Fifty years ago, an American pilot called Kenneth Arnold saw nine discs in the sky over Area 51 in Nevada, where the US military tests high-tech aircraft. The term ‘flying saucer’ was born – and with it, a whole new subculture which believes that alien life is not only somewhere out there, but also here (indeed, probably in Area 51), ready to take over the world.
Highway 93 winds through the Nevada Desert. There are no cars, no houses, no nothing, just sage brush and dust devils and a lunar landscape of grey mountains creeping into a never-ending distance. At junction 375 a signpost says “Extraterrestrial Highway”. The driver has strayed from normal space-time coordinates and is heading towards Rachel, the town that thinks of itself as the UFO capital of the world.
Rachel is, in fact, a very small trailer park whose significance arises from the fact that it sits on the border of Area 51. This vast mass of desert land has been central to the UFO myth since, 50 years ago, a pilot named Kenneth Arnold spotted nine discs over Mount Rainier and the term ‘Flying Saucer’ was born.
People have never accepted that Area 51 is merely a highly classified military site devoted to testing high-tech aircraft. In 1988 it was claimed on TV that aliens lived there and, furthermore, they enjoyed eating ice-cream and listening to Tibetan Music.
A year later, an individual named, Bob Lazar presented himself and announced that, when working as a physicist on the base, he had seen several flying saucers parked in hangers. Patrol guards carrying guns, surveillance cameras and notices saying that “USE OF DEADLY FORCE IS AUTHORIZED” have done much much to fan an interesting aura of secrecy.
Consequently, Area 51 also known as Dreamland has become a mecca for the subversive, the hacker and those who have seen far too many episodes of the X-Files.
John Holmgren sells T-shirts from a trailer named Close Encounters. On his desk there is a flyer advertising “support” for “contactee groups”. On his wall there are quotes from the Bible.
“My professional belief is that in 1947, when the Roswell crash happened, they brought the saucer here because they needed to reverse-engineer it and find out how it worked. I believe that fiber optics, microchips and Velcro were developed as a result of this.”
“Velcro John?”
“Yes. When the aliens undid their space suits in New Mexico there was a ripping sound and it was discovered that they had no zips…”
John has quite a lot of other theories. He is sure that a secret cabal known as Majestic 12 live in Area 51 where they are plotting to take over the world. They will do this by forcing the population to wear a “transpondental” chip without which it will be impossible to buy anything or drive.
“The chip will be stamped into your right hand and if you don’t have a right hand, then it will be stamped on to your forehead”.
John is ready for the New World Order. “There are people with arsenals,” he says. “My father is one of them. They are just waiting for the government to screw up. There are millions of people ready to start a war. I have got the supplies, now all I need is the Guns…”
Glen Campbell runs the Area 51 Research Center from a bright yellow trailer in Rachel. Designating himself as the token Sensible Person, he does not sell souvenirs, because they are “incompatible with serious research”, but he does, oddly, sell videos of Monty Python’s Life of Brian, as well as the viewers guide, in which he writes : “This is a guide to hunting for UFOs and not secret aircraft but I do not honestly believe you are going to see any.”
Those searching for luminosities are, however, difficult to dissuade and they are most welcome down at dirt track where Joe and Pat Travis run a Little A-Le-Inn. The sign at the door says “Welcome Earthlings” and, behind the bar, there are alien heads and alien models, some of whom are dressed in Gestapo uniforms. There is also, more unnervingly, a raffle for the Pat Westcott Medical Fund whose first prize, proudly displayed, is a MK90 semi-automatic machine-gun.
Joe Travis has a beard and a very red face and has adorned his hostelry with color photographs so that the visitor can eat an “Alien Burger” ($2.75) surrounded by pictures of the “Alien Autopsy” in which the humanoids’ green leg is shown with a bleeding wound
“A few weeks ago, I saw a craft in the sky,” says Pat Travis. It was cigar-shaped and it had porthole windows…”
Pat and Joe understand that, in America, all experiences are marketable, and to this end, they provide a wide range of items displaying a bug-eyed, bald-headed logo.
The Shop at the Little A-Le_inn sell alien jewelry, alien t-shirts, alien fridge magnets, Roswell dolls and Area 51 ashtrays.
Some of these are supplied by Jim and Mary Greenen who spend their lives in a mobile home, traveling to UFO conferences around the country.
