It’s been one of the more viral things to make news in recent weeks: a planned “raid” on the mysterious Area 51 on September 20th, as put together via Facebook event. While the raid appears to have simply been started as a joke, over a million people have RSVP’d to the event, turning it into an internet sensation on a scale that law enforcement in Nevada is actually preparing for a turnout of “raiders” coming to the region to attempt a “Naruto run” style invasion of the base. While it still sounds entirely implausible, if things really do go down, don’t worry. The raid will be live streamed.
On Twitter the account for Area 15, an upcoming entertainment and retail center set to open just off the Las Vegas Strip sometime in late 2019, a humorous photo of fake “aliens” hanging out in construction gear in lawn chairs near the Area 15 construction site with a caption noting that even they were now curious about this “raid”. Check it out below.
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Okay. Now we’re curious about the storming of #AREA51. We’re going to live stream the “event” here at #AREA15 to watch what goes down. And costumes & tin foil hats are required 😉 Leave your info & we’ll send you the details. https://t.co/BMC69hRFxg pic.twitter.com/AjeX4GApl1
— AREA15 (@AREA15official) July 14, 2019
“Okay. Now we’re curious about the storming of #AREA51,” they wrote. “We’re going to live stream the “event” here at Area 15 to watch what goes down. And costumes and tin foil hats are required.”
The post also instructs those interested to go to their website and input their information for more details — a move that generally gets them on the mailing list for the upcoming retail space. Pretty clever marketing, actually.
All marketing and clever posts aside, the Area 51 raid has gotten quite a bit of attention in recent days. On Facebook the event is called “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” and tells participants that they can work together to find out what exactly is being hidden in Area 51.
“If we [Naruto] run we can move faster than their bullets,” the description reads. “Lets see them aliens.”
It’s important to note that attempting to outrun bullets by employing a “Naruto run” technique will not work and it’s generally not a good idea to attempt to raid Area 51. The infamous area is a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base located in the Nevada Test and Training Range. That means that if people try to raid, they’re going to be met with the force of the military. The US Air Force is prepared to protect the base in the event of any such attempt.
“[Area 51] is an open training range for the US Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces,” Air Force spokesperson Laura McAndrews said in a statement (via Yahoo). “The US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.”