The truth is out there, and there are grand plans to find it.
As of Thursday, 1.6 million people had RSVP’d to a Facebook event called “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us”.
As the name suggests, the plan is to storm Area 51 – the notorious Nevada military base associated with extraterrestrial conspiracy theories.
“We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Centre tourist attraction and coordinate our entry,” the event description reads.
The prank event jokes “they can’t stop all of us” and “let’s see them aliens”.
It suggests that a mass of people attempt to run into the mysterious site at 3am on September 20.
The US military, however, does not seem to find the viral event very funny.
The US Air Force told The Washington Post that “[Area 51] is an open training range for the US Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces. The US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.”
And it’s not just the military that is taking the joke a little too seriously.
According to investigations by NPR, excited alien hunters have already booked up accommodation near Area 51 on the event date.
“I think they’re stupid if they think they’re going to get to the test site,” one hotel owner told NPR.
“But I’m gonna capitalise on it.”
After decades of government officials refusing to acknowledge Area 51, the CIA released declassified documents in 2013 referring to the 20,700 square kilometre installation by name and locating it on a map near the dry Groom Lake bed.
The base has been a testing ground for a host of top-secret aircraft, including the U-2 in the 1950s and later the B-2 stealth bomber.
But secrecy surrounding the site has fuelled conspiracy theories among UFO enthusiasts and sprouted a small, alien-themed tourist industry in surrounding desert communities, including alien-themed cafes, an alien-themed motel and an alien-themed brothel.
The Guardian and Associated Press
