The reports of periodic X‐ray emission from the Seyfert galaxy NGC 6814 have motivated a number of exotic models for the active nucleus. We took advantage of the superior sensitivity and the wide field of view of the Position‐Sensitive Proportional Counter on‐board the ROSAT satellite to show that while the nucleus of NGC 6814 is indeed an X‐ray emitter, the periodicity is due to another source, most likely a Galactic cataclysmic variable, ∼37 arc min away. © 1994American Institute of Physics.