The Lights over Colares
On a Brazilian island at the mouth of the Amazon, people were so frightened of lights in the sky that the Air Force sent a team to investigate.
What was reported
In 1977, people on the island of Colares, in the state of Pará, began reporting bright lights in the night sky: beams that seemed to shine down on people and leave them weak, with burn-like marks. Many villagers stayed indoors at night or kept fires and fireworks burning to frighten the lights away.
The mayor asked for help, and the Brazilian Air Force sent a team, which spent months recording sightings, taking photographs and interviewing witnesses, in what was later called Operação Prato, 'Operation Saucer'.
Explanations offered
The Air Force files were released decades later and describe many lights without reaching a conclusion. Sceptics suggest a wave of fear in which ordinary lights, insects, illness and rumour fed one another. The episode remains one of South America's most famous UFO cases.
- When
- 1977
- Where
- Colares, Pará, Brazil
- Witnesses
- Islanders, and an investigation by the Brazilian Air Force
- Status
- Unexplained
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.
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