The Varginha UFO incident involves a series of events in 1996 when residents of Varginha, Brazil claimed seeing one or more strange creatures and at least one unidentified flying object (UFO). Other associated claims include the capture of one or more extraterrestrial beings by the Brazilian authorities, animal fatalities at a zoo, and a woman impregnated by an extraterrestrial. The reports have garnered extensive media coverage.
According to media reports, a creature was sighted on the afternoon of 20 January 1996, by three women ranging from 14 to 22 years old. The women described the creature as a large headed biped with "spots like veins on the skin and some bumps on the head [...] eyes were two red balls." The creature (later termed the "ET de Varginha") seemed to be wobbly or unsteady, and the girls assumed it was injured or sick. They said that they fled and told their mother that they had seen the "devil". [1] [2] [3]
Rumors afterward began to spread through the area, with some people claiming to have observed UFOs in the days prior. Later, claims were made of additional unidentified creatures/extraterrestrials being collected and observed at a hospital, military/police/government trucks and personnel being active in the area, an unidentified animal "prowling" a local forest, the death of a police officer, and unexplained animal deaths occurring in the local zoo. [3] [4] Ufologists would later allege links between these and other claims, [5] including the claim that one of the initial creature witnesses was impregnated by the creature. [3]
An official inquiry led by the Brazilian military concluded in 2010 that the young women had encountered a homeless, mentally unstable man nicknamed "Mudinho." The Commander of 24th Police Battalion Military "presented photographs (...) a citizen known as Mudinho, who probably has some mental disability and whose physical characteristics matched the description (...) make it likely that the hypothesis that this citizen, probably being dirty, due to the heavy rains and seen crouching by a wall, was mistaken by the three terrified girls as a space creature." The head of the official inquiry reported that the military trucks and personnel were performing routine duties on the night they were observed, stating, "the presence of the Firefighters in Jardim Andere, the parking of Army trucks in the vicinity of the concessionaire where their periodic maintenance would be carried out ... and the departure of EsSA vehicles ... were real facts ... incorrectly interpreted as Firefighters and the Military participating in the capture and later the transport of the alleged creature to Campinas." [6]
The Brazilian authorities also reported that the aliens allegedly seen in a hospital were actually an expectant couple who had dwarfism. [7]
Skeptic Brian Dunning criticized sensational media accounts and ufologists' claims. According to Dunning, "It is the most compelling example of a case where literally nothing at all happened that was remotely unusual, and was magnified into a case considered unassailable proof of alien visitation by many. To those believers, I would suggest recalibrating where you set the bar for quality of evidence"." [8]
These claims have markedly affected tourism to the city of Varginha. Grey alien dolls with football uniforms are sold at the location of the incident. Grey alien designs were used in advertising campaigns for the municipality. Bus stops were built in the form of spaceships and a 20 metres tall water tower with a disc-shaped water reservoir was erected in the town center called the Nave Espacial de Varginha. [9]
The Brazilian government denied conspiracy theorists claims that it was hiding evidence of extraterrestrials. [6]
In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are government agents dressed in black suits, who question, interrogate, harass, threaten, allegedly memory-wipe or sometimes even assassinate unidentified flying object (UFO) witnesses to keep them silent about what they have seen. The term is also frequently used to describe mysterious men working for unknown organizations, as well as various branches of government allegedly tasked with protecting secrets or performing other strange activities.
An unidentified flying object (UFO), or unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. Upon investigation, most UFOs are identified as known objects or atmospheric phenomena, while a small number remain unexplained.
UFO conspiracy theories are a subset of conspiracy theories which argue that various governments and politicians globally, in particular the United States government, are suppressing evidence that unidentified flying objects are controlled by a non-human intelligence or built using alien technology. Such conspiracy theories usually argue that Earth governments are in communication or cooperation with extraterrestrial visitors despite public disclaimers, and further that some of these theories claim that the governments are explicitly allowing alien abduction.
Majestic 12, also known as Majic-12, and MJ-12 for short, is a purported organization that appears in UFO conspiracy theories. The organization is claimed to be the code name of an alleged secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and government officials, formed in 1947 by an executive order by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to facilitate recovery and investigation of alien spacecraft. The concept originated in a series of supposedly leaked secret government documents first circulated by ufologists in 1984. Upon examination, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) declared the documents to be "completely bogus", and many ufologists consider them to be an elaborate hoax. Majestic 12 remains popular among some UFO conspiracy theorists and the concept has appeared in popular culture including television, film and literature.
Grey aliens, also referred to as Zeta Reticulans, Roswell Greys or Grays, are purported extraterrestrial beings. They are frequent subjects of close encounters and alien abduction claims. The details of such claims vary widely, however Greys are typically described as being human-like with small bodies, smooth, grey-colored skin; enlarged, hairless heads; and large, black eyes. The Barney and Betty Hill abduction claim, which purportedly took place in New Hampshire in 1961, popularized Grey aliens. Precursor figures have been described in science fiction and similar descriptions appeared in early accounts of the 1948 Aztec UFO hoax and later accounts of the 1947 Roswell UFO incident.
Ufology is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins. While there are instances of government, private, and fringe science investigations of UFOs, ufology is generally regarded by skeptics and science educators as an example of pseudoscience.
Dulce Base is the subject of a conspiracy theory claiming that a jointly-operated human and alien underground facility exists under Archuleta Mesa on the Colorado–New Mexico border near the town of Dulce, New Mexico, in the United States. Claims of alien activity there first arose from Albuquerque businessman Paul Bennewitz.
Black triangles are UFOs reported as having a triangular shape and dark color, typically observed at night, described as large, silent, hovering, moving slowly, and displaying pulsating, colored lights which they are able to turn off.
The Kelly–Hopkinsville encounter was a claimed close encounter with extraterrestrial beings in 1955 near the communities of Kelly and Hopkinsville in Christian County, Kentucky, United States. UFOlogists regard it as one of the most significant and well-documented cases in the history of UFO incidents, while skeptics say the reports were due to "the effects of excitement" and misidentification of natural phenomena such as meteors and owls. The United States Air Force classified the alleged incident as a hoax in the Project Blue Book files.
The 1976 Tehran UFO Incident was a radar and visual sighting of an unidentified flying object (UFO) over Tehran, the capital of Iran, during the early morning hours of 19 September 1976. During the incident, two Imperial Iranian Air Force F-4 Phantom II jet interceptors reported losing instrumentation and communications as they approached the object. These were restored upon withdrawal. One of the aircraft also reported a temporary weapons systems failure while the crew was preparing to open fire. An initial report of the incident was relayed to the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff on the day of the incident.
This is a list of alleged sightings of unidentified flying objects or UFOs in Brazil.
The Belgian UFO wave was a series of sightings of triangular UFOs in Belgium, which lasted from 29 November 1989 to April 1990.
Operation Saucer was an investigation carried out between 1977 and 1978 by the Brazilian Air Force following alleged UFO sightings in the city of Colares. The investigation was closed after finding no unusual phenomena.
Ademar José Gevaerd, also known simply as A. J. Gevaerd was a Brazilian ufologist. He was editor of Revista UFO, founder and director of the Brazilian Center for Flying Saucer Research (CBPDV) and Brazilian Director for Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). He represented Brazil at the Center for UFO Studies. He appeared on the Globo Network, the Discovery Channel and the History Channel. He spoke in many cities in Brazil and in other 29 countries, and conducted over 700 field investigations of UFO cases in Brazil. He was described as one of the most respected of ufologists.
Sixto Paz Wells is an author and lecturer focused on the UFO phenomena, particularly alien contact, from a spiritual viewpoint. Known as the visible head of the Rahma Mission in Spain and a number of Latin American countries, stands out among the ufologists for having summoned the international press to sightings scheduled in advance in more than ten occasions. As a self proclaimed contactee, he has published 20 books in Spanish and one in English about this subject so far. In his works about UFOlogy he promotes a systematic method of physical and mental preparation for contact, as well as protocols for documenting, validating and confirming contact experiences.
Incidente em Varginha is a 1998 Brazilian first-person shooter game developed by Perceptum. The game is based on the Varginha UFO incident, in which three people claimed to have seen an alien in the city of Varginha, Brazil.
On 16 September 1994, there was a UFO sighting outside Ruwa, Zimbabwe. Sixty-two pupils at the Ariel School aged between six and twelve said that they saw one or more silver craft descend from the sky and land on a field near their school. Some of the children claimed that one or more creatures dressed all in black then approached and telepathically communicated to them a message with an environmental theme, frightening them and causing them to cry.
On May 19, 1986, a series of radar and visual contacts with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) took place across the Brazilian states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Goiás, becoming locally known as the "Night of the UFOs".
