You can ask me about the giant suit of armor standing next to the Dude Motel & Apartments sign on the main drag in Truth or Consequences, NM, but I have no answers for you.

When I left Truth or Consequences in late December of 2015, I can assure you, there was no giant suit of armor in front of the Dude Motel. When I returned in late January of 2017, there it was. I don’t know who, what, when, or why.

The where is pretty obvious (608 N Broadway Street) as a thin security cord keeps the armor tethered to the Dude Motel sign. Is that to keep the wind from blowing it away? The Man asked me. Probably to keep hoodlums from stealing it, I replied. On second thought, it would probably take a whole gang of hoodlums to steal the thing, and they’d probably need a truck to transport it. Also, where would thieves store the armor without the whole town seeing it and figuring out who’d committed the (probably much talked about) crime? Better for hoodlums to leave it where it stands, unless they’re going to cut it up immediately and sell it for scrap.

I did some searching on Google and found no information about the suit of armor. There’s no mention of it online, at least as far as I could see. Not a peep. I put a call out to my T or C informants, but none of them had any particulars to offer. One said rooms at the Dude are being rented through Airbnb. A couple of my local connections suggested I go down to the Dude and speak to the manager. If I were an investigative reporter, I might go down there and investigate. However, I’m a mostly lazy blogger, so I’ll allow the armor to remain a mystery.

UPDATE!

One of my readers has ties to Truth or Consequences, NM, including friends who live there. My reader asked around and came up with some information about the suit of armor.

The following information is from  a resident of T or C.

Yep, I do know a little about the armor guy at the Dude Hotel. The hotel and armor guy belong to Jon Hendry. The Dude Hotel is called The Dude Hotel after a movie character that is a cult movie now: The Great Lebowski. Jon really likes the Dude guy.  From Jon, “That’s a movie prop that we kinda liked. Fits the Dude. Stand by for much more artwork. We’ve rented the lot next door for parking so we can fill the lot in front of Dude with bric a brac.”  

Jon also has a huge old building in downtown TorC with 6 outside murals.  It is wonderfully filled full of movie props etc.

 Jon lives here part time and works hard to support the Union, jobs for NM and the arts. He is involved with films and creating films in NM. He is a “recovering lawyer and his people made the series Breaking Bad.”

I took all of the photos in this post.