Weird Nevada: creepy attractions and oddities in Las Vegas and surroundings

Nevada is a very vast state indeed, yet most of the classic SouthWest road trip itineraries give visitors only a glimpse of the state. Visiting Las Vegas – and the well known Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire in the surrounding area -is treated more like a quick stop between California and the states of Utah and Arizona, which are full of coveted and very popular destinations. Only the most avid road trippers can boast of having traveled the secondary roads that cut through the driest and most desolate areas of Nevada, for example, the Extraterrestrial Highway, the road known for UFO sightings road that passes by the mysterious Area 51.

Today we want to offer you a series of little-known stops in Southern Nevada to explore the eclectic spirit that distinguishes these places. This bizarre itinerary goes through ghost towns, saloons, art installations, kitsch attractions, unusual museums, absurd places, and the somewhat grotesque and mysterious oddities in the most unexpected places of this desolate area. Since the itinerary for the most part does not coincide with the classic road trips, you may never have a chance to complete it, but if you are passing through Southern Nevada (which is likely), making a detour at one of these stops could certainly be worth it!

Map of the Attractions

Tonopah’s clown-themed horror motel… Near a cemetery

An unusual itinerary can only begin in an unusual place. In fact, no one would normally start a tour in Tonopah, a remote town that was formerly a mining town in Nye County. In Shoshone, Tonopah means “a little water and some trees”, and that’s more or less what you should expect. However “nothingness” in the Southwest is a relative concept, and indeed it can turn out to be much more fascinating than you might expect.

Would you believe me if I told you that in Tonopah, among the dilapidated houses and saloons, there’s an old rundown cemetery behind a horror-motel inhabited by snickering clowns? No, it’s not a Western version of It; it’s the truth! If you want to see your worst nightmares materialize in front of your eyes, enter 521 N Main St, Tonopah in your GPS, and you will arrive at the Clown Motel. Right behind the motel, you’ll find the cemetery that is home to dozens and dozens of ghosts of Tonopah miners who died as a result of the mysterious Tonopah Plague of 1902 and a mining accident in 1911. Take a couple of photos and then off you go, unless you dare to stay overnight at the Clown Motel, a real horror motel. There are clowns and dolls everywhere, on the shelves in the lobby, in the pictures attached to the walls, in the rooms, behind the corners, above the doors… Stephen King would be proud. It’s creepy!

Accommodations in Tonopah

Goldfield’s a ghost-infested hotel and a forest of cars

Not far from Tonopah, you will find Goldfield, a mining town with a golden past that is now little more than a ghost town. This tiny town is a kind of mecca for ghostbusters. Along the dusty streets that branch off from Crook Avenue, the main street of the town, you can see buildings that are relics of the past. Go to the Santa Fe Saloon and Casino on N 5th St, have a snack and then venture out among the junk, scrap metal, car wrecks, and rusty metal that crowd the abandoned warehouses in front of the Saloon. The landscape looks a lot like the scenery around nearby Bodie.

The old school, the houses, shops, and warehouses are haunted, but the most ghostly building is definitely the Goldfield Hotel. Not much is known about the intentions of the current owners of the hotel, but there is the possibility to take ghost tours inside this huge historic building, which testifies how important Goldfield was just a century ago. Ghost stories echo within the walls of the vast empty rooms of this creepy hotel. You can look at it from the outside, or listen to the locals tell you a legend. If you liked the cemetery in Tonopah (and are fascinated by spooky places) you can also visit Goldfield Cemetery, where you can set out in search of the tombstone of the “nameless man died eating library glue“!

The people of Goldfield also have an absurd fascination with broken cars. Visit the unusual Goldfield Art Car Park Gallery, which is clearly visible on the main road (306 Crook Ave, Goldfield), and the unmissable International Car Forest of the Last Church. Have you heard of Cadillac Ranch in Texas? Well, the Car Forest is perhaps even more astonishing and bizarre. It is the embodiment of the morbid imagination of two artists, Chad Sorg and Mark Rippie, who wanted to create a place halfway between the forest and the car cemetery in the desert. There are about fifty cars that are planted in the ground and graffitied. Take your car and take a ride in this strange circuit of motorized giants! You will reach it by driving south on the main road and then turning left on Crystal Avenue, which is located at the southern end of Goldfield.

Beatty’s haunted brothels and statues in the desert

This place will be very familiar to those who stopped here after visiting Death Valley. It is a very strategic place to stay overnight near Death Valley, since it is practically at the gates of the famous national park. Near Beatty, there is Rhyolite, another ghost town. It is definitely less authentic than Goldfield, but is frequented by many visitors. To stay on the subject of ghosts and surroundings, I would like to point out the thirteen white figures of Albert Szukalski’s disturbing installation, “The Last Supper“, which is loosely inspired by the work of Leonardo da Vinci. It is part of the Goldwell Open Air Museum that is found on the outskirts of Rhyolite.

The next stop is a lesser-known but equally unmissable place for those who love these kinds of attractions. In a clearing next to US-95, 3 miles north of Beatty, you’ll see the sign of the former Angel’s Ladies Brothel, a brothel that at the time was a place where truckers passing through Nevada would stop. Not only truckers, but parachutists as well! You don’t believe it? When you go there, you’ll find the wreckage of a small plane that crashed right near the brothel… but whose was it?

Rumor has it that the owners of the place held a competition. Whoever parachuted out of the airplane precisely over a mattress lying in the desert, would win a free night with a girl. The plane crashed, but nobody was hurt. However, the publicity stunt gained popularity, and still continues today!

Amargosa Valley: Unbelievable records and sexy aliens

You may not know this, but prostitution is legal in some counties in Nevada. And speaking of ghost brothels, I’ll tell you there’s one that’s definitely not full of ghosts, but aliens! I don’t know what sexual tastes you have, but hidden behind the Area 51 Alien Center in Amargosa Valley is the ambiguous pink Alien Cathouse, an adult-only place dedicated to extraterrestrial fantasies. I haven’t had the (uh) pleasure to go there, but rumor has it that you can also take free tours inside the brothel to see the various themed rooms. I don’t know what it’s like, but the experience may be out of this world.

Near the Area 51 Alien Center, there is also the World’s Largest Firecracker. What can you do? In Nevada (and all over the USA), they love to set records.

Mercury, a fake nuclear test towns

Nye County is known to be a nuclear test area (Nevada Test Site). Mercury, one of the most mysterious destinations in Nevada, is (or perhaps we should say was) a town destined to welcome those who worked in the protected area of the Nevada Test Site. It was a “closed” city, i.e. reserved for professionals, and the buildings were all temporary and yet it was a complete town. There were houses, a post office, a swimming pool, a movie theater, and anything else that its inhabitants could want. Today Mercury remains closed to the public (or almost, as we will see shortly) and many of these “facilities” have been torn down or relocated elsewhere.

Also in this desert area, in the first half of the fifties, fake towns were set up, with houses built of various materials, gas stations, cars, and mannequins strategically set as the “inhabitants”. All this was to test the consequences of an atomic explosion on a community and could provide relevant data in terms of safety. The experimental atomic explosions were Annie and Apple 2. The remains of the fake towns (including the famous surviving house you see in the gallery) can be visited on tours organized by the Nevada National Security Site. On these tours, you can also visit the Sedan Center in Mercury, which consists of some complexes dedicated to atomic experiments and a crater that was caused by explosions.

Weird Things to do in Las Vegas

Las Vegas is controversial, and there’s no doubt about it. Either you love it or you hate it. In this article, I’d like to point out a handful of definitely unusual places on the Strip. These attractions will delight those who want to see the less commercial side of Sin City.

• Lonnie Hammargren’s Museum House: Nevada’s former Lieutenant Governor Lonnie Hammargren is an avid collector of all kinds of memorabilia you can think of. His house at 4300 Ridgecrest Dr is packed with a diverse assortment of things: dinosaur statues, airplanes, gondolas, casino signs, spacecraft, Egyptian coffins, roller coasters, and millions of other collectibles. The family opened the house to visitors once a year, but rumor has it that it has been mortgaged and tours can no longer be arranged. That would be a shame! If you’re there and you’re curious, go to the house. Even just seeing it from outside you can get an idea of how strange it is.
• Pinball Hall of Fame: If you loved playing at pinball machines in the arcade as a kid, don’t miss the Pinball Hall of Fame, an impressive collection of over 200 pinball machines and other objects. The oldest machines are from the Forties, and you can play pinball on these machines. The tokens cost just 25 cents. The Pinball Hall of Fame is located at 1610 East Tropicana Avenue.
• Neon Museum: Las Vegas has a bright display of lights, and anyone taking a walk on the Strip at night would agree. If you combine this with the passion for collecting things that many people have in this area, the result you get is the Neon Museum. Located at 770 N Las Vegas Boulevard N, this eccentric museum houses hundreds of bright signs from casinos, hotels, theaters, and burlesque clubs from the past. Tours are also available by reservation.
• The Big Edge: Nancy Rubins has created a sculpture formed by the chaotic conglomeration of over 200 colorful aluminum boats including canoes, kayaks, and boats. While this madness has no particular meaning according to the artist, it seems to conceptually depict a bouquet of “big metal flowers”. If you want to see The Big Edge, go to  2600 W Harmon Avenue.
• Fremont Street and surroundings: Along Fremont Street, you’ll find a huge fire-breathing mantis (Flaming Praying Mantis, 707 Fremont Street) and the biggest yellow fire hydrant in the world (820 Fremont Street). The Big Rig Jig, in 1028 NV-582, is an extravagant S-shaped installation consisting of two real intertwined trucks (that’s right!). The area of Fremont Street near the Big Rig Jig is not the best place to visit. Just drive up, take a couple of pictures and drive away… unless you’re an avid records collector. Right in front of the Big Rig Jig, there’s a well-stocked record store called 11th Street Records. Two streets further north, at the corner of Stewart Avenue and N 6th St, there’s a massive mural depicting a creepy horned toad spitting blood.

Tips on where to stay in Las Vegas

South Las Vegas

Here are the bizarre stops where you can go as you drive through South Las Vegas.

Seven Magic Mountains

As you leave Las Vegas, like anyone in search of unconventional things, avoid the I-15, which is the main road. Instead get on S Las Vegas Boulevard where, just 10 miles south of Las Vegas, in Sloan, you will find the Seven Magic Mountains. The seven colorful totems (about 30 ft high) that stand out in the desert are the work of the Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone and, according to him, they would mean “physically and symbolically” something that is both natural and artificial. They were originally scheduled to be removed in 2018, but Rondinone’s colorful stones were also there during our last visit at the end of 2019.

WARNING: The GPS may not give you the right directions! It happened to us the first time when we searched on Google Maps for the address of Seven Magic Mountains, we found ourselves on a dirt road in the desert and we were at risk of getting stuck in the sand. Getting to the parking lot next to Seven Magic Mountains is very easy. Use these coordinates to make sure you get there.

Goodsprings

I also suggest you make a stop in Goodsprings, where the Pioneer Saloon, which is popular among bikers, is located. After visiting Rondinone’s contemporary art installation, you can finally immerse yourself in the classic Far West. The Pioneer Saloon is a real saloon, not a plain reconstruction like so many in the area. Hollywood legends Clark Gable and Carole Lombard passed through here and in Oatman as well.

The Pioneer Saloon is located at 310 NV-161, Goodsprings. To get there, drive on S Las Vegas Boulevard and turn on NV-151, in Jean. After about 7 miles, you’ll see the Saloon’s unmistakable sign. Immerse yourself in the atmosphere and enjoy one of their great burgers. Don’t forget to visit the area behind the saloon, where you’ll also find a time capsule full of mysterious items of the past and will only open on October 21, 2114. The town, with its modest mining past, is not a ghost town, but it’s not far from it. You can see for yourself as you walk or drive through its few streets you can see for yourself.

World’s Largest Chevron

Finally, get ready for kitsch overload. Right at the intersection of I-15 and NV-151 towards Goodsprings (Goodsprings Road), there is the Terrible Herbst Convenience Store, better known as the world’s largest Chevron. What is it? The name says it all: it’s the world’s largest Chevron gas station. In this part of the Nevada desert, just where it would normally be more complicated to refuel, you’ll find a series of 96 gas pumps. But it doesn’t end there. You’ll find restaurants, 60 bathrooms, a 13-ft Bigfoot, a couple of airplanes and motocross bikes hanging from the ceiling, an ice cave with an endless collection of Nevada beers, a life-size “Welcome to Las Vegas” plaque, and many other oddities…