On 16 January 1958, Almiro Barauna allegedly took several UFO photos near
The Trindade Island photographs have been referred to as “the most famous of all purported photographs of a UFO” (by Donald Menzel and Lyle Boyd in their book “The World of Flying Saucers”, 1963).
This incident is Case 26 in Isaac Koi's "Top 100" article, since it was referred to in 72 of the books covered by that article.
This incident came third in a survey in 1965 by Jacques Vallee of the opinion of various UFO groups as to the most significant UFO sightings. This case featured in a list of 5 cases which APRO nominated as being the best in the same survey.
The Trindade Island photographs were the only photos to get their own chapter in a document (“the Rockefeller Briefing Document”) endorsed by Dr Mark Rodeghier (President of CUFOS), Richard Hall (Chairman of FUFOR) and Walter Andrus (President of MUFON) as containing “the best available evidence for the existence of UFOs”.
This incident has been included within various lists of the best UFO cases produced by various researchers. For example:
- a list by Bruce Maccabee of 20 cases which give “the best evidence for an extraterrestrial origin for the UFO phenomenon”.
- a list by Ronald Story of the 4 best photographic cases.
Web Resources
For links to various relevant documents and articles online see:
http://www.nicap.org/baraunadir.htm
http://ufologie.net/htm/trindade58.htmThis incident is discussed on the AboveTopSecret.com (“ATS”) internet discussion forums in Thread 84956.
{text}
Book References
For discussion of
Year |
Discussion by:
|
No. of Pages |
APRO in “The Encyclopedia of UFOs” (1980) edited by Ronald Story (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 366-370 (in an entry entitled “Trindade Island photos”) of the NEL hardback edition. |
5 |
|
|
2 |
|
|
2 |
|
Berliner, Don with Galbraith, Marie and Huneeus, Antonio in their “UFO Briefing Document : The Best Available Evidence“ (1995) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 71-77 (Part 2: Case Histories, section entitled “1958: Brazilian Navy Photographic Case”) of the Dell paperback edition. |
7 |
|
Binder, Otto in his “What we really know about Flying Saucers” (1967) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 21 (in Chapter 2), 194 (in Chapter 16) of the Fawcett paperback edition. |
1 |
|
Birnes, William in his “The UFO Magazine UFO Encyclopedia” (2004) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 27 (in an entry entitled “Bacellar, Carols Alberto”), 29, (in an entry entitled “Barauna, Almiro”), 47 (in an entry entitled “Brazilian Navy Case”) of the Pocket Books softcover edition. |
3 |
|
Blundell, Nigel in his “World’s Most Amazing UFO Visits” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 67-69, 185 of the Select softcover edition. |
4 |
|
Brookesmith, Peter in his “UFO: The Complete Sightings Catalogue” (1995) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 8-9 (in the Introduction), 62-64 (in Chapter 3) of the BCA hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Blitz hardback edition, and in the Barnes & Noble hardback edition published under the title “UFO: The Complete Sightings”). |
2 |
|
Brookesmith, Peter in his “UFO: The Government Files” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 131-135 (in Chapter 7) of the Parragon hardback edition. |
5 |
|
Campbell, Steuart in his “The UFO Mystery Solved” (1994) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 109-117 (Chapter 6 generally) of the Explicit Books softcover edition. |
9 |
|
Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 564-569 (in an entry entitled “Trindade Island Photographs”) of the Visible Ink Press softcover edition. |
6 |
|
Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Encyclopedia: 1st edition: Volume 2 – Emergence of a Phenomenon” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 326-330 (in an entry entitled “Trindade Island Photographs”) of the Omnigraphics hardback edition. |
5 |
|
Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomenon from the Beginning - 2nd edition : Volume 2:L-Z” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 898-903 (in an entry entitled “Trindade Island Photographs”) of the Omnigraphics hardback edition. Text of relevant article appears online at: http://www.CUFOS.org/Trindade_Clark_article.html |
6 |
|
Clark, Jerome in his “UFO Encounters” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 62 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “The Dimensions of a Phenomenon”) of the Publications International hardback edition. |
1 |
|
Dash, Mike in his “Borderlands” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 138-139 (in Chapter 4) of the Arrow paperback edition. |
2 |
|
Davenport, Marc in his “Visitors from Time” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 49 (in Chapter 4) of the 1994 revised Greenleaf softcover edition. |
1 |
|
Digby, Robert in “The Age of the UFO” (1984) (edited by Peter Brookesmith) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 93 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “UFO Photos: Facts and Frauds”) of the Black Cat hardback edition. The relevant chapter is an article reprinted from the weekly partwork “The Unexplained”, Volume 3, page 693. |
1 |
|
Digby, Robert in “The Alien World” (1984) (edited by Peter Brookesmith) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 73 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “UFO Photos: Facts and Frauds”) of the Orbis softcover edition. The relevant chapters are articles reprinted from the weekly partwork “The Unexplained”, Volume 3, page 693. |
1 |
|
Dione, R L in “God Drives a Flying Saucer” (1969) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 9 (in Chapter 2) of the Corgi paperback edition. |
1 |
|
Dolan, Richard M in his “UFOs and the National Security State: Volume 1: 1941-1973” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 299-300 (in Chapter 6) of the Keyhole softcover edition, at pages 215-216 of the 2002 revised Hampton Road softcover edition. |
2 |
|
Evans, Hilary in his “The Evidence for UFOs” (1983) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 70-71 (in Chapter 3, Case 28) of the Aquarian softcover edition. |
2 |
|
Fuller, Paul and Randles, Jenny in “Circles From The Sky” (1991) (edited by Terence Meaden) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 96-97 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “Crop Circles: A scientific answer to the UFO mystery”) of the Greenhaven Press softcover edition. |
2 |
|
Glenday, Craig in his “The UFO Investigator’s Handbook” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 28 (in Chapter 1) of the Running Press softcover edition. |
1 |
|
Good, Timothy in his “Beyond Top Secret” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 271 (in Chapter 13) of the Sidgwick & Jackson hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Pan paperback edition). |
1 |
|
Hall, Michael David in his “UFOs : A Century of Sightings” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 254, 255 (in Chapter 6) of the Galde Press softcover edition. |
2 |
|
Hopkins, Budd and Rainey, Carol in their “Sight Unseen: Science, UFO Invisibility and Transgenic Beings” (2003) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 103-104 (in Chapter 5) of the Pocket Star Books paperback edition. |
2 |
|
Hynek, J Allen in his “The Hynek UFO Report” (1977) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 236-241 (in Chapter 10) of the Barnes & Noble hardback reprint (1997) at pages 246-251 of the Dell paperback edition (with the same page numbering in the Sphere paperback edition). |
6 |
|
Kettelkamp, Larry in his “Investigating UFOs” (1971) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 31-36 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “Sightings and Cases”) of the Target softcover edition. |
6 |
|
Keyhoe, Donald E in his “Aliens from Space” (1973) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 72-73 (in Chapter 5) of the Signet paperback edition, page 89 of the Panther paperback edition. |
2 |
|
King, J (Major) at pages 46-48 of his thesis entitled “The UFO Problem: Time for a Reassessment” submitted to the Air Command and |
3 |
|
Knight, David C in his “UFOs: A pictorial history from antiquity to the present” (1979) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 92-93 (in Part 3) of the McGraw Hill hardback edition. |
2 |
|
Lorenzen, Coral and Lorenzen, Jim in their “UFOs: The Whole Story” (1969) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 89 (in Chapter 2) and pages 205-210 (in Chapter 10) of the Signet paperback edition. |
7 |
|
Lorenzen, Coral E in her “The Great Flying Saucer Hoax” (1962) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 32 (in Chapter 4), 137 (in Chapter 10), 158-169 (in Chapter 11 generally), 179-180, 187, 188, 189, 190, 192 (in Chapter 12) of the APRO hardback edition. |
21 |
|
Lorenzen, Coral in “Flying Saucers : the Startling Evidence of the Invasion from Outer Space” (1966) (an enlarged version of her “The Great Flying Saucer Hoax” (1962)) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 164-174 (Chapter 11 generally), 228-229 (in Chapter 14), also mentioned at page 146 (in Chapter 10) of the Signet paperback edition. |
14 |
|
Maney, Charles And Hall, Richard in their “Challenge of Unidentified Flying Objects” (1961) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 80-82 (in Part 2, Chapter 7, by Charles Maney), 115 (in Part 3, Chapter 1, by Richard Hall) of the privately published hardback edition. |
4 |
|
Marvels and Mysteries (Editors Of) in “Marvels and Mysteries: UFOs” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 27 of the Parrallel softcover edition. |
1 |
|
Menzel, Donald and Boyd, Lyle in their “The World of Flying Saucers” (1963) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 206-216 (in Chapter 10) of the Doubleday hardback edition. |
11 |
|
Menzel, Donald and Taves, Ernest in their “The UFO Enigma“ (1977) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 193-194 (in Chapter 14) of the Doubleday hardback edition. |
2 |
|
NICAP in its “The UFO Evidence” (1964) (edited by Richard Hall) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 90-91 (in Section 8), 120 (in Section 10) of the privately published paperbound edition, with the same page numbering in the 1997 Barnes & Noble paperbound reprint. Available free online at: |
3 |
|
Nixon, Neil in his “Pocket Essentials : UFOs” (2002) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 34 (in Chapter 2) of the Pocket Essentials softcover edition. |
1 |
|
Palmer, Raymond A in his “The Real UFO Invasion” (1967) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 67-68, 70 (in Chapter 5) of the Greenleaf paperback edition. |
3 |
|
Picknett, Lynn in her “The Mammoth Book of UFOs” (2001) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 70 (in Chapter 2) of the Robinson softcover edition. |
1 |
|
Randle, Kevin and Estes, Russ in their “Spaceships of the Visitors” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 201-211 (in Part 4) of the Fireside softcover edition. |
11 |
|
Randle, Kevin D in his “Scientific Ufology” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 106-114, 126 (in Chapter 4) of the |
10 |
|
Randles, Jenny and Fuller, Paul in their “Crop Circles : A Mystery Solved” (1990) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 190-191 (in Chapter 11) of the Hale softcover edition. |
2 |
|
Randles, Jenny and Hough, Peter in their “50 Years of UFO Encounters” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 34-35 (in unnumbered section entitled “1958: Children of Space”) of the Encounters Magazine softcover edition. |
2 |
|
Randles, Jenny in “The UFO Conspiracy” (1987) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 159-160 (in Chapter 26) of the Barnes & Noble hardback edition. |
2 |
|
Randles, Jenny in her “Alien Contact – The First Fifty Years” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 36 (in the chapter entitled “1958”) of the Collins and Brown hardback edition. |
1 |
|
Randles, Jenny in her “The Little Giant Encyclopedia of UFOs” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 55 (in Part 1, “A UFO Timeline”), 213 (in Part 2, “The UFO Evidence”) of the |
1 |
|
Randles, Jenny in her “UFO Crash Landing? Friend or Foe?” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 87 (in Chapter 7) of the Blandford softcover edition. |
1 |
|
Randles, Jenny in her “UFO Reality” (1983) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 187-188 (in Chapter 13) of the Hale hardback edition. |
2 |
|
Randles, Jenny in her “UFOs and How to See Them” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 131 (in Chapter 7) of the Brockhampton Press hardback edition. |
1 |
|
Rickard, Robert and Kelly, Richard in their “Photographs of the Unknown” (1980) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 46 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “UFOs”) of the NEL softcover edition. |
1 |
|
Sachs, Margaret and Jahn, Ernest in their “Celestial Passengers – UFOs & Space Travel” (1977) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 88 (in Chapter 11) of the Penguin paperback edition. |
1 |
|
Sachs, Margaret in her “The UFO Encyclopedia“ (1980 (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 324-326 (in an entry entitled “Trindade Island, Brazil”) and included in a list entitled “Chronological list of UFO sightings” at page viii of the Corgi softback edition. |
3 |
|
Salisbury, Frank in “The Official Guide to UFOs” (1968) (edited by the editors of Science & Mechanics) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 60-61 (in unnumbered chapter entitled “The Scientist and the UFO”) of the Ace paperback edition. |
2 |
|
Salisbury, Frank in “The Total UFO Story” (1979) (edited by Milt Machlin) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 77-78 (in Chapter 4) of the Dale paperback edition. |
2 |
|
Salisbury, Frank in his “The Utah UFO Display: A Biologist’s Report” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 172-173, 175 (in Chapter 6) of the Devin Adair hardback edition. |
3 |
|
Salisbury, Frank in his written statement to the Roush Hearing (the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Astronautics "Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects" on 1968.0729) at pages 242-243 of the transcript of the Ninetieth Congress, Second Session, Number 7. Complete transcript available free online at the following links: |
2 |
|
Sheaffer, Robert in his “The UFO Verdict” (1980) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 53-54 (in Chapter 6) of the Prometheus softback edition. |
2 |
|
Sheaffer, Robert in his “UFO Sightings: The Evidence” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 88-89 (in Chapter 6) of the Prometheus hardback edition. |
2 |
|
Smith, Marcia S in her “The UFO Enigma: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, UG 633, 76-52 SP” (1976) at page 32 (in Chapter 3) of the Congressional Research Service stapled edition. |
1 |
|
Smith, Willy in “UFO: 1947-1987” (1987) (edited by Hilary Evans with John Spencer) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 109-111 of the Fortean Tomes softcover edition (in Chapter 2.3.4, entitled “UFOs in Latin America”). |
3 |
|
Sparks, Brad in version 1.7 of his “Comprehensive Catalog of 1,500 Project BLUE BOOK UFO Unknowns” (2003) as Case Number 1095 on page 146 of the PDF edition (with the same page numbering in the Microsoft Word edition). Both editions are available online, respectively at the following links: |
1 |
|
Spencer, John and Spencer, Anne in their “Fifty Years of UFOs” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 41-43 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “1957-1967”) of the Boxtree hardback edition. |
3 |
|
Spencer, John in his “The UFO Encyclopedia” (1991) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 297 (in an entry entitled “Trindade Island Sighting”) of the Guild hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Avon softcover edition) at pages 349-350 of the Headline paperback edition. |
1 |
|
Spencer, John in his “UFOs: The Definitive Casebook” (1991) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 185 (in the unnumbered section entitled “ |
1 |
|
Story, Ronald in his “UFOs and the Limits of Science” (1981) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 109-112 (Chapter 4) of the NEL hardback edition. |
4 |
|
Trench, Brinsley Le Poer in his “Operation Earth” (1969) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 63-65 (in Chapter 10) of the Tandem paperback edition. |
3 |
|
Trench, Brinsley Le Poer in his “The Flying Saucer Story” (1966) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 41-42 (in Chapter 5) of the revised Tandem paperback edition. |
2 |
|
Trench, Brinsley Le Poer in his “The Sky People” (1960) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 137 (in Chapter 9) of the Tandem paperback edition, at pages 116-117 of the Award Books paperback edition. |
1 |
|
Von Buttlar, Johannes in his “The UFO Phenomenon” (1980) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 121-125 (in Chapter 10) of the Book Club Associates hardback edition. |
5 |
Other Material
Listed as Project Blue Book Case Number 5634 on the redacted US National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”) microfilm records of Project Blue Book, released to the National Archives in 1975 – see National Archives Microfilm Publication T1206 roll number 1. An image of the relevant index page has been given the unique Page ID (“PID”) of NARA-PBB1-192 (page 192 of 1014) at the link below.
Listed (without a Project Blue Book Case Number) on the unredacted Maxwell Air Force Base (“Maxwell”) microfilm records of Project Blue Book – see Maxwell microfilm roll number 30,363. An image of the relevant index page has been given the unique Page ID (“PID”) of MAXW-PBB2-429 (page 429 of 1352) at the link below.
http://www.bluebookarchive.org