Elon Musk's Tweet Reignites Area 51 Craze Online as Event to Storm Top-Secret US Base Cancelled

US visionary and Tesla founder Elon Musk has galvanised the several-months-old Area 51 meme spawned by a Facebook event that called on netizens to storm the top-secret military base, which is rumoured to conceal evidence of aliens’ existence.

While the initial break-in event, scheduled for 20 September, and the subsequent “Storm Area 51”-themed venues in Nevada were cancelled over safety concerns, Musk did not let the hype die out completely, cracking a geeky math joke and a drug-related comment reading “DMT FTW”. The caption stands for “N,N-Dimethyltryptamine for the win”, which is a psychedelic drug that UFC commentator and Musk’s pal Joe Rogan often jokes about.

​Musk’s tweet inspired netizens to reminisce about this summer’s meme hysteria and share their favourite Storm Area 51-related jokes.

​Some combined Area 51 and Elon Musk’s jokes.

​However, some preferred to focus on math and physics jokes.

​Over two million people said that they planned to attend the event, initially called “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us”, which went viral on Facebook earlier this summer. Another 1.4 million said they were interested in participating. However, the event was eventually cancelled amid warnings from the US military that cautioned attendees against trying to storm the base.

The original event, jokingly planned as a mass raid on the top-secret US base, morphed into a desert festival dubbed “Alienstock” in Rachel, Nevada, and a “Storm Area 51 Basecamp” event in Hiko, Nevada. However, they have recently also been cancelled after organisers raised concerns over the safety and comfort of visitors.