"Flying Saucer" Recovery At Hart Canyon (Part Three)---- The Witnesses

By Scott Ramsey
8-1-04

[Scott D. Ramsey has been researching the UFO Incident at Aztec since he first became aware of it back in 1988 while on a business trip to the four corners area. He has been aggressively tracking down witnesses and chasing any and all leads since 1990. He has traveled to 28 states in fourteen years, spent hundreds of hours in various archives, interviewed over 60 credible witnesses tied to the event; he has incurred over $200,000 dollars in expenditures during this ongoing investigation. The fruits of his labor will soon appear in his upcoming book about "The Aztec Incident."]

The Witnesses

Witness No.1

One argument against the Aztec Incident waged by critics over the years has claimed a lack of eyewitnesses; in our early research into the “Aztec Incident,” we found it very difficult to speak with anyone from the town that might “go on the record”; I was finding myself returning to the Four Corners area about every six to seven weeks, just as I thought I would. Over many weekends I researched the story, looking for an eyewitness to this historical event. Finally, people slowly started to come forward.

Our first witness was K. Farley. When we interviewed Mr. Farley, he was dying of a respiratory disease. He was on bottled oxygen when we met him north of Phoenix, Arizona. As Mr. Farley later described to me during our three-hour interview, he had been in Durango, Colorado on March 25th, 1948, visiting his Aunt as he was traveling to San Diego, California; he was supposed to meet a friend just north of Aztec (New Mexico) and then continue his drive.

As he arrived early that morning at a planned pick-up spot near Cedar Hill (a small town just north of Aztec), his “friend” told him about a lot of trucks and a police car, seen going out a small dirt road just south of their position. The drivers of the vehicles seemed as though they were in a hurry according to Mr. Farley. Thinking an emergency was underway, the two of them decided to go out and see what the problem was. Mr. Farley and his friend (anonymous) arrived at the mesa, now apparently busy with oilfield workers and what appeared to have been local ranchers.

Mr. Farley and his friend moved toward the west side of the mesa to get a better look at the large disc that sat silently there. Mr. Farley said there wasn’t “any noticeable damage”; the craft was “perfectly smooth on the outside, without any seams or marking except for around the middle of the craft.”

“Mr. Farley also described two police officers at the scene that were talking to the locals. Finally, the one officer walked over to Mr. Farley and his friend and told them that the military had been notified and that they should leave the area at once. Mr. Farley and his friend refused to leave because nobody else seemed to be listening to the officer. Mr. Farley recalls that some of the oilfield workers were climbing all over the damn thing, which he thought was dim-witted given the circumstances; some older folks started yelling at them to get the hell away from it!

Finally, later that morning according to Mr. Farley, the Military did arrive and discuss the incident individually with the people on the mesa. Mr. Farley has claimed they were “threatened with their lives” and sworn to secrecy. Since Mr. Farley was not originally from the area, he could not help me identify who the others might have been.

Witness No. 2

Doug Nolan and Bill Ferguson were employed by the El Paso Gas Company; Doug just nineteen years of age, had just picked up his boss, Bill Ferguson, at 5:00 am and Bill told him they needed to get to Hart Canyon rd., as fast as possible due to a bad brush fire that was spotted near a drip tank. As the two arrived, they were greeted by other oil field workers, who explained that the brush fire was under control, but that they needed to see “something else” on the mesa.

As they arrived at the mesa, Doug said they could not believe what they were looking at; a very large, metallic disc sat silently on the mesa. Doug explained that as they cautiously moved closer, they realized the craft was smooth with no seems, no noticeable rivets, bolts or weld marks. He said that it “looked as if it had been molded.” Doug and Bill climbed up on the craft and looked through a broken porthole. He recalls seeing two bodies slumped over what he thought was a control panel. Other oil field workers were climbing around the craft looking for a way to enter, when others started to arrive and advised the men to move away from the craft. A Mr. and Mrs. Knight (local ranchers running cattle out near the mesa) arrived in their pickup truck and began to walk slowly toward the craft. Nearing daybreak (as Doug would recall) a helicopter started to circle the mesa. Doug said this was unbelievable as well, because he had never seen a helicopter before! (Keep in mind that helicopters had just recently been introduced to the military at that time).

During my interview with Doug he recalled that the first law-enforcement officer to show up acted as though he didn’t know anyone. Doug approached the young officer and asked what they should all do? The officer explained that he was from the town of Cuba, New Mexico and that he had followed the low flying disc in the early morning hours, and then, finally, to the area of Hart Canyon road. He also explained to Doug that the town of Cuba had several sightings over those past few weeks. Doug would later recall that a second law enforcement officer also showed up. This officer was well known by most of the local people at the site.

Now, this ties in with Ken Farley's story about two police officers at the crash site. Doug was able to name everyone at the crash site, with the exception of two young men that stood on the western side of the mesa. He had not seen them prior to nor after the incident.

Witness No. 3

While working for the O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services), Fred Reed and his group were sent to Aztec, New Mexico to “clean up the crash site,” early in April of 1948. [Reed didn’t work for the O.S.S. (he worked for another clandestine organization of the military) this is an “uncorrected error” that was missed in final editing by Scott.] Shortly after they arrived, it was apparent to them that something very large had been removed from the site. Their specialty was to make an area appear as if nothing had transpired there.

Fred revisited the crash site in 1999; I was able to interview him one week later.

In 1948 they were ordered to collect any foreign items they found and then bury them eighteen inches deep; to ‘soft landscape’ any areas where heavy equipment tracks were visible and to do an extensive survey on the entire mesa. He noted a newly cut road and an out-of-place, large concrete pad in the freshly altered and siltey soil, during the cleanup. Reed recalled thinking that they must have poured it to support a heavy structure, like a crane, used to move a large object.

At the time of the cleanup, his group was informed that it was simply a crash site. The entire cleanup was done in the usual quiet manner that they were accustomed to in the O.S.S. [O.S.S. is incorrect.] Years later, one of Reed's former Senior Officers would explain to him that it was not an aircraft crash, but that of a large metallic “flying disc.”

In my interview with Reed, he commented on how the crash site today looked as they had left it when they had finished. He recalled that the tops of the trees were broken and was fascinated with how they had weathered with time.

Witness No. 3

During our research on the Aztec Incident, we came across a name in several old declassified reports. This person kept receiving all the UFO reports. We figured since this person was getting all the “good reports,” maybe he would know something about the Aztec Incident; trying to keep this article in reasonable length, I’ll skip to the details on our interview after two years of hard research in tracking him down.

When I first contacted him by phone, I explained that I was doing research on his old Air Force group and that I would love to sit and interview him. He agreed and we met at a Hotel lobby bar for a drink on a cold winter night. I brought with me most of the files that I had declassified that talked about his Intel group from back then. I wasted little time in getting to the Aztec questions. He slowly and reluctantly talked about the Aztec Crash as he called it. He admitted that he was not at the crash site, but did read daily Intel reports on the clean up and progress of the removal.

His job was to keep track of the people at the site and carefully monitor all reports. He was stationed at Walker Field (Formerly Roswell Army Air Field) in March of 1948. He explained to me that everything was very compartmentalized during the recovery operation. His job was mainly to keep Personnel files on everyone involved and make sure that the records would never show them in that part of the country. He did see black and white photos of the “extremely large craft.” He told me during our interview, that after the botched attempt at Roswell, they were getting better at their Intel.” He explained to me that the only person he ever discussed this with was his wife before she passed away. When I asked him on how the Military felt about Frank Scully’s book, he recalled that the Military was not so upset with Frank Scully, but very concerned as to “who leaked the story to Scully.”

He was very good about confirming certain details about some of my questions, but very reluctant on some items. He told me that the work force at the site consisted of about 200 persons during the two-week recovery; “that” he could easily remember, because of the huge paperwork process that he did daily. He provided some clues to the crash-site, not knowing what we had obtained so far; it was great to hear some confirmations from him.

He mentioned a small delay in the first few days of the recovery do to some problems with a fresh cut road. The soil near the crash site was very moist and sandy and created problems moving in some heavy equipment.

He told me to look for some “footers” or “ concrete foundations” that had to be poured in order for the equipment to be stable. He did not remember exactly what equipment, but when I mentioned a crane, he thought that was correct. When asked where this craft was taken, he explained that he would not have been privileged to that information. However, after the recovery he explained, he was responsible for reclaiming some of the equipment that was used. The equipment he recalled, was at Los Alamos.

Witness No. 4

Virgel Riggs was a young man in the Air Force back in the early sixties. He had just arrived at RAF Welford near Newbury, Berkshire area of England. He had been at the base one month when he met a fellow Airman named John Doe. [Name withheld by author.] Upon learning that Virgel was raised in the Four Corners area of New Mexico, John was very curious to learn if Virgel had ever heard of the “Aztec UFO story.” Virgel responded that he had heard the story growing up as a child; as time went on, and Virgel and John became close friends, John tells Virgel that the Aztec UFO story was not just an old wise tale as some thought it was. When Virgel asked John what he meant by that, John stated that “that he was part of the recovery team in the aftermath of the ‘Aztec Incident.’”

This obviously shocked Virgel but he had no reason to doubt what his good friend was telling him. A year or two, later, John was shipped off to Viet Nam, and Virgel has never seen him since. During the past year, we have been looking for John Doe. By a stroke of luck, as Virgel was going through some records that he kept, he found a copy of some orders that listed John Doe and his AF #. We are currently trying to find John Doe, as it turns out that “John” was his nick-name.

So the Aztec story goes on from here. Our research continues as we speak. I have traveled to over 28 states, interviewed 60 credible people, traveled to several archives, and spent over $ 200,000.00 of our own money!!

This article is simply an overview of some of the Aztec research that we have done in sixteen years. The research continues and will continue until we feel that we have looked at every aspect of this Historical Event. Undocumented History has and always will be our driving force in researching this event.