[The July 20, 1997 special edition of CNI News carried a preliminary report on the crash of a mysterious object on a ranch in Nova Brasilandia, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. The following account by Brazilian researcher Ataide F. S. Neto is reproduced (with some editing for clarity) as forwarded to the internet by researcher Pedro Cunha. Ataide Neto is president of AMPUP, the State of Mato Grosso Association for Ufological and Parapsychological Research.]
Ataide Neto writes:
The reported fact is real. However, it can't be affirmed what it is about.
The object that crashed at Nova Brasilandia is attracting people to the region, and the county is suddenly gaining national fame, thanks to a product that has nothing to do with the land.
Nova Brasilandia is located 260 km away from Cuiaba' and is about 200 km from Chapada dos Guimaraes, a region full of sierras [jagged mountains] and by coincidence close to Serra do Roncador, [a] place that receives annually hundreds of tourists searching for UFOs, and that is home of a legendary cavern that links Brazil to Machu-Picchu [Peru].
Many witnessed the event of July 1, 1997.
The residents of Nova Brasilandia affirm the unidentified flying object passed [through] the skies over that county. According to the locals, the object was an enormous ball of fire that illuminated the region, leading them to suspect that the UFO has crashed within the rural area of the county.
The crash, according to the population, would have happened around 8:00 PM of a weekend. [July 1 was a Tuesday. The reference to weekend is puzzling. -- ed] The story told about a huge ball of fire that passed over the houses and went towards the sierras; after two to four seconds, [there was] an earsplitting din (like something exploding) that could be heard in a radius of 160 km; and due to the impact, the land shook. Soon after that a gleam appeared -- it lasted for about one minute, according to them -- and turned the sky into day. Even people in their homes had to go outdoors to see the reason [for] this strange gleam.
The AMPUP team has been at the place for investigation and research, and with the results obtained we conclude that the object is about 100 to 200 kilometres from the city of Nova Brasilandia, next to Serra Azul.
We didn't find it yet, because the place is difficult [to] access.
[Here Mr. Neto explained that the AMPUP team went to Nova Brasilandia on July 7 but ran into various difficulties and returned to the city of Cuiaba' on July 8. However, Neto joined forces with a group from Gazeta TV Network and went back to Nova Brasilandia on July 9.]
Arriving at Nova Brasilandia, [we] looked for Mr. Santinho, because when he was fishing, he saw the object falling some kilometres from where he was. When we arrived at his house, we didn't find him, so we decided to talk to Nova Brasilandia's Mayor, Mr. Sergio Benetti, who informed us of a reliable person who would know the place where the object [fell]. We would have to walk about 80 kilometres to find him, a person called Manito.
Before continuing, it must be said that the press believed that the UFO [had] fallen at Mr. Divino Fogoio's ranch, about 70 km from the county. The press reached this conclusion because Mr. Fogoio spread the information that he had sighted a weird object [on] his property.
Nevertheless, his reputation in the city is that of a great liar, and the distrust of his story increased when he affirmed he [had] seen the object falling at his ranch but wasn't able to say where. Before, he had affirmed he knew where the object was. However, in front of the press he stated the opposite, so we decided to check Manito's story out.
When we reached Manito's farm, it was night already, [but] he wasn't there. We kept awaiting his arrival, and by 8:00 PM he came back. His story was the following:
"My brother-in-law, Heleno, knows where the 'stuff' is. He has [approached within] about 200 meters of that odd 'stuff.' He didn't get close to the object only because of its very strong stink. He (the brother-in-law) says that the stuff is the size of a van, the color is silvery, and that part of it is above the ground level and the other part is buried. He told me it had a round shape."
Manito gave us the address of the [farm] where the object crashed. And it's interesting to affirm that this farm (named Campina Verde) is located at the back side of Mr. Divino Fogoio's ranch. However, it's not so easy, because of the [size] of the farm -- the farms there are immense, and this makes the object searches difficult.
We waited at Manito's farm, and by 5:00 AM [July 10] we went towards his brother-in-law Heleno's. We reached [there] by 7:00 AM. He told us the following:
"I don't know where this stuff is. I didn't see anything, I don't know anything, I didn't hear anything."
His affirmations weren't convincing. It seemed that he wanted to say something more, something he couldn't say before the camcorder of the Gazeta TV Network.
After that, we had to start over from the very beginning. We didn't know what to do. We knew that something crashed, because the people from the city saw the ball of fire, and the din was so big that there wouldn't be anyone in that region affirming that he/she didn't hear it. The gleam was seen by almost everybody in the region, for about a minute.
That being so, would it be possible that Heleno wouldn't have seen anything? The cattlemen said the object crashed around that place, but where?
They affirmed that Heleno knew, but he denied this to us. So we searched for others, for something, for somebody. We didn't know where to start over until we got knowledge that other reporters were close by, at the Ferrao de Ouro farm, 40 kilometers away from the farm where we were.
The farm Ferrao de Ouro is the only place that presents a landing [strip] for planes in the region. These reporters, who are from the paper "Correio de Mato Grosso," were in a plane, flying over the whole area, but nothing was found.
However, at that site, one of the reporters obtained the following information: some of the people from that region have witnessed and affirmed they have seen Mr. Divino Fogoio with a piece of a strange object, and that he would come to Cuiaba' with the purpose of selling it.
At the farm Ferrao de Ouro, the press personnel searched for the cowboy Gilberto Braga, 26 years-old, who works at the farm Bela Vista, because he affirmed on July 8 to the paper "Gazeta" that he saw and touched the object. According to his statement, the object has the shape of a home basin [sink?] and the size of a small house. According to him, he touched the object. It [exuded] a bad smell, and it was located inside Divino Fogoio's farm.
I stayed at the farm Ferrao de Ouro while the Gazeta TV Network crew and the Correio de Mato Grosso team joined each other and went to Gilberto. After some hours, they returned and brought news. Gilberto Braga that day (July 10) before the press denied the happenings. In other words, previously he had affirmed he saw the object; now he denies. However, in the filmed report, he appeared almost crying, wanting to say something more.
When he finished the recording of his testimony before the camera, he turned back to Luiz Henrique (the Gazeta TV cameraman) and said : "From today to tomorrow, you'll know what happened."
This phrase became disturbing to us. It seemed like there was something at the site, and he couldn't talk.
Another interesting point: according to [our] information, Mr. Divino Fogoio is a smart and very dangerous individual. Everybody in the region fears him. Mr. Fogoio and his son are violent; they are killers.
The information I got from the press is that Fogoio had been arrested for having kidnapped the former Mayor of Nova Brasilandia, who had been threatened and tied [for] five days.
However, Fogoio payed the bail and was freed after two weeks. This makes me believe he is dangerous, and therefore people hide something because they fear him.
It could be possible that Fogoio has threatened those folks not to say a word about it, and thus let him take financial advantage from that object.
We have found [since then] more people who saw Fogoio with a piece of the object, and [who said] that he would be going to Cuiaba' to sell it.
WE HAVE NO DOUBT THAT THE OBJECT IS THERE, at those surroundings, because everybody in the region confirms it.
With the results obtained from the investigation, we reached the conclusion that Mr. Fogoio managed to find the object (whether within or without his farm), and that he wanted to take advantage of the situation.
I've walked all over the region, and all that I got was the same things: "I didn't see, but I hear someone saying that 'John Doe' saw and touched"; "Fogoio [has] the stuff there at his farm"; "I saw Fogoio with a piece of the object"; "What 'John Doe' told me is that the object is the size of a Volkswagen, the size of a van, of a small house, ...".
And so on.
We didn't find anybody who could take us to the site.
From the farm Ferrao de Ouro, I took a lift in the plane, and we flew over the region searching for the object, unsuccessfully.
Then I was obliged to return home, because I was concerned I hadn't informed my family where I was. I had been out for a long time. Therefore I returned at nightfall on Thursday, July 10.
The Gazeta team stayed, and later on I was informed that the SBT (Sistema Brasileiro de Televisao, or Brazilian Television System) has also [visited] the region together with another TV crew. That is to say, the media were taking over the region, and by insistence they can sooner or later find something.
I have the expectation that more information will come from the Gazeta and the Correio de Mato Grosso crews.
The lastest information is that a reporter from the paper Correio de Mato Grosso, who was with me at the place, went to the INPE -- National Institute for Space Research [at Sao Jose' dos Campos, state of Sao Paulo] -- to obtain satellite pictures of that region to locate the crash site.
[End of Mr. Neto's report. On July 28, CNI News received a short message from Cynthia Newby Luce, an American living in Brazil who has close ties to a number of top Brazilian UFO researchers. She wrote: "I don't mean to be mysterious or play any games but at the moment the 2 sources I have for the Mato Grosso crash (and they do not know each other) tell me that everyone has been silenced. Certain news people, usually so active, have also withdrawn. Apparently something much more complicated is going on. Sooner or later I'll get to the bottom of it, and as soon as I can I'll let you know."
However, Brazilian researcher A. J. Gevaerd told CNI News by phone on July 30 that, in his opinion, the mystery object is likely to be a meteorite or similar natural object. His reason for this opinion, he says, is that it seems the alleged crash has not attracted any military attention.
CNI News will continue to follow this developing story.]
Original file name: CNI - Mato Grosso Update
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