August 7, 1998: Area 51 Employee Lines
A retired airborne engineer describes penetrating Area 51 security with a 40 percent success rate during exercises fifteen years prior. A former Palmdale defense contractor details working on the B-2 bomber and encountering an aluminum-titanium composite bound with an uncuttable silk fabric that could only be fabricated at Area 51. An archaeologist recounts hiking 100 miles into the restricted zone following the trail of the 1849 Death Valley wagon train, photographing Papoose Lake, and feeling sustained underground vibrations. A 15-year base operations veteran confirms seeing five star-like objects perform impossible maneuvers overhead but insists everything else at the facility involved classified but conventional military hardware.
The broadcast climaxes when a frantic caller claiming a recent medical discharge from Area 51 warns about extradimensional beings infiltrating the military. Mid-sentence, the GE-2 satellite transmission fails completely in one of the most discussed moments in the history of the program.
Key Moments
1,850 federal workers at Area 51: Art reads a Drudge/Scripps Howard scoop reporting more than 1,850 federal civilian workers are still employed at Area 51 despite federal downsizing, framing the night's open-line topic.
Fred, 15-year base ops Area 51 employee: Art calls a faxer named Fred who says he ran base ops at Area 51 for 15 years; Fred describes seeing five 'star-like' craft do impossible 90-degree turns and confirms he is part of a class action against the government over exotic-materials exposure.
Archaeologist who hiked into Area 51 for a week: A caller identifying himself as an archaeologist tracking the 1849 Death Valley 49ers wagon train says he illegally hiked into the restricted zone for a week, came within a mile of Papoose Lake, and felt sustained ground vibrations.
Transmitter dies mid-call during paranoid Area 51 caller: A caller saying he was medically discharged from Area 51 a week earlier begins describing extra-dimensional infiltration and population-culling plans - and Art's transmitter abruptly fails mid-sentence, forcing the show to a backup link.