Created in 1955 by the CIA, at the height of the Cold War, Area 51 is located in the Nevada Desert, USA, and is part of Nellis Base, a huge official installation of the American Air Force. It got this name because it was built in sector 51 of the base (which was all divided into quadrants). The sector was chosen because of Groom Lake, whose dry, flat and long bed would be perfect for turning into an airstrip. Another reason to install it in the region is the surrounding Nevada desert. There are 364 km2 of inhospitable land – the nearest town, with less than 100 inhabitants, is 40 km away. The only place where you can try to observe something (especially at night) is Tikaboo Peak, 41 km away. But you will need binoculars.
See Area 51 on Google Maps.
IDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS
As the US government still denies the existence of the place, everything known about it is based on speculation and second-hand information. Its original function, it is supposed, was to develop secret planes. That would explain the different hangars. There would have appeared, for example, the Lockheed U2 (famous for spying on the USSR in the Cold War)
RESTRICTED ACCESS
Until recently, the only way to reach the place was by air – generally, commercial flights, coming from Las Vegas. Now there is also a terrestrial entrance, guarded 24 hours a day. The perimeter has no fences, but cameras, radars and lookouts, authorized to use “deadly violence”
IN MOUTH CLOSED…
In the aerial images, it is possible to see a baseball field, probably for the leisure of the team, forced to live in the base. (The buildings nearby would be the dorms.) But it’s all guesswork: whoever agrees to work here signs a strict and punitive confidentiality agreement. Internal communication is also restricted: whoever works on one project doesn’t know what’s going on in another
COWBOYS & ALIENS
The most famous myth involving Area 51 says that it was there that the wreckage of the UFO that would have crashed in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 was taken. The objective would be, based on the parts, to discover how to assemble a similar craft. Former employees confirm that they were doing reverse engineering – but on foreign warplanes, not ships. Another theory: Underground, there are advanced research laboratories and tunnels that lead to bunkers in other cities
BLACK BOX
The airspace above the sector, known as “the box”, is restricted. Over its 1,489 km2, only planes from the installation itself pass. Anyone who invades it can be court-martialled and imprisoned. Aerial photos of Area 51 were only taken by satellite
Aliens, Nazis and Frauds
The most bizarre conspiracy theories about the place
Telepathy from another planet -In 1987, an alleged former employee told TV that he saw spaceships and ETs at Area 51. Many denied him, but others came forward with similar stories. In 1994, another former employee appeared, who would have worked with an alien whose function was to be a “telepathic translator”
nazi plot -The book 51 area, by Annie Jacobsen, says that the ship that crashed in Roswell was a Soviet plane manned by children genetically modified by the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele (!) to look like ETs. The aim would be to cause mass hysteria in the USA
in the world of the moon -It was in Area 51 that NASA and the CIA would have filmed the arrival of man on the Moon. The Nevada desert would be the ideal scenario to simulate our natural satellite. The purpose of the hoax was to guarantee the US victory in the Space Race, disputed with the USSR.
SOURCES Books dreamlandby Phil Patton, and Pentagon Aliens, by William Lyne. LA Times, The Independent, National Geographic, Google Sightseeing and Dark Government websites