By David E. Hubler
Contributor, In Homeland Security

Just weeks after commemorating the 50th anniversary of the iconic Woodstock music festival in upstate New York, over 300,000 people pledged to attend the “Storm Area 51” event in the Nevada desert on September 20.

The alleged aim of the event was to learn once and for all whether the U.S. government is secretly holding extraterrestrial aliens – living or dead – in that highly restricted area.

The organizer of the event, Matty Roberts, dubbed it “Storm Area 51: They Can’t Stop Us All.” The name is a humorous taunt against the U.S. military that guards the area, part of the 8,000-square mile Nevada Test and Training Range near the dry Groom Lake in southern Nevada.

People Around the World Were Invited to Join ‘Storm Area 51’ on Facebook

According to CNN, people from around the world were invited on Facebook to join a “Naruto run” — a Japanese running style featuring arms outstretched backwards and heads forward — into Area 51 at 3 a.m. on Friday.

“We can move faster than their bullets,” says the event’s Facebook page, “clearly written with tongue in cheek,” CNN added.

US Air Force Warns Visitors to Stay Away from Area 51

The U.S. Air Force released an official warning telling visitors to stay away. “Any attempt to illegally access the area is highly discouraged,” the Air Force said in a statement released by Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas.

For decades, the federal government refused to talk about or even acknowledge the existence of the mysterious Area 51. A 1997 poll from CNN/Time “found that 80% of Americans think the government is hiding knowledge of the existence of extraterrestrial life forms,” CNN noted.

Area 51 was officially acknowledged as a U.S. military site only in 2013. But the theories of alien life there live on.

Many People Believe ‘Storm Area 51’ Event Was Just a Facebook Farce

Many people believe the whole Storm Area 51 event was just a Facebook farce, especially after Roberts was forced to cancel it. He then tried to turn it into a music festival called AlienStock, but he gave up after receiving a visit from the FBI and then a cease-and-desist letter from a Las Vegas law firm.

“Due to the lack of infrastructure, poor planning, risk management and blatant disregard for the safety of the expected 10,000+ AlienStock attendees, we decided to pull the plug on the [music] festival,” Roberts said in a statement. He explained that “AlienStock stands for unity and concern for like-minded people. It’s grown into much more than a location.”

Roberts’ statement emphasized that “We are not interested in, nor will we tolerate any involvement in FYREFEST 2.0. We foresee a possible humanitarian disaster in the works, and we can’t participate in any capacity at this point.”

Cancellation of ‘Storm Area 51’ Remains an Open-Ended Question

Nevertheless, whether “Storm Area 51” has been definitively cancelled remains an open question. Porter Pro, an Ammon, Idaho-based social media marketing and video production company, plans to send several employees – on the off chance that a curious horde does storm the gates on Friday and perhaps free some living aliens.

“I’m not sure what to expect,” Porter Pro creative director Mark Richardson told the East Idaho News. He and two colleagues were planning to drive an RV to Area 51 on Monday.

“We’re going to be at the places [Roberts] is going to be at, so we’re hoping to track him down. Worst case scenario, we’re going to get in front of him one way or another, and get an interview with him,” Richardson said. “We’re going to be very conservative. We’re not planning to storm Area 51 ourselves.”

Meanwhile, the area’s only lodging, a 10-room, alien-themed motel called the Little A’le’Inn, has been inundated with phone calls. “It doesn’t stop; our phone won’t stop ringing,” co-owner Connie West told Fox News. “I’m still terrified.”