FBI memo relays secondhand story of crashed saucers near Aztec, New Mexico
March 22, 1950 · Aztec, New Mexico (alleged crash site) · Government report · Primary document linked
A one-page memo from Guy Hottel, head of the FBI's Washington Field Office, to Director J. Edgar Hoover repeats a secondhand claim that an Air Force investigator said three saucers about 50 feet across, with small occupants, had been recovered in New Mexico, and that they were brought down by radar interference. The memo says no further evaluation was attempted. The story traces to a claimed March 1948 crash near Aztec that Frank Scully popularized in his 1950 book, and that J. P. Cahn's 1952 article tied to two men who were later convicted of fraud.
Why it matters (2/5)
Single memo that became the FBI Vault's most-viewed file, relaying a secondhand claim the FBI says it never investigated.
Caveats
The FBI says the memo does not prove UFOs exist, is a second- or third-hand claim it never investigated, and is not linked to Roswell. A 2022 unredacted copy names the informant as a police officer, and the memo does not say where he got the story. No contemporary press accounts of a crash exist, and local officials denied one.
Sources
- UFOs and the Guy Hottel Memo (Federal Bureau of Investigation), primary
- Guy Hottel (FBI Vault) (Federal Bureau of Investigation), primary
- Aztec crashed saucer hoax (Wikipedia), context
- The Flying Saucers and the Mysterious Little Men (J. P. Cahn, True magazine, Sept 1952) (True magazine), criticism