Itaipu Fort 'attack'
Two sentries at Fort Itaipu were said to have been burned by a heat wave from a hovering orange UFO.
1957 CE · -24.03, -46.40 · status: hoax
The account
The story, first published in English by Brazilian physician and ufologist Olavo Fontes in the APRO Bulletin in 1959, says that at about 2 a.m. on 4 November 1957 a glowing object hovered over the fort at Praia Grande, São Paulo, a humming sound was heard, and a wave of heat left two soldiers badly burned while the fort's power failed. It became a staple of 1960s UFO books.
The sceptical view
In 2008 Brazilian ufologist Édison Boaventura Júnior concluded the episode was invented by Fontes; the sentries were never named and no military record has surfaced.
The researched reading
A dramatic attack story with no names and no records, now judged a fabrication even by Brazilian ufologists.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A hoax or fabrication | 85% | The sentries were never named, no military record has been found, and Brazilian ufologist Édison Boaventura Júnior concluded in 2008 that Olavo Fontes invented the story. |
| Something known, misidentified | 3% | A real night light seen from the fort may have been inflated. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 3% | Ball lightning has caused burns, but there is no record of any event to explain. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 3% | Rumour among the troops could have seeded the story. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 3% | The burned sentries and power failure are documented nowhere. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 2% | An electrical fault and a fire could underlie a rumour. |
| Secret human technology | 1% | No secret weapon fits. |
Official position: No military record has surfaced; Brazilian researchers regard it as a fabrication.