Hangar 18 is a hangar at a top-secret military installation, Groom Lake Base (also known as Area 51), located approximately 90 miles (145km) north of Las Vegas, Nevada. This base is rumored to be a testing ground for UFOs, either recovered from UFO crash sites or acquired from aliens as part of a trade of technology or information. As such, it is also rumored to be run by a clandestine government agency rather than by the U.S. Air Force or some other known government agency. The military refuses to give out information about current activities at the base or about its specifications, but civilians have guessed at the size of Hangar 18 by looking at photographs. They have determined that it is approximately 300 feet by 300 feet (90 by 90m) and about 100 feet (30m) tall. Though this is large enough to contain several airplanes, some people have suggested that the part of the hangar shown in photographs is really an elevator, used to bring spacecraft up from a huge underground facility. Outside the hangar is a runway estimated to be anywhere from 6 to 12 or even 24 miles (9.6 to 19.2 or 38.4km) long. The only other features at this base are a guard shack and a collection of large radar antennas. Public records indicate that Hangar 18 was built in 1954 specifically to house a secret spy plane, and afterward it was used to house other secret experimental planes and weapons. Adding to the mystery of Hangar 18 is that in the 1980s the U.S. military severely restricted access to the base and closed all possible viewing points of it to the public. Soon afterward people began seeing strange lights moving through the air over the base at night.

SEE ALSO:

• Area 51
• UFOs

SOURCE:

The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning