Documents / Official release
This is an unclassified airgram that the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro sent to the Department of State on November 20, 1963. It gives a negative report on an unidentified flying object said to have come down near Conde, Bahia. The Consul in Salvador, Harold Midkiff, reported that the story looked fabricated in Rio and that nobody in the area had seen any such object. Local newspaper clippings added that the Ministry of Aeronautics denied that any strange object had appeared.
From the source: Release of 2026-08-07 Incident: 11/20/63, Bahia, Brazil. 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.”
I ORIGIN/ ACTION DEPARTMENT OF STATE Rl,4/R REP :0.F . ;o/'~rt!Il@!:M~M F OR RM USE ONLY EUR FE A-628 UNCLASSIFIED NEA CV INR NO. s TO : DEPARTMENT OF STATE .- E p , 10 INFO : Amconsul SALVADOR • L F80 AI O Department: Pass copies ,;I A. GR COM FRB FROM : Amembassy RIO DE JANE:mO IN T LAe TA R SUBJECT: Negative Report on UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) Reportedly Sighted Near Salvador, Bahia on November 8, 1964. REF : Embtel 94 to Amconsul Salvador (to SecState 1054) of November 14, 1963. 7---=---+-~-~~ r Information copies of the above Embtel were sent to the Department with the request that they be passed to Defense (for the Air Force) and NASA. Mr. Harold Midkiff, the Consul in Salvador, replied by telegram No. 157 of November 14 to the above cited Embtel; as follows: "Story of strange object descending in region of Conde Bahia apparently fabricated in Rio no such objects seen by anyone in the area according to newspaper reporters and others who rushed there before investigation reports were received Secretary Public Security speculated object might be weather balloon but no such sighting verified." In addition, he forwarded by pouch also on November 14 two newspaper clippings from Salvadoran journalswhich substan tiate the above message, respectively Diario de Noticias of November 9, and the Jornal da Bahia of November 11. The first of these states that the Ministry of Aeronautics categorically denies that there was any 11 strange object" in Conde. The other is entitled "The Airship that wasn't there". According to the Jornal da Bahia reporter, the only news worthy aspect of the episode is that it produced an astounding by-product: he sent a telegram to his paper from the federal telegraphic office in Conde - by an old morse code transmitter - ,dS .,. .. ::: 'I I ' L ••a•~"' .------~.;.:.....c-" _J •.JJ ~ UNCLASSIFIED ""FOR DITT USE ONLY FORM ~ DS-323 cit?n' □ Out4 • 82 : SA:ACSimonpietr1/vmd 11-20-63 Cluranccs: AA:RDKalb in substanceDECLASSIFIED NND 939551
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 2 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.