Area 51 is an actual U.S. government facility in Nevada that has become a staple of American folklore and legend. The mysterious aura of Area 51 has been fostered by the secrecy with which it has been cloaked by the government, and facts concerning Area 51 ultimately have become inextricably blended with fiction in the popular imagination. A classified testing base currently administered by the U.S. Air Force and widely rumored to harbor UFO spacecraft, extraterrestrial bodies, and perhaps even living aliens, Area 51 was memorably brought to the fore of the popular imagination by the 1996 Hollywood movie Independence Day. Area 51 is, in fact, a theme of conspiracy-based entertainment and documentaries, as the 1998 “Dreamland” episode of The X-Files and various news specials attest. A tribute to this base in the form of the mysterious treasure trove of artifacts called “Hangar 51” appeared in 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Located near Groom Lake in the mountains near Rachel, Nevada, Area 51 is situated on nearly 40,000 acres of land, which is said to be constantly patrolled by security guards from the Wackenhut Corporation; in addition, the surrounding desert is reported to be monitored by security cameras and motion detectors. Area 51 is reputed to be the most significant weapons and aircraft testing site in the United States, although the allure of its environs for UFO aficionados and conspiracy theorists ensures that the location itself is no secret, even if what goes on there is much more the subject of conjecture than knowledge. Originally known as “The Ranch” or “Paradise Ranch” when it opened in 1955, the location was dubbed “Area 51” when it was taken under the auspices of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1958. Control of Area 51 fell to the Air Force in 1970, and activities at the base to this day still fall nominally under the authority of the Flight Test Facility at Edwards Air Force Base. Area 51 is often referred to as “Dreamland” in sly reference to the acronym for “Data Repository and Electronic Amassing Management.”
Few places in American lore evoke as much curiosity and mystery as Area 51. The U.S. Air Force developed the site for testing experimental aircraft and weapons systems. However, some conspiracy theorists believe that the U.S. government is concealing evidence of extraterrestrial contact at the location. This sign warns trespassers against unlawful entry at Area 51 near Rachel, Nevada. (Dan Callister/Getty Images)
Area 51 is thought to have been a proving ground for a number of advanced aircraft, including the F-117 stealth fighter and perhaps the B-2 Spirit bomber; numerous other experimental aircraft, some of which were unsuccessful or did not go into production, are said to have been tested there as well. Perhaps more notably to conspiracy theorists, Soviet MiG fighters are believed to have been taken there for technical examination, through which innovations in Russian aeronautics could be analyzed and even reverse-engineered. According to widely believed rumors, Soviet aircraft are hardly the only technology to be taken apart and copied at Area 51. Indeed, many people believe that downed alien spacecraft are stored in the desert near Groom Lake, and that unexplained lights in the night sky in that vicinity are evidence of test flights of experimental vehicles designed by engineers who have had the opportunity to take apart and examine highly advanced extraterrestrial technology salvaged from spaceships.
According to such theories, modern innovations in computer, communication, and microwave technology are all evidence of the reverse engineering of alien artifacts, all under the auspices of a secret governmental group known only as the “Majestic 12.” Many are convinced that the remains of actual alien bodies are stored at Area 51; the same is said of Hanger 18 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Others go further still and suggest that living aliens are working in conjunction with government engineers to produce advanced terrestrial technology. There are even those who claim that the towns around Area 51 are populated in part by aliens, who work as technical advisors for the Air Force. Aliens can be treacherous allies, according to some rumors, both because they require human subjects for experiments and because they might use their superior knowledge and skills to overthrow their human employers. There are those who suggest that aliens have indeed already taken over Area 51, among a number of other such bases, places that provide an alien beachhead on Earth, smoothing the way for a conquest of the planet by extraterrestrials. The film Independence Day offers a twist on this fear, as in this story Area 51 becomes the staging ground for resistance to an alien onslaught.
“The Extraterrestrial Highway”
Conspiracy theories and related UFO-lore offer niche markets for astute ET-lovers, as evidenced by “The Extraterrestrial Highway,” which stretches nearly a hundred miles along Nevada 375. Packaged tours of the vicinity of Area 51 from Las Vegas hotels classically include lunch at the A’Le’Inn in Rachel, Nevada, where “Earthlings are Welcome,” and which features the “Alien Burger with Cheese,” aka an “ABC.”
C. Fee
After an eight-year legal tussle involving a George Washington University researcher who was writing about the U-2, in August 2013 the CIA finally admitted to the existence of a base at Area 51. At that time, the National Security Archives published in redacted form a hitherto classified report that detailed the history of the development of the U-2 spy plane. This report also provided details concerning “Project Auxiliary,” an initiative concerned with the evolution of miniature unmanned aircraft at Area 51. The prototypes described in this report sound very much like the ancestors of today’s military and spy drones. Moreover, the flight capabilities of such aircraft might explain the rapid and unorthodox movement of unidentified flying objects and mysterious lights in the skies around Groom Lake, although undoubtedly some will see the report itself as a smokescreen used to deflect attention from the old theories of aliens and their spacecraft at Area 51.
C. Fee
See also Alien Abduction Stories and UFOs; Conspiracy Theories; Legend Tripping; Montauk Project; Nuclear Lore; Roswell (New Mexico) UFO Landings
Further Reading
Aaronovitch, David. 2010. Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History. New York: Riverhead Books.
Arnold, Gordon B. 2008. Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television, and Politics. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Bennett, Richard M. 2003. Conspiracy: Plots, Lies and Cover-Ups. London: Virgin.
DeHaven-Smith, Lance. 2013. Conspiracy Theory in America. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Fenster, Mark. 1999. Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Goldberg, Robert Alan. 2001. Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Knight, Peter. 2003. Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Olmsted, Kathryn S. 2009. Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War I to 9/11. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Walker, Jesse. 2013. The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory. New York: Harper.