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If you happened to wander into the Nevada desert
and stumbled upon the secret U.S. military base,
Area 51,
you'd quickly be arrested,
killed,
or maybe even abducted by aliens.
But what if you happened to organize
1 million other people
through social media to storm Area 51?
And if you did manage to get into the base,
If you haven't heard of it before,
Area 51 is a highly classified U.S. military base.
It's heavily rumored to have secret military technology,
and perhaps aliens.
For decades it's been the source of conspiracy theories,
but now, you want to see if any of those theories are true.
It's off-limits to visitors,
so it may not be on your GPS.
But there are online guides you'll need to use.
The closest airport is in Las Vegas.
From there, you'll have to rent a car
and drive through the southern Nevada desert
for several hours.
Keep in mind that
there are going to be one million other people doing the same thing as you.
If you think traffic in your city is bad,
wait till you see this!
Nevada's most populated city, Las Vegas,
has less than 800,000 people living in it.
In fact, the entire state of Nevada
only has about 3 million people.
Adding another million people, all at once,
would seriously damage Nevada's infrastructure.
The roads to get to Area 51 aren't an eight-lane highway.
Instead, they're small two-lane roads and dirt trails.
If 1 million people decided to do this,
they may not even make it to the military base.
Instead, they may get stuck in traffic or
get into an accident.
So much for seeing any aliens.
But let's imagine that
everyone somehow makes it the front gates of the base.
Now 1 million people are ready to storm Area 51.
What happens next?
You and your friends are peaceful people,
so you wouldn't be carrying any guns.
You're just simply running into the base.
As soon as you crossed the Area 51 borders,
you'd quickly be met by the base's private security.
These people, also known as "Camo Dudes,"
have weapons in hand and patrol the base 24/7 in white pickup trucks.
You wouldn't be able to sneak up on any of these guys as
they'd surely know you're coming.
And it wouldn't just be the private security trying to stop you.
With an event this big,
the whole world would surely know,
and it would be impossible to keep it a secret.
Area 51 is a detachment of Edwards Air Force Base
which is located in Southern California.
Thousands of active military members are stationed at Edwards.
You could expect to see them,
along with thousands of other armed soldiers and police members.
They'd have their guns, tasers, tanks and
who knows what else.
The armed forces would try to keep casualties at a minimum,
but they'd still be hitting everyone with pepper spray and
other non-lethal weapons.
They'd still be determined to keep what's inside Area 51 a secret,
so most likely the camo dudes and their military counterparts
would open fire on the crowds.
And they're authorized to use deadly force.
So don't be surprised if they started firing bullets.
If you're lucky enough not to get shot,
or pepper-sprayed,
you'd get arrested.
But what if you somehow managed to sneak past all the guards?
Despite this, you still wouldn't be at the actual Area 51 base,
at least not yet.
You'd have to find it.
That's because the original Area 51 base
occupies a space of 150 sq. km. (60 sq. mi.)
but the property surrounding it is 1600 sq. km. (575 sq. mi.)
It's reported the base is discrete with blacked-out windows and
hardly any visible lights from the outside.
You could be walking around for hours before you found it.
But once you reached Area 51,
what would you see?
Well, we're not really sure what's there,
which is what makes this so exciting.
Crazy military technology,
UFOs,
or even aliens could be lurking about.
Proceed with caution though,
as some suspect that the
base is heavily polluted from decades of government experiments.
If that's true, just being in the base without proper equipment
could result in you getting sick or dying.
So storming Area 51 probably isn't a good idea.
It would most likely result in you getting sick,
arrested or dying.
Sorry, you won't be getting a baby alien as a souvenir gift.
The only way you'll probably ever be able to see aliens is if they come to us.
But that's a story for another WHAT IF.