1969 - Ibiuna

In 1969 there were two markings discovered on the ground in the area around Ibiuna, a small town not far from Sao Paulo in south-east Brazil. According to eye-witness reports, both of them were flattened, swirled circles, as detailed below.

The first has far less documentation than the second, although the reports are unambiguous. To the right is an extract from Flying Saucer Review vol 16, no 1 (1970), which includes the following details:

"[Locals] found a circle of flattened vegetation, recalled as being approximately 8 metres in diameter... inside the circle of the 'nest' the grass had been swirled flat in an anticlockwise direction, with small secondary vortices here and there."

This is quite clear - the grass ("capim" in Portuguese) was swirled in a specific rotational sense, flat to the ground. There can be no real doubt that this is a typical crop circle type effect, albeit not in a cultivated field.

The associated UFO sighting dates to June 17, 1969, and this circle was found "on the following day", so it may have formed on the night of 17/18 June.

The report above was written by investigator, Hans Bemelmans, who was able to inspect the site in late June.

Bemelmans discovered six holes in the ground, underneath the flattened capim, and located where the "secondary vortices" were, by which he means secondary swirls evident in the circle floor. These are clearly evident in his sketch of the circle (left) but are of less interest to us than the rest of the drawing which shows an unmistakable anti-clockwise swirl of perhaps a quarter of a rotation between the centre and edge of the circle. It also shows definite circularity to the marking, and an abrupt boundary between flattened and standing stems.

Although there is no photograph, this sketch, published in 1970, is robust evidence of the first of the "crop circle" events here.

Second circle

The second circle was in the same general area as the first, and again swirled in capim. This one was found on June 26, 1969, eight days after the first.

We have the benefit of two photographs of this later formation (above) which although not too clear, do illustrate the general size and form of the circle. It seems that the edges of the circle this time are not sharp, and the overall shape is not perfectly circular.

However the accompanying information, from the same report published in 1970, includes the following details:

"The 'nest' was in very long capim grass and bracken, and the anti-clockwise swirl was still very clear... The limits of this 'nest' were also most clearly defined... the diameter of the 'nest' was found to be just under 6 metres."

There are also several other details in the cutting far right, indicating that samples were taken, and there is also a plan of the site. I have not been able to positively locate this spot on a modern map, but the strongest candidate is the region to the east of Avenue Benedito de Campos. A football ground stands where "Stadium" is marked on the map, with a river just below where "Valley bottom" is, but although the road layout generally agrees, it seems the area has been redeveloped somewhat.