Military issues warning after half a million people sign up to storm Area 51
UFO expert Nick Pope explains why the government site has taken the internet by storm.
An expert on UFOs said Tuesday he's skeptical people will follow through with their Facebook pledges to "storm Area 51."
A Facebook event page went viral over the past week, as more than 1 million users responded that they would go to the top-secret military installation on Sept. 20 at 3 a.m., with the creator writing "they can't stop all of us."
“If we naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets,” the event description said, referencing a Japanese comic character known for his speed.
“Let's see them aliens.”
4 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT AREA 51
Nick Pope, who formerly investigated UFOs for Britain's Ministry of Defense, said on "Fox & Friends First," that the Facebook event has gotten "somewhat out of hand."
"They won't go, of course. ... I think this just shows the huge level of interest in this subject," said Pope, explaining that visitors to Area 51 would be more likely to find drones and "next-generation aircraft" than UFOs or evidence of aliens.
The social media campaign made national headlines as it grew last week, forcing the Air Force, which runs the installation, to respond and caution UFO enthusiasts against traveling to the area.
"[Area 51] is an open training range for the U.S. Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces. ... The U.S. Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets," spokeswoman Laura McAndrews told The Washington Post.
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Pope said that "if the U.S. government did find aliens, they didn't tell us Brits," referring to his work with the British government. He said if anything alien-related was ever at Area 51, it's "probably long gone" since the site has been so heavily connected to conspiracy theories.
Area 51 is a facility near Groom Lake, Nev., run by the Air Force whose operations are highly classified. It has been linked to alien conspiracy theories since the testing of a spy plane in 1955 in which the Central Intelligence Agency first shed light on the military detachment.
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