On Sept. 6, the Sunspot Solar Observatory in New Mexico has been suddenly and inexplicably shut down and evacuated by the authorities.
FBI Shuts Down Space Observatory
No explanation has been shared to the public thus far, but several sources claimed that the Federal Bureau of Investigations is involved in the issue. By Friday, Sept. 14, the facility managed by a consortium of universities has remained closed to visitors.
"The FBI is refusing to tell us what's going on," said local sheriff Benny House. "There was a Blackhawk helicopter, a bunch of people around antennas, and work crews on towers, but nobody would tell us anything."
The observatory's management, meanwhile, claims that they ordered the immediate evacuation.
"Sunspot apologizes for the continued closure of the facilities," reads a statement on the Facebook page of the Observatory. "The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is addressing a security issue at the National Solar Observatory facility at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico and has decided to temporarily vacate the facility as a precautionary measure."
In its recent report, The Washington Post shared that guards have stationed at the mostly deserted site, but no one has any idea what is going on either. They were instructed to only allow two people — the observatory's director and an assistant — to pass through the gate.
However, a video posted on YouTube and is currently being shared widely on social media shows the site completely empty. There are no guards nor police officers in the area and only a yellow police line barring anyone from entering.
The most bizarre discovery within the observatory was the abandoned DVD of The X-Files.
Aliens And The Apocalypse?
Naturally, wild theories ranging from Chinese spies to UFO sightings have started bouncing all around the internet.
Most discussed perhaps is the theory that the researchers at the Sunspot Solar Observatory discovered that the end of the world might be happening soon. The site houses a large telescope and has been studying activities of the sun.
Some took this information and assumed that a solar storm sent out a coronal mass ejection that is about to short every technology on Earth. The conspiracy theorists say that the event will be similar to the one that happened in September 1859 that destroyed telegraph systems all over the world.
Another popular theory has something to do with aliens and the government is trying to cover it up. There is no actual proof that a UFO crashed into the vicinity or if the observation made contact with creatures not from this world, but that does not stop people from speculating.
James McAteer, director of the Sunspot Solar Observatory, was quick to dismiss the speculations. In a statement to the local news outlet KOB, he said that the observatory did not see any proof of alien life or of an impending apocalypse.
