cold and sweet by now; and gas pumps so you can fuel up before heading off on the road again. If you do end up finding The Thing at the end of the tour — some desert-baked, mummified human remains (or their likeness) rather than proof of extraterrestrial life — the mystery may be worth it. But remember, The Thing is more about the journey than the destination.