Any country will have its bustling metropolises and its remote, rural towns, but what those places look like can vary wildly from state to state. And while major cities can often have their own character, this reality is particularly palpable when it comes to America’s small towns.
After all, when a community is left alone for long enough, it can start developing a culture that won’t really make sense to anyone else. So when visitors do pass through and see a bizarre sight that nobody else seems to bat an eye at, it can feel like stepping into one big inside joke. Strange as they may be, all of these towns are real and make sense to somebody.
Roswell, New Mexico
According to the Smithsonian Magazine, a rancher named W.W. “Mac” Brazel was driving through the New Mexico desert on June 14, 1947, when he came across the strange, metallic wreckage of an unidentified craft. Although this was part of a U.S. Air Force high-altitude balloon program called Project Mogul, residents in the area were convinced this was a crashed spacecraft. And the Air Force preferred to let them think that.
As theory-crafting about aliens grew in popularity from the 1970s to the 1990s and beyond, Roswell has become a haven for true believers. The town has used that reputation to its advantage, as it hosts the International UFO Museum and Research Center, includes an image of an alien in its civic seal, and has shops filled with UFO-themed memorabilia along its main street.