In January 1996 the quiet Brazilian city of Varginha became the center of one of the strangest UFO stories in modern history. Often called Brazil’s Roswell the incident involved a reported spacecraft crash multiple creature sightings military intervention and a cover-up that still fuels debate three decades later. What began as ordinary days in a town of about 100000 people turned into national news when witnesses claimed extraterrestrial visitors had arrived.

The events started around January 13 when several people including an ultralight pilot named Carlos de Sousa reported seeing a cigar-shaped object trailing white smoke and struggling in the sky before crashing near a highway. De Sousa described it as damaged and heading toward the ground. Days later on January 20 three young women aged 14 to 22 were walking home through a vacant lot when they spotted something shocking. Crouched against a wall was a creature they described as about four feet tall with brown oily skin large red eyes that seemed to glow three small horns or bumps on its head and a wobbly unsteady stance. The being appeared injured or ill. Terrified the girls ran home and told their mother they had seen the devil. News spread quickly and similar reports emerged of other creatures in the area.

Soon firefighters and military personnel flooded the streets. Witnesses claimed soldiers captured at least two live beings and recovered one that was dead. Rumors swirled that the creatures were taken to a local hospital where one scratched a military officer who later died from an infection. Some accounts suggested the beings were transported out of Brazil possibly to the United States. A geography teacher and other locals said they saw military trucks hauling covered cargo from the crash site. The story exploded across Brazilian media with newspapers and television stations covering the alleged alien encounter in detail.

Official responses have been mixed. Brazilian authorities initially denied any unusual activity. In recent years the Superior Military Court released an investigation concluding the entire story was fabricated. Skeptics point to possible misidentifications such as a mentally disabled man with a skin condition or military exercises. Yet dozens of witnesses including the original girls and de Sousa have stood by their accounts. Investigative filmmaker James Fox and others have gathered fresh testimony including at a 2026 press conference where witnesses reiterated seeing nonhuman entities after a UFO crash.