Declassified UFO files have exposed an extraordinary US investigation into claims that a ‘dead spaceman’ was discovered inside a mysterious metal sphere.
The object was said to have plummeted into the center of Conde, a municipality in the Brazilian state of Bahia, on November 8, 1963, blasting a hole approximately 13 feet deep.
Reports claimed the sphere had glass-covered windows and contained a human body dressed in heavy clothing marked with inscriptions nobody could decipher.
The astonishing account sparked inquiries by American officials, who asked diplomats in Brazil to determine whether something inexplicable had fallen from the sky.
Details of the alleged crash and its mysterious occupant were circulated among the State Department, Department of Defense and NASA.
For six days, officials pursued conflicting reports involving a possible spacecraft, a dead crewman and a suspected weather balloon.
But when US diplomats attempted to verify the account, the extraordinary mystery began to collapse.
The records were included in the Trump administration’s fifth tranche of UFO files released on Friday, alongside dozens of reports, images and videos previously unavailable to the public.
The object was said to have crashed into the center of Conde, a municipality in the Brazilian state of Bahia, on November 8, 1963, gouging a hole approximately 13 feet deep
On November 14, the US Embassy in Rio sent a telegram to the State Department and the American Consulate in Salvador asking for clarification
The story first surfaced in a Portuguese-language broadcast by Radio Tupi in Rio de Janeiro late on November 8, 1963.
A US government transcript recorded the station reporting that a ‘large metal sphere’ had fallen in the middle of Conde.
‘Inside is a human body dressed in heavy clothing bearing inscriptions which cannot be deciphered,’ the transcript stated.
It added that residents had been left intrigued and local authorities were informed, but it did not include photographs, identify witnesses or offer any physical evidence.
On November 14, the US Embassy in Rio sent a telegram to the State Department and the American Consulate in Salvador asking for clarification.
The embassy wanted to confirm whether officials in Salvador had issued an ‘unqualified negative’ response to local newspaper coverage of the incident.
Its message described the object as a ‘large metal manned balloon’ and the alleged occupant as a ‘dead crewman’ wearing a ‘uniform or spacesuit with strange markings.’
Officials had also heard that an object was seen flying over the area around the same time and had tentatively been identified as a weather balloon.
However, the telegram emphasized that no such craft had been recovered from the ground.
Its message described the object as a ‘large metal manned balloon’ and the alleged occupant as a ‘dead crewman’ wearing a ‘uniform or spacesuit with strange markings’ (stock)
A notation shows the request was passed to the Defense Department and NASA later that afternoon.
Six days later, a final diplomatic cable delivered the results of inquiries conducted in Bahia, and dismantled the extraordinary story.
The November 20 document quoted Harold Midkiff, the American consul in Salvador, as saying the account had ‘apparently [been] fabricated in Rio.’
Midkiff said newspaper reporters and other investigators rushed to Conde but could not find anybody in the area who had witnessed a strange object descending.
The local secretary of public security speculated that it might have been a weather balloon, but even that sighting could not be verified.
Midkiff also sent the embassy two reports from newspapers in Bahia that supported his findings.
One stated that Brazil’s Ministry of Aeronautics ‘categorically’ denied that any strange object had appeared in Conde.
The claim attracted the attention of American officials, who asked diplomats in Brazil to determine whether it was true
The other carried the dismissive headline: ‘The Airship that wasn’t there.’
According to the final cable, the only remarkable result of the episode was that a reporter managed to transmit a dispatch from Conde using an old Morse code machine at the federal telegraph office.
The documents do not reveal who originated the sensational claim or how it reached Radio Tupi.
An apparent error in the final record lists the incident as occurring in November 1964, despite the cable being written in November 1963 and referring to reports issued that same month.
Although the files show that American officials examined the allegation, their inclusion in the newly released UFO archive does not mean the US verified a crashed spacecraft or recovered an occupant.
Instead, the records trace how an extraordinary radio report prompted an official inquiry that ultimately found no witnesses or physical evidence that the alleged crash ever occurred.
