THE AREA 51 MOVEMENT
In 2019, what started as a prank on social media almost got very out of hand when 3.5 million people expressed interest in attending an event organised by 20-year-old Matty Roberts, a student from Bakersfield, California. The name of the tongue-in-cheek
Facebook event was ‘Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us’. As the name suggests, the supposed plan was to charge at the base in large enough numbers to overwhelm security. The aim was to uncover putative secrets like alien technology and secretive research.
In the end, an estimated 6,000 people made it to the low-key summer event, partaking in some activities like hatchet-throwing and drinking limitededition alien-themed Bud Light beer. Area 51’s light security was not challenged, however. “It began as a joke, but some people took it seriously and began planning to actually, well, it’s not clear what, but hang out near the entrance and have fun,” Radford said. “The tiny town of Rachel braced for huge crowds and a music festival that never happened. It was a huge fiasco, a smallerscale Fyre Festival for the alien crowd.”
“The aim was to uncover putative secrets like alien technology and secretive research”