When it comes to aliens, in regards to conspiracy theories and pop-culture entertainment they tend to have one thing in common. The center of alien secrecy on the planet, specifically in the United States, is Area 51 in Nevada. So, how did this government facility Become the base of alien Conspiracies? 

It all started in 1947 when the wreckage of what was supposedly a UFO landed in Roswell, New Mexico, and was found by W. W. “Mac” Brazel and his son on their ranch. When the father-son duo reported their findings to the government, Major Jesse Marcel released a public statement that soon made the papers with the title: “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell”. This incident sparked the alien craze in the area, as the unidentified wreckage was considered to be the site of an alien crash landing. However, later evidence has said that the debris was that of a fallen weather balloon and not a UFO. At first government officials decided to stray away from the idea that it was a weather balloon as to not reveal Project Mogul. A project that used weather balloons to spy on Russians during the Cold War. Despite the fact that the government revealed the weather balloon was a part of Project Mogul, many still believe that this is a cover-up and that the UFO and any of its possible inhabitants now reside in Area 51. 

People’s suspicions of aliens inside Area 51 were only furthered when they continued to see UFOs flying around the base. They saw unique types of aircrafts and believed them to be aliens ships landing at the base. However, the facilities were actually constructing and testing new spy planes for the Cold War as a part of the SkunkWorks project. Aircrafts such as the U-2 spy plane were easily mistaken as a UFO. 

Furthermore, Area 51 also had a “Whistleblower” in 1989. Robert Lazar who claimed to work at Area 51 went to a Los Vegas news station called KLAS and described his time at the base.  He said that he was debriefed on aliens when he first came to the base and that at Area 51 they would reverse-engineer spaceships and study them. However, his credibility came into question when it was discovered that there were no records of him working at the base and that his educational background was fabricated, although he retorts that the government erased his birth certificate, employment records, and college transcripts.

In the end, the one factor that may endorse the conspiracy theories the most is that Area 51 does very little to dispute the claims made about what happens in the base. For a government facility that specializes in reconnaissance and building spy technology, letting the public create their own theories may be in their best interest.