Area 51, that spooky and mysterious Nevada military base where aliens are supposedly held, is about to get invaded. Not by extraterrestrials, but rather by 1.5 million people on Facebook who want to see what secrets the base is hiding.
A Facebook event called Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us went viral recently and has racked up a total of 1.5 million attendees, with another 1.2 million claiming interest as of this writing. The event, which is to take place on Sept. 20 in the Nevada desert, describes itself thusly: “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. Lets see them aliens.”
The post was clearly meant to be a joke, but given the attention it has received, it’s almost certain that a number of people — possibly a great number — are actually going to try and make this happen. The U.S. Air Force, which operates the base, is reminding them that it would be a very bad idea if they did. U.S. Air Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews told the Washington Post that the military is monitoring the event, and stated “The US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.” In other words, if you actually try to “Naruto run” into Area 51, you will likely get shot.
Given that an actual invasion of Area 51 would probably result in a massive loss of civilian life, we’re hoping no one actually attempts it. But given how insane everything seems to be these days, we are fully expecting something ridiculous to take place in the Nevada desert this fall.