Everything you need to know about Area 51

He claimed he worked on extraterrestrial technology inside Area 51, sparking wider public interest in the mysterious, top secret bunker.

It’s spawned so many conspiracy theories, it’s hard to get up to speed on just what Area 51 is and what - if anything - lurks within it.

The site has been shrouded in mystery for decades, now prompting conspiracy theorists to storm the top secret Cold War test site under tight guard in the Nevada desert to uncover the “answers”.

More than 1.5 million people have registered their interest for the Facebook event that jokes “they can’t stop all of us” and “let’s see them aliens” — a reference to the long-held conspiracy held by UFO enthusiasts that alien life is being hidden there.

So just what is Area 51 and how did all the conspiracy theories come about?

WHAT IS AREA 51?

The site gets its name from markings on 1950s Nevada Test Site maps.

Its official name today is said to be Air Force Flight Test Center, Detachment 3, or AFFTC Det. 3 for short.

Detachment 3 is an unconfirmed designated name for facilities at Groom Lake where classified flight testing may be carried out.

Area 51 has also been referred to as Groom Lake or Dreamland.

The name Groom Lake came from the dry salt flat lake Area 51 was built around, while Dreamland came from an Edgar Allan Poe poem.

The poem warns that “the traveller, travelling through it, may not-dare not openly view it; Never its mysteries are exposed, to the weak human eye unclosed”.

Area 51 has also been called Paradise Ranch - as a half-serious way to lure employees to accept positions at the remote and rustic base - and Watertown, which was the official name of the test site given in 1956.

A car moves along the Extraterrestrial Highway near Rachel, Nevada, the closest town to Area 51. Picture: Laura Rauch/AP

In its early days the only entertainment at Area 51 was made up of a single cement tennis court and a small bowling alley, with no television and radio signals only making it through the surrounding mountains in the evening.

These days, Area 51 remains an active military installation, under 24-hour surveillance and inaccessible to the public.

The only confirmed use of the installation is as a flight testing facility.

On June 25, 2013, the CIA approved the release of declassified documents chronicling the history of the U-2 and OXCART programs linked to Area 51.

The documents were released after a Freedom of Information Act request submitted in 2005 by American intelligence historian Jeffrey Richelson, of the George Washington University National Security Archive.

The release of the documents marked the first time the government formally acknowledged the existence of Area 51.

As of 2018, Area 51 became visible on Google Maps.

Area 51 visible on Google Maps.

READ MORE: US Air Force concerned about plans to ‘storm Area 51’

THE CONSPIRACY THEORISTS

In 1989 a man named Robert “Bob” Lazar, an American conspiracy theorist and self-proclaimed physicist claimed he worked on extraterrestrial technology inside Area 51.

He told US television reporter George Knapp that he saw autopsy photographs of aliens inside the facility and that the government used the facility to examine recovered alien spacecraft. Although his claims were discredited, they spawned numerous government conspiracy theories, most of which involved aliens, putting the secret site at the forefront of the public’s attention.

In 1990, Lazar was arrested for aiding and abetting a prostitution ring.

The charges were reduced to felony pandering, to which he pleaded guilty.

He was ordered to do 150 hours of community service, stay away from brothels, and undergo psychotherapy.

At the time, bankruptcy documents revealed Lazar was self-employed as a film processor.

In 2006, Lazar and his wife Joy White were charged with violating the Federal Hazardous Substances Act for shipping restricted chemicals across state lines.

The charge was linked to his operation of his company United Nuclear Scientific Equipment and Supplies.

United Nuclear pleaded guilty to three criminal counts of introducing into interstate commerce, and aiding and abetting the introduction into interstate commerce, banned hazardous substances.

In 2007 the company was fined $7,00 for violating a law prohibiting the sale of chemicals and components used to make illegal fireworks.

Bob Lazar, an American conspiracy theorist and self-proclaimed physicist whose theories spawned more public interest in Area 51.

An Alien sculpture lines the side of the road in the town of Baker, California, known as the ‘Gateway to Area 51’. Picture: Frederic J. BROWN/AFP

WHAT DO PEOPLE BELIEVE?

About 90 per cent of reported UFO sightings could be easily debunked, while the other 10 per cent are said to be “a number of incredible reports from credible observers”.

Conspiracy theorists believe that the remains of crashed UFO spacecrafts are stored at Area 51, where government scientists reverse-engineer the aliens’ highly advanced technology.

People have reported seeing UFOs at the military base as far back as the 1950s.

In recent years, UFO investigators claimed that the top-secret planes tested at Area 51 were built with technology gleaned from captured alien aircraft.

Other theories connected to the moon landing have some elements of truth.

The theory that the Apollo 11 mission was staged at Area 51 is linked to various space equipment such as land rovers and life support systems being tested by the astronauts at the adjoining nuclear testing grounds.

When there was an increase of UFO sightings in 1952, the CIA concluded that “there is a remote possibility that they may be interplanetary aircraft,” and that it was necessary to investigate each sighting.

However, more than half of all UFO sightings between the late 1950s to the 1960s were accounted for by manned reconnaissance flights over the US.

One retired Army colonel testified he was given access to extraterrestrial materials gathered from an alien spacecraft that crashed in Roswell, N.M.

Other theorists believe that scientists are able to time travel in their studies at Area 51.

For those convinced their theories are true, the government’s official line — that the details of Area 51 are classified for purposes of national security — is only seen as further proof that the military is hiding aliens or alien spacecraft there.

PLAN TO STORM AREA 51

Attendees plan to approach Area 51 in Amargosa Valley, Nevada on September 20.

First off, they will meet at the “Alien Center” tourist attraction before marching 84km through the unforgiving desert terrain towards the top secret and heavily-guarded base.

“We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Centre tourist attraction and co-ordinate our entry,” the event details read.

“If we naruto run (referring to the widely memed manga character) we can move faster than their bullets. Lets see them aliens.”

If the “Storm Area 51” caravan goes through with the stunt, they’ll be met by gun-toting guards who have been cleared to stop any intruders at any cost — per the site’s strongly worded signage: “Use of deadly force authorised.”