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Behind the Flying Saucers
In BEHIND THE FLYING SAUCERS, readers have the full-length fascinating, inside story of those disks which have caused so much excitement these past months. Here, carefully put together in book form, are the theories and actualities of magnetic propulsion, eye-witness accounts of disks discovered in the magnetic fault zones of the West--disks made of material unknown on this earth, disks manned by Lilliputian crews, disks carrying such extraordinary devices and machines as to confound our most brilliant experts.
Frank Scully (1892-7/23/64) was an author in the '40s & '50s who wrote for the show business publication Variety. In 10-11/49, Scully published two columns in Variety, claiming that extraterrestrial beings were recovered from a flying saucer crash, based on what he said was reported to him by a scientist involved. His '50 book Behind the Flying Saucers expanded on the theme, adding that there had been three such incidents in New Mexico & one in Arizona, including one that crashed near Aztec, NM in '48 that was 100' in diameter. The saucers supposedly worked on magnetic principles. In the book, Scully revealed two sources to be a Silas Newton & a scientist named "Dr. Gee". 60,000 copies of the book were sold.
Frank Scully (1892-7/23/64) was an author in the '40s & '50s who wrote for the show business publication Variety. In 10-11/49, Scully published two columns in Variety, claiming that extraterrestrial beings were recovered from a flying saucer crash, based on what he said was reported to him by a scientist involved. His '50 book Behind the Flying Saucers expanded on the theme, adding that there had been three such incidents in New Mexico & one in Arizona, including one that crashed near Aztec, NM in '48 that was 100' in diameter. The saucers supposedly worked on magnetic principles. In the book, Scully revealed two sources to be a Silas Newton & a scientist named "Dr. Gee". 60,000 copies of the book were sold.
- GenresNonfictionMystery
230 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1950
40 people are currently reading
180 people want to read
About the author
Frank Scully
24 books4 followersAmerican journalist, author, humorist, and a regular columnist for the entertainment trade magazine Variety.
In October and November 1949, Scully published two columns in Variety, claiming that dead extraterrestrial beings were recovered from a flying saucer crash.
The character Dana Scully is presumably named after him.
In October and November 1949, Scully published two columns in Variety, claiming that dead extraterrestrial beings were recovered from a flying saucer crash.
The character Dana Scully is presumably named after him.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 2, 2019
Very entertaining and informative read, written in a style evocative of 1950’s hard bitten reporting. Particularly interesting in its treatment of the 1948 Aztec NM UFO recovery which is now emerging as even a bigger story than Roswell. Highly recommended.
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October 4, 2016“Long ago I wrote, ‘If the Pentagon tells you flying saucers are here, don’t believe them. If they say they are a myth, don’t believe them. Just don’t believe them. Believe me.”
January 10, 2024
Ok, this book is a classic of the early ufo books, and one of the strangest ones, it is an essential one for the researchers interested in the history of the UFO phenomena. Scully surprisingly shows himself as an accomplished writer on some esoterica narrative, and delivers an interesting book, full of speculation, at parts it is a bit very going and technical.
July 20, 2020
Factional news reporting dissected and some incredulous evidence for the early crashes. Fascinating on reflection after disclosure.
May 12, 2024
PERHAPS THE FIRST ‘PENTAGON LIES’ AND ‘CRASHED SAUCER’ BOOK
Frank Scully (1892-1964) was an American journalist and author, as well as a regular columnist for the magazine Variety.
He wrote in the ‘Author’s Preface’ to this 1950 book, “Between the people and government today lies a double standard of morality. Anything remotely scientific has become by government definition a matter of military secrecy first… If we see anything unusual, even in the skies, we the people must either freeze our lips… or give our names, addressed, business connections, and testimony to be screened and filtered by anonymous intelligence officers… There is only one thing to do under such a setup. Expose their tactics. Show that more offenses are committed under the word ‘defense’ than this world dreams of. Insist that we say is the whole truth, and what they say if not the whole truth.” (Pg. xi-xii)
He continues, “It is any wonder therefore that I advise readers to treat any official comment as no more to be considered than old newspapers blowing in the wind? In fact, if such faceless men should say that the objects are (a) newspapers or (b) NOT newspapers but fragments of flying saucers, they are NOT to be believed either way. Not until we, the people, we who, have names, addressed, and the courage of our convictions, not until we say there are such things as flying saucers, is it authentic. And we have been saying it for sometime. Now read ‘[this book] in comfort and throw in the fire all the Pentagonic denials from this day forward.” (Pg. xv-vi)
He recounts, “many readers must have asked themselves, ‘How did Scully get into this?’ Frankly, I wrote my way into this.” He was contacted by a ‘Silas M. Newton.’ (Pg. 31) “In the summer of 1949 he met Dr. Gee, a magnetic engineer who had been released in July after seven years of government servitude on all sorts of top-drawer projects.” (Pg. 36) Newton… stated to tell the detail s of two saucers the research magnetic scientist he had personally seen, examined, checked on, and researched. His story was so fantastic, that if he weren’t a solid man of industrial service, you might have suspected that he had gone crazy in a quiet, plausible way.” (Pg. 38)
He asserts, “In that spring, 1948 issue ‘Fate’ carried [an] article … entitled, ‘The Mystery of the Flying Disks.’ From reading it, the only conclusion to be arrived at is that the mystery was no mystery except to the fabricators of mysteries attached to the Air Force… In fact, for one dollar, taxpayers would have got far better reports from ‘fate’ than they ever got for the millions expended on Project Saucer. Not only that, but they could have got the desired information a year sooner.” (Pg. 92)
He states, “Long ago I wrote, ‘If the Pentagon tells you flying saucers are HERE, don’t believe them. If they say they are a MYTH, don’t believe them. Just don’t believe them. Believe me.” (Pg. 106)
He then introduces “a man of science whose contemporaries rated him the top magnetic research specialist of the United States. He has more degrees than a thermometer… He is the scientist I have called Dr. Gee… He was the man who told us the whole story of the first flying saucer that had landed in the United States… it was in a very rocky, high plateau territory, east of Aztec, New Mexico… we looked into the interior. There we were able to count sixteen bodies, that ranged in height from about 36 to 42 inches… our best guess at this moment, astronomers to the contrary, is that they have flown here from the planet Venus.’” (Pg. 127-131)
He explains, “Raised in a school of journalism that believed that the only secret that shouldn’t be told to the people of a democracy was that told in a confessional, I have small patience with private pacts on any level.” (Pg. 162)
Of course, in 1952 and 1956, True magazine published articles by San Francisco Chronicle reporter John Philip Cahn, that exposed Newton and ‘Dr. Gee’ (actually Leo A. GeBauer) as con artists, who had fooled Scully. (Of course, some ufologists will still claim that such an ‘exposé’ is merely another ‘government cover-up.’)
Frank Scully (1892-1964) was an American journalist and author, as well as a regular columnist for the magazine Variety.
He wrote in the ‘Author’s Preface’ to this 1950 book, “Between the people and government today lies a double standard of morality. Anything remotely scientific has become by government definition a matter of military secrecy first… If we see anything unusual, even in the skies, we the people must either freeze our lips… or give our names, addressed, business connections, and testimony to be screened and filtered by anonymous intelligence officers… There is only one thing to do under such a setup. Expose their tactics. Show that more offenses are committed under the word ‘defense’ than this world dreams of. Insist that we say is the whole truth, and what they say if not the whole truth.” (Pg. xi-xii)
He continues, “It is any wonder therefore that I advise readers to treat any official comment as no more to be considered than old newspapers blowing in the wind? In fact, if such faceless men should say that the objects are (a) newspapers or (b) NOT newspapers but fragments of flying saucers, they are NOT to be believed either way. Not until we, the people, we who, have names, addressed, and the courage of our convictions, not until we say there are such things as flying saucers, is it authentic. And we have been saying it for sometime. Now read ‘[this book] in comfort and throw in the fire all the Pentagonic denials from this day forward.” (Pg. xv-vi)
He recounts, “many readers must have asked themselves, ‘How did Scully get into this?’ Frankly, I wrote my way into this.” He was contacted by a ‘Silas M. Newton.’ (Pg. 31) “In the summer of 1949 he met Dr. Gee, a magnetic engineer who had been released in July after seven years of government servitude on all sorts of top-drawer projects.” (Pg. 36) Newton… stated to tell the detail s of two saucers the research magnetic scientist he had personally seen, examined, checked on, and researched. His story was so fantastic, that if he weren’t a solid man of industrial service, you might have suspected that he had gone crazy in a quiet, plausible way.” (Pg. 38)
He asserts, “In that spring, 1948 issue ‘Fate’ carried [an] article … entitled, ‘The Mystery of the Flying Disks.’ From reading it, the only conclusion to be arrived at is that the mystery was no mystery except to the fabricators of mysteries attached to the Air Force… In fact, for one dollar, taxpayers would have got far better reports from ‘fate’ than they ever got for the millions expended on Project Saucer. Not only that, but they could have got the desired information a year sooner.” (Pg. 92)
He states, “Long ago I wrote, ‘If the Pentagon tells you flying saucers are HERE, don’t believe them. If they say they are a MYTH, don’t believe them. Just don’t believe them. Believe me.” (Pg. 106)
He then introduces “a man of science whose contemporaries rated him the top magnetic research specialist of the United States. He has more degrees than a thermometer… He is the scientist I have called Dr. Gee… He was the man who told us the whole story of the first flying saucer that had landed in the United States… it was in a very rocky, high plateau territory, east of Aztec, New Mexico… we looked into the interior. There we were able to count sixteen bodies, that ranged in height from about 36 to 42 inches… our best guess at this moment, astronomers to the contrary, is that they have flown here from the planet Venus.’” (Pg. 127-131)
He explains, “Raised in a school of journalism that believed that the only secret that shouldn’t be told to the people of a democracy was that told in a confessional, I have small patience with private pacts on any level.” (Pg. 162)
Of course, in 1952 and 1956, True magazine published articles by San Francisco Chronicle reporter John Philip Cahn, that exposed Newton and ‘Dr. Gee’ (actually Leo A. GeBauer) as con artists, who had fooled Scully. (Of course, some ufologists will still claim that such an ‘exposé’ is merely another ‘government cover-up.’)
July 8, 2010
I read this during a period when I was pouring through every UFO book held by the Park Ridge Public Library, a period when articles about the subject were regularly appearing in the mainstream (Life, Time, Look etc.) and not-so-mainstream (Popular Mechanics, True, Argosy) press. It was entertaining and certainly much more credible than the books of George Adamski.
June 30, 2012
Just suppose for a moment that Frank Scully was telling the truth in 1950, about Flying Saucers in Denver, New Mexico, and Arizona.
May 23, 2012
A good oldie. Worth a read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews