What started as a flippant joke has taken on a life of its own as people began to sign up to “Storm Area 51” in their hundreds of thousands, sharing memes and vowing to “check out those alien cheeks.”
Area 51 is the common name of a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility situated within the Nevada Test and Training Range. Officially, the facility is named Homey Airport or Groom Lake, named after the salt flat situated next to its airfield.
Even though details of the facility's operations aren't publicly known, based on historical evidence, it's most likely a training range which supports the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems. The USAF acquired the site in 1955, mainly for flight testing the Lockheed U-2 aircraft.
The Facebook event now has 1.2 million people 'attending' the showdown, scheduled for September 20th, and even the U.S. military has come out to warn against it. “Area 51 is an open training range for the US Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces,” Air Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews said. “The US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.”
The warning prompted one poster to reassure the government that they aren't serious, although they would say that, wouldn't they? “Hello US government, this is a joke, and I do not actually intend to go ahead with this plan,” they wrote. “I just thought it would be funny and get me some thumbsy uppies on the internet.”
As you can see yourself from the list below, it has already succeeded in that respect! Scroll down to check some of the best memes and reactions, and let us know what you think in the comments!
Image credits: Bored Panda
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