The Conspiracy Of Area 51
Guys, it's almost September 20 and you know what that means... some conspiracy theorists and randoms are going to storm Area 51 as part of the trending "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop Us All".
Gaining popularity back in July with over 500,000 members, "Storming Area 51" became a super trend full of memes, jokes, backlash, and famous celebrities like Will Smith, the Supernatural boys, all of the Avengers, Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, and the Scooby Doo gang getting in on the idea of raiding American's infamous Area 51 to "clap dem alien cheeks"
It was a hilarious Facebook page that probably put thousands of people on the FBI's "Watch List", but if you aren't being watched by the FBI are you even living a good life? There was a lot of debate over whether the American government were taking the claims of storming the secret US military bunker seriously, but it was certainly enough to put them at unease.
So it begs the question to be asked, what are they hiding in Area 51?
Conspiracy theorists have speculated often that the Nevada military base is the bunker for the Earths best kept secrets, but more notably for holding aliens and Unidentified Flying Objects (or UFOs) hidden from the public. Back in 1959 it was widely proclaimed by the Reno Evening Gazette that flying objects were seen in the sky and the luminescent green lights were spotted by military officials flying too fast to be an American aircraft. There were also rumours of a UFO crashing down in the infamous town of Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, in which the Roswell Army Air Field said was a weather balloon.
During the height of the American Alien Revolution, the Air Force began investigating claims of UFO sightings in 1947 to coincide with the Roswell crash, and investigated over 12,000 claims of sightings by the time it finished in 1952. That's a lot of aliens it could have discovered in that time frame!
All of these sparked rumours of UFO sightings, alien encounters and theories of abductions that have since spanned decades and been the inspiration of popular forms of TV and movie entertainment, including the TV Shows Taken, Roswell, The X-Files, an episode of Futurama, a movie called Area 51, alien themed movies such as Independence Day and Paul, and many others, which have helped to continue to grow the conspiracy theories.
But what also adds to the conspiracy is the fact that Area 51 - or the officially named Nevada Test and Training Range at Groom Lake - didn't officially exist until August 2013.
Yes that's right, August 2013!
That was when a Senior Fellow at the George Washington University National Security Archive, Dr Jeffrey T Richelson, submitted a Freedom of Information Act request in 2005, and was allowed access to the documents in 2013. The Freedom of Information request was specifically to do with the CIA's Lockheed U-2 plane reconnaissance program, secret construction and testing to gather intelligence which was an overlap in information and sightings during the UFO sighting resurgence. This forced the CIA to declassify documents on the history of the planes construction and tests, which included information on the top secret Area 51.
What also helps add to the secrecy and mystery of Area 51 is the fact that it is under constant 24 hour access, that only the highest military clearance are allowed on the base, and that heavy military fire is a constant factor. In fact, a man was shot dead for trying to enter the grounds of the facility back in January.
No one knows what is going to happen as September 20th approaches and many are aware of impending death and imprisonment that could be enforced if members of the Facebook event group attempt to storm Area 51, but while many have simply joined the event for the memes, it is obvious that some conspiracy theorists will take this action seriously.
I love the idea of Area 51 and completely think that the area contains the US and even possibly the world's best kept secrets. Whether that's an alien, the ark of the convent, or a spacship remains to be seen.
And I hope thanks to this group it will be made seen. God speed my fellow alien nuts!
