More than 40,000 people say they’re ready to descend upon the Bermuda Triangle in order to learn more about the mysterious region.
Facebook user Anthony Dominick Carnovale has created an event titled ‘Storm The Bermuda Triangle, It Can’t Swallow Us All’, and it’s quickly captured public interest in the six days since its been set up.
It comes in the wake of a similar ‘Storm Area 51’ event, in which more than 1.6 million Facebook users expressed interest in raiding the classified Air Force base to uncover evidence of extraterrestrial life.
But while plans for the Area 51 festivities have now been unveiled as a ‘joke’ by organizers, Carnovale says he’s serious about bringing people to Bermuda.
More than 40,000 people say they’re ready to descend upon the Bermuda Triangle in order to learn more about the mysterious region
Facebook user Anthony Dominick Carnovale (pictured) says he’s serious about holding the event – scheduled for October 1
A GoFundMe has been set up to help fund the event, which has been scheduled for October 1 and already has 18,000 listed as ‘attending’.
Carnovale told Fox 11 that he will ‘provide boats and scuba gear’ for the festivities, and that it will feature ‘live music, entertainment, [and a ] beach party’.
‘I’m contractually obligated to only use the money for the event. If I somehow can’t, I have to give everyone their money back,’ Carnovale told the news network, insisting he was serious about holding the festival.
However, so far, just $10 of a desired $75,000 has been raised.
Like Area 51, the Bermuda Triangle has captured the interest of conspiracy theorists. Explorers in 1991 are seen examining a plane that had been missing for more than four decades in the mysterious area
It comes just 24 hours after the organizer of the ‘Storm Area 51’ event went public and revealed his event was originally organized as a joke.
On Wednesday, Matty Roberts, who did not reveal his age or home town, told Nevada’s KLAS-TV via video call he was amazed at how his hoax took off.
‘I posted it on like June 27th and it was kind of a joke,’ Roberts said.
‘And then it waited for like three days and like 40 people, and then it just completely took off, out of nowhere. It’s pretty wild.’
Roberts said he had decided to come forward out of fear the FBI would come to question him over the joke after millions of UFO conspiracy theory fans signed up to invade the top-secret US Air Force base.
‘I was like, the FBI is going to show up at my house and it got a little spooky from there,’ he said.
Matty Roberts broke cover on Wednesday, owning up to starting the ‘Storm Area 51’ hoax that has gone viral on social media
More than 1.5 million people had signed up as ‘going’ to the ‘Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us’ Facebook event scheduled for September 20, with another 1.1 million ‘interested.’
On Monday Roberts contacted news site NPR under they pseudonym ‘Val’, insisting the Facebook page was only ‘satirical.’
‘I just thought it would be a funny idea for the meme page,’ Val said via Facebook Messenger.
‘And it just took off like wildfire. It’s entirely satirical though, and most people seem to understand that.’
‘Area 51’ is the popular moniker for the Nevada Test and Training Range, where the US Air Force has tested top-secret aircraft since the 1950s.
Famous machines developed there include the U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird spy planes and the F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter.
Conspiracy theorists claim the base was used to research an alleged crashed alien spacecraft at Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947.
Roberts said his prank was inspired by podcaster Joe Rogan’s recent interview with Bob Lazar, the man who claims he worked at Area 51, reverse-engineering alien technology from one such flying saucer.
The ‘Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us’ Facebook event is scheduled to take place on September 20 and has now attracted 1.3 million alien conspiracy theorists
One of many humorous internet memes about the ‘Storn Area 51’ craze that has gripped social media
Lazar’s claims were first publicized by KLAS TV in 1989. Most recently he was the subject of the 2018 film Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers by conspiracy theory documentary-maker Jeremy Corbell.
A company called Area15, which operates a shopping mall in the area and runs live immersive experiences, was planning to livestream the assault on the ‘top-secret’ military base after its bosses’ curiosity was piqued.
Despite the fun nature of the event, a spokesperson for the US military warned off would-be UFO raiders.
A spokesperson told the DailyMail.com: ‘[Area 51] is an open training range for the US Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces.
‘The US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets.’
The last known person who went hunting for aliens at Area 51 was shot dead by guards back in January.
What takes place inside the heavy-duty fence at Area 51 has remained a mystery to anyone without high-level security clearance, save for a few photos taken illegally by curious conspiracy theorists.
In 2013 the US government admitted that the base is a secret intelligence hub when the CIA released an official history of the U-2 and OXCART projects, along with aerial photos of the site.
NTTR experienced a rare security breach in January when an unidentified male sped through a checkpoint at the entrance.
Area 51 has become the subject of numerous UFO sightings and has become inextricably linked in the public’s mind with captive aliens and government conspiracies
More than a million people have RSVPd that they are ‘going’ to the event. One attendee posted a map explaining how the group would approach the highly-secure base
The base was erected in a remote part of the Nevada desert to avoid prying eyes
Guards and Nye County police chased him at high-speed for about eight miles before he came to a stop and exited his vehicle.
He began advancing toward officers with an ‘unknown cylindrical object’ in hand and did not heed verbal warnings to stop, so security officials were forced to open fire.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.