This is a list of alleged sightings of unidentified flying objects or UFOs in Brazil.
1947
On 23 July 1947, topographer José Higgins was working with many laborers in Bauru, São Paulo. Suddenly, they heard an extremely sharp sound. Some moments later, they saw a lens-shaped object landing near them. The workmen ran away, leaving Higgins alone. The man reported that three humanoid figures emerged from the UFO and spoke to him in an unknown language; after about a half-hour, they returned to the UFO which then took them away.
1952
On 5 May 1952, the journalist Joao Martins and the photographer Eduardo Keffel claimed to have seen a flying disk in the vicinity of Barra da Tijuca. Keffel took some photographs of the UFO, which were published by the magazine O Cruzeiro.
1957
On 13 September 1957 The journalist Ibrahim Sued received an envelope containing a letter and three fragments of metal. The author of the letter wrote that he saw a UFO which exploded in the sky over the beach of Ubatuba; he collected some fragments and sent three of these to the journal together with the letter. Sued sent the fragments to a laboratory which analyzed them and discovered that they consisted of pure magnesium. James Harder and other ufologists came to the conclusion that the fragments of Ubatuba have an extraterrestrial origin, but other investigators think that this story is a hoax. Antonio Villas Boas claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrials on 16 October 1957. Though similar stories had circulated for years beforehand, Boas's claims was among the first alien abduction stories to receive wide attention. On the evening of 4 November 1957, two sentinels at the Itaipu Fort, (Praia Grande, São Paulo) suffered moderate burns after being hit by a heat wave from an unidentified flying object, which allegedly came descending from the sky. The entire electricity of the fort, including the emergency circuits, went down during the incident. Afterwards, Brazilian Army and United States Air Force (USAF) personnel, along with investigators of the Brazilian Air Force, flew to the fort to interview the soldiers. USAF's Donald Keyhoe expressed his opinions on the case:
In 2008, a document reporting the incident was written at the Brazilian Embassy in the United States.
1958
At 12:00 pm on 16 January 1958, the Brazilian ship Almirante Saldanha, taking part in projects of the International Geophysical Year, was preparing to sail away from Ilha de Trindade, off the coast of Espírito Santo. Captain Viegas was on the deck with several scientists and members of the crew when he suddenly noticed a flying object, which had a "ring" around it, just like Saturn. Everyone reportedly saw the UFO at the same time. It came to the island from the east, flew towards the Pico Desejado (Wished Peak), made a step turn and went away very quickly to the northwest. As soon as the object was noticed Almiro Baraúna was requested for photographing. After getting the camera and going up the quarter-deck, he stated that he managed to take pictures of the object.
1966
Two men were found dead near Niterói. Both were wearing lead masks. A UFO allegedly was seen flying near the point where both died. According to veteran UFOlogist, Alberto Francisco do Carmo, sightings and encounters northwest of São Paulo led to the development in 1966 of an office called SIOANI (for Serviço de Informação de Objetos Aéreos Não Identificados). Headed by Major Gilberto Zani de Melo, the study and office was shut down years after his retirement.
1977
The Colares flap refers to an outbreak of UFO sightings that occurred in 1977 on the Brazilian island of Colares. During the outbreak, the UFOs allegedly attacked the citizens with intense beams of radiation that left burn marks and puncture wounds. These sightings led to the Brazilian government dispatching a team to investigate under the codename Operation Saucer (Portuguese: Prato, see below), but the government later recalled the team and classified the files until the late 1990s.
This was the first operation of the Brazilian Air Force conducted only to investigate UFO-related issues. This operation was started shortly after the Colares UFO flap.