Truth or Consequences, tawdry little town. Its hot springs still gurgle, sulphuric and scalding, held hostage in courtyards of musty midcentury motels. Old Oldsmobiles rest rusting in dusty driveways. Tired houses bake perched atop balding tyres. The town’s sole supermarket, trimmed in fluorescent and pressed particleboard, stocks “Shur-Fine” and Twinkies and grape drink not from a vine. There are no sounds, no rush, and no work.
And it is impossible to tell a dumpster from the dirt.
In 1950, the radio gameshow “Truth or Consequences” issued a challenge to small town USA: change your name to ours and we’ll air our show from your town! Hypnotised by the prospect of celebrity, tiny Hot Springs, New Mexico rose to the occasion and was reborn as Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Nothing much came of the name change, but the town is dotted by dozens of natural mineral springs and is adjacent to a massive desert reservoir. And just a few miles drive away is Richard Branson’s new Norman Foster-designed Spaceport America, the launch point for all Earth-orbiting Virgin Galactic voyages.
