Category: Social Media

For all the hullabaloo, when the time came, only a few hundred people (of the 2+ million who RSVP) showed up for some music and camping.

Stormers were instructed to run like Naruto – and at least one man did – towards the base, because “they can’t stop all of us” was the mantra.

Andrew Griffin was there and “live blogged” the events for British newspaper The Independent:

If you’re just joining us, here’s a rough summary of the nights events, which happened at four main locations:

• In Las Vegas, people gathered for Alienstock, which was run like a traditional EDM festival, with lots inflatable aliens.
• In Hiko, there was another alien festival, with themed displays out in the desert.
• And in Rachel, there was another Alienstock, with live rock music played out across the Nevada sand, and themed events. Despite the warnings from locals, this appears to have gone largely without major incident.

But perhaps most interestingly of all…

• At the gate to Area 51 itself, some people did gather. They gathered round, chatted, took some photos and joked. While there are reports of at least one arrest, there was no attempt to storm Area 51.

The “Storm Area 51” organizer, Matty Roberts, is comparing Alienstock – music festival he organized as an alternative to Storm Area 51 – to the Fyre Festival – a name that has become synonymous with “epic failure.”

With just over a week to go until the event, Roberts and the host town’s website are both comparing Alienstock to the Fyre Festival, which was supposed to be held in April and May of 2017 in the Bahamas but became synonymous with “epic failure” and led to a fraud conviction. Roberts has pulled his name and support from the three-day gathering in Rachel, Nev., but the owner of a motel in the town who had signed up as a partner plans to go ahead.

Source: Washington Post

We shall see if a human disaster unfolds – or no one shows up and the joke event passes like a tumble weed in the Nevada desert.

Joke, Social Experiment or Human Disaster

It all started rather jokingly with a Facebook event entitled “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us,” but then it grew into a massive – 2 million+ people say they’re “Going” – social experiment full of possibilities.

College student Matty Roberts, the creator of the event, came up with the idea after watching the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on June 20, 2019. At some point he started a Storm Area 51 website to capitalize on all this publicity. People even made a song/video or two or three about it.

This rural, rouged, dangerous area is no place for millions of shock visitors. They don’t have the resources to hold that many people; even Las Vegas – 65 miles away – doesn’t have enough capacity for that many people.

Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee doesn’t expect many people to show up, but he knows what’s possible. “I think this started out as a joke but there may be enough people taking it seriously and it could be a problem,” the sheriff said. “Someone is going to get hurt and people may go to jail. It’s not anything to joke about.” Source: AP

Of course the US Air Force has warned people not to participate in this joke – and do not trespass on government property. The AF operates the Nevada Test and Training Range (Area 51 is part of), and they are ready and willing to “protect America and its assets.”

It all kicks off at 3 AM PDT, September 20, 2019. Grab some popcorn and pull up a chair.