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The_Dotted_Leg t1_j6oognu wrote

If you had a room in your home that you were never allowed to see inside but you know millions of dollars a year are being spent in that room and rumors say they might have aliens in that room wouldn’t you be pretty obsessed with seeing inside?

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GenXCub t1_j6ooqv3 wrote

This is why the Internet Historian video on Area 51 is so great.

It's half informative, half meme-tastic. https://youtu.be/IZ7F6ELO-hQ

The best headcanon is that the Wii Sports theme is playing when you're running through the secret building there.

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tangential_quip t1_j6orzwq wrote

Also add that, while you know the room is there and you can see the door to the room, the people keeping you out deny for half a century or more that the room even exists.

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NdavG100 OP t1_j6opnqq wrote

Would i want to know whats going on in secret government facilities? Yes. Would i go with drones and shit and spread conspiracy thories? Never

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BossDonkeyZ t1_j6oq3ka wrote

Why not? There is lots of money in the second part

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PedroEglasias t1_j6p4ffj wrote

Being 100% positive all the theories are false is the same as being 100% positive they're all true. Without evidence you can't be certain of anything.

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Arbitrary_Capricious t1_j6or2sg wrote

Because the government is so determined to keep it secret. Not just legitimately secret tests, but things like refusing to confirm the base exists (when it's easily visible from a number of publicly accessible vantage points). When the government acts like that, people are driven by a combination of curiosity, paranoia, and well, basically trolling, to find out what's there. Honestly, if they'd just said what everyone knew--we test secret planes out there, please stay away or we will take action--they'd probably have less of a problem. But when the response to "What are you doing at that base?" Is "What base?" when it is obvious that there is. In fact, a base then you're pretty much inviting conspiracy theories.

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Imthewienerdog t1_j6ouzmx wrote

I thought it was kind of common knowledge that this site is more of a red herring. Yes they do some testing there and have a bunch of lab Bois working there but nothing super secret is actually there because it's where everyone thinks secret stuff is?

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jrhawk42 t1_j6oxyzx wrote

Unless it's something they can't/won't move.

The fun of area 51 is that you can literally let your imagination run wild because so little is known about it, and nothing can be denied.

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Supraman83 t1_j6p2vjb wrote

Pretty sure the site was used to test skunkworks projects during the cold war

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Budders66 t1_j6onwmo wrote

For the longest time there's been secret military tests there and people are nosy to see what's going on there.

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bear4bunny t1_j6ooinh wrote

Yeah basically just this. I couldn't care less what's in there but because it's super secret, I need to know.

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NdavG100 OP t1_j6op31l wrote

Yes but its soooo unpatriotic to try to publicise every secret government test. I live in a country sorounded by hostile foreign militaries and you dont see them flying around government buildings snooping around so let alone citizens of the country! Absolutely insane!!!

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maveric_gamer t1_j6orn8j wrote

Our country was literally founded by telling the extant government to go fuck themselves, being distrustful of the government is as patriotic to an American as you can get.

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Lithuim t1_j6ops8y wrote

Americans have a long standing distrust of authority and government, including their own.

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GStarG t1_j6os8c8 wrote

If you took a look at the numerous government projects in the US that were officially revealed from the freedom of information act where they secretly experimented on civilians in all sorts of inhuman and permanently damaging ways (some ending with many deaths) you'd probably change your stance on that...

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Biom4st3r t1_j6owq50 wrote

If we're going to use patriotism as a metric: It's also unpatriotic to let those in charge of you go unchecked and potentially tarnish the reputation of the US. We have the right and duty to poke, prod, and ask why they do things and what they are doing.

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The-Wylds t1_j6osqw1 wrote

You’re right you don’t. Or maybe you do. Spies are spies because they don’t get noticed.

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syds t1_j6ovcmm wrote

secrets dont care about country lines

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quequotion t1_j6oq1qy wrote

It used to be a secret, and apparently various military R&D happened there--particularly of aircraft, which were also secret.

The surrounding area became a hotbed of UFO sightings, some of which were sightings of actual aircraft.

This fueled conspiracy theories, such as that the wreckage and survivors or bodies from the Roswell incident had been taken there for study or storage.

These conspiracy theories experienced a resurgence in the 90s due to the X-Files, but I am not sure what revived the momentum that led to the pathetic 2010s "raid".

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MOOzikmktr t1_j6owo11 wrote

The first "thing" that came out of Area 51 as a tangible, functional object that captured real public interest was the SR-71 Blackbird. It had been kept under wraps for a while and was already well into it's conceptual design & flight testing phase when the public was informed of its existence (I think by accident, perhaps).

This thing still holds the flight speed record of Mach 3.4 (2609 mph) set in 1976, with an unverified claim of Mach 3.5 in 1986.

So if that's the FIRST thing that was uncovered from whatever they were working on in the early 60s at Area 51, imagine what weird ass shit is going on there in the five decades since...they hadn't even invented silicon transistors yet.

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picknicksje85 t1_j6ortj8 wrote

It's been a secret area for decades. And I'm sure you know about the rumors of an alien crash, or alien vehicles being housed there or tested. Not saying that is true. But you know the answer to your question :P Why do you ask a question with such an obvious answer?

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ItsOnlyaFewBucks t1_j6osuju wrote

It could be ANYTHING. And that covers a lot of stuff :) Plus you can't have it. So a double whammy.

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Kuraio-Kadaver t1_j6owwkr wrote

The obsession around Area 51 comes from the so called testimony of a one Bob Lazar, who claimed in interview that he worked on reverse-engineered alien technology at the site.

Lazar's claims were made into a film, ''Bob Lazar : Area 51 and Flying Saucers.''

In 2014 Boyd Bushman claimed he'd reverse engineered flying saucer tech for Lockheed Martin at Area 51, and so here we are.

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[deleted] t1_j6p4y1c wrote

[removed]

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explainlikeimfive-ModTeam t1_j6pce29 wrote

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torsun_bryan t1_j6p5x02 wrote

Anybody who’s interested in the history of Area 51 should read Skunk Works by former (and sadly deceased) Lockheed exec and Skunk Works head Ben Rich.

Area 51 is never referred to as ‘Area 51’ in the book — just as ‘Paradise Ranch,’ ‘The Ranch,’ ‘Groom Lake’ or just ‘the secret base’

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Firefly_officer t1_j6opym1 wrote

A Congressional appropriations bill in the late 1980s had it listed as receiving a suspicious amount of poorly defined ( dark) money. Thats is about it. Everyone who reads Janes knew it was Nellis AFB Groom lake test area S4 for the USAF, which in itself is plenty super exciting, again, if you the type to read Janes. Wright Pat has the Alien bodies and Redstone arsenal has the space ships either way.

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