Area 51 is that Godforsaken chunk of Nevada desert in the middle of nowhere about a 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The only thing around there is the Yucca Flats Nuclear Testing Area a few miles to the south west. That’s not a nice place to live or work close to. It is sometimes referred to as Groom Lake, The Ranch, Dreamland, The Site, The Test Site and a few other names. It was originally built to test the then super secret Lockheed U-2 and has since been used for equally secret Black Projects such as the A-12, YF-12A, SR-71, F-117 and a few others. There has been a constant stream of rumors of secret Mig squadrons, secret hyper performance US aircraft, extra terrestrial space ships and their prisoner crew members or dead cadavers. The remains of the 1947 “Roswell Incident” are supposedly kept there. The movie “Independence Day” had the heros going to Area 51 to work on ways of solving the space invader problem. Brent “Data” Spiner was terrific as the mad scientist.
The area is essentially inaccessible to anyone who does not belong there, other than a ridge line about 10 miles away that requires an extremely difficult, multi-mile hike across the desert to reach. Even that is now OFF LIMITS. This web site address was sent to me by a friend from my days with the SR-71 program at Beale and Area 51. Give it time to load and then scroll down the bar on the right side to find all kinds of neat information.
Thanks, D., it’s really good to find a site on these subjects that isn’t run by morons with silly, hysterical conspiracy theories in mind. Some of the things that get passed off as history…sometimes I really worry for the future of our species. Another two generations, and we may be back in the trees throwing %^&$ at each other.
TOM
You’re right, Tom! Such an experiment was carried out by a Sociology class at East Tennessee State University years ago, where the Professor had a locked steel box that was welded to one of the steel barricades at the end of a student parking lot. It was painted blaze orange with a big “WARNING: Do Not Touch” sign next to it. After 2 months, the box was removed late at night by the Professor and the area around where it was, taped off… for a couple days, then all was back the way it was before the box.
Two weeks following it’s removal, interviews were carried out all over the campus and the good Professor accumulated no less than 1200 theories as to the meaning of the whole thing! Hidden camera, secret recording device… even a “Vin Number Scanner”!!
He done this to demonstrate the tendency humans have to be completely fascinated with something they’re not allowed to explore… and how such curiosities lead to wild speculations, even to the point where reality is swept aside because the speculation is much more exciting!
Godspeed to the Skunkworks!!
[:)]
Take care,
Frank