From Bill Paxton's pinball machine to movie debris, the 'Twister' museum is still spinning

In a tiny Grant County town just a few miles from the Kansas border, a white water tower familiar to film fans worldwide rises above a short row of neat, primarily red-brick buildings.

Wakita's Main Street is mostly quiet on a sweltering summer Saturday afternoon, until you come to the corner landmark at Main and Locust that has turned into a popular Oklahoma destination for cinephiles and storm chasers, weather enthusiasts and road trip takers for almost three decades.

Inside Twister The Movie Museum, visitors from Iowa, Montana, Kansas, Texas, Nebraska, California and Oklahoma come sweeping in to pore over photographs, models and memorabilia, try their hand at vintage fun on "Bill's Pinball Machine" and admire Dorothy I, one of the four original — and now iconic — props made for the still-beloved, Oscar-nominated 1996 blockbuster "Twister."

"I'm a big weather nerd. I love weather, so there's a lot in the movie that I liked. And I liked coming here and seeing a lot from the movie," said Christina Neuberger, an Edmond resident who recently made a Saturday pilgrimage to Wakita's Twister The Movie Museum with her husband, Ken; their son, Kenneth, 13; and daughter Austin, 8.

"As a kid ... I had the DVD and wore it out. My dad mistakenly bought the DVD one day, and said, 'Here, watch this, maybe you'll like it.' And it turned into a full fascination with twisters and stormy weather."

From April to August 1995, the small town of Wakita was transformed into a vast movie set for the filming of the storm-chaser saga "Twister." About eight months before director Jan de Bont's action vehicle hit theaters in May 1996 and stormed its way to more than $494 million at the global box office, Twister The Movie Museum opened its doors.

"The location office was in this building. So, everybody was in here: Steven Spielberg walked on my floors. They moved out in August (1995), and we moved in in September. We had the museum up in a couple of weeks," said Linda Wade, the director and owner of Twister The Movie Museum.

"Warner Bros. told us it'd be (here) a couple of years — and, true, we had 20,000 visitors in the first couple of years. But it's been 28 now, and I'm sure we've topped 50,000. So, for a town of 300, that's pretty good. It's one of the few places that pays taxes into the city. ... But I'm sure Warner Bros. had no clue it'd be here this lengthy amount of time."

With the long-awaited follow-up film "Twisters" already spinning up its own box-office success, Wakita's unexpectedly long-winded tourist attraction is experiencing a renewed surge of interest.

How did the original movie 'Twister' come to Wakita for filming?

A native of the Netherlands, de Bont had never set foot on Oklahoma red dirt or even seen a tornado in person when he decided to make “Twister,” a natural disaster movie starring Helen Hunt, the late Bill Paxton, Cary Elwes, Jami Gertz and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as fictional storm chasers tracking a series of powerful tornadoes.

But the cinematographer-turned-director knew he had to film the follow-up to his 1994 hit "Speed" in the Sooner State during storm season to make it an authentic cinematic thrill ride.

With his cast and crew forced to flee severe weather several times during production, de Bont soon was able to get a close-up look at the destruction real-life twisters can create.

"We went to see some places that were hit by a tornado. It was really a really pretty rude awakening. It was much worse than I thought. ... It was really unbelievable how a farm, beautiful looking, an hour later, there's nothing left of it. And it's pretty shocking," de Bont told The Oklahoman in a recent Zoom interview.

"I wanted to make sure that we got that right, so that we could actually, really make that destruction look real ... which was difficult, because we had to destroy a little town."

His team searched for a remote town with numerous empty houses and buildings that could be fixed up and then demolished for maximum moviemaking effect. And they found Wakita.

"We had a hail storm two years prior to them filming, and it went from like Alva to I-35 and down to Enid. It was tremendous, like 35 miles wide, 100 miles long ... so it was pretty debilitating for a lot of the area," Wade recalled.

"We had a lot of buildings in Wakita, and a lot of surrounding areas, that were uninsured, so they pretty much didn't get fixed. By the time the movie came, we were tearing down these buildings. ... So, they would come in, fix them up and then tear them down for us."

That's why the quaint two-story home of the fan-favorite character Aunt Meg (Lois Smith) is nowhere to be found in town. It was a damaged farmhouse that crews partially rebuilt for filming and then destroyed for the heart-pounding sequence when a massive nighttime tornado tears through Wakita and levels Meg's house, with her storm-chaser niece Jo (Hunt) and Jo's estranged meteorologist husband Bill (Paxton) racing to make a daring rescue.

"They did purchase ... tons and tons of old farmhouses and anything they could get in town to make debris," recalled Debbie Martin, the museum's assistant director. "And then the director came through at one point and said they didn't have enough debris. So, they went back to areas like Ponca City and around there and trucked debris in by truckloads. He had to make it look real — for five blocks around Main Street. He had a vision."

How did the movie 'Twister' make the small town of Wakita a star?

The 1995 production touched down in several Sooner State cities — Guthrie, Maysville, Norman and Fairfax — but Wakita became the star location for "Twister" in both filming and screentime, with many key scenes set there.

For months of construction, filming and cleanup, the people of Wakita were outnumbered by the stars and makers of "Twister." The townsfolk were issued lanyards to wear and decals for their vehicles to prove they lived there, so they could come and go in their own community. The studio paved roads and even fixed a scale at the co-op to make life easier during production, and many locals signed up to be extras for the film.

"When we got to be extras, we got to have Hollywood catering. So, after the first day, I signed up for two more," Wade recalled with a chuckle. "One my scenes actually made the movie. I'm a little dot in the background, but most of our parts got cut. But you got to be this much closer to the stars, and they fed you and they paid you a little bit. It was fun."

Since production took place in Wakita well before the advent of social media sneak peeks or even DVD making-of featurettes — in 1997, "Twister" actually became the first theatrical feature released on DVD — residents had few restrictions on taking behind-the-scenes photos and home videos, as long as they didn't disrupt filming. Martin said tailgating at the set became a popular pastime, and some of those home movies are now playing at the museum.

A handsome Texan, Paxton became a local favorite due to his approachable charm.

"He was good Southern hospitality; he didn't have a lot of Hollywood about him. He was so friendly with all of us, and all of the kids got to play football with him. When he would get done with shooting a scene or whatever, he'd just step out into the crowd and play. He loved football, and he donated that one to the museum," Martin said, pointing inside a glass display case.

Once principal photography wrapped, the filmmakers allowed locals to sift through the five blocks of carefully curated debris for lumber, furnishings and keepsakes.

"Warner Bros. was an excellent company to have here ... and they put a lot of money into town that would not have been here otherwise," Wade said. "They let us have drafting tables, and they let us go through the debris and pick up things we wanted. They gave us photographs, and they gave us scripts and call sheets and location maps, anything that would help us create an interesting museum. And we acquired the Dorothy a year after we opened. ... So, that was a highlight as well."

What can visitors find at Wakita's Twister The Movie Museum?

When Wade plugged in the cord to make the spinning red lights framing Dorothy I illuminate, Seth Bongiovanni's eyes brightened, too. As the Kansas City resident and his girlfriend, Alea Nelson, of Lawrence, Kansas, posed in front of the dented barrel-shaped prop — it's the version used in the movie's action sequences — Martin held up his cellphone camera and urged the couple to say, "Dorothy."

"This is pretty cool. I'm a huge weather person ... and I'm a huge fan," Bongiovanni said, looking at the photo. "At first, it didn't hit me until we got to Wakita that, 'Wow, we're really in Wakita.' And she was like, 'I've been here so many times.'"

Nelson's family lives in nearby Medford, so while the couple was visiting on a recent Saturday, they detoured to the down-home museum. They watched his old DVD copy of the 1990s blockbuster for one of their first dates.

"It was my first time watching it, which is very weird," said Nelson with a chuckle.

Between nostalgia for the film from longtime fans and the new generations discovering it, "Twister" has spun up quite the legacy. Memorabilia and merchandise emblazoned with enduring quotes from the movie — "Where's my truck?," "Going green" and, of course, "We got cows" — are displayed throughout the modest space. There's even a "Suck Zone" tornado simulator that visitors can brave for an extra fee.

"We don't know how everyone finds us, but they do ... and especially the storm chasers. A lot of the storm chasers have just adopted us, and I'm their Aunt Meg anymore, basically," Wade said, adding that the museum now hosts the annual Where's My Truck? Storm Chasers Car and Truck Show in September.

In the years since the production cleaned up the cinematic debris and left Wakita, Twister The Movie Museum has added to its collection via numerous donations, from the assortment of T-shirts from storms chasers, college meteorology departments and tour groups from around the globe to the custom "Twister" pinball machine made especially for Paxton, who donated it to the landmark.

Since Paxton's death in 2017, the museum also has become home to a makeshift shrine to the beloved actor. Among new additions to the museum's displays are photos from the 2013 movie "Red Wing," which Paxton filmed with fellow Texan and current "Twisters" star Glen Powell.

How has excitement for 'Twisters' boosted attendance at Wakita's Twister The Movie Museum?

Although "Twisters" didn't film in Wakita — the closest filming came in 2023 was 20 miles south near Kremlin — Wade and Martin were invited to attend the new movie's Oklahoma City premiere. The museum's director has seen the new blockbuster twice more since.

"We had to go back the third time to get catchphrases to make new T-shirts with. We loved, 'Dorothy, she's not a desk,'" Wade said with a chuckle. "And we just loved seeing Dorothy again."

The state's busy tornado season and anticipation for the long-awaited standalone sequel have proven a perfect storm this year for the free museum. The seasonal small-town attraction has seen rising attendance all year, but it's spun even higher since "Twisters" roared into theaters.

"Now, we're over 100 (visitors) on weekends — and it's constant. Last Saturday, we showed up, and there were 12 cars waiting," Wade said. "It's been a big jump. We hope it continues even into next year and until our 30th anniversary in 2026."

WAKITA'S TWISTER THE MOVIE MUSEUM: IF YOU GO

• When is it open? 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays April to August. The museum will be open through Labor Day weekend before shifting to its off season, when it is open only by appointment by calling 580-594-2312.

• Where is it? 101 W Main Street, Wakita, in Grant County, about eight miles south of the Kansas state line.

• How to get there? To avoid dirt roads, take state highway OK-11 to OK-11A.

• Admission: Free, but donations are encouraged. Sales of T-shirts, plush cows and other merchandise support the museum, too. (There is no ATM in Wakita, but the museum gift shop now takes credit cards.)

• When is the Where's My Truck? Storm Chasers Car and Truck Show? 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 14, during Wakita's annual Cherokee Strip Celebration.

• Where to eat? The cash-only Twister Cafe in Wakita is open for breakfast and lunch weekdays. Nearby Medford has five restaurants.

• What else to do? Nearby attractions include the 1893 Land Run Historical Center in Medford; Great Salt Plains Lake and Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge near Jet; and Leonardo’s Children’s Museum, Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center and more in Enid.

• More information: https://www.facebook.com/twisterthemoviemuseum and https://twistermuseum.org.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Twister The Movie Museum in Wakita Oklahoma keeps attracting visitors