Project Blue Book file: Trinidade Island, 16 Jan 1958

ROB MERCERGalley 81 - THE IVOI1LD OF FLYI1\G SA UCEI1S
The prints llsed in 0 Cruz.eiro have obviously been crop"ed since,
unlike the fi 'rames, the" are not s'qllare. Frame 1 sho\' Ie UFO'-.../ . -'
above the sea, sorne distance frorn the island; Frame 2 shows the
UFO above rocky crags, at the right of a peak. Frame 3 shows it
at the right of the peak hilt at lower altitudc. Frames 4 and 5, not
reproduced, did not show the object, and in Frame 6 the UFO is a
mere speck Iowan the horizon .
Frame 3, the only one showing the "Saturn·1ike" shape, deserves
special attention. Tn the published print the rnountains in the fore -
ground are quite clc;.u, while the UFO is little more tha n a dark
line with an indistinct beginning and end, with a faint suggestion
of rounding at top and bottom; without the dark line the curves
would scarcely be visible, so completely docs the object merge into
the background of overcast sky. The picture widely distributed by
news agencies is a furth er enlargement of the section containing the
UFO . In the enlarged section, the foreground rocks are a mere
black blur, but the UFO has gained greatly in clarity. The central
band is darker, particularly at the left, and the outl ines of the object
are no longer vague.
The Navy's study of the negatives reveaJed several dubious fea-
tures. The details of the land in the foreg round were very sharp but
the UFO disk was hazy, showed little contrast, and was essentially
without shadows. The object in F rame 2 seemed to have been in-
verted, as compared with Frames 1 and 3. From the reported
high velocity of the saucer and the fast shutter speed, some lateral
haziness might have been expected, but no such blurring appeared.
Exactly when and how the fraudulent in1ages were produced-if
they were fraudulent-cannot be known. Experienced photographers
can easily think of a dozen possible devices. The p robability that
they were faked is overwhelming and, but for the ('mbarrassing
fact that the Brazilian President had seemed to sponsor them pub-
licly, the Naval Ministry would undouhtedl y have exposed the en-
tire hoax.
In summary, the facts are these: T he man who made the Trindade
pictures had no connection with the Brazilian Navy; he was a pro-
fessional photographer noted particularly as an expert at trick pho-
tography. No officer or crewman of the Brazil ian Navy reported
seeing the UFO; in addition to thc photographer, only two persons
are on record as actual eyewi tnesses ; both of them were personal
friends of th e photographer; neither of the m had any connection
with the Brazilian Navy. The photographer had ample time and
man y opportunities to fake the pictures. A RoJleiflex camera can eas-
ily be used for double exposures. A series of pictures of a model sau-
cer against a dark background could be reroll ed and exposed a
second ti me to prOVide the background, an old and well·known pho-
tographic trick. The pictures themselves show intern al inconsisten-
cies. The Brazilian Naval ~lini stry never accepted the pictures as
authentic records of a flyin g saucer.
T he final pa ragraph from a United States Intelligence report
provides perhaps the most appropriate comment on the affair:
."It is the reporting officer's private opinion that a fl ying saucer
sighting would be unlikely at the very barren island of Trindade,
since everyone know that Martians are extremely comfort-loving
creatures."
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