Area 51 Presentation in Las Vegas October 7-8

Here's your chance to meet former Area 51 workers in person!

Agent Shadowhawk sends us the following press release on a public event coming up in Las Vegas. (Unfortunately, I won't be in the city at the time.) This presentation "will separate the myths from the realities of Area 51" -- if, that is, you want the myths separated from reality! (Personally, I prefer them mixed together.) Looks like George Knapp will be moderating (so they won't be totally separating myth from reality). --GC

On Wednesday, October 7th, and Thursday, October 8th, the Atomic Testing Museum and Roadrunners Internationale will separate the myths from the realities of Area 51 through a special presentation: SPY PLANES OF GROOM LAKE (AREA 51).

The Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, is partnering with Roadrunners Internationale, an alumni organization for Groom Lake workers, to provide first-time public access to former U.S. Air Force, CIA, and contractor personnel who worked on some of the nation’s most closely guarded Cold War projects under a strict blanket of secrecy. This is an opportunity for the public to learn the history of the secret Groom Lake test site and the role it played during the Cold War, and to discuss newly declassified details about cutting edge technologies with the people who developed them. Lectures and moderated discussion panels will include former and current CIA staff, military commanders, historians, and other notable individuals.

There will be opportunities both days for the public to “meet and greet” former Area 51 test pilots, engineers, and technicians and ask them questions. A temporary exhibit will feature actual Area 51 artifacts, memorabilia, and photos. Events on Wednesday will include presentations on the history of Area 51 and Project OXCART by historian Peter Merlin, followed by a panel discussion with people who actually worked at the secret Groom Lake test site. Moderated by KLAS Channel 8 investigative reporter George Knapp, this panel will feature CIA Historian Dr. David Robarge and former pilots and engineers from Area 51. On Thursday, historian Paul Suhler will give an in-depth presentation on CIA projects Rainbow and Gusto and the design evolution of the triple-sonic A-12 spy plane, followed by a discussion panel of former Groom Lake pilots, staff, and technicians moderated by author Annie Jacobson.

Admission is $10 per person and FREE for Museum members. Museum admission is just an additional $5 for those attending this event. Books and souvenirs will be available for purchase at the Museum gift shop and from representatives of the CIA employee store.

Details:

Wednesday, October 7: Meet and Greet 10am-5pm. Area 51 historical overview by aerospace historian, Peter Merlin at 2pm. Project Oxcart history presentation by Peter Merlin at 4pm. Area 51 Panel Discussion, moderated by George Knapp at 6pm-8pm.

Thursday, October 8: Meet and Greet 10am-3pm. Archangel (A-1 through A-12) development history lecture by author, Paul Suhler at 11am. Area 51 Panel Discussion moderated by author, Annie Jacobson, 1pm-3pm.

The Atomic Testing Museum is open 7 days a week, Monday – Saturday 10 am to 5pm and Sunday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Last tickets are sold at 4:30p.m. to20allow time to tour the Museum.

The Atomic Testing Museum is located at 755 E. Flamingo Rd., between Paradise Rd. and Swenson St., on the south side of the street. There is ample parking and the museum is ADA accessible. For more information please call (702) 794-5151.

Bill Uhouse Passes Away

Bill Uhouse (who I called "Jarod 2" in the Desert Rat) has gone to the other side. According to family members, he died this past May in Pennsylvania.

As you may recall (Desert Rat #24, #27, #28, #32, #33, #37 and maybe a few more), Uhouse claimed to have helped build flight simulators to train human pilots to fly alien craft. Like Lazar's story, Uhouse's claims had remarkable internal consistency, were limited in scope to what he actually "saw" and had no obvious personal motivation. I "believed" his story, at least inasmuch as I believe anything.

Were his claims true? I still don't know. All I do know is that Uhouse became difficult to deal with. I got uncomfortable with his racist invective and his abusive behavior toward other people I knew. When the invective turned against me personally, I simply withdrew. Someone can hold all the keys to the universe, but if they're going to be a jerk on this planet I'm not going to deal with them!

If the story was fake, did he make it up himself or was he put up to it by someone else, like a sinister government agency? It certainly doesn't make sense to me why he would concoct this tale in his later years, but stranger things have lurked in the hearts of men. My own personal conclusion was simply that I didn't care anymore. A story like that depends almost entirely on how much confidence you have in someone's personality, and after a year or so, I lost that confidence.

At his own request, Uhouse's death was virtually kept secret, with even some family members not learning of it until now. Perhaps now that he has passed, more about him will come out and the story will eventually resolve itself.

(We should all remember this ourselves: We may be able to control our own press releases while we are alive, but once we die, our privacy evaporates.)

Advanced Technology at Area 51 Gate

On alt.conspiracy.area51, Desert Shadow reports finding the above mysterious black box at the Rachel Gate to Area 51. (Unlike the border in the Tikaboo Valley, behind Rachel you can drive to within sight of a guard house.) Desert Shadow writes:

I am sure somebody here would know what this box is. It is on the right side of the Rachel Area 51 gate. It is attached with plastic ties. I noticed it Sunday. It was not there a few weeks ago. It has no wires or any source of power that I could see. Any guesses?

Further description is posted on his Paradise Ranch blog.

The next day, an anonymous poster responded with this candidate....


It looks suspiciously like the Dakota WMA-3000 Wireless Motion Alert Driveway Alarm Alert Motion Sensor. The suggested retail price is $169.95, but if you act now it's only $159.95!

Could it be that Area 51 technology isn't as advanced as we think?

Or maybe that's just what they want us to think!

Two Personal Milestones

On a visit to Area 51 with Agent Chameleon on May 27, I passed two personal milestones.

One is shown above. I saw my first rattlesnake in the Tikaboo Valley! I photographed this fellow just a few feet from Groom Lake Road about a mile before the border. Here's two more shots...


He was about 3-4 feet long and did us the honor of coiling and rattling when followed.

It's funny that for all the time I spent in this valley in the 1990s, I never saw a live rattler here. (I once saw a baby one at the north end of the Groom Range near Rachel and a dead one from the highway near Rachel. Also a huge one crossing the road near the HOLLYWOOD sign in Los Angeles.)

My other milestone may or may not be related to rattlesnakes: At Chameleon's urging, I stepped into the Little A'Le'Inn for the first time in 13 years. Here's the proof...
Those are the same anti-Clinton bumper stickers I remember during the 6 months I stayed at the inn in 1993.

Readers may recall that I got ejected from the inn by a drunken Joe Travis in the Summer of 1993, for reasons that were only in his mind. I then went to the other end of town and started my own Area 51 Research Center. Things could have been patched up between us years ago, but I decided that I liked the idea of being "Banned at the Little A'Le'Inn" and I passively kept the feud alive.

I was half expecting to be ejected from the Inn when I walked in this time, but Pat and Connie weren't around, so the opportunity never arose. I didn't recognize anyone there, and no one recognized me.

Walking into the Inn was a little like walking into a time capsule. I have been through many adventures in the past 13 years, but the Inn was almost unchanged. The bar had been moved, but most of the same displays were on the walls.

The most traumatic part of the experience was deciding what beer to order! In all of my life, I had hardly ever ordered a beer at a bar before. In consultation with Chameleon, I settled on a Bud Light. What I received for my order was a naked can stuck in front of me, after the bartender took it out of a cooler and pulled the tab for me. It took a while, but I drank the whole thing!

Talk about your alien experiences! I will never understand this "bar" concept.

It's the 20-Year Anniversary of Lazar Story!

Believe it or not, this month marks the 20-YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the Bob Lazar flying-saucers-at-Area 51 story. It was in May (or April?) of 1989, that George Knapp first reported the claims of Bob Lazar on a local Las Vegas newscast. It is remarkable how little most things have changed. Knapp, for example, is still doing exactly the same thing, for the same TV station. Here is his report yesterday on the 20-year anniversary....

Area 51: 20 Years of Intrigue (KLAS-TV, 5/10)

(Or perhaps better named: "Area 51: 20 Years of Ratings Sweeps".)

If you did a "where are they now" retrospective, you'd see a lot of guys getting older and grumpier but otherwise not changing much.

(I like to think Psychospy is the exception to the rule and has stayed dynamic, but for the record he wasn't actually around in 1989, arriving only in late 1992.)

George Knapp on Area 51

It must be sweeps month, because George Knapp has a new Area 51 report out...

In Searth of the New Area 51 (KLAS-TV, 5/7)

I didn't actually watch it, since my bandwidth doesn't support video (thank God!), but the text offers nothing new.

Groom Lake Story Declassified?

A correspondent has sent me this blurb from the website of Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO)...

Tuesday 2 June 2009, 6 p.m. - Nellis AFB, NV - The AFIO Las Vegas Chapter event features: The Development, Testing, and Operation of the U-2 and A-12 High Altitude Reconnaissance Programs at Nevada’s Groom Lake

AFIO BulletMembers of the Roadrunners Internationale will speak about the recently declassified CIA U-2 program at Taiwan; U-2 Project Aquatone at Groom Lake; the CIA A-12 Project Oxcart (which was the recently declassified CIA plane preceding the more commonly known Air Force SR-71) at Groom Lake and its operational phase; and Operation Black Shield at Kadena, Okinawa. Their presentation will include a short video of the first flights of the U-2 and A-12 at Groom Lake, a PowerPoint presentation about the aircraft, and a large photo display of the aircraft test, evaluation, and operations. They will also recount their CIA recruitment, cover stories, living and working at Groom Lake, and the excitement of foreign missions. Their story was declassified a little over a year ago at the CIA’s 60th Anniversary. Location: Nellis Air Force Base Officers’ Club.

That's kind of interesting. It suggests that some people who worked at Area 51 (at least in the 1950s and 60s) can actually talk about it.