Operation Saucer (Operação Prato)
The account
Lights nicknamed "chupa-chupa" attacked local residents, and the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) recorded objects it could not explain.
What investigators found
The operation was real and its documents are in Brazil's National Archives. Skeptics point to mass hysteria and natural phenomena.
The story
In 1977, residents of the island of Colares, in the state of Pará, began reporting lights that came down from the sky at night and fired beams at people. Those who were hit spoke of weakness, dizziness and marks on their skin. The phenomenon was nicknamed "chupa-chupa" ("the sucker"), and entire families began sleeping together, with bonfires burning.
Between September and December of that year, the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) sent a team from Belém, led by Captain Uyrangê Hollanda, to investigate. Operation Saucer (Operação Prato) held night watches, interviewed residents and gathered reports, drawings and photographs of lights and objects it could not identify.
In 1997, by then a retired colonel, Hollanda gave an interview describing what he had seen and died a few months later. The operation's documents are now in Brazil's National Archives. Skeptics point to collective fear and natural phenomena, but no one can say for sure what was glowing over Colares.