10 Things You Didn’t Know About Area 51

Since President Eisenhower gave an okay in 1955 to establish Area 51 as a test site, it became one of the scariest places in the world. It’s commonly know as the “scary secret government facility used to keep paranormal secrets.” To this day, it remains something of a pop culture touchstone that inspired many movies, books and conspiracy theories. Nobody knows for a fact if there is or isn’t something supernatural stored or tested at Area 51, but there are definitely many bizarre things surrounding this site. Here’s out list of ten things you didn’t know about Area 51.

Unknown Reason For Existence

Although it was one of the most well-known of secrets in the entire world, the US government still had very little to say about the project. Only in 2013 did the CIA actually acknowledge its existence. The secrecy was still very much present after CIA decided to acknowledge it as they only said the area conducted regular testing procedures and never really specified what for.

Drone Testing

The personnel at Area 51 had the duty of developing the U-2 spy plane which is still used today. However, back in 2013, Area 51 was used for testing a new model of military hardware that was made public a year later. It turned out they were testing a drone that was years before engineered by the Iranian government that had a range of over 1,200 miles.

Boyd Bushman’s Confession Video

Boyd Bushman shook the Internet in 2014 when he came forward and told the public he not only interacted with extraterrestrial beings but was also involved in implementing the government’s anti-gravity technology at Area 51. He explained how aliens exist that can travel between Earth and their home planet in less than an hour.

Mine Fight

A dozen families have been directly affected by the Area 51 experiments and among them was the Sheahan family. They bought land just three miles from what became Area 51 and were even held at gunpoint on their property by the government officials. They decided to sue the base in 1954 which ended in the government offering them $5.2 million for a government expansion, which they refused to accept. In the end, they received nothing for the years of suffering.

Paradise Ranch

Edward Lovick, who stayed at the base for thirty years and was one of the senior aircraft designers actually named the Area 51 the “Paradise Ranch” in the hope it would sound nicer than how people usually called it. It adopted the nickname “Groom Lake” before as it quite accurately described the conditions and the environment of Area 51.

Moon Landing Tests

One of the many conspiracy theories that are linked to Area 51 is that it was the supposed place of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing that occurred in 1969. Even though the theory was debunked many times, there’s still a large portion of people convinced that the whole TV filming studio was set up in Area 51 where Armstrong and company performed a fake moon landing.

The Runway

The A-12 spy plane was tested at Area 51 during the 1950s and 1960s, but several issues arose. The weather around the area was not great for construction work and storing planes as their engines got clogged up with dust. Therefore the employees actually vacuumed the runways; which sounds like the biggest joke ever as the runway was in the middle of the desert.

Slight Basis in Truth

Just before the CIA released the documents confirming the existence of Area 51, Annie Jacobsen interviewed a dozen of former employees in Area 51 for her 2011 book Area 51: An Uncensored History. In the book, the former workers admitted to the existence of secret underground tunnels and a nuclear program called Project NERVA.

BBC Crew Barged In

In 2012, a BBC camera crew attempted to break into Area 51 in order to make a documentary about the site. When they came on the site, they found nobody and nothing there so they went around dancing, as one does when they enter an abandoned government property. However, when they were found by the onsite personnel they were held at gunpoint while the CIA did a background check on them as they thought the BBC crew were spies.

The True Crime

Even if there are no secrets about paranormal activities actually stored at Area 51, that still doesn’t mean horrible things didn’t occur at the site. During Areas 51’s operations, hazardous material had been disposed of in a very unsafe manner which led to workers onsite developing severe skin and respiratory problems, alongside cancer.