Area 51 has always been denied by the US government but the place remained a subject of conspiracy theories concerning extraterrestrials and time travel. Newly declassified documents from the Central Intelligence Agency however has put the whole Area 51 issue to rest by acknowledging its existence.

To the dismay of conspiracy theorists, the report does not mention anything about UFOs or any of the other sensational stories that stemmed out of the mystery of Area 51. What the document did mention is that Area 51 was first used as a testing ground for the country's U-2 spy plane -a plane utilized by the agency during the Cold War. The over 400-page report is titled Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and Oxcart Programs, 1954-1974, sources say.

Former government employees who worked in Area 51 mentioned the place in passing but this is the very first mention of the facility by the government itself. The report also includes a map of the facility itself but does not include any information on what the facility is being used for today starting from the year 1974.

The U-2 planes that first used the facility flew in heights higher than any plane during that time. The report states, "High-altitude testing of the U-2 soon led to an unexpected side effect -- a tremendous increase in reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs)." Investigators from the US Air Force have always attempted to explain UFO sightings by linking these sightings to natural phenomena. According to the declassified documents, "U-2 and later OXCART flights accounted for more than one-half of all UFO reports during the late 1950s and most of the 1960s."

The secretive nature of Area 51's security spawned reports of government secrecy involving unidentified flying objects, sources say. Today, those who are wondering if Area 51 ever existed can now put the issue to rest - the top secret facility exists.