Government and military
The Nevada test site, the secret aircraft flown there, and the claims about it. 12 events, newest first.
Select any year above to see what happened that year.
Media6 Jun 2025
The Wall Street Journal reported that AARO had found officers were told about a fictional alien program, 'Yankee Blue', as a hazing ritual, and that an Air Force colonel passed fake saucer photos near Area 51 to shield stealth work. The Pentagon has not published these findings.
Photo: David James Henry, CC BY-SA 4.0
Media20 Jun 2019
Bob Lazar and filmmaker Jeremy Corbell appeared on episode 1315 of The Joe Rogan Experience, where Lazar repeated his claim to have worked on alien craft at a site near Area 51. His account and stated background have never been independently verified.
Media2018
Filmmaker Jeremy Corbell's feature revisited Bob Lazar's 1989 claim of working on alien craft near Area 51. The Orchard acquired it in 2018 for release that year; it later reached Netflix in 2019, and Lazar then appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast. Lazar's education claims have long been disputed.
Government24 Mar 2016
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told Jimmy Kimmel on ABC that, if elected, she would go into the government's UFO and Area 51 files and make as much public as possible, saying people should be told if there was nothing there.
Photo: United States Department of State, Public domain
Media15 May 2015
Six years after filming, Paramount gave Oren Peli's found-footage film Area 51, about friends who break into the Nevada base, a one-weekend run at 16 Alamo Drafthouse theaters alongside a video-on-demand release. Reviews were poor.
Government2 Apr 2014
On ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live, former President Bill Clinton said that in his second term he had Area 51 records checked and the Roswell papers reviewed, and found no aliens. He added he would not be surprised if Earth were visited some day.
Photo: Lauren Gerson, Public domain
Government15 Aug 2013
A CIA history of the U-2 and OXCART programs, released under FOIA to the National Security Archive, openly named Area 51. It says high-altitude U-2 flights sparked many 1950s UFO reports and that U-2 and OXCART flights accounted for over half of reports in the late 1950s and most of the 1960s.
Photo: CIA, Public domain
Media18 Mar 2011
Universal released Paul in the U.S., a comedy by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost about two British sci-fi fans who tour U.S. UFO sites after Comic-Con and pick up an alien who escaped from Area 51.
Photo: Paul Hudson, CC BY 2.0
Government1996
Nevada officially designated State Route 375, which passes near the secret Area 51 base, as the Extraterrestrial Highway in a tourism push built on the area's UFO lore. The state's tourism office still promotes it under that name.
Photo: Astronautilus, CC BY 2.0
Government29 Sep 1995
President Clinton signed Presidential Determination 95-45, exempting the Air Force operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, from waste-law provisions that would force disclosure of classified information. It cited pending litigation; the site, popularly called Area 51, is central to UFO lore.
Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
Media1 Oct 1994
TNT aired a two-hour live special, 'The UFO Cover-Up? Live From Area 51', with Larry King broadcasting a few miles from the base. A preview listed guests including Carl Sagan, Barry Goldwater and William Shatner, with debunkers alongside believers.
Photo: Simon Johansson, Public domain
Whistleblowers15 May 1989
Las Vegas station KLAS aired George Knapp's live interview with a man called 'Dennis', who said alien technology was being tested at a hidden site near Area 51. Months later he went public as Bob Lazar. His account and background have never been independently verified.
Photo: Doc Searls from Santa Barbara, USA, CC BY 2.0
