Area 51 Raids: How Many People Actually Showed Up To Raid The Secretive Facility?

Authorities in Nevada say that fewer people came to the “Storm Area 51” event Friday than anticipated. After roughly 2 million people signed up for the original Facebook event, pledging to storm the secretive U.S. Air Force facility, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said that only about 3,000 people actually showed up.

“They did threaten that they were going to storm,” Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee said. “Once officers warned them about the consequences for storming the base, they did have second thoughts.”

According to CNN, many campers at the event near the gates of Area 51 said that they had no plans to go through with the raid. One attendee, Mary Ramirez, told the outlet what she thought of actually attempting to break into the heavily guarded installation: “You think I'm crazy?”

Lee said that there only ended up being two arrests during the event. One was alcohol-related, and the other involved a Canadian citizen engaging in indecent exposure. One woman got close to crossing the line, but she was quickly detained and released shortly after. Lee said that the Nevada Highway Patrol made a number of other arrests away from the main event space.

The frenzy around Area 51 began when Facebook-user Matty Roberts created the joking event page, “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop Us All.” After the immense response to his gag, Roberts disavowed the event and took down the page.

Lee offered some concise advice to anyone who had planned to make the journey to try and gain access to the facility.

“Come, look, see what you can see, but just don't cross,” Lee said.