Editing UFO conspiracy theories (section)

====Aztec "alien bodies" hoax====
{{main|Aztec, New Mexico UFO hoax}}
[[File:Aztec-hoax-pic.png|alt=Three men demonstrate the Aztec hoax claims using an inverted bowl to represent Earth and a copy of Frank Scully's book to represent a magnetism-powered flying saucer.|thumb|Author Frank Scully (right) and confidence man Silas Newton (center)<ref>{{cite news |last=Severson |first=Thor |title=Little Men Due Soon: Flying Saucer Landing Forecast |date=October 14, 1952 |newspaper=The Denver Post |location=Denver, Colorado |others=Photograph by David Mathias}}</ref>]]
The first "alien bodies" conspiracy theory emerged in October and November 1949, when journalist [[Frank Scully]] published two columns in ''Variety''.<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|47–48}} Scully claimed that dead [[Extraterrestrial life|extraterrestrial]] beings were recovered from a [[flying saucer]] crash, based on what he said was reported to him by a scientist involved.<ref name="variety1">{{cite news|last=Scully|first=Frank|title=One Flying Saucer Lands In New Mexico|newspaper=Variety|date=12 October 1949|location=New York}}</ref><ref name="variety2">{{cite news|last=Scully|first=Frank|title=Flying Saucers Dismantled, Secrets May Be Lost|newspaper=Variety|date=23 November 1949|location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/variety176-1949-11|title=Variety (November 1949)|date=December 25, 1949|location=New York, NY|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> 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 {{convert|100|ft|m|0}} in diameter.<ref group="note">{{convert|99.99|ft|m|5}} to be exact.</ref><ref name="reece-34">{{cite book |last=Reece |first=Gregory L. |title=UFO Religion: Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Culture |publisher=[[I. B. Tauris]] |location=London; New York |date=2007 |page=34 |isbn=978-1-845-11451-0}}</ref> In January 1950, ''Time Magazine'' skeptically repeated stories of crashed saucers with humanoid occupants.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,811681,00.html | title=Science: Visitors from Venus | magazine=Time | date=9 January 1950 }}</ref>

It was later revealed that Scully had been the victim of "two veteran [[con artist|confidence artists]]".<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|47–48}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.physics.smu.edu/~pseudo/UFOs/Scully/Cahn1.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130330161411/http://www.physics.smu.edu/~pseudo/UFOs/Scully/Cahn1.pdf|title=J. P. Cahn exposé, ''True Magazine'', 1952|archive-date=March 30, 2013}}</ref>
In 1952 and 1956, ''[[True (magazine)|True]]'' magazine published articles by ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' reporter John Philip Cahn<ref name="Cahn1">{{cite news |title=The Flying Saucers and the Mysterious Little Men |last=Cahn |first=J.P. |url=http://www.physics.smu.edu/~pseudo/UFOs/Scully/Cahn1.pdf |work=[[True (magazine)|True]] |date=September 1952 |pages=17–19, 102–112 |access-date=29 March 2013 |archive-date=30 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130330161411/http://www.physics.smu.edu/~pseudo/UFOs/Scully/Cahn1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Cahn2">{{cite news |title=Flying Saucer Swindlers |last=Cahn |first=J.P. |url=http://www.physics.smu.edu/pseudo/UFOs/Scully/Cahn2.pdf |work=True |date=August 1956 |pages=36–37, 69–72 |access-date=30 March 2013 |archive-date=14 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514181115/http://www.physics.smu.edu/pseudo/UFOs/Scully/Cahn2.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> that exposed Newton and "Dr. Gee" (identified as Leo A. GeBauer) as oil [[confidence trick|con artists]] who had [[hoax]]ed Scully.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bartholomew|first1=Robert E.|last2=Howard|first2=George S.|title=UFOs & Alien Contact: Two Centuries of Mystery|date=1998|publisher=[[Prometheus Books]]|location=Amherst, NY|isbn=978-1-573-92200-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/ufosaliencontact00bart/page/193 193]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/ufosaliencontact00bart/page/193}}</ref>

In a 1997 Roswell report, Air Force investigator James McAndrew wrote that "even with the exposure of this obvious fraud, the Aztec story is still revered by UFO theorists. Elements of this story occasionally reemerge and are thought to be the catalyst for other crashed flying saucer stories, including the Roswell Incident."<ref>{{cite book |last=McAndrew |first=James |url=https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/FOID/Reading%20Room/UFOsandUAPs/RoswellReportCaseClosed.pdf?ver=2017-05-22-113519-430 |title=The Roswell Report: Case Closed |date=1997 |publisher=US Government Printing Office |isbn=978-0-16-049018-7 |location=Washington, DC}}</ref>{{rp|84–85}}