The event is clearly a joke, however the US Air Force isn't seeing the funny side.
The now infamous Facebook even called “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” has risen to more than 1.4 million participants, and it's growing.
And while the event was created in jest, it’s clear the US Air Force is not seeing the funny side.
A spokeswoman for the base told The Washington Post it is “ready to protect America and its assets”.
“(Area 51) is an open training range for the US Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces,” the spokeswoman said. “The US air force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.”
Despite the warnings, the Facebook page is picking up steam.
“We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Centre tourist attraction and co-ordinate our entry,” the event details read.
“If we naruto run (referring to the widely memed manga character) we can move faster than their bullets. Lets see them aliens.”
Image: facebookAnd now, plans to live stream the event on September 20th have been put in place - whatever happens (which will most likely be nothing).
A company called Area15, which runs a shopping mall in the area, announced it was planning to live stream the assault.
“Okay. Now we’re curious too about what’s going to happen on 9/20 at the storming of #AREA51,” a spokesman for the company wrote on social media.
“We’re going to live stream the ‘event’ here at #AREA15 to watch what goes down. And, of course, costumes and tin foil hats are required.”
Mysterious history.
Historically, huge secrecy surrounds the base, which located about 240 km from Las Vegas.
The base is not open to the public and is under 24-hour surveillance. It was first used to develop spy planes in the 1950s. Since then, it’s been used for testing other military aircraft, but conspiracy theorists believe it’s also home to remains of crashed UFOs.
Peter Merlin, an aerospace historian who has written extensively about Area 51, told Sky News the facility is “strictly a place for testing and evaluating aircraft and associated weapons systems”.
