On thread title- Is Area51 a haunted place?. Its US military base right?
[h=2]UFO and other conspiracy theories concerning Area 51[/h] Its secretive nature and undoubted connection to classified aircraft research, together with reports of unusual phenomena, have led Area 51 to become a focus of modern
UFO and
conspiracy theories. Some of the activities mentioned in such theories at Area 51 include:
[*]The storage, examination, and
reverse engineering of crashed
alien spacecraft (including material supposedly recovered at
Roswell), the study of their occupants (living and dead), and the manufacture of aircraft based on alien technology.
[*]Meetings or joint undertakings with extraterrestrials.
[*]The development of exotic
energy weapons for the
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or other weapons programs.
[*]The development of means of
weather control.
[*]The development of
time travel and
teleportation technology.
[*]The development of unusual and exotic propulsion systems related to the
Aurora Program.
[*]Activities related to a supposed shadowy
one world government or the
Majestic 12 organization.
[/list] Many of the hypotheses concern underground facilities at Groom or at
Papoose Lake, 8.5 miles (13.7 km) south, and include claims of a transcontinental underground railroad system, a disappearing airstrip (nicknamed the "Cheshire Airstrip", after
Lewis Carroll's
Cheshire cat) which briefly appears when water is sprayed onto its camouflaged asphalt,
[59] and engineering based on alien technology. Publicly available satellite imagery, however, reveals clearly visible landing strips at Groom Dry Lake, but not at Papoose Lake.
Veterans of experimental projects such as OXCART and
NERVA at Area 51 agree that their work (including 2,850 OXCART test flights alone) inadvertently prompted many of the UFO sightings and other rumors:
[7]
The shape of OXCART was unprecedented, with its wide, disk-like fuselage designed to carry vast quantities of fuel. Commercial pilots cruising over Nevada at dusk would look up and see the bottom of OXCART whiz by at 2,000-plus mph. The aircraft's titanium body, moving as fast as a bullet, would reflect the sun's rays in a way that could make anyone think, UFO.
[7]
They believe that the rumors helped maintain secrecy over Area 51's actual operations.
[13] While the veterans deny the existence of a vast underground railroad system, many of Area 51's operations did (and presumably still do) occur underground.
[7]
Several people have claimed knowledge of events supporting Area 51 conspiracy theories. These have included
Bob Lazar, who claimed in 1989 that he had worked at Area 51's
S-4 (a facility at Papoose Lake), where he was contracted to work with alien spacecraft that the U.S. government had in its possession.
[60] Similarly, the 1996 documentary Dreamland directed by
Bruce Burgess included an interview with a 71 year old mechanical engineer who claimed to be a former employee at Area 51 during the 1950s. His claims included that he had worked on a "flying disc simulator" which had been based on a disc originating from a crashed extraterrestrial craft and was used to train US Pilots. He also claimed to have worked with an extraterrestrial being named "J-Rod" and described as a "telepathic translator".
[61] In 2004, Dan Burisch (pseudonym of Dan Crain) claimed to have worked on cloning alien viruses at Area 51, also alongside the alien named "J-Rod". Burisch's scholarly credentials are the subject of much debate, as he was apparently working as a Las Vegas parole officer in 1989 while also earning a PhD at
SUNY.
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