Investigators and UFO sleuths are accusing authorities of an extensive cover-up five weeks after a classified military aircraft went down near Nevada’s notorious Area 51.

The incident occurred September 23 on public land adjacent to Highway 375 — famously dubbed the “E.T. Highway” — just outside the boundaries of the secretive military installation located 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

According to investigative journalist George Knapp of KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, who specializes in UFO and military affairs, the official military explanation leaves more questions than answers.

“How quickly might the government respond to the crash of an unknown object?” Mr. Knapp asked in a broadcast this week. “What happened back on September 23 on public land outside the boundary of Area 51 is a textbook example of how crash retrievals work, and to no one’s surprise, pretty much everything told to the public since then is pure fiction.”

The first signs of an incident came through radio monitoring equipment operated by Joerg Arnu, who runs the Dreamland Resort website and maintains 24/7 surveillance of Area 51 communications from his base in Rachel, Nevada. “I had my cup of coffee, and I am listening to Area 51 security, and all of the sudden they got very serious, and locked down the base,” Mr. Arnu told a KLAS news show, 8 News Now..

The radio traffic indicated a major nighttime military operation had gone wrong. “‘We just had an asset go down. We had an asset go down,'” Mr. Arnu recalled hearing. “This is not Creech [Air Force Base] security. This is Area 51 security, and they had an asset go down. Then the next thing you hear, ‘UAV, unmanned aircraft, unmanned aircraft with ordnance.’”

The transmission about an “unmanned aircraft with ordnance” was particularly concerning, though it remains unclear whether this referred to the crashed object or a drone deployed to monitor the crash site.

Within hours, military and law enforcement personnel had cordoned off vast sections of Tikaboo Valley surrounding Area 51. When Mr. Arnu attempted to reach the crash site, he was confronted by armed patrols. Multiple access points were blocked, including the main Groom Lake Road entrance to Area 51. Military helicopters equipped with cargo baskets and portable facilities suggested a prolonged recovery operation was underway.

Four days after the crash, security teams withdrew and Mr. Arnu returned to investigate. He discovered heavy machinery had carved new dirt roads across the desert, leading to what appeared to be a staging area for a recovery operation.

However, when Mr. Arnu shared his findings online, a second wave of cleanup crews arrived. Using industrial graders, they buried the entire crash site under thick layers of dirt — creating what Mr. Arnu describes as a literal cover-up.

Creech Air Force Base eventually claimed responsibility for the incident, saying that one of their Reaper drones had crashed. The military also charged that someone had tampered with the crash site, scattering unrelated debris including an inert training bomb, and said the FBI was investigating this supposed interference.

Mr. Arnu dismissed these claims entirely. “That’s absolutely bogus,” he said when asked about the official explanation. “I think that was designed to make people not go there, discourage people from going there.”

Members of the Dreamland Resort community, including former military personnel and defense contractors, have theorized that the crashed object may have been a next-generation artificial intelligence-controlled drone designed to operate autonomously alongside fighter aircraft, KLAS reported.

The incident highlights the ongoing secrecy surrounding Area 51, officially known as Groom Lake. The facility spans over 4,500 square miles of restricted Nevada desert and serves as a testing ground for classified aircraft and weapons systems.

Protected by a 575-square-mile no-fly zone and monitored by sensors throughout the perimeter, Area 51 has long captured public imagination due to UFO conspiracy theories, though its actual purpose involves testing cutting-edge military technology away from public scrutiny.