Fringe Score: Low – This event involves a mix of sourced and unsourced information, questionable documentation, and dubious accounts. The story has evolved significantly over time and contains unverified elements.
Description
The 1933 Italy UFO Incident is an event that has been circulating in ufological circles for two decades. It reportedly involves the Italian Fascist government under Benito Mussolini retrieving a crashed Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) or UFO in 1933. As this story suggests, in the closing months of World War II (1944/45), the U.S. military supposedly recovered the wreckage/craft following a tip by Pope Pius XII.
Origin of the Story
The tale began in 1996 when Italian ufologists, including Roberto Pinotti, started receiving photocopies of hundreds of alleged government documents from the 1930s. These documents documented various sightings starting in 1931 and mentioned a purported crash and recovery of a vehicle near Milan in 1933. Further, the files mentioned a secret group called “Gabinetto RS/33,” established by Mussolini and headed by Guglielmo Marconi, the famous Italian scientist and inventor of the radio.
Over time, the anonymous source, named “Mr. X” by Pinotti and others, began to send not just photocopies but also original documents. Chemical and historical analysis suggested that they were consistent with documents from the 1930s. However, controversy remains among Italian ufologists over their authenticity.
Evolution and Discrepancies in the Story
In early 2001, Pinotti and his colleague Alfredo Lissoni began publishing about the so-called “Fascist UFO Files” in Italy. The story was later picked up by the English-speaking UFO press, gaining more traction.
A significant source of discrepancy and controversy in the story comes from a man named Billy Brophy. Brophy claimed that his father, a USAF pilot in the 1940s and 50s, was a witness to several UFO-related events. Over time, his narrative has changed significantly, and his account now includes elements not found in the original documents, such as the recovery of two Nordic alien bodies from the crash and the claim that the U.S. retrieved the craft during the war on Pope Pius XI’s tip-off. These additions are not supported by any source documents and are viewed skeptically by many researchers.
Latest Developments
In recent years, several figures in the ufological community have referred to the 1933 Italy UFO incident. Lue Elizondo and more recently Grusch have made references to the event, potentially drawing from the same contested documents. Some elements of Brophy’s dubious accounts also seem to have made their way into Grusch’s retelling, raising concerns among the community.
Conclusion
The 1933 Italy UFO Incident is an intriguing tale with many moving parts and evolving narratives. Its Fringe Score remains low due to the significant inconsistencies, the dubious nature of some sources, and the lack of solid, verifiable information. As always, Fringepedia encourages its readers to approach these tales with an open but critical mind, distinguishing between established facts and unfounded claims.
Credit: This article incorporates information provided by Reddit user Theagenes1.
