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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 1997)
MattHaney/DN Close encounters Searching for alien life: Area 51 or bust It was the spring of 1995, and that hallowed week of vacation was fast approaching. My friends and I knew that some sort of spring break destination was outthere for us; and we also knew that it wasn’t necessarily going to be petty. We weren’t the types tq go to Daytona Beach or the northern recoils of Mexico. We weren’t — and still aren’t—the beach-roaming kind. But fdr some reason, the seductive call of the sand was beckoning us. And so it came to be that we found ourselves packed into a dark blue Ford Taurus, shooting down Interstate 80 to a godforsaken desert region just noth of Las Vegas. In the sping of 1995, my friends and I went to Area 51. Because of the success of“Indepen dence Day,” most of you probably now know what Area 51 is; but for the ben efit of the uninitiated, I will povide a brief summary. Area 51 is the nickname given by a handful of conspiracy enthusiasts to the northern edge of the Nellis Air Force Range, which begins just north of Las Vegas and extends a consider able drive north until it hits a small town of about 50 people named Rachel, Nev. Ordinarily, an Air Force range in the middle of the desert would be no big deal, but this one is. The reason bong that this particular range is the supposed site at which the U.S. gov ernment holds — or at one time held —a crashed flying saucer, a living and breathing alien and the technology to To this day, Joe and Pat remain the most gracious and kindly right-wing conspiracy theorists I have ever met. They talked with us about aliens, served a mean burger and offered us free movies to rent for our room. (Ac tually, it was a trailer, and the reason we had movies was because we were too far away from civilization to re ceive any television signals.) 7,,-, - ' ‘ - ■ ' But movies were not in our plans for this trip. We headed to Glenn Campbell’s home (trailer), the site of the Area 51 Research Center and com piled our information for approaching the mysterious air base. Over the next two days, we spent the daylight hours climbing mountains in search of the world’s longest air strip (we found it), avoiding security guards in Ford Broncos and helicop ters (they, unfortunately, found us) and hiding indoors to escape the bitter wind storms that seemed to kick up every afternoon around 3:30. We spent our nights pdrked outside of Area 51, looking skyward for evidence of alien life. (We saw none, only a few admit tedly awe-inspiring flares and flight drills). We returned, weather-beaten and sleep-deprived, to Lincoln with noth ing more than some wild stories, a few illegally taken photographs of a sup posedly nonexistent airstrip and the satisfaction that we had been within a few miles of what is possibly Earth’s only atien aircraft. In hindsight, I wouldn’t mind go ing back. Our trip was not a typical spring break, but we did hit the sand, drive a long way and almost get ar rested. And if that’s not a good trip, then I’d hate to find out what is. JEFF RANDALL is a junior news editorial major and the Daily Nebras kan arts and entertainment editor. build and operate a working flying saucer of its own. And to add to the air of mystery that surrounds this mountain-ringed range, the U.S. government denies Area 51 even exists. It is with this pittance of informa tion that we headed for Rachel; we only intended to have a mild adven ture and hopefully, an alien sighting. (OK, we may sound pretty pathetic at this point, and to tell the truth we prob ably were. But keep in mind that we were freshmen, and alcohol had only been mildly introduced to our lives.) After days of endless roads and questionable motels, we arrived in Rachel and headed straight for the Little A Le Inn (like “little alien,” get it? Rachel residents have a great sense of humor). We arrived at our place of lodging and were greeted by Joe and Pat Travis, a kindly, middle-aged couple that was like any other mar ried small-town twosome, except they had a serious beef against the federal government and a serious belief ih extraterrestrials. - ..1 Cover photo illustration by Jay Calderon. Character sketches and map graphic by Aaron Steckelberg. |il , ' i 1 i Sir-' 1 ■' 11 111 .... 111 ■ . I k-. Sip! ' Backwoods Territory IS \ - Lincoln's Newest Outdoor Sports and Travel Store... All Students 10% OFF • Vasque Boots • Wiggy Sleeping Bags • Eureka Tents • MSR Stoves-Cookware • Solstice Coats • Vortex Backpacks • Wigwam Socks • Jansport Travel Bags • Cascade Designs • Fly Fishing Gear • Outdoor Research • Kelty Tents & Packs •akeekM&fkit! '