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Colares Incident(s) & Operation Prato (Brazil; 1970s)

rynner2

rynner2

Gone But Not Forgotten
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This thread was spun off from:
Alien In Brazilian Rainforest? (Manaus Region; 2011)
https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...razilian-rainforest-manaus-region-2011.46693/

... "The area was also the focus of a high-level Brazilian government investigation known as Operation Prato"
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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colares_UFO_flap
Click to expand...
(But Colares is about 600 miles from Manaus ...)
 
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I forgot about the UFO invasion of Colares, Brazil in 1977 where many people got burned by light beams from UFOs.

The government hid burned photos until 2004.

This case is the most baffling in ufology.
 
charliebrown said:
I forgot about the UFO invasion of Colares, Brazil in 1977 where many people got burned by light beams from UFOs.
The government hid burned photos until 2004.
This case is the most baffling in ufology.
Click to expand...
That would be the Colares UFO "flap" in 1977 that led to the Brazilian military investigation known as Operação Prato.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operação_Prato
 
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EnolaGaia said:
That would be the Colares UFO "flap" in 1977 that led to the Brazilian military investigation known as Operação Prato.
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I have been looking at this case study and came across something of particular interest.

The fact that there were seemingly never any comparative sightings of the "bat-like" objects which Kenneth Arnold actually observed, is an issue I have highlighted..

That is, perhaps, until now.

For I give you what I believe to be the only such conceivable example and a new discovery for myself.

It's not suggested these are one and the same, merely publicising that this sketch exists.

I'm not clear if it depicts seven objects, or a sequence showing one in various stages of flight.

Either way, it's quite unique and certainly reminiscent of our archetypal 'flying wing' design.

Screenshot_20210717-003848.jpg
 
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charliebrown said:
Are you saying this drawing actually came from the Colares UFO event drawn by a resident ?
Click to expand...
It gets worse... much worse...

Screenshot_20210717-071709.jpg

Thls is .... 1977?

If we're going to label it as a 'triangular UFO', with our prerequisite lights on each corner (if that's what is shown) we seem to now have possibly the earliest actual depiction I am aware of.

I do have on file reports from the U.S. of an arguably similar, anomalous, triangular-shaped aerial vehicle circa mid 1970s.

However, these tend to be recollections from many years afterwards. This is quite different, being a contemporary documentation and all proving to be quite a surprising anomaly.
 
EnolaGaia said:
That drawing came from Operação Prato. It was supposedly made by the investigation team's graphics / artist specialist - a Sergeant Flávio.
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Thank you so much, this is an extremely interesting case.

It's simply not one I was familiar with and goodness knows exhibits just about every conceivable anomalous element, encapsulating even a 'strange death' and 'suspicious suicide'.

I didn't add more details as I really still wasn't aware of the entire perspective - just getting up to speed.

Although there is a natural crossover, should any further discussions maybe now move to the existing thread?

I would like to clarify exactly how many of these triangular-shaped craft were observed, particularly at the same time and if we have a description of their flight characteristics. Obviously, of course, did they reportly hover at extremely low altitude, etc.

Making my way through the documentation at a slow pace!
 
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Comfortably Numb said:
If we're going to label it as a 'triangular UFO', with our prerequisite lights on each corner (if that's what is shown) we seem to now have possibly the earliest actual depiction I am aware of. ...
Click to expand...
This drawing was apparently a product of Operação Prato, which launched in late(?) 1977 in response to the Colares incident reports. My understanding is that the project was terminated the following year (at least as far as public knowledge of it was concerned).

I wouldn't categorize these V-shaped "flying wing" images as identical to the later canonical "triangular UFO" form. The three red (vermelha) spots or luminous bits aren't positioned at the vertices of the more-or-less triangular silhouette. Neither is there a fourth such light or luminous bit centered among the three peripheral lights.
 
According to wikipedia, 20 years later Captain Uyrange tried to get public interest again about this event.

The Captain ended up dead hanging by his belt from his bathrobe in his home.

Investigations into UFOs can be hazardous to your health !
 
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EnolaGaia said:
I wouldn't categorize these V-shaped "flying wing" images as identical to the later canonical "triangular UFO...
Click to expand...
The 'delta-wing' shape here reminds of the Avro Vulcan bomber, which first flew in 1952, so it isn't a radical concept.

As seemingly always, need more data and looks like we have little else to go on as regards this particular facet of the bizarre serious of ongoing incidents.

I have however located one interesting, more recent, brief interview with a seemingly first-hand witness and will post a link on the dedicated thread.
 
Although there are a considerable number of related YouTube case features and definitely looked interesting, none seemed to be in English

Eventually, however, I might have located something quite substantial.

This is a 3 part production and being a new discovery, I have no further background information at present.

Parts one and two were uploaded to YouTube only 5 months ago and part three just a month later.

Naturally, I have only had time so far to skim through the contents. They do look seriously comprehensive.

Could this be the definitive case study, currently of unknown origin?

Hopefully, there may be some revealing new information.

Might the following merit a separate case thread of its own?

Colares Part 1: They Came From the Sea and Sky


@https://youtu.be/Mr1NrnsdY5I


Colares Part 2: Operação Prato


@https://youtu.be/xrSnRpM0LXI


Colares Part 3: A Story Not Forgotten By All


@https://youtu.be/wrzzZAX9wDQ
 
charliebrown said:
The Captain ended up dead hanging by his belt from his bathrobe in his home.
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Some additional, related, background:

"Further to this, Captain Uyrangê Bolivar Soares Nogueira de Hollanda Lima - the commander of the operation - gave an interview in 1997 to UFO Magazine, where he recounted how terrified his men were during their investigations.

He went on to reveal eyewitness statements which described residents waking up to beings wearing protective clothing shooting coloured beams at their heads, as well as several officers reporting seeing strange lights emerging from and diving back into coastal waters around the area - leading some to assume this was the location of a UFO base.

Three months after giving the interview, Captain Hollanda was found dead in his home after he seemingly hung himself using the belt of his bathrobe".

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/operation-saucer-official-search-ufos-155317373.html

There are some online video interviews with him and this seems to be the lengthiest.

Naturally, it isn't spoken English and I wondered if anyone who could understand, might kindly provide a summary?

BRASIL: OPERAÇÃO PRATO


@https://youtu.be/O8yuNTKKcvg
 
And the U.S. government still claims Not enough data to prove the existence of UFOs.
 
I read about this case in the Jacques Vallée book. Certainly fascinating and not a little bit frightening. I came away thinking that we have to be careful to attribute Western belief systems and values to these rural South Americans who would spend their nights hunting in trees. Vallée was integral in the excellent "Witness to Another World" documentary about a South American peasant farmer coming to terms with his UFO and occupant encounter and the documentary points towards the spiritual ancestry of the witness and the legends of 'visitors' within. Also, as stated, there was a lot of cold war angst and the actual evidence for extraterrestrial craft is a bit lacking.
 
This is also interesting;
Many people in the flap area called the UFOs “Chupa” or “Chupa-Chupa” (from the verb chupar, meaning “to suck”) because they believed blood was being sucked (chupada) from them when they were hit by a beam of light from a UFO.
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This seems to be related to the Chupcabra mythos, which became very popular some years later.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra
 
WeirdExeter said:
...the actual evidence for extraterrestrial craft is a bit lacking.
Click to expand...
All, typically of course, open to interpretation. Nonetheless, even with my skeptical hard hat on...

We seem to have a plethora of reported incidents during a continuous period of several months, documented medical evidence, the military being deployed in response to pleas for assistance from local government officials, a consequential investigation which could offer no rational explanation and official illustrations of triangular-shaped aerial craft which military personnel apparently believed may have been equally capable of operating submerged...

Personnely, not quite sure how to make any sense of it at all. It could be immensely helpful to learn what Mr Soares Nogueira de Hollanda Lima - commander of the operation - revealed in the aforementioned video interview, or the 1997 interview in UFO Magazine (US).

Would anyone possibly have a copy of the latter?

As a complete aside re hard hats, something came to mind and I just wondered...

Yes!!! Not only will I have protection in the current heatwave, this will be awesome when the sun strikes it! :)

https://www.wish.com/product/5deb40...ALw_wcB&hide_login_modal=true&share=mobileweb
 
There's a rough - to say the least at times - translation available for the following video.

Because it contains subtitles, if you switch them on. there are apps which will translate same into English.

I used the android app, 'zTranslate'. When you play the video, with subtitles on, select the 'save' icon underneath and a selection of options will appear. Choose the app icon and the app will take over, displaying it's best attempts at conversion.

It's not clear from my endeavours, however, towards the end of his interview, is Captain Uyrangê Lima describing some type of 'close encounter' and 'robotic' communication, in his bedroom, with a typical, 'grey' type entity?

Obviously, it would be desirable to clear this up.

He certainly seems to personally have had a number of observations relating to unidentified aerial phenomena, replete with dazzling beams of light, as were, of course, one of the enigmatic facets which led to the military's involvement.

OPERAÇÃO PRATO


@https://youtu.be/uwliPHb5rBI
 
WeirdExeter said:
I read about this case in the Jacques Vallée book. Certainly fascinating and not a little bit frightening. I came away thinking that we have to be careful to attribute Western belief systems and values to these rural South Americans who would spend their nights hunting in trees. Vallée was integral in the excellent "Witness to Another World" documentary about a South American peasant farmer coming to terms with his UFO and occupant encounter and the documentary points towards the spiritual ancestry of the witness and the legends of 'visitors' within. Also, as stated, there was a lot of cold war angst and the actual evidence for extraterrestrial craft is a bit lacking.
Click to expand...
It certainly seems like a very convincing and dramatic series of incidents. I believe that the light beams, as in a few other UFO cases, did not behave normally, they were able to pass through the roofs of the victims, for example, "anti physical," as Vallee puts it.
 
Just finished skimming through the new US TV series, Contact, In similar vein to the Hunting Hitler series, it features a couple of CIA types in a control room bringing up huge amounts of online info via a very sophisticated search engine, and directing the researches of a number of on-the-ground operatives, most of whom seem highly qualified (one has a qualification in Astro Physics) and competent. The format is rather restrictive, and the need to drive home the basic ideas by repetition slows it down, but the findings, many of which seem original, are most interesting. They focus on connections between UFOs and water, earthquakes, cattle mutilations, and do a good final program on Colares. One of the most interesting sequences features a UFO sighting captured by a drone. The video file is subjected to about the most stringent and sophisticated analysis possible, and it passes all the tests -- a speed-blurred saucer shaped object flying at around 3,600mph. Other highlights include soil analysis from an old landing case and the discovery of ancient carvings looking disturbingly like the grey alien archetype. Well worth a look.
 
eburacum said:
Some more data here.
http://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/MUFON/Pratt/prato.pdf
A lot of these sightings seem to have been tentatively explained by the Brazilian military as satellites. The photos look pretty poor too. Not quite the proof we are looking for.

View attachment 42255
Click to expand...
I've been reading up on this on the Brazilian website of Ufovia, the photos are said to represent a brilliant light emitted from the base of cylinder-like objects, and not the objects themselves.

link (in Portuguese)
 
As citadas fotos mostram apenas um brilho forte e disforme sobre um fundo escuro. Em algumas imagens este brilho muda de formato, devido ao ângulo em que a foto era batida. Esta intensa luminosidade registrada nas fotos, em verdade, corresponde somente à parte inferior (base) do objeto e não seria o formato de todo o objeto - como que é erroneamente interpretado pela maioria das pessoas.
Click to expand...

My translation:
The referenced photos just show a strong, uneven radiance on a dark background. In some images, this radiance changes form, owing to the angle from which the photo was taken. This intense luminosity recorded in the photos actually corresponds to the lower part (base) of the object and is not the shape of the entire object - as is erroneously interpreted by the majority of people.
 
If these photos show the luminosity emitted by the base of an object, that means the shape of the object itself is not visible in the photos, making them practically useless as evidence..
 
Comfortably Numb said:
I have been looking at this case study and came across something of particular interest.

The fact that there were seemingly never any comparative sightings of the "bat-like" objects which Kenneth Arnold actually observed, is an issue I have highlighted..



View attachment 42181
Click to expand...
Unique? Well I don't know about that.
I am reminded of one of those weird little paranormal type UFO sightings that was reported, in the form of a letter, in Flying Saucer Review. (This is all from memory, so do bear that in mind). But it must have been twenty odd years back now - and it was an old issue of F.S.R even then so the sighting itself could have been from the late seventies up to the early Eighties.
The object in the sky, viewed in broad daylight on a clear day with blue sky, was said to be of metallic appearance and winged, much as the above picture. except that it gently flapped its wings - as though it were an animal.
The witness said that it (or the sighting of it) exuded a sense of foreboding, as though it were evil.

The reason this claim sticks in my mind is the location: it took place in a particular part of London Road, Leicester (UK) - an area which was just a few blocks away from where I was when I read the piece - giving it that extra frisson!

WeirdExeter said:
I read about this case in the Jacques Vallée book. Certainly fascinating and not a little bit frightening. I came away thinking that we have to be careful to attribute Western belief systems and values to these rural South Americans who would spend their nights hunting in trees. Vallée was integral in the excellent "Witness to Another World" documentary about a South American peasant farmer coming to terms with his UFO and occupant encounter and the documentary points towards the spiritual ancestry of the witness and the legends of 'visitors' within. Also, as stated, there was a lot of cold war angst and the actual evidence for extraterrestrial craft is a bit lacking.
Click to expand...
Agree very much with this.
Whatever happened in that Brazilian island all those years ago seems to be very localised (as well as confined to a certain time). I struggle to come up with a similar UFO event - where `UFOs` repeatedly inflict burn marks on humans and are accused of sucking their blood. It's just not typical UFO behavior, is it?
So, yes, it could be that the locals are viewing a UFO event through the prism of their own folklore. Given the regional nature of the event, it seems more likely to me though, that it is the `folklore` which is closer to what was actually going on there and that it is us - in the `West` if you like - who are guilty of viewing it through the prism of our own Ufological expectations.
 
Zeke Newbold said:
Unique? Well I don't know about that.
I am reminded of one of those weird little paranormal type UFO sightings that was reported, in the form of a letter, in Flying Saucer Review. (This is all from memory, so do bear that in mind). But it must have been twenty odd years back now - and it was an old issue of F.S.R even then so the sighting itself could have been from the late seventies up to the early Eighties.
The object in the sky, viewed in broad daylight on a clear day with blue sky, was said to be of metallic appearance and winged, much as the above picture. except that it gently flapped its wings - as though it were an animal.
The witness said that it (or the sighting of it) exuded a sense of foreboding, as though it were evil.

The reason this claim sticks in my mind is the location: it took place in a particular part of London Road, Leicester (UK) - an area which was just a few blocks away from where I was when I read the piece - giving it that extra frisson!


Agree very much with this.
Whatever happened in that Brazilian island all those years ago seems to be very localised (as well as confined to a certain time). I struggle to come up with a similar UFO event - where `UFOs` repeatedly inflict burn marks on humans and are accused of sucking their blood. It's just not typical UFO behavior, is it?
So, yes, it could be that the locals are viewing a UFO event through the prism of their own folklore. Given the regional nature of the event, it seems more likely to me though, that it is the `folklore` which is closer to what was actually going on there and that it is us - in the `West` if you like - who are guilty of viewing it through the prism of our own Ufological expectations.
Click to expand...
There are a few other accounts of UFOs burning people, I recall a US case quoted by McDonald where a young boy had his back badly burnt, and there have been other cases of aggression in S. America, e.g. the man who was allegedly hit by a ray from a UFO and slowly died as his body seemed to dissolve away. Colares is unique, but the anti-physical aspects (the rays that could move through the ceilings and target the intended victims) makes it more UFO than folklore, I think.
 
Carl Grove said:
There are a few other accounts of UFOs burning people, I recall a US case quoted by McDonald where a young boy had his back badly burnt, and there have been other cases of aggression in S. America, e.g. the man who was allegedly hit by a ray from a UFO and slowly died as his body seemed to dissolve away. Colares is unique, but the anti-physical aspects (the rays that could move through the ceilings and target the intended victims) makes it more UFO than folklore, I think.
Click to expand...
Wasn't there also a case in the US where someone on a remote road had a close encounter and was burn't through a grill or vent?

Edit: I think it was Canada, and the Falcon Lake incident, just from Googling photos.
 
Given the suspected overwatch of the situation by the CIA, I can't help but wonder whether they might not have engineered it in the first place.

US intelligence services at that time were not shy about testing novel techniques on civilian populations, both foreign and domestic. (e.g. MKULTRA)

Being able to create a UFO flap on demand would be a very useful ability for any country to have. Intelligence or low-level military operations can be run under cover of the flap; and if the public becomes sufficiently panicked, perhaps they can be induced to riot, leave an area, or stop following orders from their own government.

I don't know enough to explain how all the reported phenomena could have been synthesized with 1970s technology, but some combination of practical effects and psychological operations might have sufficed. Some of the key witnesses, like the town doctor and the mayor, could have been very effective in convincing others that something physical was indeed happening to them.

The existence of a motive, opportunity, and the probable existence of relevant techniques and technologies don't PROVE that something was faked, of course. Still, I find it terribly fishy that the event ended shortly after the "investigation" was called off. What if the "investigation" existed only to measure how well the flap was created?
 
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