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Alien Highway near Rachel, Nev., In this 2002 photo.
Laura Rauch / AP
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Laura Rauch / AP
Alien Highway near Rachel, Nev., In this 2002 photo.
Laura Rauch / AP
Imagine crowds of people who never met and who gathered in mid-September before dawn in a desert Nevada town to rush to the entrance to Area 51 in search of & # 39; # 39; aliens.
It's a fantastic idea designed as a joke on social media, but its popularity has spread quickly. On Monday, the number of people subscribing to Facebook's insane call on "Storm Area 51" exceeded one million.
And now, US military officials say they are watching the situation.
"The US Air Force is aware of the Facebook event encouraging people to" take for Storm 51 ", said a spokesman for the Army's Air Force. To NPR.
"The Nevada Test and Training Range provides a flexible, realistic and multidimensional battle space for testing and developing tactics, as well as conducting advanced training to serve the national interests of the United States," said the official, using the name complete of a site including Area 51. "Any attempt to illegally access the area is strongly discouraged."
According to the event's page, the plan is to "run naruto" towards the institution so that the group can "move faster than their balls," says the event. "Let's see the aliens."
The sprint style is a reference to Naruto Uzumaki, a Japanese anime character running with his chest forward and his arms protruding behind him.
The event has all the ingredients of a silly joke on the Internet, right?
"Yes, it sounds like a joke, but apparently, there are people who want to check this joke," NPR Connie West, co-owner of The Little A's Inn (pronounced "Little Alien"), told NPR. ).
The West Inn, located in Alamo, Nevada, is the closest accommodation site to Area 51. "About 26 miles from the runway," she says.
Since the launch of the event on Facebook, his phone keeps ringing with people looking to book a room. Her 10 rooms are now full for the day of the event, Sept. 20, and she said most people who made the reservations had asked her about the rally in Area 51.
West also has about 30 acres of land that allows campers to book for $ 15 a night. And up to now, about 60 people have committed to pitching a tent on the day of the event, something that she has never known a day not associated with an event organized as a marathon or a bike race, which takes place in the desert near his hostel.
"Apparently, people take it seriously," said West. "I think they're stupid when they think they're going to go to the test site, but I'm going to enjoy it."
For her, this means moving to the inn's gift shop and buying t-shirts, bumper stickers, coffee mugs and key rings, which, of course, conjures up a twinkle from eye to eye.
"All with aliens and / or zone 51," said West.
The top-secret base is not accessible to the public, although it has become a tourist destination, with extraterrestrial-themed outfits, such as West's, is not uncommon. Nevada has even renamed a national highway "Extraterrestrial Highway" because of UFO activity reports along the route.
Conspiracy theorists have been observing Area 51 for decades, claiming that the government was hiding extraterrestrials and crushing UFOs on the site. In 2013, the CIA issued a classified report written in 1992 in which the federal government acknowledged that spy planes had been tested there. Officials also admitted that area 51 is the place where science fiction stories are based is a real government facility.
In May, the New York Times reported that Navy officers, in classified guidelines, described "unexplained aerial phenomena, or unidentified flying objects", evoking new theories about extraterrestrial life hidden in the area. .
It's hard to say how many millions of event supporters know it's a joke and how many are actually planning to trek to Nevada, but most of the thousands of page posts seem to indicate that it is not serious.
"We forget something very crucial," wrote Nick Prafke. "We need vape lords to create a smoke screen to block satellite and camera images."
The person behind the page that created the event is a 20-year-old California man who would only be identified by "Val". He would not share his last name for fear that advertising around the event would lead him to harass him.
"I thought it would be a fun idea for the same page," said Val via Facebook Messenger. "And it took like a wildfire." It's quite satirical and most people seem to understand this. "
Val told NPR that he "will more than likely be present, but not for the purpose."
He spoke "with rather awesome people" planning another kind of shindig, maybe something educational, even though it was not clear what would be exactly Lesson.
Whatever it is, Val said it would probably not include "a sprint in the desert at 3 am," he said.
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