Area 51 Exposed (2020) - full transcript

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.

Perhaps it was
for public safety,

or the government instructed
Facebook to remove the site.

Either way this only encouraged
event promoters to push forward.

The intense secrecy
surrounding the base

has made it the frequent
subject of conspiracy theories,

and a central component to
unidentified flying object folklore.

The base has never been
declared a secret base,

but all research and occurrences
in Area 51 are top-secret, sensitive,

compartmentalized information.

The CIA publicly acknowledged the
existence of the base for the first time

on the 25th of June 2013, following
a Freedom of Information Act request

filed in 2005,

and they declassified documents detailing
the history and purpose of Area 51.

Of course,
there were no mentions of aliens.

The lakebed made an
ideal strip for testing aircraft

and the Emigrant
Valley's mountain ranges

and the NTS perimeter
protected this site from visitors,

about 100 miles
north of Las Vegas.

The CIA asked the AEC to acquire
the land designated Area 51 on the map,

and to add it to the
Nevada Test Site.

President Johnson
named the area Paradise Ranch

to encourage workers to move to "the
new facility in the middle of nowhere",

as the CIA later described it,
and the name became shortened to The Ranch.

On the 4th of May 1955,
a survey team arrived at Groom Lake

and laid out a 5,000-foot north-south runway
on the southwest corner of the lakebed

and designated a site
for a base support facility.

The Ranch initially consisted
of little more than a few shelters,

workshops, and trailer homes
in which to house its small team.

In a little over three months, the base consisted
of a single paved runway, three hangars,

a control tower and rudimentary
accommodations for test personnel.

The base's few amenities included a
movie theater and a volleyball court.

There was also a mess hall,
several wells and fuel storage tanks.

CIA, Air Force, and Lockheed
personnel began arriving on July of 1955.

The Ranch received its first U-2 delivery
on the 24th of July 1955 from Burbank.

Regular Military Air
Transport Service flights

were set up between Area 51 and
Lockheed's offices in Burbank, California.

To preserve secrecy,
personnel flew to Nevada on Monday mornings

and returned to
California on Friday.

During the Cold War, one of the
missions carried out by the United States

was the test and evaluation of
captured Soviet fighter aircraft.

Beginning in the late 60s,
and for several decades,

Area 51 played host to an
assortment of Soviet-built aircraft.

Under the HAVE DOUGHNUT,
HAVE DRILL and HAVE FERRY programs,

the first MiGs flown in the United
States were used to evaluate the aircraft

in performance, technical,
and operational capabilities,

pitting the types
against U.S. fighters.

Area 51 also hosted another foreign material
evaluation program called HAVE GLIB.

This involved testing Soviet tracking
and missile control radar systems.

A complex of actual and replica Soviet-type
threat systems began to grow around Slater Lake,

a mile northwest of the main base, along
with an acquired Soviet Barlock search radar.

They were arranged to simulate
a Soviet-style air defense complex.

All of this evaluation of foreign
technology made Area 51

the perfect place to study, test,
and evaluate alien technology.

If you have a UFO or flying saucer
and wanted to see what it could do

out of the prying
eyes of the nation,

Area 51 was the most logical
and perfect place to do it.

The base itself is restricted,
the airspace above the base is restricted,

and even land surrounding
the base has been purchased

and declared restricted
for miles around.

The United States government has provided
minimal information regarding Area 51.

The area surrounding the
lake is permanently off-limits

to both civilian and
normal military air traffic.

Security clearances are checked regularly,
cameras and weaponry are not allowed.

Even military pilots training in
the NAFR risk disciplinary action

if they stray into the exclusive
box surrounding Grooms airspace.

Surveillance is supplemented
using buried motion sensors.

Area 51 is a common destination for Janet
airline, a small fleet of passenger aircraft

operated on behalf of the Air
Force to transport military personnel,

primarily from McCarran
International Airport.

The USGS topographic map for the area
only shows the long-disused Groom Mine.

A civil aviation chart published by the
Nevada Department of Transportation

shows a large restricted area defined
as part of the Nellis restricted airspace.

The National Atlas shows the area
as lying within the Nellis Air Base.

However, high resolution and newer images
available from satellite imagery providers,

including Russian providers prove the
base is huge and of course does exist.

These show the runway markings,
base facilities, aircraft and vehicles.

We may have
Tang thanks to the space program,

but who gave us such innovations
as the stealth fighter and Kevlar?

Aliens of course.

Conspiracy theorists believe that
the remains of crashed UFO spacecraft

are stored at Area 51,

an air force base about
150 miles from Las Vegas.

Government scientists reverse engineer the
aliens' highly advanced technology there.

Fodder for this has come from a variety
of supposed UFO sightings in the area

and testimony from a
retired Army colonel,

who says he was given access
to extraterrestrial materials

gathered from an
alien spacecraft

that crashed in Roswell,
New Mexico.

Some believe that the government
studies time travel at Area 51,

also known as Groom
Lake or Dreamland.

The government has developed
advanced aircraft and weapon systems

at nearby Nellis Air Force Base, including
stealth bombers and reconnaissance planes.

And the government's official line
that the details of Area 51 are classified

for the purpose of national
security is only seen as further proof

that the military is hiding
aliens or alien spacecraft.

In the summer of 1955,

sightings of unidentified flying
objects were reported around Area 51.

That's because the airbase had
begun its testing of the U-2 aircraft.

The U-2 can fly
higher than 60,000 feet.

At the time, normal airliners were flying
in the ten to twenty thousand feet range,

while military aircraft topped
out at about 40,000 feet.

So, if a pilot spotted the tiny
speck that was the U-2 high above it,

they would have
no idea what it was

and they would usually let air traffic
control know that someone was out there.

This led to the increase of
UFO sightings in the area,

while Air Force officials knew
the UFO sightings were U-2 tests,

they couldn't
really tell the public.

So, they explained the aircraft sightings
by saying they were natural phenomenon

and high-altitude
weather research.

The testing of the U-2
ended in the late 1950s,

but Area 51 has continued
to serve as the testing ground

for many aircraft
including the F-117A,

the A-12 and the Tacit Blue.

No one knows for sure what
Area 51 is up to these days.

The government never even publicly
acknowledged the existence of the base

until 2013,

with the release of
declassified CIA reports.

But if you're ever at
the Las Vegas Airport,

keep an eye out for some small
unmarked passenger planes

in a fenced-off area.

They're how Area 51 employees
get to work from their homes in Vegas.

So,
how did Area 51 come to be known as a place

where the government keeps
aliens and alien saucers?

Enter Bob Lazar.

Lazar is primarily known for his
time of being hired in the late 1980s

to reverse-engineer purported extraterrestrial
technology at a secret site called S-4,

located several miles south of the
Area 51 United States Air Force facility.

Lazar claims he examined an alien
craft that ran on an antimatter reactor

powered by the then
un-synthesized element 115.

He also claims to have read US
government briefing documents

that described alien involvement in
human affairs over the past 10,000 years.

Lazar's claims resulted in bringing
added public attention to Area 51.

His story gained renewed attention due to a
June the 20th 2019 interview with Joe Rogan

as well as a 2018
documentary about his life

entitled "Bob Lazar,
Area 51 and Flying Saucers."

In May of 1989,

Lazar appeared in an interview with
investigative reporter George Knapp

on Las Vegas TV station KLAS,

under the pseudo name Dennis

and with his face hidden to discuss
his purported employment at S-4,

a subsidiary facility he
claims exists near Area 51.

He said the facility was
adjacent to Papoose Lake

which is located south of the
main Area 51 facility at Groom Lake.

He claimed the site consisted of concealed
aircraft hangars built into a mountainside.

Lazar said that his job was to
help with the reverse engineering

of one of nine flying saucers.

Bob claims one of the flying saucers,
the one he coined the Sport Model

was manufactured out
of a metallic substance

similar in appearance
and touch to stainless steel.

In a subsequent interview that November, Lazar
appeared unmasked and under his own name.

Lazar claims that the
propulsion of the studied vehicle

was fueled by atomic element 115,
or e 115.

Lazar explained that e 115
generates a gravity wave.

In addition, Lazar claims that
during his onboarding to the program,

he read briefing documents
describing the historical involvement

with earth for the past 10,000 years
by extraterrestrial beings; grey aliens.

These aliens are from a planet orbiting
the twin binary star system Zeta Reticuli.

Lazar's story garnered media attention
and controversy as well as supporters.

The scientific community however
is skeptical of Lazar's claims

as he makes them without any hard
evidence or proof of what he is claiming.

According to scientific
skeptic Benjamin Radford,

Lazar's lies propelled Area 51
into the public consciousness.

Lazar claims he earned a
Master's degree in physics from MIT

and a Master's degree in
electronic technology from Caltech.

However, there are no records of
Lazar attending either MIT or Caltech.

Furthermore, Lazar was not a
member of a professional body.

Lazar claims that his
academic records were erased

in an effort by authorities
to discredit him.

However, in Lazar's defense, people
have come forward and said they knew him

from his days at MIT and Caltech
and affirmed he did attend there.

The subject of UFOs, Area 51 and aliens
has entered the political spectrum as well.

US Senator and Presidential
Candidate Bernie Sanders

has pledged to share any details
about UFOs if he wins the 2020 election.

He says he's prepared to
disclose any government information

about unidentified
flying objects,

but only if he wins, and mainly
because his wife Jane asked him to;

even promising he would announce
the findings on the Joe Rogan podcast.

Rogan asked if Jane was a UFO nut,
which Sanders denied.

Jane, however, has been pressing
the candidate about what information

he might have right
now as a senator.

It's unclear however, if the Republicans
will push this issue into election headlines.

In June, US President Donald
Trump told ABC News's George Stephanopoulos

that he also received a briefing
about recent sightings by military pilots.

Trump claims not to believe in
UFOs or has no particular interest.

Although this debate
sounds like a rehash

of conversations surrounding the
1950s and 60s' era Project Blue Book,

it does have more
recent origins.

Earlier in the year, the New York Times
reported that pilots with the US Navy

saw swiftly flying UFOs several
times off the coast in 2014 and 2015,

but the reports of these vehicles don't
necessarily point to something extraterrestrial.

But there's been so much
attention on the issue that in June,

the Defense Department briefed Mark Warner,
a Democrat from Virginia,

the Senate's Intelligence
Committee Vice-Chairman

about these encounters
along with two other senators.

While we wait on party
positions on space aliens for 2020,

remember that this isn't the
first time the issue popped up

in talks with a Democrat
presidential candidate.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton promised New
Hampshire's Conway Daily news, Sun

that she would get to the
bottom of the UFO phenomenon.

She added that Earth may have been visited
already by aliens, but we don't know for sure.

However, it is unclear how seriously
Clinton was speaking to the newspaper,

which is located in a key
state for the election primaries.

Previous Presidents have alluded,
sometimes tongue-in-cheek

that aliens may exist and the government may
have top-secret departments that study them,

even with direct
contact with aliens.

So far there has not been any
confirmation by any leader in the world

that aliens are among us.

UFO enthusiasts believe that Area 51
may be the home of the famous Majestic 12.

The organization is claimed to be the codename
of an alleged secret committee of scientists,

military leaders,
and government officials formed in 1947

by an executive order by
US President Harry S. Truman

to facilitate recovery and
investigation of alien spacecraft.

The concept originated in a series of
supposedly leaked secret documents

first circulated by
ufologists in 1984.

Upon examination,
the Federal Bureau of Investigation

declared the documents
to be completely bogus

and many ufologists considered
them to be an elaborate hoax.

Majestic 12 remains popular
among some UFO conspiracy theorists

and the concept has
appeared in popular culture

including, television,
film and literature.

The concept of Majestic 12
emerged during a period in the 1980s

when ufologists believed there had been
a cover-up of the Roswell UFO incident

and speculated some secretive upper tier of
the United States government was responsible.

Their suppositions appeared
to be confirmed in 1984,

when ufologist Jaime Shandera
received an envelope containing film

which when developed
showed images of eight pages

of documents that appeared to be briefing
papers describing Operation Majestic 12.

The documents purported to
reveal a secret committee of 12,

supposedly authorized by United
States President Harry S. Truman in 1952,

and explained how the crash
of an alien spacecraft at Roswell

in July of 1947 had
been concealed,

how the recovered alien
technology could be exploited

and how the United
States should engage

with extraterrestrial
life in the future.

Shandera and his ufologist colleagues
Stanton T. Friedman and Bill Moore

say they later received a
series of anonymous messages

that led them to find what has
been called the Cutler/Twining memo

in 1985 while searching declassified
files in the National Archives.

Purported to be written by President
Eisenhower's assistant Robert Cutler

to General Nathan F. Twining and
containing a reference to Majestic 12,

the memo is widely held to be a forgery,
likely planted as part of a hoax.

However, claiming to be connected
to the United States Air Force Office

of Special Investigations, a man named
Richard Doty told filmmaker Linda Moulton Howe

that the MJ-12 story was true,
and showed Howe unspecified documents

purporting to prove the existence of small,
grey humanoid aliens

originating from the
Zeta Reticuli star system.

Doty reportedly promised to supply
Howe with film footage of UFOs

and an interview with an alien being,
although no footage ever materialized.

Soon, distrust and suspicion led to
disagreements within the ufology community

over the authenticity of
the MJ-12 documents,

and Moore was accused of
taking part in an elaborate hoax,

while other ufologists and
debunkers such as Philip J. Klass

were accused of being
disinformation agents.

Both Bob Lazar and the MJ-12
documents say that aliens at Area 51

come from the Zeta
Reticuli star system.

So, where is this system?

The system is a wide binary star system
in the southern constellation of reticulum.

From the southern hemisphere,

the pair can be seen as a naked-eye
double star in very dark skies.

Based upon parallax
measurements,

this system is
located at a distance

of about thirty-nine point
three light-years from Earth.

Both stars are solar analogs that have
characteristics similar to those of our Sun.

They belong to the Zeta Herculis Moving
Group of stars that share a common origin.

Scientists agree that any system within fifty
light years could be reached with a spacecraft

traveling just under the speed
of light within one lifetime.

So, as stars go, Zeta is rather
close at thirty-nine light years away.

Betty and Barney Hill
were an American couple

who claimed they were
abducted by extraterrestrials

in a rural portion of the
state of New Hampshire

from September 19th
to September 20th 1961.

It was the first widely publicized report
of an alien abduction in the United States.

The incident came to be called the Hill
Abduction and the Zeta Reticuli Incident

because the couple stated they
had been kidnapped by aliens

who claimed to be from
the Zeta Reticuli system.

Their story was adapted into a best-selling
1966 book, The Interrupted Journey

and the 1975 television
movie The UFO Incident.

In September 2016,
plans were announced to make a film

based on the event with
an unknown release date.

The interesting thing though is
that the Hills claim came in 1961,

but it was in 1969 that Marjorie
Fish discovered the system

and the Hill map
actually did exist.

Marjorie Fish of Oak Harbor,
Ohio read Fuller's Interrupted Journey.

She was an elementary school
teacher and amateur astronomer.

Interested by the star
map mentioned in the book,

Fish wondered if it
might be deciphered

to determine which star
system the UFO came from.

Assuming that one of the fifteen stars
on the map must represent Earth's Sun,

Fish constructed a three-dimensional
model of nearby sun-like stars

using thread and beads,

basing stellar distances
on those published

in the 1969 Gliese
Star Catalogue.

Studying thousands of vantage
points over several years,

the only one that seemed
to match the Hill map

was from the viewpoint of the
double star system of Zeta Reticuli.

Fish sent her analysis to Webb.

Agreeing with her conclusions,
Webb sent the map to Terence Dickinson,

editor of the popular
magazine Astronomy.

Dickinson did not endorse
Fish and Webb's conclusions,

but for the first time
in the journal's history,

Astronomy invited comments
and debate on a UFO report,

starting with an opening article
in the December 1974 issue.

For about a year afterward,
the opinions page of Astronomy

carried arguments for
and against Fish's star map.

Notable was an argument made
by Carl Sagan and Steven Soter,

arguing that the
seeming star map

was little more than a random
alignment of chance points.

In an episode of Cosmos in 1980,
Sagan demonstrated that without the lines

drawn in the maps, the Hill map bore
no resemblance to the real-life map.

In contrast, those more favorable
to the map, such as David Saunders,

a statistician who had been
on the Condon UFO study,

argued that unusual
alignment of key sun-like stars

in a plane centered
around Zeta Reticuli

was statistically improbable
to have happened by chance

from a random group of stars
in our immediate neighborhood.

The hill case

is one of the most heavily
researched UFO cases on record

and many points
made by the Hills

have been corroborated right
after and since the abduction.

Most of Betty Hills' notes,
tapes, and other items

have been placed in
the permanent collection

at the University of New Hampshire,
her alma mater.

In July 2011,
the state Division of Historical Resources

marked the site of the alleged craft's
first approach with a historical marker.

So, you want to storm Area 51?

Where will you stay?

How do you get to camp?

There is not much in Rachel,
Nevada

by way of stores,
hotels and frankly anything.

The Little A'le' Inn,
previously the Rachel Bar and Grill,

is a small bar, restaurant,
and motel located in Rachel

along the
Extra-Terrestrial Highway.

The business has been
running for over twenty years

and is frequented by
visitors to the local Area 51.

The business has a variety of Area 51
and UFO-related merchandise for sale

such as maps of the area, posters, postcards,
and toys, and offers an alien burger.

There isn't much else in Rachel.

In 1991, Joe and Pat wanted
something unique for the Bar & Grill

because they felt that Joe and
Pat's was not exciting enough.

They held a contest won by Bruce
Hooker with "A 'le' Inn" a play on alien.

The current owners of the Little A'le'
Inn are Pat and her daughter Connie.

It has been featured in
documentaries and even feature films.

If you're wondering,
it is usually booked

with alien hunters for
the Storm Area 51 event.

You can get there by
taking highway 375.

The top-secret Area 51
government base is near SR 375

and many travelers have
reported UFO observations

and other strange alien
activity along this road.

Such stories prompted the state
to officially designate the route

as the Extra-Terrestrial
Highway in 1996.

The small town of Rachel located near the
midpoint of the highway caters to tourists,

geocachers, and UFO seekers
with alien-themed businesses.

Although the area receives some tourism due
to the alleged extraterrestrial activity,

SR 375 remains a
lightly traveled route.

Descending the summit, SR 375 nears
the border of the Nellis Air Force Range.

As the highway heads northwest through
Tikaboo Valley, it meets Mail Box Road.

It used to be marked by a single
postal drop known as the Black Mailbox.

The dirt access road leads to the
restricted lands surrounding Area 51.

The original mailbox was
a normal black mailbox.

However, due to people
constantly sifting through it,

it was replaced with a white
one that was much more secure.

The name Black
Mailbox still stuck.

It was commonly used as a
gathering place for UFO seekers,

and two to three UFO sightings
per week allegedly occur in the area.

The mailbox was removed by its owner,
Steve Medlin, due to continued vandalism.

SR 375 continues heading
northwest from the mailbox,

climbing in elevation again to reach
the top of Coyote Summit at 5,591 feet.

To promote the Extraterrestrial
Highway after its renaming,

the tourism commission launched
"The ET Experience" in July 1996.

Tourists could contact the Nevada Commission
on Tourism to receive a traveler's kit

containing information about the highway,
nearby cultural attractions and area services.

Visitors that patronized businesses
in Rachel and Central Nevada

and submitted an
account of their journey

received Extraterrestrial
Highway memorabilia.

Stories from travelers were
also published in a newsletter

available to those that had
completed the experience.

Despite tourism generated by
people searching for signs of alien life,

only an average of about two
hundred cars drive some portion

of the Extraterrestrial Highway every day, making
it one of the state's least traveled routes.

You can't talk about Area
51 without at least a mention of Roswell.

After all, the Roswell UFO is
said to be hidden away in Area 51.

In 1978, nuclear physicist and author
Stanton Friedman interviewed Jesse Marcel,

the only person known to have
accompanied the Roswell debris

from where it was
recovered to Fort Worth

where reporters saw material which was
claimed to be part of the recovered object.

The accounts given by Friedman
and others in the following years

elevated Roswell
from a forgotten incident

to perhaps the most
famous UFO case of all time.

The story of Roswell has evolved
since the first book published in 1980,

and an appearance by Jesse Marcel
on the TV program "In Search Of."

Today, Roswell is a UFO fixture
with an annual festival in July

where UFO researchers give talks,
and there is a parade

which brings in much-needed
income to a small desert town.

Rachel,
Nevada must be looking on with envious eyes

at the stature this little town has
garnered since the UFO stories broke.

Perhaps the Storm Area51
event will bring in as much tourism.

Storming Area51 looks to become something
like the Burning Man event in Nevada.

Organizers are hoping it will
grow and become part festival

with bands and attractions
and part liberal event for art.

Burning Man is an event held annually in the
western United States at Black Rock City,

a temporary city erected in the Black
Rock Desert of Northwest Nevada,

approximately one hundred
miles north-northeast of Reno.

The late summer event is an
experiment in community and art,

influenced by ten
main principles:

radical inclusion,
radical self-reliance,

radical self-expression,

communal effort,
civic responsibility,

gifting, participation, immediacy,
and Leave No Trace.

The event takes its
name from its culmination,

the symbolic ritual burning
of a large wooden effigy;

the man that traditionally occurs
on the Saturday evening of the event.

First held thirty-three years ago in
1986 on Baker's Beach in San Francisco

as a small function organized by Larry Harvey
and Jerry James who built the first man.

It has since been annually spanning
from the last Sunday in August

to the first Monday in September,
or Labor Day.

At Burning Man, the community explores
various forms of artistic self-expression,

which are created to be
enjoyed by all participants.

Once considered an underground gathering for
Bohemians and free spirits of all stripes,

Burning Man has since evolved into a
destination for social media influencers,

celebrities,
and the Silicon Valley elite.

Examples of creativity include
experimental and interactive sculptures,

buildings, performances and art cars,
among other media.

These contributions are inspired by a theme
that is chosen annually by the organizers.

Burning Man boasts 70,000 attendees and
has spawned other similar events worldwide.

Storming Area51 from the
perspective of the military

has always been a stern
report: don't try to storm our base.

Area 51 and the government is well
aware of the event that is unfolding

and will be diligent against anyone
who tries to cross the border into Area 51.

On July 10th 2019,
speaking with the Washington Post,

Air Force spokeswoman
Laura McAndrews said

officials were aware of the
event and issued a warning saying,

"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."

She added, "The US Air Force

always stands ready to
protect America and its assets."

This is of course,
the "We will shoot you statement."

Anonymous Nevadan law enforcement
officials have 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 told KNPR

that any attempt to illegally access
the area is highly discouraged.

Signs at the border
of the base clearly say

that lethal force is authorized,
meaning, they can shoot you.

Most likely you would be arrested
and detained, perhaps for days.

You will have no legal recourse.

If they truly believe you are a threat,
you can be incarcerated.

But if a wave of people truly tried to storm
the base, you can bet there will be gunfire.

The camo dudes that protect the base
are armed and authorized to shoot you.

However, if you want to have a good
time and get in some desert camping,

enjoy some music and talk about
UFOs with fellow event participants.

This grassroots festival may just be
the perfect place to have some fun.

Just remember,

don't storm Area 51.

Ten, nine,

ignition sequence start.

Six, five, four,

three, two, one, zero.