Francis Joseph Xavier Scully; (April 28, 1892 – June 23, 1964)[1][4] was an American journalist, author, humorist, and a regular columnist for the entertainment trade magazine Variety.
Frank Scully
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| Born | Francis Joseph Xavier Scully (1892-04-28)April 28, 1892
New York City, U.S.
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| Died | June 23, 1964(1964-06-23) (aged 72)[1]
Palm Springs, California, U.S.
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| Resting place | Desert Memorial Park, Cathedral City, California[2] |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, author, ufologist |
| Employer(s) | The Sun, Variety |
| Spouse | Alice Scully (1909–1996;[3] his death) (married 1930) |
| Awards | Knight of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1956[4] |
Scully studied journalism at Columbia University, was on the reporting staff at The New York Sun and was a contributor to Variety.[5] His books include Rogues' Gallery[6] and Fun In Bed: The Convalescent's Handbook.[7] Scully received screenwriting credit for the American version of the film Une fée... pas comme les autres (The Secret of Magic Island).[8]
Scully publicized the Aztec, New Mexico UFO hoax when, in 1949, he wrote two columns in Variety claiming that dead extraterrestrial beings were recovered from a flying saucer crash.[10]
Scully's 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers expanded on the themes of flying saucer crashes and dead extraterrestrials, with Scully describing one of his sources as having "more degrees than a thermometer".[11] In that book, he promoted the pseudohistorical claims of Paxson Hayes that prehistoric giants inhabited the Americas.[12]
In 1952 and 1956, True magazine published articles by the San Francisco Chronicle reporter John Philip Cahn[13] that purported to expose Scully's sources as confidence tricksters who had hoaxed Scully.[14] Scully's 1963 book, In Armour Bright, also included material about alleged flying saucer crashes and dead extraterrestrials.[15]
Donated by Alice Scully in 1988.Collection Number 09554 processed in 1995.
Originally published by Walter Romig in The Book of Catholic Authors