The Bob Lazar Story: Is he Telling the Truth?

Even if you are not into conspiracy theories, you have likely heard of Area 51, the secret military base in southern Nevada.

For years, the US government denied its existence until it was finally confirmed that the facility is used for testing new aerial technologies.

The secrecy surrounding Area 51 only led to even more questions, and it seemed that no one was willing to speak up until 1989, when Bob Lazar, a former employee, decided to go public.

Lazar confirmed what many had long suspected: the military base was used for testing alien technology.

However, Lazar is a controversial figure, and not everyone believes that he is a former physicist who worked for the government. So, what is the truth? Is Lazar a fraud or a real deal?

Background

Robert Scott Lazar, also known as Bob, was born on January 26th, 1959, in Coral Gables, Florida. Lazar claims to have obtained a Master’s degree in Electronic Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Master’s in Physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

However, there are no official records supporting these claims at either of the universities.

Confirmed information about Lazar’s education indicated that he wasn’t an exceptional student during his high school years. He graduated in the bottom third of his class and then enrolled at Pierce Junior College in Los Angeles.

**1982 newspaper photo: Bob Lazar with his jet-powered Honda Civic**

When questioned about his time at MIT and Caltech, Lazar was unable to name any of his professors or fellow students who attended these universities at the same time as he did.

Lazar stated that after earning his degrees, he was recruited to work as a physicist at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility. In 1982, his name appeared in a newspaper article written by Terry England.

The two discussed Lazar’s interest in jet-powered cars as he had attempted to build such a vehicle himself. The article described Lazar as a physicist, but England later admitted that he had never investigated Lazar’s background.

Others focused on Lazar’s connections to the Los Alamos Facility and uncovered that he was somewhat affiliated with it. Lazar worked as a technician for another firm contracted by the laboratory, but he never worked there as a physicist.

Working at Area 51

In January 1989, Lazar decided to submit his resume to EG&G, a defense contractor company, and he received a call from them just a couple of days later.

After a second interview, he was offered a position as a senior physicist in their special projects division located at Groom Lake, around 120 miles north of Las Vegas.

Lazar obtained his security clearance for a facility called S-4 after an extensive background check and was flown from Las Vegas to Groom Lake on an unmarked plane.

His new workplace was unlike anything he had seen before. It was situated in a bunker inside a hill, equipped with fingerprint scanners, which were rare in the late 1980s.

He was introduced to the basics of something called Project Galileo on his first day, and he learned that he had been hired to reverse engineer the propulsion system of a flying saucer.

At first, Lazar thought it was a hoax, but as he continued reading through the files, he became more and more convinced it was all true.

Soon after, Lazar was introduced to his lab partner, who presented him with parts of an engine from one of the spacecraft. The two of them were tasked with figuring out how it operated and recreating the technology.

As expected, everything related to Lazar’s new job was classified, and he was not allowed to tell anyone what he had seen at the S-4 facility. Every trip to the facility was organized by his supervisor, who would call Lazar just before the flight to the desert.

In the following weeks, Lazar and his lab partner focused on the engine fuel and discovered it was a mixture of known elements, as well as one completely unknown substance that had never been encountered on Earth before. It was believed that substance was element 115, which was still undiscovered at the time.

The two of them were stuck, and Lazar asked his supervisor for permission to see the spacecraft itself, hoping they might learn something new. Days later, the supervisor led them to a hangar that held a large flying saucer. Lazar was informed that all the flying saucers housed in the facility had come from the Zeta Reticuli star system.

The craft was larger than Lazar had imagined and had no landing gear. The interior was minimalistic, without any buttons or controls. One of the technicians managed to power up the spacecraft, and it just hovered inside the hangar with a blue light shining from underneath.

After the demonstration, Lazar went home and waited for the call from his supervisor about another assignment at S-4. However, the phone stayed silent for days. During this time, Lazar noticed that he was being surveilled by a car parked right in front of his house at all hours.

That same vehicle followed him around Las Vegas whenever he ran errands. Terrified by this discovery, Lazar contacted the local police department, which sent a patrol car to his address.

The officers briefly spoke to the men in the car before driving away. At that moment, Lazar realized he was on his own.

**Bob Lazar pictured holding a photograph while discussing his controversial experiences and claims about Area 51.**

He made a tough decision to reveal to his family and friends what he had been working on for the past three months, just in case something happens to him.

Rather than simply telling them the story, Lazar decided to drive out to Area 51 to show them the test flights. He invited his wife and a couple of friends, and the group set out to the desert on a Wednesday afternoon.

Lazar knew that pilots would be flying the alien aircraft at 8:00 pm. The group observed an orange light flying in an irregular pattern in the sky. It was evident that the aircraft wasn’t a typical plane.

In mid-April 1989, Lazar’s supervisor appeared on his front door, and the two drove to Indian Springs, Nevada. Once there, Lazar was taken into an interrogation room with armed guards stationed outside.

His supervisor told Lazar that he had been seen entering Area 51 with his friends and ordered him to write down the names of all the people he had told about the Project Galileo.

During the interrogation, Lazar was asked if he was working for a foreign government as a spy, and he denied it. Hours later, Lazar was informed that the interview was over. A couple of weeks went by without any word from his employer, and that scared him.

It was at that moment that Lazar decided to go public with everything he knew about S-4, Area 51, and the alien spacecraft hidden in the hangars. He believed that coming forward would save his life because if anything happened to him, the public would know that his claims were true.

Television appearances

On May 15th, 1989, Lazar was interviewed by George Knapp, an investigative journalist working for a Las Vegas TV station. To protect Lazar’s identity, his face was hidden, and he was introduced under the pseudonym Dennis.

During the interview, Lazar claimed he worked at a secret facility known as S-4, which is part of Nellis Air Force Base, also known as Area 51. He stated that his job involved reverse engineering the propulsion system of a flying saucer.

Lazar shared the exact number of flying saucers and provided a detailed description of the one he was working on. He noted that the saucers use element 115 as fuel.

Initially, the broadcast didn’t receive much attention from the public, so in November 1989, Lazar sat down with Knapp once again. This time, his face was visible, and he used his real name. Media outlets from all over the world picked up the story, and soon everyone knew who Bob Lazar was.

Theorists viewed his interviews as evidence of a government cover-up, while others began questioning whether he was telling the truth or not.

Those who tried to find out more about Lazar soon discovered that there were no records of him at the universities he claimed to have attended, nor in the employment history at Los Alamos. However, it is important to mention that Lazar stated his past had been erased by the government.

Aftermath

According to Bob Lazar, the government surveillance of him stopped after the interviews. In 2006, his company, United Nuclear, was charged with violating the Federal Hazardous Substances Act.

In 2003, Russian scientists managed to synthesize element 115, naming it moscovium. However, moscovium is an unstable element that decays within milliseconds, making it an unlikely fuel for spacecraft. Lazar, however, stuck to his story, arguing that the element 115 he had observed was fully stable.

Today, Lazar rarely appears at public events, but he occasionally gives interviews. In 2018, a documentary titled Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers was released on Netflix, reigniting the discussion of whether Lazar is a whistleblower or a complete fraud.

His critics point out that Lazar never provided clear evidence to support his claims. Nevertheless, he remains one of the key figures in UFO mythology.