Several months ago, a Facebook joke inviting everybody to “storm Area 51” on September 20 got out of hand.
The alien conspiracy theory is centered on Area 51, a secretive military base near the obscure town of Rachel, Nevada.
While the majority of people realized it was nothing serious, still millions of people committed to the idea to charge right at the armed guards of Area 51, claiming that “they can’t stop all of us” and “the bullets won’t hit us, not if we Naruto run”.
Naruto is the titular character in a series of Japanese manga comics, and the mass “Naruto run” made almost two million people signed up to the Facebook event.
The whole thing inspired thousands of memes and endless hours of Internet fun, but as the date was coming close, people have started to show up on the spot.
One wave of Naruto runners, or two YouTubers, were arrested several days prior to the event, as they made it about 5 kilometers (3 miles) inside the Air Force base. At this point, officers from the Nye County Sheriff’s Office detained them and confiscated their equipment.
However, another incident happened while Joe Bartels was describing the scene and people gathering in the small US town of Rachel, as a Naruto runner appeared behind just him.
Bartels reported that there were numerous campers and RVs on the spot, as there are no hotels in the isolated area. He added that they were told that people from all around the world are coming to the place, all interested to see what happens after that viral idea to storm Area 51 – that secret military base near the area.
Over 30,000 people are expected to show up during the course of the three-day alien-themed festival Alienstock, organized to take place alongside the Area 51 raid.
However, just before the reporter closed his news segment on KTNV, he was upstaged by the perfectly timed runner.
His appearance is a hilarious reference to the original event’s satirical description which said, ‘if we Naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. Let’s see them, aliens.’
After spotting the runner, people were quick to comment on the event online, many agreeing that the runner will go down in history.
However, no one expected the event to grow out of proportions, but as there is a possibility of 35,000 to 40,000 people showing up, the American Air Force is discouraging people from attempting to invade an ‘open training range’.
US Air Force spokesperson Laura McAndrews explained that Area 51 is an open training range for the US Air Force, so they would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where American armed forces are trained.
She added that the US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets, without mentioning their plans for protecting the training range from invaders.
Sources:
www.unilad.co.uk
www.iflscience.com
www.standard.co.uk