All language subtitles for Historys.Greatest.Mysteries.S07E01.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[stirring music]

- Ever since the 1950s,

rumors have swirled around
a mysterious patch of land

in the southern Nevada desert.

- Federal governments spent
60 years trying to convince us

that it didn't exist.

- There are stories of UFOs,
secret aerospace projects,

projects that are beyond the
public's ability to understand.

- Even the president

isn't briefed on
what's going on there.

- For decades, the world's
been trying to find out

what secrets lie within Area 51.

- When it comes to nuclear
testing, if you wanna talk about

an irradiated hot
zone, this place is it.

- It's a place that may
hold some very dark secrets

about medical experimentation
on unwilling participants.

- It's one of the most tightly
restricted areas in America.

So if you want to keep
something top secret,

put it in Area 51.

- Now, we'll explore
the top theories

surrounding America's most
clandestine military base.

What is the US government
hiding inside Area 51?

[stirring music]

- [Laurence] In the
summer of 2019,

a social media event goes live.

It's called Storm Area 51,
They Can't Stop All Of Us.

The idea is that
if enough people

rush the facility's perimeter,

someone could make it through

and reveal once and for
all what's hiding inside.

- Storm Area 51, They
Can't Stop All Of Us

is a huge viral sensation.

And what started as
almost an internet joke

turned into a serious
national security issue.

- Millions of people start
responding and saying,

they're going or they're
interested in going.

To the point where the
government is like,

we have to do
something about this.

They in fact send reinforcements

to Nevada to protect the site.

There's personnel authorized
to use deadly force if needed.

- The hope was that Storm
Area 51 would generate

a very large crowd to
overwhelm base security.

And the numbers just
didn't turn out.

- The base has layers
and layers of security.

And everyone who
is employed there

sign non-disclosure agreements
that are binding for life.

And the penalties are severe.

- The security perimeter
around the facility

is functionally impregnable.

So you've got checkpoints,
motion detectors,

there are guard dogs, there's
armed base security personnel.

The area is constantly under
the surveillance of satellites

that are passing overhead.

- The airspace over
it is restricted.

They call it the box.

Even if you are a pilot at the
nearby Nellis Air Force Base,

you can't fly over.

- [Laurence] It's the
most secretive base

in the United States,

and it's been that
way for over 70 years.

- In the early 1950s,

before there was
anything called Area 51,

just this thing
called Groom Lake,

which is a long, dry
lake bed in the region.

The closest town,
Rachel, Nevada,

very tiny, hardly
anyone lives there.

- It's believed that the
base got its government name

from an old Atomic
Energy Commission map

that designated the
area as grid 51.

- [Laurence] To the public,
it's still just Groom Lake,

but in 1955, there's an
obvious uptick in security.

- People who live in the
surrounding area start noticing

some very strange things,
lights in the sky.

Aircraft that don't
look like any aircraft

that they recognize
flying 50,000 feet higher

than the commercial
aircraft of the time.

No one knows of any
aircraft around in the 1950s

that can go that
high in the air.

- This is just on the heels
of the 1947 Roswell incident

where in Roswell, New Mexico,

an unidentified flying object
crash landed to the ground.

Initially, the government says,

"We have found an
unidentified flying object."

And that immediately
is switched to,

"It was a weather balloon."

And when people sense a coverup,
speculation runs rampant.

It puts this idea of UFOs

firmly in the minds of
every American citizen.

- [Laurence] But the public
definitely isn't imagining

what happens on
November 17th, 1955.

- An airplane crashes right
on the edge of Area 51.

There's an enormous explosion.

There's a huge pillar of smoke

that can be seen as
far away as Las Vegas.

And news crews, as
they will, go rushing

towards the scene of the
tragedy to provide coverage.

They're turned away and
by being turned away,

this suggested that
there was something

far more secretive going on.

- The whole thing is

shrouded in secrecy.

Rumors start circulating.

Right next to Area 51
is the Nevada test site,

where the United States
is testing,

detonating atomic bombs.

[bomb exploding]
[stirring music]

But the proximity of
this nuclear test site

make people think, well,

is this something to do
with nuclear secrets?

- [Laurence] In reality,
the crash is related

to a different government
program hidden in the desert.

- During that time period,
workers at Area 51,

they're being flown
in from another state

and delivered to
this secret facility.

And that's done on purpose,

because if you bring
your personnel in

and they can live
in base housing

or they can live
in private housing

immediately adjacent to the
base, well, people might talk.

- In reality, this
November 17th, 1955 crash

was a crash of one of
those transport planes.

But at the time,
no one knew this.

And also, the local
population and the journalists

really have no
idea what this base

at Groom Lake's purpose is.

- All of these things just
sprinkle even greater levels

of conspiratorial
suspicion on a place

that's already a little bit
suspicious to begin with.

- The most popular theory
of what's being hidden

at this facility goes
back to the early 1950s,

and it is the development

of one of America's
most effective tools

during Cold War,
the U-2 spy plane.

[stirring music]
[airplane whirring]

- During the Cold War, the big
challenge that we were facing

was that we didn't
have much in the way

of human intelligence on the
ground in the Soviet Union.

The kind of empirical
intelligence that you needed

was photographic intel,
and we needed an aircraft

that could collect photo intel.

The only problem was that
the airspace over the parts

of the Soviet Union where
we wanted photo intel,

well, that was well
defended airspace.

The aircraft would be brought
down by fighter interceptors

or surface to air missiles.

- The United States believes

that if they can build an
aircraft that can fly higher

than any Soviet air defenses,

they might be able
to literally overfly

Soviet territory with impunity.

And that's what leads to
the development of the U-2.

- [Laurence] The U-2 spy
plane is one of the country's

most important top
secret military programs,

monitored closely by President
Dwight D. Eisenhower himself.

- By 1956, they were successful.

They had their plane and the U-2

was now entering
Soviet airspace.

And this is a big deal,

because violating another
country's airspace,

especially that of your enemy,

could be seen as an act of war.

- It is highly classified.

Only a handful of people
know this thing exists.

And after years and years of
spying on the Soviet Union,

May, 1960, the United
States' luck runs out.

- One of the CIA's U-2 pilots,

Francis
Gary Powers,

took off
on a flight

headed across
the center

of the Soviet Union.

Powers was supposed
to photograph

various missile sites,

where it looked like the
Soviets might be developing

and testing high
altitude rockets.

But Powers has
the misfortune

of some form of
engine problem

with his U-2.

He falls into the engagement
envelope of Soviet Air defenses

and his aircraft is shot down.

[stirring music]

- [Reporter] On
display in Moscow,

the wreckage of
Pilot Francis Powers'

U-2 reconnaissance
plane for Muscovites

and foreign newsmen to see.

- The US first claimed
that they shot down

a off course weather airplane,

but the problem was that
they had parts of the plane.

And this included cameras
which had, on its reels,

images of the nuclear
silos in the Soviet Union.

- Powers winds up telling them

that he's actually on
a surveillance flight.

He essentially admits
to what he's been up to,

and eventually Powers will be
exchanged for Soviet agents

that have been captured
in the United States.

- [Laurence] while the
existence of the U-2 spy plane

is now public, the story
behind it remains top secret,

as does the base
where it was created.

A base that some experts
posit is Area 51.

- At this time in the
1950s and the 1960s,

Area 51, it's not
like it is today.

Today we've got
tons of journalists

who are digging into Area 51,

trying to figure out
what's going on there.

That interest wasn't there.

UFO enthusiasts, certainly
after the Roswell incident,

are aware of various things
happening in this area.

It's certainly a site of
a lot of UFO sightings.

All along the way though,

the government maintains,
there's nothing there.

- Ultimately in 2013, the
veil of secrecy is lifted

and the government admits
that Area 51 exists.

And they even put out a
rudimentary map of the base.

And with this release, they
acknowledge that this base

was established
in 1955 to develop

high level aerospace
technologies

like the U-2 spy plane.

- With all of these
declassifications,

the government says all of
those UFO sightings in the 1950s

and the 1960s, these
glowing objects in the sky,

are explained by test flights
of the U-2 spy planes.

- When you look at a U2 aircraft

and you see the huge wings,

the the silver
color, the shininess,

and you throw in the fact
that it was going way faster

than anyone thought
aircraft could go,

and flying way higher

than anyone thought
aircraft could fly,

it's no wonder people
reported them as UFOs.

- Another part of the
declassified materials in 2013

was that regular commute

that people were making
from Lockheed's base,

known as Skunk Works,
in LA to Area 51

to be working on these planes.

So here is where we
suddenly get the revelation

about that plane crash
into the mountainside,

just outside of Area 51.

- For the federal government,

this wraps things
up very nicely.

It explains all of the
theories that are out there.

The bottom line is, don't worry,

now we've told you
everything you need to know.

All this UFO stuff can, you
know, can be put to rest.

This is simply a facility
for the development

of advanced
aerospace technology.

[airplane whirring]
[stirring music]

- [Laurence] But experts who
studied the base for decades

believe there's far
more to the story.

- Of course, people are
saying to themselves,

well, wait a minute, it's great

that you're declassifying
this information.

But his is about
stuff that happened

back in the 50s and the
60s, what about now?

- When the Area 51 military
base opens at Groom Lake, Nevada

in 1955, the land it's
on already has a history

of top secret activities.

- The Nevada test
site was developed

so that the American
military could conduct

atmospheric testing
of nuclear weapons,

something that was
critically important

during the Cold War arms race.

In fact, it's
revealed eventually

that the Atomic Energy
Commission is conducting tests,

not within the Nevada test
site, but in parcels of land

that are immediately
to the north of it.

The area designated
51 at Groom Lake.

- By the time Area
51 really gets going

in an operational sense in 1955,

there have already been 32

atmospheric tests

of nuclear bombs at
the Nevada test site.

Obviously there is
radiation and fallout.

They have to schedule these
things so that the wind

is not blowing the
fallout towards Las Vegas.

Trouble is, the fallout
is blowing the other way,

and it's going to Groom Lake.

- You'd think that the CIA
would avoid building a base

on an area that has received
all that nuclear fallout.

But what's so good about
Groom Lake is that that meant

it was one of the most tightly
restricted areas in America.

So it's already desolate,
it's already isolated,

and it's already
highly restricted.

So if you wanna keep
something top secret,

put it in Groom Lake.

[stirring music]

- In 1957, the Cold War is
really kind of ramping up

to a fever pitch.

And the idea is that we need
to be ready for anything.

In playing out these scenarios,

the goal is to use real
bombs and real people.

- During this time,
there was this program,

Operation Plumbbob,
which calls for no less

than 29 nuclear explosions
in a four month period.

Officially, these
explosions are to take place

at the Nevada test site.

But some researchers
believe they take place

within Area 51 as well.

- [Laurence] According
to journalist

Annie Jacobsen's book,

"Area 51: An Uncensored History

of America's Top
Secret Military Base,"

the government
decides to conduct

some of its most
clandestine tests

deep within the top
secret facility.

Because Area 51, unlike
the Nevada test site,

was free from government
oversight and public scrutiny.

- There are very good
reasons why testing

would be moved to Area 51.

And there are some pretty
powerful indications

that they played fast and
loose with safety concerns.

It's believed that
the US government

likely conducted some
atmospheric nuclear testing

beyond the Limited Test
Ban Treaty of 1963,

when we should no longer

have been conducting
atmospheric nuclear tests.

But it sure does look like,
based on evidence from Area 51,

we still did it.

All this does is it makes
you question the extent

to which the site was
dangerously irradiated.

- In 1993, Eileen Welsome
writes a Pulitzer Prize winning

series of articles in
the "Albuquerque Tribune"

where she reveals the extent

to which intentional
radiation experimentation

was being done by our
government on human subjects

in what is an unnamed
Nevada test site.

- Well, Burt, you
were out there.

How's about some comments
on this radiation

I hear so much about?

- Well, for example, the
other day I was out there

at 2,500 yards from ground zero

and I received one
milliroentgen of radiation.

As you can see, I'm still here.

- [Laurence] There are
those that believe Area 51

is the unnamed Nevada location
where radiation experiments

were kept hidden from
the public for decades.

- The government is reported
to be feeding children

trace radioactive elements,
intentionally exposing prisoners

and soldiers to radiation,
injecting people with plutonium.

I mean, it's really terrible

the things that were
happening to people.

And, of course,

all of this was being covered
up by the government.

- Unfortunately, the
United States government

has a long history of using
citizens as test subjects.

There's an awful lot of military
personnel that are exposed

to radiation in the 1950s

in pursuit of the pentomic army.

The idea that the army
might be able to fight

on a nuclear battlefield.

And unfortunately, the
government has often classified

some citizens as being more
expendable than others.

Those suffering from
physical or mental defects,

or even those from conditions
of extreme poverty.

- In 1994, then President
Bill Clinton forms a committee

specifically to look
into these claims

of intentional
radiation poisoning

against human subjects.

- The United States government
actually did carry out

on our citizens experiments
involving radiation.

- [Laurence] But according
to Annie Jacobsen,

the experiments believed
to be conducted at Area 51

are cloaked in such
extreme secrecy,

even the Oval Office
isn't in the loop.

- Even for the President, the
information from Groom Lake,

specifically from Area
51, is kept classified

because it is only releasable
on a need-to-know basis.

And even a President's committee

to investigate this specifically

apparently doesn't need to know.

- [Martin] There are those who
believe that the reality here

is the government made
a lot of people sick.

And Area 51 has been cloaked
in secrecy for 75 years now

because the government doesn't
want to own up to the fact

that it irradiated
a lot of people,

and made a lot of people sick.

So that everything has
to be top secret now

to dodge the consequences

associated with things that it
did during the Cold War.

[planes whirring]

- [Laurence] Over a decade
after Area 51 is established,

a significant event
unfolds, not in Nevada,

but at an air base on the
other side of the world.

- In 1966, the country of Iraq

is an ally of the Soviet Union.

And because of this,
they have been given

a small number of MiG jets.

The MiG-21 is arguably
the best fighter jet

in the world at that time.

It is the pinnacle of
Soviet engineering,

and it's also super top secret.

- [Laurence] Iraqi Air
Force Colonel Munir Redfa

has been cleared for a
routine training flight,

but what follows will
be anything but routine.

- During the Cold War, the
Israeli Mossad is constantly

on the lookout for anyone
who might be disaffected.

And Munir Redfa is
highly decorated

from previous
combat engagements.

But he believes that his
career has been stymied

because he's of the
Christian faith.

- Because Redfa is a Christian,
he's treated as an outsider.

So, even though he's one of
Iraq's most decorated pilots,

his government still
does not fully trust him.

An undercover Mossad
agent contacts Redfa

and makes him an
incredible offer.

For $1 million, they will
give him a job in Israel

and they will secretly transport
his family out of Iraq.

- So they come up with a plan,
that he is going to steal

one of these MiG fighter planes,

in what would become
Operation Diamond,

one of the most amazing
covert operations

of the 20th century.

- [Laurence] What happens
next will shock the world,

and reverberate nearly
8,000 miles away at Area 51.

- When Redfa takes off, he's
supposed to be completing

a very short flight to Baghdad.

But Redfa has to fly out of
Iraq to Jordanian airspace.

The Iraqi air defense
radar figures out

what he's up to pretty quickly.

He is challenged over
the radio to turn back,

otherwise interceptor
aircraft will be dispatched

to shoot him down.

- He starts flying in
these crazy zigzag patterns

to evade being shot down.

He flies incredibly dangerously
low with this plane.

- He's thundering
along at a mere

750 feet above ground level.

The Iraqi Air Force
are pursuing him.

The route that he is
flying confuses them.

He's on radar one minute
and then off radar the next.

They can't keep up with him.

He then eventually flies
out across Turkish airspace,

out over the Mediterranean,

and then completes a
turn that will take him

to his final destination,
which is a secret air base

in the Negev Desert in Israel.

- [Laurence] The Mossad has
been trying to get its hands

on this top secret
Soviet tech for years.

And now they finally have it.

The MiG, the most advanced

Soviet fighter
plane at this time.

And behind the scenes, the
Americans are also desperate

to get their hands on the
stolen Soviet aircraft.

- At that time, Soviet
built MiGs are being used

in the skies over North Vietnam.

And in particular, the MiG-21
is a very capable interceptor.

It's fast, it's maneuverable,
it's well armed.

And it's dangerous and
it's causing problems

for American fighter aircraft

that are trying to fight it off.

But once you get your
hands on a MiG-21,

you can essentially
find out its weaknesses.

- In just a few years,
the air war in Vietnam

has taken a turn.

By '68, American aircraft
are shooting down MiGs

with a ratio of 13 to one
in the American advantage.

- The turnaround
happens so quickly,

that there was speculation
that the American government

must have gotten its hands
on one of these MiG planes.

And there was, of
course, suspicion,

where might something
like that be worked on?

Where might it take place?

Some theorists
think it's Area 51.

[gentle stirring music]

- Soon after the
defection of Redfa,

Soviet surveillance over Area
51 gets really ramped up.

In addition, locals report
an uptick in activity

in the skies over Area 51.

Sightings of strange
aircraft, very fast moving,

and repeated sonic booms.

- [Laurence] Slowly
over the years,

declassified documents
revealed the true story

behind the stolen MiG.

- It's really not until
declassified materials in 2013,

we finally find
out the US indeed

did get that MiG fighter
jet from the Israelis.

The project's code
name was Have Doughnut.

- The name Have Doughnut comes
from the fact that the nose

of the aircraft is this
one gargantuan air intake.

Because it's circular
with a cone-shaped piece

in the center, to some
people it looks like a donut.

- By 1968, the United States
has reverse engineered

this aircraft and
have their own MiGs.

It's this secret
air force of MiGs,

and some people say it explains

a lot of these UFO sightings.

- Once the US
built its own MiGs,

they can then study its
fighting characteristics.

So US pilots were taught

to use hit and run tactics,

to have quick engagements.

And also, get out of there,

and do so by gaining
altitude really fast.

This pilot training
was ultimately moved

to Southern California in 1969,

and it became known as
the Top Gun program.

- Because of Have Doughnut,

the United States turns
the tables on the MiG.

Eventually, the US Navy
and the US Air Force

shoot down 137 MiGs.

And those shoot downs
were occasioned entirely

on the lessons learned
from Have Doughnut.

- [Laurence] Some
intelligence experts argue,

this is the main reason for
area 51's extreme secrecy.

It houses stolen MiGs,

and other highly
classified enemy aircraft.

Not everyone agrees.

- Stealing military
aircraft from an adversary

is something that goes on
pretty much all the time.

And so, people then say,
well, does that really justify

the excessive
secrecy at Area 51?

And why was its existence
denied for years and years?

And that's led people to say,

maybe there was something else,

programs beyond anything
the public can conceive.

- According to some reports,

spy plane testing at Area
51 in the 1950s and 60s

accounted for half of all UFO
sightings on the West Coast.

The odd looking
top secret aircraft

are believed to have
fooled plenty of people.

But for many researchers,
this doesn't really explain

the strangest activity
people have witnessed

and continue to
witness over Area 51.

They believe the
real answer lies

in the testimony of one man.

- On May 15th in 1989,
on local Las Vegas news,

a man gives an interview
and claims that he worked

at a secret military
base near Area 51,

known as S4 in southern Nevada.

And it was his job specifically
to reverse engineer

anti-gravity propulsion
systems from UFO technology.

- So, it was real obvious
what was in the hangar.

You could see about
three quarters

of the edge
of the craft.

It was a typical flying saucer.

It was, I say typical,

I mean, like anything
you'd see in a cartoon.

- [Reporter] According to
Lazar, the United States Navy

has possession of
nine alien spaceships,

one of which Lazar was
assigned to analyze at Area 51.

- This is really major news.

I mean, this blows up

the conspiracy
theories about Area 51.

He says that we have
had alien encounters.

That what's being hidden
there is not nuclear secrets,

is not spy planes, but is in
fact known alien technology.

[gentle stirring music]

- According to Bob Lazar,
his road to Area 51 began

when he was working
at Los Alamos,

and he attended a
lecture that was given

by the father of the
hydrogen bomb, Edward Teller.

And Edward Teller then
recommends that he get hired

by this company EG&G.

- EG&G has been referred
to as the most important

defense contractor that
you've never heard of.

And according to Lazar,

EG&G apparently has been,

since the mid 50s,

doing clandestine work
at Area 51.

- [Laurence] Upon
being hired by EG&G

to work at Area 51,

Lazar realizes why his
employer is so secretive.

- Lazar is assigned to work
at a location called S4,

which is several miles
from the main base.

Lazar claims that at S4, the
government has flying saucers,

anti-matter reactors, and
other advanced technologies

that nobody knows about.

He says that his main job at
S4 was to reverse engineer

one of the anti-gravity
propulsion technologies

from this alien aircraft.

- Bob explains that

this technology is
actually operational,

but nobody understands
how it works.

And in fact, he says
he was given a manual

for one of these ships that
includes images of aliens,

which he understands to be
the pilots of these ships.

- Human hands did not
put this together.

The technology was far
beyond anything that we had.

- [Laurence] Lazar is
purportedly so blown away

by what he's seeing at work,

he can no longer
keep it a secret.

- Lazar tells his friend
and his wife about this.

And he says that there is
one particular location

where if you climb
up this mountain,

you can see on onto
Area 51 airspace.

You can see where these tests

of flying saucers
are taking place.

- Eventually he's
caught, he's fired,

and he is told
never to come back.

And after this, he
begins to suspect

that maybe he's being followed.

He says his tires are slashed.

He says that people
are tracking him,

and that's when he decides
it's time to go public.

- [Laurence] Information
soon surfaces,

calling Lazar's
credibility into question.

- EG&G claims that
they don't have any record

of Lazar ever working
for the company.

He also claims to
have attended MIT,

and they claim that
they don't have

any record of him
ever attending.

Los Alamos also says that
Lazar never worked there,

but local reporters dig up an
old phone book from Los Alamos

and Lazar's name is inside.

So they think that's proof
that Lazar did in fact

work at Los Alamos.

- Now, according to Lazar,

this is all part of
the government coverup.

They go in and they clear
out any reference of him,

so that it looks
like he's been lying.

- There are die hard
Lazar supporters

who believe he is absolutely
telling the truth,

that the campaign against
him is a smear campaign.

He's being erased from history,

that he did work at Los
Alamos, he did attend MIT.

And there's others who
believe that he's a fraud,

that he is making
all of this up,

that all of this is
simply a pack of lies.

- [Laurence] But Lazar's
testimony is not the only case

of an alleged insider
claiming there are secrets

hidden within Area 51.

- Bob Lazar, however,
was not the only person

to come forward and talk about
his time spent at Area 51.

In 2011, in Annie
Jacobsen's book,

she interviews an unnamed source

who says that he was
one of five engineers

also contracted by EG&G
and sent to Area 51.

This unnamed engineer's
claims are incredibly similar

to Bob Lazars claims for
what's going on at Area 51.

- Annie Jacobsen's
source, his duties,

trying to figure out
the propulsion system,

trying to reverse engineer it,

sound very similar to
Bob Lazar's duties.

Also the name of the
facility, Sigma 4,

or S4, and that's exactly
what Bob Lazar said.

- [Laurence] In 2020, Area
51 researchers are buzzing

with excitement over a video
posted on social media.

It purports to show entrances
to an underground base

below Area 51, portals
that didn't exist

in older satellite photos.

- A video shows what
appears to be entrances

to some sort of
underground facility.

And this is something new.

Comparing it with earlier
satellite photographs,

they weren't there.

And there are people
now who believe

the base is being extended,

but most of it's
under the surface.

And that's just part of maybe

a much wider network of
underground facilities,

underground bases,
underground tunnels.

[gentle stirring music]

- There are very good reasons
why facilities would be moved

underground at Area 51.

The fact that we now live
in an era when satellites

can look at anything
anytime that they want to.

If the site is going
to continue as a site

where secret aerospace
projects are being developed,

everything's gonna
have to go underground

'cause the Russians
can otherwise see it.

- Russian satellites have been
watching this piece of land

since the Cold War.

So, clearly, there's
something going on there

that isn't visible
on the surface.

- Michael Schratt
is a UFO researcher

who specializes in
looking at military bases,

underground facilities
that tie in with aviation.

And he believes that
there is an immense

underground facility at Area 51.

- According to Schratt, there
is an underground tunnel

from Area 51 all the way
to Edwards Air Force Base

in California some
400 miles away.

He also claims that there's a
tunnel that goes from Area 51

to Wright Air
Force Base in Ohio.

And that tube would have to
be almost 2,000 miles long.

It would be massive in scale.

- Schratt's thesis is not
outrageous when you consider

that the era of the Cold
War led to the creation

of these secret
underground facilities

where senior members
of the Senate,

the House of Representatives,
the President,

the Vice President,
and their families,

where they could go in the event
of a Soviet nuclear attack.

- But you have to wonder how
the government could undertake

such a massive underground
construction effort

without the public
finding out about it.

Schratt claims that
they got away with this

because records of patents
and inventions that suggest

scientists and engineers
at Los Alamos came up

with a nuclear powered drill
that could melt rock on contact

and could move through the
ground at three miles per day.

- Hypothetically, as this
drill is powering its way

through the land, it is
actually melting the minerals

that it's moving through.

And leaving almost
a glass like surface

on the walls behind it.

The implications of this are
that there could be an entire

underground network
beneath the US,

of which Area 51
is only one part.

- [Laurence] There is evidence
suggesting a sprawling

underground tunnel system
beneath the Nevada test site,

the government's
nuclear testing facility

right next door to Area 51.

- In fact, we know
that massive tunnels

have been dug at
various locations.

According to one witness,
under the Nevada test site

right next door to Area 51,
there are all sorts of tunnels

used to move around
equipment and personnel.

So if it's the case that
there is a network like this

under the Nevada test
site, it stands to reason

that there could well
be one under Area 51.

If there is, what's
it being used for?

- A lot of people think
the connection to Area 51

makes it seem almost obvious,

this has something to do
with alien technologies.

- In 2023, Christopher
Mellon, former Deputy

under Secretary of
Defense under Bill Clinton

and George W. Bush, claims

that there is a whole lot
of information out there

about government possession
of alien technology.

And maybe actual aliens that
the public needs to know about.

- [Laurence] Mellon
states, the US government

should be transparent with
its knowledge of UFOs.

And in 2024, he posts
a redacted document,

allegedly showing a
conversation between him

and a high level US
intelligence official

discussing an alien spacecraft

that crashed 300 miles
away from Area 51.

- So this redacted
text conversation

with an unnamed government
official says specifically,

that we are dealing
with a recovered UAP,

an unidentified
aerial phenomenon,

that was recovered from
Kingman, Arizona in the 1950s.

- If this is
genuine, it suggests

that there really is
something to the claims

that we have encountered alien
life and alien technology.

This could explain the
amazing level of secrecy

surrounding Area 51, that
this facility is being used

to house alien technology
and maybe actual aliens.

- [Laurence] Area 51 may
be the most secretive,

highly guarded base
on American soil,

but it still shows up
on satellite images.

- With the use of Google
Earth, you can look at Area 51.

Now, some areas, critical
infrastructure is blurred

so that you can't see what's
actually happening there.

But Area 51 is not.

But it's what's going
on inside the buildings,

and specifically the
hangars at Area 51,

that's where the
interesting things happen.

- Every time Google
Earth updates

its images of Area 51,

researchers become very
excited because they wanna see

what kind of changes
have taken place

since the last time
it was updated.

These researchers
scour these photos

for any kind of differences.

- [Laurence] In 2020,
those images show

a pretty big modification
to two of the bases hangars.

- Structures are built
under the existing hangars

at Area 51, these porticos
that cover the existing hangars

and provide these
big extensions.

These hangars were built
during the development

of the F-117 stealth fighter.

Now, although that aircraft
is no longer in service,

it's believed that the existing
structures could be adapted

for a contemporary use,

that they could be used
by modern aircraft.

Or these extensions that
appeared suddenly in 2020,

they might actually
be there to obscure

where secret aerospace
projects are being developed.

- Some theorists think
these new kinds of hangars

are designed to house
something pretty different.

Maybe rather than housing

a small number of
really big aircraft,

they might be housing
a really big number

of very small aircraft.

That this could be
advanced technology

that the Air Force doesn't
want us to know about,

waves of tiny aircraft that
can attack simultaneously.

[stirring music]

- This drone swarm
is in its infancy.

I mean, we see in a
very sort of low tech,

but highly effective way,

tanks and armored
vehicles being destroyed

by drones in the war in Ukraine.

And using AI, they would
act as a single entity,

but it's almost
like a giant robot.

It's arguably going to be the
next generation of warfare.

- [Martain] So what is it about
these new structures

that suggest drone swarm?

Some researchers believe that
the layout of the new hangars

is structured in such a
way that a drone swarm

can be activated, it can
then exit the structure.

It can fly a simulated
combat mission,

and then return to the structure

and fly in from the other side.

It would be pretty
difficult for operators

to manage a big drone swarm.

And the layout of
this facility suggests

that it was created to
make it easier to do that.

- [Laurence] While
there's no proof

of such an experimental
program underway,

there have allegedly
been strange sightings

in the Nevada skies
ever since 2020

when the hangars were modified.

- There've been some new
sightings over Area 51

that kind of seem like they
could connect to this idea.

One person reported seeing

over 100 individual UFOs,

almost all just
at the same time.

Someone described a
fireball within a cube.

- In the fall of 2024, another
witness reported seeing

strange lights
every single night

consecutive for two
months at Area 51.

- [Laurence] The timing
leaves some to wonder

if what was happening over
Area 51 could be related

to the rash of alleged drone
sightings at the end of 2024

that had experts baffled
from coast to coast.

- This gets a lot bigger
than just the Nevada desert,

because we have
started getting reports

of drones being
spotted everywhere.

This came to a head in
November of 2024 in New Jersey,

where many, many people
were seeing drones,

unexplained multiple
drones at a time.

We got social media
postings, uploaded videos,

all about these
drones in New Jersey.

- Local law enforcement and
various government officials

claimed to have no
idea what's going on.

But if this is some
kind of black op

or something that's being
developed in Area 51,

it's not as though
the government

is gonna let us know about it.

- To this day, we
still don't know

what's happening at Area 51.

This history of secrecy
associated with Groom Lake,

it extends into the present.

It's not something that
belongs to the 1950s.

It's not something that
belongs to the previous century

and the era of the Cold War,

it's something that
belongs to today.

[stirring music]

- Is Area 51 hiding some kind of

extraterrestrial evidence?

Or is the intense secrecy

intended to protect

more traditional
military secrets?

We may never know.

Then again, the
government once refused

to say Area 51 even existed.

Perhaps with time,

the truth will finally
be revealed.

I'm Laurence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching

"History's Greatest Mysteries."

[stirring music]