Facebookers 'threaten' to storm Area 51 to, err, date extra-terrestrials?

"The truth is out there," or so we've frequently been told. But now a group of Facebook followers have decided to go "out there" and find it for themselves.

What started off as a joke, a Facebook event created by popular video-game streamer SmyleeKun, has spun into viral gold. The event, called "Storm Area 51: They Can't Stop All of Us" encourages alien hunters and extra-terrestrial enthusiasts to climb over federal fences and head for the hallowed UFO-landing grounds. Or as they put it, "Let's see them aliens".

Over 1.2-million people have said they're "going" and a million more have clicked "interested".

The event info offers handy hints like, "If we Naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets". Naruto running refers to a running style from popular Japanese anime cartoons - a bending forward at the waist with the head forward and arms stretched out behind you. It's a technique, which, according to Anime lore, makes the runner lightning fast but, in reality, would make the runner an easy target.

The stormers of Area 51, of course, are a collective target the US Air Force is ready and willing to take aim at. The situation has garnered so much attention that US Air Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews has given an official statement to the Washington Post stating that they are aware that people intend to storm the Nellis Air Force Base Complex, housing the land containing Area 51.

"[Area 51] is an open training range for the US Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces," said McAndrews.

"The US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets."

This statement comes from the same people who denied the existence of Area 51 for decades before the CIA finally confirmed, in 2013, what tinfoil-hatted conspiracy theorists had known all along: that there was indeed a base buried deep in the heart of the Nevada desert.

The CIA still swears that it's "nothing more than an aircraft-testing facility".

What the two million or so people who have interacted with the event want to know is which solar system these aircraft originate from.

The question of whether anyone will actually show up in their running shoes on the outskirts of the Amargosa Valley on September 20 is a moot point.

One user stated on the event page: "Hello US government, this is a joke, and I don't actually intend to go ahead with this plan. I just thought it would be funny and get me some thumbsy-uppies on the internet. I'm not responsible if people decide to actually storm area 51."

The page has become a breeding ground for jokes and memes and links to opportunistic T-shirt selling websites.

The most peculiar part of the story is the staggering number of people who have made "jokes" about dating the extra-terrestrial, should they find one, from Area 51.

Who needs Area 51 - surely there are plenty of those on Tinder already.