RACHEL, Nev. (Reuters) - UFO enthusiasts drawn by alien-themed festivities poured into rural Nevada on Friday near the Area 51 U.S. military base, but fears of a mass raid on the remote site or a public safety crisis proved unfounded, with only five people arrested.
An attendee wears an alien mask at the gate of Area 51 as an influx of tourists responding to a call to 'storm' Area 51, a secretive U.S. military base believed by UFO enthusiasts to hold government secrets about extra-terrestrials, is expected in Rachel, Nevada, U.S. September 20, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
More than 3,000 out-of-towners ventured on Thursday and Friday to the desert region around Area 51, a secretive U.S. Air Force installation long rumored to house government secrets about extraterrestrial life and spaceships.
The pilgrimage and two festivals welcoming the visitors were organized after a Facebook user jokingly exhorted readers to “storm” Area 51 on Sept. 20 “to see them aliens.” The date chosen for the gathering was never explained.
Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee said the region’s guests were largely well behaved, with just a few exceptions. “I don’t want to jinx myself, but so far it’s gone pretty well,” he said on Friday afternoon.
Three people were arrested on suspicion of trespassing onto the grounds of Area 51, Lee said. Another was arrested for indecent exposure after urinating near an entrance to the base, and a fifth for an alcohol-related incident, Lee said.
A steady stream of cars continued rolling into the county on Friday for events that were scheduled to run through the weekend.
The arrests were reported after a group of about 150 UFO fans and curiosity-seekers gathered outside the heavily guarded entrance to Area 51 around 3 a.m. on Friday, the date and time set by the social-media invitation that went viral.
One man wore an orange space suit and some sported tin foil hats and alien masks. A sign among the gathering read “Free E.T. from the government.”
“A bunch of random people in weird costumes standing outside of a government base, why would you want to miss that?” said a YouTube personality who goes by the name Atozy. “That’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
One young woman ducked under a protective gate and was momentarily detained by authorities and released. Most showed no interest in crossing the barrier, according to law enforcement officials keeping watch over the crowd.
“They’re just here to see what’s going on,” said Sergeant Orlando Guerra of the Nevada Department of Public Safety Investigation Division. “They’re here to have fun.”
The Air Force had issued a stern warning to the public not to trespass on the installation, which it said is used to test aircraft and train personnel.
Area 51 had long been shrouded in mystery, stoking conspiracy theories that it housed the remnants of a flying saucer and the bodies of its alien crew from a supposed unidentified flying object crash in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. The U.S. government did not confirm the base existed until 2013, when it released CIA archives saying the site was used to test top-secret spy planes.
The documents, however, did not end suspicion about space aliens there.
Area 51 sits about 12 miles (19 km) from the tiny town of Rachel, a community of about 50 year-round residents north of Las Vegas that hosted a music festival to entertain those traveling to the region.
Some residents had urged the public to stay away for fear the town would be overwhelmed with unruly tourists.
As of early Friday, about 3,000 people had pitched camp in town, most of them outside the Little A’Le’Inn, an alien-themed motel and restaurant that is Rachel’s only business. Another 250 attended a separate event 40 miles away in Hiko that featured musicians and ufologists.
Ed Callahan, 49, who drove from Victorville, California, to Rachel, described the atmosphere as “just chill.”
Slideshow (19 Images)
“It’s not this big, wild thing,” said Callahan, who sported a cowboy hat covered in tin foil and silver tentacles. “When they said 40,000 people, I didn’t want it to be that. If a few more people show up, it’d be all right.”
Connie West, the Little A’Le’Inn co-owner who scrambled over three months to mobilize for an influx of alien fans, said she was gratified that chaos failed to ensue.
“I’m relieved the naysayers were proven wrong,” she said.
The usual "Welcome" sign 
Friday was when, according to earlier event plans, millions of people were to storm , a classified facility within the United States Air Force's , and the world was to finally learn of its secrets. In the end, an estimated one-to-two hundred people showed up at the gates, and the classified area was not stormed.

It all began on June 27, when Matty Roberts posted a  on social media site Facebook. More than two million people replied they would attend and an additional million-and-a-half expressed interest in the event. Roberts says his event, "", was posted as a joke. Roberts is about 20 years old and from , California.
The Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel, pictured in 2014 
The event description read, "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. Let's see them aliens." Area 51 has for decades been rumored to be a facility for UFO and extraterrestrials research.  is a Japanese cartoon ninja character who .

As the event turned , both media and authorities took notice. The nearest settlement to Area 51 is  in . It is a remote desert town with a population of around fifty people. The  is the only business offering food and accommodations and the town has no gas stations. County sheriff Kerry Lee told the BBC even one percent of Facebook users attending "would be more overwhelming than we can handle". The Air Force issued warnings against attempts to enter the restricted zone of the base, saying it was dangerous.

The sheriff's office arranged for reinforcements from across Nevada. Fewer than two hundred showed up at the gates of the base, but no one tried to storm the military base. Sheriff Lee said they arrested one person for urinating in public, technically indecent exposure. They arrested three for "suspicion of trespassing" and another for an incident related to alcohol. Over a thousand were reported to have reached Rachel, but most did not make the final trek to the base.

Meanwhile, other events popped up seeking to capitalize on the notoriety of the Storm Area 51 event. In nearby , a "Storm Area 51 Basecamp Experience" was underway with music and other entertainment. Thursday night, "Alien Stock" was held in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada with involvement of original poster Matty Roberts.

 was reputedly responsible for creating much of the folklore surrounding Area 51 which is not an official name. A 2018 documentary film titled ''Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers'' may have spurred recent interest.



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