Aztec crashed-saucer fraud

Record summary

What happened Silas Newton and Leo Gebauer promoted a story that a crashed disc with small bodies had been recovered near Aztec, using claimed alien technology to sell fraudulent oil-detection equipment. Journalist Frank Scully popularised the account in Behind the Flying Saucers. The promoters were later convicted of fraud in an associated scheme, and no craft, bodies or authenticated recovery records appeared. Evidence Books, promotional claims and fraud-case records document the story’s creation, not the alleged crash. Explanations considered Commercial fraud is the well-supported explanation. What remains uncertain Later retellings sometimes detach the crash claim from the documented confidence scheme that carried it. Primary source Aztec crashed-saucer fraud — Wikipedia