Whether you are a believer in Area 51 and UFOs or not, the story of Bob Lazar is one that has touched your life in some way. If you are a seeker of truth regarding extraterrestrial contact with Earth, you probably know his name.
But even if you do not know his name, you know his legacy…
For those not in the know, Robert Scott “Bob” Lazar is a scientist who agreed to an interview with investigative journalist George Knapp on Las Vegas TV station KLAS. It was his testimony of working at the S-4 facility close to Area 51 which brought Area 51 into the public eye.
Now, a new documentary by Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell titled Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers sheds new light on Bob Lazar and his story.
As it turns out, it is a vindicating watch—so much so that I suspect even a casual viewer who is not a big believer in UFOs would find Lazar’s testimony compelling.
The Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers Documentary
The new Bob Lazar documentary is part of Corbell’s Extraordinary Beliefs film series. Through the film, Lazar’s story is artfully explored with accompanying narrative from Mickey Rourke.
This is the first time in around three decades that anyone has gotten more than a peep out of Bob Lazar.
Corbell was able to interview both him and Knapp extensively and got both of them to open up not only about the events of the past, but also how those events have shaped their lives since.
Watching this documentary, you walk away with more questions than answers. This is a portrait of a man rather than an intensive probe into the validity of his claims or the issues surrounding his credentials. But therein lies its distinction.
The Story the World Knew in 1989
It all began (for the public, at any rate) back in May 1989. Bob Lazar first attempted to keep his identity secret, calling himself “Dennis.” He also hid his face. During that first interview, he talked about the work he had done reverse-engineering alien ships and technology at a facility called S-4 south of Area 51.
Lazar’s identity did come out, however, so the next time he talked to Knapp in an interview (which was later that year), he did it openly.
Following these revelations, Lazar sank back into obscurity. This is why many people have heard of Area 51, but only UFO enthusiasts tend to know Lazar’s name or story.
While Lazar’s story may have sounded absurd when he first came out with it, it captured the imaginations of people around the world.
It put Area 51 on the map, spawning numerous pop culture references in films, television, and pretty much everywhere else you can name over the decades since. It has made him part of history—even if the man himself has remained relatively obscure.
Some of Bob Lazar’s Stories and Claims Have Been Validated With Time
During Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers, we get a chance to catch up with Bob Lazar. We see his home and meet his wife. We get to tour his place of work and see him doing his job. We find out about the staggering psychological impact which the events of the 80s have had on him.
I will talk more about Lazar as a person in just a little bit—the insights we get into his character are arguably what makes this documentary such a rare gem.
But first, I want to talk a bit more about Lazar’s claims—and how some of them have proven to be true over the years since he gave those first interviews.
S-4 and Area 51
The government has acknowledged the existence of Area 51, though it took them until 2013 to do it. There is still no official acknowledgment of facility S-4.
Indeed, NBC News quotes Lazar (at the link) as saying, “That’s [acknowledging Area 51] a minuscule baby step forward. Maybe a decade from now they’ll acknowledge there’s an S-4.”
Even though the government has yet to openly admit to S-4’s existence, their official statements regarding Area 51 give credit to Lazar’s story.
It is possible too that the government has acknowledged the existence of S-4. According to Knapp in the documentary, “He knew there was a place called S-4. I had called Nellis Air Force Base public information office. They confirmed, told me there was a place called S-4. Now there’s no news story prior to Bob Lazar about any place called S-4. He knew about it.”
This not only seems to affirm the existence of S-4, but also suggests strongly that Bob Lazar did work there. How else could he have known about it?
Element 115
Next, there is the matter of Element 115, which Lazar claimed was used in the alien propulsion systems to manipulate gravity.
At the time that Lazar made that statement, there was no such thing as Element 115 in the periodic table. In 2003 however, an element called “Moscovium” was successfully synthesized in a lab. Since then, it has been referred to by researchers as “Element 115.”
Is it the same Element 115 that Lazar was talking about? Maybe.
We do not know much about it since it has only been synthesized in incredibly minute amounts. But we do know a couple things about it. First, it is unstable. Second, it is heavy—as in very heavy.
It seems unlikely we will get a confirmation anytime soon as to whether the properties of this element would enable it to produce anti-gravity, but it sure gives us something to think about.
Special Forces Studying UFOs
Speaking of that, the government is thinking about UFOs. Indeed, the Department of Defense has poured a whopping $22 million into the “Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program” to research the matter. The offices for the program were located in the C Ring of the Pentagon.
I remember as a kid when I was visiting the Pentagon, I wondered the entire time whether something like that was going on behind one of the closed doors I walked past. I can’t tell you how cool it is now realizing that something like this actually existed.
In fact, it may still exist, depending on who you ask—just in a less formal capacity than it did when it was actively funded by the Pentagon.
Biometric Tech from S-4
There have been some smaller details of Bob Lazar’s stories which have also proven to be true. One of the most amazing things to me in the documentary concerned one of these revelations. Even though it was a minute detail, it was concrete and specific.
In his testimony of S-4, Lazar described a kind of biometric identification device which was used on the site for access: “It’s a small plate with some pins on it that you could put between your fingers. There’s a bright light above it … The bright light measures the bones in your finger.”
Corbell managed to find a photo of device fitting that exact description in an article concerning another stealth program. He showed it to Lazar in the documentary. Lazar responded, “I never thought I’d see one of these again,” and laughed with surprise.
Lazar’s reaction in the film seems quite genuine—and the photos certainly do seem to depict the exact device he reported way back in his original interview.
This is just one of the numerous details which people have expressed disbelief in over the years. It makes you wonder how many other bizarre details of Lazar’s testimony are also true.
On that note, the documentary reveals that Lazar has been subjected to four polygraph tests. While lie detector tests obviously are not 100% reliable, Lazar’s results cannot be ignored. While they do not prove his story is true, they at least strongly suggest that he believes it himself.
What About Lazar’s Credentials?
One of the most frustrating issues concerning Lazar are his questionable credentials. According to Lazar, he earned degrees from both Caltech and MIT. Neither institution has any records stating that he attended, however, much less earned a degree.
It seems that there is still not sufficient information to confirm or deny whether Lazar attended these universities. The colleges deny his attendance, but as Lazar himself pointed out, one does not simply go to work at Los Alamos (see below) right out of high school.
Did Lazar work at Los Alamos?
This also depends on who you ask. Los Alamos, like the two colleges, has denied that Lazar worked for them. Nonetheless, his name shows up in the Los Alamos National Lab phone book from that time.
According to researcher Stanton Friedman however, “The page from the Los Alamos National Lab phone book with Lazar’s name on it clearly states that it includes employees of the DOE and outside contractor, Kirk Meyer. “K/M” follows Lazar’s name. This proves he worked for K/M, not LANL.”
Of course, all of this could be splitting hairs. Physicist Robert Krangle has apparently stated in an interview that Lazar did work there and that he was present at classified briefings, proving it was in the capacity of a scientist.
Whether it was as an employee or contractor could be off the point (sometimes even employers get confused about how people are classified—just ask a tax accountant).
As I alluded earlier, this is one of those areas where the documentary offers more questions than answers.
It does, however, point out that Lazar held his ground regarding his unverifiable background under oath in a courtroom in 1990. He was potentially facing hard time, so it says a lot about his integrity that he didn’t back down.
A Window Into the Life of Bob Lazar—And More Importantly, the Mind of Bob Lazar
Now I want to get around to talking about Bob Lazar himself. Throughout the documentary, you get a chance to observe Lazar in his home and workplace, and as you do, there are a number of things you will notice about him.
First of all, this man is a competent scientist who does highly technical work each day. This is not a crackpot—this is someone who is clearly very bright and very focused.
The next thing you’ll notice about Lazar is his tremendous authenticity.
Corbell sums this up perfectly, “I think what a lot of people find really compelling about Bob—he legitimately appeared—and appears sometimes—just perplexed by what he saw.”
It’s true—even before Corbell said that, I was thinking almost the exact same thing. While Lazar talks, he is attempting to describe as concretely as possible what he saw and experienced.
But it’s almost like you can see right through him—and what you see is sincere confusion.
He seems to stumble at times internally—not as if he’s looking to conjure up words to describe what he didn’t see, but as if he cannot find the language to articulate something indescribable or bizarre that he did see.
You can almost see him replaying strange memories behind his eyes, searching for the words—not imagining, but remembering.
In short, even Lazar seems to feel that in some respects, his experiences do not “add up.” They are alien (pun intended) even to him.
Because of this, I feel completely convinced that he really believes every word that he says. Whether or not he did really work on alien crafts at S-4, he certainly had the set of bizarre experiences which he is reporting.
What Drives Bob Lazar?
When it comes to trying to evaluate the truth in someone’s words, I think it is essential not just to look at the way in which that person speaks, but also to consider his driving values and motivations.
As Lazar tells his story, you start to understand both why he hasn’t been heard from in so long, and also why he felt the need to come forward about S-4 and the work he did there in the first place.
Curiously, Lazar actually doesn’t strike me as being particularly wrapped up in extraterrestrials at all. While he acknowledges a sense of wonder while recounting his memories, he doesn’t dwell on the existence of aliens at all.
What he does dwell on—and seems so deeply shaken by—is the behavior of humans.
What Lazar gets really impassioned about is government secrecy. It disturbs and enrages him that he saw and handled extraordinary technology with the potential to transform human life for the better—and that said technology is kept from those who could use it to make the world a better place.
In the end, what you are left with is the impression of a surprisingly down-to-earth man with down-to-earth concerns.
Bob Lazar sees the problems which plague human existence, and he believes he also was witness to spectacular solutions. The suffering which exists because those solutions are being held back is unnecessary and inexcusable.
So when Lazar came forward, it wasn’t because he wanted attention. It was because he felt that morality demanded it.
Left with no other option by his conscience, he exposed himself to the world’s derision. Since then, he has been called a liar countless times and is widely believed to be either dishonest or insane.
That would be a terrible burden to carry through life, and it makes it easy to understand why Lazar is reclusive.
It must be hard enough at times to believe the strange things he has witnessed and been a part of—harder still to function while being constantly invalidated by an entire planet.
What person would put himself through such an ordeal without a good reason? The portrait of Lazar that I walked away with after seeing this documentary was one of consistency and integrity. This man did not want to talk to the world about UFOs. He did so because he felt compelled by his experiences.
What Really Happened to Bob Lazar?
At one point during the documentary, Corbell says to Lazar, “One thing that people say about your story and your experience is that you were a puppet, a marionette, that you had no control over what was going on at that time, that you were taken advantage of, compromised, and you were being used as a source of disinformation.”
This is one of the few times at which Lazar seems to lose his cool. He insists that Corbell needs to present him with evidence of this claim in order to make it. He becomes visibly distraught.
This moment definitely grabbed me both because of Lazar’s reaction and because I had already had the same thought myself. After all, even Lazar found it baffling that he was hired for such an extraordinary job in the first place.
It is not to say that Lazar wasn’t qualified—he was. But surely there were others who were equally or more so and also better-networked. Why him and not them?
This certainly leads me to wonder whether Lazar wasn’t the victim of—as Corbell stated—a disinformation campaign. Or perhaps he was part of some psychology experiment.
In both cases though, it would seem quite dangerous to attempt to deceive bright, well-educated minds on the cutting edges of their fields.
Still, it seems foolish to discount the notion. Plus, Lazar’s sudden loss of composure could certainly be linked to some unconscious suspicion that he was being used in such a way.
Then again, it is equally likely (if not more likely) that his anger was simply symptomatic of a lifetime of not being believed. There is no way that has not created permanent traumatic scars. Corbell probably stirred the pot of that trauma with his statement, and it simmered to the surface.
In the End, Lazar Proves One Thing: He is Worth Listening To
When I reached the end of Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers, I still did not know if Bob Lazar really worked on alien spacecrafts.
I still did not know whether human beings have made contact with extraterrestrials or their technology.
I still did not know whether you can create anti-gravity using element 115.
I still did not know whether Bob Lazar was employed directly by Los Alamos or attended MIT or Caltech.
I also still cannot say definitively whether Bob Lazar is telling the truth.
But I can say that if he is a liar, he is an extremely convincing one.
As it is, he convinced me if nothing else that he did work at a secret government facility (probably S-4), and that he did work on some kind of extraordinary technology there.
He also convinced me that he is a grounded, rational, consistent, thoughtful human being with great integrity and that his experiences, whatever their meaning, are valid.
More than that, he came across to me as a deeply moral person who is committed to truth and human welfare.
That is something we all can learn from and emulate.
We need more people like Bob Lazar who are willing to blow the whistle, to stick to their guns, to stand up for the truth of their experiences even in the face of criticism and contempt.
If we do that, maybe we can make this world a better place for everyone, with or without the help of alien technology. And maybe we’ll actually make this a planet worth visiting.