'Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us,' the Facebook event created by a 21-year-old almost turned into a movement with millions signing up for the event to probe if it really is an alien testing site where the government investigates unidentified aerial phenomena.
The scheduled date for the storm was September 20 to cross the fenced-off land and people did turn up. Well, only to get back to a UFO-themed rave party at the premises.?
AP
Among the UFO enthusiasts and curiosity seekers, one man wore an orange space suit and some sported tin foil hats and alien masks.
A sign in the gathering read 'Free ET from the government.' At the appointed hour of 3:00am on September 20, about 75 to 100 people braved chilly darkness and a bumpy, dusty 8-mile (13-kilometer) drive to the Rachel gate of the legendary former top-secret US Air Force basement, reports AP.?
Another 40 travelled about 20 miles (32 kilometers) a more rugged washboard-dirt road to a different gate.
Local sheriff's deputies ushered one woman away when she stepped too far forward. They arrested a man from Canada who urinated near the gate and cited him for indecent exposure. The woman was released with a warning.
"We intend to keep those officers there throughout the event. You know. Come. Look. See what you can see. But just don't cross," the sheriff said.
AP
"It started as a joke and now people are getting to know each other," said Tracy Ferguson, 23, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who said that the internet gave him the idea to drive to Nevada with his girlfriend, Jade Gore, 19, of Worthington, Minnesota.
The Area 51 site is located about 19 kilometres from Rachel, Nevada, a tiny outpost north of Las Vegas that is hosting a music festival to entertain any UFO hunters or others heading to the region.