On the July 27, 2011 episode of the SyFy Channel's, "Legend Quest," Ashley Cowie and his crew went searching for the Holy Lance. The search for the spear that may have pierced the side of Christ pointed them to Area 51 as a potential hiding place. In the final moments of that section, Cowie's crew is seen standing outside of an unmanned security checkpoint gate and states that they are "at the gates of Area 51." Something struck a strange chord, and I realized that I needed to look into this.
I contacted Erica Rubin from Public Relations at the SyFy Channel. I pointed out the fact that people usually do not get that close to Area 51. I wondered if something about this shot had been fabricated seeing that it looked very suspicious. I asked if the crew on "Legend Quest" had exposed one of the greatest breaches of military security in decades, or if the footage was fabricated for TV. I was asked to enter my questions into an email and wait for an "official response" from the network. Contacts about the authenticity of the film made to the Department of Defense were not immediately returned.
I contacted William J. Birnes from UFO Magazine. He is best known for leading the team on the History Channel's "UFO Hunters" and his multiple visits to the area around Area 51. He explained to me that there is not a front gate for Area 51. The roads leading to the base are patrolled by Delta Force snipers and there are multiple forms of surveillance that are used to make sure that they know everyone that comes rolling up. His team on "UFO Hunters" did get close to the base, but were met at every turn by people that sternly asked for them to turn around. He also claimed that the reason why the Sci-Fi Channel's "UFO Hunters" (which had no connection to his) was cancelled was because they fabricated evidence.
After a few hours, I got a response back from the SyFy Channel in which they backpedaled. They stated that the shots were actually taken at the road checkpoint close to Rachel, NV which is sometimes called the "Back Gate" of Area 51. While this is a convenient statement, the film from "Legend Quest" does not match the pictures that have been taken of Back Gate area. There are pictures that were taken of the Back Gate in 2000 (which you can see here) and recently (which you can see here). Also, that checkpoint is not part of the base.
This all boils down to the appearance that the SyFy Channel fabricated the shots of the "gates" of Area 51. The question that remains in my mind is that many of the shows on SyFy, like "Ghost Hunters," rely on evidence and footage. If a piece of footage like the supposed gates of Area 51 is not real, how many other pieces of footage from SyFy Reality shows are faked as well?
