Did a UFO crash in the valley?

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - A story has been going around the valley about a UFO crash at the base of Squaw Peak Mountain, now Piestewa Peak in 1947. It goes on to say that the Government in an effort to hide all evidence of the crash built the dreamy draw dam over the spacecraft.

There are several versions of the story, one of them is outlined in a book written in 1950 by Frank Scully called Behind the Flying Saucers. Scully wrote that in October of 1947 an alien space saucer crashed in the valley. It bounced, skipped, and landed miles away in Cave Creek or Paradise Valley.

Another version says there were actually aliens on board who perishes, and their bodies were hauled away by the United States government. Dreamy Draw Dam was then allegedly built over the site to cover it up.

"What I sought to do is figure out what happened at Dreamy Draw... all I could find is there were rumors, there was a witness who claimed to have seen something happen either in Cave Creek or Paradise Valley or Dreamy Draw. Unfortunately, before I could speak to this witness directly he passed away," said Alejandro Rojas.

Rojas hosts Open Minds Radio and is a UFO researcher and journalist. He explores UFO phenomena from his valley office.

Rojas acknowledges that the Dreamy Draw Dam UFO story has several holes the witness was said to have been an unsavory character with little credibility. The dam which was allegedly built to hide the alien crash site in 1947 was actually built in 1973 for flood control purposes.

"That's a good point, and that's where the theory kind of falls apart. It was not built until 1973, and we also went out and interviewed a ranger, and he explained how the dam was made," said Rojas.

He says the UFO community relies heavily on anecdotes especially from the earlier years. 1947 was a very busy year.

"In 1947 there were a lot of things being seen in the sky," he said.

The Dreamy Draw spaceship crash was reported in October of 1947, but a few months before on July 7, 1947, there was a picture taken by William Rhodes of Phoenix. It's one of the first and one of the best UFO pictures ever taken.

Rhodes says Government agents visited him once the picture was published in the Arizona paper.

"They wanted to borrow the image, or borrow the negative, and all they said was we want to make a copy of it, and we'll bring it back," said William Rhodes.

Rhodes spoke to FOX 10 about it during a 1998 interview, and the agents reportedly never returned the negatives to him.

The grand-daddy of all UFO occurrences, according to witnesses, was a few days later on July 8, 1947, in Roswell New Mexico.

Was it a coincidence, or were extra-terrestrial visitors trying to explore the Earth and crash landed a few times in 1947.

When stories and rumors persist, Rojas says there is often a shred of truth, and they continue asking questions.

At Dreamy Draw Park in Phoenix, people were surprised to hear of the alien crash story, but most were open-minded.

"I think it's interesting, I think anything is possible," said one visitor.

"Yeah, that's pretty crazy, that's not true," said another.

Many say they will continue to dig, to find the truth.

There is an upcoming event for UFO believers, for more information visit: http://ufocongress.com/