Mr. Chastov, a young Brazilian airline pilot, told the story to Commander Auriphebo Simoes, also an airline pilot and well known UFO investigators in Brazil, who then told it to the British ufologist Gordon Creighton who published it, and it was later summarized by other authors.
During a very hot night in the summer of 1952, sometime between December and March, this young pilot, exhausted after a tiring day, went off the little town of Itenhaem south of Sao Paulo to a wooden summer cottage he owned near the beach. His grandmother, a Russian emigrant, lived there.
Both went to sleep, with the door open as it was very hot; then the young pilot was suddenly awaked by a tremendous thunderclap-like explosion. He jumped down, not properly awake, and saw an intense "fluorescent" bluish-white light shining in through the open door. He concluded that it was merely the dawn coming and that the noise had been a brief thunderstorm in the nearby hills and went back to sleep.
But the next day, his Russian grandmother, speaking in her very imperfect Portuguese, told her that at about 03:00 a.m., she had heard a great explosion in the sky overhead, and it was followed by an intensely bright light outside which lasted for some seconds. She soon realized that the extraordinary light could not be lightning, so, curious, she got up and went outside in the garden to investigate.
By the time she got out there the light had gone, the sky was dark sky, filled with stars. She looked towards the South Atlantic and was astonished to see a large number of what appeared to be disc-shaped "machines", vividly lit up by an orange glow. The craft resembled "inverted soup plates" and were stationary at what she estimated to be some 200 meters from the cottage and, as she felt, at a height of only 1 meter or so above the surface of the sea.
She stood there looking at the objects for half an hour. During this time, she saw two figures, apparently human, emerge on to the top of one of the discs, standing there for a while, apparently looking up at the sky and out over the sea, as though waiting for something. They then descended into the interior of the machine, and shortly after, all the machines took off, one after the other, vanishing into the sky at a tremendous speed "like luminous projectiles".
When her grandson heard that, his curiosity was such that he deluged his grandmother with questions, to the point that after a while she became irritated over the whole affair and disliked talking of it. It was too much for her, her Portuguese was poor, and the grandson knew no Russian.
Some time went by, but he continued to raise the matter at intervals, and one day the Adamski story appeared in the Brazilian magazine O Cruzeiro. He showed his grandmother the reproductions of Adamski's alleged photos of his "Venusian scout ship". She agreed that it was very similar to what she had seen, except that the craft she saw over the sea were a good deal flatter on top than Adamski's.
Commander Auriphebo Simoes was impressed by the account and felt that it was unquestionably genuine, wondered whether the great noise heard by the two people in the cottage might not have been the explosion of one of the craft, and whether the other discs might not have been waiting there over the sea for signs of survivors.
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[Ref. gc1:] GORDON CREIGHTON:
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The following report I was given by a young Brazilian airline pilot to Commander Auriphebo Simoes, who is himself a pilot, one of the senior officials of a Brazilian airline, and one of the best known of the UFO investigators in Brazil. During a very hot night in the summer of 1952, the young pilot, exhausted after a tiring day, walked out from the little town of Itenhaém (on the coast of Brazil, due south of Sao Paulo) to a wooden summer cottage, which he had near the beach. Living at the cottage with him was his grandmother, a Russian emigrant lady named Chaskova. Finding the cottage oppressive and airless, the pilot opened the door before turning in. The cottage had bunk-type beds, and Senhora Chaskova was already asleep in the lower bunk. After being asleep for what seems to have been only half an hour or so, the young pilot was suddenly jolted into consciousness by a tremendous explosion, "like a great thunderclap". Jumping down from the bunk, not properly awake, he perceived an intense "fluorescent" bluish-white light shining in through the open door, but concluded that it was merely the dawn coming and that the noise had been a brief thunderstorm in the nearby hills. He went back to sleep. Next day he was astonished to learn from his Russian grandmother, speaking in her very imperfect Portuguese, that at about 3 a.m. she had heard a great explosion in the sky overhead, and that this was followed by an intensely bright light outside which lasted for some seconds. She soon realized that the extraordinary light could not be lightning, so, her curiosity aroused, she got up and went into the garden to investigate. By the time she got out there the light had gone. There was now just the dark sky, filled with stars. She turned to glance out to sea (the South Atlantic) and was astonished to perceive a large number of what appeared to be disc-shaped "machines", vividly lit up by an orange glow. The craft resembled "inverted soup plates" and were stationary at what she estimated to be some 200 meters from the cottage and, as she felt, at a height of only a meter or so above the surface of the sea. She stood there looking at the objects for half an hour. During this time, she saw two figures, apparently human, emerge on to the top of one of the discs,2 They remained standing there for a while, apparently looking up at the sky and out over the sea, as though waiting for something. They then descended into the interior of the machine, and shortly after this all the machines took off, one after the other, vanishing into the sky at a tremendous speed "like luminous projectiles". When young Chaskov had heard this extraordinary description of the night's events, his curiosity was such that he deluged his grandmother with questions, to the point that after a while she became irritated over the whole affair and disliked talking of it. It was too much for her, her Portuguese was poor, and the grandson knew no Russian. Some time went by, but he continued to raise the matter at intervals, until one day the Adamski story appeared in a translation in the Brazilian magazine 0 Cruzeiro. He took the article to her and showed her the reproductions of Adamski's alleged photos of his "Venusian scout ship". The grandmother agreed that it was very similar to what she had seen, except that the craft hovering over the sea were a good deal flatter on top than Adamski's. (3) Commander Auriphebo Simoes was impressed by the account, felt that it was unquestionably genuine, wondered whether the great noise heard by the two people in the cottage might not have been the explosion of one of the craft, and whether the other discs might not have been waiting there over the sea for signs of survivors. It will be pertinent in this connection to mention the many South American rumours and stories of underwater UFO4 bases along the South Atlantic coast of Brazil and Argentina. Moreover Itanhaém is very near to Sao Sebastiao, where the Brazilian jurist Professor Joao de Freitas Guimaraes of the Faculty of Law at Santos says he encountered a luminous domed craft which came up out of the sea one evening in July 1957, landed on the beach, and contained a number of tall, fair-skinned, long-haired men who took him for a flight with them. (5) [...] |
[Ref. jv1:] JACQUES VALLEE:
In his catalogue of UFO landings, Jacques Vallée indicates that in the summer of 1952, at 03:00, in Itenhaem [sic, Itanhaem], Brazil, a woman was awaken by a thunder clap and a violent bluish gleam.
While getting outside, she saw a large number of machines in the shape of discs which hovered and resembled plates turned upside down, 200 meters further, at an altitude from approximately 1 meter, she observed them during 30 minutes, and saw two silhouettes which stood on one of the machines and looked towards the sky. They returned inside and little time later "the fleet" took off, one object after the other.
Jacques Vallée indicates that the source is "FSR 68, 1".
[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:
Itenhaem Brazil, in January-February 1952, at 03:00 a.m., an airline pilot, Chaskov, sleeping in a beach cottage was awakened by an explosive noise and saw a bright blue white light outside.
In the morning his grandmother, Mrs Chaskova, told him that she had gone out to investigate this and had seen a large number of objects like "inverted soup-plates," lit up by an orange glow, hovering just above the ocean.
She watched them for half an hour, during which time she saw two human figures emerge on to the top of one of the discs and remain standing there for a while. Then they re-entered, and the vessels took off, one after the other, at tremendous speed.
Albert Rosales indicates that the source is Commander Auriphebo Simoes.
[Ref. jb1:] JEROME BEAU:
Jerome Beau indicates that on June 15, 1952, at 3 o'clock in Itenhaem, Brésil, a woman was awaked by an explosion and a powerful blue light. She saw a fleet of discs hover 1 meter above the ground, 550 meters away of her house. They remained there approximately 30 minutes while two figures stood on one of the UFOs observing the sky, then they left one by one.
It seems that nobody thought of carrying out a field investigation in order to check whether a commonplace explanation could exist for this observation. In fact, many ufologists are satisfied to just record third hand or fourth hand reports, and to file them under "UFO landings" or one of the "numerous cases indicating underwater alien bases in Latin America" without worrying if there was an investigation or not, or in the absence of investigation, without trying to think about the possibilities of ordinary explanations.
An error on the name of the city is made by Vallée and in copies of his summary, as well as a dating error "January 15" which is arbitrary and false, since all that is known is that it occurred in the summer, and the Brazilian summer matches the Northern hemisphere's winter, which besides does not begin at June 15.
Because of that, it is probably now well too late to check anything for good on the location with the witness, and it is not possible any more to determine with the least certainty if this was about extraterrestrial visitors or something different.
I propose as one possible explanation that the witness simply saw motor speedboats involved in some night activity, perhaps of the police forces. Here is why.
First of all, the objects observed are clearly above the ocean, not above the ground.
The grandmother is quoted as saying that they were at an altitude of 1 meter above the water, and 200 meters away.
But when it comes to in the night, with orange gleams, at the sea, 200 meters away, there is not real reliability in an estimate of an altitude of 1 meter. And is a grandmother living in a wooden hut a "competent and reliable observer" anyway?
Should the testimony considered reliable, when the grandson actually specified he does not speak Russian, while his grandmother speaks Russian and does not speak Portuguese very well? Doesn't this linguistic gap make it very risky to claim that the grandmother certainly meant 1 meter of altitude and not 1 meter high, i.e., the top of the objects were 1 meter above the water?
Is it impossible that it was the grandson, knowing the ufologist Auriphebo Simoes, airline pilot like him, who had in fact wished in all good faith and all unconsciousness, to make of this sighting a flying saucers sighting, because he had these things in mind? Isn't it reported that he harassed his grandmother with so many questions that she became irritated? Showing images of flying saucers to his grandmother was in good intention obviously, but is it not clearly what in modern ufologist would call "influencing the witness?" Doesn't the grandmother's answer indicate only what she saw was "flatter" than the saucers of the alleged photographs of the alleged "contactee" Adamski that she was shown, and is a boat in silhouette far away at night so different from the silhouette of such a saucer, except that it is, precisely, "flatter?"
Of course, if one takes the report at face value, after reading, one can become convinced that boats are a stupid explanation: boats do not fly, they do not fly silently, and so on.
But actually: are we so sure that these machines flew? The only point which indicates this is at the end of the sighting. The machines take off one after the other and "disappear in the sky". No indication of angle of elevation, no mention of rise. Is it impossible that the grandmother actually only stated that the machines left one after the other very quickly, and that this became a takeoff only in the grandson's mind, who, due to his interest in flying saucers, maybe just assumed that they flew away, because saucers must fly? Also, at no time is silence mentioned. Did the craft produce engine noise or not? We do not know.
What about the occupants? They are 200 meters away, which is to far for seeing details. But they are described as being men. Why decide that they are not men but extraterrestrial beings in this case? The notion might have started from the grandson and the reporting ufologists then believing the fables of the Adamski type on extraterrestrial beings that are totally human, or maybe it was considered that Mrs. Chaskov could not have seen well enough under such conditions to realize that they were not human - a purely ad hoc reasoning.
Ultimately, writing down sightings from magazines to book to magazines to catalogues, by summarizing it more and more with time perhaps made some traces of old cases survive; but it still is necessary to investigate cases, to ask, or ask oneself, the good questions, before recording the story without any caution or comment as "evidence of underwater alien bases" or "UFO landing case" - in such casual manner that the more intriguing and well investigated is shown in the same few lines of summary than any poor, uninvestigated, explainable, uncertain sighting. What is needed is serious ufological investigation, at the location, by ufologists ready to seek ordinary explanations before pouring the case in their "UFO landing" file, contaminating everything.
Here, an investigation should have been made to check or exclude, on serious grounds, whether Mrs. Chaskov, an aged lady, difficult to include, was perhaps simply awaked by a storm and then saw some speedboats at night, some police force operation, that she might have never seen previously, in other words a fleet of fast apparatus, floating on the water, possibly with headlights, possible with police officers at one point standing on the deck to await or survey something, then departing at full speed.
| Id: | Topic: | Severity: | Date noted: | Raised by: | Noted by: | Description: | Proposal: | Status: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ufology | Severe | July 2, 2007 | Patrick Gross | Patrick Gross | No trace of full-fledged investigation; no measurements, no situation plan etc. | Help needed. | Opened. |
| 2 | Ufology | Severe | July 2, 2007 | Patrick Gross | Patrick Gross | Unique witness, aged, no speaking the language of the country. | - | - |
| 3 | Ufology | Severe | July 2, 2007 | Patrick Gross | Patrick Gross | The best source is a fourth-hand foreign report. | - | - |
| 1 | Ufology | Severe | July 2, 2007 | Patrick Gross | Patrick Gross | Possibly reported 16 years after the event. | Help needed. | Opened. |
Possible confusion, speedboats. Insufficient data.
* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.
| Main Author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Created/Changed By: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | July 2, 2007 | Creation, [fs1], [jv1], [ar1], [jb1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | July 2, 2007 | First published. |
