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First came Storm Area 51. As a joke. Allegedly. So says the man, Matty Roberts, who started it all. It was just meant to be a satirical stunt. Uh huh. Are you buying it? I’m not.
Why start a joke like that in the summer? Wouldn’t that be more suited to April Fool’s? Like anything having to do with Area 51, smells like a conspiracy to me.
Storm Area 51
Anyway, he soon realized he created a monster with the idea, which even had a Facebook event directing people to meet up in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, ready to storm Area 51 from 3-6 a.m. on September 20, 2019.
Well, it was just the right amount of absurd to draw a lot of interest, and soon more than a million had indicated they’d be “going.”
Uh oh. Now what?
Alienstock
Okay, if there’s really that much interest, let’s turn it into a full-fledged weekend. You know, Woodstock-ish with camping and music, but with an alien twist.
Groovy.
They kept the same general time frame, but they extended it a couple days either way: September 20-22, 2019.
They also kept it in the same general Area 51 vicinity, but changed the location to Rachel, Nevada.
Sounds good, except…Rachel is a teeny tiny town of maybe 100 residents. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, were due to descend upon it. Logistics like safety and sanitation quickly became a concern.
So much so Lincoln County (which the town of Rachel resides in) pre-declared a state of emergency.
“We felt it was prudent,” Bevan Lister, the board of commissioners representative for the seat in nearby Pioche told TIME.
Then Nye County, where the Area 51 Travel Center in Amargosa Valley is located, followed suit and also declared a state of emergency.
Shortly after that, Roberts announced his plans to call Alienstock off altogether. Well, sort of. More like once again relocate it.
Area 51 Celebration
Except, Roberts isn’t moving it as much as he is merging it with another better organized and more thought out event: the Area 51 Celebration.
One night, Thursday, September 19, in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada.
I think it was supposed to be sort of a pre-party for the Storm Area 51 main event, but now it seems it might be the only event.
We’ll soon see who got the memo and who didn’t…
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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Odd, very odd indeed.