April 21, 2026 • 9 mins
Humans are fascinated by space. We gaze up at the night sky and ask what and who is up there? Ancient cave drawings illustrated those thoughts thousands of years ago. Even “Disclosure Day” poses the question. But recently we’ve added one more question: does the government know something they’re not telling us?
Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover. On Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, there's something about the night sky that makes
you wonder. For thousands of years, humans have looked up
and asked the same question, are we alone? But in
the last eighty years that question has taken a darker,
more controversial turn, because now the questions aren't just are
aliens real? And if so, are they here? I'm Patty Steele.
(00:21):
The latest question is does the government already know the
answer to the first two questions? That's next on the backstory.
The backstory is back. We're all curious about half told stories.
We want answers. In fact, Steven Spielberg's summer blockbuster this
June is called Disclosure Day. It explores what life would
(00:45):
be like if we suddenly knew aliens were among us.
For a look at how our curiosity has evolved, let's
head into the desert of New Mexico. It's nineteen forty seven.
A rancher finds odd looking debris scattered across his land,
and its metallic lightweight like nothing he's ever seen. He
calls the military. At first they issue a statement saying
(01:07):
they've recovered a flying disc. Then they'd take it away
to take a closer look, and suddenly they claim it's
just a weather balloon. Years later they admit it was
a top secret balloon test to monitor Soviet nuclear facilities.
But that moment in the New Mexico Desert becomes the
Roswell incident as well as ground zero for modern UFO
(01:30):
conspiracy theories. A question is why did the FEDS suddenly
change their story? Why the secrecy? Well, to some Roswell
was the first sign that something bigger was being covered up.
There were rumors that the wreckage of the balloon's slash
disc was eventually brought to Area fifty one, the government's
sight in the Nevada Desert for testing super secret aircraft.
(01:53):
It's so secret the government only acknowledged Area fifty one's
existence just twelve years ago. Now here's the setting. If
you drive long enough into southern Nevada, the landscape starts
to feel almost theatrical. The mountains seemed to hold their breath.
The stillness is breathtaking itself. Then through the haze from
(02:14):
the heat, you spot it. It's Area fifty one. It's
located at Groom Lake, a dry lake bed about eighty
three miles northwest of Las Vegas. For decades, the government
refused to talk about the base. No sign on the
highway said Area fifty one. There's no visitors center or
tours to explain its mission, just the desert warning signs
(02:37):
and a feeling that whatever was happening out there was
not meant for civilian eyes. I can tell you I
tried driving there myself and got that same feeling. Now,
in the beginning, the CIA needed a place to test
an aircraft so secret then even admitting its existence was
off the table. That aircraft was the U two, a
(02:58):
high altitude spy plane designed to fly above Soviet air
defenses and photograph sensitive sites. Area fifty one was perfect.
So the base was born not from a UFO mystery,
but from human espionage projects. Nonetheless, during the Cold War,
the US launches an official investigation into UFO sightings called
(03:19):
Project Bluebook, and between nineteen fifty two and nineteen sixty
nine they investigate over twelve thousand reports. Their conclusion, most
sightings can be explained weather, balloons, aircraft, natural phenomena, But
much to the delight of conspiracy theorists, about seven hundred
cases remained unexplained, not debunked, not clarified, just unexplained. And
(03:44):
those theorists claimed the Roswell wreckage was brought to Area
fifty one so the FEDS could do some reverse engineering
with the alien craft. Area fifty one has long been
rumored to house alien technology, even alien bodies. Witnesses claimed
to have seen strange aircraft moving in impossible ways, faster
(04:04):
than anything publicly known, and then in the late nineteen eighties,
a guy named Bob Lazarre steps forward. He claims he's
worked at a secret facility near Area fifty one. His
job reverse engineering alien spacecraft. Lazarre describes propulsion systems that
to five physics, materials that can't be replicated, unusual fuels,
(04:27):
and the government ever to keep it all hidden. He
says he's read documents the detail alien involvement with humans
starting at least ten thousand years ago. His interviews were
electrifying and very specific. He named places, described aircraft, and
spoke with kind of the calm confidence of somebody presenting
technical knowledge. For believers, he was the whistleblower. For skeptics,
(04:53):
there were serious problems. Questions emerged about his education, employment history,
and credentials. Many researchers claimed that his account was fabricated.
He claimed his records were wiped out, but none of
that killed the myth. It simply expanded it because Lazar's
importance wasn't in the details. His story gave Area fifty
(05:16):
one a narrative architecture. Before him, the base was just
a suspicious secret. After him, it had hangars, compartments, crafts,
and a plot. It was easier for the public to
imagine not just a hidden base, but an entire hidden program,
and that made it thrilling. He reignited the public fascination
(05:37):
with UFOs and especially its fascination with Area fifty one,
and the alien angle actually helped the government obscure the
testing of top secret surveillance aircraft, so they didn't budge
too much. The UFO speculation itself acted like camouflage. It's
not that officials deliberately invented aliens as a grandmaster plan,
(05:59):
but that aliens were useful background noise when the real
secret was advanced military technology. The thought was, if people
are out there arguing about little green men, they're going
to be less focused on reconnaissance platforms and radar evasion.
But the questions continued, and in twenty twenty, the Pentagon
officially released videos showing unidentified aerial phenomena UFOs rebranded as UAPs.
(06:26):
They were objects moving in ways that pilots couldn't explain.
No wings, no visible propulsion, extreme speeds. The government didn't
call them alien spacecraft, but they didn't explain them either. Finally,
a bombshell from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
It admitted that a lot of UFO's sightings are still unexplained,
(06:47):
even with advanced technology. These objects are real, they're unidentified,
and they might represent something we don't fully understand. The
enduring power of Area fifty one is not that it
proves the alien story, but that it makes the alien
story feel possible. A hidden base in the desert, a
government that keeps its mouth shut, aircraft so advanced they
(07:11):
look otherworldly. So what are the theories. Well, some believe
governments have recovered alien technology and are secretly studying it
to gain a military advantage. Others think world leaders are
hiding the truth to avoid panic. Look, the sky isn't
fully understood. Plus there's a psychological angle to all of this.
(07:32):
UFO conspiracies tap into something deeply human curiosity, fear, and
the desire to believe there's more out there. But here's
the thing. If aliens exist, it changes everything, our place
in the universe, our understanding of life, what it means
to be human. So where does that leave us? Somewhere
(07:54):
between what's proven and what's possible. Now, the truth is,
we don't have definitive proof of alien visitation, but we
do have a lot of unanswered questions, and maybe, as
it has been for humans over thousands of years, the
mystery is the point, because as long as there are
strange lights in the night sky, the question will remain.
(08:17):
Are we suddenly being watched? Or are we just beginning
to notice? I hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele.
Please leave a review. I'd love it if you'd subscribe
or follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically.
Also feel free to DM me if you have a
story'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele
and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The
(08:44):
Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis
Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
(09:06):
to the backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history
you didn't know you needed to know.
You know, there's something about the night sky that makes
you wonder. For thousands of years, humans have looked up
and asked the same question, are we alone? But in
the last eighty years that question has taken a darker,
more controversial turn, because now the questions aren't just are
aliens real? And if so, are they here? I'm Patty Steele.
(00:21):
The latest question is does the government already know the
answer to the first two questions? That's next on the backstory.
The backstory is back. We're all curious about half told stories.
We want answers. In fact, Steven Spielberg's summer blockbuster this
June is called Disclosure Day. It explores what life would
(00:45):
be like if we suddenly knew aliens were among us.
For a look at how our curiosity has evolved, let's
head into the desert of New Mexico. It's nineteen forty seven.
A rancher finds odd looking debris scattered across his land,
and its metallic lightweight like nothing he's ever seen. He
calls the military. At first they issue a statement saying
(01:07):
they've recovered a flying disc. Then they'd take it away
to take a closer look, and suddenly they claim it's
just a weather balloon. Years later they admit it was
a top secret balloon test to monitor Soviet nuclear facilities.
But that moment in the New Mexico Desert becomes the
Roswell incident as well as ground zero for modern UFO
(01:30):
conspiracy theories. A question is why did the FEDS suddenly
change their story? Why the secrecy? Well, to some Roswell
was the first sign that something bigger was being covered up.
There were rumors that the wreckage of the balloon's slash
disc was eventually brought to Area fifty one, the government's
sight in the Nevada Desert for testing super secret aircraft.
(01:53):
It's so secret the government only acknowledged Area fifty one's
existence just twelve years ago. Now here's the setting. If
you drive long enough into southern Nevada, the landscape starts
to feel almost theatrical. The mountains seemed to hold their breath.
The stillness is breathtaking itself. Then through the haze from
(02:14):
the heat, you spot it. It's Area fifty one. It's
located at Groom Lake, a dry lake bed about eighty
three miles northwest of Las Vegas. For decades, the government
refused to talk about the base. No sign on the
highway said Area fifty one. There's no visitors center or
tours to explain its mission, just the desert warning signs
(02:37):
and a feeling that whatever was happening out there was
not meant for civilian eyes. I can tell you I
tried driving there myself and got that same feeling. Now,
in the beginning, the CIA needed a place to test
an aircraft so secret then even admitting its existence was
off the table. That aircraft was the U two, a
(02:58):
high altitude spy plane designed to fly above Soviet air
defenses and photograph sensitive sites. Area fifty one was perfect.
So the base was born not from a UFO mystery,
but from human espionage projects. Nonetheless, during the Cold War,
the US launches an official investigation into UFO sightings called
(03:19):
Project Bluebook, and between nineteen fifty two and nineteen sixty
nine they investigate over twelve thousand reports. Their conclusion, most
sightings can be explained weather, balloons, aircraft, natural phenomena, But
much to the delight of conspiracy theorists, about seven hundred
cases remained unexplained, not debunked, not clarified, just unexplained. And
(03:44):
those theorists claimed the Roswell wreckage was brought to Area
fifty one so the FEDS could do some reverse engineering
with the alien craft. Area fifty one has long been
rumored to house alien technology, even alien bodies. Witnesses claimed
to have seen strange aircraft moving in impossible ways, faster
(04:04):
than anything publicly known, and then in the late nineteen eighties,
a guy named Bob Lazarre steps forward. He claims he's
worked at a secret facility near Area fifty one. His
job reverse engineering alien spacecraft. Lazarre describes propulsion systems that
to five physics, materials that can't be replicated, unusual fuels,
(04:27):
and the government ever to keep it all hidden. He
says he's read documents the detail alien involvement with humans
starting at least ten thousand years ago. His interviews were
electrifying and very specific. He named places, described aircraft, and
spoke with kind of the calm confidence of somebody presenting
technical knowledge. For believers, he was the whistleblower. For skeptics,
(04:53):
there were serious problems. Questions emerged about his education, employment history,
and credentials. Many researchers claimed that his account was fabricated.
He claimed his records were wiped out, but none of
that killed the myth. It simply expanded it because Lazar's
importance wasn't in the details. His story gave Area fifty
(05:16):
one a narrative architecture. Before him, the base was just
a suspicious secret. After him, it had hangars, compartments, crafts,
and a plot. It was easier for the public to
imagine not just a hidden base, but an entire hidden program,
and that made it thrilling. He reignited the public fascination
(05:37):
with UFOs and especially its fascination with Area fifty one,
and the alien angle actually helped the government obscure the
testing of top secret surveillance aircraft, so they didn't budge
too much. The UFO speculation itself acted like camouflage. It's
not that officials deliberately invented aliens as a grandmaster plan,
(05:59):
but that aliens were useful background noise when the real
secret was advanced military technology. The thought was, if people
are out there arguing about little green men, they're going
to be less focused on reconnaissance platforms and radar evasion.
But the questions continued, and in twenty twenty, the Pentagon
officially released videos showing unidentified aerial phenomena UFOs rebranded as UAPs.
(06:26):
They were objects moving in ways that pilots couldn't explain.
No wings, no visible propulsion, extreme speeds. The government didn't
call them alien spacecraft, but they didn't explain them either. Finally,
a bombshell from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
It admitted that a lot of UFO's sightings are still unexplained,
(06:47):
even with advanced technology. These objects are real, they're unidentified,
and they might represent something we don't fully understand. The
enduring power of Area fifty one is not that it
proves the alien story, but that it makes the alien
story feel possible. A hidden base in the desert, a
government that keeps its mouth shut, aircraft so advanced they
(07:11):
look otherworldly. So what are the theories. Well, some believe
governments have recovered alien technology and are secretly studying it
to gain a military advantage. Others think world leaders are
hiding the truth to avoid panic. Look, the sky isn't
fully understood. Plus there's a psychological angle to all of this.
(07:32):
UFO conspiracies tap into something deeply human curiosity, fear, and
the desire to believe there's more out there. But here's
the thing. If aliens exist, it changes everything, our place
in the universe, our understanding of life, what it means
to be human. So where does that leave us? Somewhere
(07:54):
between what's proven and what's possible. Now, the truth is,
we don't have definitive proof of alien visitation, but we
do have a lot of unanswered questions, and maybe, as
it has been for humans over thousands of years, the
mystery is the point, because as long as there are
strange lights in the night sky, the question will remain.
(08:17):
Are we suddenly being watched? Or are we just beginning
to notice? I hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele.
Please leave a review. I'd love it if you'd subscribe
or follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically.
Also feel free to DM me if you have a
story'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele
and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The
(08:44):
Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis
Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
(09:06):
to the backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history
you didn't know you needed to know.
Host
Patty Steele
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