“Area 51 has long been a rich piece of American pop culture. Are aliens kept there? Super secret spaceships? Men in black with memory-wiping devices? The Nevada facility regularly pops up in movies like Independence Day and TV shows like The X-Files, but it made the news this summer for a joke that turned into an actual planned event.

“How did it start?

“In June 2019, Matty Roberts, a 21-year-old Bakersfield, California, college student, created a Facebook event titled Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us.

“The supposed joke event urged people to raid the US government facility on Sept. 20.”

Read more at CNet