The headlines have been ablaze the last few days with news stories concerning the release of FBI UFO files. Although many of the files are interesting, there is nothing new, UFO-wise, at least in this new release. Instead the files released by the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) are now compiled in what they call the vault. It is a system designed to make it easier to search their documents. Some news stories have claimed that the files contain evidence of the famous Roswell crash. However, the document in question is also nothing new to UFO researchers and has been debated for the past few decades since its release in 1977.
The memo in question was written by Guy Hottel, a special agent in charge of the Washington field office at the time of the memo in 1950. The memo says that an Air Force investigator had said that three “so-called flying saucers” had crashed in New Mexico. They had raised centers, were about 50 feet in diameter, and contained bodies which were human in shape but only three feet tall. According to the memo, the saucers crashed due to high-powered radar.
These FBI files were originally obtained by researcher, Dr. Bruce Maccabee. Maccabee is an optical physicist who once worked for the U.S. Navy and is now a leading UFO researcher. In his book, UFO-FBI Connection, printed in 2000, he reviews this document and others.
Maccabee and other UFO researchers believe that the information in this memo originated from a hoax. It is very similar to the accounts in a book from 1950 by Frank Scully called Behind the Flying Saucers. The book centered on the claims of two men, oilman Silas Newton, and an unnamed scientist referred to as Dr. Gee. They claimed to have knowledge of three crashes in the southwestern United States. Open Minds wrote about one of these crashes in an article regarding a rumor of a UFO below Dreamy Draw dam in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona. The June/July 2011 issue of Open Minds magazine will also feature an article on alleged U.S. UFO crash cases, including one in Aztec, New Mexico. Both of these cases seem to have their genesis in the Scully book.
It was later found that Netwon was a con-man, and many believe the true Dr. Gee was his friend, Leo GeBauer. Although technically proficient, GeBrauer was not a scientist. Since the Hottell memo so closely resembles the Newton/Gee claims and is in the same time period, many believe that the FBI memo was just a rehash of the rumors started by Newton and GeBrauer. However, not everyone agrees that the Aztec crash case is so easily explained away, as you can read in our next issue of Open Minds magazine.
Open Minds magazine editor, Antonio Huneeus wrote at length about the contents of the UFO FBI files.
