“Storm Area 51” started as a joke page on Facebook, but has since grown into a full-blown viral trending topic. If you need solid proof that this is more than just a little joke by sci-fi enthusiasts: the original Facebook page for the Storm Area 51 Raid has now amassed more than a million followers!
To be specific, the “Storm Area 51” raid event is now up to 1.1M attendees (at the time of writing this), according to the event’s Facebook Page. That’s an impressive ramp-up, given how recently the page was launched. While reporting on this event just 3 days ago, the Storm Area 51 page was just up to 400K in attendees. That’s a major jump (600K+) since the event has grown more and more viral by the day.
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In addition to the 1.1M Facebook users that marked themselves as “Going” to “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us”, there were an additional 940K that have marked themselves as “interested”. Of course, this is an easy commitment to make, as an actual raid of Area 51 in the Edwards Air Force Base in Nevada is not going to actually happen. The event has just been a fun little rallying point for sci-fi fans and conspiracy theorists alike, using on of the most iconic locations in all of Alien conspiracy theorizing.
Even though the Raid on Area 51 (scheduled for September 20th) is never really going to happen, this viral trend has already done the work of inspiring an entire wave of fan creations dedicated to the Area 51 Raid. In addition to great memes, the trend has pulled in some actual celebrities (like Machete star Danny Trejo) to join in on the fun and fantasy.
For those that don’t know, Area 51 is the Nevada-based facility run by the U.S. Air Force. It is a highly classified facility, which many theories point to as the primary place where extraterrestrial discoveries are kept under lock and key. Naturally, a lot of those conspiracies have leaked into popular culture, giving us countless examples of TV shows and films that use Area 51 as inspiration for all kinds of sci-fi or sci-fi horror fantasy scenarios. In fact, you gotta give these fans credit, as raiding Area 51 is an idea that hasn’t yet been adapted into the plot of a major blockbuster movie.
…Of course, knowing Hollywood the way we do, it’s pretty safe to say that now that this “Storm Area 51” trend is blowing up, a movie can’t be too far behind.
Will you be raiding Area 51 on September 20th?
