‘It was scary going to work in Area 51’

In Part 1 of this multi-part exclusive interview series with former Area 51 physicist Bob Lazarus, the two of us discuss his new S4 movie produced by Project Gravitaur director Luigi Venditelli. Here, in Part 2, Lazarus opens up about the foundation and craft he says he works on. (As I said in the initial story, all of Lazarus’ claims have been denied by the US government.) Below are edited excerpts from the lengthy Zoom call.

Jim Clash: Last time, we discussed the new film about you, S4, the person you apparently replaced in Area 51, and your first visit to the base. Let’s go into the details of the spacecraft you worked on. When did you first realize what you were dealing with?

Bob Lazarus: We don’t have a machine that produces gravity – it’s a property of matter. And we don’t have anything producing anti-gravity, pushing back. But this tool does. Once my lab partner Barry took it out, I tried to touch it. The moment my hand was close, I realized that it was not made by anyone on earth. Then he showed me the rest.

Confrontation: This must have interested you as a scientist.

Lazarus: I was as eager as I was scared. I don’t know if it was in the back of my mind that some other civilization had built it, but that thing provided great power, and we didn’t know what to do with it.

Can you imagine taking a small working nuclear reactor and leaving it in Victorian times? They are thinking, ‘Why not take it apart, see how it works’, exposing the core in the process. Everyone in the room suddenly dies. They weren’t shot or anything. ‘This thing must be captured!’ We are in the same situation. I was afraid to go to work.

Struggle: Were there other craft in the S4 hangar?

Lazarus: I only caught a glimpse of the other discs once because the bay doors were open. They looked different sizes. I was assigned to work with a craft – a “game model”. We measured: 52.8 feet in diameter and 16-feet high.

Brawl: How was the craft inside?

Lazarus: The place is pretty much useless. You had to crawl in, and towards the center you could only stand. All the same soft colors, same materials, no sharp corners – an alien environment, pardon the pun. Didn’t think we would make it.

There were three things that looked like chairs, but were not chairs as you might imagine. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were something else. I mean, one of them had a reactor directly in front of it. If you sit there, it will be right in front of your face. Who will make such a chair? [laughs]?

Struggle: Do you have trouble sleeping at night? nightmare?

Lazarus: The first few nights, I was excited. But there was always fear in my heart. They were always changing things around them too. I mean, I was on call, not working every day, and on edge most of the time.

Brawl: Did you come to the base every day via Janet Airlines? When to sit up?

Lazarus: They had a dormitory there. I brought extra clothes in case I had to stay, but never did. In fact, those clothes are probably still there [laughs].

(Editor’s note: In later parts of this interview series, Lazarus discusses his early years as an amateur drag racer, working at Los Alamos Laboratories, his relationship with Dr. Edward Taylor, the father of the H-bomb, receiving threats after leaving Area 51, his faith in God, and more.)

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This article was originally published on Forbes.com