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'Project Blue Book' Season 2 Episode 3: True story about Area 51's Lovette-Cunningham incident

The alleged incident of March 1956 got murkier following the discovery of Lovette's body, which was found three days after the initial date of alleged 'alien abduction'

This article contains spoilers for Season 2 Episode 3 'Area 51'

In tonight's episode of History's aliens and UFO drama 'Project Blue Book' Season 2, we see Dr J Allen Hynek (Aidan Gillen) and Captain Michael Quinn (Michal Malarkey) being thrown into the middle of the mysterious alleged alien abduction of a sargeant in its base at the infamous Area 51.

Most of us might know of the location from the 2019 surge in millennials to 'storm' the tight-shut secret location believed to be the hotspot of aliens and UFO sightings — the reason why Nevada's Area 51, supposed to be an airbase to test US ammunitions and weapons, got that reputation. Through the titular investigation on the show, we get to see Hynek and Quinn come across the most bizarre and gruesome details of the captain's mutilation that had actually happened in Area 51 to give it its ominous connotation — an incident that had let experts mind-boggled for years to come.

The show offers us a peek into the US Air Force's investigation, as Hynek and Quinn investigate the claims of Sargeant Willingham, who claims his partner Sargeant Miller, was abducted by aliens while the two were alone and looking for missile test debris. We see him being sucked into a saucer-shaped flying object through a giant beam of light. A couple of days later, Miller's body shows up, but it's hoisted high up on a tree, impaled by one of its branches.

When they bring the body to the airbase, the eyes, heart, stomach and a lung are missing. Hynek says no animal could have done this and the experts claim the precision with which the procedures have been performed reek of expertise. But for all its gory tidbits, what really amplifies the horror is how none of this is fiction.

In real life, the incident was labeled as the Lovette-Cunningham incident after Sargeant Jonathan P Lovette, who was allegedly abducted by a saucer-like aircraft, according to the witness, Major William Cunningham. The two were looking for scattered debris in the White Sands missile testing grounds near Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. This is when Cunningham heard the ear-splitting scream of Lovette and to his horror, saw "the soldier being dragged by a long serpentine arm, wrapped around his legs, connected to a silver disk hovering in the air 15 to 20 feet away," reveals History channel's website.

The incident was first looked into by Project Grudge, one of the pioneer US Air Force programs of its kind, developed in the wake of World War II, serving as a precursor to the titular investigation on the show. While no official information on Report 13 exists, second-hand sources like William English, a former Green Beret captain — who was assigned to a US security service in Chicksands, England — was asked to analyze these bizarre encounters of Area 51. He, along with 'Military Encounters With Extraterrestrials: The Real War of the Worlds' author Frank Joseph, discussed the incident in a 1991 Colorado radio broadcast and both their takes on the events resonated with each other.

According to them, the alleged incident of March 1956 got murkier following the discovery of Lovette's body, which was found three days after the initial date of disappearance and some 10 miles from the site of the alleged site of the abduction. This was after base personnel confirmed an unidentified radar contact near Holloman at the time Lovette disappeared and had themselves sent out search parties into the desert t retrieve the sargeant.

According to English's book, the body indicated that it had been exposed to the natural surroundings for some 24 to 48 hours. While it could never reveal the accounts of the third day, the autopsy made things worse. His tongue had been cut out, eyes gouged, and even his anus removed. English also alleged that "the coroner remarked on the apparent surgical skill used to remove the organs — in particular, that the anus and genitalia had been neatly extracted like a plug," reveals History. But here's the most puzzling part: the body had been drained completely of blood but there was no vascular collapse, which usually attributes to death by bleeding.

As of now, the Project Grudge Reports 1 through 12 have been declassified, but no official record of Report 13 and 14 exist. The case remains unsubstantiated, and no documented follow-ups are listed to have happened. Lovette's mutilation wasn't the only alleged mutilation either, as cattle and coyotes were also reportedly found left in the desert in a similar state.

Following the incident, the already infamous site gained more negative popularity as it drew the intrigue of people with its tight-knit essence of secrecy and isolation. While it has always been maintained as a base to test out dangerous weapons, over the year, people have looked at Area 51 with labels such as 'Dreamland' and 'Paradise Ranch' purely because of how inaccessible it is. Still guarded by snipers at all points, the area comes with three solid warnings where no unauthorized personnel, especially cameras and photography is allowed.

Find out more about the mysterious airbase in 'Project Blue Book' Season 2, airing every Tuesday at 10 pm on History.