Puerto Maldonado cigar photograph
A customs official, Domingo Troncoso, reportedly photographed a cigar-shaped object with a trail flying over Puerto Maldonado in the Peruvian Amazon on 19 July 1952. Hundreds of people were said to have seen it.
1952 CE · -12.59, -69.19 · status: disputed
The account
The photo is widely reproduced in UFO literature. Jim Moseley, who published it, later wrote it was taken in July 1951.
The sceptical view
Sources disagree on the date and the photographer's name, and a declassified summary says the Peruvian Air Force judged the photographs a hoax made for commercial reasons.
The researched reading
A famous cigar photo with uncertain origins and an official hoax verdict. A faked or retouched image is the most likely answer.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Undetermined | 43% | The share the reading had given to fabrication on doubt rather than evidence: the record does not settle it either way. |
| Something known, misidentified | 15% | A blimp, aircraft or rocket trail could appear as a cigar with smoke, but none is known at Puerto Maldonado then. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 15% | The Peruvian Air Force judged the photographs a commercial hoax; the date and photographer differ between sources, and the image looks retouched, with a too-crisp object and trail. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 12% | Some researchers point to a reflection in the river; the image has not been independently analysed. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 5% | The photo, not memory, is the evidence. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 4% | A cloud shape or meteor trail is a weaker fit to the photo. |
| Secret human technology | 4% | No secret aircraft of this kind was flown over the Amazon. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 2% | No poorly understood phenomenon is required. |
Official position: A declassified summary says the Peruvian Air Force judged the photographs a hoax made for commercial reasons.