A one-page FBI office memo from Guy Hottel (SAC, Washington) to Director Hoover, relaying thirdhand hearsay: an 'investigator for the Air Forces' told a DC police investigator that three 50-ft saucers with three 3-ft bodies each had been recovered in New Mexico, downed by 'high-powered radar.' It's the FBI Vault's most-viewed document. The complete 62-HQ-83894 file (PURSUE Release 01) shows the same story circulating via Denver oilman Silas Newton and George Koehler, the source of Scully's 1950 book and the Aztec hoax. Newton and Leo GeBauer were later convicted of fraud (1953).
Checked (2026-09-26): memo text and the Newton/Koehler Denver report read from the R01 OCR. The Newton–GeBauer fraud conviction is from background knowledge and needs a source.
How it was handled
Method
What happened
Tag
DISCREDIT-WITNESS
Hoover ordered LA to check whether Behind the Flying Saucers author Frank Scully was the Scully 'engaged in Communist activities' (Oct 13, 1950)
source investigated
CONTAINMENT
The recovery story was logged and circulated internally as hearsay; no follow-up record released