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Historys Greatest Mysteries - Season 7 - Episode 01: Area 51
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00:03Ever since the 1950s, rumors have swirled around a mysterious patch of land in the southern Nevada desert.
00:11Federal government spent 60 years trying to convince us that it didn't exist.
00:16There are stories of UFOs, secret aerospace projects, projects that are beyond the public's ability to understand.
00:23Even the president isn't briefed on what's going on there.
00:26For decades, the world's been trying to find out what secrets lie within Area 51.
00:33When it comes to nuclear testing, if you want to talk about an irradiated hot zone, this place is it.
00:38It's a place that may hold some very dark secrets about medical experimentation on unwilling participants.
00:44It's one of the most tightly restricted areas in America.
00:47So if you want to keep something top secret, put it in Area 51.
00:51Now, we'll explore the top theories surrounding America's most clandestine military base.
00:57What is the U.S. government hiding inside Area 51?
01:16In the summer of 2019, a social media event goes live.
01:22It's called Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us.
01:28The idea is that if enough people rush the facility's perimeter, someone could make it through and reveal once and
01:35for all what's hiding inside.
01:38Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us, is a huge viral sensation.
01:46And what started as almost an internet joke turned into a serious national security issue.
01:56Millions of people start responding and saying they're going or they're interested in going to the point where the government
02:04is like, we have to do something about this.
02:06They, in fact, send reinforcements to Nevada to protect this site.
02:11There's personnel authorized to use deadly force if needed.
02:15The hope was that Storm Area 51 would generate a very large crowd to overwhelm base security, and the numbers
02:23just didn't turn out.
02:24The base has layers and layers of security, and everyone who is employed there sign non-disclosure agreements that are
02:34binding for life.
02:36And the penalties are severe.
02:39The security perimeter around the facility is functionally impregnable.
02:43So you've got checkpoints, motion detectors, there are guard dogs, there's armed base security personnel.
02:50The area is constantly under the surveillance of satellites that are passing overhead.
02:56The airspace over it is restricted.
02:59They call it the box.
03:01Even if you were a pilot at the nearby Nellis Air Force Base, you can't fly over.
03:06It's the most secretive base in the United States, and it's been that way for over 70 years.
03:13In the early 1950s, before there was anything called Area 51, just this thing called Groom Lake, which is a
03:22long, dry lake bed in the region.
03:24The closest town, Rachel, Nevada, very tiny.
03:28Hardly anyone lives there.
03:30It's believed that the base got its government name from an old Atomic Energy Commission map that designated the area
03:36as Grid 51.
03:38To the public, it's still just Groom Lake.
03:42But in 1955, there's an obvious uptick in security.
03:47People who live in the surrounding area start noticing some very strange things.
03:53Lights in the sky.
03:55Aircraft that don't look like any aircraft that they recognize.
03:59Flying 50,000 feet higher than the commercial aircraft of the time.
04:04No one knows of any aircraft around in the 1950s that can go that high in the air.
04:08This is just on the heels of the 1947 Roswell incident where, in Roswell, New Mexico, an unidentified flying object
04:18crash-landed to the ground.
04:20Initially, the government says, we have found an unidentified flying object.
04:24And that immediately is switched to, it was a weather balloon.
04:28And when people sense a cover-up, speculation runs rampant.
04:32It puts this idea of UFOs firmly in the minds of every American citizen.
04:37But the public definitely isn't imagining what happens on November 17th, 1955.
04:44An airplane crashes right on the edge of Area 51.
04:48There's an enormous explosion.
04:49There's a huge pillar of smoke that can be seen as far away as Las Vegas.
04:54And news crews, as they will, go rushing towards the scene of the tragedy to provide coverage.
05:00They're turned away.
05:01And by being turned away, this suggested that there was something far more secretive going on.
05:06The whole thing is shrouded in secrecy.
05:10Rumors start circulating.
05:13Right next to Area 51 is the Nevada test site, where the United States is testing, detonating atomic bombs.
05:23But the proximity of this nuclear test site makes people think, well, is this something to do with nuclear secrets?
05:35In reality, the crash is related to a different government program hidden in the desert.
05:41During that time period, workers at Area 51, they're being flown in from another state and delivered to this secret
05:48facility.
05:49And that's done on purpose, because if you bring your personnel in and they can live in base housing or
05:55they can live in private housing immediately adjacent to the base, well, people might talk.
06:01In reality, this November 17th, 1955 crash was a crash of one of those transport planes.
06:08But at the time, no one knew this.
06:10And also, the local population and the journalists really have no idea what this base at Groom Lake's purpose is.
06:18All of these things just sprinkle even greater levels of conspiratorial suspicion on a place that's already a little bit
06:25suspicious to begin with.
06:26The most popular theory of what's being hidden at this facility goes back to the early 1950s, and it is
06:33the development of one of America's most effective tools during the Cold War, the U-2 spy plane.
06:45During the Cold War, the big challenge that we were facing was that we didn't have much in the way
06:50of human intelligence on the ground in the Soviet Union.
06:52The kind of empirical intelligence that you needed was photographic intel, and we needed an aircraft that could collect photo
07:00intel.
07:01The only problem was that the airspace over the parts of the Soviet Union where we wanted photo intel, well,
07:07that was well-defended airspace.
07:09The aircraft would be brought down by fighter interceptors or surface-to-air missiles.
07:13The United States believes that if they can build an aircraft that can fly higher than any Soviet air defenses,
07:20they might be able to literally overfly Soviet territory with impunity.
07:24And that's what leads to the development of the U-2.
07:27The U-2 spy plane is one of the country's most important top-secret military programs, monitored closely by President
07:34Dwight D. Eisenhower himself.
07:37By 1956, they were successful.
07:40They had their plane, and the U-2 was now entering Soviet airspace.
07:45And this is a big deal, because violating another country's airspace, especially that of your enemy, could be seen as
07:52an act of war.
07:53It is highly classified.
07:56Only a handful of people know this thing exists.
07:59And after years and years of spying on the Soviet Union, May 1960, the United States' luck runs out.
08:08One of the CIA's U-2 pilots, Francis Gary Powers, took off on a flight, headed across the center of
08:15the Soviet Union.
08:16Powers was supposed to photograph various missile sites where it looked like the Soviets might be developing and testing high
08:24-altitude rockets.
08:25But Powers has the misfortune of some form of engine problem with his U-2.
08:32He falls into the engagement envelope of Soviet air defenses, and his aircraft is shot down.
08:38On display in Moscow, the wreckage of pilot Francis Powers' U-2 reconnaissance plane for Muscovites and foreign newsmen to
08:45see.
08:46The U.S. first claimed that they shot down an off-course weather airplane, but the problem was that they
08:53had parts of the plane.
08:55And this included cameras which had, on its reels, images of the nuclear silos in the Soviet Union.
09:03Powers winds up telling them that he's actually on a surveillance flight.
09:07He essentially admits to what he's been up to, and eventually Powers will be exchanged for Soviet agents that have
09:15been captured in the United States.
09:16While the existence of the U-2 spy plane is now public, the story behind it remains top secret, as
09:24does the base where it was created.
09:26A base that some experts posit is Area 51.
09:31At this time in the 1950s and the 1960s, Area 51, it's not like it is today.
09:37Today, we've got tons of journalists who are digging into Area 51, trying to figure out what's going on there.
09:43That interest wasn't there.
09:46UFO enthusiasts, certainly, after the Roswell incident, are aware of various things happening in this area.
09:52It's certainly a site of a lot of UFO sightings.
09:55All along the way, though, the government maintains there's nothing there.
10:00Ultimately, in 2013, the veil of secrecy is lifted, and the government admits that Area 51 exists.
10:07And they even put out a rudimentary map of the base.
10:10And with this release, they acknowledge that this base was established in 1955 to develop high-level aerospace technologies like
10:21the U-2 spy plane.
10:23With all of these declassifications, the government says all of those UFO sightings in the 1950s and the 1960s,
10:31these glowing objects in the sky are explained by test flights of the U-2 spy planes.
10:36When you look at a U-2 aircraft, and you see the huge wings, the silver color, the shininess,
10:45and you throw in the fact that it was going way faster than anyone thought aircraft could go,
10:51and flying way higher than anyone thought aircraft could fly, it's no wonder people reported them as UFOs.
10:59Another part of the declassified materials in 2013 was that regular commute that people were making from Lockheed's base,
11:08known as Skunk Works in L.A., to Area 51 to be working on these planes.
11:13So here is where we suddenly get the revelation about that plane crash into the mountainside, just outside of Area
11:2051.
11:21For the federal government, this wraps things up very nicely.
11:25It explains all of the theories that are out there.
11:29The bottom line is, don't worry.
11:31Now we've told you everything you need to know.
11:33All this UFO stuff can be put to rest.
11:37This is simply a facility for the development of advanced aerospace technology.
11:42But experts who've studied the base for decades believe there's far more to the story.
11:48Of course, people are saying to themselves, well, wait a minute.
11:51It's great that you're declassifying this information,
11:53but this is about stuff that happened back in the 50s and the 60s.
11:57What about now?
12:01When the Area 51 military base opens at Groom Lake, Nevada, in 1955,
12:07the land it's on already has a history of top-secret activities.
12:12The Nevada test site was developed so that the American military could conduct atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons,
12:18something that was critically important during the Cold War arms race.
12:21In fact, it's revealed eventually that the Atomic Energy Commission is conducting tests not within the Nevada test site,
12:28but in parcels of land that are immediately to the north of it, the area designated 51 at Groom Lake.
12:35By the time Area 51 really gets going in an operational sense in 1955,
12:43there have already been 32 atmospheric tests of nuclear bombs at the Nevada test site.
12:50Obviously, there is radiation and fallout.
12:54They have to schedule these things so that the wind is not blowing the fallout towards Las Vegas.
13:02Trouble is, the fallout is blowing the other way, and it's going to Groom Lake.
13:07You'd think that the CIA would avoid building a base on an area that has received all that nuclear fallout,
13:14but what's so good about Groom Lake is that that meant it was one of the most tightly restricted areas
13:20in America.
13:21So it's already desolate, it's already isolated, and it's already highly restricted.
13:26So if you want to keep something top-secret, put it in Groom Lake.
13:33In 1957, the Cold War is really kind of ramping up to a fever pitch,
13:39and the idea is that we need to be ready for anything.
13:42In playing out these scenarios, the goal is to use real bombs and real people.
13:49During this time, there was this program, Operation Plumb Bob,
13:54which calls for no less than 29 nuclear explosions in a four-month period.
13:59Officially, these explosions are to take place at the Nevada test site,
14:03but some researchers believe they take place within Area 51 as well.
14:11According to journalist Annie Jacobson's book,
14:14Area 51, An Uncensored History of America's Top-Secret Military Base,
14:19the government decides to conduct some of its most clandestine tests
14:23deep within the top-secret facility,
14:25because Area 51, unlike the Nevada test site,
14:29was free from government oversight and public scrutiny.
14:34There are very good reasons why testing would be moved to Area 51,
14:37and there are some pretty powerful indications
14:39that they played fast and loose with safety concerns.
14:43It's believed that the U.S. government likely conducted
14:47some atmospheric nuclear testing beyond the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963,
14:51when we should no longer have been conducting atmospheric nuclear tests,
14:55but it sure does look like, based on evidence from Area 51, we still did it.
14:59All this does is it makes you question the extent to which the site was dangerously irradiated.
15:04In 1993, Eileen Welsom writes a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles
15:10in the Albuquerque Tribune,
15:11where she reveals the extent to which intentional radiation experimentation
15:18was being done by our government on human subjects
15:22in what is an unnamed Nevada test site.
15:26Well, Bert, you were out there.
15:27How's about some comments on this radiation I hear so much about?
15:30Well, for example, the other day I was out there at 2,500 yards from ground zero,
15:34and I received one middle wrink in of radiation.
15:37As you can see, I'm still here.
15:39There are those that believe Area 51 is the unnamed Nevada location
15:44where radiation experiments were kept hidden from the public for decades.
15:48The government has reported to be feeding children trace radioactive elements,
15:54intentionally exposing prisoners and soldiers to radiation,
15:58injecting people with plutonium.
16:00I mean, it's really terrible, the things that were happening to people.
16:05And of course, all of this was being covered up by the government.
16:10Unfortunately, the United States government has a long history
16:12of using citizens as test subjects.
16:16There's an awful lot of military personnel that are exposed to radiation in the 1950s
16:20in pursuit of the Pantomac Army,
16:23the idea that the army might be able to fight on a nuclear battlefield.
16:26And unfortunately, the government has often classified some citizens
16:30as being more expendable than others,
16:33those suffering from physical or mental defects,
16:36or even those from conditions of extreme poverty.
16:39In 1994, then-President Bill Clinton forms a committee
16:43specifically to look into these claims of intentional radiation poisoning against human subjects.
16:50The United States government actually did carry out on our citizens
16:53experiments involving radiation.
16:56But according to Annie Jacobson,
16:59the experiments believed to be conducted at Area 51
17:02are cloaked in such extreme secrecy,
17:05even the Oval Office isn't in the loop.
17:08Even for the president,
17:11the information from Groom Lake specifically from Area 51
17:15is kept classified because it is only releasable on a need-to-know basis.
17:20And even a president's committee to investigate this specifically
17:25apparently doesn't need to know.
17:28There are those who believe that the reality here
17:31is that government made a lot of people sick,
17:33and Area 51 has been cloaked in secrecy for 75 years now
17:39because the government doesn't want to own up to the fact
17:42that it irradiated a lot of people and made a lot of people sick.
17:45So everything has to be top secret now
17:47to dodge the consequences associated with things that it did during the Cold War.
17:56Over a decade after Area 51 is established,
18:00a significant event unfolds,
18:02not in Nevada,
18:04but at an airbase on the other side of the world.
18:08In 1966,
18:10the country of Iraq is an ally of the Soviet Union.
18:14And because of this,
18:15they have been given a small number of MiG jets.
18:19The MiG-21 is arguably the best fighter jet in the world at that time.
18:23It is the pinnacle of Soviet engineering.
18:26And it's also super top secret.
18:28Iraqi Air Force Colonel Munir Redfa
18:31has been cleared for a routine training flight.
18:34But what follows will be anything but routine.
18:38During the Cold War,
18:39the Israeli Mossad is constantly on the lookout
18:43for anyone who might be disaffected.
18:45And Munir Redfa is highly decorated
18:47from previous combat engagements.
18:49But he believes that his career has been stymied
18:52because he's of the Christian faith.
18:53Because Redfa is a Christian,
18:56he's treated as an outsider.
18:58So even though he's one of Iraq's most decorated pilots,
19:01his government still does not fully trust him.
19:05An undercover Mossad agent contacts Redfa
19:08and makes him an incredible offer.
19:10For a million dollars,
19:11they will give him a job in Israel,
19:14and they will secretly transport his family out of Iraq.
19:17So they've come up with a plan
19:20that he is going to steal
19:21one of these MiG fighter planes
19:24in what would become Operation Diamond,
19:28one of the most amazing covert operations
19:30of the 20th century.
19:32What happens next will shock the world
19:34and reverberate nearly 8,000 miles away
19:38at Area 51.
19:40When Redfa takes off,
19:42he's supposed to be completing
19:43a very short flight to Baghdad,
19:45but Redfa has to fly out of Iraq
19:47to Jordanian airspace.
19:49The Iraqi air defense radar
19:50figures out what he's up to pretty quickly.
19:52He is challenged over the radio
19:54to turn back,
19:55otherwise interceptor aircraft
19:57will be dispatched to shoot him down.
19:59He starts flying in these crazy zigzag patterns
20:02to evade being shot down.
20:03He flies incredibly dangerously low
20:05with this plane.
20:07He's thundering along
20:08at a mere 750 feet above ground level.
20:11The Iraqi air force are pursuing him.
20:13The route that he is flying confuses them.
20:15He's on radar one minute
20:16and then off radar the next.
20:18They can't keep up with him.
20:19He then eventually flies out
20:21across Turkish airspace,
20:23out over the Mediterranean,
20:24and then completes a turn
20:26that will take him
20:27to his final destination,
20:28which is a secret air base
20:29in the Negev desert in Israel.
20:31The Mossad has been trying
20:33to get its hands
20:34on this top secret Soviet tech
20:36for years,
20:37and now they finally have it.
20:40The MiG,
20:41the most advanced Soviet fighter plane
20:44at this time.
20:45And behind the scenes,
20:47the Americans are also desperate
20:49to get their hands
20:51on the stolen Soviet aircraft.
20:55At that time,
20:56Soviet-built MiGs
20:57are being used
20:58in the skies over North Vietnam,
21:00and in particular,
21:01the MiG-21
21:02is a very capable interceptor.
21:04It's fast,
21:05it's maneuverable,
21:06it's well-armed,
21:06and it's dangerous.
21:07It's causing problems
21:08for American fighter aircraft
21:10that are trying to fight it off.
21:12But once you get your hands
21:13on a MiG-21,
21:14you can essentially
21:15find out its weaknesses.
21:17In just a few years,
21:18the air war in Vietnam
21:20has taken a turn.
21:21By 68,
21:23American aircraft
21:24are shooting down MiGs
21:25with a ratio of 13 to 1
21:27in the American advantage.
21:29The turnaround
21:29happened so quickly
21:31that there was speculation
21:33that the American government
21:35must have gotten its hands
21:37on one of these MiG planes.
21:39And there was,
21:40of course,
21:40suspicion,
21:41where might something like that
21:42be worked on?
21:43Where might it take place?
21:44Some theorists think
21:46it's Area 51.
21:52Soon after the defection
21:55of Redfa,
21:56Soviet surveillance
21:57over Area 51
21:59gets really ramped up.
22:01In addition,
22:03locals report an uptick
22:05in activity in the skies
22:06over Area 51.
22:08Sightings of strange aircraft,
22:10very fast-moving,
22:11and repeated sonic booms.
22:14Slowly,
22:15over the years,
22:17declassified documents
22:18reveal the true story
22:19behind the stolen MiG.
22:22It's really not
22:23until declassified materials
22:24in 2013,
22:25we finally find out
22:26the U.S.
22:28indeed
22:28did get
22:30that MiG fighter jet
22:31from the Israelis.
22:33The project's code name
22:34was Hav Donut.
22:35The name Hav Donut
22:37comes from the fact
22:38that the nose
22:39of the aircraft
22:40is this one gargantuan
22:41air intake
22:42because it's circular
22:44with a cone-shaped piece
22:45in the center.
22:46To some people,
22:47it looks like a donut.
22:48By 1968,
22:50the United States
22:51has reverse-engineered
22:53this aircraft
22:54and have their own MiGs.
22:56It's this secret
22:57air force
22:58of MiGs,
22:59and some people say
23:02it explains
23:02a lot of these UFO sightings.
23:05Once the U.S.
23:06built its own MiGs,
23:08they can then study
23:09its fighting characteristics.
23:10So U.S. pilots
23:11were taught
23:12to use
23:13hit-and-run tactics
23:15to have
23:15quick engagements
23:17and also
23:18get out of there
23:19and do so
23:20by gaining altitude
23:21really fast.
23:23This pilot training
23:24was ultimately
23:24moved to
23:25Southern California
23:26in 1969,
23:28and it became known
23:29as the Top Gun Program.
23:31Because of Hav Donut,
23:33the United States
23:34turns the tables
23:35on the MiG.
23:36Eventually,
23:37the U.S. Navy
23:38and the U.S. Air Force
23:39shoot down
23:39were found on 137 MiGs.
23:41And those shoot downs
23:42were occasioned entirely
23:43on the lessons learned
23:45from Hav Donut.
23:46Some intelligence experts
23:48argue this is the main reason
23:50for Area 51's extreme secrecy.
23:53It houses stolen MiGs
23:55and other highly classified
23:56enemy aircraft.
23:58Not everyone agrees.
24:00Stealing military aircraft
24:02from an adversary
24:04is something that goes on
24:06pretty much all the time.
24:08And so people then say,
24:10well, does that really justify
24:12the excessive secrecy
24:14at Area 51?
24:15And why was its existence
24:18denied for years and years?
24:20And that's led people to say,
24:22maybe there was something else.
24:24Programs beyond anything
24:26the public can conceive.
24:31According to some reports,
24:33spy plane testing
24:34at Area 51
24:35in the 1950s and 60s
24:37accounted for half
24:39of all UFO sightings
24:41on the West Coast.
24:42The odd-looking
24:43top-secret aircraft
24:44are believed
24:45to have fooled
24:47plenty of people.
24:48But for many researchers,
24:49this doesn't really explain
24:51the strangest activity
24:52people have witnessed
24:53and continue to witness
24:55over Area 51.
24:57They believe
24:58the real answer lies
24:59in the testimony
25:00of one man.
25:01On May 15th in 1989,
25:04on local Las Vegas news,
25:07a man gives an interview
25:08and claims that he worked
25:10at a secret military base
25:12near Area 51,
25:14known as S-4,
25:15in Southern Nevada.
25:17And it was his job
25:18specifically to reverse engineer
25:21anti-gravity propulsion systems
25:23from UFO technology.
25:26So it was real obvious
25:27what was in the hangar.
25:28You could see about
25:29three-quarters of the edge
25:30of the craft.
25:31It was a typical flying saucer.
25:33It was, uh,
25:34I say typical,
25:35I mean, like,
25:36anything you'd see
25:37in a cartoon.
25:37According to Lazar,
25:39the United States Navy
25:40has possession
25:41of nine alien spaceships,
25:43one of which Lazar
25:44was assigned to analyze
25:45at Area 51.
25:47This is really major news.
25:50I mean, this blows up
25:52the conspiracy theories
25:53about Area 51.
25:54He says that we have had
25:56alien encounters,
25:57that what's being hidden there
25:59is not nuclear secrets,
26:00is not spy planes,
26:01but is, in fact,
26:03known alien technology.
26:09According to Bob Lazar,
26:10his road to Area 51 began
26:13when he was working
26:14at Los Alamos
26:15and he attended a lecture
26:16that was given by
26:17the father of the hydrogen bomb,
26:19Edward Teller.
26:20And Edward Teller then
26:21recommends that he get hired
26:23by this company,
26:24EG&G.
26:25EG&G has been referred to
26:27as the most important
26:29defense contractor
26:30that you've never heard of.
26:32And according to Lazar,
26:34EG&G apparently has been,
26:36since the mid-50s,
26:38doing clandestine work
26:40at Area 51.
26:42Upon being hired
26:44by EG&G
26:45to work at Area 51,
26:48Lazar realizes
26:49why his employer
26:50is so secretive.
26:52Lazar is assigned to work
26:54at a location called S-4,
26:56which is several miles
26:57from the main base.
26:58Lazar claims that at S-4,
27:00the government has
27:01flying saucers,
27:02antimatter reactors,
27:04and other advanced technologies
27:06that nobody knows about.
27:08He says that his main job
27:09at S-4 was to reverse engineer
27:11one of the anti-gravity
27:13propulsion technologies
27:14from this alien aircraft.
27:16Bob explains that
27:18this technology
27:19is actually operational,
27:21but nobody understands
27:23how it works.
27:24And in fact,
27:25he says he was given a manual
27:26for one of these ships
27:28that includes images of aliens,
27:31which he understands
27:32to be the pilots
27:33of these ships.
27:35Human hands
27:36did not put this together.
27:38The technology was far
27:41beyond anything
27:41that we had.
27:43Lazar is purportedly
27:44so blown away
27:46by what he's seeing at work,
27:47he can no longer
27:49keep it a secret.
27:50Lazar tells his friend
27:52and his wife
27:52about this,
27:53and he says that
27:54there is one particular location
27:57where if you climb up
27:59this mountain,
28:00you can see
28:01onto Area 51 airspace,
28:04you can see
28:05where these tests
28:06of flying saucers
28:07are taking place.
28:08Eventually,
28:09he's caught,
28:10he's fired,
28:11and he is told
28:12never to come back.
28:15And after this,
28:16he begins to suspect
28:18that maybe he's being followed.
28:20He says his tires are slashed,
28:22he says that people
28:23are tracking him,
28:24and that's when he decides
28:25it's time to go public.
28:27Information soon surfaces,
28:29calling Lazar's credibility
28:31into question.
28:33EG&G claims
28:34that they don't have
28:35any record
28:36of Lazar
28:36ever working for the company.
28:38He also claims
28:39to have attended MIT,
28:41and they claim
28:41that they don't have
28:42any record of him
28:43ever attending.
28:44Los Alamos
28:45also says
28:46that Lazar
28:47never worked there,
28:48but local reporters
28:49dig up an old phone book
28:50from Los Alamos,
28:51and Lazar's name
28:52is inside,
28:53so they think
28:54that's proof
28:55that Lazar did in fact
28:57work at Los Alamos.
28:59Now, according to Lazar,
29:01this is all part
29:02of the government cover-up.
29:03They go in
29:04and they clear out
29:04any reference of him
29:06so that it looks like
29:07he's been lying.
29:08There are diehard
29:10Lazar supporters
29:11who believe
29:12he is absolutely
29:12telling the truth,
29:14that the campaign
29:15against him
29:15is a smear campaign,
29:17he's being erased
29:18from history,
29:18that he did work
29:20at Los Alamos,
29:20he did attend MIT,
29:22and there's others
29:23who believe
29:23that he's a fraud,
29:25that he is making
29:26all of this up,
29:26that all of this
29:27is simply
29:28a pack of lies.
29:30But Lazar's testimony
29:31is not the only case
29:33of an alleged insider
29:35claiming there are secrets
29:36hidden within Area 51.
29:39Bob Lazar, however,
29:41was not the only person
29:42to come forward
29:43and talk about
29:44his time spent
29:44at Area 51.
29:46In 2011,
29:47in Annie Jacobson's book,
29:49she interviews
29:49an unnamed source
29:51who says that he was
29:52one of five engineers
29:54also contracted
29:56by EG&G
29:57and sent to Area 51.
29:59This unnamed engineer's
30:01claims are incredibly
30:02similar to Bob Lazar's
30:04claims for what's going on
30:05at Area 51.
30:07Annie Jacobson's source,
30:09his duties,
30:10trying to figure out
30:12the propulsion system,
30:13trying to reverse engineer it,
30:15sound very similar
30:16to Bob Lazar's duties.
30:17Also, the name
30:19of the facility,
30:20Sigma-4,
30:22or S-4,
30:23and that's exactly
30:24what Bob Lazar said.
30:29In 2020,
30:31Area 51 researchers
30:32are buzzing with excitement
30:34over a video
30:36posted on social media.
30:37It purports to show
30:39entrances to an underground base
30:42below Area 51,
30:43portals that didn't exist
30:46in older satellite photos.
30:49A video shows
30:50what appears to be
30:52entrances to some sort
30:54of underground facility.
30:56And this is something new.
30:58Comparing it
30:59with earlier satellite photographs,
31:02they weren't there.
31:03And there are people now
31:05who believe
31:05the base is being extended,
31:09but most of it's
31:10under the surface.
31:11And that's just part
31:14of maybe
31:15a much wider network
31:16of underground facilities,
31:19underground bases,
31:21underground tunnels.
31:26There are very good reasons
31:27why facilities
31:28would be moved underground
31:29at Area 51.
31:30The fact that we're now
31:31living in an era
31:32when satellites
31:33can look at anything
31:34anytime that they want to,
31:35if the site
31:36is going to continue
31:37as a site
31:38where secret aerospace projects
31:40are being developed,
31:41everything's going to
31:41have to go underground
31:42because the Russians
31:43can otherwise see it.
31:44Russian satellites
31:45have been watching
31:46this piece of land
31:47since the Cold War.
31:49So clearly,
31:50there's something
31:51going on there
31:52that isn't visible
31:53on the surface.
31:54Michael Schrat
31:55is a UFO researcher
31:57who specializes
31:59in looking at
32:00military bases,
32:02underground facilities,
32:04the tie-in
32:05with aviation.
32:07and he believes
32:09that there is
32:10an immense underground facility
32:13at Area 51.
32:15According to Schrat,
32:17there is an underground tunnel
32:18from Area 51
32:19all the way
32:20to Edwards Air Force Base
32:21in California,
32:22some 400 miles away.
32:24He also claims
32:25that there's a tunnel
32:26that goes from Area 51
32:28to Wright Air Force Base
32:29in Ohio,
32:30and that tube
32:32would have to be
32:32almost 2,000 miles long.
32:35It would be massive
32:36in scale.
32:38Schrat's thesis
32:38is not outrageous
32:40when you consider
32:41that the era
32:41of the Cold War
32:42led to the creation
32:44of these secret
32:44underground facilities
32:45where senior members
32:47of the Senate,
32:49the House of Representatives,
32:50the President,
32:50the Vice President,
32:51and their families,
32:52where they could go
32:52in the event
32:53of a Soviet nuclear attack.
32:54But you have to wonder
32:56how the government
32:57could undertake
32:58such a massive
32:59underground construction effort
33:01without the public
33:02finding out about it.
33:03Schrat claims
33:04that they got away with this
33:05because records of patents
33:07and inventions
33:08that suggest scientists
33:10and engineers
33:10at Los Alamos
33:11came up with
33:12a nuclear-powered drill
33:13that could melt rock
33:15on contact
33:16and could move
33:18through the ground
33:19at three miles per day.
33:21Hypothetically,
33:22as this drill
33:23is powering its way
33:24through the land,
33:24it is actually melting
33:26the minerals
33:27that it's moving through
33:28and leaving almost
33:30a glass-like surface
33:31on the walls behind it.
33:32The implications of this
33:34are that there could be
33:35an entire underground network
33:37beneath the U.S.,
33:39of which Area 51
33:40is only one part.
33:42There is evidence
33:43suggesting
33:44a sprawling underground
33:46tunnel system
33:47beneath the Nevada test site,
33:49the government's
33:50nuclear testing facility
33:52right next door
33:53to Area 51.
33:55In fact,
33:56we know that
33:56massive tunnels
33:57have been dug
33:58at various locations.
34:00According to one witness,
34:01under the Nevada test site,
34:03right next door
34:04to Area 51,
34:05there are all sorts
34:06of tunnels
34:07used to move around
34:08equipment and personnel.
34:10So,
34:12if it's the case
34:13that there is a network
34:14like this
34:14under the Nevada test site,
34:16it stands to reason
34:17that there could well be one
34:18under Area 51.
34:19if there is,
34:21what's being used for?
34:23A lot of people think
34:24the connection to Area 51
34:26makes it seem almost obvious.
34:28This has something to do
34:29with alien technologies.
34:31In 2023,
34:33Christopher Mellon,
34:34former deputy
34:35undersecretary of defense
34:37under Bill Clinton
34:38and George W. Bush,
34:39claims that there is
34:41a whole lot of information
34:43out there
34:44about government possession
34:46of alien technology
34:47and maybe actual aliens
34:49that the public
34:50needs to know about.
34:52Mellon states
34:53the U.S. government
34:54should be transparent
34:56with its knowledge
34:57of UFOs.
34:58And,
34:59in 2024,
35:00he posts
35:01a redacted document
35:03allegedly showing
35:04a conversation
35:05between him
35:06and a high-level
35:07U.S. intelligence official
35:09discussing
35:09an alien spacecraft
35:11that crashed
35:12300 miles away
35:14from Area 51.
35:16So this redacted
35:17text conversation
35:18with an unnamed
35:19government official
35:20says specifically
35:21that we are dealing
35:23with a recovered UAP,
35:25an unidentified aerial phenomenon
35:27that was recovered
35:28from Kingman, Arizona
35:30in the 1950s.
35:31If this is genuine,
35:33it suggests that
35:34there really is something
35:36to the claims
35:37that we have encountered
35:39alien life
35:40and alien technology.
35:42This could explain
35:43the amazing level
35:45of secrecy
35:45surrounding Area 51,
35:47that this facility
35:49is being used
35:50to house
35:50alien technology
35:52and maybe actual aliens.
35:57Area 51
35:59may be the most secretive,
36:00highly guarded base
36:02on American soil,
36:03but it still shows up
36:05on satellite images.
36:08With the use of Google Earth,
36:09you can look at Area 51.
36:10Now, some areas,
36:12critical infrastructure
36:13is blurred
36:14so that you can't see
36:15what's actually happening there,
36:16but Area 51 is not.
36:18But it's what's going on
36:19inside the buildings
36:20and specifically the hangars
36:22at Area 51.
36:22That's where the interesting
36:24things happen.
36:25Every time Google Earth
36:26updates its images
36:28of Area 51,
36:31researchers become
36:32very excited
36:33because they want to see
36:34what kind of changes
36:36have taken place
36:37since the last time
36:38it was updated.
36:39These researchers
36:39scour these photos
36:41for any kind of differences.
36:43In 2020,
36:44those images show
36:45a pretty big modification
36:47to two of the base's hangars.
36:50Structures are built
36:52onto the existing hangars
36:53at Area 51,
36:54these porticos
36:54that cover the existing hangars
36:56and provide these big extensions.
36:58These hangars were built
36:59during the development
37:00of the F-117 stealth fighter.
37:02Now, although that aircraft
37:03is no longer in service,
37:05it's believed
37:05that the existing structures
37:07could be adapted
37:08for a contemporary use,
37:10that they could be used
37:10by modern aircraft
37:11or these extensions
37:12that appeared suddenly
37:13in 2020.
37:14They might actually
37:15be there to obscure
37:16where secret aerospace projects
37:18are being developed.
37:19Some theorists think
37:20these new kinds of hangars
37:22are designed
37:23to house something
37:24pretty different.
37:26Maybe rather than housing
37:27a small number
37:29of really big aircraft,
37:30they might be housing
37:31a really big number,
37:33a very small aircraft.
37:34that this could be
37:35advanced technology
37:37that the Air Force
37:38doesn't want us
37:39to know about,
37:40waves of tiny aircraft
37:41that can attack simultaneously.
37:47This drone swarm
37:49is in its infancy,
37:51I mean,
37:51we see in a very
37:52sort of low-tech
37:54but highly effective way,
37:56tanks and armored vehicles
37:58being destroyed
37:59by drones
38:00in the war in Ukraine.
38:02And using AI,
38:04they would act
38:05as a single entity,
38:06but it's almost
38:07like a giant robot.
38:08It's arguably going to be
38:10the next generation
38:10of warfare.
38:12So what is it
38:12about these new structures
38:14that suggest drone swarm?
38:15Some researchers believe
38:17that the layout
38:18of the new hangars
38:18is structured
38:19in such a way
38:20that a drone swarm
38:21can be activated,
38:22it can then exit
38:23the structure,
38:24it can fly
38:25a simulated combat mission
38:26and then return
38:27to the structure
38:28and fly in
38:28from the other side.
38:29It would be pretty difficult
38:30for operators
38:31to manage
38:32a big drone swarm
38:34and the layout
38:35of this facility
38:36suggests that
38:37it was created
38:38to make it easier
38:39to do that.
38:40While there's no proof
38:42of such an experimental
38:43program underway,
38:44there have allegedly
38:46been strange sightings
38:48in the Nevada skies
38:49ever since 2020
38:51when the hangars
38:52were modified.
38:53There have been
38:54some new sightings
38:56over Area 51
38:57that kind of seemed
38:58like they could
38:58connect to this idea.
39:00One person reported
39:02seeing over 100
39:04individual UFOs
39:06almost all just
39:07at the same time.
39:08Someone described
39:09a fireball
39:10within a cube.
39:12In the fall of 2024,
39:14another witness
39:15reported seeing
39:16strange lights
39:17every single night
39:18consecutive for two months
39:20at Area 51.
39:23The timing leaves
39:24some to wonder
39:25if what was happening
39:26over Area 51
39:28could be related
39:29to the rash
39:30of alleged drone sightings
39:31at the end of 2024
39:33that had experts
39:34baffled
39:35from coast
39:36to coast.
39:38This gets a lot bigger
39:39than just
39:40the Nevada desert
39:41because we have
39:42started getting reports
39:43of drones
39:44being spotted
39:45everywhere.
39:47This came to a head
39:48in November of 2024
39:49in New Jersey
39:50where many, many people
39:53were seeing drones
39:55unexplained,
39:55multiple drones
39:56at a time.
39:57We got social media
39:58postings,
39:59uploaded videos,
40:00all about these drones
40:01in New Jersey.
40:02Local law enforcement
40:04and various government
40:05officials claim
40:06to have no idea
40:07what's going on.
40:08But if this is
40:09some kind of black op
40:11or something that's
40:11being developed
40:12in Area 51,
40:13it's not as though
40:14the government
40:15is going to let us
40:15know about it.
40:16To this day,
40:17we still don't know
40:18what's happening
40:19at Area 51.
40:20This history of secrecy
40:22associated with Groom Lake,
40:23it extends
40:24into the present.
40:25It's not something
40:26that belongs
40:27to the 1950s.
40:28It's not something
40:29that belongs
40:29to the previous century
40:30and the era
40:31of the Cold War.
40:32It's something
40:32that belongs to today.
40:37Is Area 51
40:39hiding some kind
40:40of extraterrestrial evidence?
40:42Or is the intense secrecy
40:45intended to protect
40:46more traditional
40:47military secrets?
40:48We may never know.
40:50Then again,
40:52the government
40:52once refused to say
40:54Area 51 even existed.
40:56Perhaps with time,
40:58the truth will finally
40:59be revealed.
41:01I'm Lawrence Fishburne.
41:02Thank you for watching
41:03History's Greatest Mysteries.
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