The true story of the Brazilian 'E.T.'

Have you ever heard of the Brazilian E.T. story? Probably not, but it is certainly one for the books! Click on to read about how a little Brazilian town became famous for alien sightings!

The Varginha ET episode refers to an incident involving supposed extraterrestrial beings, which occurred in January 1996, in the city of Varginha, located in the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil.

The peaceful town became known worldwide for reports of sightings of alien beings and caught the attention of ufologists from all over the world.

In 2022, the case was revived in the American documentary, 'Moment of Contact', directed by James Fox and with testimonies from witnesses at the time, as well as others involved.

The events began to gain notoriety when some people claimed to have seen strange creatures in the region. One eyewitness spoke about all the details, in an interview.

In the photo, one of the witnesses, Valquíria Silva, 14 years old, TV Alterosa

"It was brown. He was squatting, but he was short. I had the impression that he was something very soft, he looked like he was going to burst, with smooth skin and red eyes. He looked at us", said Kátia Xavier, in an interview with EPTV South of Minas, in 2006.

The alleged sighting occurred on January 20, 1996. Kátia was 22 years old and was accompanied by two friends, Valquíria and Liliane. From their testimony, other reports came to light.

A businessman claimed to have seen, on January 13th, a UFO flying over Varginha and then slowly falling.

On the same day, the couple Eurico (pictured) and Oralina claimed to have seen an object fly over the land of their house, with the same characteristics pointed out by the businessman. According to them, it gave off smoke but made no noise.

Image: Alterosa TV

A former employee of the city's zoo, biologist Leila Cabral, reported that, in the months following the Varginha E.T. episode, five animals of different species turned up dead, with no known cause.

Photo: Unsplash - Alexander Ross

According to a G1 report, veterinarian Marcos Mina, now director of the zoo, said a dark mucous membrane was found in the stomach and intestine of the dead animals, despite being fed different foods.

Photo: Unsplash - Jeffrey Eisen

Another controversial event was the death of a military police officer from Varginha, Marco Eli Cherese (photo). At the time, his death was attributed to a virus transmitted by the supposed E.T.

Image: Alterosa TV

However, the then commander of the 24th Military Police Battalion of Varginha, Maurício Antonio Santos, said, according to IstoÉ magazine: “The death occurred due to a strong hospital infection, after surgery”.

The same magazine noted that, at the time, the ufological community entertained the idea that the Brazilian Army, the Military Police and the Fire Department had captured two extraterrestrial beings and taken them to hospitals and necropsy in Campinas, in the state of São Paulo.

Brazilian institutions would be covering up alien beings, preventing information from reaching the population.

On the other hand, the Brazilian government denied any involvement in what happened, and the official version is that there was no evidence of extraterrestrial life.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Lúcio Carlos Pereira, responsible for the IPM, what Kátia Xavier and her friends saw was, in fact, a man popularly known as “Mudinho”. He used to squat, in a position similar to what they described in their reports, and probably had some mental problem, IstoÉ reported.

The case became a cultural phenomenon and generated much speculation and conspiracy theories. In fact, the city gained monuments in honor of the Varginha E.T. episode.

Photo: TV Alterosa

There was even a significant increase in interest in ufology in Brazil. Varginha became known as a "UFO city", and the incident attracted international media and tourism attention.

Photo: TV Alterosa