◆ SpookStack

Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010002-9 “Like The Flight Of A Bat--~ = Jt came winging in over the sea off Trindade Isle, Bra- zil, bright from either self-light or reflected sun. A green- ish vapor hung about it as it made an undulating but ex- tremely fast line for Jand. Watching it were nearly 100 persons, crew members of the Brazilian Navy's Almirante Saldanha, on a routine trip from Rio de Janeiro to the island. The time was just past noon on January 16 in the International Geophysi- cal Year, 1958, and the personnel of the ship, which had been participating in IGY exercises, included a retired Brazilian Air Force officer, Captain Jose Teobaldo and a * group of submarine explorers headed by Amilar Vieira Fil- ho. Also aboard, by invitation of the Navy, to photograph some of the exercises, was Almiro Barauna, professional photographer. “Get Barauna,” was the first thought as the amazed viewers watched the unidentifiable object. In seconds Bar- auna was there with his camera. He scanned the area sin- gled out for him by the excited crewmen, seeking his sub- ject. Then he saw it “like the flight of a bat” coming in to- ward a point of land named “Galo Crest.” He set his Rolleiflex 2.8, Model E, at 1/125 with an f/8 opening (a choice he later realized had overexposed the film), and got off two shots before the glowing, saturn- like object disappeared behind Desejado Peak. The viewers crowded in, their attention riveted on the peak behind which the object had sped. Within seconds it was back again, lower, larger and flying in the opposite direction. Barauna got three more shots but the last two were lost; the object was traveling rapidly and the witnesses were pushing and jostling for better viewing position; cer- tainly not ideal conditions for a photographer. Then for a moment the object appeared to stop in mid-air. Barauna took one more shot, his last. The object picked up speed and disappeared. The film was processed on the ship under the vitally interested eyes of several officers including Commander Carlos A. Bacallar. Only the negatives were available for examination at the time since there was no photographic paper on hand, but these were scrutinized by every person aboard and two days later, after the ship had returned to port, enlargements of the prints were turned over to Navy authorities who sent them to Cruzeiro du Sul Aerophoto- grammetric service to be analyzed. The report: Negatives were genuine. No evidence of a trick or falsification. _ Barauna was subjected to further investigation by na- val authorities, and other witnesses aboard the ship were - questioned. Ultimately Barauna was told that the chief intelligence officer was convinced the photos were authen- tic and congratulations were extended to the photographer. The reports gained widespread attention but the photos were not released at the time. Dr. Olavo Fontes, of Rio de