Moment of Contact

Varginha is a Brazilian city

located in the southern region of the state of Minas Gerais.

Varginha is considered the seventh best city in Brazil to live and invest

and became known internationally in 1996

for the alleged appearance of alien creatures,

the episode that became known as the "Varginha Incident".

This following story is based on truth and lies.

If true, call it another Roswell, if you will.

That is, a crashed vehicle that had beings on board, apparently.

Can she say what feelings she got from the creature?

The Varginha case is considered

the most

well-kept secret

in the military circle of Brazil.

We're in Sao Paulo, Brazil,

about to go and investigate

the infamous 1996 Varginha UFO incident.

An alleged crash and reported bodies.

So we're gonna go see...

Oh, okay. No problem.

I'm basically trying to figure out what took place

in Varginha, Brazil, January 1996.

Many people say there was a UFO crash,

debris and bodies recovered.

My objective here in Brazil is to find out,

put some clarity on, what happened

and where this debris ultimately ended up.

I wanna hear from her.

James Fox teams up with Brazilian researcher Marco Leal,

who has been investigating the Varginha case since 2006.

Together they meet Cynthia Covo in Sao Paulo, to go over the case.

- So... - Yeah.

This is the daughter of one of the most famous

- UFO researchers in all of Brazil. - Yeah.

- And he is no longer with us. - Yes.

So she has brought some of his research,

illustrations, documentation

from the 1996 Varginha UFO incident.

An unidentified flying object reportedly crashes,

and then you have beings

associated with the craft, alive and walking through the town.

It sounds so spectacular,

it sounds so unbelievable,

it's hard to wrap your mind around it.

And I didn't believe it when I first heard about it.

This is the design.

The girls drew this for her father.

- That's her father. - Yeah.

They were in the fire... fireman station.

So this is the fireman that...

They believe this fireman was involved in the capture?

Oralina, Eurico.

And they saw a UFO that looked like it was definitely gonna crash?

Liliane and Valquiria.

- Right after they saw the creature? - Yes.

- Marco Cherese? - Yeah.

- Who captured the creature with his bare hands. - Yes.

And later died.

This is an original artist's rendition of what the girls saw.

Wow!

Wow, look at that.

Brazil is one of the most amazing locations on Earth.

- I mean, you've got Ubatuba in the '50s. - Yeah.

You've got Colares, Operacao Prato.

You've got 1986, UFOs over Brazil with Sao Paulo.

It was amazing. I met with a radar operator.

And then you have this crash in 1996 in Varginha.

These are some of the best cases in the world.

1957.

Witnesses observe an object descending at extreme speed

from the skies towards Toninhas Beach.

Before hitting the water, it explodes.

Fragments collected on the beach are sent to a lab to be analyzed.

This headline reads,

Scientific analysis confirms extraterrestrial magnesium

from the alleged Ubatuba flying saucer.

- Photographer Almiro Barauna

and the crew aboard a Brazilian navy vessel

- witness a disc-shaped object

maneuvering over the ocean.

- He grabs his camera and takes these shots.

Previously classified Brazilian Air Force documents

contain accounts of several UFOs

witnessed by both civilians and military personnel.

Shown here are several unknown craft

captured on camera by the Brazilian Air Force.

Some officers even claimed to see occupants.

1986.

- Over Sao Paulo, six Brazilian fighter jets

chase more than a dozen UFOs.

The Ministry of the Air Force confirms this encounter

in a press conference.

- She got to meet Carlos de Sousa? - Yes.

- In 1996? - Yeah.

- And he was the man who saw the UFO crash. - Yes.

Going back to 1996 and seeing the witnesses

and seeing the location of the creatures,

seeing the original illustration...

You know, the rendition of what the creature

looked like from 1996 and holding it in my hands,

it was fascinating!

And the photograph of the military man, Marco Cherese,

who apparently handled one of the creatures.

I mean, it just takes you back in time to 1996.

And it was just a really, really fortunate opportunity for us.

I'm thrilled, and I can't wait to get to Varginha, to be honest with you.

You could just say hypothetically, for a moment, if it did happen,

how significant of an event would it be?

I bet you that everyone would say,

there's nothing more significant than this story.

If it were true.

I just ask people to suspend judgement,

listen to the testimony, and then draw your own conclusions.

Hey, we're just gonna drop me off or something.

Get some drinks while they go around the block, or wait.

Upon arrival in Varginha,

the filmmakers want to hear from locals

regarding the alleged 1996 UFO crash.

A large monument in the shape of a flying saucer

is a clear indication that the town embraces the story.

Armed with handmade signs that read,

"If anyone knows what happened in 1996, please talk to us."

The team takes to the streets.

What does he think about the case?

- Does he think it happened or it didn't happen?

What are your feelings on Varginha?

The 1996 Varginha UFO incident, what do you think?

Things are heating up right now, guys.

Like, we're finding some witnesses.

- These guys is really important here. - Okay, let's bring it.

They see a UFO. The UFO gets closer to them,

to the point where it's at the height of that street light.

Okay, so then what happens?

So a lot of people in this town have a little piece of the puzzle.

We were only here for an hour-and-a-half,

and I can't believe how many people we got to come forward.

What I love about this case is it's recent enough

where people either heard accounts or experienced things themselves.

So, right now, we are going to meet with

the mayor of Varginha.

So I'm very curious if an elected official will talk about

the details of the case and whether he believes it really happened.

These sorts of things.

- Look at this. - Oh, that's nice.

- That's great. - Yeah.

I'm extremely curious,

as an elected official, the mayor of Varginha,

does he believe that this case happened

as the witnesses are reporting it to have happened?

The witnesses in Varginha, for me, are some of the most

compelling testimony I've ever heard.

So I didn't believe that

a UFO crashed in Varginha, Brazil, when I first came here.

But after 10 years...

I wouldn't have imagined getting an interview with...

an elected official like the mayor of Varginha.

If you would have told me I'd be doing that ten years ago, I wouldn't have believed it.

Not only that, but he was, basically,

saying that he felt that the Varginha case was true, that it really happened.

I think we have to remind ourselves how far we've come in the last decade.

Put me on that farm in January of 1996.

What happened?

1996.

Crash witness Carlos de Sousa

describes a similar object in this exclusive interview.

January 13th, 1996.

Carlos de Sousa is traveling from Sao Paulo

to Minas Gerais early in the morning,

planning to meet with friends

to fly ultra-light planes.

Now, 26 years later,

the team travels with Carlos de Sousa to find the crash site.

Turn around. Right.

Careful of the dust. He's trying to remember.

So where the trees were?

He doesn't... remember.

But he thinks it's this way. Because it's been 26 years...

Is this looking familiar? There's a house up there.

But if it's close to a house, then it's gotta be further down this way.

Unless the house is gone.

- I think the house is gone. - You do?

- He's asking you to stop. - Stop?

Right. Let's go.

- What does that mean? - Yeah, like big grass.

It was around here.

Okay.

- He wants to go there. - Okay.

- So it was a white house, and it was a small house. - Yeah, it was a small house.

- So... - The grass was burned.

The grass was burned. Why was the grass burned?

- So, is the house gone? - It was around here.

The house is gone?

He doesn't know. Everything's different.

I mean, it could be here, or it could be there.

We walk over to there and look.

If it's close to the road, it only can be in a couple of places.

Does he wanna walk up closer to it.

He said the house was close to where the crash was.

- Yeah. - 200 meters.

- Yeah, it's like... - 600 feet.