Many of you fine folks like to visit Rachel and the surrounding area, mainly because of Area 51 and I understand why. However, be careful when you are poking about because the military takes their secrecy very seriously. Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand the importance of what they are doing and why the general public should not know every detail about what the military is working on, but we recently experienced a raid by the FBI at both of our homes in Nevada and that leads me to believe there is probably something new going on and they really want to keep it secret.
Some of you may know my boyfriend, Joerg, because he was a guest on Shift Happens back in 2019. Joerg and I have a home in Rachel NV which is very near Area 51 and he runs a website called Dreamlandresort.com which is all about military related topics in and around Area 51, Tonopah Test Range and similar places.
Last week our homes in Las Vegas and in Rachel were raided and ransacked by the FBI and the Air Force OSI. When asked what they were looking for all I got was “images of military bases”. The entire episode was frightening, embarrassing, and ludicrous because Joerg knows the rules he would not knowingly break them. In fact, he is the first one to remind other folks who visit the area around Area 51 of the boundaries, so that they don’t get themselves into any trouble.
I don’t have any further information about why they broke down our doors because they did not give us further explanation and the warrant did NOT say “WHY” they were there, just that they could legally take certain items. We only received a few pages of the warrant and we know that at least 40 pages were missing from our copy. The secrecy, along with the heavy-handed raid only leaves us to speculate… I guess this is how conspiracy theories get started. If and when we know more, I will share what I can. I am sure the episode was meant to intimidate and it certainly did.
However, during the raid in Rachel, the authorities let it be known that they were surprised about Joerg’s demeanor and that they had expected him to be totally different than the calm, cooperative person they were handcuffing and interrogating. “Why would they have any expectations about him” is the question I ask. Where were they getting their information about him???
Well, the only answer I can reasonably come up with is that certain folks in Rachel are spreading rumors and lies because they do not like Joerg. Sadly, there was a time when Joerg was friends with the owners/operators of the Inn, which for the longest time was the only business in town. In fact, Joerg ran their web site until there was a dispute about money, which is when the business relationship ended and so did the “friendship”.
Joerg remained neutral towards these hateful folks until 2019 when the so called “Storm Area 51” event started taking shape. Being the only business in Rachel, the Inn stood to make money and drum up future business however, half the town was not happy about a lot of strangers wandering around their quiet properties and racing up and down the dirt roads. In addition, many folks spent thousands of dollars on home fortifications and extra lighting just to get some sense of safety during a weekend when nobody knew just what would actually happen. Joerg was the person who voiced the concerns of the Rachel residents who did not want this event to take place and for sticking up for others in town he then became the focus of hatred and attacks by the Inn. We have nothing against this business making a living, but we don’t feel they should be the only ones to make decisions that affect the entire town just to line their pockets. Some of us in Rachel enjoy the peace and quiet of this rural area and just want to be left alone.
The Inn is well known by anyone who has been in or through Rachel. They make a living exploiting the “Alien” theme and making up alien related stories to bring tourists to their doors. I used to think it was a cute place, even if a bit run down. But we stopped bringing folks there to see the memorabilia and eat the Alien Burgers after I got sick from one of their meals. I also had concerns when we were asked to hurry up and leave one day in the middle of summer because they needed to spray the place to kill the flies, which really freaked me out. All I could imagine was pesticide residue settling on everything.
I really wanted to give the owner and her daughter the benefit of the doubt when I was first told of some of their dirty dealings with other folks they don’t like, but over the years I have seen how vicious, vile, and malicious they are. They will turn on you in a heartbeat if you don’t agree with their methods of making money and then use whatever means they can to slander you and cause problems.
One example of their maliciousness was in 2020 when their plans for another alien stock event fell through because of Covid. Even though there was no festival planned people still came to Rachel to hang around the Inn. We had three guys at the gate to our property taking pictures of our house with a long lens camera, which was really upsetting. Imagine looking out of your window to enjoy the mountains and seeing large cameras pointed at you. When Joerg went out to tell them to leave, they got in his face with their camera and things got tense. How did they find our home? Well, they were staying at the Inn and my guess is that someone there gave them directions.
Another example of their viciousness occurred this past summer. We built a garage and the workers that came to do the installation ended up renting one of the trailers the Inn rents as “motel” rooms. These workers paid an outrageous fee because it was the only place to rent in Rachel, but instead of the Inn being thankful for the business, they proceeded to harass these workers and intimidate them to the point that the workers barricaded themselves in at night for fear of being set upon. Joerg was slandered and called all kinds of vile names by the owner and others that hang around at that establishment. There were even suggestions that these workers should sabotage the garage installation just to “stick it to” Joerg.
Sadly, Alien Stock has caused a rift in our small town that I do not see mending any time soon.
As for the FBI raid, thank you to all who have shown support.
Followup: