Declassified documents reveal that U.S. officials investigated claims of a mysterious metal sphere crashing in Brazil in 1963, which reportedly contained a deceased occupant described as a 'dead spaceman.' The incident, detailed in files released by the Trump administration, prompted an inquiry by American diplomats in Brazil.
The alleged event occurred on November 8, 1963, in Conde, a municipality in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Reports circulated that a large metal sphere had fallen from the sky, creating a hole approximately 13 feet deep. According to these accounts, the sphere had glass-covered windows and contained a human body dressed in heavy, undecipherable clothing.
This extraordinary story first surfaced in a radio broadcast by Radio Tupi in Rio de Janeiro on the same day as the alleged crash. A U.S. government transcript recorded the broadcast describing the fallen object and its mysterious occupant. The report noted local intrigue and notification of authorities but offered no photographs or physical evidence.
On November 14, 1963, the U.S. Embassy in Rio sent a telegram to the State Department and the American Consulate in Salvador seeking clarification. The embassy described the object as a potential 'large metal manned balloon' and the occupant as a 'dead crewman' in a 'uniform or spacesuit with strange markings.' The inquiry also mentioned tentative reports of a weather balloon being seen in the area, but confirmed no such craft had been recovered.
The request was subsequently passed to the Department of Defense and NASA. Six days later, a diplomatic cable delivered the findings of inquiries conducted in Bahia, effectively dismantling the sensational story.
Harold Midkiff, the American consul in Salvador, stated in a November 20 cable that the account had apparently been fabricated in Rio. Investigations by newspaper reporters and other individuals in Conde found no witnesses who had seen a strange object descend. While the local secretary of public security speculated it might have been a weather balloon, even that sighting could not be verified.
Newspaper reports from Bahia supported Midkiff's findings. One article stated that Brazil's Ministry of Aeronautics had categorically denied any strange object appearing in Conde, and another carried the headline, 'The Airship that wasn’t there.'
The documents do not identify the origin of the initial sensational claim or how it reached Radio Tupi. An apparent clerical error in the final record lists the incident as occurring in November 1964, although the cable itself was written in November 1963.
While the files document U.S. officials examining the allegation, their inclusion in the newly released UFO archive does not confirm the verification of a crashed spacecraft or the recovery of an occupant. Instead, the records illustrate how an extraordinary radio report led to an official inquiry that ultimately found no evidence to support the alleged crash.