Friends relish memory of 1967 UFO hoax
By KIMBERLY DE LA CRUZ
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
6-21-15
Judging by the headline, an alien invasion seemed imminent 48 years ago.
The June 13, 1967, front page of the Las Vegas Sun screamed: “MYSTERIOUS FLYING SHIP ‘SCOUTS’ LAS VEGAS AREA.”
And the evidence? A black-and-white Polaroid photo of a spiraling, metallic flying object.
The photograph and accompanying commentary came from four teenage boys. Now in their mid-60s, Richard Small, Gerry Genovese, Michael McDonald and Syd “Bill” Rabin gathered to reflect on the day they bamboozled the valley.
“We shook up the whole town,” Rabin proclaimed earlier this month outside of the historic Morelli House, where the 65-year-old friends reunited.
They met there, they said, because the Mid-Century Modern home is connected to Las Vegas, just like them. (The former home of Rat Pack-era big bandleader Antonio Morelli’s is of particular significance to Small, who says he, his father and his brother helped build it around 1959.)
That it was a flying object is true, Genovese said.
“But it was a hubcap,” he said with a smirk. . . .
Continue Reading . . .
See Also:
Airship Hoax Reaps Fame For City
MJ-12: The Hoax That Quickly Became a Disinformation Operation
Creators of UFO Hoax Come Forward
REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE
