Greetings, Earth people!

When you are notorious for one thing, you embrace said thing, like the town of Roswell, New Mexico fully embraces their extraterrestrial past.

Naturally, this is where you need to go to visit the INTERNATIONAL UFO MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTER– 114 N. Main St., Roswell, NM.

This place holds the museum, research library, hall of fame, and a gift shop.

For those not aware of what I am talking about, here’s a very basic rundown: On July 5, 1947, a farmer was cleaning up his property after a thunderstorm and found some strange metal scraps. Because phones were not common in all households at this time (yes, kids, a time existed when not only did people not have cell phones, they may not have even had house phones!), it took a couple of days before he brought the scrap pieces to the sheriff in town. The government was called in because this material did not seem like anything else on Earth, and the government claimed it was nothing more than a weather balloon. Meanwhile, locals claimed that the government secretly confiscated the original material and replaced it with a ripped weather balloon. Of course, the government denies this. The question remains to this day as to whether the farmer found a weather balloon or is this all indeed a government cover up of an extraterrestrial crash?

The museum is a lot of reading material, but for those truly interested in learning more about the Roswell incident and the potential government cover up, it will be well worth it.

There are several interesting displays as well. For example, these guys pictured below are in the middle of the museum and every once in a while, they do this.

There are also non-Roswell crash related displays and pieces of UFO humor in the museum.

The library has exactly what you would expect: books about UFOs and whatnot.

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you what is in a hall of fame for UFO museums; I did not go in because I was trying to lose a creepy guy… long, boring story.

The gift shop has apparel, accessories, documentaries, books, and lots of other things you could think of related to extraterrestrials.

Meanwhile, the rest of Roswell has small town charm with little green alien quirkiness throughout, so it also is worth a visit. On your southwestern vacation, take some time for Roswell, and include an afternoon at the museum to learn the juicy details.

Until next time, dahlings…