Keep Out - Top Secret Places Governments Dont Want You To Know About

Governments build fences for many reasons. Sometimes they are protecting military equipment, sometimes dangerous biological material, and sometimes—according to Nick Redfern—they are preventing the public from wandering into an underground complex full of dead aliens, mutant creatures and weather-control machinery. Keep Out! investigates the places where the signs are large, the guards are armed and requests for a guided tour are unlikely to receive a warm response.

Redfern travels through the international geography of official secrecy, visiting in print such cheerful destinations as Area 51, Hangar 18, the Montauk facility, Dulce Base, Dugway Proving Ground, Fort Detrick, HAARP, Pine Gap, Rudloe Manor and the alleged underground realm of Zhitkur. It is the sort of itinerary no conventional travel agent offers, largely because the return journey cannot always be guaranteed.

Some of these installations unquestionably exist. Area 51 really is a highly restricted American testing site; Fort Detrick has a long connection with biological research; Pine Gap is an intelligence facility in Australia; and HAARP was built to study the ionosphere. Unfortunately, once governments surround real places with armed patrols, classified paperwork and the phrase “national security,” the public begins filling the informational vacuum with flying saucers. Nature abhors a vacuum, but conspiracy theory immediately furnishes it.

Other locations occupy less stable territory. Dulce Base is allegedly a subterranean installation beneath New Mexico where humans and extraterrestrials have engaged in secret experiments. Montauk has been associated with mind control, time travel and other research apparently considered too ambitious for an ordinary planning application. Hangar 18 is reputed to have housed crashed UFO wreckage and alien bodies, though no one has yet explained whether the occupants were issued visitor badges.

The investigations extend far beyond the United States. Redfern examines underground facilities in Britain, mysterious installations in Russia and China, secretive Australian sites, oceanic bases, hidden islands and even alleged structures on the Moon. This last location offers exceptionally good security because trespassers require a rocket, oxygen and a willingness to endure several days of travel before being turned away at reception.

The alleged activities are equally varied. Crashed UFOs, deceased extraterrestrials, biological weapons, lethal viruses, strange underground creatures, mind-control experiments and weather manipulation all appear. It raises the possibility that somewhere there is a government department whose filing system includes separate drawers marked ALIENS, ANTHRAX and DO NOT LET THIS NEAR THE WEATHER.

Redfern approaches the subject as an investigator of mysteries rather than merely announcing that every rumour is true. He distinguishes, where possible, between established facilities, testimony, disputed documents, folklore and the kind of story that begins with a retired colonel meeting someone in a badly lit car park. Alternative explanations are considered, though naturally these are less exciting than a genetically altered reptilian creature living beneath an airbase.

Across fifteen investigations, the book demonstrates how secrecy generates its own mythology. A locked gate prompts curiosity; a denied request produces suspicion; a heavily redacted document convinces everyone that the missing paragraph contained either an alien autopsy or the recipe for immortality. Even mundane explanations begin to look sinister once printed entirely in black ink.

There is also a serious subject beneath the extraordinary claims. Governments do operate places concealed from public scrutiny, conduct classified weapons research and occasionally continue denying programmes long after their existence has become obvious. The difficult question is not whether secrets exist, but which secrets involve conventional military work and which require an alliance with beings from Zeta Reticuli.

Keep Out! is ideal for readers interested in UFOs, secret bases, underground installations, Cold War research, government conspiracies and forbidden places. It will also suit armchair travellers who prefer destinations where there are no gift shops, no public toilets and a reasonable chance of being followed home by an unmarked vehicle.

This copy is in As New condition, an impressive state for a book supposedly containing information governments do not want you to possess. The covers are clean, the spine is uncreased and the pages show virtually no evidence of inspection. Either it has barely been read, or the authorities replaced the original with this immaculate duplicate during the night.

From Crappy Old Books—located at an undisclosed secure facility disguised as a house dangerously overfilled with books. Visitors are advised to keep out unless collecting an order.

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