Frank Scully
Frank Scully (1892-July 23, 1964) was an author in the 1940s and 1950s and wrote for the show business publication Variety.
In October and November 1949, Scully published two columns in Variety, claiming that extraterrestrial beings were recovered from a flying saucer crash, based on what he said was reported to him by a scientist involved. His 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers expanded on the theme, adding that there had been three such incidents in New Mexico and one in Arizona, including one that crashed near Aztec, New Mexico in 1948 that was 100 feet in diameter. The saucers supposedly worked on magnetic principles. In the book, Scully revealed two sources to be a Silas Newton and a scientist named "Dr. Gee". Sixty thousand copies of the book were sold.
Exposure as a hoax
In 1952, True Magazine published an exposé by San Francisco Chronicle reporter J. P. Cahn article that Newton and "Dr. Gee", identified as Leo GeBauer, were a pair of oil conmen, who had hoaxed a gullible Scully. (Bartholomew & Howard 1998, p. 193)
Behind the Flying Saucers was the only book Scully wrote on flying saucers. He did briefly revisit the subject in his 1963 book Armour Bright, reiterating his belief in the veracity of a 1948 Aztec, N.M. crash. Scully had also made clear from the beginning that "Dr. Gee" was really a composite of multiple sources who supposedly had inside knowledge about flying saucers and the Aztec crash.
Corroboration of Scully's story?
FBI memo
Like Scully's story, an FBI memo, dated March 22, 1950, on the surface seems to confirm three flying saucer crashes in New Mexico. It states: "An investigator for the Air Forces stated that three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico." It then goes on to say that "According to Mr. XXXXXX, informant, the saucers were found in New Mexico due to the fact that the Government had a very high-powered radar set-up in the area and it is believed the radar interferes with the controlling mechanism of the saucers." [1].
However, skeptics suspect the unidentified "informant" was probably either Silas Newton or Leo GeBauer, who they say conned Scully, and likewise was telling stories to the Air Force and FBI.
Canadian inquiries
Canadian radio engineer Wilbert B. Smith, who had his own ideas that the saucers might work on magnetic principles, read Scully's book when it first came out in September 1950. He then sought to verify if there was any truth to it by arranging briefings through the Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C. Smith was put in contact with Dr. Robert Sarbacher, an electronics and missile expert and a consultant to the U.S. military Research and Development Board. According to Smith's handwritten notes of the briefing, when he asked about the truth of the Scully book, Sarbacher informed him that "the facts reported in the book are substantitally correct", that flying saucers existed, they didn't originate on Earth, they were classified higher than the H-bomb, and their mode of operation was unknown. [2] According to a top secret memo Smith wrote immediately afterward, he was further informed that Dr. Vannevar Bush was in charge of a small group looking into the modus operandi of the saucers. [3] Other Smith correspondence made it clear the group operated within the Research and Development Board [4] (see Majestic 12)
Smith's inquiries led to the formation in late 1950 of the small Canadian government UFO research project known as Project Magnet to test Smith's ideas of saucer operation. Project Magnet was officially closed down in 1954.
Selected works
- Behind the Flying Saucers, 1950, Henry Holt
References
- ^ Copy of FBI memo, Good, Above Top Secret, 527
- ^ Copy of Smith's handwritten notes, Timothy Good, Above Top Secret, 1988, 519-521
- ^ Text of Smith memo
- ^ Other Smith papers
- Template:Harvard reference
- "Flying Saucers and Frank Scully"; A detailed account of Behind the Flying Saucers and subsequent expose
- Text of Behind the Flying Saucers
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