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Visiting the Alien City of Roswell New Mexico

According to The Mutual UFO Network  (MUFON), the largest privately funded UFO research organization in the world, there were about 500 reported sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) every month mainly in North America in 2011. But, there’s only one town in the world who is synonymous with UFOs and extraterrestrial beings – Roswell, New Mexico. We passed by Roswell as we traveled from Santa Fe to Carlsbad Caverns National Park a couple of months ago and found a very interesting town living up to its alien city nickname.

Roswell sign

This town was thrust into international news after a mysterious incident in July 1947. Eyewitnesses claim seeing a shiny unidentified flying object crash to the ground in a ranch field northwest of Roswell. The foreman and a neighboring boy found metal chunks of what appeared to be an aircraft that exploded. Investigators from the nearby Roswell Army Field removed the debris and at first claimed it was a “crashed disk” and later retracted claiming it was a weather balloon instead.

Roswell Thinker

It wasn’t until 1978 when several articles and research surfaced claiming to have interviews with witnesses, both military and civilian personnel, to the 1947 event. Through the years, these researchers believed the Roswell Incident was part of a US Government cover-up which actually recovered an aircraft that was not from this world. The Roswell stories have spun to involve recovering large debris of exotic metals and retrieving of extraterrestrial bodies. It doesn’t help that the government keeps a tight lip, with secrecy oaths and showing minimal public records leading to many unanswered questions.

Roswell Museum Aliens

Roswell has learned to embrace its quirkiness as a destination for those interested in science fiction, UFOs and aliens. A town hosting the annual UFO Festival has to be ready to welcome its visitors with these uncommon interests.

Roswell Alien

They really do play up to it too. Extraterrestrial creatures in various forms were pretty common sights.  My kids were more than happy to play “spot an alien” as we drove down the street.

Roswell KFC Alien

We found the various alien signs and figures all amusing. Want to know a great way to wake the kids up from a road trip nap? Stop the car in front of a large green alien figure right by their window.

Roswell Alien

We found gleaning spaceships along the road and plenty of stores selling alien and out of this world merchandise.

Roswell shops

We also found many of their lanterns and light posts in alien form.

Roswell lampposts

We couldn’t pass up a visit to the Roswell International UFO Museum and Research Center because we like quirky museums and roadside attractions. This small museum, housed in an old movie theater, was full of information and a mecca for alien believers.

Roswell museum

It was an interesting walk through of the chain of events that happened in Roswell in 1947. There were many newspaper clippings, files, and witness testimonies in writing. After reading through the eyewitness accounts and other reported events, I started to question the validity of a weather balloon crash too. The testaments and exhibits about the Roswell Incident were designed to turn skeptics into believers.

Roswell Incident exhibit

They supplemented the Roswell incident exhibits with other sightings from around the world over the centuries. I found it very interesting that some of the accounts from these people, some pre-television and Internet era, were eerily similar.

Roswell museum exhibits

There’s even an opportunity to take your picture with the aliens and their spaceship. It made for a good tourist photo op for all the visitors.

Roswell UFO Museum

We found this behind the glass window exhibit of what appeared to be scientists looking like they’re examining an alien. It looked very disturbing and I hoped that my seven-year old son wouldn’t get nightmares from all the exhibits. Thank goodness he didn’t and he thought they were actually “pretty cool”.

Roswell Museum Alien body

Although, it was pretty hard to erase those alien images from your head after seeing them. You can spend from a few minutes to hours inside this museum depending on your alien interest level. My husband read through a lot of the material. He’s interested in government conspiracy theories so this was all fascinating to him.

Roswell museum aliens

My kids didn’t care too much after awhile saying it involved too much reading to find out if aliens really landed here or not. They were also more interested in seeing the alien merchandise that awaited them at the gift shop. I wish the museum had a bit more interactive activities for the kids to hold their interests longer.

Roswell Aliens

Roswell was surprisingly a pretty decent size city. We were expecting a small town with one main street but found many hotel chains, stores and restaurants. I wouldn’t go on a detour to visit Roswell. But, if it’s on your way and you have an interest in UFOs and aliens or the bizarre, then it’s worth a stop. Was it a cover-up, a hoax or story gone wild? The Roswell Incident is the most documented and fully investigated UFO incident and the events that happened in 1947 still remain a controversy and fascination for many people.

Roswell parable

Visiting Roswell and International UFO Museum Tips and Basics

  • Museum Admission Price: Adults $5; Kids 5-15 years old $2; Military and Seniors $3
  • Please keep in mind that smaller children may find some of the alien exhibits disturbing.
  • There is a library inside the museum with an extensive collection of books about UFOs.
  • Roswell has the largest mozzarella cheese factories in the world.
  • Roswell UFO Festival  is held annually in July with speakers, contests and many events.

*Have you visited Roswell? Would you make a pit stop here?

roswell with kids

41 thoughts on “Visiting the Alien City of Roswell New Mexico”

  1. Although I’ve heard of Roswell I didn’t appreciate that the town had embraced the whole alien thing to the extent that they have. Definitely a place for those UFO lovers. Would be an interesting assortment of people at that convention!!

  2. Hit Mary! Your very first photo cracked me up. I’m always intrigued by this Roswell thing. Didn;t realize that the town has commercialized the story to such extent. Interesting post. Glad my little adopted siblings were entertained:)

    1. It was an awesome spacecraft! We didn’t see any kids younger than my son there. I found some of them creepy and disturbing so I can imagine little kids’ reactions. Glad you would stop for quirky things like this too.

      1. Back in 1972, Roswell was just that, à small-town with tumbleweeds blowing through town. I’m sure this has helped Roswell’s economy.

    1. The conspiracy theories are fascinating. Reading through all the witnesses’ testimonies and all the other UFO sightings from around the world almost made me a believer. It’s a very interesting subject and I’m glad you’re into these too.

  3. I’ve heard of the Roswell controversy and sometimes I think it might be true — it’s certainly possible. I’m not sure I’d make a trip there but I’d stop if it were on my way. It’s cool that they’ve so embraced their identity. Hey, why not? Your kids are such troopers!

    1. Thanks Marcia! I appreciate how they’ve carved this nice for their city and embraced it to help the local economy. After visiting that museum, there are many missing pieces and there are possibilities of a cover-up.

  4. What a quirky place to visit – I think I might even go out of my way to check it out. I love the alien lamp posts and the photo of the kids with aliens. I expect that I’d be a bit like the kids and lose interest in reading in the museum but I would sure like to have my picture taken with an alien!!

  5. Debbie Beardsley @ European Travelista

    Roswell seems very commercialized. I can see why kids would love it and the museum would be interesting. If I was in the area, I’d probably at least stop by but I too wouldn’t go out of my way!

  6. Hoax or not, they’ve done a great job of taking advantage of the stories. I’ve never been there even though I’ve been close in distance a few times. Maybe next time, because I am kind of interestesd in seeing some of the historical information & it looks like fun. It does add to the mystery that the government still keeps a lid on information about it.

    1. Roswell also has a museum full of Robert Goddard stuff. TO the West is Lincoln Young Gun Billy the Kid territory. South is Carlsbad Caverns.

  7. Hahaha…I hope you didn’t park in front of an alien statue and woke the kids up :D My husband would be really interested in visiting this place but me, not so much. Nonetheless, it looks like an interesting town.

  8. I’d love to visit Roswell to see the museums … and all the gimmicky alien merchandise. I’m not sure I’d be able to resist that. We went to Loch Ness years ago and spent a good half hour laying on rocks at the edge of the lake with a plastic Nessie trying to take fake ‘sighting’ photos. Just for laughs. We even ended up with our socks off taking ‘Sock Ness’ photos. This was the middle of winter too so it was just a little chilly!

  9. Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti

    I really enjoyed your post! My children would have loved to see Rozwell and the exhibits there. I visiting from the Tablescaper’s blog linky. I love the title of your blog–it is from my favorite St. Augustine quote.

  10. My husband and I are planning a trip to New Mexico hopefully in the near future. I’ve been to 42 states and New Mexico isn’t one of them? When we go, I’m sure my husband, a real scientist who loves science fiction, would love to stop in Roswell. Thanks to your post, I won’t be rolling my eyes at the suggestion.

  11. I have never heard of Rosewell, but it’s so interesting. I love how they play it up.

    Happy to have you at “Oh, the PLACES you’ve been!”

    – The Tablescaper

  12. I grew up in Roswell before the alien craze. One good thing about it, it revitalized the downtown area (the commercial parts had been basically abandoned once a “mall” was built on the outskirts of town). On my last trip there a couple years ago, I was glad to see some interesting shops were coming back amidst the tacky alien trinket shops. About the museum: one of my kids, at age 3 or so, thought the “alien autopsy” setup was a diaper changing situation and thus felt empathy for the alien :-)

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