Claim

Brazilian firefighters and soldiers captured non-human beings in Varginha in January 1996, and the U.S. flew them out of Brazil

Also known as Varginha claim, ET de Varginha claim

Disputed. The Brazilian Army's 1997 inquiry found no military involvement and judged the creature most likely a local man seen in a storm, and two of the three soldiers whose testimony spread the story later retracted it; the three women, a former soldier and several named witnesses stand by their accounts. (Brazilian Army military police inquiry IPM nº 18/1997 into the Varginha case (Escola de Sargentos das Armas, 1997))

The claim at the heart of the Varginha case: that after a craft came down near the city in January 1996, firefighters and military police captured two living beings, one of which was seen at the regional hospital, and that the U.S. Air Force flew the debris and beings out of Brazil.

The three women's sighting is not in dispute as an experience; what they saw, and everything that followed, is. The timeline runs from the 1996 reports and denials, through the Army's inquiry, to the 2026 retractions and the witnesses James Fox presented in Washington.

Evidence against

Who has said it, in order

  1. 4 February 1996 — says so, first-hand: (Portuguese) Their description: it had what looked like horns, brown skin as if covered in oil, big bulging red eyes and swollen veins, and it was crouched with its hands between its legs. Source: Fantástico on the Varginha creature: the three witnesses, the fire brigade and the hospital (Globo, 4 February 1996) at 0:53
  2. 4 February 1996 — disputes it, documented: (Portuguese) The fire brigade's commander in Varginha, Capt. Alvarenga, has issued an official note: the brigade was not called out to capture an extraterrestrial. Source: Fantástico on the Varginha creature: the three witnesses, the fire brigade and the hospital (Globo, 4 February 1996) at 2:14
  3. 4 February 1996 — disputes it, first-hand: (Portuguese) Neighbours repeat rumours that the creature passed through the regional hospital; the hospital's management lets the crew walk through and says no one with non-human characteristics was admitted. Source: Fantástico on the Varginha creature: the three witnesses, the fire brigade and the hospital (Globo, 4 February 1996) at 4:01
  4. 4 February 1996 Ubirajara Rodrigues — says so, opinion: (Portuguese) The lawyer and ufologist Ubirajara Rodrigues says the girls are “absolutamente sinceros” and that something is being hidden through disinformation. Source: Fantástico on the Varginha creature: the three witnesses, the fire brigade and the hospital (Globo, 4 February 1996) at 4:53
  5. 11 April 1997 — disputes it, documented: The officer in charge, Lt. Col. Lúcio Carlos Finholdt Pereira, concluded on 11 April 1997 that the most probable explanation was that a local man known as “mudinho”, probably dirty from the heavy rain and crouched by a wall, had been mistaken for a creature by three frightened girls; the file includes his photographs and a photo-simulation study made at the EsSA (vol. 2, p. 134). Source: doc-stm-ipm-18-1997-vol2.pdf
  6. 11 April 1997 — disputes it, documented: It found that the firefighters' presence in Jardim Andere (called out to the storm), Army trucks parked near a dealership for routine maintenance, and EsSA vehicles sent to Jaguariúna for horse fodder were real events unrelated to the alleged capture and transport, that no evidence was presented for the book's claims, and that its informants could not be identified (vol. 2, pp. 134–135). Source: doc-stm-ipm-18-1997-vol2.pdf
  7. 29 April 2013 — says so, relayed: A panellist says other countries pass their material to the United States, citing the 1996 Varginha case: “the word is that Americans took” the wreckage and the bodies. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Documents & Proof at 59:26
  8. 29 April 2013 A. J. Gevaerd — says so, relayed: Gevaerd on Varginha 1996: a craft crashed and “at least two creatures were captured”, and “u.s doctors were sent by the u.s consulate in sao paulo”. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: South American Encounters, Part 2 at 58:58
  9. 4 January 2026 — says so, first-hand: (Portuguese) The series shows, for the first time, the three women's first video testimony, recorded by Ubirajara Rodrigues just three days after the sighting. Source: Fantástico on Globo's series O Mistério de Varginha, 30 years on (g1, January 2026) at 4:59
  10. 4 January 2026 — context: (Portuguese) Thirty years on, the explanations offered range from a monkey or a capybara to a human being, perhaps someone on drugs; the directors say what the women saw has never been satisfactorily explained. Source: Fantástico on Globo's series O Mistério de Varginha, 30 years on (g1, January 2026) at 7:08
  11. 8 January 2026 — disputes it, relayed: In January 2026 Globo's documentary series O Mistério de Varginha reported that of the three military testimonies that spread the case in the 1990s, two were later retracted by their own authors, one saying a ufologist had promised him R$ 5 mil, while the third, still anonymous, maintains that he saw something like a burned body on a stretcher at a hospital watched by the Army. The ufologist accused, Vitório Pacaccini, denies any payment. Source: brasil247.com (archived)
  12. 8 January 2026 Ubirajara Rodrigues — disputes it, opinion: Ubirajara Rodrigues, the lawyer and ufologist who first investigated the case, told the series that “o que há de autêntico no caso é apenas o depoimento das três senhoras”: only the three women's testimony is authentic. Source: brasil247.com (archived)
  13. 20 January 2026 James Fox — says so, relayed: Fox: “numerous witnesses reported a cigar- shaped object in distress” that crashed outside Varginha; days later three young women met a creature, and firefighters and military police captured two non-human beings. Source: Varginha press conference at the National Press Club: James Fox and the Brazilian witnesses (NewsNation live, 20 January 2026) at 43:08
  14. 20 January 2026 James Fox — says so, relayed: Fox: according to multiple Brazilian officials, the debris and the beings, “likely one still living, were flown out of Brazil within days by US Air Force”. Source: Varginha press conference at the National Press Club: James Fox and the Brazilian witnesses (NewsNation live, 20 January 2026) at 44:00
  15. 20 January 2026 Carlos de Souza — says so, first-hand: Carlos de Souza, an ultralight pilot and geography teacher, in his first public statement in 26 years: “I witnessed the crash of a non-terrestrial craft on January 13th”, a cigar-shaped object releasing white smoke with a tear down its side. Source: Varginha press conference at the National Press Club: James Fox and the Brazilian witnesses (NewsNation live, 20 January 2026) at 46:46
  16. 20 January 2026 — says so, first-hand: (Portuguese, recorded in Brazil) Fábio Furtado: in January 1996, at a farm near Três Corações, he and a friend saw a cylindrical object the size of a minibus zig-zag and come down behind a hill; the next day he found a yellowed patch on the ground. Source: Varginha press conference at the National Press Club: James Fox and the Brazilian witnesses (NewsNation live, 20 January 2026) at 59:59
  17. 20 January 2026 Liliane Silva — says so, first-hand: (Portuguese) Liliane Silva, now a pre-school teacher: on Saturday 20 January 1996, at about 3:20 p.m., she saw a short creature with red eyes, brown skin that looked oiled and veins from neck to arm; when it looked at her she felt it was suffering and hiding from someone. Source: Varginha press conference at the National Press Club: James Fox and the Brazilian witnesses (NewsNation live, 20 January 2026) at 1:01:06
  18. 20 January 2026 Kátia Xavier — says so, first-hand: (Portuguese) Kátia Xavier: she was two metres from the creature, brown with red eyes, oily skin, a large head, three fingers and a big foot; she has never changed a syllable of her account in thirty years. Source: Varginha press conference at the National Press Club: James Fox and the Brazilian witnesses (NewsNation live, 20 January 2026) at 1:02:43
  19. 20 January 2026 Valquíria Silva — says so, first-hand: (Portuguese) Valquíria Silva: the creature looked as frightened of them as they were of it, brown, with red eyes and a shine on its body as if oiled. Source: Varginha press conference at the National Press Club: James Fox and the Brazilian witnesses (NewsNation live, 20 January 2026) at 1:04:36
  20. 20 January 2026 Ítalo Venturelli — says so, first-hand: Venturelli: behind a makeshift partition lay a being like a seven-year-old child, calm and breathing well; “Its eyes were lilac and teardropshaped”, the skin white, the arms very thin, three fingers and an opposing thumb. Source: Varginha press conference at the National Press Club: James Fox and the Brazilian witnesses (NewsNation live, 20 January 2026) at 1:58:50
  21. 20 January 2026 Fred Claussen — says so, relayed: Claussen, relaying a Brazilian air traffic controller: around 20 January 1996 a U.S. Air Force cargo plane, most likely a C-17, entered Brazilian airspace without clearance and landed at Campinas; if true, “30 to 40 Americans had direct knowledge of this flight”. Source: Varginha press conference at the National Press Club: James Fox and the Brazilian witnesses (NewsNation live, 20 January 2026) at 2:09:16
  22. 8 March 2026 — disputes it, relayed: (Portuguese) SBT: a military police inquiry opened in 1997 and closed the same year concluded that the case rested on mistakes and rumours. Source: SBT News: 30 years on, a doctor says he examined the Varginha creature (March 2026) at 1:21
  23. 8 March 2026 Ítalo Venturelli — says so, first-hand: (Portuguese) Ítalo Venturelli says that in the early hours of 21 January, arriving on foot at the regional hospital, he found Army trucks outside and everything closed off; a colleague, since deceased, called him behind an improvised screen. Source: SBT News: 30 years on, a doctor says he examined the Varginha creature (March 2026) at 1:47
  24. 8 March 2026 — disputes it, relayed: (Portuguese) SBT notes that, for the investigators, what the city called an extraterrestrial was in fact a human being. Source: SBT News: 30 years on, a doctor says he examined the Varginha creature (March 2026) at 4:50

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