What happened
On the afternoon of January 20, 1996, three young women – sisters Liliane and Valquíria Silva and Kátia Xavier – were walking across a vacant lot in the Jardim Andere neighborhood of Varginha. According to their account, they saw a crouching creature with brown, shiny skin, a large head with three bulges, and red eyes. Terrified, they ran home. Soon rumors began circulating around town that firefighters and the military had captured one or two similar creatures that day, and that one of them had been taken to a hospital, where it died. There was also talk of a police officer who had supposedly touched a creature and died shortly afterward. The case was publicized by local ufologists, including Ubirajara Rodrigues and Vitório Pacaccini, and the media dubbed it the “Brazilian Roswell.”
Witnesses
Liliane and Valquíria Silva and Kátia Xavier; the rumors of a captured creature are based on accounts from anonymous military personnel and residents.
Explanations and hypotheses
A military inquiry concluded that the women had most likely seen Luís Antônio de Paula, a mentally ill man known locally as “Mudinho,” who often spent time at that spot, and attributed the military movements to routine operations. Ufologists reject this version, pointing to numerous rumors of the involvement of soldiers and hospitals. In Varginha the case has become part of local identity, and the town readily embraces the alien theme.
Disputed A likely explanation exists, but some of the facts are still disputed.
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