Getty Image / Barry King / Contributor
We are less than two months away from the highly publicized “Storm Area 51” Facebook event. One small Nevada town closest to the Area 51 military facility is already getting slammed with accommodation requests. And one resident allegedly captured video of a UFO flying by, only fueling more curiosity for the mysterious Area 51.
Rachel, Nevada is a very small town with a population of 54 according to the 2010 census. Rachel is the town closest to Area 51 and is expected to be the staging area for the controversial “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” event that goes down on Friday, September 20 between the hours of 3 AM to 6 AM PDT.
An alleged resident of Rachel recently uploaded a video and claims that they captured footage of a UFO soaring by the sleepy Nevada town. The 9-second clip appears to show a metallic disc flying at a fast velocity over the dry Nevada landscape.
“Here in Rachel, Nevada. Got this footage on my motion sensor camera,” says the video’s description. “Unbelievable, not sure if it’s a jet or some aircraft I haven’t seen before. Pretty cool nonetheless.”
The video was uploaded by YouTube channel “FilmGuy,” an account that was created on April 9, 2017, and only has uploaded this one video titled “2019 UFO sighting near Area 51.”
Rachel, Nevada, is the closest town to the Nellis Air Force Range and has been bombarded with interest ever since the Storm Area 51 event went viral. The small town in the southern part of Nevada doesn’t quite have the ability to accommodate the insane amount of people that have expressed interest in participating in the raid of Area 51.
There are 2 million people who are said they are “going” and an additional 1.4 million who have said they are “interested” in attending the event in September where alien-hunters will be using a “Naruto run” to storm the government facility. Despite the Area 51 raid originally starting off as a silly prank, people are apparently making plans to actually go to the area known for UFO sightings.
The closest hotel to Area 51 is the cheekily-named the Little A’le’Inn in Rachel, Nevada. The small motel only has 10 rooms and they are already sold out for the weekend of the alien-hunting event.
“It doesn’t stop, our phone won’t stop ringing,” said Connie West, co-owner of the Little A’le’Inn.
“It’s a little scary to think that many people could descend on a town of 54,” West said. “How can you prepare?”
The Alien Research Center gift shop and campsite was also concerned about the overwhelming amount of interest in the town. “I don’t think it’s just a passing fancy,” Linda Looney of the gift shop told the Las Vegas Sun. The Alien Research Center and the Little A’le’Inn are located on state Highway 375, known as the Extraterrestrial Highway, about 40 miles from Area 51.
Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee said he doesn’t expect a lot of people to actually show up. “I think this started out as a joke but there may be enough people taking it seriously and it could be a problem,” Sheriff Lee said. “Someone is going to get hurt and people may go to jail. It’s not anything to joke about.”
Lincoln County only has a staff of 26 sworn officers so if there is hundreds or thousands of people roaming around looking for aliens it could present a problem.
The Facebook event was advertised as: “We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry. If we naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. Let’s see them aliens.”
The U.S. military has already issued a warning for citizens to not storm the 8,000-square mile top-secret installation near the dry Groom Lake bed. “Any attempt to illegally access the area is highly discouraged,” the Air Force said in a statement.
“[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,” said Air Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews. “The U.S. Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.”
[Express]