I’m not saying I can see into the future but I am saying I could have told you this would happen. News that the Alienstock festival—which was created as a means of crowd control over the “Storm Area 51” Facebook event—has been cancelled is circulating the web now that the event is only a week away. Now the event’s creator, a 21 year-old college student named Matty Roberts, says that the event is cancelled due to issues with its infrastructure, citing fears of Alienstock being compared to Fyre Festival—one of the most notorious festival disasters in recent years.
“Due to the lack of infrastructure, planning, and risk management, along with concerns raised for the safety of the expected 10,000+ attendees, we decided to transition Alienstock away from the Rachel festival towards a safer alternative,” reads a statement published on the official Alienstock website, which revokes the rights of any other event to use the name and likeness of Matty Roberts in any of its branding or marketing should the event move forward. The website also says that a new event will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada instead, though details of such an event have yet to surface.
“We foresee a possible humanitarian disaster in the works, and we can’t participate in any capacity at this point,” reads the statement. A cease-and-decist letter has also been sent on behalf of Roberts to Connie West, an Inn owner in the town of Rachel, Nevada, where the event was due to be held. Only a small plot of land has been cleared for the event, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal, showing that a lack of infrastructure could lead to a potential crisis should thousands storm the town as expected. The Alienstock event advertised itself as a desert art festival and gathering, essentially describing events like Burning Man, another Nevada festival that plays host to tens of thousands of art-lovers each August. Burning Man, however, requires extensive infrastructure and event support throughout the neighboring towns year-round.
Arrests Have Already Been Made Over The Festival
Trespassing on the Area 51 site in rural Nevada is prohibited. The mysterious Air Force Base, which has long thought to have been the home of extraterrestrial life on earth, is a popular spot online for conspiracy theories and general colloquialisms regarding America’s biggest secrets and cover ups. A man was shot and killed for attempting to storm the property back in January, before the Facebook event was created in the spring of this year.
Since the event went viral, however, an arrest of two Dutch YouTube stars was made after the duo attempted to visit the site. Ties Granzier and Charles Wilhelmus Jacob Sweep were both arrested for trying to enter the Area 51 grounds illegally. Granzier, who self-identifies as a “YouTuber,” has amassed over 700,000 subscribers on the video sharing website. The two entered Area 51 attempting to record their adventures, just as the Kardashian sisters did a couple of years ago.
