# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/21 "2014-08-25T17:42:47Z")
I just found out if you search Google Maps for Area 51 Location and click the Street View icon, it turns into a flying saucer. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/22 "2014-08-25T18:07:52Z")
Dammit, ninja’d ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/23 "2014-08-25T18:11:49Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > Read “Area 51” by Anne Jacobson. > > Disregard the final chapter, however. Agreed. Interesting book. ---
**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, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/24 "2014-08-25T18:20:02Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Dammit, ninja’d There’s ninjas @ Area 51? Prisoners or Security? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/25 "2014-08-25T19:20:54Z")
U-2s from the 50s SR-71s from the 60s B-2 Bombers and F-117 Fighters from the 70s??? from the 80s the Aurora from the 90s [http://www.ultraclearance.com/pictures/area51\_thingy.jpg](http://www.ultraclearance.com/pictures/area51_thingy.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/26 "2014-08-25T20:09:16Z")
What motivation could the US government have for not publicly announcing that “Area 51 research has nothing to do with UFO’s, Aliens, or any allied phenomena”? Unless that would not be a true statement. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/27 "2014-08-25T20:14:56Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > And toxic waste. Yes, I recall reading about how the local doctors get military patients with burns and poisoning symptoms that they have trouble treating because their patients aren’t allowed to _say_ what they were contaminated with. Secrecy rules and medical treatment don’t synergize well. ---
**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, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/28 "2014-08-25T20:52:35Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > What motivation could the US government have for not publicly announcing that “Area 51 research has nothing to do with UFO’s, Aliens, or any allied phenomena”? Unless that would not be a true statement. Once you start officially denying the existence of nonsense, you can never stop. “Well, the government has never denied that the flu vaccine was invented by purple midget hippos from Mercury!” ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/29 "2014-08-25T21:21:17Z")
I think whatever exists at Area 51 is probably disappointingly mundane. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/30 "2014-08-25T21:22:25Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > What motivation could the US government have for not publicly announcing that “Area 51 research has nothing to do with UFO’s, Aliens, or any allied phenomena”? Unless that would not be a true statement. Because denial only fuels more conspiracy theories. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/31 "2014-08-25T21:24:13Z")
> [@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 was my thought… absolutely nothing is there, and the Govt. cultivates the mystery surrounding the site to distract the UFO loons. The real UFOs (if there are any) are probably in some unnamed hangar somewhere nondescript and unassuming. ---
**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, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/32 "2014-08-25T21:27:49Z")
> [@bump](#): > > The real UFOs (if there are any) are probably in some unnamed hangar somewhere nondescript and unassuming. Or the secret Arctic base where the Nazis had theirs. ---
**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, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/33 "2014-08-25T21:30:31Z")
> [@bump](#): > > That was my thought… absolutely nothing is there, and the Govt. cultivates the mystery surrounding the site to distract the UFO loons. > > The real UFOs (if there are any) are probably in some unnamed hangar somewhere nondescript and unassuming. Dayton Ohio? ---
**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, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/34 "2014-08-25T22:05:30Z")
In the basement of the Smithsonian. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/35 "2014-08-25T22:15:12Z")
> [@bump](#): > > That was my thought… absolutely nothing is there, and the Govt. cultivates the mystery surrounding the site to distract the UFO loons. > > The real UFOs (if there are any) are probably in some unnamed hangar somewhere nondescript and unassuming. Almost exactly what I was going to post. **Jtur88** Significant organizations within all the governments I know of exist to hide information and deny things. Once they get started, it’s hard to stop. So people have the wrong idea about Area 51? Good. People are confused? Good. In the surprisingly factual Sexpionage! (seriously, a guy wrote a book on the use of prostitutes as spies and similar subjects. His publisher insisted he spice it up and add a new title) the author (I say justly) complains that too damn much material is classified for no good reason. He cites a case where a report was made up from various newspaper and magazine articles. Though all the information was from publicly available sources, the final report was classified. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/36 "2014-08-25T22:43:31Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s a test site for highly classified military technology. This. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/37 "2014-08-25T22:45:39Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Dayton Ohio? Aren’t there a few sci-fi stories where the secondary secret location is in Obio? Super 8 was the most recent I think. ---
**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 26, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/38 "2014-08-26T01:19:50Z")
> [@bump](#): > > That was my thought… absolutely nothing is there, and the Govt. cultivates the mystery surrounding the site to distract the UFO loons. > > The real UFOs (if there are any) are probably in some unnamed hangar somewhere nondescript and unassuming. [Exactly.](http://world-traveller.me/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/retro-chic-and-the-worlds-best-sundae-at-the-seattle-space-needle.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/39 "2014-08-26T06:49:48Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Aren’t there a few sci-fi stories where the secondary secret location is in Obio? Super 8 was the most recent I think. In the 40’s Edwards AFB was just Muroc Field, a remote site where they could do flight testing that they didn’t want to do around Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH. But WP was Flight Test HQ then. Some fictional stores say that the crashed UFO and dead aliens from the “Roswell Incident” were transported to Wright Pat and stored there. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438/40 "2014-08-26T11:59:31Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > What do you think is at Area 51? Nosy little fucker, aren’t you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-is-at-area-51/696438.md?page=3)