Continued:

"Everyone in this town has a story," says Brian Paschal, a self-described alien afficionado who has made repeated visits to Rachel. "And they're all very suspicious - it's like the moment you step into town, everyone knows about it. You walk into a restaurant, and everyone stops what they're doing and turns around to check you out. It's not hard to feel like an outsider."

"I think there are people and machines from other planets over there," says Pat Travis, co-owner of the Little A'Le'Inn. "And I think our government is working in conjunction with them."

Pat Travis and her husband Joe took over what was then the Rachel Bar and Grill, in 1989. Seizing upon the notoriety of what was hidden on the other side of the forbidding brown mountains, the Travises renamed the establishment the Little A'Le'Inn, transforming the tiny restaurant into a sort of museum and gathering place for the alien movement.

The cramped, kitschy Inn is literally jam-packed with alien memorabilia - stickers, hats, t-shirts, posters, stuffed animals… even replicas of the infamous government warning signs which line the perimeter of Nellis Air Force Base ("No Trespassing - Violators Will Be Shot on Site"). The walls are decorated with framed photos of UFO sightings from all over the world. The piece de resistance of this makeshift museum is a panoramic print of the Air Force Base - including what theorists believe to be the hangar containing the alien ruins - snapped from atop Tikaboo Peak, one of the highest non-government owned mountaintops in central Nevada.

A tiny closet in the corner of the Inn contains possibly the most staggering collection of alien- and conspiracy-related videos on earth (or elsewhere). Everything from the abduction-heavy motion picture Fire In The Sky to alien-related television specials are available, providing ample fuel for the uneasiness of the Inn's guests.