Aztec alleged crash and body recovery — 1948, date unverified

The Aztec story claims that in March 1948 an intact flying disc was recovered from a mesa near Aztec, New Mexico, together with small bodies. The account reached a mass audience in Frank Scully's 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers. Scully relied heavily on information from Silas Newton and a man presented as a scientific expert, Leo GeBauer. They described a nearly undamaged disc, unusual construction and a secret government recovery. No authenticated contemporary recovery order, chain-of-custody record, photograph or physical specimen was produced. Newton and GeBauer later became associated with fraud allegations in an unrelated oil-detection scheme, a history that seriously affected their credibility. Advocates have argued that other witnesses and local details support an event, while critics regard the Aztec narrative as an extension of the confidence scheme or a manufactured story. The case remains culturally important because it helped establish the template of a recovered saucer, bodies and secrecy before Roswell became the dominant crash legend. Historical influence is not evidentiary confirmation. CE3 is retained because occupants are alleged, but their existence is unsupported by a verifiable primary record. The portrait depicts an intact disc on a mesa with investigators at a distance and no bodies. It is an illustrative reconstruction, not evidence.