100 Places You Will Never Visit Read Online Free PDF Page A

and for good reason. Conspiracy theorists hold that here you will find irrefutable evidence that aliens have visited Earth.
    Situated roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the nearest town, Area 51 covers 36,000 hectares (90,000 acres) of sparse Nevada desert and includes a large hangar, seven runways, radar antennae and an assortment of smaller administrative, accommodation and catering buildings. Its chief role is as a testing and training facility for new defense technologies and systems.
    The large salt flat of Groom Lake, which lies entirely within Area 51, was used for testing bombs and artillery during the Second World War. In the 1950s, after the government entered into a partnership with the Lockheed Skunk Works, it became the test site for the U-2 spy plane. It also hosted vital work on the development of radar systems and stealth bombers, and today remains a center of cutting-edge military development. Captured Soviet aircraft were allegedly brought here in the Cold War to add greater reality to war games.
    As such, confidentiality has always been highly prized. Employees must swear an oath of secrecy and buildings within the complex are said to be devoid of windows so that development teams do not have knowledge of each other’s specific work.
    However, the air of extreme secrecy that surrounds Area 51 has inspired those of a suspicious bent to claim that the base undertakes work beyond the bounds of our Earthly imagination—there have been claims of research programs aimed at controlling the weather, mastering teleportation and even achieving time travel. Most famously, though, Area 51 has been identified by assorted conspiracy theorists as a place where scientists have studied unidentified flying objects and alien life forms.
    Such arguments often center on the claim that the wreckage of a spaceship and its alien occupants were brought to Area 51 after crash-landing near the town of Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. In July of that year, the Army Air Field at Roswell put out a press release saying that it had recovered an unidentified flying object. In the days and weeks before, various members of the public had reported seeing a disc-like object in the skies. A short while later, the army statement was retracted (in later years declassified papers suggested the object was actually a secret surveillance balloon) but by then the press had got hold of the story.
    The legend of Roswell continued to grow until it reached a crescendo in the 1970s, fostering a small industry of conspiracy-laden books, reports, documentaries and films. An alien spacecraft was recovered, it was said—and its crew, too, according to others. There were even claims of conveniently lost film footage recording the autopsy of an alien corpse. In 1989, one Bob Lazar added fuel to the fire with an interview in which he claimed to have been a physicist at Area 51, and to have seen no less than nine alien spacecraft, which the authorities were attempting to reverse-engineer.
    E.T. DRIVE HOME Nevada State Route 375, a UFO sighting hot spot, was officially designated as the Extraterrestrial Highway by state authorities in 1996, with a dedication ceremony held in the nearby town of Rachel in April of that year. Rachel now supports a thriving trade in alien-and Area 51-related memorabilia.
    Some of the most ardent ufologists hold that Area 51 contains a complex of underground tunnels and warehouses (including the fabled Hangar 18) storing all of this extraterrestrial booty. A few even claim that aliens are actually running the project. Inevitably, the veracity of such stories has not been (and is unlikely ever to be) proved. But it is an attractive tale for those who believe in little green men…
    Whatever the truth, potential visitors should bear in mind that the US government treats the base as strictly off-limits to all but a few. Indeed, Area 51 received hardly any official recognition until Bill Clinton signed a presidential order in 1995