In the middle of the Nevada desert, outside a secretive US military airstrip, the world's strangest social media convention unfolded. Dozens of young, often costumed people ran around filming each other with semi-professional video rigs. They were YouTube and Instagram stars, or aspiring stars, here to 'storm' Area 51 for their followers and free the aliens held captive within—or at least film themselves talking about it.
Joining them was a ragged army of hundreds of stoners, UFO buffs, punk bands, rubberneckers, European tourists, and meme-lords in Pepe the Frog costumes. All were here because of the Internet, the ironic and the earnest alike, for a party at the end of the earth.
Three months earlier, on 20 June 2019, podcaster Joe Rogan released an interview with Bob Lazar, a cult figure in UFO circles who claims to have studied flying saucers at Area 51. Inspired by the podcast, college student Matty Roberts created a joke Facebook event: 'Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us.' The plan was for people to meet in Rachel, Nevada, the closest town to Area 51, on 20 September, then swarm the defences and see for themselves if the government was hiding aliens.
Things snowballed. Within hours, the page had thousands of RSVPs; within days, more than a million. The air force warned of consequences for anyone attempting a raid, and the FBI paid Roberts a house call. He pivoted to a Burning Man-style music festival, joining forces with Connie West, operator of Rachel's sole inn, to plan Alienstock. But schisms emerged: the Alien Research Center in Hiko hosted its own event for serious ufologists, and Roberts backed out nine days before the event, accusing West of insufficient preparation. Budweiser offered a free alternative in Las Vegas, leaving three rival events on the same weekend.
I arrived in Las Vegas for the 'Area 51 Celebration' at an outdoor venue bedecked with glowing neon alien signage. It was mostly empty except for cops and local newscasters, but people trickled in wearing alien-themed rave attire—rubber alien costumes, Rick-and-Morty dresses, and alien-motif onesies. The event featured a DJ, a swimming pool bathed in green light, and a sign that read 'Take Me to Your Dealer.'
