A peculiar circular formation located just miles from the highly classified Area 51 base has ignited speculation that it could be a covert UFO landing site. The structure, spotted on Google Earth, sits approximately four miles northeast of the base within the barren desert landscape of Nevada.
Appearance and Location
The formation appears as a large, nearly perfect circle carved into the desert floor, with pale dirt sharply contrasting against the darker surrounding terrain. At its center lies a smaller raised structure or mound, casting a shadow that gives the site the appearance of a giant target or landing marker when viewed from above. A narrow dirt road leads directly to the circular clearing before abruptly ending at the structure, further enhancing its isolated and mysterious aura.
Social Media Reactions
An image of the formation, located at coordinates 37°16'34.5"N 115°45'18.6"W, has flooded social media platforms, where users have suggested it resembles an "alien crash site." While the discovery has sparked wild theories, other social media users have offered a more grounded explanation, noting that the structure appears to be a bomb target situated on the Weapons Test Range east of Groom Lake. Such targets were commonly used during Cold War-era weapons testing and pilot training exercises across the Nevada desert.
Historical Context
The giant circular clearing would have been easily visible from the air, allowing fighter pilots to practice bombing runs or military crews to test targeting systems, radar equipment, and aerial sensors. The smaller raised object at the center likely served as the primary aiming point for aircraft during training missions. The remote location and unusual symmetrical design have fueled online conspiracy theories suggesting ties to UFO activity or classified government experiments. However, the site closely resembles other known bombing circles and aerial target ranges scattered throughout military training grounds in Nevada and the American Southwest.
Area 51's Legacy
Area 51 has long been a focal point of alien lore, with whispers of crashed UFOs and extraterrestrial autopsies behind its barbed-wire fences. The base, established in 1955, remained largely unknown until 1989 when Robert Lazar claimed on television to have worked at a secret site near Groom Lake, known as "S-4," studying alien technology and spacecraft. While the remote U.S. Air Force base has kept its activities highly confidential, the CIA officially acknowledged Area 51's existence in 2013 through a declassified report exceeding 400 pages. This report detailed how testing of secret spy planes "accounted for more than one-half of all UFO reports during the late 1950s and most of the 1960s."
U-2 and A-12 Aircraft
The U-2 spy and A-12 reconnaissance planes were flown in secrecy over the desert during the Cold War, but their extreme altitudes sparked fears of alien invasion. The CIA report stated: "High-altitude testing of the U-2 soon led to an unexpected side effect, a tremendous increase in reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Once U-2s started flying at altitudes above 60,000 feet, air-traffic controllers began receiving increasing numbers of UFO reports." However, the report does not mention Area 51's purpose after 1974.
Storm Area 51 Event
In July 2019, nearly 500,000 people committed to storming Area 51 in September of that year. The "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us" event was created on Facebook, garnering more than 460,000 "going" RSVPs, while another 460,000 expressed interest in infiltrating the Nevada compound. The event description read: "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 phrase "Naruto run" refers to the anime character Naruto Uzumaki, known for a running style with his body tilted forward and arms stretched behind his back. A few days after the event was created by Matty Roberts, he revealed it was all a joke. Roberts told Nevada's KLAS-TV that he was amazed at how his hoax took off, stating, "I posted it on like June 27th and it was kind of a joke." He decided to come forward out of fear the FBI would question him after millions of UFO conspiracy theory fans signed up to invade the top-secret base.
