Frank Scully and Behind the Flying Saucers

Frank Scully and Behind the Flying Saucers

Frank Scully (1892–1964) was an American journalist and author best known as a longtime columnist for Variety magazine, the entertainment industry trade publication. He was respected in entertainment circles as a witty and well-connected commentator on show business and had authored several books prior to his involvement with the UFO subject.

Path to the Aztec Story

Scully encountered Silas Newton through social circles in Denver, Colorado. Newton presented himself as a wealthy geophysicist and oilman with connections throughout the energy industry, and cultivated relationships with influential figures including Scully. In the fall of 1949, Newton brought Scully into contact with Leo A. Gebauer (Newton's partner, whom Scully would identify in print only as "Dr. Gee"), who provided elaborate technical testimony about multiple UFO crash recoveries he claimed to have participated in as a classified government scientist.

Scully, apparently persuaded by the specificity and apparent technical sophistication of the accounts, published a series of columns in Variety in 1949 and ultimately expanded them into a book.

Behind the Flying Saucers (1950)

Publication Detail	Information
Publisher	Henry Holt and Company
Publication date	1950
Hardcover sales	Over 60,000 copies
International editions	12
Subject	UFO crash recoveries, particularly the Aztec, New Mexico, case
Primary sources	Silas Newton ("Mr. X") and Leo Gebauer ("Dr. Gee")
Significance	First major popular book to claim U.S. government possessed crashed flying saucers and alien bodies

The book presented in detail:

• The alleged March 1948 Aztec crash and recovery of a 99.99-foot craft with sixteen occupants
• Three other alleged crash-recovery events involving smaller craft
• Claimed characteristics of extraterrestrial technology, including magnetic propulsion and concentrated food wafers
• The claim that the beings were Venusian in origin
• The assertion that the government possessed this technology under the highest classification

The Denver University Lecture

On March 8, 1950 — before the book's publication but after Scully's Variety columns had circulated — Silas Newton delivered a lecture to science students at Denver University while maintaining his anonymity as "Mr. X" or "Scientist X." He was introduced as an expert on UFOs who claimed firsthand knowledge of recovered flying saucers held in secret government facilities.

The lecture attracted significant attention. According to Scully, within two hours of Newton's presentation, U.S. intelligence agents were asking questions of university staff about Newton's identity and the content of his talk. Significantly, a staff member named George T. Koehler of the Rocky Mountain Radio Station had covertly recorded an interview with Newton; this individual was subsequently "relieved" of the audiotapes by unknown parties. If accurate, this detail is difficult to reconcile with a simple confidence scheme that warranted no government interest.

Scientific Reception

The scientific community's response to Scully's book was largely dismissive. Martin Gardner, the mathematics and science writer, published one of the earliest and most comprehensive critiques, characterizing the technical claims in the book as full of "wild imaginings" and "scientific howlers." Gardner specifically targeted:

• The claim that every dimension of the craft was "divisible by nine"
• The assertion of a Venusian origin
• The described propulsion system, which he found physically implausible by 1950 physics

The Exposure and Its Aftermath

In 1952, J.P. Cahn of the San Francisco Chronicle published a thorough investigation of Newton and Gebauer's background in True magazine under the title "The Flying Saucers and the Mysterious Little Men." Cahn:

• Documented Newton and Gebauer's history of oil-field scams dating to the 1930s
• Demonstrated that Newton's claimed fortune of $20 million was fictional
• Obtained a metal sample from Newton representing alien material — which proved to be ordinary aluminum upon analysis
• Traced the "doodlebug" device scheme and its fraudulent use of the alien technology backstory

The Denver District Attorney brought charges. In December 1953, Newton and Gebauer were convicted of fraud and conspiracy. Scully's professional reputation suffered severe damage. He acknowledged in later years that he had been deceived, while maintaining some personal belief in the UFO phenomenon.

Reassessment

The question of whether Scully was entirely deceived, partially deceived, or was himself complicit in a scheme has been debated. Most researchers conclude he was a genuine victim of Newton and Gebauer's persuasive fabrications. The deeper question — whether the con men built their fraud on top of a real classified event, distorting and embellishing it for profit while providing the government with an ideal tool for discrediting the story — remains unresolved.