A Tiny Town Near Area 51 Braces For Alien Hunters

A small town in Nevada, named Rachel, is bracing to deal with possibly thousands of visitors coming to "storm" Area 51. More than 2 million people from around the world have signed up to raid Area 51 - a US military base that has long been rumoured to house extraterrestrials and UFOs - on September 20. The event, which started as a Facebook joke a few months ago, now has some residents of Rachel worried.

Rachel is home to around 50 people. About 43 kilometres away from Area 51, this tiny town has just one business - an alien-themed motel run by Connie West and her mother.

Some residents, like Pat Jordan, are worried that people descending upon Area 51 are going to overwhelm the town with no gas stations or grocery stores.

"That many people are going to stretch the community to the point that we can't cope with it," said Mr Jordan in an interview to Reuters.

"I really think people should be worried for their own sake," added Joerg Arnu, president of Rachel.

After the "Storm Area 51" event went viral online, authorities warned alien hunters against trying to enter the military base. "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 America armed forces," said US Air Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews.

Matty Roberts, the Facebook user who started the "Storm Area 51" event, is now trying to change gears, instead trying to draw visitors to Alienstock - a three-day music festival in Rachel that Connie is helping organise.