Area 51 Landowners To Be Booted By U.S. Air Force If They Don’t Accept $5.2 Million Payoff — Why Does The Government Want Them Out?

Area 51 stands out as an incredibly storied location in the desolate Nevada desert. Always mysterious, any kind of attention drawn to Area 51 immediately conjures up cries of conspiracy — particularly the claim that it is the site of the government’s experiments with extraterrestrials.

Those who believe the government is up to something at Area 51 will be incensed by a new report that a family is being forced to sell the property they own near Area 51. The U.S. Air Force has just made an offer of $5.2 million in exchange for the land, and if the property owners doesn’t accept this time, they say they will be taking it by force, reported Associated Press.

The battle for the property has raged for more than half a century, with the U.S. Air Force slowly snatching up all of the adjacent properties until the 400-acre chunk stood completely isolated by the advancing border of Area 51. Now, reports AP, the property isn’t even reachable without passing armed guards.

The landowners, led by the Sheaham family, claim that a long campaign has been waged against them in order to get them to give up their Area 51 land. Originally a mine, the property suffered damage from nearby nuclear testing, says the family, until it became defunct. Joseph Sheahan, 54, and his cousin, Barbara Sheahan Manning, still continue the fight for what they say are proper reparations of around $13.6 million.

“What they really want to buy is our property, our access rights and our view… We prefer to keep our property, but it’s for sale under the right price at the right conditions. Why don’t they ask themselves what it cost my family over the years in blood, sweat, tears, and money?”

Of course, the supernatural explanation for their removal won’t be lost on hoards of Area 51 conspiracy theorists. Though the family did not comment specifically on the rumors related to extraterrestrial activity at the site, they did say that the family did have some private legends about what they had seen overlooking Groom Lake.

“We didn’t have much more than a transistor radio and a deck of cards, and no indoor toilet. Our grandparents told us the stories.”

The veracity of claims that Area 51 was indeed the site of alien experiments has been both built up and totally destroyed by various officials with proximity to the project over the years. A few months ago, NASA boss Major Charles Frank Bolden Jr. said that while he believes they exist somewhere in the universe, there are no UFOs tucked away in Area 51. Alternatively, video emerged last year of a dying Area 51 scientist claiming that aliens actually work for the government at the facility.

[Image via Sean Gallup / Getty Images]