Joke or Not, Raid on Area 51 Would be Dangerous: Air Force

Facebook event called for finding aliens
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 15, 2019 6:15 PM CDT
A Million People Sign Up for Joke Raid on Area 51
Extraterrestrial Highway, Nevada State Route 375, in Sand Spring Valley, Nevada.   (Getty/AlizadaStudios)

More than a million people have signed up to raid Area 51 in a hunt for aliens, a joke event posted on Facebook. Nearly another million indicated they're interested in going. The Air Force is starting to become concerned that everybody isn't in on the joke, the New York Times reports. The event is supposedly happening at 3 a.m. Sept. 20 in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, and an inn in the area is booked for that day, a co-owner said. A Facebook post says, "They can't stop all of us." That prompted an Air Force spokeswoman to warn that "any attempt to illegally access military installations or military training areas is dangerous." Some people believe that extraterrestrial life forms have been studied, or held captive, in Area 51, at Nellis Air Force Base.

The raid would be quite a sight. "We can move faster than their bullets," the post says, if participants join the "Naruto run." That's a Japanese manga-inspired style, per CNN, that involves running with arms outstretched behind and heads forward. Those would seem to be clues that the event invitation is a joke, and it's mostly inspired fake memes, per the Times, with some guessing how aliens would do after being released into society. But the people who have called her inn are "pretty serious," said Connie West, the inn co-owner. "They’re coming," she said. "People are coming." (More Area 51 stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X