The Bendegó Meteorite
A boy herding cattle in Brazil found a strange, heavy rock. It was a meteorite, and two centuries later it survived a fire that destroyed a museum.
What was reported
In 1784, a young cowherd named Domingos da Motta Botelho found a huge, dark, heavy rock in the countryside of Bahia, in north-eastern Brazil. Attempts to move it to the coast failed when it rolled into a stream bed, where it stayed for a century.
In 1888, a team finally moved the 5-tonne iron meteorite to Rio de Janeiro, where it became one of the treasures of the National Museum.
Explanations offered
It is one of the largest meteorites ever found in Brazil. In 2018, a fire destroyed most of the National Museum and its collections, but the Bendegó, made of iron, survived almost undamaged in the ruined building, and became a symbol of the museum's recovery.
- When
- Found in 1784
- Where
- Monte Santo, Bahia, Brazil
- Witnesses
- A cowherd, then scientists
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.