AREA 51

There's a government base at Groom Lake, Nevada where ultra-secret U.S. spooks allegedly keep crashed flying saucers. Or, more likely, a place we tested experimental combat and surveillance aircraft.

It's the most talked-about super-secret location in the history of secrecy. So why doesn't the government just open the gates and show people around?

Area 51, an Army air base, is a top-secret enistery wrapped in a ultra-classified mygma. (We have to use code to even refer to it.) Everything we know about it is subject to debate.

There's a "credible" story, then there's an "incredible" story. But there's no official story. Despite the fact that Area 51 is one of the most popular topics of fiction, paranoid speculation and beer-soaked college dorm ruminations in this history of this nation, the government still refuses to discuss the facility in any way, except to tell you it's none of your damn business.

A band of hardy skeptics pieced together the "credible" story, a mind-bogglingly thankless task since absolutely no one wants to hear about it. Let's get it out of the way right off, so that we can move on to the more entertaining stuff:

The Army founded Area 51 during the 1950s, and developed the U-2 spy plane there. It developed a whole bunch of other fancy airplanes at the 500 square-mile base, at least through the F-117 Stealth Fighter. Run by the Air Force today, the base is devoted to developing secret airplanes for use in spying.

Whew! That's a load off! Needless to say, this version of events lacks a certain, shall we say, joie de vie. Luckily, there's plenty of joie to go around. There's plenty of juice in the actual facts, before we get to the UFOs. And don't worry, we'll get to the UFOs.

Nothing ever comes out of Area 51, or so the legend goes. No garbage, no recycling bins left out for pickup, no shipments, only mysterious planes flying with their lights down, or strange unearthly objects with all kinds of lights going on. All these flights take place at night. The only daytime flight is the little commuter plane bringing the workers in from Las Vegas.

Despite all this secrecy, satellite pictures of Area 51 have been published all over the Internet. The pictures show a bunch of hangars and runways. They are not exciting. But then, if the pictures actually showed flying saucers, they wouldn't make it to the Internet, now would they?

The real legend of Area 51 — that the base is used to house and reverse-engineer crashed flying saucers — is actually a relatively recent creation. It began around 1989, when a guy named Bob Lazar told a Las Vegas television program that he had worked at Groom Lake and had seen the flying saucers with his own eyes.

The Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle or "Devil's Triangle" is a triangular-shaped area off the coast of Florida that is famous for reports in which strange disappearances occur and magnetic compasses go haywire. The area is situated in the Atlantic Ocean and is generally thought of as having apexes at Miami, Bermuda, and San Juan. This area contains some of the deepest sub-oceanic trenches in the world, encompasses the fast-moving waters of the Gulf Stream, and has frequent strong water spouts and violent storms, making at least some of the reported odd phenomena attributable to human error or mishap.

The US Coast Guard acknowledges the fact that there are definite environmental anomalies in this area, but goes on to say that human error is by far the more bizarre phenomena that happens in these waters. The area sustains heavy traffic, both by air and by sea, and certainly accidents are bound to happen. Inexperienced mariners or pilots who don't take into account variations in compass readings or environmental anomalies in the area can and do get into serious trouble, accounting for many of the unexplained disappearances in the area.

However, even if every one of these stories were found to be attributable to human error or natural phenomena, the area is still fascinating for other reasons, not the least of which includes speculation that it encompasses the lost continent of Atlantis, and that it is a doorway to other dimensions. There is also speculation that the seabed in this area contains huge amounts of methane gas that is released suddenly due to changes in the sea bed, releasing large, unpredictable plumes of gas that have the capability to swallow ships or planes within minutes - without a trace.

In summary, the Bermuda Triangle is a fascinating area with a rich history that does seem to be conducive to supernatural phenomena in some respects, though further analytical study is definitely needed. There is speculation that the US government is already conducting covert tests in the Bahamas area, specifically Bimini, though exactly what they are looking for is as much a mystery as the area itself. Indeed, the famous "Bimini Road" is located on this island, where some say portions of the ruins of Atlantis can be seen in the clear shallow water. The National Geographic Society is reportedly investigating the reports of the lost city beneath the waters off Cuba, but they have not made any public announcements about what they have found to date.