Storm Area 51? 415K People RSVP Yes

Facebook event looks like a joke, but will curiosity seekers actually show?
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 12, 2019 8:12 AM CDT
Storm Area 51? 415K People RSVP Yes
In this April 10, 2002, file photo, a car moves along the Extraterrestrial Highway near Rachel, Nev., the closest town to Area 51.   (AP Photo/Laura Rauch, File)

If you'll be in Nevada on Sept. 20, there's a Facebook event that may pique your interest. CNN reports the "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us" raid planned for that day "is most certainly a joke," but as of Friday, 415,000 had RSVP'd they'll be there in Amargosa Valley, with another 427,000 saying they're "interested." "We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry," the post reads. Making a reference to a style of running used in a Japanese anime series, it continues: "If we naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. Lets see them aliens." USA Today and Fast Company note Area 51 proper, a highly classified section of Edwards Air Force Base, has long been the subject of conspiracy theories about secret experiments by the US government on everything from ETs to time travel.

Although the site has been acknowledged as a military site since 2013, details are sparse on exactly what goes on there; Britannica notes "the only confirmed use of the installation is as a flight testing facility." A pinned post on the so-called raid's Facebook page by someone named Jackson Barnes, ostensibly the organizer, lays out a "game plan" that includes hurling pebbles, though he ends the post with what seems to confirm CNN's assessment: "Hello US government, this is a joke, and I do not actually intend to go ahead with this plan. I just thought it would be funny and get me some thumbsy uppies on the internet. I'm not responsible if people decide to actually storm area 51." (There've been top-secret job opportunities in and around Area 51.)

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