The US Air Force has sparked a mystery near the top-secret base Area 51 after admitting the FBI was investigating a recent crash near the facility.
In a statement on October 4, officials at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada said that an aircraft 'was involved in an incident,' crashing in the desert just miles from the restricted zone around Area 51 on September 23.
The infamous base has been tied to extraterrestrial lore for decades, with UFO researchers and conspiracy theorists claiming that secret government projects have been conducted at Area 51 since the 1950s.
While the Air Force said that the craft was assigned to the base as part of the 432nd Wing, some on social media pointed out that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a temporary flight restriction around the area for an entire week.
The reason for the shutdown was simply noted as 'national security' with no other explanation given by the FAA.
The location of the flight restriction placed the crash roughly 12 miles east of the security boundary around Area 51, and about 24 miles from the base itself.
However, the Air Force has revealed that even more strange activity took place after military personnel cleaned up the site, leaving nothing for the public to find.
Officials at Creech said investigators found an 'inert training bomb body' and a piece of an unidentified aircraft at the same crash site on October 3, prompting the military to get the FBI involved.
Area 51, an area of more than 2.9 million acres, is located at the Nevada Test and Training Range.
A temporary flight restriction was issued by the FAA shortly after the US Air Force announced the crash of a military aircraft near Area 51.
According to the Air Force statement, officials believe someone intentionally altered the scene of the secretive crash after the military left the desert.
An inert training bomb body is a practice explosive that's not rigged to explode.
Meanwhile, the Air Force said the aircraft piece was likely a panel from a plane, but admitted that it came from an 'unknown origin.'
Joerg Arnu, a long-time Area 51 researcher and host of the website Dreamland Resort, visited the site of the crash on September 27, finding nothing but a completely cleared area and several tire tracks, likely from military vehicles that combed the desert for wreckage.
'They really tore up the ground so it's impossible to find the impact mark,' Arnu said in a video taken from the alleged crash.
The researchers noted that there was no debris left in the area, but something could still be there underground, adding that desert rains often wash hidden objects back up to the surface.
The Air Force noted that 'no further details are available at this time,' but did say that there were no injuries or fatalities during the unexplained incident.
Creech Air Force Base is less than 60 miles from the alleged crash site and is home to the 432nd Wing, which operates MQ-9 Reaper armed drones, RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drones, and other craft used for intelligence, surveillance, and combat missions.
The crash reportedly took place just 12 miles from the security area surrounding Area 51, a base tied to UFO encounters for decades.
According to online defense news site The War Zone, Reapers are the main type of aircraft housed at the base, used for spying, watching targets, and even firing missiles from far away.
They've been in use for two decades, and it's not uncommon for them to crash under certain circumstances, including user error and mechanical failures with the uncrewed, remote-controlled drones.
Conspiracy theorists online pointed out that it would be incredibly unusual for federal officials to keep a Reaper drone crash so secret.
They noted the fact that federal investigators showed up so quickly, searched for planted fake evidence, and kept the incident completely under wraps for over two weeks were signs that the aircraft was no ordinary drone.
Recently, the US Air Force's top-secret RAT55 jet was also spotted soaring over Area 51, confirming rumors that the enigmatic radar plane operated from the clandestine Groom Lake facility.
Area 51 has also been involved in the development and testing of other revolutionary and experimental aircraft over the years, including the F-117 Nighthawk, America's first stealth bomber.