Frank Scully

For the Australian politician, see Frank Scully (politician).

Frank Scully
File:Frank Scully.png Frank Scully
Born	Francis Joseph Xavier Scully (1892-04-28)28 April 1892 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	Palm Springs, California, U.S.
Resting place	Desert Memorial Park, Cathedral City, California
Occupation	Journalist, author, ufologist
Employer	The Sun, Variety
Spouse(s)	Alice Scully (1909–1996; his death) (married 1930)
Awards	Knight of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1956

Frank Scully (born Francis Joseph Xavier Scully; 28 April 1892 – 23 June 1964) was an American journalist, author, humorist, and a regular columnist for the entertainment trade magazine Variety.

Involvement with Newton and "Dr. Gee"

In October and November 1949, Scully published two columns in Variety, claiming that dead extraterrestrial beings were recovered from a flying saucer crash, based on what he said was reported to him by a scientist involved. His 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers expanded on the theme, adding that there had been two such incidents in Arizona and one in New Mexico, a 1948 incident that involved a saucer that was nearly 100 feet (30 m) in diameter. The saucers supposedly worked on magnetic principles. In the book, Scully revealed his two sources to be Silas M. Newton and a scientist he called "Dr. Gee." Sixty thousand copies of the book were sold. Scully was known for his idiosyncratic prose, describing Dr. Gee as having "more degrees than a thermometer" and an alleged crashed saucer in the Sahara as "more cracked than a psychiatrist in an auto wreck."

Exposure as a hoax

In 1952 and 1956, True magazine published articles by San Francisco Chronicle reporter John Philip Cahn that exposed Newton and "Dr. Gee" (identified as Leo A. GeBauer) as oil con artists who had hoaxed a gullible Scully.

Behind the Flying Saucers was the only book Scully wrote on flying saucers. He briefly revisited the subject in his 1963 book In Armour Bright, reiterating his belief in the veracity of a 1948 saucer crash near Aztec, New Mexico.

FBI memo

Like Scully's story, a FBI memo written by Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Guy Hottel, dated March 22, 1950, relates a claim of three flying saucer crashes in New Mexico. It states: "An investigator for the Air Forces stated that three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico." It then goes on to say that "According to Mr. [redacted], informant, the saucers were found in New Mexico due to the fact that the Government had a very high-powered radar set-up in that area and it is believed the radar interferes with the controling [sic] mechanism of the saucers."

However, skeptics suspect the unidentified "informant" was probably either Newton or GeBauer, who they say conned Scully, and likewise was telling stories to the U.S. Air Force and FBI.

On 25 March 2013, the FBI issued a press release concerning Hottel's memo. In addressing the memo's context and possible connection to a hoax, the Bureau wrote, "Finally, the Hottel memo does not prove the existence of UFOs; it is simply a second- or third-hand claim that we never investigated. Some people believe the memo repeats a hoax that was circulating at that time, but the Bureau’s files have no information to verify that theory."

Publications

Archives

• Collection Number 09554 processed in 1995.

Popular culture

The fictional character Dana Scully from The X-Files television series is named after him.

See also

• Aztec, New Mexico, UFO incident
• Donald Keyhoe
• Frank Edwards

External links

• Frank Scully at the Internet Movie Database
• Text of Behind the Flying Saucers by Frank Scully (Microsoft Word 97-2003 document file)
• "Flying Saucers and Frank Scully", a detailed account of Behind the Flying Saucers and subsequent exposé
• Text of Sandrik, Child of Russia by Olga Tchirikova; under the editorial supervision of Frank Scully