Aztec

Aztec's other famous ruin is a story. In two 1949 Variety columns and a 1950 book, Behind the Flying Saucers, Frank Scully reported that a flying saucer had come down in Hart Canyon, twelve miles northeast of town, in March 1948, with sixteen small bodies aboard. His sources were Silas Newton and Leo GeBauer, con men using the tale to lend weight to their oil schemes, and John Philip Cahn exposed them in True magazine in 1952. The town has since held its own UFO symposium anyway, borrowing from Roswell's example.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Aztec Population 5512 - Elevation 5460 ft. Aztec, named for the nearby National Monument, was founded in 1876 when portions of the Jicarilla Apache Reservation were opened for non Indian settlement. It is the seat of San Juan County, which was created in 1887 partially as a response to the desire of the residents to be free from the political forces of Rio Arriba County.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Aztec Ruins National Monument — 2.2 mi
  A Chacoan great house on the Animas River, misnamed by settlers who thought the Aztecs built it, with original roofs nine centuries old and a great kiva rebuilt whole.
• Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum — 30 mi
  A small tribal museum of 1971 rebuilt in 2011 as a $38 million building shaped like an eagle, facing east to the rising sun.

More markers nearby

• Aztec Ruins National Monument — 1.5 mi
• Aztec Ruins National Monument — 1.7 mi
• City of Bloomfield — 6.6 mi
• Salmon Ruin — 7.1 mi