The Sheahan family has been bombed, shot at, and intimidated for 60 years living near Area 51 in the Nevada Desert, but they are refusing to give up their land to the “neighbours from hell.”
The family owns a 400 acre block that overlooks Area 51, one of America’s most closely guarded military secrets and a hotspot for UFO spotters and conspiracy theorists from all over the world.
The Sheahans property has been in the family since 1889, but now the US Air Force (USAF) has told, not asked, but told them they have to sell the land for 5.2 million dollars or watch it be seized and destroyed for free.
The family is fightin’ them, claiming the offer is less than half the value of the land and doesn’t come close to compensating the affects of disease and lost livelihood the family has been through.
Over the years the Sheahans have been held at gunpoint by the military going in and out of their property, had a prosperous ore processing mill destroyed by an “errant bomb” or “aircraft engine” that fell from the sky, and has been through the odd, you know, radioactive fall out in the 1950’s.
They have sought compensation from the government over the years for the shit they’ve been through, but ran out of money trying to pay for lawyers.
“I didn’t create this mess, they did,” Joe Sheahan told CNN. “They surrounded us. We’re tired of running, tired of hiding. I think that they’re capping off 60-plus years of nothing short of criminal activity.”
“What they really want to buy is our property, our access rights and our view. We prefer to keep our property, but it’s for sale under the right price at the right conditions. Why don’t they ask themselves what it cost my family over the years in blood, sweat, tears and money?”
The Sheahans claim a 1986 environmental study estimated their property to be worth more than US$13 million.
USAF is saying it wants the land because it can no longer ensure the safety of the Sheahan family. Sounds like they have new toys to play with.
It seems like the only aliens on the land were Area 51 when they rocked up next door to the Sheahans decades ago. “We have received nothing but threats and indignant acts by our own government,” the Sheahans claim.
“Neighbours from hell” is probably an accurate description.
Check the Sheahan family’s FB page for more info.
This whole feud reminds me of the 1997 Australian film “The Castle”. If you’re wondering why the Sheahans won’t just sell the land it may be because building a home, a castle, is not easy and takes years!
