Some Final Thoughts, Musings and Ruminations
Wherein our hero slinks off into the Nevada sunset, curiosity satiated
but longing for dragons…
Some of you have noticed that this site hasn’t had much in the way of updates recently, nor will you see any in the foreseeable future. There are two reasons for this. The main reason is I no longer have much time to deal much with adding to the site. Recently, I returned to school, working towards a Masters degree in Physics (and yes, there are records!) This has proven to be about the hardest thing (and maybe dumbest!) I’ve ever done, sucking up vast amounts of my formerly copious spare time (Oh yeah, it’s kinda fun, too, but in a sick way).
I’ve always had a strong interest in science, originally majoring in physics before switching to engineering. I think the final push to go back to school came from listening to all the pseudo-scientific crap floating around Area 51 (more on that later) and UFOs in general. While I was pretty sure most of all this great sounding stuff was bogus, I didn’t know for sure why. I do now.
However the other, and perhaps more important reason, I’m putting this site on autopilot, is I’m pretty much finished with Area 51. I realized I had most of my questions answered, and much of the mystery was gone.
Sigh.
My first trip out to the area was Thanksgiving, 1993. Since then, I’ve probably been out there perhaps 40-50 times, at best evidence of too much free time, and at worse, evidence of a very sick puppy. In those early days, so much of the Nellis Range was a mystery. There aren’t exactly guidebooks explaining just what all these interesting facilities do out there, facilities
the government would just as soon you not know about. In these regions there be dragons…
But over time, with a lot of research and connecting with various people, these areas of mystery got smaller and smaller. Then one day I finally realized that the mysterious areas (at least for me) were gone, and so, sadly, was the possibility of dragons. (Well, almost)
I had made this site operational somewhat as a public service for those interested in Area 51 and similar topics. It really came out of my investigations into Lazar’s background. I kept getting requests for copies of this or that, so in an effort to save my lazy ass some work, I just put it all on the web as a serve-your-self. Later, I added some of the more solid things I was finding on the Nellis Range. I tried not to duplicate what Glenn Campbell already had on his site, but that wasn’t much of a problem as our approaches and intents were different. My intent in this weird business has been very specific. It was, to find out for myself, if we are really operating alien based craft out of the Groom area, or anywhere else in that neighborhood. I was never interested in “blowing the lid off of Groom” (if there’s a lid on anything to begin with), or exposing anything. I wanted to know…for me (The rest of you are on your own!). I presume the government has plenty of secret things out there, and as far as I’m concerned, they are entitled to them. Stealth helicopters, black Mantas, UAVs, Aurora…who cares??
But if we’re talkin’ aliens, then I want to know.
Going about things with that goal dictated what I did, and who/what I got involved with. It also determined just what kind of info I would publicly let loose. I had two concerns in this regard. First, I was legitimately concerned that some of the info I might come across could be “sensitive” (I have no idea if that’s the case). I always erred on the conservative side and never publicly put out anything that to me suggested sensitivity. I tended to avoid the media (with a few exceptions) as to my mind it really didn’t serve any useful purpose and move me toward where I wanted to go. I did hear from some pretty bizarre folks after my few TV appearances, however. There are some weird people out there…
Secondly, over time, I had some real interesting people provide me with some rather valuable pieces of the puzzle. Maybe because I didn’t seem like a nut (Hah, fooled them!), or just kept my mouth shut. I held this stuff close to my vest, as these sources could perhaps get into various flavors of trouble if it got out they were telling me things, and also publicly repeating some of these items would simply make my sources go away. As a result, what you’ve seen on my web site has only been the mainstream items, based upon public records, documents and statements. The juicy stuff I kept to myself, and it most definitely affected my conclusions.
What I’d like now to do is something a little different for me. This is kind of a conclusion, one that I never thought I’d reach. I’m going to summarize what I think is going on (and not going on) in the Nellis Range, based upon almost 4 years of looking at it for many different angles. I’m going to tell you what I think and why. I’m not trying to convince you that I’m right, (but I’m satisfied I am), I just want explain why I think what I do, in as much detail as confidences allow. I still entertain the possibility I could be wrong.
As this is a summary, it certainly won’t be comprehensive. Also, I will be using the term “source” quite a bit. These are people who I’ve known and have found to be reasonably reliable. I shall remain somewhat vague about precisely what they’ve said, as it might compromise who they are. As I’m not trying to convince you of anything or win any arguments, I don’t see it as a problem.
I will be interested to see what (if anything) the wackos have to say about this, but I suspect they’ll somehow find more nasty things to say about me. But I have no obligations other than to myself. So, I might suggest in a very rare departure from civility, they simply go fuck themselves…
Area 51 and the Nellis Range
So what’s going on out there???
I am satisfied that people are (or were) seeing something out there (although no one’s been seeing much in recent times). But what exactly was that something? Yeah, yeah, I know, there are a lot of odd aircraft zipping around out there. But I’m after those things that stairstep and make “instant” right angle turns. In my mind, the best fit answer as to what’s been spotted is indeed some sort of disc shaped craft. While some may find this a farfetched conclusion, to avoid it means dismissing some pretty high quality observations by reliable observers. Does this imply there is some secret base out there where a squadron of these things are kept? Not at all. The most simple, conservative explanation is simply we somehow acquired or built one of these things, and kept it in a nondescript hangar at the south end of the base. Then, when most of the normal personnel went home for the day, it was brought out for tests. Is it still there? I have no idea, but if you were running the program would you want to regularly display it for black mailbox tourists?
Could it have been something else that was mistaken for a disc? Most certainly, although it’s hard to say just what it might be. I was told a rather interesting story by someone who said there were no exotic craft at Groom. What there was/is, is a particle beam device, and that its operation was mistaken for disc shaped craft. This source said the device was in a long, covered trench-like affair, who’s cover slid away for testing. Further, this source said he had seen the device, and that nothing could be in the air for miles around when it operated.
While that was an interesting story, I could never figure out how a particle beam could produce spherical balls of light, flitting across the sky. Finally I learned enough physics to fully understand how it was not only possible, but likely. So I view this as a very viable alternative explanation. Wouldn’t it be ironic if all this mythology of saucers at Groom and the influx of alien seeking tourists compromising base operations, was simply the result of particle beam experiments? That would be neat to find out some day.
What about these stories of underground transport systems, some that are said to stretch as far as Edwards AFB to the west and the sinister Dulce to the northeast? This was one of those urban legends…I mean rural legends that I think I had some success tracking down. I am convinced these stories arose from the substantial tunnel complexes used for underground testing on the NTS. All the elements are there: Blacked out busses taking workers to a train station are actually the KT Lines busses with dark desert tint windows shuttling workers from Mercury to the portals in Area 12. The train stations are indeed that, with workers passing through turnstiles to board their open man trains. The man trains in the tunnels become high speed maglev trains in the legend. There are internal crossover points that serve as underground stations. And the tunnels do go on for many miles, over a total 20 miles in one instance, but never leaving the Rainier Mesa area. I suppose there could be secret underground research complexes in Rainier Mesa, but it might have nothing at all to do with aliens. But considering how often the ground would be rattling, it would be a pretty lousy place to site anything sensitive. Not a place I’d want to work, anyway.
What about other places out there? I don’t think there’s anything real sneaky going on at TTR, but they likely have some new versions of stealth aircraft (yawn..) hidden in those many hangars, waiting for nightfall to come out and play. I think their spooky neighbor to the east, Site-4, has the dubious distinction of lending its name to the Lazar story, although this Site-4 has nothing to do with ETs. That is unless the ETs might have radar or EM devices that could be used against US aircraft. If that’s the case, you can bet our government will do whatever it takes to “acquire” that equipment, and bring it out to Site-4 for testing against our aircraft, next to the Soviet, Chinese and Iraqi equipment. The story of how the Site-4 name made the cross country leap to Papoose Lake is interesting, and may be told some day.
The Tolicha Peak facility has proven to be a rather boring electronic warfare training facility, mostly used during the various Nellis Flag exercises. Other that these facilities, there seems to be nothing else out there north of Groom and the NTS. The widespread dropping of bombs tends to put a damper on the concept of underground bases hiding under Gold Flat.
I think almost all the stories swirling around the area stem from exaggerations of real events. I’ve always had a pretty high regard for the word of others (I guess a reflection of my own strong desire to relate stories accurately), and as a result I’ve been saddened at the amount of bullshit I’ve come across. I don’t understand the psychological mechanism behind it, but some people just seem to delight in telling tall tales. Unfortunately they seem to find a receptive audience in some of the folks drawn to Area 51, and the stories take on a life of their own. You have no idea the crap I’ve heard! Damn near broke my bullshit filter.
Papoose Lake
I am satisfied that the only thing at Papoose Lake is a dry lake and some junk. Moreover, that’s all there’s ever been.
I’ve studied several high resolution satellite photos of the area from the era that Lazar claims to have been there. None show so much of a hint of anything there, beyond normal range operations. Not the fenced area Lazar described at the entrance, nor the “good dirt road” used by the bus to get there. In science fiction stories, underground bases can be hidden without a trace. Not so in real life. There have to be entryways for vehicles and equipment, cooling, heating and ventilation ports, utility feeds, at least some of which will show up on a satellite photo. None do here.
Then there’s the question of why it would be an underground base to start with. The only underground facilities I know to exist are those specifically designed to survive a nuclear attack, and there are more than a few. To do so they must be far underground, such as Cheyenne Mountain or Mount Weather. The construction of such facilities is a tremendous engineering task requiring equally tremendous dollars. Lazar’s S-4 obviously couldn’t survive a nuclear attack as it was right beneath the surface. Also, underground facilities are not very amenable to expansion or modification like a surface facility. Then there’s the problem of what to do with the material you excavate. You have to put it somewhere, and the bigger the underground
base, the bigger the dirt pile.
So maybe it was built underground to hide it. Hide it from who? Lazar has said the Soviets were in the program at one time, so it couldn’t be from them. The American people? There are far less costly ways to hide things, usually in plain sight. The concept just doesn’t make sense.
And the location. The site isn’t even in Area 51. It’s several miles south of the boundary, in the Nellis Range. On top of that, it’s in the National Desert Wildlife Range, for crying out loud. Again, it just doesn’t make sense, unless of course you consider that Lazar may be lying.
But for me the clincher is this. I know people who have been there. Up close and personal. They say there’s nothing there, nor did it appear there ever was. I believe these people. As for the argument that after Lazar blabbed, the facility was closed down and covered up, anyone familiar with the desert knows how long even simple traces of man’s presence lasts. Nope, I don’t think that’s it at all. The answer is far simpler….
Lazar
Hmmmm…Let’s see..how can I best put this?? How about:
But how can I possibly think that? On this very web site I state that the evidence I have posted is inconclusive. Quite true, if you consider only what I’ve posted. But there is other information. But before we get into that, how about a recap of the lies we do know about.
First off, how about those neat Masters degrees of his? Now that’s a BIG lie! There is no way he had the time to attend either MIT or Caltech, nor does he have the smarts. The idea of his records being erased is absolutely preposterous. Having gone through the process myself, I know that his having attended either school would be the easiest thing in the world to prove, just a trivial thing. There are the graduate advisors you have to deal with, as well as your sponsor (the professor who oversees your research). As a grad student you get extremely well known. Then there’s the thesis review committee, and copies of the thesis itself (supposedly on MHD…Lazar never would say what the actual title was) and the name and author would have been entered into national research databases (which would have been done years before any “erasure” would have taken place on Lazar). Then there is Caltech degree in “Electronic Technology”, a degree which the school doesn’t offer. I could go on, but with just the schooling, ask yourself this: If someone is obviously lying to you about his educational background (and in a big way), does it make sense to believe him when he starts spinning an alien story?
Continuing on mining the vein of lies, we come to his birth certificate. In early interviews Lazar claimed when he went to get a copy of his birth certificate it was (gasp!) gone! That his existence was being wiped away. Later, in posting to the internet, Huff said the real reason Lazar didn’t get his birth certificate right off was that he was adopted, and the process for getting a certificate was much more involved. Yet that’s not what Lazar says in interviews, although he’s become a little more cagey about it in recent years. In early interviews he would just talk about his vanished birth certificate. Now, when interviewers ask about his vanishing records, specifically mentioning his birth certificate, Lazar smoothly glides over that issue and just talks about his employment records at Los Alamos, at the same time leaving the impression that his birth records were indeed erased. Why is he not interested in clearing up this misapprehension?
But Lazar sounds and talks like a physicist! That’s what I thought at one time too. But I came to discover that he talks and sounds like what the general public (and Lazar himself) thinks a physicist sounds like. In reality, they are quite different and can easily be quite obtuse. I have discussed Lazar with a few real physicists (who hadn’t heard the story), and they usually just start laughing. But then what do they know…they’re just real physicists with real Phds.
“OK, wise guy”, you may ask, “what do you know you’re not telling?” For me, one of the big sticking points of the story was if Lazar hadn’t been there, how did he know about the Wednesday night tests to bring his friends out? (BTW, I think most of Lazar’s friends sincerely believe his story and are not involved in any complicity to put it over on the rest of us).
For your consideration: I have it from two separate sources that Lazar had been out to the black mailbox area at least several times prior to his alleged employment at S-4. Now why do suppose he was doing that? Perhaps checking on rumors he heard of dancing lights on Wednesday nights? As a further twist, one of the sources said that on one occasion Lazar went all the way to the gate on Groom Lake Road. If that was indeed the case, then Lazar would have been detained by the guards, and warned he would face arrest should he ever return (In that era a smooth talker with a good story could get away with just a warning). This would explain his running off into the desert when he and his friends were busted by the guards on their last visit out there. It also suggests how he could have known about the Wednesday night tests.
As far as Lazar’s knowledge of physics goes, I know of someone who had the chance to quiz Lazar regarding technical matters. This source said that Lazar was definitely no physicist (although he plays one on TV!), that he had only the knowledge base of a technician and was unable to solve simple differential equations.
Another source quizzed Lazar about his knowledge of the Groom facility. After all, he supposedly did spend some time there waiting for his shuttle to S-4. Lazar apparently failed this little “test” miserably with no knowledge of Groom. I find this in sharp contrast to George Knapp’s assertion that Lazar was able to describe portions of Groom quite well.
So perhaps it’s time for a slight aside regarding Knapp. When I first started looking into this subject I had a very high opinion of Knapp. He seemed to me to be a good no-nonsense investigative journalist. However, over time, I’ve had occasion to cross investigative paths several times with Knapp on more than one topic. That is, I found myself looking into areas he supposedly already had. I was extremely surprised to find he missed obvious things and generally did very shallow work in the areas I was aware of. I have come to regard his “investigation” of Lazar as highly suspect. They are, after all, friends and associates. Not much arms-length there. Unfortunately, he seems to be the only journalist of any note Lazar has allowed to poke into his background.
I think a most telling occurrence was captured in an interview with Knapp for the Discovery Channel TV series by Martin Belderson, which aired a few months back. In it, Knapp says that the first thing that went though his mind when he found out about Lazar’s arrest for pandering was, essentially, “There goes my reputation”. Not that Lazar might not be what he claimed and there might not be saucers at Papoose, but Knapp’s reputation might be tarnished. Is this the kind of guy you trust to look into Lazar’s background? I don’t. Not for a minute.
People who have known Lazar in the past (friends and acquaintances) have described him as a real bullshitter, always telling stories. Some of these people, when pressed in private as to whether Lazar is telling the truth, just smile and shrug. Even Huff has said Lazar “blows people off” all the time, telling them only what he feels like.
There are other stories out there, damaging to Lazar and his tales, which I had the privilege of being made privy to. However those stories are not mine to tell and must wait for the decisions of others. I suspect the next year or so will bring forth some interesting things regarding Mr. Lazar.
So for those of you keeping score, where are we so far? He’s told some absolute whoppers in the past regarding his education, I’ve talked with people I find pretty solid that say Lazar doesn’t know physics, can’t describe Groom, and that he had been out lurking around Area 51 prior to his story surfaced. Finally, some who know him say he is a bullshitter. But wait….There’s more.
What there is, is Lazar’s “science”. Science fiction is a better term, but it’s not even very good science fiction. Good science fiction has a basis in fact. The science he spews is checkable by anyone with a little education in physics. It’s all so bad, it’s tough to know where to begin. Here’s a brief sampling of the low points:
- There are such things as gravity waves, but they are not part of the electromagnetic spectrum as Lazar has claimed. They are ripples in spacetime, generated by large masses (orbiting neutron stars, black holes and the like), a much different critter from an EM wave. Real gravity waves pass easily through matter, and aren’t likely to be contained in any sort of waveguide. Further, they can have essentially an unlimited frequency range, not the 2.5 GHz range as alluded to by Lazar.
- Assuming for a deranged moment that Lazar’s version of gravity waves exist, you couldn’t hover by emitting a similar wave, out of phase. That would be like going up next to a radio transmitter tower and transmitting your own, out of phase signal. You wouldn’t feel a force pushing on your transmitter.
- Lazar says the gravity waves from the amplifiers go out millions of miles and “pull” a bit of space towards the craft, then releases it. This implies that his “gravity waves” propagate instantaneously, faster than the speed of light. This is a load of crap.
- Any time you have curvature of space due to gravity, the distances increase, not decrease.
- Lazar says we “don’t understand gravity well”. More bullshit. The problem is Lazar doesn’t understand gravity well (Uh, gravity well…a joke for those who get it), else he would have come up with a better story. The scientific community understands gravity quite well, although it is a niche field. Does it understand it as well as it would like? Of course not, but the current theories are quite sound and they explain how it all works nicely and why things attract and can’t repel. But just because we understand how it works doesn’t mean we can duplicate it at high levels…unless you can get a few bazillion kilograms of matter into the lab.
- All current atomic theories (and they’re pretty damn good) hold that element 114 may be somewhat stable. It remains to be seen how long “somewhat stable” really is. There are certain “magic numbers” of the particles making up atoms that enhance stability, thus giving rise to the inert elements. This may be the case for 114, will all the electron orbitals nicely filled. Not so with 115. It should vanish rather quickly.
- If one could convert 100% of the matter in a 223 gram mass to energy (against a similar 223 gram mass of normal matter), you’d get about 5.6 billion kilowatt hours, enough to run a 100 megawatt load (Lazar’s low-end claim for the disc’s output) for just over 12 years. This is far shorter than his claimed 20-30 year life. But even under Lazar’s description you wouldn’t get 100%. He claims that after 115 is bombarded by a proton, it becomes 116, then releases a particle of anti-hydrogen (not that there’s ever been an example of such a reaction before!). That means over 99% of the mass of the original 115 remains, if only as collections of lower Z number elements. So even if his “process” worked as he claims, there would only be a conversion of well under 1% of the initial mass into various sorts of energy, not out of line with normal fission reactors. Note that this means that instead of 12 years, those 115 guzzling discs would blow through their supply of 115 in about 5 weeks. Of course, your mileage may vary.
- Ah, but there’s more to this antimatter garbage. Lazar claims the reactor is thermo-ionic (and 100% efficient at that! But he’s such an honest guy that he carefully points out this apparent contradiction). He repeatedly refers to its conversion of the heat released in the antimatter reaction to electricity. The problem is that only a very small part of the energy of an antimatter reaction as described by Lazar is actually heat. Most of the energy goes to into the generation of high speed particles and radiation. He never explains what becomes of all this nuclear debris. Perhaps he should have paid more attention at MIT when he was working on his MHD thesis.
- Lazar claims in the antimatter reactor the protons are channeled up a tube with a pretty tight radius. The problems of proton confinement to such a path are pretty significant. After the proton hits the 115, the antihydrogen is released “in a vacuum into a tuned tube” (perhaps he’s confused with the headers on his Corvette?), then directed down “toward a gaseous target”. Neat trick, having a gaseous target in the same tube as a vacuum, but that’s slick Zeta Recticulan technology for you!
- There’s quite a bit more that reeks of Lazar’s science. Unfortunately it gets a little more involved technically and requires more space than I want to devote to deal with it. But what I’ve listed so far would totally blow Lazar out of the water with anyone with technical knowledge. This is crap science fiction folks.
Is he telling the truth about anything? I do think he worked at Los Alamos, but not necessarily in the capacity he’s claimed. I believe he worked for one of the lab’s subcontractors, in a limited capacity, for a limited amount of time. Also, not as a physicist, but a technician. So maybe there is a kernel of truth in his story, but it’s a pretty small kernel, and certainly not reason enough to believe his later saucer stories.
There are quite a few other people who know Lazar is lying. These are the folks who work at “the test facility” (or whatever other euphemism they prefer). Unfortunately for us on the outside of the fence, those who really know aren’t allowed to talk about things out there at all. And they don’t talk, not even to say something as simple as “He’s a liar”. They just go about their business, bewildered that the general public could believe such foolishness. But sometimes, just sometimes, in private moments, a few of them will let a little of the truth out. For
that I am very thankful.
A parting thought on this subject: The best con men are the most sincere.
But aren’t there any Dragons???
Maybe. I’d like to think there are, anyway. The only spot that retains a bit of mystery for me is the northern part of Area 19 at the far northern reaches of the Test Site (described in other sections of this web site). Recently I went along on a tour of the NTS which included portions of Areas 19 and 20. While we cruised through a lot of Area 20, we stuck to the main road (Pahute Mesa Road) when traversing Area 19. There was a pretty good dirt road showing some use, heading off north into Dead Horse Flat. When asked about the road and where it went, our guide, who had been at the NTS for quite a while, said he had never been up there. That was a nice, safe statement.
Not long ago, I had the chance to chat with John Lear on the subject. Now I find Lear to be a real nice guy, but I think he’s too accepting of other people’s stories. Nevertheless, I was quite surprised to find that the underground “Sandia Base” that he talks about is supposedly only a few miles west of Dead Horse Flat, near Silent Canyon. I find it most interesting that his sources of information, sharply different from mine, coincide on the same area. Further, his stories also tell of a “hidden” runway. Hmmmm.
Finally, a story from an NTS worker. A few years ago, this worker had occasion to be traveling through the Area 19/20 vicinity. He found the road blocked by a guard and could not proceed. He was required to travel many miles out of his way to get around the area. Neither the guard nor later inquiries of other coworkers (who were reasonably well plugged into things) could say what was going on up there, but that indeed something was.
Alas, this is admittedly all circumstantial stuff. If it holds to the pattern of everything else out there, it will turn out to be nothing. I, for one, would love to have a look. Still, it would be nice to think that the dragons still lurk on the Nellis Range, perhaps retreating to a lair deep under Dead Horse Flat.
So what does the future hold? I suspect this site will be around for at least a while, as I’m too lazy to cancel it. But I’m also too lazy to add to it, not seeing much point anymore. I do have hopes the info on Lazar will continue to be useful to the many newcomers who stumble across the story and want to know more. And maybe it will continue to annoy certain others…one can only hope. Use the info or ignore it. It’s up to you.
And by all means, if you have a chance to get out towards Area 51, do it! You won’t be disappointed even if you don’t see saucers zipping through the sky. A trip to Rachel with stops at the Inn and the Research Center is wonderfully surreal. An evening near the black mailbox doing a little people watching will provide you with stories to tell for years to come. And maybe a trip up Tikaboo to see that damn secret base. But throughout it all is the vast, beautiful desert. And even if you don’t find any discs, you may just find yourself.
As for me, I seem to have an odd talent for bumping into weird and unusual things, and I already have something most fascinating, peeing on my doorstep. At the very least it will keep me out of trouble for a while. Perhaps it will lead to another website, perhaps something else.
I’ll probably make it back out to Area 51 and vicinity a few times in the future, not so much for the mysteries, as for the social aspect. I have met some of the most entertaining and interesting characters of my life, and I greatly enjoy their company. Because of their company, I never cared that I never saw anything. Overall, it’s been a hell of a lot of fun and a worthy quest.
But oh, to return to those days of dragons….
Would someone please turn out the lights on their way out?
May 6, 1997
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