On a deserted stretch of road known as the “Extraterrestrial Highway” between Alamo and Rachel, Nevada, there is a lone mailbox with the names of two recipients. A larger box is labeled with the unassuming name of “Steve Medlin”; a smaller box is simply marked “Alien.”
Known as the Black Mailbox, this isolated postal container would never have garnered any attention were it not for its close proximity to nearby UFO hot spot, Area 51.
The box has been a popular meeting spot for the extraterrestrial-obsessed ever since the purported former Area 51 employee Bob Lazar said he would bring people to the spot to see scheduled flights of UFOs that had been reverse-engineered by the U.S. government. Over the years, some have come just to look at the plain postal box; others have camped near it for days in the hopes of spotting alien life.
Despite spurious reports of lights in the sky and other such extraterrestrial signifiers, the box’s owner, rancher Steve Medlin, does not believe that aliens have anything to do with the sightings. The mailbox (once black, now painted white) is constructed of thick, bulletproof metal and shuttered with massive padlocks, measures taken after alien-hunting fanatics began stealing the rancher’s mail and even firing guns at the box.
The smaller box marked “Alien” was added after Medlin got tired of receiving missives directed to visitors from outer space. Alien enthusiasts making pilgrimages to the site often put dollar bills in the box. In January 2015, the Black Mailbox was stolen. It is now back, after years of vandalism and a series of replacements.
