Everybody in the UFO community knows the story of Bob Lazar. However, I think it bears repeating, because this enigmatic physicist was the fellow who outed Area 51, and had a tremendous influence on the current thinking about reverse engineering so-called alien technology.
On May 15, 1989, Las Vegas reporter George Knapp interviewed “Dennis,” an anonymous whistleblower who claimed to work at a facility in the Nevada desert he called “S-4.” S-4 was supposedly a secure facility just south of a larger base he called “Area 51.” Up until that time, there had been rumors of a secret base in the desert northwest of Las Vegas, but the government firmly denied it. It wasn’t until August of 2013 that the C.I.A. formally admitted to its existence – a base where some of America’s most secret aircraft were developed and tested, including the U-2 spy plane, the SR-71 Blackbird, and the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter. But George Knapp’s whistleblower went a step further – he claimed to have worked on reverse-engineering captured alien spacecraft that were being stored at S-4. These human built copies of UFOs are called “ARVs,” or “Alien Reproduction Vehicles.”
In subsequent interviews, it was revealed that Dennis was actually Bob Lazar, a physicist who had been recruited from Los Alamos, the facility where the atomic bomb was developed. Immediately the sceptics swarmed. Background checks couldn’t find any references to Lazar's claims that he attended MIT or Caltech as he claimed he did, and the only mention of his being employed at Los Alamos was one report of his name being listed in a Los Alamos National Laboratory phone book. Regardless, Los Alamos denied Lazar had ever worked there. Many, including UFO researcher Stanton Freidman admitted they didn’t believe Lazar’s story. They doubt his wild tale of back-engineering alien technology, and even of his having been employed at Los Alamos, let alone Area 51.
So, what are we to make of this strange fellow with a penchant for wild stories of the extraterrestrial kind? Well, there’s more to Bob Lazar than meets the eye. First of all, does it not make sense that if Lazar violated his NDA and came forward as a whistleblower that those who employed him would want to discredit him? If his story is true, then he was privy to the most classified project in history, and those in charge would not want their intel offered up for public scrutiny. While it is true that they could have sanctioned him, but once the cat was out of the bag so to speak, it would be suspicious if he was found dead or simply disappeared. Such events could possibly lend credence to Lazar’s outlandish claims, and perhaps encourage additional individuals to come forward, or at least confirm his story. The powers that be may have decided to let Lazar tell his tale, assuming the general public wouldn’t believe him because of its “out of this world” nature (pun intended). It appears that may be what happened. Lazar became somewhat of a pariah, and was labelled a bit of a kook. However, George Knapp continued to believe him, for a couple of reasons.
In his explanation of how the aliens propulsion system worked, Lazar claimed that it was powered by something he called “Element 115.” Scientists scoffed, because in 1989, the periodic table only contained 108 elements. However, in 2004, Element 115 was added to the periodic table, and Bob Lazar experienced a certain degree of vindication. Also, even though he was no longer working at S-4, he told George Knapp when and where to go to witness weekly test flights of the ARVs. Knapp took a friend and went out to a location along the perimeter of Area 51 Lazar indicated, at the specified time, very late at night. Knapp and his friend went on several occasions, and sure enough, they witnessed the flight of numerous unidentified aircraft flying in unusual patterns and at tremendous speeds, which convinced Knapp and his friend that they were not witnessing conventional aircraft. Further confirmation was provided when Knapp and his friend went on nights not specified by Lazar. On those occasions, they saw nothing unusual.
In 2018, Jeremy Corbell produced a documentary about Bob Lazar – “Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers.” In that film, Lazar confessed that he wished he had never come forward with his story about working at S-4. He admitted he was never looking for notoriety, and said the fallout was not worth it. Over the decades, he’s suffered ridicule and harassment, not only from the public, but from numerous government agencies as well. In fact, during the filming of the documentary, his place of business, United Nuclear Scientific Equipment and Supplies, was raided by the FBI. During the course of filming, in a conversation conducted in the woods away from his home, Corbell asked Lazar if he had a sample of element 115. Lazar remained aloof. The next day, his business was raided. He was sure the F.B.I. was convinced he did indeed have a sample of the element, and tossed his place of business searching for it.
So, Bob Lazar is certainly an enigma. Whether you believe him or not, he has had a profound effect on the entire UFO phenomena. His disclosure (dare I use that word?) of Area 51 changed the face of Ufology forever, leading up the farcical “Storm Area 51” movement last year. Element 115 turned out to be legitimate, and countless truth seekers have photographed unusual air craft flitting around the Groom Lake facility over the decades since. If my feet were held to the fire, I would confess that I believe the scales tip in Bob Lazar’s favor.
And I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that he’s holding back a lot more than he’s telling.