- Colares UFO flap
-
The Colares flap refers to an outbreak of UFO sightings that occurred in 1977 on the Brazilian island of Colares. During the outbreak, the UFOs allegedly attacked the citizens with intense beams of radiation that left burn marks and puncture wounds. These sightings led to the Brazilian government dispatching a team to investigate under the codename Operation Saucer (Portuguese: Operação Prato), but the government later recalled the team and classified the files until the late 1990s.
Contents
Witnesses
One of the witnesses of the Colares UFO attacks was a physician, Dr. Wellaide Cecim Carvalho, who cared for and made medical tests on the victims. She identified the victims as suffering from fatigue, dizziness, headaches, low blood pressure, and anemia. Some had burn marks where the beams had hit them, with small puncture marks within the burned area. Permanent hair loss occurred in the affected zone.
According to Dr. Carvalho, she attended to about 35 people with these symptoms, who claimed to have been struck by unidentified beams of light from the sky; two of the patients died. Dr. Carvalho said that she was caught in one of the mysterious aerial lights herself. She did not suffer any wounds or lasting physical effects.
Researchers
This incident was thoroughly studied by Brazilian ufologist and philosopher Daniel Rebisso Giese, who created an extensive report.
Later, in 1988, French scientist and ufologist, Dr. Jacques Vallee, traveled to Brazil to investigate tales of injured people and UFO sightings. He met Wellaide Carvalho and other UFO witnesses. He concluded that "these kinds of incidents are not uncommon and deserve scientific study." He laid out these conclusions in his book Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact (1990).
Other investigators that have reviewed and researched Colares UFO incidents are Ademar Gevaerd (Brazil) and Bob Pratt (USA).
Operation Saucer
Since 1977, there have been many witness testimonies and stories about military research and UFO sightings/attacks at Colares and other villages.
In May 2004, high-ranking generals from the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) met with a group of Brazilian ufologists (headed by Ademar Gevaerd) and released, for the examination of ufologists, a limited number of documents from "Operation Saucer". This release detailed the research undertaken by the military in Colares in 1977. According to the documents, in 1977 the military took photographs of UFOs, interviewed UFO witnesses, and themselves witnessed UFO sightings, making drawings of UFOs and their trajectories.
In that meeting, FAB representatives stated that the FAB had been discreetly studying UFOs since 1954.
Aftermath
In 1978, Brazilian ornithologist Helmut Sick was taken into custody by police, mostly for his own protection, when Colares residents suspected him of calling UFOs. He was watching bird nests high in the trees through binoculars, and residents of the island incorrectly assumed he was providing flying saucers with landing information.[citation needed]
See also
References
- About.com site about the incident
- ufologie.net's page about the Colares flap
- Site containing the declassified government report (Portuguese)
- Site containing the research made by Bob Pratt
- About "Operation Saucer" meetings
- Wellaide Carvalho Interview
- UFO Files: Brazil's Roswell. History Channel TV program, 2005.
External links
- Colares flap - discussion forums.
UFOs and ufology Notable Incidents List of sightings · List of aircraft-UFO incidents · List of UFO sightings in outer space · Aurora (1897) · Roswell (1947) · Washington (1952) · Tehran (1976) · Rendlesham Forest (1980) · Japan Air Lines (1986) · Belgian UFO wave (1990) · Phoenix Lights (1997) · O'Hare Airport (2006)
Scientific studies Project Blue Book · Condon Report · COMETA Report · List of notable studies in ufology · Identification studies of UFOsUFO conspiracy theory Culture Involvement Skeptics Categories:- UFO sightings
- 1977 in Brazil
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
