--- title: The Man Who Started the Area 51 Raid Says Things Got Spooky description: The guy who started the Area 51 Facebook group has revealed himself, and he thinks things have gotten out of hand. canonical: https://time.com/5629756/area-51-invasion/ author: Rachel E. Greenspan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-07-18T17:56:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:59:36.611Z og:title: The Man Who Started the Area 51 Raid Says Things Have Gotten a Little Spooky og:description: He hopes everyone knows it's a satirical page og:url: https://time.com/5629756/area-51-invasion/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0955631cb171fd61/698a0028457a52e88cd62855/man-who-started-area-51-facebook-group.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2121 og:image:height: 1193 og:image:alt: The Man Who Started the Area 51 Raid Says Things Got Spooky og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Man Who Started the Area 51 Raid Says Things Have Gotten a Little Spooky twitter:description: He hopes everyone knows it's a satirical page twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0955631cb171fd61/698a0028457a52e88cd62855/man-who-started-area-51-facebook-group.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Man Who Started the Area 51 Raid Says Things Have Gotten a Little Spooky > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b4037dfb-8238-4ce9-83dc-1d8a579a8dbc&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Rachel E. Greenspan](https://time.com/author/rachel-e-greenspan/) ## Rachel E. Greenspan Jul 18, 2019 5:56 PM UTC  An editorial stock photo of the Extraterrestrial Highway road sign in Rachel, Nevada. The sign is covered in stickers and graffiti from the many tourists who visit the area with hopes of finding a UFO or an Alien. An editorial stock photo of the Extraterrestrial Highway road sign in Rachel, Nevada. The sign is covered in stickers and graffiti from the many tourists who visit the area with hopes of finding a UFO or an Alien. Getty Images by [Rachel E. Greenspan](https://time.com/author/rachel-e-greenspan/) ## Rachel E. Greenspan Jul 18, 2019 5:56 PM UTC The guy who started the [Area 51 Facebook group](https://time.com/5628182/area-51-training-video/) has spoken, and he thinks [things have gotten out of hand](https://time.com/5626450/storm-area-51-alien-memes/). Matty Roberts of California, the person who says he’s behind the meme finally gave an interview with KLAS-TV on Wednesday. Not only is he afraid of the FBI, Roberts said, but he thinks things “got a little spooky” ever since his joke became such an internet-swallowing sensation. The proposed [Sept. 20 event](https://www.facebook.com/events/area-51/storm-area-51-they-cant-stop-all-of-us/448435052621047/), “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us,” calls for people to storm the top-secret military base as part of an ongoing conspiracy theory that the U.S. government is conducting tests with space aliens. Roberts never intended for the page to be taken literally. “It’s entirely satirical,” [he told NPR](https://www.npr.org/2019/07/15/741938966/more-than-1-million-people-agree-to-storm-area-51-but-the-air-force-says-stay-ho) under a pseudonym in a previous interview, “and most people seem to understand that.” The U.S. Air Force certainly hopes that’s true, at least, and issued a warning in the wake of the so-called [Area 51 raid](https://time.com/5628391/area-51-meme-explained/). A spokesperson [told the New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/us/area-51-raid.html) and various outlets in a statement that “any attempt to illegally access military installations or military training areas is dangerous.” As of Thursday afternoon, the page has 1.6 million people “going” to the event, and 1.2 million are “interested.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5629756/area-51-invasion/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5629756/area-51-invasion/"},"headline":"The Man Who Started the Area 51 Raid Says Things Have Gotten a Little Spooky","datePublished":"2019-07-18T17:56:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:59:36.611Z","description":"He hopes everyone knows it's a satirical page","url":"https://time.com/5629756/area-51-invasion/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime","apollo1150"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0955631cb171fd61/698a0028457a52e88cd62855/man-who-started-area-51-facebook-group.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rachel E. 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