On Oct. 3, 1946, readers of The Atlanta Constitution woke up to a shocking front-page headline: "Japan Developed Atom Bomb; Russians Grabbed Scientists."
What followed was a detailed account of how Japan supposedly tested an atomic bomb just three days before the Aug. 15, 1945, address by the Showa Emperor that accepted unconditional surrender and ended the war. The article was essentially an interview with one Japanese source, who spoke under a pseudonym.
The source, dubbed "Capt. Tsetusuo Wakabayashi," claimed to have witnessed an atomic explosion near Konan, North Korea, that had been detonated by the Japanese military on Aug. 12, 1945. The story was written by David Snell, a reporter who had been released from the U.S. Army's 24th Criminal Investigation Detachment in Seoul just weeks before and was now back at his old job.