The Area 51 raid seemed like a crazy idea from the beginning. Even Matty Roberts, the creator of the viral stunt, admitted that the whole thing was a joke. Still, over 1.5 million people signed a pledge to join the cause by storming the top-secret government facility, despite warnings from the U.S. Air Force.
Rather than let an easy opportunity for fun go to waste though, Roberts decided to convert the idea to an extraterrestrial-themed event called Alienstock Festival. The four-day-long alien celebration was set to take place between September 19th and the 22nd, which is the same weekend as the planned raid, in Rachel, Nevada. The small town is located near Area 51 and has a population of 98 people, none of whom seemed too pleased with the idea of these visitors causing chaos in their quiet neighborhood.
They aren’t the only ones unhappy with the idea, either, as Roberts and his co-organizer Frank DiMaggio recently revealed that they were visited by the FBI. Apparently, the authorities wanted to ensure that the raid wasn’t actually going to happen.
“An FBI agent from the Sacramento office. It was actually a little bit spooky, actually, multiple of them. It actually wasn’t that bad. They were just kind of making sure I wasn’t making pipe bombs in my living room and not actually planning on storming the frickin’ base.”
Coincidentally, the two men decided to move the festival after their chat with the authorities. They claim that it’s because they’ve discovered that the original location doesn’t have the appropriate infrastructure for the event, but it’s likely the townspeople of Rachel as well as the FBI helped sway their decision to relocate.
Alienstock will now take place at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, which is thankfully much farther away from Area 51. The event is still listed as free though, something that Roberts has said is important to him. It’s unknown if the celebration will still be live-streamed, but hopefully it’ll prevent any curious fools from trying to storm the facility, which can only end badly for everyone involved.