Mysteries in the American Desert: Area 51 & Chaco Canyon

In this bedtime story, we learn about two different mysterious locations in the American Southwest, Area 51 in Nevada and Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. How did the United States Air Force base known colloquially as Area 51 get its reputation as a hotbed of extraterrestrial activity, including claims of reverse-engineering of alien technology? We take a look at what is documented, from the base's creation in 1955 as a test facility for the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, to the study of captured foreign technology and the pop culture role Area 51 came to play in the U.S. as well as intense secrecy around the base's activities. Chaco Canyon is a large archaeological site in New Mexico, built more than a thousand years ago and over several generations by the Ancestral Puebloans. But it was obviously not just a residential settlement. What is the meaning and the function of architectural alignments based on astronomical observation and cardinal directions, the care given to landscape design, or the enigmatic web of roads that radiates from the canyon? Credits: Script by Sarah and The French Whisperer, narration by Sarah, visuals by the French Whisperer, under Wikipedia Commons, or under license from Panthermedia, Freepik, Canstock and Shutterstock. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lights-out-library/support