By Tim Binnall
A bizarre online campaign suggesting that UFO enthusiasts storm Area 51 in search of alien secrets hidden at the infamous base has seemingly garnered the support of nearly 200,000 people. The wild idea is reportedly the brainchild of a group of online agitators who created a Facebook event titled 'Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us.' Although the proposed gathering appears to have been just a joke, the concept captured the imagination of the masses online.
To date, a whopping 181,000 people have declared that they are 'attending' the event and another 200 thousand individuals have expressed interest in joining in on the action which is set to take place on Friday, September 20th at 3 AM. Of course, as anyone who has haphazardly accepted an online invitation to a distant relative's art gallery opening or dance recital can attest, the vast majority of the people who indicated plans to join in the horde almost certainly will not be in attendance when the big day arrives.
That said, there's a very real possibility that some foolhardy individuals may genuinely make an effort to storm Area 51 on September 20th when organizers allegedly plan to "meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry." Aside from the installation's incredibly stringent security measures which prevent unauthorized visitors, the very fact that the date and time of the planned surge is public knowledge is a pretty good indication that the daring gambit will prove futile. It could also wind up being criminal should would-be trespassers push the proverbial envelope and really try to gain entry to the base.
C2C's George Knapp, who famously broke the story that Area 51 existed back in 1989, responded to the idea on Twitter by noting that "this plan has been proposed multiple times over the last 30 years. Then, as now, it's a really bad idea." To that end, he stressed that "there are no aliens at Area 51, no alien tech either" and that "base security is more than capable of handling Winnebago trespassers." With that in mind, it would undoubtedly be wise for the idea to remain in the daydreams of UFO enthusiasts sitting at their computer rather than being put into practice.