Original subtitles

NARRATOR: In January of 1996, North American Aerospace Defense

Command, NORAD, warns Brazilian authorities

their radar has picked up UFO activity near Varginha, Brazil.

By January 20, news coverage across the globe

explodes with stories of a UFO crash.

Strange creatures are reported by military and civilians

in the town of Varginha.

[static]

[music playing]

NARRATOR: 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.

[music playing]

THE VARGINHA ET IS THE THEME OF A GLOBAL FORUM

[radio static]

- Many people believe this is about an extraterrestrial.

It's been said the being was captured by the authorities

and is being kept hidden somewhere.

- The strange creature was captured and taken to another state.

- The commanding General gave an statement denying the whole story.

- We have nothing to hide.

- Governments tend to cover-up

everything they can't explain to their population.

- 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?

- He was scared...

and hiding from something.

[tense music]

- The Varginha case is considered

the most well-kept secret...

in the military circles of Brazil.

[tense music]

[indistinct radio chatter]

- We're in Sao Paulo, Brazil,

about to go and investigate the infamous 1996 Varginha UFO incident.

It's an alleged crash and reported bodies.

So we're going to go see.

Oh, OK. No problem.

[indistinct chatter]

[tense music]

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

what some clarity on what happened

and where this debris ultimately ended up.

[tense music]

- May 4th:

UFO researchers from around the country

gathered in Vargihna to talk about an explosive story.

- Two extraterrestrial beings were captured and contained,

and taken to the city hospital.

Later they were taken from the city.

[music playing]

- I want to hear from her...

NARRATOR: James Fox teams up

with Brazilian researcher Marco Leal,

who has been investigating the Varginha case since 2006.

Together, they meet Cinthya Covo in Sao Paulo

to go over the case.

- So 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 apparently 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 firemen station.

So this is a fireman that they believe this fireman

was involved in the capture?

- They were supposed to lie about what they had seen.

Oralina and Eurico.

- And they saw a UFO that looked like

it was definitely going to crash.

- Liliane and Valquiria, right after they saw the creature.

- Yes.

- Marco Chereze. - Yeah.

- Who captured the creature with his bare hands.

- Yes. - And later died.

- He grabbed the E.T. and put it in the car.

- 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 the Colares, Operacao Prato.

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

It's 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.

[tense music]

NARRATOR: 1957, witnesses observed an object descending

at extreme speed from the skies toward 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 disk-shaped object maneuvering over the ocean.

He grabs his camera and takes these shots.

[tense music]

- We are here, in the city of Lins

with resident Dona Maria Jose Cintra Dos Santos.

She had a close encounter of the third kind.

What was roughly the size of the disc you saw?

- A big plate. Enormous plate. Enormous.

Inside the device was another person.

I don't know if it was a man or a woman.

- When the disc flew away,

you say the lights of the building went out?

- The lights in the hospital and the town went out.

- Previously classified Brazilian Air Force documents

contain accounts of several UFOs

witnessed by both civilians and military personnel.

- We detected nine forms of objects:

Probes, craft,

shaped like flying saucers.

All the reports went to Comar-1 Air Force Base,

then to Brasilia.

- Shown here are several unknown craft captured on camera

by the Brazilian Air Force.

Some officers even claimed to see occupants.

[tense music]

1986, over Sao Paulo, six Brazilian fighter jets

chase more than a dozen UFOs.

- It's not an airplane. What is this?

There's three of them? There's even more?

SIMULATION

Look! One passed over here, radial 100 to 150,

right in front of Mike-Bravo-Zulu. Got it?

The guy if after it.

- This week, military authorities of Brazil...

NARRATOR: The Ministry of the Air Force confirms

this encounter in a press conference.

- Our goal was precisely to approach and identify.

But we couldn't even get close, much less identify.

[camera shuts]

[tense music]

[camera shuts]

- It's a disc, mom.

- I didn't believe it...

I thought, this can't be.

- Then the light went down too fast and approached.

- You see the light coming down.

- Did you film it? - I got it.

- The object got very close to the houses.

It goes behind a light pole...

then strolls though the neighborhood with irregular movements.

- I can't explain what it was, or how it moved like that.

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

- In 1996. - Yeah.

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

- It was floating and slowly losing altitude.

It looked like a waching machine struggling...

fighting to keep its altitude.

It was coming in an downward trajectory,

like a flight approach.

- Carlos's testimony made a big impression on me.

And what got my attention was...

his body language, right?

The body speaks.

And now I'm a psychologist and have no doubt

that he was telling the truth.

- 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 just fascinating.

And the photograph of the military man,

Marco Chereze, who apparently handled one of the creatures.

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

And it was just a...

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 judgment,

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

[music playing]

OK.

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

get some drinks while they go around the block or wait.

There is a parking lot...

NARRATOR: 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?

- It's possible.

- What are your feelings on Varginha?

- I believe.

- I believe in what the girls said they saw.

- I really believe the E.T. case in Varginha.

[music playing]

- The 1996 Varginha UFO incident, what do you think?

- Well, I believe yes.

I think the universe is big, and that it probably happened.

[music playing]

JAMES FOX: Things are heating up right now, guys.

Like, we're finding some witnesses.

MAN: Both guys... - Like, this is working.

- Both guys is really important here.

OK, let's bring it.

- Amaneuver of that size, with so many vehicles,

involving both Army and police simultaneously...

they closed the roads and wouldn't let us pass.

Something happened that left us very suspicious.

People say it didn't happen, but it really did.

JAMES FOX: They see a UFO.

The UFO gets closer to them,

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

OK, so then what happens?

[music playing]

- It was round... a round shape.

JAMES FOX: Like...

- It was round. And it was turning...

it seemed to be looking for something because it came closer.

[music playing]

I was paralyzed because, at that moment, I was...

in disbelief.

It was me and my mother. We couldn't believe it.

- 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... of the case

and whether he believes it really happened,

these sorts of things.

[indistinct chatter]

- Good morning. - Good morning. Thank you.

- Sí. - Water?

Yeah.

[background noise]

- Debora. - Good afternoon, Debora.

- How are you? - Good.

JAMES FOX: Look at this. [laughs]

MAN: Oh, that's nice.

JAMES FOX: That's great.

MAN: Yeah.

[music playing]

Nice to meet you, Mr. Vérdi.

[laughter]

The pleasure is mine.

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?

- I believe for sure that this case happened,

because so many events are connected:

Suddenly you see the Army in the city, lots of people saw the Army here,

then, the death of a person who participated at the time,

an ex-police officer,

and the girls with whom I had contact, one was my nephew's girlfriend...

So, I am convinced that this happened.

I saw nothing myself,

but the statements of the people convince me that this happened.

JAMES FOX: The witnesses in Varginha, for me,

are some of the most compelling testimony I've ever heard.

- For sure! I absolutely believe.

These facts should be...

shared with the world, with transparency.

- So I didn't believe that a UFO crashed in Varginha, Brazil,

when I first came here.

But after 10 years... I've been here...

I wouldn't have imagined getting an interview

with an elected official, like the mayor of Varginha.

If you would've told me I'd be doing that 10 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.

THE CRASH

Put me on that farm in January of 1996.

What happened?

- It was because of the noise from the cows.

They were running around the house.

That's what got my attention.

Then I looked out the window and saw and object passing by,

and then I called him.

- The object had a school minibus shape.

The size of a school minibus.

And no noise at all.

We kept looking because of all the smoke coming from it,

clear white smoke around it.

I even joked with her, "What is that?"

"It looks like a submarine!" Because it was floating.

And we kept watching it until it disappeared.

- I stood still. I was listening to see if I could hear it fall.

And he was looking out the window watching.

- It looked like a cigar shape, long like this...

like a cigar.

Its speed made it look like it was in trouble.

It passed by very slowly.

[birds chirping]

My vision went black.

NARRATOR: 1996, crash witness Carlos de Sousa

describes a similar object in this exclusive interview.

- The side of it was completely torn,

and it had white smoke coming out.

It wasn't black smoke like from a fire.

At the time, I thought it was...

like an aircraft in trouble, so I decided to follow it.

My name is Carlos de Sousa.

I was here on this road in 1996,

when the UFO crash happened.

I'm here today to tell my story.

Três Corações.

The crash was here.

NARRATOR: January 13, 1996. Carlos de Sousa is traveling

from Sao Paulo to Minas Gerais early in the morning,

planning to meet with friends to fly ultralight planes.

- That's where everything happened.

An object coming this way,

with this part torn off.

It headed toward the highway.

I was driving on the freeway, down below.

It was at a height of about... 400, 300 meters or so.

And it was losing altitude.

Losing, losing altitude.

It went all the way to the road.

On the road,

it made a 360° turn...

and came, kept losing altitude, then it gained altitude again.

And when it arrived approximately from where I am,

about 100 meter, 150 meters,

the engines totally died, and it went down,

as if it couldn't sustain the necessary lifting force to fly.

It totally lost it and went "puff" to the ground.

There must be some people in there,

and those people are going to need help right now.

NARRATOR: Now 26 years later, the team travels with Carlos de Sousa

to find the crash site.

[music playing]

CREW: Turn around.

- All right. - I don't remember that.

CREW: Careful of the dust.

JAMES FOX: He's trying to remember.

The peak...

I remember passing by two cattle grates.

JAMES FOX: So where the trees were.

They were inside the house?

- How did you know they were there? - I don't remember.

- Twenty-six years...

INTERPRETER: He doesn't remember.

But he thinks... - I remember a house and a hill.

JAMES FOX: 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.

CREW: I think the house is gone. JAMES FOX: You do?

CREW: Yeah.

This region here. There's a peak there.

It was something like that.

INTERPRETER: Mm-hmm.

- There used to be trees on this side.

There used to be grass, trees and a pasture. Big pasture.

JAMES FOX: I mean, I could...

- Very big.

More or less around here.

- Tell him to stop here. - He's asking you to stop.

- I'm thinking it's right here. JAMES FOX: Yeah.

Stop? - Yes, please.

JAMES FOX: All right, let's go. INTERPRETER: OK.

CARLOS DE SOUSA: That grass was here.

- That grass was around here.

"Aquela mata", what does that mean?

INTERPRETER: Yeah.

Like, at the grass, It was around here.

- OK. - There was a small pasture around here.

Let me see that tree over there.

- He wants to go there. - OK.

OK.

There is something here.

There was a house here.

A house.

A white house.

So it was a white house.

And it was a small house.

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

- And...

- So... - The grass was burned.

- The grass was burned.

Why was the grass burned?

- Because it was a chemical substance, like acid.

- By the object? - By the object.

Because it was a big circle

more or less 40 meters in diameter, burned.

And the house was here.

JAMES FOX: So is the house gone?

- It was around here.

- So the house is gone. - Yes.

As if it were there.

It's hard to find...

- He says... - The only reference I had is gone.

- Everything's different.

- Taken away.

JAMES FOX: I mean, it could be here, or it could be there.

It could be here or there.

Or there.

JAMES FOX: We walk over there and look...

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

Does he wanna walk up closer to...

CREW: There's only...

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

- Yeah.

- 200 meters. - Yeah.

It's, like, uh... - That's 600 feet.

- It's the Maiolini house, family, Maiolini family.

- Well, I say we...

I say we take a closer look. I mean...

- Yeah.

- You know? - What harm would it do?

- We're here, right? - It's not right here.

JAMES FOX: Yeah, we gotta do it, man.

We gotta find this spot.

- There's a lot of trees?

- Is there a house down there?

- Yeah, there's a house...

- Right down through these trees.

- Yeah.

- Well, let's get closer to there, then.

It is a small house.

JAMES FOX: Let's drive down the road.

Let's drive down to get closer.

- There's a house.

This is a field?

- Yes. Yes...

And... here!

Here!

INTERPRETER: It's here.

INTERPRETER: Here.

- Here! INTERPRETER: Let's go.

- Here!

Here.

Here!

JAMES FOX: Wow.

CARLOS DE SOUSA: Here.

JAMES FOX: Wow.

- It was here!

That tree wasn't there.

You could see the house over there.

It came, crashed, rebounded, spread out.

Spread out. Here.

Here.

It was here.

[sobbing]

That fence was close to the house.

Here is where it crashed.

JAMES FOX: This is the spot.

[sobbing]

CARLOS DE SOUSA: [sniffling]

Beings died here.

- Was this object big enough to have,

potentially, beings inside?

This object was it big enough

to have beings inside?

- Yes, it was about the size of a minibus.

A little bigger.

A school bus, school bus.

A little bigger, just a little.

NARRATOR: According to Mr. Sousa,

this area was covered with debris from the UFO crash.

[tense music]

- This is his first time at the crash site since 1996.

- When I arrived at the site,

on this very spot,

I observed a lot of debris, pieces.

And when I got out of the car,

I immediately smelled ammonia, like rotten eggs.

A very strong smell, so strong that I had to cover my nose

with the shirt I was wearing.

My eyes got watery.

The first thing I noticed was that it was something

very different from what I expected, what I was expecting.

First, due to the smell, that smell made no sense.

And I saw a piece, it looked like it was aluminum,

that foil you wrap chicken for roasting.

I took a sheet.

I took a small piece, it was very light.

Crumpled it, but when I released it,

it went back to its original shape.

JAMES FOX: So he gets out of the car, he sees the piece, right?

He picks the piece up.

He folds it.

He said it was really light, and it was shaped kinda like this.

- Yeah.

- And then he picks it up, and he folds it in.

Then it opens itself up.

And it was really light... - Yes.

- Like, aluminum.

At what point did the military come to him,

right after that happened? - Yes.

The military came from this way and arrived?

- Yeah.

Carlos de Sousa came from here,

and the trucks came from that side.

- OK. You know?

NARRATOR: Within minutes, trucks from the military base, ESA,

arrive on the scene.

- Yeah.

- Go away? - Yeah.

Go away, go...

I think some guy...

- "Go away!"

Pushing. Go away.

"No, but..." Then...

"Go away! I told you to leave!

I told you to leave. I'm ordering you to leave."

JAMES FOX: What does this mean?

INTERPRETER: Go away.

Go away. JAMES FOX: Go away?

CREW: Go away, go away. INTERPRETER: Go away.

CREW: And I'm order...

JAMES FOX: I'm ordering you. - Yeah, I'm order...

I'm ordering you to go away. - Yeah.

So then he pulled his gun out... - Yes.

- And said, I'm ordering you to go away.

- OK.

OK, OK.

Look.

JAMES FOX: Wow. - OK.

OK, OK, OK.

I got in the car and left.

NARRATOR: After giving this interview

shortly after the incident...

Go away, go away.

NARRATOR: Carlos de Sousa vanishes for 26 years.

[birds chirping]

- Mark it.

[indistinct chatter]

- Can we just walk to exactly where this took place?

The house was there...

NARRATOR: Seven days after Sousa witnessed the crash,

Gubert LeDella leaves this gym,

when he and several friends see

two military trucks driving into town.

They follow them through the neighborhood

and come upon a military blockade.

- More or less, they made a line here.

I can't say precisely, but here were four or five soldiers here,

and another soldier on the other side of the truck.

All positioned with their rifles pointed down.

JAMES FOX: One of the people in his group said,

this is a free country and I'm... and I'm going through.

- It was him. JAMES FOX: Oh, it was him?

INTERPRETER: Yeah.

- I said I had the right to come and go,

the constitutional right to come and go.

JAMES FOX: So he said, hey, this is a free country,

I'll do what I want.

And then what happens?

- All they did was shake their heads... no.

They didn't say anything.

When we tried to force our way through,

they raised their rifles.

- Was it scary? Where you guys afraid that day?

- I only felt fear when they raised their guns.

Because, I've never seen a gun so big.

And I've never had someone point a gun at me.

It was the only time I was afraid.

[music playing]

Never before have I ever seen an army truck in Varginha.

That first one was when...

It fell, and if you look from the ground...

JAMES FOX: This is the local TV news station

that covered the case back in 1996.

He was deeply involved.

He was also good friends with Marco Chereze,

who's the military police officer who allegedly handled

the creature and then died.

- Thank you. - Yes, of course.

[Nyei chuckles] - [laughs] Absolutely.

Describe what happened back in 1996, what you witnessed,

what you saw.

- I witnessed the weather close in

like there was a huge storm.

I looked out the window, "Wow!" Night fell suddenly.

At that moment, the news started coming in.

Some girls had a sighting.

Near Marcão's gymnasium.

I know the city well.

I had a little Volkswagen Beetle, I decided to go check it out.

But when we arrived, there were Army trucks,

and they said I couldn't pass by here.

I asked why. "This is an issue of national security."

"Oh no, I just want to go down to see..." "No."

"You cannot pass, it's a matter of National Security."

For us, it didn't make sense,

or, in fact, it did make sense for us at the time,

we were convinced, there was a cover-up in process.

There's another part, when the interviews happened.

Euclides and Calado, two of our boys here,

went to ESA in Três Corações.

They managed to ask one question.

The sergeant went inside, then came back.

When he returned:

"Look, won't you say anything about the case?"

"If you ask one more question, you'll be arrested."

From ESA.

It was Euclides and Kaleb.

- So is he saying that the military shut down the press?

INTERPRETER: Yes. - Successfully?

- Yeah. - They don't have a free press.

- And they say... - They don't have a free press?

INTERPRETER: No.

If they say... if they would go,

like, investigate further,

they probably would have put them in jail.

JAMES FOX: OK.

I'll quickly mention, so we have,

we have special authorization

from the city of Varginha.

And we have a universal key, which is provided to us by,

I think, Katia's husband.

And so we're gonna film the use of the special key

to gain access to the exact location

where the encounter occurred back in January of 1996.

Action.

All right.

JAMES FOX: There we go.

I used to rob banks.

- You see how easy that was?

[laughter]

[inaudible]

JAMES FOX: I wanted to film here because

this is obviously gonna invoke memories of the encounter.

And I think that we're gonna get a more dramatic, more real

on-camera testimony from the girls,

doing it here, as opposed to somewhere else.

- My name is Liliane Silva.

In 1996, I saw a strange creature here.

- My name is Valquíria Silva.

In 1996, I saw a strange creature there.

My name is Kátia Xavier.

In 1996, I saw a strange creature there.

On the same day May 4th...

NARRATOR: Media across Brazil and the world cover the story.

- The mother of Valquíria and Liliane, filed a complaint.

Ufologists from Brazil gathered in Varginha

dropped what they believed to be a "bomb".

They say they've already collected testimony from four military witnesses.

And they confirm the whole story.

- This operation was coordinated by Col. Olimpio Vanderlei,

from Três Corações.

- The sisters, Valquíria, 14, and Liliane, 16,

are very scared.

This is the first time they've visited the site

since Saturday, January 20th.

JAMES FOX: Tell us, walk us through, what happened?

What did you see?

Where did you see it?

- We were walking down along here.

I was in front, and they were a little farther back.

Passing by here, the graffiti caught my attention.

I looked...

and I saw the creature.

- Actually, when Liliane screamed, and I looked at it, I was afraid.

So, I looked in its eyes and saw that it was frightened.

Just as I was frightened, the creature was also frightened.

- Because what I saw stopped me in my tracks,

it glued me to that spot.

- But I saw that it was scared of us.

So it was an exchange of fears, its and ours.

- It had red eyes, oily skin...

I couldn't see an open mouth, smiling, no.

Not happy, sad. Shrunken back.

A sad expression.

And it didn't have hair.

NARRATOR: 1996,

based on the girl's testimony,

artist Beti Rodrigues creates this drawing.

[music playing]

JAMES FOX: What I find makes their story so credible

is that there were three of them.

I wanna hear from Valquíria, because she was the youngest.

What were her thoughts at the time?

Was she scared? Did you run?

Like, put me there.

- it was a creature, there in the corner...

cowering and afraid.

Afraid of us, just as we were afraid of it.

This being that's unknown to us.

JAMES FOX: These eyes, compared to my eyes, how much bigger?

- Three times bigger than ours.

INTERPRETER: Three times bigger.

JAMES FOX: Three times bigger.

- Quite big and red. Red like...

not blood red.

- I wanna walk over by the wall, and I you to tell me

where exactly the creature was.

- The creature was there.

JAMES FOX: Wow.

- And we passed right here.

JAMES FOX: Really close.

- Then I screamed, took off running, and the two of them came.

- I didn't realize...

That's closer than I expected.

I mean, It's, like, 8 feet away?

They were 8 feet away from this creature, broad daylight.

It was 3:30 in the afternoon.

This is the exact location.

When she made eye contact with this creature,

was there a moment of any kind of communication?

Did she feel anything at all?

- I sensed it was distressed. Sweating a lot.

It was very hot.

And it gave the impression

that it was suffering from the heat, hot sun.

Its skin...

When I said: "Guys, look at that!" Then it turned around.

I saw the eyes and took off running.

So, when it turned around, we only saw the eyes,

and they looked like slits.

But we couldn't see a normal mouth, like ours.

JAMES FOX: OK, so this is a Valquíria.

This is Kátia. KÁTIA XAVIER: Sí.

JAMES FOX: And this is Liliane.

And you see the eyes.

They didn't draw a nose.

They didn't draw a mouth.

It was all about the eyes.

- The first thing that caught my attention, right away,

were its eyes.

Because they were very big, not human-sized,

or human-shaped.

- I wanna understand, first of all,

the moment of contact with the eyes,

meeting the eyes.

I really wanna be there.

I wanna feel it.

When they locked eyes with this being, what were they thinking?

- What we saw wasn't human.

It wasn't an animal either.

Nowadays, I do think it was a being from another planet.

- It wasn't a man, it wasn't an animal.

Now what it was, I can't say.

I can't describe it.

- They all ran out of here, quickly.

So they were scared.

Were they scared because they felt threatened?

Or were they scared because

they just simply didn't know what they were looking at?

- I remember when we made our way down,

completely terrified, scared, running, we stopped down there, right?

The three of us stopped and were like:

"Guys, what happened?" "What did you see?"

"Wow, so the three of us saw the same thing."

Then we ran until we arrived at my mother's house.

- The girls, I came out to meet the girls

because mothers have a sixth sense.

Then I saw Kátia almost carrying this one,

or vice-versa, I don't know.

I saw they were very nervous,

walking slowly, and dragging each other along.

- At the time, we were children of Catholics,

so it could be a demon.

That's why we were scared at the time.

- So the three girls run to her house,

and they say, we saw this creature.

It might've been the devil, or whatever it was.

And, do they get in the car and drive here?

Do they walk here?

How did they get here?

And what did they see when they got here?

- Then she said: "Let's take the truck there."

And I said: "I'm not going. I'm scared. I'm not going back."

Luiza went: "Please, go there with me."

Then I got in the truck and came back.

- And then there, on that spot, I saw the creature's footprint.

I'll never forget it... by this sun.

Only three fingertips.

A footprint like this.

It was loose red dirt, so it was like this.

JAMES FOX: Can she draw the footprint,

the shape of the footprint?

He has to...

- Here.

- James wants you to draw it exactly as it was.

- Yeah. - I only saw the trail left by its foot.

- Yes.

- I didn't see anything else. It was like this.

I'm shaking.

Look, one finger, another long finger,

and another finger like this.

This was what I saw on the earth there.

I couldn't stand the smell, right here in the nose.

For about twenty days.

I don't know where that smell came from.

I even washed my nose with alcohol and water

to get that smell out.

That strong smell of... - Ammonia.

- No, it wasn't ammonia. It wasn't...

it smelled worse than sulfur.

- I don't know, to me it was ammonia.

- What a strange smell. "Let's go."

Then I grabbed her like this and said: "Let's go!"

[dog barks]

[birds chirping]

JAMES FOX: That's the exact location where the girl saw the creature,

right through that wall,

where we filmed already with the girls.

I didn't realize that Marco Chereze, the military officer

who allegedly captured the creature with his bare hands,

did it right over here.

[dog barks]

NARRATOR: Roughly three hours after the girls witnessed

the strange creature, military police officers Edi Lopes

and Marco Chereze drive down this road on the lookout

for something unusual, when suddenly,

it runs right across their path.

- The officers got out of the car.

Primarily, Marco Chereze took action.

He grabbed the creature, restrained it.

[tense music]

- It was captured by Marco Chereze with his bare hands,

easily, and taken to the hospital.

After he captured the creature, he was smelling the creature

in his body and his clothes.

Because he had this strange feeling of something greasy, sticky

over his body that came from the creature.

CAPTURE SITE

He developed this infection that wouldn't go away.

And for two or three weeks,

it was getting worse and worse and worse.

And it looks like that his immunity system was shut down.

These were the words used by one of the doctors who treated him,

who said that he never saw, in his whole medical career,

anything like that.

And that infection killed him.

- Good afternoon.

My name is Cesáro Lincoln Furtado. I'm a doctor,

an intensive care cardiologist.

I've been working in the city for 45 years.

In 1996,

I was here when the event,

the appearance

of the extraterrestrial beings occurred in the city.

I had to attend to Marco Chereze,

who was the military officer, people say,

who was involved in the case at the time.

And we took him to the intensive care,

and did all the treatments.

But he died from an undetermined cause.

A cause unknown at the time by us doctors.

- All the witnesses that claim that Marco Chereze

handled a creature, a strange creature...

It doesn't have to be from another world.

It was a strange creature.

He gets some unknown infection.

You did everything you could to save him.

And he died.

Do you believe that there's some credibility to that story?

- Yes, it's a credible story.

He exposed this...

to reveal what happened to try to help himself

to save his life.

Because he felt he was dying.

And, according to his sister,

he was restricted from talking about it.

- Marco Eli Chereze, who was 23 years old,

worked for police intelligence.

The family knows he was participating in a secret operation.

Can you confirm your brother was working on the 20th?

- I confirm.

My name is Marta Tavares.

I am the sister of the military officer who was involved in the E.T. case,

in January 1996.

NARRATOR: When her brother falls ill,

she asks about his involvement with the case.

- Is this story of the creature, this extraterrestrial, is it true?

His answer was:

"Look, this story will be a big deal."

NARRATOR: On February 10, Marcos Chereze

is admitted to Regional Hospital.

- We went to the ICU at 7:00 am.

He said to me: "Find out what I have

because I don't feel that bad."

Then he went to intensive care and at 11:45 am, he died.

And the doctor... Luis Albeto Severo,

who was the on-call doctor that day,

wanted to bury him as fast as possible.

[EKG beeps]

this exam here indicates the presence of granular toxin,

it shows 8% of fine-grained neutrophils.

There was an unidentifiable substance.

And so, he died from a general infection,

but it was not a justifiable cause.

- Roger, what's the main purpose that you came to Varginha

for ufological research?

The main purpose for being here

is to look at the physical evidence aspect of this case,

which is what I specialize in.

It is June the 7, 2002.

And I'm here in Varginha, Brazil,

with the chief investigator on the Varginha episode.

Ubirajara Rodrigues.

- Testimony from civilians, we have 14 witnesses

directly participating from hospitals, etc.

Testimony from military personnel, to this day,

we have eight statements, all are absolutely reliable.

- 2002, renowned UFO researcher Dr. Roger Leir

travels to Varginha to investigate the case.

He documents multiple key witnesses on video.

This footage has never been released.

- She is the wife of a deceased member of the military police.

I think we should at least know what her husband's name was.

- Can you tell us your husband's name, please?

- Marco Eli Chereze.

- Does she know if anyone has seen a medical report?

- Do you know anyone who's seen the medical report?

- No, after they delivered it

first, they wanted money for it, they took a long time,

and pages were missing.

- Oh, they took a long time to deliver it.

And they asked for money.

And they... and there were missing pages.

- Nobody knew how to explain anything.

I was always looking for an explanation,

but no explanation came, none.

- She wants... she looks... she search for explanation,

but nobody would give any.

Was Marco Eli Chereze the only person infected, who died?

We don't know.

Were, these two creature the only ones

that remain alive after the crash?

We don't know.

We only have,

very detailed information about the existence

and the capture of these two,

one captured in the morning and one at evening of the same day,

January 20, 1996.

REPORTER: There are people in the city who think differently.

NARRATOR: According to credible reports,

there were two captures on January 20.

Hours before the girls' encounter,

the fire brigade captured a being.

This capture was thoroughly investigated

by leading Brazilian researcher and lawyer, Ubirajara Rodrigues.

…basic notions of the observations we make.

- The lawyer and professor Ubirajara Rodrigues

who is also a ufologist,

said on TV that they found evidence

that the story is authentic.

- We are not going to abandon the case. Of course we won't.

All information will be welcome.

MAN: This is the fire department that, responded...

NARRATOR: Dr. Leir teamed up with Ubirajara.

They questioned the fire battalion allegedly involved

in the capture of the first creature.

MAN: This is the creature.

And this is the kind of equipment that is...

They used to catch it.

NARRATOR: The Fire Department was dispatched to this location

after receiving several calls from concerned residents

who reported seeing something strange in the area.

- It went into the woods.

Then the firemen arrived, dispersing the people.

They descended, the firemen, and some others stayed here.

They captured it with a net.

Because you know in Brazil, when you have this kind of problem,

like being stung by wasps, or a venomous animal,

or a mad dog, the firemen are called.

The firemen didn't know what to do when they got here.

- We went out looking for other witnessed, and we were satisfied.

- When we were there on the slab, the firemen came,

and soon after, they told us they caught an animal in the forest.

- Did they think it was something strange?

What comments did they have?

- No, they said the animal they caught cried like a child.

- There were two captures.

The first was by firemen, in the morning.

Another by the military police in the evening.

INTERPRETER: The army truck entered by this gate here,

got in over here.

- They got the creature?

- They took the dead creature,

INTERPRETER: Got the creature already dead from inside.

- In the presence of various elements military police and army...

INTERPRETER: The presence of several elements

from the military police, from the army...

- Several doctors and nurses.

INTERPRETER: Several doctors and nurses.

- And this convoy went to Três Corações.

INTERPRETER: And this convoy left the place

and went to Tres Corações.

INVESTIGATOR: Both creatures left at the same time?

- And the live creature in Campinas alive.

INTERPRETER: And the creature that was alive

got to Campinas alive.

NARRATOR: The team drives to meet

with a family who saw a UFO hovering over the area

of the encounter and capture.

[indistinct chatter]

JAMES FOX: OK, let me ask. Let me ask.

- Yeah.

How about we film the back of their heads talking to me?

It won't show anything.

- No, I don't want to...

- No, he's not going to reveal you...

- No, I only want to comment on the story.

JAMES FOX: Hey, Fernanda, we have two options, OK?

One, we blur his faces, no problem.

And we will do that.

Two, we film them from the backside, their faces aren't seen. Ever.

INTERPRETER: Não vai aparecer.

- They're like doctors.

And they all saw the UFO right over this area.

And it looked like they were looking for something,

like it was doing a grid search.

And this is a very respectable family.

They don't want their faces on camera.

They wanna talk and tell what they saw,

but they don't want their faces revealed on camera,

which happens.

OK, so we're standing in very near the area

where the girls saw the creature.

It was 1996, January.

This entire family saw something they wanna share with us.

But they don't wanna have their faces revealed.

So what did they see?

- The motorcycle delivery guy arrived,

delivered our meal. Then suddenly,

there's a big thing over our house.

- A red light...

- Very red, and like a sphere, rotating very fast.

- Very fast. I wanted to really focus on it.

It was all like... solid, like when I look at these walls,

but totally abnormal.

A thing like...

I don't know if it was from another planet.

It was a flying disc.

This just can't be...

and I can't say how many minutes.

They were scared.

Three of us looking... - It was 15 minutes!

- I was just staring at it... - It was just hovering.

- Hovering and rotating... - Like this.

- It was searching for something around here.

- Very red. - But it was red, very red.

And silvery all around... - A sphere.

- Like a sphere. And looking, really looking for something.

And we were just all looking at it.

- We stared at it for 15 minutes.

- What I was looking at, I knew I'd never see it again.

I don't know why God gave me this opportunity...

it was real. This happened.

There was no way it was something else.

The Varginha case was real!

And about a week later... - It was.

- Some people came. - Ubirajara. Ufologists.

People from NASA.

- NASA, I don't know if they were... it was an American too,

who came here, and stayed a long time talking with us,

talking into the night.

And got my attention when they left,

they said this conversation never happened.

Did I hear... I heard Americana.

He said America. - Yes.

- What was that about?

Some American officials... - Came here.

- Came here to talk about what they saw.

- Yes. - Americans?

- Mm-hmm. - Were they military?

Were they police?

Who were they?

- No, they were dressed like civilians. Normal.

- They came with Ubirajara.

- The UFO researcher at the time.

- He has all our statements...

The people were Americans, but I don't know who.

Is there any way that there is a conventional explanation

to what they saw?

- I'm saying what I saw with my own eyes.

I don't need to lie.

I never even wanted to give an interview.

I'm doing this interview without showing my face.

It's real. 100% real.

I stayed 10 to 15 minutes staring at this to be sure of what I'm saying.

JAMES FOX: I just wanna go over that interview.

And what I find, first of all,

they hesitated on whether or not they even wanted to go on camera.

They canceled yesterday.

Today, they were like, We don't want...

Sorry, there's a bus coming.

We don't want our faces on camera.

It was, like, an entire family.

And they all saw this object.

And it was really big, shaped like a disc, zero noise.

You have witnesses like that...

They're friends of the doctor,

the guy that we rent the house from...

That you could just tell

they've been sitting on that story for 26 years,

how excited he was to finally share it.

[birds chirping]

- So, it was a normal day,

when suddenly, on the school polo field,

a Navy helicopter landed.

And then a big movement started,

of vehicles entering the barracks.

I was standing in line at the bank,

to receive my payment,

when a Navy truck parked outside,

and military men hurriedly pushed a metal box inside.

JAMES FOX: There was unusual activity at the base.

INTERPRETER: Mm-hmm.

- There were helicopters from the navy,

which, in itself, was unusual.

He sees a box.

Was the box unusual?

What caught my attention was

why the Navy would be taking this box from the infirmary.

The Navy people were ordering us to get out of there.

The commanding general said, "There are rumors

that they went to Varginha and picked up some creature."

ESA ARMY BASE TRÊS CORAÇÕES, BRAZIL

"The creature is here, and the press want to come inside."

It was really weird... really strange.

My squadron was directly involved with the mission,

because they transported it.

So I avoided talking.

Soon after, the drivers who went to Varginha

were ordered to the commander’s office.

And we never saw them again.

- So to this day, has he spoken to any of them

that went to Varginha?

- No. - No.

- No. - Nothing?

CREW: Yeah.

[tense music]

NARRATOR: According to the witness,

it wasn't only the drivers who were never seen again.

Their captain, Edson Ramirez, also left without a word.

- He went to Brasilia.

He was a friend to everyone, spoke with everyone,

would help everyone.

He wasn't a person who would just go without saying good-bye.

NARRATOR: January 1996, a radiologist

has an unexpected visit by the military

while on duty at Regional Hospital.

He agrees to share his story,

provided his identity remains concealed.

- Outside the gated courtyard, there was a truck from ESA, military.

In the courtyard, there was a jeep, with more military personnel,

and another eight or ten police vehicles.

Nobody comes, and nobody goes.

- So we have a big military presence

on the outside of the Hospital.

We got two army and two police on the inside of the Hospital

with a box and something inside of a black zipped body bag.

- They asked me to do the X-rays on the parts they requested:

The skull, cervical spine, thorax,

abdomen, pelvis, and legs and arms.

[camera clicks]

Their eyes were fixed,

observing me all the time to see what I was doing.

But they didn't say anything...

even among themselves.

The X-rays were developed, and at the time,

I saw no images.

It all was taken by the military that day.

Normally, I verify the images are correct,

but on this day, I didn't verify them.

Understand?

One person who was there said,

"Your job is done. Thank you very much.

Your job is done.

Don't comment on what you saw, or what you did."

- Well, what did it smell like?

- The smell was strong,

a mix between sulfur and ammonia.

- When they took whatever it was in that black bag

and they left the hospital, the military and the police,

with that bag and that thing, did the smell leave?

- Despite all the cleaning, disinfecting,

the smell remained.

And that section of the hospital was closed.

We couldn't serve the public because the smell was so strong.

The smell was still there the next day, and everyone was complaining.

The smell impregnated my nose and respiratory system,

for three or four days.

- Three of the most strange, bizarre points...

of this encounter.

- The first thing I found really strange:

They selected me to do this kind of procedure

because it could have been done by any professional.

The other thing, they asked for secrecy.

All in secret, what we did in that room.

The other thing, they also refused me access

to the images I took.

They thanked me, and told me not to say anything.

Stay quiet.

- Probably about 10 months ago,

Marco managed to reach a vetted,

legitimate witness who was involved

in the transportation of the...

They call them him E.T., or the bean.

This guy was so scared.

Marco spent, I think, 8 to 10 months

slowly developing a relationship with this guy.

And about four days ago, he agreed to meet with me

and Marco, just the two of us.

So we drove late into the night.

We met him at a bar.

When we arrived, he was with another guy.

He took us to a different location.

And we sat outside, and we talked for a couple of hours

about coming forward, appearing in the documentary.

I've never ever had the opportunity

to interview a witness that potentially handled

an extraterrestrial being.

I worry about the military getting wind of what's going on.

'Cause they're clearly paying attention to this witness.

I'm worried about them... him getting a phone call reminding him

of his oath to secrecy.

I don't wanna put someone else's family in harm's way.

[music playing]

So you'll always, in the back of your mind,

in a situation like this, you know that at any moment,

the carpet could get pulled out from under you.

And then it's not a done deal until it's a done deal.

Listen, I wonder if we should rent a hotel room

and then have him come to us.

Because then we can get all the gear inside the hotel room.

And then he can just show up and walk in.

- We can stop in the gas station.

NARRATOR: Marco coordinates with the witness, Military X,

to secure a safe meeting location.

- Yes, I made an appointment with him in the same hotel

right here, close to here.

And then so I think we have to drove...

JAMES FOX: We go to the hotel first?

- Yeah, we go. JAMES FOX: We should check in.

And then he just walks in. - Yeah, exactly.

JAMES FOX: Now. Go - That's...

Yeah, let's go. Bye.

MAN: Be careful.

- I feel that... that anxiety in my stomach, you know?

It's just, like, we pull this off,

and it's just, like, first time,

it'll be the most compelling testimony ever revealed

on the history of this case.

Oh, my fucking God, this hill is so steep.

MAN: I know.

[tense music]

JAMES FOX: Entrada.

If this is the hotel, I would get a quick shot of it.

And I'd shut these cameras off right now.

Can you guys do that?

Shut everything off.

[tense music]

Guys?

CREW: Yeah. - Right.

CREW: Right here. - OK.

CREW: Here.

Fuck, this room is small.

CREW: This is where... he can't even use these cameras in here.

JAMES FOX: Oh, my God. CREW: OK.

He's trying to find a room with two beds.

[chatter]

CREW: Yeah.

Mark it.

- You're going to be called "Military X."

Understand?

OK, anytime.

- OK, so we are sitting here with Military X,

who clearly doesn't want his identity revealed,

which we're not gonna do.

And he's gonna provide enough detail, not too much,

but enough detail on operations that he was involved

with with the Varginha case.

[helicopter]

- It was a normal day. I was at the army base,

when around nine, nine thirty,

I don't remember exactly, it's been a long time,

they called me, we use the term "summoned",

to... show up at his office.

Today, he's a Colonel, Vanderlei.

And... along with other officers,

I was instructed to prepare some vehicles,

the trucks, for a mission.

They didn't say what that mission would be.

And that we were going to the city if Varginha.

We were ordered to follow

some unmarked vehicles, non-military vehicles.

And I remember it right, it was a Kombi.

OK? A Kombi.

Wherever they stopped, we stopped as well.

We were going to the city of Varginha.

When we get there, we stay put.

The convoy stopped.

The military personnel belonging to...

group S2, which is the Army's Secret Service,

were ordered to remain there until further notice.

And so, three soldiers, who were driving the other vehicles...

were each to move to a different location.

Then, I followed this military guy

who belonged to the Secret Service,

passing through downtown,

near Regional Hospital, if I'm not mistaken.

And then we went to Humanitas Hospital.

Then, we were given the order to back the trucks into Humanitas Hospital.

Arriving at the gate, how can I put it?

The hospital scene,

I saw a box.

A stainless-steel table with a box.

There were doctors, people carrying clipboards...

analyzing. It looked like...

they all seemed scared of it.

And when I looked...

I saw... something different.

A different creature, with the skin very oily...

a lot of oil, like silicone.

Seeing that, I got scared.

JAMES FOX: When he was in Humanitas,

this is where he saw part of the creature.

- Yes. - What was the atmosphere like?

What were the looks on the faces of the other people in the room?

- Yeah. - What was it like?

Can he put me in that room?

- I felt a climate of tension,

a climate of tension.

Everyone looked at everyone else,

wondering what was going on.

That's the truth.

What caught my attention, which I forgot to say,

was the foot.

It was like this.

Practically two fingers...

- When you looked and he saw the leg or part of the leg...

- Mm-hmm. - And the foot, with the V...

- Right. - What did he think?

- What got my attention, what led me to believe

that it wasn't a human being, was the foot.

- Mm-hmm.

- Everybody was shocked...

Very shocked.

I looked at it, then looked away

because I got scared I looked at it.

What is that? When I looked, my expression changed.

I was...

in over my head with the situation.

They did this.

A soldier, I think it was a soldier from the fire department:

"Leave, leave, leave."

So, I took a step back and turned around.

But before I left, I remember to the right of the box,

there was a soldier with a camera, but he wasn't filming.

He had it hanging here.

He had it hanging here.

NARRATOR: ESA military base is roughly

20 miles southeast of Varginha.

According to witnesses, the army operations originated from here.

- Is there filmed footage, video footage of the creature

that he knows about?

- He asked if there is any copy, any tape,

that was shot at the hospital that was brought to your attention?

- Yes. They have it for sure.

For sure.

NARRATOR: Military X says that on January 22, 1996,

he drove the creature from Humanitas Hospital in Varginha

to ESA Army base, where it would remain overnight.

- We parked the vehicles as instructed.

We went to the office.

We went to the office. Right?

They focused on me,

with this other military guy.

He looked at me straight in the eyes,

and asked what I saw.

I said: "I think it was a burnt man or...

something..."

He said, "No. That's not what you saw."

I don't know if he thought I was trying to deceive him.

Like he knows, but doesn't want to say.

That's when he said:

"What I saw was supernatural."

Anyone who dares...

to speak anything about what happened...

this must never get out.

I anyone talks outside these walls,

the punishment would be very severe.

Never...

it was something to be kept extremely secret,

of extreme importance.

The secret would remain for life.

- Does he have any idea

where the creature went?

Because, it went to Regional,

then Humanitas, then ESA, then Campinas.

And then what happened?

- Varginha, ESA...

NARRATOR: According to Military X,

he transported a creature from Humanitas Hospital in Varginha

to ESA military base in Tres Corações,

where it stayed for the night.

Early the following morning, the convoy continued their mission,

heading south on Fernao Dias Freeway, then west on Don Pedro

to Espcex army base in the city of Campinas.

[music playing]

- I think they did a study in Campinas.

Now, some thing I don't know and can't prove,

but the rumors at the time were that it went to the United States.

We weren't really equipped

honestly,

to keep the creature here.

...the Brazilian Air Force.

NARRATOR: The team meets with Brazilian Air Force

traffic control officer, Jose Manuel Fernandes.

His unit was responsible for monitoring specific airspace

over the state of Sao Paulo.

- Do you know anything about this case?

- What I know,

the USAF lands in Campinas.

A USAF airplane lands in Campinas.

And two helicopters took off from Campinas airport

to an unknown place.

Afterward, we learned that it was the city of Varginha.

It landed, collected something,

nobody knows what, returned to Campinas,

put it in the USAF airplane, took off and left.

And the mission was what they told us:

Silence. Total silence.

- Was it Americans involved?

Or was it just the Brazilians involved?

- Yeah.

INTERPRETER: Was it only Brazilians or Americans?

- No, only Americans, only.

The Brazilians supported only the ground operation.

What was collected is not known.

But something was rescued.

- And how does he know that the Americans were involved?

How do you know that the Americans were involved?

- Because they landed,

without authorization of the Brazilian government.

It was a secret mission.

And it was a USAF airplane.

[thunder]

- It was 9:00 in the evening.

The girls were already asleep.

There was a knock on the door. And I innocently opened the door,

thinking it could be one of the researchers who had been here earlier,

Ubirajara, or Pacaccini, for example.

But then, four men walked in

that I'd never seen before.

All dressed in black.

One was carrying a briefcase.

Another had a clipboard, telling me:

"Shut the door, shut the door!"

That scared me.

Then one of them said to me,

"Dona Luiza, we are here."

Only one of them spoke,

one took notes, and the others were silent,

just listening.

"We are here to make a great proposal to you

because you can become very rich now if you want."

I didn't understand it at all,

I was just getting ready for bed...

I asked: "What is this all about?"

"You tell the girls,

they saw nothing."

"The money in this briefcase, which will be given to you,

can only be spent outside of Brazil."

Than I said: "Mister, I cannot do that.

My daughters really saw something.

I cannot portray them as liars, or be a liar myself."

I won't agree to this deal with you.

"I won't agree to this deal with you.

Excuse me, you will get out of my house

or I'll call the police."

They insisted and insisted.

But suddenly they left.

I ran to the gate,

to see what kind of car they had.

And they were gone.

I couldn't place them, but they weren't from Brazil.

They were foreigners.

- I pulled up to a gas station to have a coffee,

so I could relax a little.

And then, two people came up to me,

wearing black suits, very neat, very tall people.

The stopped by my side and said:

"Are you Mr. Carlos de Sousa?

Married to so-and-so, your daughter is so-and-so..."

They described my whole life right there.

I turned to the guy and said: "Who are you?

How do you know that?"

He spoke clear to me:

"Look, you didn't see anything. You shut up. Go away.

If someone asks, you didn’t see anything."

If not, thing are going to get very weird for you.

"So get out of here."

Right then, I got scared.

[music playing]

It was an Opala, black,

or a very dark blue, almost black and it didn't have a license plate.

And then they left.

They disappeared.

- The commanding officer driving the car was Corporal Lopes.

He's living proof of the fact of what happened.

He participated in the capture.

My brother was his subordinate.

- Has anybody seen Eric Lopes?

Has anyone ever tried to talk to him?

- People try to reach him out.

- People have tried. - Yeah.

- And nada.

NARRATOR: With the help of Varginha Mayor Verdi,

the team connects with Mr. da Costa,

a military police corporal, in 1996.

His son, Romulo Ribeiro, agrees to escort them

to the home of Eric Lopes.

- I'll get you there, and you talk to him.

I'll introduce myself, then hand it over to you

because you're the professionals.

How’s it going?

JAMES FOX: Oh, my God.

Are you kidding me?

We go up carefully.

NARRATOR: Eric Lopes is the military police officer from P2,

who reportedly drove the car during the second capture

with Marco Chereze.

[music playing]

Not even the family of the deceased officer

has been able to get a statement from Lopes.

[tense music]

JAMES FOX: What is this guy hiding, huh?

CREW: Hiding.

NARRATOR: If the reports are true,

he is the only living witness of the second capture.

Officer Lopes has been unreachable for 26 years.

CREW: We wait.

If he talks first...

JAMES FOX: Oh, my God. I'll go with him.

I'm going with him.

CREW: Chickens.

[tense music]

JAMES FOX: Hey.

Hey.

Hello Eric.

How are you? We want to talk...

- If it's about the E.T., he won't talk.

He's gonna remove you with bullets.

- We can't?

- You guys are gonna get in trouble.

- Tell him that the mayor has blessed us.

Tell him the mayor said...

- It's all good? You're all good?

- You're gonna get in trouble.

- He's upset.

He's saying it's gonna be a problem.

- This is Eric Lopes?

Let me just... hold on.

Please, let me ask a question.

Please, pergunta, por favor.

He's not Eric.

INTERPRETER: Uh-huh.

His friend, Lopes friend.

JAMES FOX: Oh, OK.

- I will kick you out with bullets.

He doesn't want to.

JAMES FOX: Hold on. Hold on.

Just ask him one question for me.

- He just wants to ask you a single question, sir...

- You guys are gonna get in trouble.

- No, he...

- Will he he ever come forward and make a statement?

- He's asking you sir

if you think that Lopes could...

- I am Lopes.

CREW: What's happening?

CREW: This is the house of Eric Lopes.

CREW: Yeah.

- But he doesn't like to talk.

- You're Eric?

I didn't know you were Eric.

CREW: And the threat is that they

might shoot us because we're on the property, trespassing.

They're currently talking right now.

- What's happening?

You're Eric?

I didn't know you were Eric.

If you could speak...

You don't want to talk?

- Are you okay? -Thank you. God bless you.

- So Eric...

Eric won't talk. - No, he...

- What just happened?

I'm trying... what happened?

Is that Eric Lopes?

- Yeah, he doesn't want to talk. - Who is that?

- Yeah, Eric Lopes. - That's Eric Lopes?

- It's over.

He doesn't want to talk at all. - I'll tell you later.

- Termina? - Yeah.

- OK. - Let's go.

- Oh, my God, that was Eric Lopes.

INTERPRETER: Thank you.

- Just saw him.

Oh, yai yai.

OK.

We'll go talk to him. Did you get him?

Dave, did you get him? Please tell me you got him.

That was Eric Lopes.

My God.

You got him in the window? CREW: Yeah.

JAMES FOX: Oh, my shit.

[light gasp] Oh, my...

CREW: He was in the window the whole time.

JAMES FOX: God. You got him.

CREW: He confirmed... I'm Eric Lopes.

And he say we shot if you don't live here.

He will shoot you.

CREW: Yeah.

- [whispering] Fuck.

If that guy had nothing to hide, he would've just said so.

That guy was driving the car...

CREW: Yeah.

- That Marco Chereze was in.

JAMES FOX: Right what we just did.

CREW: I think the interview

yesterday was pretty good.

JAMES FOX: For what? No.

Right now was pretty gnarly.

- This was the area where the E.T. was seen.

Now I'm going to take you up there, so you can see down below.

JAMES FOX: Ask him if we can talk about what we just did.

CREW: He wants to talk to you about what happened.

JAMES FOX: OK.

Which way did he go? CREW: To the left.

JAMES FOX: Are we stopping here?

CREW: I don't know.

JAMES FOX: Oh, my God.

CREW: What is this?

What exactly did he say?

- He won't talk about the E.T. case.

Better we left, otherwise he would shoot us.

JAMES FOX: And he believed that Eric Lopes was serious?

- I do believe. INTERPRETER: Yes. He was.

- I do believe.

- Strange... - Thank you.

- Very strange.

[tense music]

[camera clicks]

- This picture in this news article,

was the first time that my mother participated.

YES, WE HAVE A E.T.

The first and last time.

I was outraged by the attitude of the police.

Twenty-five years ago,

they came to my mother and told her

the story of the creature was true.

It happened.

But they couldn't admit the truth to society

because the population would collapse.

[music playing]

JAMES FOX: If his story is true,

he is walking around

with a level of confirmation

that only a handful of people on this planet have.

What does that feel like?

- I remember Marco's words when I met him.

One of the first things he said to me was:

"Wow, man, I wish I was in your place."

I wish I was in your place

"because you lived something I dream of living."

To be honest, I'm indifferent to that;

it's not something I'm attracted to.

It's a story, it's something I've lived

that's significant to a lot of people,

to the world, to humankind.

But, while you look for it, search for it

I wish I hadn't lived it.

Honestly... I wish I hadn't lived it

because it caused me a lot of grief, lots of problems.

I shared all my private issues to Marco. Marco knows.

I had lots of problems.

REPORTER: On the same day May 4th...

- We wish it hadn't been us

because we went through a lot together.

And a lot of mockery... - Still to this day.

- Still to this day.

Today we can see this from a different perspective.

NARRATOR: May 8, 1996, with mounting pressure from media

and witnesses, the military base, ESA,

holds a press conference.

General Lima addresses the crowd.

- We have nothing to hide.

REPORTER: Did it happen?

- What were you guys doing that day?

- We were working for the Army and the Nation.

REPORTER: Can you prove it?

- Prove to whom?

- To the press.

- Why?

- Don't you want to prove the facts?

- I don't have to prove what I said.

I've already said everything I'm going to say.

- They wanted to keep us quiet about this story.

That it wasn't an E.T. That is crazy,

it was nothing, or silly.

Like there was no such thing.

That's why we don't bring up police, ESA

anything like that.

[music playing]

- Do you think I would be embarrassed for 26 years?

People, family members joking, making fun of me?

I would never do that.

What did I get out of this? Nothing.

I never made a dollar of it.

There is no advantage to be gained.

If I say I made a cent, I'd be lying.

- Unfortunately,

I come from an institution that

I cannot expose.

You now hold, practically, my peace in your hands.

Could I make a lot of money? Yes.

I could write my story,

but I met Marco and promised him

that I would give one last statement. OK?

And I thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak.

May you continue researching.

Don't ever be discouraged.

Don't let this go.

[music playing]

- Everything that happened to me began at Maiolini Farm.

That's where this whole story...

that's where it all started, at Maiolini farm.

- The accumulation of aspects,

the girls who saw something, the other people in the town

who saw something, this wasn't an isolated event

where you got one witness saying,

oh, I saw something extraordinary.

Not at all.

They seemed to be relatively naive, young girls.

And there were fire department people involved...

who saw the beings too.

And one nice thing about it is it takes

the onus away from saying,

things only happen in the United States.

Well, there was the United States involvement.

And it wouldn't surprise me

if they paid to pick up the wreckage and, you know, all the rest of the stuff.

Why not.

Makes sense, cheap way to get information.

Let the other guy to the work.

- I am a 2nd-Lieutenant in the Brazilian Army Reserves,

and through my contact,

the sergeant who worked with me at the time,

told me the boxes containing the entities

were taken to the Army Base in Campinas,

where they train the cadets.

From there they went to Unicamp Clinics Hospital,

where they secured the perimeter,

and began the examination with the team.

Then the Americans came and took the entities

that were in the boxes to the United States.

- People ask why Varginha wasn't treated like other cases.

Probably because it's the most important case

in which there was cooperation

between Brazil and the United States.

- It's always going to be our word against everyone else's.

There are still things to be uncovered,

a mystery that remains.

JAMES FOX: I believe that the Varginha case

is much more important today because it is more recent.

And some of the events have not unfolded yet.

- Did she have any connection with the eyes?

Did she make any...

Like, fear she saw eye to eye with...

With the being?

MAN: Mm-hmm.

- "Take me our of here, I am suffering."

[chuckling]

- Kátia and I wanted to stay, but Liliane didn't let us.

- People joke about this, but this is very serious.

- Were there live aliens seen walking around this town?

- Unfortunately, I didn't see it, but I believe it.

- Mm-hmm.

- I have deal with this case in 1996

because I have some friends from there.

He told me that, oh, you don't know what is true,

but I know what I saw.

[music playing]

- [whispering] Oh, James.

JAMES FOX: Oh, yeah.

Really?

INTERPRETER: Weight off his shoulders.

JAMES FOX: Mm-hmm. INTERPRETER: Yeah.

God, I just wonder, like, what they said to these witnesses

that 25 years later,

they still don't wanna talk about it on camera at all.

It's, like, unbelievable.

It's, like, you offer them even compensation

that it still won't do it.

CREW: I know.

It's, like, money doesn't...

Won't do it. It's weird.

The reason why they haven't made overt contact,

because we're so aggressive.

[laughs]

Come on. [laughs]

- Exactly, this is the question!

Why don't they make contact?

Why?

[birds chirping]

- Would that smell make a good perfume?

[birds chirping]

[witness laughs]

[laughter]

[inaudible]

If it were that way...

[laughter]