" Just imagine
if you could go back in time to 1949 and are capable of walking and talking
with the Roswell witnesses
just two years after the incident "
January 1996
Despite of the starting
date being the 20/01/96 many things happened before.
Source of information
– Brazilian airforce official, who cannot be named, interviewed in July 1996
The beginning
Many commercial pilots have been giving accounts of strange lights in the sky that sometimes has been following their aircraft. Radar's also detected them, confirming the sightings. Major CINDACTA (Centro Integrado de Defesa Aeriea e Controle de Trafego Aireo/ Integrated Centre For Air Defence And Air Traffic Control) radar kept recording them when the U.S government contacted the Brazilian government in Brasilia. U.S. Satellites have been tracking UFO's from the stratosphere and down to South Minas Gerdis (a state situated on one of the biggest mineral sources from which it derives it’s name – General Mines) where plots disappeared, meaning where the UFO's have landed or crashed. CINDACTA contacted the Brazilian Airforce to find out the nearest military unit to the scene.
The ESA (Escola de Sargento des Armas / Army Sergeant Military School) was just a few miles from where it was situated on the way to Tres Corageis City. Teams designated to cope with such situations were immediately flown to Brazil from the USA.
Another military source from Rio Grande do Sul state said that more the forty UFO's were detected on radar's over Minas Gerais in January alone. The UFO(s) that crashed are thought to have already had a problem when they were first seen which gives the impression that they could have been fired at. Also in January, a military plane – BUFALO (the "Bull" – used for army cargo transport) took off from Canoas military base located in Rio Grande Do Sul state to a secret South Minas Gerais destination, loaded with a cargo placed in three containers and a wooden box. The first container contained generators; the second contained reception equipment and computers; the third held a portable office and inside the wooden box were antenna ready to be assembled. Altogether these would create a big, portable, camouflage painted radar.
Not even the ESA had this radar system which would be possible to install anywhere i.e.: Forests and isolated areas, which there are plenty around that region. Reason? To control air traffic?
January 1997
The first witness came over one year later.
Source of information: A business owner and microlight pilot named Carlos de Sousa, who remained in silence for one year due to threats, decided to talk about what he saw near Maiolini farm when he felt that he could be protected by the agitated press.
13th January 1996
Carlos left Sao Paulo, the city where he lives, to meet friends over Tres Coraioes (a small city not far from Varginha) concerning a microlight championship. It was early morning as he was driving a small pick-up truck on the Farnao Dias road, just a few miles from the junction which leads to Varginha, when he heard what appeared to be an engine malfunction. He stopped to check his car and on getting out, he saw a strange aircraft about 300 feet high in the sky, flying towards Tres Coraioes, crossing over the road at approximately 50mph. He could see details from a metallic surface that was well polished and reflecting the sunlight. It’s size calculated at around 35 feet in length and 12 feet wide, showing a slightly oval, cigar-shaped object.
There were at least four round windows on each side of it and the front end had a hole three to four feet long, decreasing into a crack that took up half the length of the object’s right side, from which could be seen a white smoke coming out – similar to that of dry ice. According to the witness, it seemed to be damaged. Carlos decided to follow the object that after some 12 miles started to descend at about 30 degrees falling and disappearing behind trees.
He thought it went down less than a mile away and continuously tried to approximate the distance, but it was difficult to find a road that could take him to the area. Finally, after some time, he found access to the place he had been looking for, which turned out to be an open field dotted with a few trees. There he saw strewn fragments of various sizes of what looked like very thin tin foil. He picked one of the fragments up that measured around 2-3 feet and was amazed as he bent it many times and when released, the material took it’s original shape without any marks. Or creases. It was so light, it floated like a feather.
Going on further, he saw a helicopter, two army trucks, one ambulance, three cars and as many as 30-40 soldiers searching the area down the hill. Carlos stated that the smell all around was terrible, something like ammonia with ether and at times like that of putrid water as well. One of the soldiers approached him, took the material from him and abruptly asked him to go away and forget everything. He tried to talk with the soldier, but was intimidated and the soldier told him, "You did not see anything. That’s none of your business and you will not tell anyone about it. Now disappear from here. Go, Out!" Other soldiers came in his direction and proceeded to intimidate him.
Carlos left, feeling upset and returned to the main road, he thought about going back, but decided that it would be better to leave. He stopped at a restaurant where a man asked him to go out into the car park so that they could talk. Once outside, more men were waiting and started threatening him, they said that the had the files of his life and if he decided to talk about what he had just seen, something bad would happen to him. Carols concluded that they must have been soldiers in civilian dress. He could only feel alone and depressed, as Brazilian people know that when the military make threats, your life, job and family are all in danger. There would be no other way out of it but to obey them. The only other people Carlos told about the incident, were his wife and two close friends After a year had passed, he saw that other witnesses had come forward and he was no longer alone.
It was now that he decided to tell the investigators and commented that he had never seen any strange beings there, but he was sure that the object was not of this world.
February 23rd 1996
One month later, two more witnesses were found.
February 1996
After the news about
the incident, a friend of a UFO investigator knew of a farmer who had said
that a couple of farm
labourers, who worked
for him, had seen a strange object. They went to investigate.
Source of information: A naïve couple of peasants that keep and tend a small farm near Varginha – Eurico de Freitas and his wife Oralina Augusta.
On 20th January 1996 at 01:14am exactly, Eurico woke up, startled by a commotion and noise outside. He glanced at the alarm clock and got up, fast telling Oralina, that the cattle were restless and that people were probably stealing the calves (this happens a lot in Brazil). He went over to the window to have a look and could see that the cattle were moving and lowing desperately. As the house is situated close to the pasture, which extends up the hill, Eurico went to the sitting room window to check up the hillside, the eeriest sight met his eyes. He said that a submarine was flying over the pasture, about the size of a small bus with round ends and a lump on the top.
The investigators tried to compare the description given by Oralina, who had been so worried that night, that she went to join her husband by the window and also saw the object. She said that it looked like a large cigar and that the thing that could have possibly been a dome could not be seen very clearly. It was flying some 10 feet over the pasture and was very, very slow at times, almost as if it had stopped. No noise came from it or any lights and it was dark grey and was only just visible because of the night being so clear. It was leaving a white smoke all around the surface and at the back end, they could see something coming out of the smoke. Oralina tried to explain it as tattered bits of cloth trailing threads blowing in the wind. Eurico said that if you set fire to a stick and run along with it to see it sparkling, that was his impression of the detail, adding that the fire had no colour and had smoke in it. the object took more than 30 minutes to disappear behind the hill.
Eurico thought about going out and try to get closer, but Oralina, who was still frightened, asked him to stay. The investigators asked them about flying saucers and they answered that they had heard about them, but did not believe in them whatsoever. In addition, they have no doubt that they had seen the strange submarine for al those minutes and confirmed that they had watched it until it disappeared, because they had never seen anything like it before. The pointed out the exact point where the object went behind uphill and said that they never left the house, only after sunset to count the cattle and realised that not one was missing. A few more people gave their accounts of seeing the same object early that morning, when travelling on a bus to Varginha.
* On 23rd June 1996, a friend rented an aeroplane and the investigators had the chance of flying over the area, pointing to the fact that four miles in a straight line from the farm, is the approximate place where ET's were found.
First sight of a strange creature.
Source of information: a friend introduced Military witness, who cannot be named, to a UFO investigator. He was directly involved with the capture of the creature and gave a recorded statement on 14th February 1996.
Confirmation of information: Building worker, Henrique Jose, witnessed the capture from the roof of a house on which he had been working on 20th January 1996, approximately 200 yards from the scene. UFO investigators looking for new witnesses on 23rd February 1996 discovered him.
Confirmation of information: Street fish seller, Joao Bosco Manuel, witness of the whole event of the capture by the military, came over one year later (22/01/97) when he revealed what he had seen in the morning of the 20th January 1996 to the investigators.
January 20th 1996
At approximately 08.30am the 13th co. of the Fire Brigade was alerted by an anonymous phone call, that a strange animal was around ‘Jardim Andere’ (Andere Gardens – a new borough of Varginha on the outskirts, where many constructions are evolving from a largely wooded area). The Brazilian Fire Brigade is integrated with the military and the police and in any case of stray animals, the responsibility for capture is down to the Fire Brigade under military command. Four members, including Commandant Major Mariel, left for the site on a Fire Brigade vehicle (details and names were given by the military source). They had all the equipment necessary to catch animals: nets, gloves, ropes, cables etc.
When they arrived at the address given (R. Suecia 3), they found it was in front of a rivine, then a railway and at the bottom were some woods. Before the woods, stood a few adults and children, some had been there since they first saw the creature climbing the ravine. The children had been throwing stones at it, making the supposed animals retreat into the woods. One of the adults was Jose Bosco. The firemen moved in and at about 10.30am they brought out the creature, which had big, red-goggled eyes and no eyelids, eyelashes, eyebrows, irises or pupils could be seen. It had a small slit for the mouth, two small holes as a nose, no ears, but three lumps both sides and centre of the big head. In addition, the feet were disproportionate to the rest of the body, which was naked but there was no indication of the creature's sex. Its abdomen was prominent, which later became the joke of a pregnant ET!
The being did not resist capture at all, apparently looking as if it was dizzy and making the sound likened to that of bees. The bystanders could not see very well what was happening, they just knew the animal had been captured with the net and was taken to the vehicle.
Up on the road, an army truck waited and military personnel came to assist the firemen in moving the creature to the truck, then put it in a wooden box, cover it with military canvas and left immediately. Both of the above-cited civilians, when confirming the incident, were threatened several times by the police to keep silent and were not allowed to proceed with their declarations. The army truck, it is believed, went to the E.S.A. headquarters, but there is much speculation about the truck stopping at the ‘Humanitas’ Hospital – the best-equipped hospital in the area.
The military shot.
Source of information: Ex-military member, (now civilian) eyewitness and bridge of information from inside the military, where he still has friends (cannot be named). The witness decided to talk as he felt he was holding interesting information and the UFO investigators were working seriously on the subject (05/96).
Confirmation and some details were given by a judicial authority (investigator’s friend who cannot be named), after getting in contact with a police source while in a confraternity barbecue for the military (04/96).
In the afternoon of 20th January 1996, (the exact time was difficult to define as some said it was after lunch, others said it was later), a military truck was seen stopped at the same place of the capture and then leaving shortly after. A few curious local residents went to have a look and witnessed seven military soldiers going into the woods wearing camouflage uniform and carrying combat rifles. They were in a line and keeping their distance from each other, as if forming a barrier. The witnesses were surprised, as nothing like this had been seen there before. Sometime after the soldiers went into the woods, three shots were heard.
Shortly, two soldiers emerged, each carrying a large military canvas bag. Inside one of the bags, something could be seen to be moving the other contained a motionless bulk. Did the inexperience/nervousness of the soldiers facing strange creatures in the woods make the soldiers scared and therefore do the wrong thing? Lack of information and negligence from his superiors, some said. Others even told of another creature, this one with its’ body covered in dark hair, trying to rescue the one that was shot. It was confirmed that a creature was taken alive, yet inside a military police vehicle and was driven to a doctor-friend of the soldier. The doctor didn’t want to get involved and so they proceeded with the whining creature, to the ‘Hospital Regional’. Later that night, the creature was transferred to the ‘Humanitas’ Hospital.
The secret services lost one man.
Source of information: Military member who was contacted through someone trying to act as a middleman. As two major UFO investigators were working in Varginha, they were