# What do you think is at Area 51? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 25, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438 "2014-08-25T04:55:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/1 "2014-08-25T04:55:11Z")
Some people say top secret military planes. Some of the extremists say wrecked UFO’s. What do you all think? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/2 "2014-08-25T05:12:34Z")
Top secret planes. And toxic waste. No alien space craft. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/3 "2014-08-25T05:14:37Z")
On the one hand, probably nothing to interesting. OTOH, I just had to do an interview type thing for one of my employees to get a higher clearance with the Army (Navy?). The next time I saw his mom I mentioned it to her and she said “I can’t say what he’s doing, I’m not even totally sure, I just know that it involves pointing lasers in the sky to see if there’s anything up there that shouldn’t be”. So, while there’s probably nothing all that interesting (to random civilians) at Area 51, that’s not to say the Army doesn’t still actively research what’s out there. I believe he’s down South somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/4 "2014-08-25T05:32:01Z")
It’s a test site for highly classified military technology. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/5 "2014-08-25T06:04:52Z")
[Mulder and Scully.](http://moviepilot.com/posts/2014/03/19/you-can-be-mulder-and-scully-in-this-new-x-files-game-1282333?lt_source=external,manual#bJHdf2) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/6 "2014-08-25T06:53:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s a test site for highly classified military technology. This. No more, no less. And I have always thought so, too. Never have I been swayed by any UFO talk. Isn’t it cool enough that they’re working on fancy new stuff? Why sully it with stupid conspiracy nonsense? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/7 "2014-08-25T11:18:17Z")
Let’s put it this way: in the extremely unlikely event that the US Government actually DOES have crashed alien spacecraft that they want to keep secret, they’d have to be complete idiots to store them at the one place in the country that has gained international fame as the home of crashed alien spacecraft. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/8 "2014-08-25T11:38:43Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Let’s put it this way: in the extremely unlikely event that the US Government actually DOES have crashed alien spacecraft that they want to keep secret, they’d have to be complete idiots to store them at the one place in the country that has gained international fame as the home of crashed alien spacecraft. That’s EXACTLY what they want you to think. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/9 "2014-08-25T11:51:47Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Let’s put it this way: in the extremely unlikely event that the US Government actually DOES have crashed alien spacecraft that they want to keep secret, they’d have to be complete idiots to store them at the one place in the country that has gained international fame as the home of crashed alien spacecraft. Not if they did it back in the 1940’s before the base became famous. But I agree that if there was such a place, it would probably be somewhere isolated like in Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/10 "2014-08-25T12:07:24Z")
Overflow storage from Area 50. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/11 "2014-08-25T12:44:24Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > That’s EXACTLY what they want you to think. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/12 "2014-08-25T12:46:02Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Some people say top secret military planes. > > Some of the extremists say wrecked UFO’s. > > What do you all think? That warehouse from raiders of the lost ark Declan ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/13 "2014-08-25T13:52:04Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Not if they did it back in the 1940’s before the base became famous. > . And in all the years since then, no one has bothered to think about moving them somewhere less glaringly in the spotlight? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/14 "2014-08-25T13:52:34Z")
Reported for forum change, for there are certainly no facts involved with this question. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/15 "2014-08-25T13:54:46Z")
Read “Area 51” by Anne Jacobson. Disregard the final chapter, however. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/16 "2014-08-25T15:18:33Z")
**Moderator Action** Since the U.S. Government refuses to say what is at Area 51 (they didn’t even acknowledge its existence until the Clinton era), getting a factual answer for this isn’t likely, and would probably violate national security. Since all we are left with is speculation, let’s move this to a more appropriate forum. Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/17 "2014-08-25T15:59:10Z")
On a somewhat related note, I recently read [a review](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/14/men-in-black-ufo-sightings-mirage-makers-movie) (in The Guardian, not some UFO blog) of a new(ish) documentary called [Mirage Men](http://www.miragemen.com/), which claims the US government deliberately fuelled belief in UFOs among those interested in them. I have no idea how accurate the claims are, but what’s mentioned in the review is certainly interesting. I’ve always thought some of the actions of, and stories told by, the US government appear like a ridiculously bad attempt at covering things up, and that the more likely explanation is not that they’re hiding UFOs and are especially bad at it, but that they prefer people to think of aliens than to realize they’re seeing purely terrestrial military secrets. All this stuff really captures my imagination; I find films like War of the Worlds and Signs scarier than any sort of conventional horror, and if I weren’t so attached to logic, I’d probably have some wacky UFO-related CTs. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/18 "2014-08-25T16:25:44Z")
Area 51 used to be a test site for top-secret aircraft. But its alleged role in alien investigations have drawn enough tourists that it’s hard to maintain good security there any more, so most of the aircraft testing has moved to other sites. > [@](#): > > Quoth **JoeyP** : > > OTOH, I just had to do an interview type thing for one of my employees to get a higher clearance with the Army (Navy?). The next time I saw his mom I mentioned it to her and she said “I can’t say what he’s doing, I’m not even totally sure, I just know that it involves pointing lasers in the sky to see if there’s anything up there that shouldn’t be”. Sounds like LIDAR measurement of particulates. I had some colleagues in Montana who did something similar. They were mostly looking for pollutants and evidence of forest fires, but I can easily imagine that the military could get information of interest to them, too. Any results from the analysis of the data would probably be secret, but it wouldn’t hurt to much for the public to know what they’re doing, so it’s probably a good way to put that facility to use. Oh, and while we’re at it, the Roswell incident was a balloon carrying a payload to detect clandestine nuclear tests. This was one case where the military encouraged the conspiracy theorists, because they didn’t want to talk about the actual project. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/19 "2014-08-25T16:50:37Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s a test site for highly classified military technology. Yep. And there were a couple of experimental aircraft that looked a lot like "Flying saucers’. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/20 "2014-08-25T17:02:19Z")
Even if they told us - we’d still wonder. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438.md?page=2)