Aztec crashed saucer hoax

The Aztec crashed saucer hoax (sometimes known as the "other Roswell") was the allegation that a flying saucer crashed in 1948 in Aztec, New Mexico. The story was first published in 1949 by journalist Frank Scully in his Variety magazine columns, and later in his 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers. In 1952, the story was exposed as a hoax fabricated by two con men, Silas M. Newton and Leo A. Gebauer, as part of a fraudulent scheme to sell materials claimed to incorporate extraterrestrial technology; they were convicted of fraud for this enterprise in 1953.

Beginning in the 1970s, some ufologists resurrected the story in books claiming the purported crash was real. Aspects of the Aztec hoax, such as the recovery of alien bodies and a saucer-shaped craft incorporating seemingly indestructible metal, have become intertwined into narratives about the better-known Roswell incident. In 2013, the FBI released a large number of documents online, drawing attention to a 1950 memo by FBI agent Guy Hottel claimed by some ufologists to substantiate the Aztec crash; the events described in the memo were dismissed by the bureau as "a second- or third-hand claim that we never investigated".

Story

In 1949, author Frank Scully published a series of columns in Variety magazine retelling the crash story told to him by two men identified as Silas Newton and Leo A. Gebauer. He later expanded these columns to create Behind the Flying Saucers in 1950, a best-selling book that influenced public perceptions about UFOs. According to Scully, in March 1948, an unidentified aerial craft containing sixteen humanoid bodies was recovered by the military in New Mexico after making a controlled landing in Hart Canyon 12 mi (19 km) northeast of the city of Aztec. The craft was said to be 99 feet (30 m) in diameter, the largest UFO to date.