Area 51 – From Start To Finish

Area 51. A common name in memes and a popular one in conspiracy theories.

You may have heard this name being thrown around a lot lately. 

Everything that goes on at Area 51 is classified ‘top secret’ when it’s going on.

This is a picture of the road to Area 51. Doesn’t seem like much, right? Just some highly classified United States Air Force facility located within the Nevada Test and Training Range.

As you may have guessed, it’s the “highly classified” part which makes it so intriguing for outsiders.

Since there are no reports about what goes on inside, many conspiracy theorists have started poking their nose in. One of the many popular theories floating around the internet is the theory which contemplates the existence of aliens being kept against their will at this base.

As ridiculous as it may sound, many reported sightings of UFOs later, this theory has all but grabbed the netizen’s attention.

How did the conspiracy theories begun?

Area 51 has always been a place of mystery but its major claim to fame is as an alleged extraterrestrial technology research site. It all started in July 1947, when the Roswell Daily Record’s front-page headline screamed “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region.”

The U.S. military claimed the unidentified crashing object was just a weather balloon; conspiracy theorists insisted it was an alien spacecraft which was then taken from the Roswell ranch property to Area 51 for reverse-engineering. With perhaps a large-eyed alien inside?

People also think that Area 51 is where the moon landing was staged. In the 1974 book, “We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle,” conspiracy theorist Bill Kaysing argues that NASA astronauts never made it to space and that all the footage of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the lunar surface was filmed at Area 51. Yep, anything is possible.

A few years after the Roswell incident, the base started testing its spy planes. Local residents saw these and obviously assumed they were UFOs. Obviously. Then in 1989, to add fuel to fire, a man called Robert Lazar claimed that he worked on alien technology at Area 51, which is at the heart of the modern conspiracy theory. The Facebook event came only six months after the release of a Netflix documentary about Lazar.

Adding apparent credibility to Lazar’s testimony were persistent reports (chronicled even in the respected Aviation Week & Space Technology) of bizarre lights over the test site-craft maneuvering in ways beyond the capacity of known aviation technology. These reports are almost certainly genuine.

Lazar’s tales, on the other hand, are almost certainly bogus. Investigations raised serious questions about his reliability. His claims about his education and employment could not be verified, and his character proved to be questionable. In 1990, he was arrested for his involvement with the operation of a Nevada brothel.

Yet maybe this was also another cover up to shut their secrets safe and tight. We will never know.

At least this one is more probable than the Earth being flat and the government controlling the weather, among other things.

The Meme’s Origin Story

On June 27, the anonymous administrators of a public meme page “Shitposting cause im in shambles” teamed up with a Twitch video game streamer named SmyleeKun to organize the event called “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us.”

More than 2 million people have RVSP’d for the event in the name of memes. For added measure, the event description notes, “If we naruto run” — a reference to a highly particular, frequently meme’d style of running from the long-running anime Naruto — “we can move faster than their bullets. Lets see them aliens.”

Who’s down??? pic.twitter.com/VEfBzXTkX4

— Alex (@aranaalex41) July 3, 2019

 

People are invited to fly out to Lincoln Country, Nevada, and “all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry” at 3 am Pacific on September 20. Area 51 has often been characterized in fiction as a place where the US government houses and researches alien technology, so the goal is supposedly to break into the highly secretive and militarily protected compund and sneak out some aliens. The thinking goes that if a bunch of people head toward the high-security base at once, the military won’t stand a chance of stopping them.

The event, although purely comedic, has had an effect on businesses both locally in Nevada and around the United States, which are creating preparations for visitors and products for both those “going” and others who are interested.

Reaction to the Meme

On August 3, the Area 51 meme community suffered a great tragedy. The Facebook event page which started all this, the Mother of Area 51 memes, was taken down by Facebook.

 Mathew Roberts, the event creator, posted a screenshot on his personal Facebook page of the notice Facebook had sent him saying it had taken down the event because it “went against” Facebook’s “Community Standards.”

After starting the Facebook event as a joke, Roberts is now planning an actual Area 51 festival in Nevada to take place on September 20, the day the facetious raid was 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. 

“I think it’s pretty reckless of Facebook, especially because I’m trying to direct people away from storming the base,” Roberts said. “And now I’ve lost my entire audience.” Roberts expects around 20,000 people to attend the festival. 

Well, maybe the Area 51 raid won’t happen but we sure do hope we get an invite to the festival. The gathering aims to be safe and fun and will take place at multiple official venues along the Extraterrestrial Highway in Rachel, Nevada on September 20.

“People are going to the desert on September 20 and likely in staggering numbers. By removing the Facebook event they are not deterring people from going, they are simply blocking the needed lines of communication that we have with the public to provide direction and safety. From water preparation to environmental knowledge this type of censorship is dangerous to the public and basic safety is our No. 1 concern right now,” said filmmaker and even collaborator, Jeremy Corbell.

But fear not, alien-lovers, thankfully, after a harrowing few weeks, Facebook heard of this situation and said that the page was deleted “by accident.” It is now restored and up again. Book your tickets.

Are you planning on going?

“[Area 51] is an open training range for the U.S. Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces. The U.S. Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.”

On July 10, Air Force spokeswoman, Laura McAndrews, said officials were aware of the event, and issued this warning.

Nevadan law enforcement officials said government agencies are closely monitoring the reaction to the post, saying anyone found trespassing would be “arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of local and military law. A public information officer at Nellis Air Force Base said that “any attempt to illegally access the area is highly discouraged.”

A viral Reddit post showed what it claimed to be an Air Force briefing on the Naruto run.

All this drama has only encouraged more people to join in the fun. Do you plan on going as well? Though it is highly discouraged, I think a bit of curiosity gnaws away at us all, so if you do go, take pictures and bring back a souvenir.

The internet sure is ready to meet an alien. Are you?

Be careful when you accept that invite to Storm Area 51 ? #Area51 pic.twitter.com/bXq2ZNi5em

— Zach King (@FinalCutKing) August 1, 2019

Well…… Damn…. lol #Area51Raid #Area51memes #Area51meme #AREA51 #RizzaIslam pic.twitter.com/5T8viY9elB

— Rizza Islam (@IslamRizza) July 29, 2019

#Area51memes LOL @MindofMercy better come save the area 51 guards. pic.twitter.com/I5Uv7YUszm

— Mildori Firefox (@MildoriFire) July 28, 2019

I’m dead ??? #Area51memes pic.twitter.com/4hjOdDiThw

— SIEFE (@Siefe) July 25, 2019