"I Have Been Inside Area 51" - (Reddit Ask Me Anything)

Area 51 and aliens: the myth, the meme, and the strange reality, explained

It’s been 30 years since the public first heard about Area 51. Here’s why UFO hunters are still obsessed.

Thousands of people are expected to travel to desert towns in Nevada this weekend, inspired by a viral call to “storm Area 51” in hopes of overpowering the US military and uncovering whatever government secrets might be hiding there.

The desert base, which is entirely off-limits to civilians, has long been at the center of a conspiracy among alien fans and ufologists — people who hunt for UFOs. Somewhere amid Area 51’s vast desert acreage, they believe, is a heavily guarded underground lab where the government keeps and studies captured alien aircraft — and possibly even aliens themselves. This belief that Area 51’s “military base” is a cover for alien research has been fully mythologized by pop culture over the years, becoming an entrenched part of alien lore.

But those who arrive hoping to find parked flying saucers and green alien bodies laid out on cold metal tables will surely be disappointed, for two reasons. The first is that local authorities surely won’t let anyone near the secretive site in Nevada.

“Any attempt to access a federal installation illegally is highly discouraged,” a spokesperson for the Nellis Air Force Base that runs Area 51 told Vox. “Those who trespass on a federal installation without proper authority will be apprehended until they can be turned over to the appropriate law enforcement authorities and are subject to local and federal penalties and prosecution.”

The second is that Area 51 is home to the nation’s overhead surveillance program — and most likely nothing else. Starting in the 1950s, it’s where some of the most important spying aircraft in American history was assembled, tested, and ultimately sent out on missions. Experts say it likely remains an area for the Air Force and US spy agencies to develop the next generation of aircraft and other weapons of war.

It’s no wonder then that the secrets of Area 51 are buried so deeply. But the lack of information about what actually goes on at Area 51 has allowed the many rumors and myths about the site to flourish. These myths have brought many Americans to believe that they deserve to know about whatever’s happening there.