What is Area 51? Conspiracy theory explained
THE mystery surrounding Area 51 has always entertained the public eye, with many theorizing what lies behind the top-secret government base.
The intense secrecy surrounding the base has made it the frequent subject of conspiracy theories, as some believe the facility is used to house alien technology or .
What is Area 51?
Area 51 is located in the southern portion of , just 83 miles north-northwest of , and is the common name of a highly classified at the United States Air Force facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range.
The airbase is commonly believed by many to be the home of the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems.
The US Air Force acquired the site in 1955.
However, the CIA never acknowledged the existence of the facility until June 2013, following a Freedom of Information Act request filed in 2005.
ALIENS AND UFOS
The base has never been declared a secret base, but all research and occurrences in Area 51 are Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information.
Conspiracy theorists believe the facility is used to store, examine and reverse engineer crashed alien spacecraft, including material supposedly recovered from the 1950s Roswell crash.
Why is Area 51 so secretive?
The base has been a testing ground for a host of top-secret aircraft, including the U-2 in the 1950s and later the B-2 stealth bomber.
Declassified documents say it was originally an area for the Army Air Corps pilots to practice their aerial gunnery.
During the Cold War, experimental aircraft, such as the high-altitude U-2 spy plane, and weapons systems were tested there.
The current use of Area 51 is still unknown and remains top secret.
The patch of fenced-off land, measuring six by ten miles, is tucked between a US Air Force base and an abandoned nuclear testing ground.
What is the Area 51 conspiracy theory?
The mysterious site is part of the vast Nevada Test and Training Range and has become the center of UFO conspiracy theories.
The so-called is one of the most discussed and controversial UFO theories in history.
calls the Roswell incident the "mother of all UFO sightings."
In July 1947, a rancher found "mysterious debris" and soldiers from a nearby base came to collect the materials.
Then came a giant leap as newspapers reported that a “flying saucer” went down in a city.
"Ever since, conspiracy theorists have been hard at work trying to prove the wreckage was extraterrestrial, with one man, Ray Santilli, going so far as to release a video in 1995 of an alien 'dissection' purported to have taken place after the incident," according to History.com.
Santilli confessed in 2006 that it was a staged film, but said it was based on real footage.
The military sensationally announced in a press release it had found the remains of a crashed flying saucer in the desert.
But the following day it retracted the statement, saying it was in fact a damaged US Air Force air balloon.