The 'Aztec Incident' Revisited:- Part One -

By Scott & Suzanne Ramsey
© 2005

Abstract:

The landing and recovery of an extraterrestrial craft near Aztec, New Mexico has been a controversy for nearly 58 years within the UFO community.

The story as first reported by writer Frank Scully, appears in 1950 in his book Behind the Flying Saucers. This was the first hard covered book ever published on flying saucers for people wanting to know more about the subject that was relatively new to the American public.

This article will look at the original dates, witnesses, claims of technology, and people involved, to present to you the facts known to this point.

Our research on Aztec is a constant "work-in-process". With 18 ½ years of research, uncovering an archive of information that lends credence and credibility to the story that Scully reported. Scully took some of the mystery to his grave by never naming the key people including the scientist that fell under the name of "Dr. Gee". As time passed, the Aztec story came under heavy scrutiny by many people due to the timing of some events by those that "broke the story" to Frank Scully. The focus of this research has been to document the described events that took place, the people involved, and the claims that have been made, we have painstakingly gone back and researched this as a possibly a piece of undocumented history.

The Original Story:

According to the original story reported by Frank Scully, a flying saucer soft-landed on a mesa outside the town of Aztec, New Mexico in the spring of 1948. Two tenescopes that were at the Los Alamos facility and one near the Alamagordo facility tracked the errant craft.

The story as told to him by Dr. Gee, was that the craft was 100 feet in diameter and in perfect shape.

Dr. Gee and at least eight other "Top Scientist" in the field of magnetism were called in to inspect the craft and try and figure out the principles of it’s propulsion system. According to the story, this was the first that Dr. Gee was to evaluate but the third one that had landed or crashed on this earth.

Dr. Gee, according to Scully, (a composite of 8-9 scientists) worked through the recovery with the "who’s –who" in the scientific field at that time. These scientists had a collective resume that had them working on some of the most incredible projects during World War II and through the post war years.

The craft at Aztec yielded 16 humanoid bodies that were between 36 - 42 inches in height wore tight fitting one piece flight suits and appeared to have perfect teeth. The bodies were burned to a dark brown color (scientist were unable to explain at the time of Scully’s book being published).

The craft itself, according to Dr. Gee, was taken to a "Top Secret Lab" where it was evaluated and again by the time of Scully’s book, scientist still had not figured out the means of propulsion and the many metals it was know to have that defied modern day scientist.

The Research Begins:

In the late 1980’s our research began on the "Aztec Incident", as we will call it. This research is divided into different phases in order to address multiple areas of the alleged incident.

First was to visit the town of Aztec, New Mexico to see what locals had to add to the story after forty years. The town of Aztec sits near the Four Corners area of northwestern New Mexico near the borders of Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

Back in 1948, Aztec would have been larger than nearby Farmington, New Mexico as Aztec was also the County Seat.

Our first few trips to Aztec yielded no first hand witnesses to the alleged crash, but did supply several leads. The town was mostly divided regarding the incident. Some sided with Scully’s book whereas others wrote the whole thing off as a hoax. Not realizing the years of work ahead, the net results of the initial trips gave some direction to head with a list of names and families to research.

The second part of the research was to determine the location of the alleged crash or landing site. After interviewing many locals, ranchers, oilfield workers, and some eyewitnesses, we were able to determine the most probable location on a Mesa off of Hart Canyon road. The mesa faces the south – southwest and is near a bend in Hart Canyon that has long been referred to as the Arkansas Bend or Arkansas Loop. After comparing old maps of the area, not much has changed in many, many years.

The third part of the research was to look in great detail at every claim in Frank Scully’s book, "Behind the Flying Saucers". After all, Scully broke the story after having interviewed the infamous "Dr. Gee" who Scully claimed to his deathbed was a collection of 8 – 9 scientists that worked on the Aztec Recovery. We will examine every claim possible that the collection of Dr. Gee made and compare with what was going on during the time frame surrounding the end of World

War II and of Scully’s Book.

The fourth part of the research was to evaluate any physical evidence that are found interesting or are out of place at the crash site. The most notable piece of interest is the infamous concrete slab that has added mystery to the site over the years. To qualify the slab as part of the Aztec history, the slab would need a reasonable explanation as to why it was on the top of the mesa. Since the Hart Canyon Road area is rich is natural gas, has many pump compressors, and oil storage facilities was this slab part of the oilfield history, or was it part of the alleged recovery operation as told by a few. A portion of the research relied on expert oilfield workers, engineers and finally one of the leading concrete and engineering companies in the world to evaluate the age of the concrete as well as the age of the rebar inside the square, 9 inch thick slab.

The fifth and final phase of our research was a look at the negative claims made over the years concerning Aztec. Frank Scully came under scrutiny about two years after his book came out involving Silas Newton and Leo GeBauer, who had gotten into legal troubles involving an investor in one of their oil "doodle bugging" instruments. Over the years some skeptics have taken issue with the entire Aztec Story. The dedication of this research has been to document the incident took place or not, if so what took place. When someone who has research, knowledge, or documentation offers to assist in any form regarding this incident; asks informed questions or provides disputes, it only raises the bar and credibility. Included in this research will be the skeptics issues and it will demonstrate how much research or lack there of they have done.

The Witnesses:

KEN FARLEY

Our first witness was Ken Farley. When we interviewed Farley, he was dying of a respiratory disease. He was on bottled oxygen when we met, north of Phoenix, Arizona. As he later described to me during a three hour interview, he had been in Durango, Colorado on March 25, 1948, visiting his aunt on his way to San Diego, California.

He was supposed to meet a friend north of Aztec, New Mexico. and then continue his drive to San Diego. 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 on a small dirt road just south of where they were standing.

The drivers of the vehicles seemed to be in a hurry, according to Ken. Thinking an emergency was underway, the two of them decided to go out and see what the problem was.

Farley and his friend (anonymous) arrived at the mesa, now busy with oilfield workers, what appeared to ranchers and two police officers who were at the scene talking to the locals.

As they moved toward the west side of mesa to get a better look at a large disc that sat silently on the mesa and had, as Farley described, "no noticeable damage". The craft was "perfectly smooth on the outside with no seams or marking except for around the middle".

Finally, one of the officers walked over to Ken and his friend and told them that the military had been notified and that they should leave the area at once. They refused to leave because nobody else seemed to be listening to the officer. Farley recalls that some of the oilfield workers were climbing "all over the damn thing, which was absolutely stupid. Some older folks started yelling at them to get the hell away from it".

Later that morning, Farley explained that the military arrived and discussed the incident individually with the people on the mesa. Everyone was "threatened with their lives" and sworn to secrecy.

Since Ken Farley was not originally from the area, he was unable to help to identify who the other people might have been.

DOUG NOLAN

Doug Nolan and Bill Ferguson were employed by the El Paso Gas Company. Nolan, 19 years of age, had just picked up his boss Bill Ferguson at 5 AM. Bill had told Doug that they needed to get out to Hart Canyon Road as soon as possible due to a bad brush fire that was spotted near a drip tank.

As the two arrived to the site, other oilfield workers greeted them explaining that the brush fire was under control, but that they needed to see something else. As they arrived on the mesa, Nolan said that they could not believe what they were looking at. A very large metallic disk sat silently on the mesa. He explained that as they cautiously moved closer they realized the craft was smooth with no noticeable seams, rivets, bolts or weld marks. He said it looked as if it had been molded.

Nolan and Ferguson 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 Nolan 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 the interview with Farley he recalled that the first law enforcement officer to show up acted as though he had not known anyone. Doug approached the young officer and asked what they should do? The officer explained that he was from the town of Cuba, New Mexico and that he had followed the low flying disk in the early morning hours and then finally to the area of Hart Canyon Road.

The officer also explained that the town of Cuba had several sightings over the past few weeks. He remembered that when the second law enforcement officer showed up he was well known by most of the local people at the site.

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 the two young men who stood on the western side of the mesa. He had not seen either of them prior to or after the incident.

Second Hand Witness –

FRED REED

Fred Reed (who prior to 1948 had worked for the O.S.S., Office of Strategic Services) and his group were sent to Aztec, New Mexico to "clean up a crash site" early in April 1948. 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, and I was able to interview him one week later.

In 1948 they were ordered to collect any foreign items they found, bury them eighteen inches deep and to "soft landscape" any area where heavy equipment tracks were visible.

They were also 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 silty soil during the cleanup. Reed recalled thinking that they must have poured it to support a heavy structure, such as 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 clean up was done in the usual quiet manner that Reed had been accustomed to providing while in the O.S.S. 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 disk".

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

The Police Officers –

The Four Corners area today is a busy and fast growing area. Farmington, New Mexico is currently the largest town in the area. The San Juan Sheriff’s Department was formed in the late 1800’s.The local Farmington Highway Patrol and many "Deputies" were at that time, the law enforcement throughout the area. The town of Cuba, New Mexico had two police officers from the research done so far, it appears that one of them was a full time officer and one a part time on the night shift.

Trying to locate and identify which police officers would have been at the site in early morning hours of March 25, 1948 has been a long and difficult task.

For this reason the names of these officers will be released when the documentation is firm.

Crash Site Location

Aging the Physical Evidence

As we stated earlier, the exact location of the alleged crash site is not perfect science when we don’t have a smoking gun to prove the crash beyond a reasonable doubt with hard physical evidence.

We rely on first hand witnesses, second hand witnesses, ranchers from the area, oilfield workers and locals to confirm the crash site.

In UFO Crash At Aztec, written by Bill Steinman and Wendell Stevens, they agree on the crash site as well, based on their independent research that was done in the mid 1980’s.

Two main mysteries surround what is now known as the "crash site".

First, there is a road that is cut through from the Arkansas Loop that travels due west toward the resting place of the site itself. The road, which is cut through very fine sandy silt, goes into almost a "cal – de –sac. At the end of this road is the mystery "concrete slab" that much time and attention has been allocated towards over the years. The story behind the road is: the military cut a road into the area in order to get access to the crash site and craft.

Second, is the concrete slab. It measures over a square yard and is approximately 9 inches thick. The slab is heavily reinforced with large diameter rebar and pencil rod.

According to an ex-Intel Air Force Officer (for interview please refer to MUFON Journal – August 2004). The road that was cut through the sandy silt and slab had to be poured to help support a piece of equipment such as a large crane support leg. He described in his interview that the pouring of a concrete pad or foot delayed the recovery operation by a few days.

All roads in the area are listed either on USGS maps or on maps that are used by the many oilfield companies and contractors. However the mystery road (unless added in the past few months) does not appear on any map.

After three years of consulting experts in the oil and gas field, not one person from Williams Energy, El Paso Gas, Dugan, or Burlington can relate the concrete pad to anything current or past technology in the oil fields.

In the early hours of 2002, we decided to take a core sample of the slab and remove rebar we could dig out for a sample. Approximately a 3"x 9" deep core was taken and sent to the one of the best concrete labs in the country. The name of this company is being withheld until the data on aging is completed. Rebar samples taken are also being analyzed as to manufacturer, strength, etc. A full report will be forwarded to MUFON in our next report. We expect the full lab analysis to be complete by the end of this year. The purpose is to find exact aging of the slab.

Collation and Evaluation of The "Initial Evidence" Submitted By Scully –

Frank Scully, a well known personality and author of his time in penning his book, Behind the Flying Saucers thought he was breaking a story that the government and military would be announcing within the next year. Preceding the writing of the book, and what would become a key element within it, Scully was introduced to "Dr. Gee," a pseudonym for a composite of 8 to 9 top scientists in the field of magnetism by Silas Newton, an oil exploration and speculator. Newton knew "Dr. Gee" very well as they worked on several magnetic detection devices in the previous two years.

Dr. Gee tells Scully an amazing story of how the flying saucer that crashed near Aztec had been detected by two tenescopes; one at Los Alamos the other near Alamagordo, New Mexico. They tracked the errant craft as it slowly fell toward the small town where they found it; as stated earlier, our research led us to discovering the "old Radar Station" (previously unknown to the public) that fits the depiction given by Dr. Gee back in 1949, as related to Scully.

In the winter of 1999, we ventured out with topographic maps, foul weather gear, a rental 4 Wheel Drive SUV and several days of food and water. We found the old 767 AC + W Base that was an Air Force Radar Installation until 1957;later newer technology would render it obsolete.

Further digging through the archives established that these bases were built between 1946 -1948 by the Atomic Energy Commission; they were "mobile" and were to protect Los Alamos and Sandia National Labs—the significance of these facts certainly lends credence to Scully’s attestations, (as related to him by "Dr. Gee") since the "knowledge of these bases" was "top secret."

Countless days over the years were spent interviewing residents of Chama and Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico and although the rumor of the bases persisted, none of the locals we spoke to knew of their location.

Another element of the evidence offered in Scully’s book was Dr. Gee’s reference to the "group of magnetic scientists" (including himself) and their work during the war (World War II).

Did there exist such an organization exemplified by Scully, as told to him by the mysterious Dr. Gee?

One of the best researchers in the field today is a West - coast resident and long time respected researcher Frank Warren. Warren has uncovered a multitude of data relating to the claims made by Dr. Gee; in reviewing his research, you will find many correlations to the facts presented by Scully, (much being top secret at the time) and data that has been uncovered recently which supports the thesis offered by Frank Scully in his book, Behind the Flying Saucers.

Warren writes:

On page 127, the beginning of chapter 12 entitled "Inside The Flying Saucers" of Scully’s book, Behind the Flying Saucers Scully wrote, " . . . I met a man of science whose contemporaries rated him the top magnetic research scientist in the United States. He had more degrees then a thermometer, and had received them from such diverse institutions as Armour Institute, Creighton University, and the University of Berlin. He is the scientist called Dr. Gee. [Although here Scully describes "one person," he later stated that Dr. Gee was in fact a group, or composite of 8 to 9 scientists. There is in fact evidence within the pages of the book to support that declaration.]

He has been assigned to direct a division of top scientists during the war. Their task was to knock submarines out of the seven seas . . .. They worked out of two laboratories and had a budget of one billion dollars at their secret command."

Skeptics and critics alike (including key Ufologists in favor of ETH) have lambasted Scully’s book primarily because of the prosecution of Silas Newton and Leo GeBauer as conmen (two years after the book was published). In essence, discounting their declarations in the book "as being conmen," they hoodwinked the gullible Scully, who was intent on getting his book published.

Many of the afore mentioned critics and skeptics have assumed that the "infamous Dr. Gee" was in fact Leo GeBauer; all that said, what of the declarations about the "division of magnetic scientists" involved in anti-submarine warfare; more deceit on the part of Newton and GeBauer? Oh contraire! In point of fact there was indeed a division of scientists involved in anti-submarine warfare during the war years—it was "Division 6" of the "OSRD."

The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was established by executive order of President Roosevelt. Its director was the esteemed "Vannevar Bush." As a whole, the bulk of the defensive R & D work done was at the classification of "secret," most was "top secret" and some was "code-word top secret," e.g., "The Manhattan Project." In addition the scientists involved took an oath of allegiance to the United States and were required to sign "security pledges"; the FBI for "clearance" purposes conducted background checks.

The OSRD, via it’s predecessor the NDRC also adopted the "compartmentalization" principle: no person "would be given any classified information except that needed for the performance of the particular tasks which had been entrusted to him."

"Division 6" (sub-surface warfare) of the OSRD was headed by an individual that very much fits the description of Dr. Gee, or at least one of the collective. Its primary facility was the "Airborne Instruments Laboratory" (AIL) of Mineola, New York. Moreover, he indeed directed a division of "magnetic scientists" as stated in the book.

One of the devices developed by "Division 6" was the "Magnetic Anomaly Device" (MAD) the origins of which were borne by the "oil industry," more specifically the exploration thereof. After the design was completed, GSI (Geophysical Service Inc.) the predecessor of "Texas Instruments" mass-produced them for the war effort.

The questions that arise from the afore mentioned facts are obvious:

If Newton and GeBauer were nothing more then conmen, then how were they in possession of such "guarded information?"

Is it a coincidence that the very technology being developed "in secret" by the top scientists in the country for the war effort, which was born by geophysicists in the oil industry, is what Newton and GeBauer were being prosecuted for?

If Newton, GeBauer, and the mysterious "Dr. Gee" weren’t the source of information, as deemed by Scully, then where did Scully obtain it?

Finally and with great irony while Newton and GeBauer were being prosecuted for their "doodlebugs," and what was deemed a sham" other "self-proclaimed doodlebuggers" became some of the wealthiest men in the country as the founders of one of America’s successful corporations "Texas Instruments."

See Part Two

Home