Seeing UFOs at Area 51

Photo courtesy of Glenn Campbell The black mailbox (now white)

Because the airspace around and above Area 51 is used for test flights and training missions, it is quite possible (and even probable) that you'll see aircraft flying overhead. Sometimes that aircraft might be exotic, perhaps even unidentifiable to the untrained eye. Even familiar aircraft might fool you into thinking you've seen something not of this Earth. Skeptics point out that many reported UFO sightings coincide conveniently with the scheduled daily arrival of the Janet flights to the base. Many of the formerly classified projects at Area 51 really do look to be otherworldly. UAVs in particular seem strange, as they don't require a cockpit or doors. In addition, many training exercises use bright flares to draw off missile fire or even just to distract onlookers while secret aircraft go through maneuvers.

A popular spot to watch for UFOs is the Black Mailbox on Nevada Highway 375. The mailbox belongs to a local rancher and became famous when Bob Lazar said it was the location he'd bring people to in order to watch scheduled test flights of alien spacecraft. Today, the mailbox has been repainted white and the rancher has said many times that he doesn't believe any of the craft flying overhead are alien in origin.

The Truth Is Out There Area 51 is the most well-known secret facility ever created. It's been an important setting for numerous novels, films, television shows, video games and music. The base (or a spoof of it) has appeared in episodes of Futurama, The Simpsons, Kim Possible, Stargate and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. There is an Area 51 arcade game as well as an unrelated (but identically titled) game designed for consoles like the Xbox. The base shows up in other video games too, like Duke Nukem3D, Destroy All Humans, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 and even World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. There are rumors that the next Indiana Jones film will have something to do with the facility. Daniel O'Brien once wrote a rock musical about Area 51, and you can find references to the base in several rock songs like Megadeth's "Hangar 18." Out of all the different entertainment pieces featuring Area 51, two stand out as being particularly important. The X-Files and Independence Day both helped catapult Area 51 into the public consciousness, and both followed UFOlogists' theories about the real purpose of the base.

In the next section, we'll look at some of the controversy surrounding Area 51.