While just about everyone in the western world is aware of the Roswell incident. And most of us have a view as to what we think about the authenticity of the reports from the US military and witnesses alike.

However, an incident that took place less than six months after the infamous crash, while relatively well-known in UFO circles, is almost unknown outside of them. What’s more, the encounter would involve the recovery of both the craft and the alien beings and would take place in a part of the United States that experiences UFO sightings more than many other areas of the country.

The origins of the encounter is available to us thanks mostly to the Frank Scully, arguably the first journalist and UFO investigator who as far back as the 1950s argued that the US military had managed to recover both extra-terrestrial beings and their interstellar spacecraft, predominantly in his book “Behind The Flying Saucers” published in 1950. In the book, Scully speaks of a recovered UFO craft in Paradise Valley which contained two alien bodies. Almost four decades later, an unsuspecting witness would put his views of what he believed to be the incident described by Scully on record.

Just north of Phoenix, Arizona in early October 1947, perhaps unfolded one of the most bizarre, questionable, and convincingly intriguing encounters in UFO history. Perhaps it is the lessons the military learned so harshly – if you believe the original press release was correct – that contributed to their secretive approach to this encounter.

Before we look at this account in more detail, check out the video below. It is one of the many UFO sightings captured in Paradise Valley today.

Paradise Valley, Early October 1947

Selman E. Graves, a businessman, and a private pilot would witness part of the incident while on a hunting trip with friends. It is from Graves who would speak of his encounter to UFO researcher, Timothy Good in 1987, along with that of Scully, that the incident reached the public in the depth and detail it finally did, and seeming to verify somewhat the encounter told by Scully.

Graves, along with four other men, as well as his friend Walt Sayler, whose property they had all converged for the morning, were planning to hunt in Paradise Valley. More specifically a particular region north-west of their present location.

Sayler, when arriving back home, late to greet his guests, would inform them that their planned hunting destination was unfortunately off-limits to them as the Air Force had “restricted the area” and would not permit the firing of weapons.

Graves wished to explore near mine-shafts and on a small hill, in a similar direction but promised not to fire their guns. He and two others left the main group in order to do so. When arriving at their destination, their vantage point would offer the three men a bird’s eye view of the entire surrounding area. He could see his friend’s house. He could also see, in the direction they were originally planning on hunting a “large, aluminum, dome-shaped thing!” which was “roughly the size of the house!”

Graves would also describe a scene of “pitched buildings, tents, and men moving about!” At the time, the men were keen to explore the area around the mines, thinking the spectacle they could see to be nothing more than “an observatory dome!”

A Fuller Picture?

When Graves read Frank Scully’s book years later, and in particular the Paradise Valley incident, he instantly recalled the “observatory dome” he had witnessed and how in fact it was a crashed vehicle from another world – the same one described by Scully in “Behind The Flying Saucers”.

He managed to meet with at least one of Scully’s sources during his own investigations into the encounter, and when he finally put the incident on record through Timothy Good, he could offer a fuller, although speculative at times, version of events.

From Graves’ perspective, it was likely Sayler who had found the crashed craft while inspecting their planned hunt that morning. Being that Sayler was an ex-military man, it was also likely, according to Graves, that it was he who alerted the military to its presence and then did his utmost to keep his guests away from the area.

Graves also recalled seeing military “flatbed trucks” leaving the area, and although he did not think anything at the time, he now believes this is how the two alien beings “left the scene”. Interestingly, one “local legend” of the encounter tells of a “local man” storing these alien beings in his freezer until the military could arrive. If Graves’ theories are true regarding Sayler’s involvement, then perhaps that “local man” is also Sayler?

Graves would also speak of “topographical maps” of the area that “suddenly changed” when updated following the incident. The updated versions essentially moved the original location of the Cave Creek Road – the area of the downed craft. When Graves enquired as to how to obtain an original map, the reply was, a copy no longer existed.

Graves would also speak to Good about a project designed to literally “cover-up” any evidence of the craft.

Dreamy Draw Dam

One particular urban legend of sorts is that of Dreamy Draw Dam, which some believe came into being with the sole intention of covering over the crash site. The area is now a recreation area, although the legends state the ruined craft was simply too large to move – certainly in any kind of covert way – so the decision would go ahead to “conceal the wreckage” by building over it. Essentially hiding in plain sight.

Graves would state that several years after the incident, a government project to renovate the area. During the course of this project, they would go to the crash site and “dig it up with a bulldozer!”

Graves claimed to have witnessed this operation. According to him, there was no “methodical” digging over as you would expect from a professional project. The aim here was simply, “destruction!” Furthermore, again based on claims by Graves, this type of “project” is a favorite tool of those whose job it is to conceal such downed mammoth craft as the one apparently sitting under the Dreamy Draw Dam.

Interestingly, given that the area is for the public’s recreation, there are an abundance of signs informing the public certain areas are off-limits to them. “No Trespassing” and warnings of “Fines and Imprisonment” are aplenty. According to one local resident who got as close as he could to one of these “off-limit” areas, a persistent and unexplainable “humming” sound was coming from underneath his feet.

Check out the video below. It looks at the legends that surround Dreamy Draw Dam, and whether or not it really conceals a crashed UFO.

“Hot-Bed” Of Activity

While we will look a little further at Frank Scully and how genuine or authentic his accounts and theories might be, the areas in and around Arizona are an absolute hot-spot of UFO activity. The deserts and rural areas of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Colorado are awash with strange UFO sightings, claims of top secret alien-government bases and strange (often reptilian) beings.

One of the most famous sightings, not just in recent times but throughout history, is the Phoenix Lights incident of 1997. Thousands saw the spectacle first hand, while millions more witnessed it on their television sets across the world. Now, in the age of the Internet, it is perhaps one of the most viewed pieces of footage online.

The reasons for why such activity is so rampant are as varied as the sightings themselves. Some believe the crashed crafts of the 1940s are attracting further crafts of the same intelligent control. Others argue that the recent sightings are likely the result of reverse-engineered technologies by the military in top secret test flights.

Or, if the claims of recovered alien beings – sometimes alive beings – then perhaps the sightings of top secret bases beneath the ground in the south-western states of America, bases that contain both humans and “non-human entities”, should go under more serious investigation.

Check out the video below, a recent news broadcast that looks at the UFO crash in Paradise Valley in a little more detail.

Dr. Gee and Overall Credibility

Scully’s credibility, or more to the point, the sources he would use, are regularly put under scrutiny. Consequently, many of his encounters are easily dismissed by even enthusiastic UFO researchers. However, many maintain Scully’s genuine nature and overall credibility, and while some of his sources may indeed be guilty of feeding disinformation to him, you have to ask the question as to why “the powers that be” would feel the need to do that in the first place?

Of course, as muddy as that makes the waters as far as Scully’s case studies go, it is important to remember that within the bits of disinformation will be valuable and genuine information that needs to be sifted out.

It is an interesting approach by those who wish to play the UFO card close to their collective chests that are worth bearing in mind when assessing how authentic individual UFO researchers and investigators might be.

Incidentally, one of Scully’s “informants” would go by the name of “Dr. Gee” and was in fact “several prominent scientists” who, for purposes of his published work and for their anonymity, had their accounts told by this made up “person”.

Regarding Frank Scully’s credibility, perhaps it is best to give the last word to his wife, who relayed a comment about her husband by Captain Edward Ruppelt during an interview in the late-1970s. Ruppelt – recently retired as head of Project Bluebook – would state, “of all the books published about flying saucers, your book was the one gave us the most headaches because it was the closest to the truth!”

Check out the video below that looks at the aforementioned Phoenix Lights episode in more detail.