Events involving thousands answering internet buzz about an invitation to “Storm Area 51” in the Nevada desert have been mostly festive, with crowds numbering in the low thousands and few arrests, officials said.
Three more people were arrested on Friday on the remote once-secret military base, Lincoln county sheriff Kerry Lee said, bringing to five the tally of accused trespassers during “Alienstock” and “Area 51 Basecamp” events and festivals in the tiny desert towns of Rachel and Hiko. Several minor injuries were reported and one man was treated for dehydration by festival medics in Rachel before returning to the party.
While costumed space aliens were a common, dayglow and sometimes hilarious sight, no one reported seeing actual extraterrestrials or UFOs. Almost 100 people went at 3am on Friday to the best-known “back gate” of the legendary former top-secret US air force base, near of the tiny town of Rachel, and another 40 made a more difficult trek to a lesser-known gate in Tikaboo Valley, Lee said.