Area 51 Exposed

Area 51 is located in the southern portion of Nevada,

in the western United States,

eighty-three miles north northwest of Las Vegas.

It is a highly classified United States Air Force facility

located within the Nevada Test and Training Range.

It is an area roughly twenty-five miles of restricted airspace and is heavily guarded.

The perimeter of the base is marked out by orange posts

and patrolled by guards in white pickup trucks and camouflage fatigues.

Technology is also heavily used to maintain the border of the base.

This includes surveillance cameras and motion detectors.

It is one of the most secure bases within the United States,

and if you go beyond the perimeter, they will kill you.

The origin of the name Area 51 is unclear.

It is believed to be from an Atomic Energy Commission numbering grid.

Although Area 51 is not part of that system, it is adjacent to area 15.

Another explanation is that 51 was used

because it was unlikely that the AEC would use the number.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency, the correct names for the facility

are Homey Airport and Groom Lake,

though the name Area 51 was used in a CIA document from the Vietnam War.

The facility has also been referred to as Dreamland

and Paradise Ranch among other nicknames.

The United States Air Force public relations has referred to the facility

as "an operating location near Groom Dry Lake."

The special use airspace around the field is referred to as restricted area 4808 North.

Area 51 has become a focus of modern conspiracy theories

due to its secretive nature and connection to classified aircraft research.

Theories include:

The storage, examination, and reverse engineering of crashed alien spacecraft,

including material supposedly recovered at Roswell,

the study of their occupants and the manufacture of aircraft based on alien technology.

Meetings or joint undertakings with extraterrestrials.

The development of exotic energy weapons for the Strategic Defense Initiative

or other weapons programs.

The development of weather control.

The development of time travel and teleportation technology.

The development of exotic propulsion systems related to the Aurora Program.

Activities related to a shadowy one-world government or the Majestic 12 organization.

Many of the hypotheses concern underground facilities at Groom or Papoose Lake

and include claims of a transcontinental underground railroad system,

a disappearing airstrip named the Cheshire Airstrip after Lewis Carroll's Cheshire cat,

which briefly appears when water is sprayed onto its camouflaged asphalt,

and engineering based on alien technology.

In the mid-1950s, civilian aircraft flew under 20,000 feet

while military aircraft flew over 40,000 feet.

The U-2 began flying at about 60,000 feet

and there was an increased number of UFO sighting reports.

Sightings occurred most often during early evening hours,

when airline pilots flying west saw the U-2's silver wings reflect the sun,

giving the aircraft a fiery appearance.

Many sighting reports came to the Air Force Project Blue Book which investigated UFO sightings

through air traffic controllers and letters to the government.

The project checked U-2 and later OXCART flight records

to eliminate the majority of UFO reports that it received during the late 50s and 60s,

although it could not reveal to the letter writers the truth behind what they saw.

They believed that the rumors helped maintain secrecy over Area 51's actual operations.

The veterans deny the existence of a vast underground railroad system,

although many of Area 51's operations did occur underground.

The modern history of Area 51 is a place for UFOs

and extraterrestrial activity began in the 1980s.

Bob Lazar claimed in 1989 that he had worked at Area 51's sector 4,

said to be located underground inside the Papoose range near Papoose Lake.

He claimed that he was contracted to work with alien spacecraft

that the government had in its possession.

Similarly, in 1996 a documentary, Dreamland, directed by Bruce Burgess

included an interview with a seventy-one-year old mechanical engineer,

who claimed to be a former employee of Area 51 during the 50s.

His claims include that he had worked on a flying disc simulator

which had been based on a disc originating from a crashed extraterrestrial craft

and was used to train pilots.

He also claimed to have worked with an extraterrestrial being

named Jarod and described as a telepathic translator.

In 2004, Dan Crain claimed to have worked on cloning alien viruses

at Area 51, also alongside the alien named Jarod.

Crain's scholarly credentials are the subject of much debate,

as he was apparently working as a Las Vegas parole officer in 1989,

while also earning a PhD at State University of New York.

In July 2019, two million people responded to a joke proposal

to storm Area 51 which appeared in an anonymous Facebook post.

Many people said that they were interested in the event

scheduled for the 20th of September 2019,

and billed as "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us", an attempt to see them aliens.

Air Force spokeswoman Lauren McAndrews

said government officials knew about the proposal.

In a statement to the Washington Post, she said Area 51 is an open training range

for the US Air Force and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area

where we train American armed forces.

The US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.

The media reported that the proposal's creator

had said it was satirical and meant as a joke.

Joke or no joke, it caught the attention of UFO buffs and even entertainers.

Many pledged to rush the base in an attempt to get inside

and see what all the secret fuss was about.

After memes and the Facebook account had been posted

thousands of times on the internet,

local businesses were besieged with people showing up well before the September event.

Some local businesses saw the potential for cashing in on all the tourist activity,

and began to arrange outdoor events, concerts and more for the occasion.

Matty Roberts created the event on Facebook On June 27th as a joke,

not imagining the viral spread the event would receive.

The event planned for the raid in Amargosa Valley

from 3 am. to 6 am. on September 20th, 2019.

The Facebook event writes, "If we run, we can move faster than their bullets.

Let's see them aliens."

Robert said the event had around forty signatures three days into the event's list date

and then suddenly went viral.

The meme possibly spread first on the app TikTok as well as Reddit and Instagram later.

The Facebook page for the event is filled with thousands of satirical posts

discussing the best way to break into Area 51.

After the viral spread of the meme,

Roberts was worried that he would receive a visit from the FBI.

The event received 1.6 million going,

and another 1.2 million interested signatures as of July the 18th.

He had to take the event offline as of July 20th.

Copycat events such as plans to storm a genealogical vault

of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

Loch Ness and the Bermuda Triangle have also been created.

Business owners in Rachel, Nevada,

a town of just fifty-six people just outside of the base

have made preparations for visitors who want to go to Area 51.

Connie West, co-owner of the Little Ale'Inn restaurant and inn,

has had all thirteen rooms of the inn booked, and plans to open up thirty acres for camping

and create merchandise for the event.

Las Vegas businessman George Harris has hired bands

to play at an annual festival called The Swarm.

Matty Roberts has also expressed interest in a music festival to be made outside of Area 51.

Cosmic Kay, owner of the shop Aliens R Us in Boulder City,

says that even though the shop is one hundred seventy miles away from Area 51,

business has increased due to fascination regarding aliens.

Everyone involved believes this will become an annual event

much like the famed Burning Man event

in Black Rock Desert of Northwest, Nevada.

Other businesses around the nation have based products and services on this event.

A collection of merchandise related to the event from online retailers was launched.

Bud Light plans to release a promotional alien-themed beer label

and promised a free beer to any alien that makes it out

as long as a tweet with the new design gets fifty-one thousand retweets.

Fast food restaurant Arby's has planned to deliver food with a special menu to the event.

The UFO store has even released an entire promotional DVD package based upon the event.

Area 51 has been the subject of conspiracy theories regarding aliens since the 1950s,

when some individuals reported seeing UFOs at the location of the base

around the time the military started flying CIA U-2 spy planes in the area.

The CIA declassified documents related to Area 51

and recognized its existence in 2013.

Up until then, the government had denied even the existence of the base,

though it could be clearly seen from an area mountaintop.

Conspiracy theorists believe aliens, UFOs, or secrets related to them are stored at Area 51.

In June 2019, the Pentagon provided a briefing on UFOs

encountered by Navy pilots to members of Congress.

That same month, US President Donald Trump said he had also been briefed on UFOs.

Prior to these events in 2019, the government had also been forced to admit

they did indeed have a UFO program based out of the Pentagon.

The program code-named A.A.T.I.P.

or the Advanced Aerial Threat Identification Program.

The program began in 2007 with funding of 22 million over the five years,

until available appropriations were ended in 2012.

This program began in the US Defense Intelligence Agency,

although the official A.A.T.I.P. program has ended,

a related group of interested professionals have extended the effort,

funding a nonprofit organization called

"To The Stars... Academy of Arts and Science."

Many who worked at A.A.T.I.P. say officially the program has ended,

but it is still receiving funding and is continuing.

On May 22nd 2019,

Pentagon spokesman Christopher Sherwood confirmed to the New York Post

that the program did pursue research and investigation into unidentified aerial phenomena,

dispelling rumors that the program only focused on theoretical physics.

The program manager, Luis Elizondo, said on December 19th, 2017

that he believed there was very compelling evidence we are not alone.

The Storm Area 51 Event took a turn on the first weekend in August of 2019.

Just as the hype seemed to have calmed down, over two million UFO enthusiasts

found their Area 51 meme filled page suddenly blocked by Facebook,

under the pretext of ever-elusive, community standards violations.

Spooked by the high volume of attendees, worried about the Las Vegas strip clubs

pledge to bring its dancers to entertain the masses,

or offended by one of the thousand memes posted by the community,

Facebook abruptly removed

the "Storm Area 51 - They Can't Stop Us All" event page over the weekend.

The backup page set up by the organizers was also wiped out

as the social media giant found the content posted

to this event to be in violation of their community standards.

Frustrated would-be raiders regrouped on reddit to share their theories,

while others continue to flood Twitter with Area 51 memes.

Many agreed that Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg

is secretly an alien from Area 51 and he doesn't want us to know.

Many questioned if the government had threatened Facebook or other online sites.

The hysteria over aliens at Area 51 only grew.

It seemed several were not willing to give up and were determined to storm Area 51.

After starting the Facebook event as a joke,

Matthew Roberts now planned an actual Area 51 festival in Nevada

to take place September 20th, the day the raid was going to go down.

He says he created another Facebook event this time for the real festival

that would take place somewhere that's not a highly classified military base,

but this too was taken down by the social network.