Wow – Top 10 Weird, Crazy & Out Of Place Things Found In El Paso

El Paso is loaded with things that are not only weird, we have many things that just flat out shouldn't be here at all.

Every city has its weird, quirky places and things and El Paso is no different. Some are merely surprising, some are shocking and some are just totally out of place.

They're all real ... except maybe the last one ... and they all truly exist but some have no reason to. At least not around here.

A Huge Star On The Mountain

Ok, not so weird I guess but ABSOLUTELY, unique to El Paso, aka "Star City". It was built around 1940 and got permanently "lit" in 1993.

A Naval Base

Yep, right smack in the middle of the Chihuahuan desert, a huge, United States Naval Installation exists. White Sands Missile Range, aka "the desert ship", has been developing missile technology and blowing up ... literally ... the desert since 1946.

A Holocaust Museum

There are only 16 of these in the entire country and only 2 are bilingual. (One of those 2 is right here in the 915.) We also have the ONLY Border Patrol museum anywhere.

One Of The Largest Water Parks In Texas

Again, we're in the desert. I see the need for cooling off and having fun but to actually have a full on, monster sized water park like Wet 'N Wild Waterworld is a TOTAL surprise to visitors. Meanwhile, farther east ... where there's way more water ... Texas has a waterless waterpark. Go figure

Snow/Rain

Sure, we're in the desert and it's hot as hell around here in Summer. While winters are mild, we do get real winter weather from time to time and rain too. We've set some pretty crazy records for each.

Famous Folks

Depending on what part of El Paso you're in, and when you are or were there, you could easily have run into famous residents like Stevie Nicks, Sharon Tate, Nikki Sixx, Al Jourgensen, Jim Ward, Pissing Razors, Irene Ryan and loads more.

Large Sea Critters And Penguins

El Paso is, duh, in the desert but you can still gaze at some monstrous sea life and even penguins. The El Paso Zoo has them which makes more sense but, honestly, the penguins surprised me.

Wild Oryx

Yep, wild ... not in a zoo. These bad boys are roaming all over the desert between far Northeast El Paso and White Sands Missile Range. Wanna know how the hell that happened? Click here.

Not One But 2 Spaceports

NASA ... via Florida and Houston ... doesn't have a monopoly on launching spacecraft. Not now that Blue Origin, (2 hours east of El Paso) and Spaceport America. (2 hours north of El Paso) are up and running.

Pancho Villa's Finger

This one is REALLY weird. Assuming this decades old legend is true, after his assassination, Pancho Villa's trigger finger was lopped off and somehow wound up in a pawn shop downtown. Dave's Pawn Shop is in the oldest building in El Paso.

Pretty crazy huh??  No wonder visitors and newcomers walk around looking at us with their heads back and eyebrows raised.