Bahia, Brazil Crash Claim (1963) – PURSUE Files

In early November 1963, a Rio de Janeiro radio broadcast reported that a “large metal sphere” containing a dead occupant had crashed near Conde, Bahia, in northeastern Brazil. The CIA’s Foreign Broadcast Information Service picked up the story, and a copy ended up in the files of Edward C. Welsh, executive secretary of the White House’s National Aeronautics and Space Council. Two State Department cables from the U.S. Embassy in Rio show the follow-up.^[1]

The records

EOP-UAP-D001, NASC Inquiry into Bahia, Brazil Incident, November 13, 1963

Open EOP-UAP-D001 (PDF) on war.gov →

This document is a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) wire report dated November 9, 1963, tracking a local Portuguese-language radio broadcast from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, regarding an alleged crash of a “large metal sphere” containing a deceased occupant in Conde, Bahia, Brazil. This FBIS report is excerpted from the files of Edward C. Welsh, Executive Secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council (NASC). NASC was a cabinet-level advisory body within the Executive Office of the President responsible for coordinating U.S. space policy from 1958 to 1973.

Handwritten annotations dated November 13, 1963, document a communication between officials at NASC and the U.S. Department of State. The note records a NASC request to a State Department official to query the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro for local verification of the reporting. This inter-agency request precedes a subsequent diplomatic cable sent by the Embassy the following day, cataloged in this collection under the title “DOS-UAP-D001.”

— Official PURSUE description

DOS-UAP-D001, Diplomatic Cable, Brazil, November 14, 1963

Open DOS-UAP-D001 (PDF) on war.gov →

This document is a U.S. Department of State diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to the Office of the Secretary of State in Washington, D.C., on November 14, 1963. This cable documents an effort by the Embassy to verify that the Department had assessed certain content published in a local newspaper as inauthentic, following a discussion on a poor-quality telephone connection the previous night.

To ensure both offices were referencing the same reporting, the cable cites descriptive language paraphrased from the press, namely a “large metal manned balloon” and a “dead crewman aboard wearing [a] uniform or spacesuit with strange markings.” The cable concludes with the embassy’s understanding that an object assessed to be a weather balloon had been reported in the vicinity, but that no such object had been found to have crashed. A follow-on correspondence regarding the alleged incident is included in this collection under the title “DOS-UAP-D002.”

— Official PURSUE description

DOS-UAP-D002, Diplomatic Cable, Brazil, November 20, 1963

Open DOS-UAP-D002 (PDF) on war.gov →

This document is a U.S. Department of State diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to the Office of the Secretary of State in Washington, D.C., on November 20, 1963. This cable relays the findings of the scientific attaché at the American Consulate in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, that a widely reported incident allegedly involving a crashed unidentified object was unsubstantiated, characterizing the reports as a fabrication originating in Rio de Janeiro.

The Consulate cites a lack of contemporary local reporting regarding the alleged incident, as well as contradictory reporting from local newspapers after the fact, as evidence that the published claims are unsubstantiated. The Consulate also cites a statement from the Brazilian Ministry of Aeronautics categorically denying that there was “any “strange object” in Conde [Bahia].” This correspondence follows a previous exchange between the Embassy and the Department of State, included in this collection under the title “DOS-UAP-D001.”

— Official PURSUE description

Analysis

Outcome. The Embassy first confirmed with Washington that both offices were talking about the same press story (a “large metal manned balloon” with a “dead” occupant). On November 20, 1963, it relayed the findings of the scientific attaché at the U.S. Consulate in Salvador, Bahia: the incident was unsubstantiated and a fabrication that originated in Rio, with no contemporary local reporting and contradictory details.^[1]

Why the U.S. cared. In 1963, a crashed sphere could have been a piece of a Soviet or American satellite or a high-altitude balloon, which is why a space-policy office kept the report. Checking such claims was routine during the space race.

New or previously released? New. We found no earlier public release of these three records.

Released files

See also

• National Aeronautics and Space Council
• U.S. Department of State
• Brazilian Air Force
• State Department UFO memos and cables
• PURSUE Release 05 (Aug. 7, 2026) overview
• PURSUE
• Bahia, Brazil crash claim (incident)

References

1. ^ U.S. Department of War (2026). PURSUE Release 05 (Aug. 7, 2026): EOP-UAP-D001, DOS-UAP-D001, DOS-UAP-D002, with official descriptions. war.gov/ufo.