The Roswell Report: Case Closed

the Aztec story, Behind the Flying Saucers bears many similarities to the Roswell Incident, most notably, descriptions of covert "flying saucer" and "little men" recoveries interspersed with doses of unsubstantiated accusations directed at the U.S. Air Force. $ ^{66} $

In his book, Scully claimed he had information from two scientists, Silas M. Newton and a mysterious "Dr. Gee," who he claimed investigated the crash for the government. $ ^{67} $ In reality, Newton and Gee were con-men who convinced Scully of the story's authenticity. $ ^{68} $

Intrigued by the sensational claims made in Behind the Flying Saucers, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, J. P. Cahn, decided to look into the matter. What resulted from Cahn's research were articles in the September 1952 and August 1956 edition of True magazine which determined that the story was as "phony as a headwaiters bow and smile." $ ^{69} $

Cahn, with the assistance of a magician, devised a plan to "sting" the two con-men. $ ^{70} $ To execute the sting, he used sleight of hand switching an "indestructible" metal disk, claimed to be from a flying saucer, with a slug of his own manufacture. After the switch, Cahn submitted the disk to a laboratory for analysis revealing that they were of earthly origin, in particular, a grade of aluminum used to manufacture pots and pans! $ ^{71} $

Even with the exposure of this obvious fraud, the Aztec story is still revered by UFO theorists. Elements of this story occasionally reemerge and are thought to be the catalyst for other crashed flying saucer stories, including the Roswell Incident.

Fig. 4. September 1952 True magazine story that exposed the Aztec, N.M. hoax.