Area 51 also known as 'Dreamland' is located at Groom Lake, just outside the desert town of Rachel, Nevada. Of the Area 51 story, that much that is not in dispute. After that, it becomes extremely complicated. There are charges and countercharges, and thousands of pages have been written, from tales of thousands of alien cannibals living underground (Dulce and other places), down to hard-core skeptics, and the true believers who believe just about everything is a conspiracy.
Like Roswell, Area 51 is a mecca for UFOlogists, nutjobs, and tourists. Over the years the U.S government has allegedly bought up the surrounding area to stop the curious from seeing just what goes on there. It has become the subject of many pop-culture references. Area 51 has become accepted as a sort of folklore--whether anything happened there or not. Glenn Campbell wrote an
Area 51 Viewer's Guide in the 90's, that is no longer available. I actually bought a copy. . .at this point, he is offering it for sale for $1,500. Glenn--I'll send you my copy and you can reproduce it via OCR...
Many have claimed that bizarre lights in the night sky can be seen near Area 51 and that flying vehicles buzz around performing impossible maneuvers, like figure eights and stopping dead in the air. The "strange lights" have been thought to change in size and brightness, sometimes disappearing completely, and reappearing in an entirely different place.
Area 51 is said to be surrounded by state of the art surveillance equipment, motion sensors, and is patrolled by security guards in unmarked jeeps. The border perimeter signs which state 'use of deadly force authorized'. If you passed these signs you would be arrested and fined up to a $1,000 and spend the night in jail. If you were to continue any further you would be legally shot and killed. This does not seem to have ever actually happened.
A lot of people believe this is the site where the crashed saucers from the Roswell Incident are kept for study and engineering. Scientists study crashed flying saucers and try and work out how the craft was built and powered. Then once this has been accomplished they try and incorporate it into their own designs. And then maybe fly the alien craft, or incredible facsimiles, around.
Bob Lazar says he worked at Area 51 in a section of the base called S-4 from 1988-1990 and has published a lot of material that has become the core of modern Ufology. He says he worked on nine different saucers while at the base. These flying disks were housed in hangers carved into the mountain side. Lazar also stated that his life was threatened after he allowed friends to watch test flights of the saucers. On one trip, he was arrested by security and threatened. He spoke out about his experiences, thinking that the government would never have the nerve to kill him if he went public. Any mysterious accidents he might have would only validate his claims.
Glenn Campbell for many years (until 1999) maintained the excellent
UFOmind website and attempted to research and debunk or verify the many facts. Here is his final word (presumably) on Bob Lazar (if you treat this UFOlogy thing like a spectator sport, you might want to quit reading now, or you'll find out the ending. Glenn Campbell wrote in 2002:
"Lazar did not work with flying saucers in an underground hangar near Papoose Lake. He made the story up. Furthermore, he made it up by himself, without the help of any nefarious agency and probably without any deep motivation other than the pleasure of attracting attention and putting people on."
"The story evolved out of a long heritage of pre-existing underground alien base claims, which eventually infected the pilot and conspiracy theorist John Lear. Lear announced, in electronic bulletin board posts in the 1980s, that gray aliens were eating humans in deep underground facilities at Area 51. Lazar met Lear, heard his ramblings, and decided to give Lear what he wanted. Lazar took Lear's paranoid delusions and repackaged them in a much more intelligent and internally consistent rendition. Initially, Lear was the only audience, but he tipped off a Las Vegas TV station, and the frenzy began. The story soon spun out of Lazar's control, and, at least until the recent Art Bell appearance, Lazar seemed to sincerely want it to go away. "
"Lazar's limited knowledge of Area 51 came from secondhand sources, which are plentiful in Las Vegas. Lazar has never been to Area 51. His "S-4" is a relocated and reconfigured version of "Site 4", a real Top Secret radar testing facility west of Area 51. Lazar's saucers and their propulsion system seem plausible to anyone without a physics degree. They were constructed, in Lazar's head, with the same fastidious care that he has lavished on his real-life fireworks, jet cars and other mechanical projects. "Element 115" and its peculiar periodic neighbors were discussed in an article in Scientific American just before Lazar used it to fuel his craft. Lazar has always displayed an exceptional respect for detail and consistency, and he has an extraordinary ability to focus his attention on whatever his current project is, to the exclusion of everything else. His only deficiencies are moral (that is, if you consider lies and the exploitation of others to be somehow 'wrong')."
In the end, Campbell sums it up better than anyone else I have read:
"Those who believe in Lazar are going to continue believing, and those who don't will only say, "I told you so." The funny thing about oral traditions like this is that they continue to live and propagate regardless of the evidence and far beyond their original source. They spawn new stories, like the similar UFO claims of Bill house, aka "Jarod 2" (which is another fascinating personal journey). Lazar's story has grown much bigger than Lazar himself, and no one will ever be able to follow all of its threads. "
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