From the pronunciation of the state’s name to the existence of nefarious underwater creatures, we’ll fill you in on what’s true, false, or unconfirmed about Nevada.
When it comes to the state of Nevada, people have misconceptions.
They may think, for instance, that Las Vegas is the capital, which couldn’t be further from the truth, seeing as the capital is actually Carson City, 434 miles to the north.
Others assume there’s a brothel dotting every city street corner, when in actuality, prostitution is only legal in certain rural Nevada counties.
The following seven stereotypes and stories about Nevada are either true, false, or unconfirmed. Whether you’re a novice Nevadan or you just want to brush up on Silver State trivia, read on to get the scoop.
True: If you pronounce Nevada wrong, you will face the wrath of Nevadans.
There’s nothing more infuriating to a Nevadan than hearing “Nevada” pronounced the wrong way (except, possibly, drivers from California). It may be an innocent mistake, but to a Nevadan, it screams, “Not only am I completely clueless about all things Nevada, but I have no respect for you or your state.” This eye-roll-inducing offense instantly pegs you as an outsider.
There’s really only one correct way to pronounce Nevada. As WikiHow explains:
- Break the word into three distinct syllables
- The “e” in “Ne” is pronounced like “pet” or “met.”
- The “vad” rhymes with “sad” or “mad.”
- The final “a” is pronounced like the “u” in “up.”
This pronunciation of Nevada isn’t just conjecture. As UNLV history professor Michael Green explains, this pronunciation has prevailed “since Abraham Lincoln first gave our chunk of land statehood.” He previously told the UNLV News Center: “No one seems to know how our founders came up with this pronunciation…it just seemed to have happened.”
Green compares the offense to “Gerald Ford eating a tamale with the husk still on” or “eating a slice of New York pizza with a fork and knife,” concluding, “You just don’t do it.”
False: All Las Vegas locals live in hotels.
No, we don’t all live in hotels. While we’re at it, no, we aren’t all showgirls and mobsters. Yes, there are slot machines in our supermarkets. No, we aren’t all professional gamblers.
In the interest of complete honesty, it’d be remiss to dismiss the fact that a teeny-tiny percentage of residents do live in hotels. The 47-story Palms Place, for instance, is a condo-hotel, attached to the Palms Hotel and Casino. In Henderson, there is an urban loft development above The District, an outdoor shopping mall at Green Valley Ranch Resort, Casino, and Spa. Meanwhile, during his nearly 10-year residency at the Luxor Hotel and Casino, Mindfreak magician Criss Angel lived in a penthouse atop the pyramid.
And, once upon a time (1969 to 1976), Elvis Presley lived in a 5,000 square foot suite on the 30th floor of the former International Hotel (now the Westgate). The Westgate demolished the original suite, but you can stay in its replacement, the Imperial Sky Villa, if you want to feel close to the King.
However, the vast majority of Las Vegas Valley residents—even the showgirls and mobsters—live in traditional houses, apartments, townhouses, and condos. Shocking as it may be, we have neighborhoods, subdivisions, community parks, schools, museums, hospitals, sports arenas, shopping malls, and theaters—pretty much every form of public infrastructure you can think of. We also have outstanding outdoor recreational opportunities within a short drive, such as Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area, Mount Charleston, and Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
If we feel like playing a little video Poker while picking up a carton of milk, then so be it.
True: The Luxor light can be seen in outer space.
Speaking of the Luxor, NASA confirms that, yes, lights from the Las Vegas Strip are viewable from space, as seen in images taken aboard the International Space Station. With some estimates putting the number of lights on the Las Vegas Strip at 12 million, NASA notes that the Strip is the brightest spot on Earth.
The lights include the Luxor light, a beam at the tip of the pyramid that shines toward the heavens and is widely considered the world’s most powerful human-made light.
Las Vegas started erecting neon-lit signs on the Las Vegas Strip between 1928 and 1930, according to the YESCO sign company. While our signs are more likely to utilize LED technology these days, Las Vegas remains fond of its neon heritage. We love our old lights so much that we gave them their own graveyard.
People have long theorized that aliens built the pyramids. They certainly didn’t build the Luxor, but the light, it seems, may be strong enough to summon them here, if they aren’t here already (see below).
Unconfirmed: There are (or were) aliens at Area 51.
On a recent podcast, former US President Barack Obama denied long-swirling rumors about aliens in the Silver State, claiming that little green men are not being kept at Area 51, a top-secret Air Force base in Lincoln County. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) also deny these claims.
And yet, speculation remains. In 1989, for instance, Bob Lazar told KLAS that he had formerly worked at Area 51, reverse-engineering one of nine captured alien spacecraft. Former United States Air Force (USAF) officer David Grusch shared similar intel about the reverse engineering of “non-human” spacecraft and their dead pilots with the U.S. Congress in 2023. Since everything about Area 51 is highly classified, we may never know for sure.
True: It’s illegal to ride a camel on the highway in Nevada.
Camels are among the many exotic pets you can own in Nevada, but riding your camel on the highway is prohibited by state law. The law may seem pretty odd, seeing as Nevada isn’t prone to camel traffic jams, but apparently, it was a real issue during the 19th century.
Camels played a pivotal role in the success of the Comstock Lode in the 1860s, transporting ore through the desert from mines around Virginia City. The historic little Storey County town still pays tribute to these hydrated, humped animals during its International Camel Races, held annually on Labor Day.
It is possible to ride a camel in Nevada at the 176-acre, Zoological Association of America-accredited Camel Safari Zoo, located one hour north of Las Vegas in Bunkerville. But with the old and outdated camel law still on the books, we wouldn’t recommend taking it onto the highway.
False: Hoover Dam is a massive concrete tomb for construction workers.
Do you believe the tale of the bodies buried in the Hoover Dam? Ripley’s, purveyor of all things strange, says, “No dam way.”
Yes, more than 100 workmen perished while building the Hoover Dam, but none of them are entombed in the 4.5 million cubic yards of concrete comprising the 725-foot-high and 1,244-foot-long dam.
As Ripley’s explains, workers built the dam in “sections containing thousands of yards of concrete apiece,” and each slab had to dry before the next pouring. “Between the pouring of the concrete and the setting, it would often take hours before a section would be finished.”
In other words, if a clumsy workman did happen to stumble into the concrete, he had plenty of time to save himself from becoming one with the iconic landmark. And if he tried to stay in the concrete due to embarrassment, Ripley’s explains, he would eventually get pulled out by an engineer since his “decaying body would eventually form an air pocket within the concrete,” which would compromise “the structural integrity of the dam.”
Whether or not he had to endure a lifetime of jeers from his coworkers, we can’t say.
Unconfirmed: Monsters are living in Nevada’s bodies of water.
You’ve probably heard of Bigfoot. Have you ever heard of Tahoe Tessie? She’s one of Nevada’s mythical creatures, and some say she lives in the majestic Lake Tahoe, which straddles Nevada and California in the Sierra Nevada. Stories and sightings of this bus-sized, smooth-skinned serpent began in the mid-1800s and continue today.
Those who believe in Tahoe Tessie say she lives in an underwater tunnel beneath a rock. Skeptics and scientists don’t doubt the sightings, but note that there’s probably a more practical explanation, such as a tried-and-true aquatic creature.
Meanwhile, 130 miles southeast of Reno, Walker Lake may be home to an 80-foot-long, snake-like creature named Cecil, with a crocodile-like head and a scale-covered tail. Sightings go back to the Walker River Paiute Tribe, but the first records are dated 1868. There’s no definitive confirmation of Cecil’s existence, but you can follow him on Facebook.
On a less whimsical note, if you head 40 miles northeast of Reno to Pyramid Lake in the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Reservation, you might have an unfortunate run-in with a water baby. Sightings of these creepy spirits date back to the Northern Paiutes, who once inhabited the area. The legend concerns dead babies who haunt the lake, luring unsuspecting victims to a watery grave. Accidents and disappearances at the lake have added to the legends’ virality.
Whether it’s folklore or something more nefarious is unconfirmed.
