Anniversary visit to Area 51, Sept. 17 2010
by Skip Smith

It's our anniversary, 7 years and no itch in sight. So what do two amateur ghost hunters do for their 7th? We head out to Rachel NV. And have a look at Area 51.

So much has been written and so much media exposure it's hard to know what to expect, so our first stop was The Little A'le'inn in Rachel for some research. After having some good grub and hearing a lot of stories from the bar keep and a few locals we purchased an area 51 map for .33 cents and away we went.

We found the Black mailbox quickly (now white) and consist of two boxes. One for the rancher and the other the Aliens! From there we traveled down 12 miles of dirt roads, past miles of Joshua trees until we came to the little canyon with the iconic signage. "Do not dare pass those signs" Not only will you spend the night in jail and have your car impounded, the crem' della crem would be the $600.00 per person fine. So we stopped at a distance, got out to have a look.

Tripod cameras, infrared perimeter alarms and armed soldiers in unmarked SUV's on the hill watching every move. This is not the place to mess around, so we got in the car and headed back. But this adventure had only begun and we came to see something. A UFO? A secret government experiment? Still to this day if you ask me, I still don't know exactly what we expected to see out there, but what happened next was an adrenalin rush like I will never forget.

In the distance we saw something moving fast not far off the ground. Nearby I spotted a small hill with a dirt road going up so we took it to the top; got out to have a look. Looking west we watched the small jet/craft traveling at amazing speed at estimated 500 feet in altitude. Suddenly the jet/craft turned completely around; a U-turn in mid air then shot straight up in the air and stopped pointing straight up almost as if it stalled; only it was hovering still as a photo for at least 30 seconds before it flattened out and took off along the mountain range and disappeared into a canyon. The moment would have been a jaw dropper if it hadn't been for the sound of the approaching UH-60 Black hawk heading directly at us. The sound was amazing and I was able to get my camera on video fast enough to take video of it flying right over us. Close enough to feel the wind from the rotors. What a rush, but it was time to go.

Back at the Little A'le'inn we had time to review the video and have a quick nap before heading back to 51 for a view of the night sky. As we drove back to the Mailbox something told me this was not one of my best ideas, but desire for some silly adventure overruled common sense. Plus this was not government land and to my knowledge it was not against any laws for us to be out here. We were now within a mile of the 51 boundary and could see the dust trail from something moving out of the base, and if I could see them they could definitely see me so I turned down a side road and ended up in a small gully someone had been using as a trash dump. We were now lower then the road and somewhat hidden although I had no doubt we could be discovered whenever they wanted to find us, but strangely we felt secure to set up our camera and lawn chairs and watch the stars come out. For the rest of the night, until about 10:30 two SUV's patrolled up and down the main road leading into Area 51. With each pass their searching lights would narrowly miss our location. Once we felt the patrol vehicles had gone a good distance we decided to pack it up for the night. Once out on the main road we would quickly discover that the SUV's had only stopped and waited for us. They never actually stopped us but they did follow us out to the highway and all the way into Rachel.

That next morning when telling our story to Pat as she poured our coffee, she was not in the least bit surprised and told us she had heard similar stories many time before.

When visiting Rachel NV and Area 51 its not Alien's or UFO's to be concerned about! It's Dreamland Security and the seriousness of their jobs, and let's not forget this is the middle of nowhere, a Place anything can happen.


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