The region is synonymous with tales of UFOs, government cover-ups and testing alien technology

Reported by Robert Lea

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Located at Groom Lake in the middle of the barren desert of southern Nevada, Area 51 is a US Air Force installation that has become infamous for a speculated connection with unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Conspiracy theories surrounding the base suggest that it’s used for the testing of alien technology recovered from supposed crash sites, like the one in Roswell, New Mexico. This has been fuelled by the fact that the base was a secret for many years and is still inaccessible to the general public. As a result, this innocuous-looking military installation has become an intrinsic part of modern mythology and urban legends of the 20th century, with a large influence on media and pop culture.

WHERE IS AREA 51 AND HOW BIG IS IT?

Area 51 is located 120 miles (200 kilometres) northwest of Las Vegas, near the small towns of Rachel and Hiko. The name Area 51 seems to come from the designation the base had on Atomic Energy Commission maps, with this name sticking in the mind of the public but mostly unused by the military. Established in 1955 as part of the Nevada Test and Training Range complex, the area was also given the name ‘Paradise Ranch’ in an attempt by aerospace company Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin, to draw employees to the base.

Today the base and the wider Nevada Test and Training Range complex are part of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) referring to it as the Groom Lake and Homey Airport. Though satellite imagery of the site had been restricted, since 2018 the base has been visible on Google Maps.

Benjamin Radford is an American folklorist, writer, investigator and sceptic who’s authored more than 20 books, including Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries; Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction and Folklore and Mysterious New Mexico: Miracles, Magic and Monsters in the Land of Enchantment. He’s also deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine and has written several articles regarding the conspiracy theories surrounding Area 51.

“The base itself is fairly small, but the restricted area around it is over 90,000 acres – partly to prevent prying eyes and partly because they need to test classified aircraft,” Radford says. “It’s mostly conspiracy theorists and the media who call it Area 51. To the US government it’s simply the Nevada Test and Training Range, part of Edwards Air Force Base.”