What is The Thing?
What is The Thing in the Arizona desert and should you visit?
If you’re on Highway 10 between Tucson, Arizona and El Paso, Texas you can’t miss the signs. The Thing. For hundreds of miles across three states the signs, with their drippy typeface and eerie message, ask if you’ve seen it? The Thing.
What is it?
Well, that’s the mystery, isn't it?
The signs are inviting and mysterious and go on for hundreds of miles. You can’t miss them and that’s by design. The Thing has been part of the desert landscape since the 1960s and now has a home between Benson and Wilcox, Arizona in the town of Dragoon. But saying it’s a town is a stretch.
I first visited this roadside tourist attraction many years ago when it was little more than a collection of stuff. That stuff had been owned by Thomas Binkley Prince who purchased the Thing itself and built a tourist attraction around it. And it worked. The signs for miles brought in the visitors who got to see just what The Thing was, and is, but also had the opportunity to patronize the gift shop and get a burger or an ice cream cone.
Eventually filling station chain Bowlins bought the attraction and continued the tradition of hyping it up along Highway 10.
Bowlin’s had bigger plans and the simple roadside collection in a number of sheds eventually grew to a whole experience in 2018 where visitors pay to walk through tales of history and what if. Today the attraction is so much more than it was and while The Thing is ultimately, well, the Thing, there are dioramas and displays that explore the possibility of aliens landing and if there was influence on the disappearance of dinosaurs. Hmmm.
While you have to experience it for yourself, as we don’t want to reveal what The Thing actually is, do know that The Thing was created by Homer Tate who was famous for producing sideshow items. Based in Phoenix, Tate produced a variety of curiosities that found their way into roadside attractions.
The Thing has appeared in a number of books and was once featured in a television special with Jane Pauley. It’s also referenced in the 1992 song “The Church of Logic Sin and Love” by The Men. It’s also featured prominently in the 1999 film Palmer’s Pick-Up.
Of course there’s also a Dairy Queen so you can satisfy your hunger as well as your curiosity and even fill your gas tank.
What The Thing ultimately is is a true example of roadside Americana, a tourist trap or a kitschy bit of interesting stuff to see along America’s highways. In fact it truly is, Goofy USA.
