A Tale of Area 51
UFO Legends From Central Nevada
The son of yet another local Nevada resident has come forward
with an amazing, yet spooky tale of UFOs and government cover ups !

"I lived in the town of Rachel, NV in 1978-79 back before it became the UFO capital and all that hype. We did see a couple of strange happenings up there. I was in contact with Glenn Campbell, not the singer (the ufologist), for a couple of years, as my dad worked for 15 years on the atomic test site near Area 51. His partner was a security guard there, and told him a story about some type of mysterious craft that landed on a small dry lake on the site one night. Unfortunately they are both deceased now, and no corroboration is possible. Actually, for me, none is necessary ..... Neither of them were liars, so I am able to accept the story at face value whereas most could not."

~ David L. Souers


When Cyprus mines underground division in Bagdad, Arizona shut down in 1965, many of the miners left for the Atomic Test Site that is located north of Las Vegas. Their services as miners were needed to dig the shafts and tunnels that were used to place the various types of atomic devices that were being tested there. My father, and his partner, Charlie Arendale went too, and my dad went to work in the tunnels, while Charlie, who was getting to old and consequently unable to do the heavy work, got hired in as a security guard at the huge facility.

In 1978, while sitting around a campfire in the mountains of central Nevada, not too far from the infamous Area-51, my dad told me a tale about the test site that he asked me not to relate to anyone before his death, and the death of his friend Charlie. I think his actual words were, "I'm not paranoid, but I don't really want to push my luck either." He was definitely a firm believer in the old addage, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

He told me that Charlie had told him of a time when all of the available security personell from the "Test Site" had been bussed far into the remote reaches of the base one night. They were stationed around a portion of a dry lake bed, with automatic weapons, and told to shoot anyone or anything that intruded on the scene. All were admonished not to look inward towards the lake bed for any reason. After an indeterminate length of time, he heard a strange sound that seemed to descend vertically. After another period of time passed, they were all loaded back on the busses, and it was at this point that he saw a "circus" type of tent that had been erected over something that was being guarded by uniformed men that completely encircled the object. Two or three nights later, the entire scenario repeated itself in reverse.

The participants were sworn to secrecy, and told that they would suffer dire consequences if they ever did relate the events that had transpired to anyone.

When I told this story to Glenn Campbell, the UFO researcher who was living in Rachel, Nevada at the time, he found Charlie's son living in a suburb of Las Vegas, and he told Glenn that he had never heard the tale.

Obviously, two different scenarios can be developed from this. Either Charlie was trying to protect his family, or it didn't actually take place. All I can possibly add at this point is the fact that my father and Charlie weren't prone to telling stories that weren't based on facts, and that is as blatent an understatement as you're ever likely to hear........

David L. Souers