Aztec UFO Incident — Key Persons Directory

Aztec UFO Incident — Key Persons Directory

The following individuals played significant roles in the Aztec UFO incident — as originators, investigators, promoters, skeptics, or witnesses.

Primary Originators

Silas M. Newton

Denver oilman, confidence man, and primary public source for the Aztec crash story. Presented himself as a wealthy geophysicist; convicted of fraud in 1953. Continued engaging in fraudulent schemes through at least 1970.

Leo A. Gebauer ("Dr. Gee")

Newton's partner in the doodlebug fraud scheme. Electronics specialist who claimed classified government experience with recovered UFO technology. Convicted of fraud in 1953 alongside Newton.

Journalists and Authors

Frank Scully

Variety magazine columnist and author of Behind the Flying Saucers (1950). Apparently genuinely deceived by Newton and Gebauer. First journalist to bring the Aztec story to mass public attention. Suffered severe professional damage after the hoax was exposed.

J.P. Cahn

San Francisco Chronicle investigative journalist who exposed Newton and Gebauer's fraud in True magazine (1952). His investigation included physical testing of alleged alien metal samples (confirmed as ordinary aluminum) and documentation of Newton and Gebauer's prior fraud history.

Researchers — Pro-Authenticity

Leonard Stringfield

UFO researcher and compiler of crash/retrieval reports (UFO Crash Retrievals series, 1970s–1980s). Initially accepted the hoax verdict; later reversed his position and maintained Aztec was a genuine recovery event.

William Steinman and Wendelle C. Stevens

Co-authors of UFO Crash at Aztec: A Well Kept Secret (1987). Steinman (aerospace quality assurance professional) and Stevens (retired USAF Lt. Col.) produced the most technically detailed reconstruction of the alleged Aztec recovery up to that point.

Scott Ramsey

Primary investigator; devoted over 30 years and $500,000 to researching the Aztec case. Conducted field investigations at Hart Canyon and wider San Juan Basin area. Co-author of The Aztec UFO Incident (2015).

Suzanne Ramsey

Co-investigator and co-author with Scott Ramsey. Personal connection to Aztec through childhood in New Mexico. Managed documentation of over 60 witness interviews.

Frank Thayer

Communication professor and co-author of The Aztec UFO Incident (2015). Provided academic framing and methodological oversight for the Ramseys' research compilation.

Stanton Friedman

Nuclear physicist and UFO researcher; author of foreword to The Aztec UFO Incident. Investigated Roswell extensively and argued that both Roswell and Aztec represented genuine crash-recovery events.

Researchers — Skeptical

Martin Gardner

Science writer; early and comprehensive scientific critique of Scully's technical claims in Behind the Flying Saucers. Characterized the technical descriptions as "wild imaginings" and "scientific howlers."

Philip J. Klass

Prominent UFO skeptic; proposed that the Aztec narrative was maintained for tourism purposes. Applied similar frameworks of motivated civic fabrication to multiple alleged UFO events.

Government Personnel

Guy Hottel

Special Agent in Charge, FBI Washington Field Office. Authored the March 22, 1950 memorandum to Director Hoover summarizing an Air Force investigator's claim that three flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico — the "Hottel Memo."

General Nathan F. Twining

Commander, Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson AFB; authored the September 1947 Twining Memorandum confirming that UFO phenomena were "real and not fictitious." Named as original MJ-12 member. Relevant to both the institutional authority at Wright-Patterson and the timeline of classified awareness.

Dr. Vannevar Bush

Architect of wartime American science; alleged team leader of the Aztec recovery examination (per Steinman/Stevens); named as original MJ-12 member. Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II.

Doug Nolan

Oil field worker, approximately 19 years old in March 1948; alleged to have been among the first civilians to observe the crashed craft at Hart Canyon, including describing the quarter-sized entry hole through one of the portholes.

Claimed Witnesses

The Ramseys compiled testimony from more than 60 individuals claiming knowledge of the 1948 event, most of whom have not been publicly identified by name. Their accounts included descriptions of:

• Anomalous military convoy activity north of Aztec
• Armed perimeter establishment in Hart Canyon area
• Restricted access to areas near the alleged crash site
• Unusually heavy radar activity at Aztec's regional airport prior to the event