1948 Aztec New Mexico Incident

     The Aztec Incident occurred in March 1948, just 8 months after the Roswell Incident, and based on information now available it appears the government and military had learned from their mistakes at Roswell. Aztec had no newspaper or radio reports as Roswell did, when the Incident happened, which then had to be covered up and excuses given for the next 65 years.

Over the years since Aztec happened there has been very little information forthcoming, in fact there were only 2 books published about the event, again unlike Roswell. The first was Frank Scully’s, “Behind the Flying Saucers”, published in September 1950. The second book was co-written by William Steinman and Wendelle Stevens entitled, “UFO Crash at Aztec”, and published in 1986. Both of those books created controversy, and created more questions than answers. Who was the mysterious “Dr. Gee”, how could a 99’ diameter craft be moved from the site to a secure location, and was the whole incident the work of con-men as many debunkers and critics have argued? There lies a similarity to Roswell in that debunkers and critics don’t normally do the research required, as was the case with Karl Pflock and Dave Thomas, who were two of the most vocal debunkers of the Aztec Incident.

Finally in 2012 a third book has been published, co-authored by Scott and Suzanne Ramsey, entitled, “The Aztec Incident, Recovery at Hart Canyon”, ISBN 978-0-9850046-0-6 (left). The unending research, travel to archives, witness interviews and expenses encountered by the Ramsey’s have finally answered some of the questions we have all had about Aztec over the years. When Scott began his research some 25 years ago he assumed he would be able to prove or disprove the Aztec Incident within a few months. That didn’t happen and the more he delved into the facts about Aztec the more questions were raised. During his many trips to Aztec he met and finally married Suzanne, who became his co-author, and together they have compiled a book full of factual information, (with documentation to support their findings), that will have many taking another look at the 1948 Aztec Incident.


The town of Aztec had noticed the notoriety Roswell was getting with the annual Roswell Festival, and decided to start their own annual symposium in an attempt to raise money for a new library. I was invited to speak at the first symposium held in Aztec in 1998 (the 50th anniversary of the event.) Since then I have attended at least 8 of the annual events as either a speaker or Master of Ceremonies, and it was at these symposiums that I met Scott and Suzanne Ramsey and became seriously interested in the Aztec Incident. Like many others having read the first two books published I had many questions about whether Aztec was a real event or not. Working with the Ramsey’s and others, discussing witnesses, visiting the crash site in Hart Canyon and other research we’ve done together, I soon became convinced that the Ramsey’s were in fact revealing new information not previously known. Their “Aztec Incident” book lays to rest many of the questions that have been asked over the years.


The Aztec Symposium began growing with attendance increasing every year, primarily due to the well-known researchers that were invited to speak each year at the annual event. The list of speakers invited to Aztec was like a “who’s who” of Ufology and the Aztec symposium became one of the most popular in the country, reaching a point where consideration was given to moving it to Farmington, a larger town a few miles west of Aztec that could facilitate the ever-increasing crowds.

Not all city fathers in Aztec supported the annual event, however through the friends of the Library a new library was built which the town of Aztec can be proud of. Recently someone now responsible for inviting speakers, decided to change the type researchers invited leaning more toward the paranormal types. That resulted in a reduction in the number of people attending, and last year an announcement was made that the annual Aztec symposium would no longer take place. Scott and Suzanne Ramsey, Randy Barnes, myself and a few others devoted a lot of hours over the years to make the Aztec symposium an event visitors looked forward to, and researchers such as Stanton Friedman, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Ted Phillips, Timothy Good and many others were an important part of making Aztec a respectable conference where serious researchers were able to share their knowledge with a receptive audience.

Reading through the Ramsey’s book, one gets an appreciation for the hours of work involved in writing such an account. It contains many pages of government documents and correspondence, in addition to the travel involved to 26 states, universities, military archives and witnesses interviewed. This was not a couple of months project as Scott had anticipated originally, but rather a devotion to finding factual information with verification to determine if the Aztec Incident was a true event in 1948. I believe the Ramsey’s (pictured above) have accomplished that, revealing information for the first time pertaining to different aspects of the Incident, which leave little doubt in the minds of the reader that Aztec was a real event, covered up by the military and government much better than the Roswell Incident had been when it happened 8 months earlier.

It appears that the mysterious “Dr. Gee” was in fact at least 8 different scientists combined under that one name. Moving the craft was thoroughly researched using an expert that had years of experience in moving large loads, determining the proper route, and considering the equipment that would have been available in 1948. The so-called con men referred to by many of the debunkers in the first two books is thoroughly discussed and explained as nothing more then a retaliation by a J.P. Cahn to get even with people for not allowing him to print the Aztec story. Radar sites basically unknown to the public were discovered within a reasonable distance of Hart Canyon and operational in 1948. Many of the first hand witnesses testimony revealed in this book, refers to oil field workers, law enforcement officers, a preacher, and others who were at the site at Hart Canyon in 1948, and saw the bodies inside the craft, and then sworn to secrecy by the military.

“The Aztec Incident” book is a must read and leaves no doubt that a craft came down in Hart Canyon a few miles east of Aztec New Mexico in March 1948, basically undamaged, containing bodies, was taken apart and transported off of the mesa, and remains covered up to this day, 64 years later.

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Labels: Aliens, Aztec, Aztec UFO Crash, Bill Steinman, Book Review, By Dennis Balthaser, Crash, Frank Scully, Scott and Suzanne Ramsey, scott Ramsey, The Aztec Incident: Recovery at Hart Canyon