Case UFO Alfena, Oporto, Portugal 1990

This event happened near my city, Oporto in 1990 and is one of the most well documented and studied portuguese Ufo cases.


"Everything began at 8.30 am on the 10th of September 1990 when a group of kids called the attention for a "baloon" that moved in the skies of Vilar - Alfena.

Soon lots of people were also attracted by the unusual event. The said object with the shape of a "baloon" looked like a turtle with legs because according to a witness, besides the circular shape the object also showed appendices. It had a 1 to 3 meters of diameter and it gave the impression of reflecting sun beams.

The witnesses, a total of 25, positioned in various spots of the local wondered themselves about the real nature of that strange aerial artifact.

Some even tried to hit it with rocks. After travelling in the area for about 50 minutes, the strange ufo flew away in the direction of Santo Tirso - Paços de Ferreira.

Some people alerted Mr. Manuel Gomes, local resident and colaborator of the Jornal de Noticias newspaper, who took his camera and took four photos of the said object. Later he related the whole happening to CNIFO (Comissão Nacional de Investigação do Fenómeno OVNI) "


this is my english translation of the article you can find here:

www.pufoi.com...


and here are the pics of the ufo:

www.vigilia.com.br...


www.vigilia.com.br...


ctec.ufp.pt...

ctec.ufp.pt...

[edit on 13-9-2008 by Picollo30]

[edit on 13-9-2008 by Picollo30]

[edit on 13-9-2008 by Picollo30]

interesting case and thanks for sharing

the link to your story translation doesn't work for me so i don't know all the aspects of how the ufo was traveling. you did mention in your Op that witnesses saw a balloon type object and with out more info i am going go out on a limb and say that's probably what it was.

it looks like a balloon with some type of either a protective harness or the harness was used to help support some type of equipment ?

just a guess on my part and doesn't debunk this



ok i found an english version of the text about the story...

www.ufoinfo.com...

The children who were in front of the Café ran to call Manuel Moura, an amateur photographer. Moura ran to his house to get his equipment. When he got back, the object was still stand still in the air, as the workers were still throwing rocks at it. He managed to take 4 photos of the object. After that, the object moved away at enormous speed in the direction of Santo Tirso and Paços de Ferreira, and disappeared. In total, the object was visible for about 50 minutes.

moved away at an enormous speed ? ok maybe not a balloon ?

[edit on 13-9-2008 by easynow]

reply to post by easynow


The link that does not work is for the Portuguese article, the translated version is what Picollo30 posted.

This is the corrected link for the Portuguese version.

This case is one of the most talked about Portuguese cases, but I think that it is only because it was one of the most recent and because we have a photo, something that most Portuguese cases do not have.

And I think that in this case it could have been a weather balloon, some have those "appendages", like this one.



Edit: I think those "appendages" are used to fill the balloon.

Off-topic PS to Picollo30: are you Portuguese?

[edit on 13/9/2008 by ArMaP]

reply to post by ArMaP


nice find on that photo ArMaP gave you a star

the only thing that is unexplainable here is the witness testimony...

After that, the object moved away at enormous speed in the direction of Santo Tirso and Paços de Ferreira, and disappeared.

not sure how a balloon could just take off at an enormous speed when it was seen hovering before.

unless the winds suddenly picked up it's not easy to explain ?

got that from the link you posted ArMaP,

show's some features that you can't see in the other photo's...strange

i think if it's a balloon it has some type of cover or sling draping over the balloon, but just a guess.

ctec.ufp.pt...


this pic above is more clear and you can see windows all around the ufo. although it looks like the pic armap posted i think its a different thing. how come it could flew at enormous speeds and vanish into the air?

Off-topic PS to Armap: Yes i'm Portuguese

This case was also featured on the french Phenomena Magazine edition 26
March - April 1995. The article was written also by Mario Neves and this is
the magazine cover.




Later the case was revisited and presented a comparison with the classic
1973 UFO photos from Cocoyoc, Mexico.

UFO's with Tentacles !








Cocoyoc, Mexico, November 3, 1973:

On November 3, 1973 at 04:45 P.M., a banker, his wife, their child and the nurse who takes care of the child were driving in the family's car towards Mexico City, and were on the road between Cocoyoc and Caxtepec. The weather was clear, with some light flocculent clouds strewing the sky.

The wife of the banker saw an object in the sky, at an altitude which they estimated to be of approximately less than 100 meters above ground-level. She told thereafter that the object was of rather round shape, that she drew the attention of her husband to the presence of the object, and that while the distance between them and the object decreased they could realize that it was not what they had initially thought: it was not a plane, neither a helicopter, nor even a competition balloon, which they had considered for a moment.

The banker stopped the car on the side of the road and the passengers went out to get a better look at the object. The banker thought about his camera, took it, and made a first photograph at this time, with the objective set to an aperture of 50 mm and the exposure time set to 1/250.
www.ufologie.net...

reply to post by ArMaP


CNIFO (Comissão Nacional de Investigação do Fenómeno OVNI) contacted portuguese military and weather institutes. None of them had anything in the air at that time, in that location. Besides, a weather ballon doesnt fly away at great speeds running away from rocks.

I'll try to provide the full CNIFO report if you so wish.

reply to post by kr0ss


Please do, if possible, more data is always a good thing.

Off-topic PS: are you Portuguese?

Ok i'll try to get it as soon as possible, i'll try to contact CNIFO directly.
Can´t do it now because i'm at work.
Yes I'm portuguese.
I have been reading about this case in Alfena, and i've seen pictures of another case in Brasil where it shows (apparently) the same kind of UFO.

Portuguese newspaper just did an article of this UFO case, 20th anniversary of the event....
jn.sapo.pt... (The link contains a video of one of the witnesses describing the event - in portuguese language)

here's the article translated:

It looked like a cement mixer, the bowl of a machine, a kind of balloon, a kite sawn in half. 20 years ago today that about 50 people from Alfena, Valongo, saw the UFO most studied across the country. What was the purpose remains a mystery.

It was eight thirty in the morning of a sunny Saturday when a spherical object with what appeared to be five feet, was spotted by a group of kids in Alfena.

Others in different locations also noticed it, when they were on the street, yard or working as construction workers in the work of a warehouse.

David Silva, the camp guard of the "Alfenense Athletic Club", was inside a small house at one end of the field when a neighbor, artisan, who used to help him hit the door and pointed to the sky. He had 34 years and spent the free time he had addressing matters of the club.

Like everyone else he felt afraid of what he was seeing

"It wasnt a helicopter or anything like that either. I was astonished to look at it, I thought that it was preparing the ground to land somewhere, "he says, now, by JN.

At that time, the ball flying hovered roughly half the height of a pole high voltage. Some boys started throwing stones at him. And the "thing" moved and moved quickly towards "Pacos de Ferreira," (its a close by city) described David Silva.

He no longer lives in Alfena, just like many other witnesses of the passage of the mysterious flying object. Manuel Moura, the photographer who took the only existing photos of the UFO emigrated. People called him at his home to take pictures of the event, but with the rush he didnt brought his better camera.Made a series of four photos, which ran experts from several countries were analyzed in detail.

Had he taken a more powerful lens, maybe there would be other answers, notes the historian Joaquim Fernandes, who documented and researched everything there was to document and investigate on this case in the work of the Interdisciplinary Center for Consciousness Studies (CTEC) University Fernando Pessoa in Porto.

The UFO was sighted in Alfena, district of Valongo, near Oporto by about 50 people over 50 minutes, during which it traveled 500 meters. David, for example, saw it late in the apparition, before moving away at high speed.

Mario Neves, a secondary school teacher and researcher who collaborates with the CTEC was the Alfena next Sunday and spent a year documenting the vision, gathering and recording evidence. "For me, the story was more interesting than describing a turtle with his legs, made by an old lady," he recalled.

David Silva got to see a ring with a kind of windows, some people saw shadows.
Questions were asked at the Institute of Meteorology and to the military entities and both said that it was nothing from them...not a wheater ballon and not a military probe.

The consultant to NASA. Richard Haines was one of the foreign experts who analyzed the photos of the UFO. Until today, nobody knows what flew over Alfena on that day!!

and here's a few videos of the study of this case, sorry its also on portuguese

Hi,
does anyone got the contact for CNIFO?
If so please send me a PM.
Thanks in advance!