Area 51: UFOs

Area 51

By George Knapp
5-6-05

     It's hard to believe now, but not too many years ago, few people outside of Nevada had ever heard of Area 51, the secret military base that turns 50 years old this month.

     All of that changed in 1989 when KLAS-TV aired a series of reports about alleged alien technology being tested in and around the Groom Lake facility. The UFO stories changed Area 51 forever, and spawned all sorts of spin-offs.

     I-Team Investigative Reporter George Knapp is the guy who first broke the UFO tales back then and is here now with an update.

     For better or worse, those Channel 8 stories did put Area 51 on the map. The first time George Knapp read about UFOs at Area 51, it was in the pages of the Las Vegas Review Journal back in the mid '80s. The paper reported it as a mere rumor.

     KLAS-TV reports a few years later made quite a splash, even internationally, and Area 51 has never been the same. The reason for all of the attention is a man who said he worked on flying saucers.

     Dennis said, "There were 9 flying saucers, flying discs..."

     A live interview with the shadowy Dennis in the spring of 1989 was the beginning of the end for Area 51's anonymity. Dennis, a pseudonym, claimed to be working on a top-secret project involving flying saucers of extraterrestrial origin. In November of '89, the true identity of Dennis was revealed.

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