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.
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