What started as a gag has now snowballed into a bonafide movement. The “Storm Area 51” raid event that was launched on Facebook has now shot up to over 1.5 million attendees – an increase of over half a million users since we reported just two days ago that the Area 51 Raid had reached 1 million people!
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You can check out the full event and its details at the Storm Area 51 Facebook Page, but here’s the gist of what you need to know, based on the event’s description:
“We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry. If we naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. Lets see them aliens.”
This entire “Storm Area 51” event has now grown into a whole “Will they, won’t they” wait-and-see game. Not only are 1.5 million Facebook users now giving the event series clout (whether or not they actually show up), but celebrities have also joined in the “fun,” pledging themselves and their influence to the event.
Machete star Danny Trejo has joined in the event; Guy Fieri has pledged to make “radioactive ribs” to feed raiders; and now chart-topping musician Lil Nas X is pledging to perform during the event. That, again, is quickly elevating this from being a social media trend to what could manifest into an actual real-life event. It’s like Fyre Festival in reverse! If nothing else, this “Storm Area 51” even has at least inspired a wave of memes and art dedicated to celebrating the Area 51 Raid.
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. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time until Raiding Area 51 becomes the plot for an actual blocksbuster movie event.
How soon will “Storm Area 51” reach 2 million users? We’ll report back in a few days.
