A 2.8 magnitude earthquake that rattled Las Vegas Monday hit just miles from the secretive US Air Force base Area 51.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) says the quake struck 32 miles southeast of Beatty that sits about 60 miles from the mysterious military facility.
Area 51 has become a cultural phenomenon thanks to decades of conspiracy theories connecting the base to UFOs, aliens, and experimental aircraft testing.
The announcement of a large tremor right on the base’s doorstep will likely ramp up the speculation of what might be happening underground at this top secret facility – even if this was just an ordinary earthquake.
The small earthquake was detected at 2:11 a.m. PST Monday.
Although an earthquake above 2.5 in magnitude can often be felt and cause minor damage, there have not been any reports of injuries due to the quake.
Nevada is one of the most seismically active states in the country, according to the National Parks Service.
Officials say it ranks third after California and Alaska because of the state’s many faults, found at the base of almost every mountain range.
The USGS reported that a 2.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nevada on February 10, roughly 50 south of the mysterious US Air Force base Area 51.
The 2.8 magnitude quake near Area 51 – and less than 80 miles from Las Vegas – wasn’t even the largest seismic event in Nevada in recent months.
A 5.7 magnitude earthquake shook northern Nevada on December 9, 2024.
It was the largest quake since May 15, 2020, when a 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck the Monte Cristo Range.
Nevada experiences thousands of microearthquakes each year, according to Shakeout.
‘Earthquakes in Western Nevada are caused by the extension that is pulling Nevada apart and wrenching created as the Sierra Nevada is pulled to the north because it is caught up in the Pacific-North America plate motion,’ the site explains.
If you’re hoping to ask someone at the secretive military base about the earthquake, think again.
Area 51 is not accessible by the public and is even off-limits to regular military air traffic.
In fact, a Google map of the area where Monday’s earthquake took place will show you nothing at all – no base or mention of the Air Force’s presence in the Nevada desert.
Above, a satellite view of Area 51. The United States Air Force facility is a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base, within the Nevada Test and Training Range.
However, some believe the theories about Area 51 are true and say the details will soon become public.
Jim Goodall, an aviation journalist with firsthand sources who worked at the classified base, gave an interview in the mid-1990s where he discussed top-secret technologies at the site that ‘would make George Lucas envious.’
‘One gentleman spent 12 of his 30 years in black programs at Groom Lake [as Area 51 is also known],’ Goodall explained in a recently unearthed documentary interview.
‘I asked him, ‘Can you really tell me what’s happening out there?” he continued.
‘And he said, ‘Well, there’s a lot of things going on there that I won’t be able to tell you until the year 2025.”
The mention of ‘2025’ could refer to an executive order by then-President Bill Clinton, which established a 25-year timer for the ‘automatic declassification’ of government secrets.
Recently, secret military testing has been a hot topic throughout the US as countless people have spotted mysterious drone swarms over their neighborhoods.
In November, scores of witnesses revealed footage of eerie ‘drone’ UFO swarms buzzing key US military sites, including ‘a big fireball in a cube’ over Area 51.
The Las Vegas-area witness who reported this bizarre cube-shaped object claims to have observed similar strange aerial lights in the area ‘over 100 times’ since June 2020, adding that these craft always seem to head towards the top secret base.
One Las Vegas witness, who documented their own months-long experience with the odd lights near Area 51 on Sept. 4, 2024, hoped coming forward might end their own confusion: ‘Just wondering what it all is.’ Above, a still from that witness’s video, dubbed Enigma #298748
‘I lived under a commercial flight pattern near the airport, so I’m very familiar with what airplanes and conventional aircraft look and behave like,’ one observer to a September 13, 2022 case (above) stated. ‘This was not conventional,’ they said of the ‘very bright light.’
A Google map search of the area where the February 10 earthquake took place shows a blank space where Area 51 should be.
In 2022, former President Bill Clinton told James Cordon he sent federal agents to Area 51 to find out if aliens were hiding there.
‘When I was president, and I had a Chief of Staff John Podesta – he loved science fiction – he made every attempt to find out everything about Roswell. And we also sent people to Area 51, we wanted to make sure there were no aliens,’ the 42nd president said.
When Cordon excitedly asked the former president who exactly he sent to the coveted area, he grabbed the late-night host’s shoulder and said: ‘Oh, if I told you that.’
However, Clinton ended up revealing that, while the alien hunt was a disappointment, the base was used as a research and test ground for stealth aircraft.
‘I got to find out how we’re going to deal with this, because [Area 51] is where we do a lot our invisibility research in terms of technology, like how do we fly airplanes that aren’t pick up by radar and all that,’ he said. ‘So that’s why they’re so secretive.’
As for the current commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump noted during the 2024 campaign that he isn’t really a conspiracy theorist when it comes to the famous base.
Trump said during his interview on the Joe Rogan podcast, ‘I have to be honest. I have never been a believer. I have people that Area 51 or whatever it is. I think it’s the number one tourist attraction in the whole country or something. Area 51 in Las Vegas.’
