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By Dr. Olavo T. Fontes
The U.S.A. Air Force released study on unidentified aerial objects No. 1053-55, October 25, 1955, states:
"...no evidence of the popularly-termed ‘Flying Saucers’ was found." "On the basis of this study it is believed that all the unidentified aerial objects could have been explained if more complete observational data had been available." (underlines are mine) Commenting on this report, Secretary of the U.S.A. Air Force said:
"On the basis of this study we believe that no objects such as those popularly described as flying saucers have overflown the United States. I feel certain that even the unknown three percent could have been explained as conventional phenomenon or illusions if more complete observational data had been available." (the underlines are mine) I don’t intend to discuss whether those statements are true or wrong. However, I would like to stress the fact that even if the witnesses were fools or liars, or mistaken, they did not report weather-balloons, convertiplanes, vertical-rising jet aircrafts, shooting-stars, planets, etc. ... They spoke of metallic-looking circular objects, resembling no familiar aeroform; making no sound in their transit and glowing strangely either by night or by day; which are capable of speeds and maneuvers far beyond anything we’ve even dared hope for. If so, how to understand those U.S.A. Air Force statements? Here indeed is a mystery within a mystery. I have no doubt at all that the Air Force is just as puzzled as we are about the saucers. Government officials are human beings, like us. As we know, human mind tries to interpret the unknown in terms of the known; it has the tendency to reduce the extraordinary to an everyday pattern; to see only what it expects to see. We turn instinctively away from any new fact which doesn’t fit, and not fitting, they are rejected. Now, if the saucers are what they seem to be, they are heresies, both to the law of gravity and to the conception that man is the king of creation. Considering all of this, I think it’s not surprising that the "experts" from the Air Force are trying to suppress this heresy; or to explain it; or to explain it away; or to bury it. That is the great dilemma at stake with the flying saucers: The expert says it’s impossible; the witnesses say it happened, but witnesses of course can be mistaken; and so can experts. I believe this is a very human situation. I hope that the increasing weight and persistence of the evidence will gradually force those people to take the saucers seriously. Before the final act of the "Saucer Drama"...
He certainly was curious, showing more curiosity than any other of his kind. He was not in a contemplative frame of mind, like the ones that came in the first years of the great survey. To ride quietly on the sky far above the earth was not enough, now. It may be that their interests had shifted a bit; or it may be that he was different from the other ones. Anyway, he came daringly closer to the surface of that alien place and finally decided to land. But he was cautious too, and he knew it would be unwise to be discovered. So, he selected a lonely spot to land, an island in the middle of a river in a deserted region. It was a good landing. But he had miscalculated, for one thing: he was spotted...
At exactly 5:45 A.M. on November 20, 1954, a military plane - the T15-1166 - scrambled from an Air Force Base in Uberaba, Minas Gerais, on a scheduled trip towards Sao Paulo with no intermediate steps in between. It was conveying military air mail, in a mission connected with the "National Air Post," an AF service. The crew had passed the night at Uberaba. The pilot, Lieutenant A. Sobral, was a man hardened by thousands and thousands of hours of flight over the most desolate and wild regions of Brazil. Lieutenant Francisco Hardy was the co-pilot. They were flying for fifteen minutes. The airplane was approaching the Rio Grande river, natural frontier between the states of Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo. Lieut. Hardy strained his eyes trying to find the river, still far ahead. After a few moments he saw it, vaguely outlined in the dim light of the oncoming day. But suddenly he noticed another thing too. It was a bright glow that seemed to come from a little island in the middle of the river. A strange, eerie, glow ... The Lieutenant described the events which came next in a written report made a few hours later--addressed to the Sao Paulo AFB Command. Here is his report, transcribed "verbatim": "I kept my eyes on the spot and watched the glow growing steadily in size as the plane closed in. Soon I saw it as a round light apparently attached to the ground, or a little above it. But a few minutes later, I realized that this light--now ten to fifteen meters in diameter--was being emitted by a glowing object landed in the island, or hovering in the air near the ground. As the plane came nearer it, I could see better through the luminous halo surrounding entirely the object. This glowing halo was chrome-yellow in color, at the center; and silvery-white at the extremities." The object appeared to be metallic and its upper surface was shaped like a spherical dome (I was seeing it from above.) Around the base of the dome there was some kind of platform. I estimated the diameter of the object to be about eight to ten meters; and the height, about three to four meters. At this point I was frightened and, of course, excited about my observation. I cried to alert the pilot against the approaching danger. Lieut. Sobral lost no time. As he sighted the scene below, he quickly maneuvered the aircraft, which changed courses abruptly and went into a high-speed dive--straight towards the alien craft. Then, for a few seconds I couldn’t see it; it had disappeared behind the left wing of our plane. But soon I saw it again--and it was moving now. The unidentified craft climbed up sharply and rushed away from the airplane in a flash of speed. It pulled away from the ground at an angle of 50 degrees, going out swiftly to the east. When it started this maneuver the glow around it became very strong, as if the whole object had been glowing more brightly--and not as if more lights had been switched on around it. The glow had now too much of a definitely cigar-shaped outline, ten to fifteen meters in length. No detail of the object’s structure could be observed behind the glare, because of its extreme brightness. The "unknown"--looking like a beam of light--flashed through the skies at incredible speed. It covered the distance towards the far horizon in a split-second. It was almost instantaneous. It disappeared eastwards. Lieut. Sobral maneuvered again the plane, turning around and reversing course. Then, we passed once more over the island, this time flying very low and slowly. However, nothing strange or unusual could be observed all over the place, which seemed to be uninhabited." A few hours later the T15-1166 landed at Sao Paulo airport and the two AF officers reported the incident to the Sao Paulo AFB Commander. The Commander relayed the written reports to the Air Defense Command Headquarters, at Rio. An investigation was started at once. At the end, all possible explanations had been discarded; and the UFO is still classified in the F.A.B. files as an "unknown." The F.A.B. considered this sighting as "too hot" to be released to the press. The policy was to release no information about it, unless someone asked direct questions. But, as the press didn’t know, they naturally couldn’t ask questions about the incident. At first the trick worked well. A few weeks later, however, a reporter heard something about the story and started to ask questions. Then the Air Force released the sighting’s report--but only that. No additional information that might have been developed during later investigations and analyses--if any existed--was released. The sighting was reported by the newspapers, at Rio de Janeiro, on December 11, 1954. The authorities refused to make any comment or speculation about it, as it was to be expected. What was it? A lot of people I know are absolutely convinced that this report is the best of all--and that it can be possibly the key to the riddle, the final proof. These people believe that this report in itself was proof enough to accept the fact that some UFOs were spaceships from another planet. But I am not so naive. I knew the power of the "dogma," the strength of the "will-not-to-believe," the stubbornness of the "experts." I have read Dr. Menzel’s book. I saw how the "radiation story" was rejected, as told in Major Ruppelt’s book. So, I don’t expect to convince the skeptics that there is a only answer for the Rio Grande river incident. But of one thing I am sure: Even if all of the thousands of flying saucer reports could be discarded as conventional phenomena, or illusions--this one cannot be. The two Brazilian AF officers reported a definitely solid object of unusual outlines and shape, emitting a very bright and weird light. It was landed, or hovering motionless near the ground, and it took off silently -- at unbelievable speed, maneuvering unlike any known type of aircraft. It is impossible to explain away a sighting of this kind. And it would have [been] hard to find two better qualified and reliable observers. Pilots know how to look, and what to be looked for, when they search the skies; they have seen may odd things in the air, but they also have learned to figure out what they are in a few seconds. Lieutenants Sobral and Hardy had some thousands hours’ flying time--but had never reported anything unusual in the sky, except this UFO. They obviously were not hoaxers, or publicity-seekers. They were not fatigued pilots. They obviously hadn’t panicked, they were thinking clearly--chiefly Lieut. Sobral, who even maneuvered his plane dangerously close to the "unknown" just to get a better look at it. He was risking his life, and knew it. I find hard to believe that Air Force pilots don’t know what they are doing. In this case, their report was thoroughly investigated and the conclusion is still: "unknown." What was it? What can fly at several times the speed of sound and make no sound? What can move in a split second from a stopped position to the far horizon? What kind of living being in this or another world can stand the tremendous acceleration involved in such a maneuver? What wingless craft flies with no propellers, jets, or other visible means of propulsion? What has this eerie glow around it, like a corona discharge of wrong colors? No matter how you argue, there is not any answer. Unless the pilots were drunk, or had both the same hallucination, no conventional answer can be found. You can only say, like Major Ruppelt, that it was a UFO--and a good one. To be absolutely sure about the Rio Grande river incident, I decided to look for a friend I have in the Brazilian A, F. He is a jet pilot, and he doesn’t believe in flying saucers. He was not in Rio de Janeiro, however, and I failed to meet him. But five months ago I saw him, and knowing my interest about the matter, he told me about a sighting he knew. It was the Rio Grande river incident. He had interviewed personally one of the witnesses, who had described it exactly as it was transcribed here. But at the end my friend asked: "What do you think it was?" The answer was: "I have tried, month after month, to decipher the puzzle--but it is hopeless. I don’t knew what it was, because I have never seen anything like it before, or since. But I think it was a spaceship." To finish the account of this incredible story, I would like to stress that this is the first report in my country--and perhaps in the world--of a UFO which was landed on the ground and was sighted from an airplane.
As you have seen in my last article, the Brazilian Air Force officially opened the investigation on UFOs and let the public know that it had. "We are investigating these unidentified crafts that are wandering about," said the air expert authorities. "But there is no ground for alarm, but much for keen interest," they concluded, indicating that vigilance was the proper attitude not only for official lookout men, but for the public as well. However, so cordial was the encouragement given to sighters to report what they had seen, that no one could doubt the concern of the F.A.B. At the time I considered the evidence far too poor to permit anything but the conclusion that the stories were inconclusive. You need a lot of evidence to lift stories out of the rut of ordinary explanations into a new class: inexplicable, unable to be fitted into known types of experience. But as the reports grew, two things would become clearer: First; they couldn’t be dismissed, they had to be analyzed and criticized. Second; they couldn’t be fitted into known phenomena, they called for an open mind because the situation was unprecedented. Here we must remember that no one can say absolutely that something didn’t happen. We can only take the evidence and see how far it pushes us in our honest attempt to account for it all - if it is good - and not reject or suppress any of it because it seems to us unlikely. In the following account I will continue to review the story of this strange UFO visitation to my country, in 1954. You will find here the best evidence, the best cases reported in Brazil. Look through this list of sightings and form your own conclusion. And remember that field observation by amateurs plays a very important preliminary part, before scientific study can order all our findings and so make safe generalizations about these mysterious crafts. Until science can do something about the problem, your guess is as good as the "experts" provided you read the reports of the best selected sightings, which have been reported all over the world. If so, why should you refuse, at least, to consider the evidence that follows?
No one knows exactly when the saucer flap started. But if one can pin down a date, it would probably be about October 12, 1954. That night, at eight-thirty, an AF fighter - the T6-1473 - scrambled from an AFB in Rio Grande do Sul to perform a night training fight over the cities of Sao Leopoldo and Nova Hamburgo, and surroundings. The pilot, Lieut. Alexandre M. Penna, had just finished some practice passes for night fighters when he spotted an orange lighted object, very high to the east of his plane. In his report, written immediately after he landed (and later released to the press by the AF) he said that "the glowing object seemed to have an apparent diameter of 40 centimeters, and stood motionless in the cloudless moonlit sky for twenty minutes before vanishing." Two other pilots in the squadron - Lieutenants Saliba and Dipp - flying over the same area had also observed it. The time, location and description of the object were checked and "there was no doubt," he said "that they had seen the same craft." The same night a strange object was spotted over Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, by members of the City’s Fire Dept. The Fire Squadron Commander, Lieut. Adil Quites, was the first to see the UFO moving swiftly through the sky, from east to west, at 9:40. He called his relatives and the fire soldiers in the area, and for a few minutes they watched the object cross the space. All the witnesses described it as "disc-shaped large, luminous, noiseless, and moving at great speed." The sighting was reported next day by local newspapers, but nobody was interested on the matter and no one in the AF had believed the story. On October 15, the same UFO appeared again over Pelotas and was seen by a number of persons from the city and surroundings. The description was the same as three nights before: "a great luminous disc-shaped object, flying noiseless at high speed." From October 16 to 23, no mention to flying saucers was made by the press. But on October 24, came the first sighting that really made the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) take a deep interest in UFO’S. It occurred at Gravatai Air Base, near Porto Alegre, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and was witnessed by one hundred members from the AB military staff. (The Gravatai Incident was already described in full, by myself, in a previous report to the "Flying Saucer Review," and need not to be reviewed here.) But that day was not to be ended quietly because, that very night, saucer-shaped glowing objects were watched by a number of people over Torres City Beach, and over Porto Alegre. These three sightings changed the placid and uninterested attitude so long held by the AF personnel about UFO’S, and changed drastically. Classified orders came down to investigate all UFO sightings. A security lid came down tight around all AF bases on Rio Grande do Sul, and the unauthorized transmission or revelation to the press of any information about the matter, by the military, was prohibited. The Air Defense Command started a twenty-four hour air patrol over all military installations in the state. These signs showed that the UFO situation was considered to be serious at that moment; in fact, very serious, almost to the point of panic. But there was nothing the Air Force could do but wait. Of course, this new AF attitude didn’t molest the UFO survey. Next day (Oct. 25) at noon a civilian pilot alerted the Gravatai AF base about a disc-shaped craft which was flying slowly over Osorio, a nearby city. Immediately a jet-fighter was scrambled and directed to search the area where the UFO had been reported. The pilot, Major Magalhaes Mota, jet-fighter squadron commander, searched the area for a long time, going up to twelve thousand meters, but could see nothing. He went back to his base but later was informed that a number of ground observers from Osorio had reported the chase. His plane had been seen flying just below the saucer, but very far from it because the self-luminous craft was hovering at a fantastic height. On the 26 October, came the startling official statement that perhaps, it might be the most important development of UFO history. It was a pity that nobody wouldn’t have taken that statement to Mr. Donald Keyhoe. For the first time in this world, a military organization had recognized officially the existence of strange crafts in our skies, dismissing categorically all the conventional explanations. (This FAB statement appeared in the May 1956 issue of Flying Saucer Review.) That same day, the UFO’S appeared again over Porto Alegre and surroundings. The first saucer was reported by an AF officer, Captain Antonio P. de Andrade. "At 1:20 P.M." - he stated in his report - "I observed a strange disc-shaped object, grey in color, flying in a vertical position and from west to east. This object’s speed and altitude were enormous." "That night, at 9:30 P.M." - he said, "I saw another UFO when driving through the Canoas road. At some place near the road I saw a number of people watching the sky. I stopped my car and observed the phenomenon. I saw it as being an orange-red glowing spherical object, flying to the west at great speed." The same or another UFO had been sighted, fifty minutes before, also from the ground, by another AF officer, Captain Pedro Richard Neto. In his official report he said that "I had seen the object for fifteen minutes. It was hovering over the Guaiba River near a place named Belem Velho. It seemed to be round and faintly luminous, and its size (apparent diameter) was a little smaller than the full moon’s. After fifteen minutes, the object started to move away, diminishing gradually in size It changed into a pinpoint of light, but just before vanishing, it gave off a big flash of light shining brightly for a few seconds." Hundreds of kilometers away from Porto Alegre, still in that same night, a solitary UFO was playing an odd game over Vitoria, the Espirito Santo state’s beautiful capital. At 6:00 P.M., the people on the streets watched a strange scene in the sky. It was a dark, starry, cloudless night. Suddenly, a new and very bright star appeared at about a 45 degree angle from the horizon and off to the north. It was "quite a bit brighter than a first magnitude star." In fact, it was so magnificent it attracted instantly general attention. But soon it became clear it was not a star, because it was no more stopped. It was moving now, and very fast. It came tearing across the sky from the north, approached the city, crossed it directly overhead, traveling straight toward the south. "It didn’t seem to be large," one of the witnesses later said, "but it was plainly visible and it appeared to be one continuous, glowing white light, which seemed to pulsate at regular intervals, getting brighter each time." As it (the light) left the city, it turned left, made a 180 degree turn over the ocean, and came back over the observers. The "mysterious light" stayed in sight a few seconds, was gone again, and then, for the third time, it came back over the city before finally disappearing toward the south. Some of the people who were watching it said that "the light was sharply outlined and definitely round - a little bright spherically shaped object" - as seen through binoculars, but "they could see no outline of a body near it." Observers at Cariacica, a near-by city thirty kilometers away from Vitoria(southward), also reported the UFO and corroborated the description made by the watchers in the former city. The UFO was noiseless and moving very fast all the time, but the actual speed could not be estimated not knowing the height. The sighting was reported to the newspaper "O Globo" (of Rio de Janeiro) by its correspondent in Vitoria, who witnessed it personally. The reports continued to come in. Next day, at Ibia, Minas Gerais, a group of People watched a "strange luminous object," crossing the sky over the city at terrific speed from east to west. It was "cigar-shaped" according to the description by some observers; to other people it appeared to be more like a "conical-shaped object." All of the watchers agreed that "it was noiseless and seemed to have a strong light on the head. The stern looked like a tail, four to five meters large," they estimated. The UFO passed below some clouds scattered on the sky and rapidly disappeared into the west. Of course, I know that this UFO report is not very good. In fact, it is a poor one, very sketchy and incomplete, and it probably would not have been included here except that the UFO was cigar-shaped - the first of that type to be reported on Brazilian skies, since 1947. By the night of October 31, 1954 two more "Unknown" were reported. The first one had been sighted at 8:00 P.M. over the city of Lages, Santa Catarina State, by a farmer (Mr. Liberio Shamedec) and his relatives. It was a "disc-shaped glowing object," that came from the east, hovered silently over the city for a few minutes, and finally disappeared toward the south, at great speed. The sighting was immediately reported to the Florianopolis (the capital of the state of Santa Catarina) Air Base. Half an hour later, the same (or another) UFO appeared over Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul State. It hovered over the city for about fifteen minutes and was watched from several places, by a number of persons. It was described as a "glowing, disc-shaped object - apparent size: about a dime at arm’s length - emitting a very bright yellow-light." The Air Force was alerted and several jet-fighters were scrambled to try and run up to it. They climbed up to twelve thousand meters but they could do nothing to it - the strange craft was still higher. For a time, it stood motionless on the sky, watching the futile attempts made by our fighter jet planes to get in its path. Then, it seemed to lose patience and with its usual inexpected readiness, it suddenly rushed up into the night and was gone. And no one heard any sound come from it. The Air Force got a flood of queries from the press, as soon as they heard about this sighting. But the reporters and writers were unceremoniously sloughed off - the Air Force wasn’t divulging any more information about the case. A security lid came down tight around it. The meaning of this attitude was clear: the UFO situation was considered to be serious at the moment. Why? Has the press been aware of the odd events developed the night before near the city of Tapes, Rio Grande do Sul, the Porto Alegre sighting might not have been the center of interest. True, the incident that occurred that night - on October 30 - was one of those that even the most ardent skeptical persons should have difficulty trying to explain it. Besides, it was the first UFO landing in this country. ...
(The Guaiba-Tapes Road Incident) Up till now we have had to depend on only two types of evidence: a) That of people on the earth suddenly caught by surprise and seeing up in the sky, at uncertain height, strange airships flashing and dancing. b) That from men actually up in planes, trained of course to recognise aircraft, on the level with the object they observed and, in a few cases, really close to it. But now the time have come for a new kind of evidence, still odder and more unbelievable than either of the other two thus far sighted: That of UFOS on the ground, trying to play with people in a very unpleasant way. What had been odd and only possibly sinister suddenly became grim. The case that follows is so puzzling that it called for a special investigation by Air Force Intelligence. This case is unique. Here is the report of it, of the "Guaiba-Tapes road incident": On that Saturday, October 30, 1954, Flavio Rebelo, aged 39, well educated, a very conservative and responsible civilian Government jobholder, was driving his own car in a weekend trip. He works for the State of Rio Grande do Sul Administration in Porto Alegre and has an excellent reputation in that city, where he lives. Early that day he had decided to travel to the city of Tapes, where he owned a summer-resort. His relatives were with him. They were his wife Ilse and his two sons (Luiz, aged 15, and Paulo Antonio, aged 10.) They started toward Guaiba, a nearby town, where they took the Sate Highway toward Tapes. At midnight, they reached the Guara hill, the highest place of that highway. From there Rebelo, his wife and older son (the other was sleeping) sighted a strong light, like a star, but a lot larger. It was far ahead and off to the west, but they lost it when they started to go down. Soon they arrived at the plain and the road was now a straight line through a deserted extent of level country. They were riding along when they saw two lights approaching from Tapes. Rebelo thought they could be the headlights of another car traveling the other way, returning from Tapes. But soon he noticed that they seemed to go off the road, entering into the country beside it. That observation troubled him a little, for he knew that no car could travel out of the road on that area. But he didn’t stop his car. It could be perhaps a tractor starting a night’s work, he thought. A few minutes later, he noticed that two more lights had appeared behind the first ones. This time he was surprised, but still not alarmed. There was something strange in those lights, but still they could belong to tractors, now two tractors working together. He kept driving on. The lights kept getting close, steadily growing in size. The night was very dark; no star could be seen through the clouds that covered the sky. A strong wind was blowing. They came still nearer. He kept driving on and watching those yellow-white lights. When they looked to be only a kilometer away, his curiosity increased because their size was getting very big. He slowed down to see better. They were going soon to cross his path, passing at the right side of the road and at some distance away from it. Suddenly, when the lights appeared to be about three hundred meters off to the right of the car, they began to change their color. They took at first a bluish hue; then changed to violet to become next into orange; and, at last, turned to red, a fiery red, like burning charcoal. When they changed from orange to the fiery red color, the travelers were passing just in front of them. This time Rebelo was startled, and stopped the car to watch the strange scene with his wife and his older son. "This change of colors was not abrupt, like a mere substitution of a light by another of a different hue" - said later the three witnesses in their report. "It developed softly, like some kind of fusion of hues and tints or the slow mixing of different dyes." What happened next, according to Mr. Rebelo written report, follows below: "About the time the lights started to change from one color to another, it was the only time I had a glimpse of a shape behind those lights. To be more precise, when they changed from orange to red we noticed some kind of a spherically shaped dome, huge. At the moment I thought it looked like a house burning. But the vision disappeared after a few seconds. Only the lights remained, glowing into the darkness, motionless. Now, all of them were red, a fiery red, like incandescent charcoal. They were definitely round-shaped and sharply outlined, like a porthole light. They hovered at about two meters above the ground. The oddest thing was that they didn’t project a beam of light, like a search light; quite the reverse: they were not reflected by the car surface, nor did they illuminate the ground. Fascinated, we watched that uncanny scene, the car stopped beside the road. But nor was that all. Suddenly the lights, now in the same line with each other, started to move slowly toward the road, toward our car. At the same time, they were pulling away from each other as if trying to surround the spot where we stood. I froze where I was, getting the horrible feeling of a trapped animal. They closed in quietly, the glow growing steadily in size; the one ahead apparently was going to block our only way of escape. We saw them getting bigger and bigger, now larger than one meter in diameter. They were unlike anything that I knew, something inexplicable in terms of past experience. The color was wonderful and the light, although strong, was not dazzling. That moment I confess I lost any power of reasoning I had and I forgot everything -- even the feeling that I had to run away at once from that place. I was hypnotized and stood still, watching the slow and purposeful approach of those "things." But, at the very moment they were almost over us, I regained my consciousness because of my wife. She was wild with fear, crying, and squeezing painfully my arm and imploring me to get away from there. Then, I started the car in a frenzy and drove away from that place as fast as I could. I was so nervous I would hardly be able to start driving on again, if the motor should have stopped that moment." As the car was running away at top speed through the road, they looked back and saw the lights change color to a very bright white, then grow dimmer and dimmer, and finally switch off. This happened at about twenty-eight kilometers away from Tapes. When the car coming near that city, at about two kilometers from it, they sighted again a light, now hovering just ahead of the car. It was silvery-white and very bright, and stood motionless - not on the ground as before - but above it, about five hundred meters high. Mr. Rebelo then stopped the car to calm down his frightened wife. He told her they were quite near the city and could so observe the "phenomenon" with no danger. "The light grew in size. It was now like polished metal reflecting the sunlight, and apparently larger than a full moon. After a few minutes, a similar light appeared at a point about two kilometers away from the first one (to the left of it). This one was also high in the sky and was moving slowly toward the other light. It approached and stopped at about five hundred meters from it -- and at some distance from the car." Mr. Rebelo wanted to watch a little more the "things," whatever it was that he saw. But his little son, Paulo Antonio, now awake, started to cry when sighted the two lights hovering in mid-air. Of course, he was scared. Then, considering that they had a lot of emotion for a only night; that he was alone with his people in that deserted place, watching strange frightening events; and that his "crew" was badly shaken - Mr. Rebelo decided to get sway as fast as possible. And so he did. But this time the lights kept motionless and unchanged, even when the car passed just under one of them. But soon they faded into the darkness and, at last, the car entered the sleeping city of Tapes.
Of all the eerie UFO stories I have heard this was one of the weirdest. Of course, the whole incident could have been a hoax, or merely a case of autosuggestion and hysteria. But, even if there was nothing to the story, one fact stuck in my mind: The Air Force had ordered a careful investigation by Major Hungaretti, Chief of A.F. special investigation about UFO’S in Rio Grande do Sul, instead of a routine check by some Intelligence officer. Further, this was done secretly to avoid public attention. Officially, the A.F. had apparently ignored the case. In my opinion, this attitude was to give no hint that they were deeply impressed by the report. Another peculiar angle was the silence of the Press, the well-informed Press. Daily, the Rio de Janeiro’s papers had been publishing the accounts of the sightings made in the country. But they carried no report of this incident. Why? Local papers, I was informed, had published it, in an attempt to win general attention with no results. The case was unbelievable. Then, a few weeks later, a Rio magazine decided finally to take the plunge. A first rate reporter, Mr. J. Martins, was sent to interview personally Mr. Rebelo in Porto Alegre. His article, published on December 4, 1954, was well documented and confirmed the report transcribed above, which was - I was told - what the Air Force believed to be the basic facts. But it gave also new facts that added more interest to the case. By the way, there was another version of the incident, published by some local paper: Mr. Rebelo had seen four "saucers" to land at one hundred meters from the car. The lights changed color, etc. ... Then, two "beings" came out of one of the crafts. They were of normal stature, had long hair which hung down their backs, and dressed some kind of overalls. They approached the car quietly. Rebelo opened the door to meet them, but his wife and sons started to yell and then the visitors ran back to the crafts, which took off swiftly. This version was denied categorically and vehemently by Mr. Rebelo, when interviewed by J. Martins. Moreover, the paper which printed it got the story from other persons - not from the witnesses - and made big mistakes, like telling that Rebelo was an "engineer; that he was with his "two daughters"; and that his wife had suffered a "nervous breakdown" and was in a hospital. I am convinced that Mr. Rebelo made a point in his favor when he discarded this second account of the incident as all nonsense. If he was a hoaxer, he would accept every suggestion making his tale more sensational. Anyway, the Air Force made no attempt to debunk the case, but ordered a careful investigation. The area where the incident had taken place - a cultivated land - was searched inch by inch. No marks or traces were found on the ground. The blades of grass, over which the UFO’S supposedly hovered were not mashed or burned. Nothing was found to contradict the story. On the other hand, it was verified that no tractors had been in that area that night. In fact, no ground-vehicle could have been there, because no traces were found on the soft earth. Could the strange lights be some kind of reflection of the car’s own lights? No. The car’s headlights were switched on all the time (even when it was stopped) but the "lights" came in from a wrong direction, from the side of the road, entirely out of the headlight’s field; and moved even when the car was stopped. The dashboard lights were burnt. There was no indication of marsh gas or swamp fire. All possible explanations suggested were thoroughly checked. Nothing. Mrs. Rebelo and the two boys were questioned carefully and all they said confirmed the story told by Mr. Rebelo. This was repeated again and again, but no discrepancy was ever found. If the whole thing was a hoax, they were not in it. They were undoubtedly impressed by the story and believed it. Every new lead dug up in the investigation pointed to the same thing, a true story. A new investigation was started in the city of Tapes and surroundings, being questioned people who might have been in a position to also observe something. The result was startling: A few persons had also seen strange lights moving on the sky, that night. If they are to be believed, there is only one answer for the puzzle. Look through this report, then form your own conclusion - your guess is as good as mine. To finish the account of this story quite without precedent, I must add one more thing. It is about the interview between the reporter J. Martins and Mr. Rebelo. Martins went to Rebelo’s home with a friend, Joao Crisostomo, who was to be a witness at the meeting. Rebelo was waiting, but he had also a friend (and witness) with him. It was Major Hungaretti, chief of AF investigation on UFO’S in Rio Grande do Sul. The major said he had been told about the meeting and, being interested in the matter, decided to come in. "But he was not there as a censor," he said. In fact, he discussed the case openly with the reporter. And further, he helped Rebelo in his report, recalling some details on the case. And, of course, his presence was new evidence that the Air Force was deeply interested in the incident. It was too an official Air Force admission that they had found nothing to contradict the story told by Mr. Rebelo. But one question bothered me. Why did the Major come to the meeting? What was the real reason behind his decision to be there that night? I don’t know. But of one thing we can have no doubt: We could go into a long discourse on the possible explanations for this sighting, but in the end there would be only one positive answer - the UFO’S could not be identified as something we knew about. They could have been interplanetary spaceships. If we take this positive approach, we must ask: Why did these "visitors" play that cat-and-mouse game with the people in the car? Did they want to take them as specimens? Maybe. But I don’t think so, I can only imagine that their purpose was to learn about us, about our intelligence, about our psychological reactions, and about our mental attitude when in danger. If this is the case, they are not friends or foes. They are on a scientific expedition. So, they made a cold-blooded test, an "experiment" - and the Rebelos were the Guinea-pigs they used.
We find people quite ready to believe that UFOs had been explained away as drifting balloons, optical illusions, electrical phenomena, flashes of light on clouds, mirages, fireballs, gleams on aircraft’s wing-tips, curious cloud formations, birds, mass-hallucinations, aircrafts, guided missiles, strips of paper thrown into the air, etc. Anything. In fact, any explanation is good enough to get off the extra-terrestrial one. On the other side, many people still imagine that the existence of "visitors" from other planets may, ultimately be proven by an accumulation of sightings. Yet, we have tens of thousands of sightings, occurring in all countries. So what? Statistical evidence proves nothing, it only indicates probabilities. In this field of factual investigation about UFOs, I believe that the importance of the individual case should be emphasized. Because one single incident can be enough--we need only one incident, which cannot be explained away, to prove that there are intelligences in the Universe other than our own. Feeling the problem could be solved this way, I took on myself the responsibility of investigating all sightings reported in my country--factually, exhaustively and with a scientific approach. For four years I recorded data, investigated eye-witness accounts, and collected, classified and compared newspapers’ reports, in order to restrict the search to what I might call the better cases for full investigation. Here are included: (1) sightings reported by highly skilled and trained observers, as military and civilian aircrews, aerodrome staffs and scientists; (2) sightings reported by persons without special training in observation, but regarded as excellent witnesses (truthful and reliable in their accounts), as engineers, technicians, policemen, journalists, military personnel, citizens of good reputation and professional men; (3) sightings witnessed by dozens or hundreds of persons at different places; (4) series sightings over small areas, or nearby places, or at the same period over different locations; (5) sightings investigated by the Brazilian AF and classified as "unknowns"; (6) reports on UFO landings showing a certain pattern; and, (7) incidents involving "physical evidence." From the cases already presented in this review, the reader can see that, here in Brazil, we have collected a mass of available data regarding the UFOs. In fact, the analysis of our cases shows clearly that they exist as tri-dimensional, solid, aerial objects or crafts, controlled by intelligences unknown to us, and apparently performing a careful, long-ranged survey of our planet. We have something they want and someday they will try to take it. In other words, they have a purpose and have been following the preliminary tasks to reach their objective - step by step, day after day, year after year. This is not a joke, nor a science-fiction tale or an imagination story. A certain pattern will show itself, gradually, in this review of the Brazilian series, a pattern that the reader will recognize himself--if he looks for the clues obtained through the analysis of some characteristics in the UFO’s mass-operation over my country on 1954 (such as geographical location of sightings, types of craft involved, behaviour of UFOs reported, tactics used, etc..) Before discussing these important points with more detail, however, I have more to say about the changing picture on early November, 1954, when UFO’s activity over this country multiplied - heralding the beginning of the second stage of their operations. I believe that UFO researchers through the world will be interested. For the skeptics I have something special, to be reported on a next article of this series, something they will find hard to explain away: PHYSICAL EVIDENCE, proving the existence and extra-terrestrial origin of UFOs. As said before, on November 2nd the alien craft were sighted at four different cities through the country, one of them over Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. Next day, at 8:30 P.M., the same UFO (or another of the same type) appeared again over that city. It looked like a luminous sphere, glowing brightly on the starry sky, and was seen (again) by hundreds of persons across the city and its suburbs. For nearly an hour the unknown craft floated silently overhead; at times it seemed to be doing little oscillatory movements, from one side to another; its size (or apparent diameter) was larger than the full moon’s. "It gave off a dazzling yellow light, at first, but later this light changed to a red hue," said one of the witnesses--Mr. Juri de Medeiros, from the office of the State Governor--who watched the object from Alexandrino de Alencar Street. At Praia Street, the UFO was first sighted by children playing at a nearby field, who alerted the residents on the area. A crowd gathered in the street to watch the scene. Also at another place called "Floresta," on the same hour, the mysterious machine was observed by a number of witnesses. All the reports from those different places agreed that, at the end, the red-glowing sphere started to move away swiftly, diminishing gradually in size and disappearing finally towards the other side of the Guaiba river. The incident caused a rush of calls to newspapers and police. The "Associated Press" put it on its wires; it made headlines on Rio’s press, on November 4. This same day, a story cabled from Argentina informed about a sighting at Cordoba the night before, witnessed by meteorologists from the "National Meteorological Service." The report said that a flying saucer had appeared over that city at 7:40 p.m., had maneuvered over the region for a time and then was gone, traveling slowly toward the North. The UFO was described as "a glowing object, shaped like a boomerang." As the sighting at Cordoba had occurred fifty minutes before the one at Porto Alegre, they could possibly be linked together to the same UFO. Despite of this, I dismissed the possibility after a careful evaluation of data. To reach Porto Alegre, the UFO sighted at Cordoba would have to travel toward the East, the distance between the two cities being approximately 760 miles. It traveled, however, to the North. Of course, it might have changed course - but I believe that it didn’t, because it was not sighted at any point of the large region between the two cities it would have to cross. And, in each case, the objects described were not identical. All of this suggests two different UFOs, in my opinion. On the night of November 4, a fantastic "space-creature" story was told to the residents of Pontal, São Paulo, by a scared man - the witness - who seemed to be frightened beyond reason, on the verge of insanity. It is a disturbing tale about "three little men, about three feet tall and with dark-brown skin," who came out of "a silvery metallic machine, or craft, shaped like two washbowls placed on top of each other" - which had landed silently on a deserted place. At the moment, it is impossible to discuss this incident, but it will be done in the near future. This sighting, of course, was not printed by newspapers in my country, at the time, because it was too "hot" and could scare the population. But UFO activity was still growing up and, on November 6, five new and startling reports hit the headlines. At 10:15 a.m., a huge, disc-shaped object, silvery-white in color, was sighted in the skies of Curitiba, the beautiful Capital of Paraná State. It was watched by hundreds of citizens, as it hovered silently in the cloudless sky. It was in position to observe the city and surroundings with good results, if needed. It remained in sight for a long time. At the end, it moved suddenly, climbed up steeply and disappeared into the sky. But--before this - it was photographed by a man named Romario, who worked for the newspaper "Estado do Paraná." Romario was with another reporter from the same newspaper, who also witnessed the sighting. They were on the streets of "Portão," a town’s district, when they sighted the flying-disc moving overhead. Romario took three photos. Next day (Nov. 7), the "Estado do Paraná" printed the photos, after a careful check. The pictures were very good, according to the published reports. But I didn’t see them. For some unknown reason, they didn’t appear on Rio’s newspapers. Despite of this, I consider this UFO as a good "unknown" because the other witness - Romario’s companion - confirmed his report. The same day, at sunset, appeared the first signs of UFO activity over São Paulo, the largest industrial city in South America. A large oval-shaped object, metallic-grey in color, roamed over it at high speed. It was sighted by several persons from Don Pedro II Square and from nearby streets. Two policemen, Terezio R. Campos and Ricardo R. Lopes, were among the witnesses and reported the sighting to the press. But it was only the beginning... A few hours later, at 9:15 p.m., another alien was observed over the city. When first seen, it was hovering over "Jardim America." The witnesses were Dr. F. A. Rogick, a chemist working for the States Government, who lived not far from that place; and his two sons, Marcio 15, and Marilda 17. The object was shaped like a saucer, but appeared to be slightly flattened in the center. It hovered over the city for three or four seconds. Then, with the UFO’s unexpected readiness, it suddenly rushed up at an angle of 45 degrees and was gone. In this maneuver, it pulled away from a stopped position and climbed up at tremendous speed. Its acceleration was far beyond the power of any man-made aircraft. It was a rotating, orange-yellow flying saucer. But this was not the end. ... Just a few minutes later, at "Pinheiros," another district of São Paulo city, a luminous sphere was sighted by an amateur photographer, Mr. Victorio Favezi. He was going home when he saw it. The strange object hovered motionless on the sky--as if watching the sleepy city below. It was a sphere, encircled by an eerie glowing, bluish-green halo. Favezi had his camera at hand and lost no time. He took two shots of the UFO before it disappeared into the darkness, in a flash of speed. One of the photos was printed by "Diario da Noite," a Rio’s newspaper, on November 7. I saw it. The picture was somewhat blurred (it was taken by trembling hands), but showed clearly a luminous, circular object with a strange-looking protuberance or projection at the bottom. Favezi had also turned over the film to the newspaper. After a careful analysis, the "Diario da Noite" stated that the photos seemed authentic enough to be printed, showing obviously an "unexplained aerial object." According to the witness’ written report, the UFO was at an unknown height and made no sound when moving, or hovering. A metallic-grey, oval-shaped object ... A rotating, orange-yellow, saucer shaped object ... A luminous, bluish-green, spherical object ... Three different kinds of UFOs, all of them sighted over São Paulo at small intervals - the same day. Why this abundance of shapes suggesting different types of crafts? Was it needed? Why? Still on that same night, a solitary, cigar-shaped UFO was operating in northern Brazil, hundreds of miles away from São Paulo. Again, the sighting was over a State Capital--Belem, Pará. The strange "flying cigar" was spotted in the sky at 7:30 p.m. It was brightly luminous, emitting a white-bluish glow which surrounded it entirely. It looked like neon-light. This "unknown" was described as cigar or cylinder-shaped, with no windows or projections, about 30 centimeters in size (angular size) and leaving behind a fiery, phosphorescent trail, one meter long. It flashed across the skies at high speed, but no sound was heard coming from it. The observation lasted approximately 7 seconds and was witnessed by fifteen persons at least. Among the witnesses were Mr. Jarbas Pereira, engineer; Mr. Nestor Bastos, farmer; and Mr. Raul Braga, lawyer. They reported the sighting to the press. The aerial object involved in the last sighting described above, might have been, perhaps, a meteor. The high speed with an apparently linear course, plus the phosphorescent trail, suggested this possibility. And the time recorded for the sighting (7 seconds) doesn’t speak against it. On the other side, it might be an UFO with certain aspects, which are more commonly observed on meteors and meteorites. The other sightings, on the other hand, were obviously caused by alien crafts, or devices. No other explanation can be accepted. Unless we believe the persons who saw the UFO’s were all suffering from mass-hallucination. Or perhaps all those witnesses were suddenly caught in a strange psychosis, so that they imagined, exaggerated and even lied--with no apparent justification. Or perhaps the newspapers through the country made up the cases, just for nothing. I dismissed, of course, any of these "scientific" explanations. Here, it may be useful to remember the words of the world-famous Swiss psychologist, Dr. Carl Jung (FS Review, May-June 1955): "So-called "scientific" explanations, such as the theory of reflections, by Dr. Menzel, are not possible without abstracting, for convenience sake, any reports which fail to fit in." In our case, it is easier to recognize UFOs as real objects, than to believe that such extraordinary sky phenomena can be dismissed using so widely different preconceived explanations--a new one for each "epidemics" of sightings. Despite all of this, the skeptics will continue persistently believing that they can explain realities by creating and analyzing artificialities. It’s a pity, but we can do nothing about this. After reviewing the sightings included here, it seems to be clear that--since the beginning of the second stage of their aerial survey of Brazil--they had shifted their interest. Now, they concentrated their scout-crafts’ attention towards Brazilian cities and towns of medium and large size, outside the State of Rio Grande do Sul. But the growing tide of alien crafts which was, day after day, spreading through the country, seemed to be moving not at random--but on a planned direction: from the South, toward the North. On the next article of this review, the reader will know something about the country-wide UFO-reconnaissance which developed through November-December, 1954, and January 1955; about this second stage of UFO’s aerial survey over Brazil when their activity multiplied. It is a good time, now, to analyse the sightings already reported here--as a whole--and take from it a few partial conclusions which, as I believe, might be of some help on the understanding of UFO’s problem. The material to be considered in the analysis includes the 29 sightings published since the beginning of this review. All of them could be classified as "Unknowns," excepting perhaps the sighting of a UFO landing at Sao Paulo City, on November 2nd (hoax?); and the sighting over Belem, Pará, on November 6th (meteor?). The remaining 27 sightings were classified as "Good Unknowns," fitting the requirements listed in the beginning of this article--regarding the reliability of the sightings. In all the reports, the observations had been accurate or detailed enough to eliminate the possibility that the sighting could be ascribed to a familiar object, or to a known natural phenomenon. The general shape of the objects described and the maneuvers they performed on the sky fitted the general pattern which has been ascribed to the "unexplained aerial objects." Of these 27 "Good Unknowns," a special group of 15 sightings could be chosen as "Very Good Unknowns." They are the sightings in which the accuracy of the observation, the quality of the description and the reliability of the observers were such as to prove beyond a doubt they were really sightings of alien crafts. I have classified these 27 sightings into five categories on the basis of their SHAPES: 1. Saucer or Disc shape (15 cases); 2. Spherical or Round shape (8 cases); 3. Cylinder or Cigar shape (3 cases); 4. Oval shape (1 case); 5. Fireball (1 case). Here we have the first important point: the "unknowns" showed a great consistency in shape. They didn’t show the bewildering variety in shape reported by Major E. J. Ruppelt, regarding the unknowns investigated by Project Blue Book. I believe that the difference can be explained by the fact that, in Brazil, we had not (and we still have not) stratospheric balloons, supersecret aircrafts and guided missiles. Many of the dissimilar objects which have been sighted on the skies of North America may be unconventional aircraft, secret missiles or "Skyhook" balloons--wrongly described as UFOs. If more accurate data were available, the unknowns sighted over U.S.A. might well show a greater consistency in shape. The second important point: the statistical data showed that UFO-operations over Brazil, at least in its early stage, was performed mostly by two kinds of crafts--the disc or saucer-shaped objects, plus the spherical or round-shaped ones--which accounted for 85% of the sightings; the "flying-cigar" seems to have another mission, still unknown to us, and was seen in rare instances--always traveling at tremendous speed, high in the sky, and never stopping (at least in our 3 cases) to hover or to maneuver over selected areas; the co-called "fireball" was not common in this early stage of the UFO’s survey--may be because they were not interested on our aircrafts, yet. I believe that this kind of device is used chiefly in the observation of flying aircrafts. The grouping of sightings according to their GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION, together with their chronological ordering, showed the following: AUGUST, 1954--Two casual sightings, including a round, luminous object over Sao Paulo city; and a "cat and mouse play" between a fireball and an airliner over four States. At the same occasion, the UFO activity over Europe was rapidly stepping up. SEPTEMBER, 1954--No UFO activity over Brazil. Mass-reconnaissance over Europe, particularly in France, England and Italy. OCTOBER, 1954--The UFO operations on Europe reached their peak over France and Italy, but dropped in other countries. At the same time, the FIRST UFO mass-survey over Brazil was started. First sighting was reported on October, 12. Total number of sightings: 15. There was, clearly, a geographic clustering of unknowns over Rio Grand do Sul State, in this early stage of the survey: 12 of the 15 sightings came from there; Porto Alegre, the Capital, got more sightings (6). It may be interesting to know that the 3 sightings outside Rio Grande do Sul came only at the end of October (27 and 28); that, in all of them, the UFO was traveling toward the South (in the direction of Rio Grande do Sul) when sighted; that, in one case, the UFO--a glowing, disc-shaped object--was sighted over Lages, a small town in Santa Catarina State, at 8:00 p. m., and a similar object appeared over Porto Alegre half an hour later; that in another case, the UFO--a bright spherically-shaped object--crossed the skies of Vitoria, Espirito do Santo State, at 6:00 p.m., and a similar unknown was spotted over Porto Alegre at 8:40 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., the same night. Because of this, I believe they were, in both cases, on their way toward their point of concentration (Porto Alegre), when sighted. As the third UFO was a cigar-shaped object (the first to be reported here), which flashed across the skies of Ibia, Minas Gerais, also going southward, I am sure that Rio Grande do Sul State was, in fact, the only target of the UFOs in this first stage of their survey. This is the third important point to be remembered. NOVEMBER, 1954--The UFO activity over France and Italy stopped suddenly in the first two weeks of this period; but, at the same time, the sighting curve was rapidly raising upwards in Brazil--suggesting that a growing number of crafts was being transferred, as soon as they became available. The survey over Europe was stopped, apparently, because of bad weather (the coming of the Winter). The statistical data available, here, showed that, from November two to November six, the UFOs changed their objectives toward regions on the North and outside R.G.S. It was the beginning of the second stage of their survey--a country-wide reconnaissance. During this period, about 12 sightings were reported--but only 2 came from R.G.S. (from Porto Alegre); the rest was reported from towns of medium and large size in three of the nearby States to the north of it. Sao Paulo city, the largest industrial concentration on South America, with 3,000,000 inhabitants, got more attention (4 sightings), particularly at the end of the period (3 sightings on Nov. 6.) I am going through these details to show that there was, really, a shift on the geographical location of sightings, on early November, 1954. This is the fourth important point to be recorded. A few words regarding some other characteristics of the unknowns will be told, before finishing this preliminary evaluation of data obtained from our 27 "Good Unknowns," stressing only the basic facts about each one:
Times of observation: 21 sightings were made
at night; only 6 reports described daytime sightings.
Size of the objects: Because of the misjudgments commonly observed in estimations
of distance and altitude, no attempt was made to evaluate the size of the "unknowns."
Color of the objects:At daylight (in order),
silvery,
metallic silvery-white, metallic-grey.
At night (in order of percentages), all UFOs were brightly luminous, with
one exception (a faintly luminous spherical object); green, yellow, orange-yellow,
orange-red, red and violet (for saucers or discs); orange-red, red, white, orange
and bluish-green (for spherical or round-shaped objects); and bluish-white or
red (for cigars).
Sound: All UFOs were absolutely soundless.
Speed: Reported as high, faster than jets’, fantastic or tremendous.
But no exact classification of speeds is possible.
Character of flight: In order of percentage, steady flight (for cigars); steady flight, hovering, hovering, climbing sharply, oscillating, sharp turning or zigzagging, flipping on edge, wobbling, rotating, in formation, etc. (for saucers or discs); hovering, climbing sharply, steady flight and oscillating (for spherical or round-shaped UFOs).
Altitude: As the sighting was at night in the majority of cases, no exact estimation of altitudes is possible.
Miscellaneous: A hemispherically shaped projection, or dome, on the upper part of the object, was described in 4 cases (saucers). One saucer had a red ring or band around its center, which emitted flashes of brilliant light; another one had two orange-red light over it. One of the cigar-shaped UFOs seemed to have a strong light on the head, and its stern looked like a tail. No trails were reported in any case (excepting one cigar-shaped UFO). Some spherical- or round-shaped UFOs changed color (from yellow to red or orange-red, from orange-red to violet, etc.); one of them seemed to have a white light, which appeared to pulsate at regular intervals. No objects with wings, propellers or jets were observed. No "angel hair" was reported in any case.
As I wondered about the four important points, or conclusions, stressed on the analysis of data from 27 "Good Unknowns"--the staggering implications of these results came to my mind. Those facts and evidence could be explained only by the theory that the UFOs were craft from outer space. There was no other alternative. On a recent book by Mr. Lloyd Mallan, entitled "Secrets of Space Flight," there is a chapter about flying saucers. I found there (p.140) the following statements, by the author himself: "Out of 4,000 reports analyzed by the Air Force, using the most advanced scientific statistical techniques, only 434 sightings could be classed as Unknown. Of these, a mere dozen could be called Good Unknowns--or Unknowns by reliable observers who gave detailed descriptions. The remaining 422 Unknowns were placed in the unknown category simply because there was no other way to catalog them: many of them could have been explained as conventional phenomena, except for single peculiarities"..."On the other hand, neither radar nor optical tracking equipment had been used on them: they were all observed by unaided eye. If the observations had been accurate or detailed enough, they might never have been placed in the Unknown category. So, in a sense, the whole Air Technical Intelligence "saucer" investigation, from 1947 through the end of April, 1955, boils down to 12 "Good Unknowns." All other sightings, except for the straight Unknowns, had been explained on a reasonable scientific basis." When I finished reading this, I was startled and deeply worried about something. This article was already written but, how could I face the readers? How could a lonely civilian investigator as myself collect 27 "Good Unknowns" out of 29 "Unknowns," when the USAF could only extract a mere dozen "Good Unknowns" out of 434 "Unknowns"? Besides, the 12 USAF’s "Good Unknowns" had been the product of an investigation of almost 9 years; on the other side, my 27 cases had been collected through a period of less than one month, in 1954. It just couldn’t be. Somewhere a terrible mistake had been made. I rechecked my findings carefully: no mistake was found; so, my analysis was good. Could the USAF be responsible by the discrepancies noted? It would be incredible. But such was not the case. The error had been made by Mr. Mallan. Infortunately, his "will-not-to-believe" is so powerful that he saw only the data he wished to see--not the true statistical data from the USAF. To prove my statement, I shall transcribe below something written by Major E. J. Ruppelt, USAFR, the man who was, from 1951 to 1955, in charge of Project Blue Book, the official USAF investigation of UFOs. I am quoting from an article he made for the magazine "TRUE" (May, 54), entitled "What our Air Force found out about Flying Saucers." He said (p.132) the following: "In 1952 we extracted the best sightings from the files to see what kind of sense we could make from them. These represented the cream of the reports and most of them had come through military channels. This meant that they either had been made by military personnel or had undergone a preliminary check at the point of origin. Of the 2,199 sightings, 434--19.7 percent--were listed as unknown. Among them were sightings reported by scientists and veteran pilots of excellent reputation, many of whom had been scornful disbelievers until they had sighted their saucers. These reports included instances of flight performance and maneuvers beyond the abilities of any known craft." (p.133): "These cases, and the hundreds more like them, are the core of the flying saucer mystery. Despite our best efforts over a period of seven years--assisted by top-grade technical and scientific advisers--we were unable to crack them. They remain to baffle and intrigue millions. And despite the improvement in methods of analysis that has resulted from our experience, scores of unknowns are added to the project’s files each year." (p.134): "Among these sightings have been a small number that have been confirmed by radar. Whatever the object was, it was not an hallucination. And frequently, it outperformed any craft known on earth." The sentences I have underlined are enough to prove my point before the reader. Mr. Mallan is needing to see his saucer, as soon as possible. His 434 "Unknowns", "so classed because there was no other way to catalog them...etc., etc.," were, in fact, according to Ruppelt, the best sightings from the files, the cream of the reports. Some were reported by scientists, a small number had been confirmed by radar. They were -- all of them -- "Good Unknowns," that’s the truth. These 434 unknowns that could not be cracked, that remain to baffle millions, were not the sightings reported from 1947 through 1955 (as stated by Mallan), but the cases collected only from 1947 through 1952. Do you believe, perhaps, that no unknowns have been added to the group through 1953, 1954 and 1955? Do you think it possible? And, if you want to believe in this science-fiction tale by Mr. Mallan--what has happened, then, to the scores of unknowns that are added to the project’s files each year? No Mr. Mallan, you cannot explain away the UFOs using such methods. It would be better not to write about the matter. And it would be good for you to remember that UFOs are not local phenomena in the U.S.A. They come also over other countries. Many research units, official or particular, have been investigating the problem all-over the world for many years. They are not blind, we are not blind, the people are not blind ...
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