DATE: Wednesday, 13th June, 2012.
LOCATION: Las Vegas, Nevada.
DESTINATION: Area 51 at Groom Lake, aka, the Nevada Test Site, aka "Dreamland"
First a little background. The US government has never admitted that Area 51 exists. Yet it is the most famous "secret" base in the world. It sits inside the largest government controlled land parcel in the United States called the Nevada Test and Training Range. The range covers over 4,500 square miles and is three times as large as the state of Rhode Island. Inside the range there is the Nevada Test Site which was established in the 1950s to test nuclear weapons. 105 above and 828 below ground. Area 51 lies just northeast of the test site and was established by the CIA for top secret projects involving aerial surveillance.
We were up bright and early, 7am, to meet Dave Alexander, our rambunctious tour guide, and the two other couples who had signed up for the tour. We piled into his 4WD truck, and off we went.
As the "secret" base lies over 70 miles outside Las Vegas, Dave and the tour company planned a day of activities for us, to make the drive out to Groom Lake worthwhile.
But first, Dave drove us out by McCarran Airport, the home of "Janet Airways" which is the secret airline operated out of the airport for the purpose of shuttling personnel to and from Area 51. You can tell a "Janet" plane because it is all white with a red stripe, and no other identifying marks. I couldn't get a clear shot of the planes from the car, but when we returned to the Luxor Hotel at the end of the day, I realised we could see the airport from our hotel room, and was able to get this shot of what look very much to me, like "Janet" airplanes.
Watching this landscape go by, I thought about how attractive this place must have been to the US government in 1950s when looking for an area they could cordon off for atomic testing and secret experiments. This desert is vast with numerous mountains to block out any curious locals.
After a brief refueling stop, we were taken off the main road to a dry lake bed, to give us an idea of what Groom Lake might look like.
Groom Lake is the dry lake bed within Area 51, where in the 50s and 60s, the CIA built an extra long runway to use for the test flights of top secret surveillance aircraft. First, the U2, and eventually, the Oxcart, the precursor to the SR-71 Blackbird. And of course, depending on who you listen to, flying saucers. As I stood there on the cracked, dry ground, I could almost imagine what it was like for one of those ace airplane pilots to walk out into the hot desert air, ready to climb into an untested, experimental aircraft.
This dry lake bed Dave took us to was unique however, as it was home to some Native American petroglyphs:
And what Dave said was an old Native American hunting blind. Both are possibly thousands of years old.
After our visit to the dry lake bed, we swung by the "Extraterrestrial Highway".
Then it was time for lunch at the Little AleInn.
The Little AleInn is really two mobile homes mushed together in a "town" called Rachel, Nevada, which is really an unincorporated community of about 80 people. Due to UFO tourism, this lovely little kitschy diner sprung up. Many of you may know of it from the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost comedy Paul. In fact, inside, there is a poster signed by the cast of the film!
Speaking of the interior of the the diner, boy is this place incredible!
A wall of UFO photos, no doubt donated by guests.
This one was taken by an Australian!
This is a signed photo of Bob Lazar. He was the one who brought Area 51 to the public's attention in 1989 when he claimed to have worked on reverse engineered alien technology out at the base. Whether you believe his story, or the government's (who say Lazar is crazy), you can't deny that Lazar is responsible for not only how we perceive Area 51, but that we even know it exists.
This is what the bar at the Little AleInn looks like.
The ceiling is decorated with one dollar (and some two dollar!) bills, each individually signed by guests wishing to leave their mark.
Of course we couldn't leave without pitching in.
Outside, in the yard, there is a pick-up truck towing a "crashed flying saucer".
If you lie down underneath it, you get a pretty neat photo!
After lunch we headed back out toward Area 51. We passed by Bald Mountain (pictured). Just over that peak, on the other side of the mountain is the Nevada Test Site and Area 51. Back in the 60s when the U2 and Oxcart spy planes were being developed, personnel who got bored during downtime would smuggle rifles on to the site and get choppered up on to the mountain to spend a day or two hunting deer!
Our guide Dave, pointed out that there is actually a 360 degree surveillance camera on top of the mountain which follows all vehicles that drive nearby and toward the base.
This is the peak at maximum zoom on our camera. It does look like something is up there doesn't it?
As Dave drove us toward the base, he spoke about Bob Lazar and the supposed alien technology they kept out there (in fact at one point on the tour, we had to pull over to allow two wide load trucks to pass by, each with an extra large, unmarked container in its tray - removing evidence perhaps?).
Dave spoke to the theory that alien technology from Roswell is what has allowed us to create missiles and jet airplanes because that kind of technology did not exist before 1947, when a flying saucer crashed to Earth. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the technology did exist, in Nazi Germany, and that it was perfected by the Americans bringing captured Nazi scientists back to the USA as part of Operation Paperclip and that some of the experimentation based on the Nazi designs did actually occur out at Area 51 (but then the Nazis could have got it from aliens too right? Why not?)
Besides, you don't want to ruin the mystery, its the whole reason we're out here in the first place!
Before we arrived at Area 51, our last stop was at the infamous "Black Mailbox". The theory goes that this mailbox was used for secret letter drops to the CIA agents stationed at Area 51. Why a secret base with its own runway and airline would need a mailbox is beyond me. The mailbox really belongs to a local cattle rancher. His property borders the government's. Fed up with receiving letters to the "Alien Commander" in his actual letter box, he installed a second one underneath it so people could send as many letters as they desired. Apparently he gets quite a bit of entertainment from reading them.
We were crazy NOT to do this!
Even though the mailbox belongs to the rancher, I wouldn't be surprised if he had security clearance of some kind, as it has been documented that ranchers and miners who have lived around the base have been privy to some information, as they are probably going to witness it anyway being in such close proximity.
Having mailed our "letter" it was time to see the gates to the most popular "secret" base in the world.
The above is the access road to the East Gate.
Which looks a little like this:
It says photography is prohibited, but Dave assured us that everyone took photos anyway.
The gate doesn't look that impressive to begin with, they even pasted over the "Use of Deadly Force Authorised" sign with a much more benign one.
But when you look to the left, you see a security camera.
And to the right, a white SUV, containing security personnel.
Watching, to make sure no one crosses the line or moves past the giant
orange markers that were laid out to designate which is government
property, and which is just regular desert.
This did not deter Dave though, as he danced across the dividing line, trying to bait the shadowy men in their distant vehicle.
It all felt a little surreal and staged at the same time. I would not be surprised if there was actually no one in that SUV, it's just something that the tourists expect so they leave it sitting out there...Dave obviously knows how much he can get away with, having taken people out here for years.
In fact, Dave mentioned to us that according to some sources, Area 51, due to its high profile, is being broken up and equipment sent around to other secret military bases in Colorado and various other locations. This could explain why there is a new sign pasted over the old one as security, while still high, has dropped somewhat since its hey day.
I've often thought about Area 51 as the high profile secret base. That there probably hasn't been much going on there since Lazar shone a light on it in 1989. But also, the government could use this new celebrity (especially since the success of The X-Files) and let everyone be obsessed over Area 51 while the real secrets are being held elsewhere. It makes perfect sense to me.
Also, before Area 51 became what it is today, it was the Nevada Test Site, where nuclear weapons were tested during the 50s and 60s (even after Area 51 was established by the CIA). So even if the base is being shut down, it could only be a matter of time before it is re-purposed by another agency sometime in the future.
Whatever the truth may be, unperturbed, Lindsay and I press on...
(All of my information about Area 51 came from the book Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base by Annie Jacobsen. A highly recommended read).
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