IncidentVarginha 'ET' Incident (20 January 1996)

aka Varginha 'ET' Incident (20 January 1996)

Three young women in Varginha, Minas Gerais, Brazil reported encountering a small, V-shaped-headed creature near a wall on the morning of 20 January 1996; subsequent investigation surfaced military helicopter activity, a fire-brigade response, and the death within days of a Military Police soldier reportedly involved in the capture.

under-corroborated Multiple civilian witnesses and accumulated military hearsay against firm institutional denial and no physical record; the 2022 documentary re-energized testimony without adding documentation.

status history (1)

2026-06-09 · unannotated → under-corroborated — initial annotation sweep (Epic J.F4)

On the morning of 20 January 1996, sisters Liliane (16) and Valquíria Silva (14) and their friend Kátia Andrade Xavier (22) were walking through a vacant lot in the Jardim Andere district of Varginha, a city of ~120,000 in southern Minas Gerais, Brazil, when they reported encountering a small humanoid figure (approximately 1.6m) crouched near a wall, with brown oily skin, large red eyes, and three short protuberances on its head. They fled. Their account became the centerpiece of a multi-stranded set of reports: (1) on the early morning of the same day, the Varginha Fire Brigade — Cpl. Eurico de Freitas and Sgt. Pedro Pereira — was reportedly dispatched to capture an unknown creature in another part of the city, with their official log entry confirmed in Brazilian press the same week; (2) ESA (Escola de Sargentos das Armas) Army personnel and Military Police were reportedly involved in a coordinated transport of one or more creatures via military ambulance from the Bom Pastor hospital and Humanitas hospital; (3) Military Police Cpl. Marco Eli Cherese, who reportedly handled one of the captured creatures, died on 15 February 1996 of an unspecified pulmonary infection — his death certificate cited septicemia. Brazilian Army Gen. Sérgio Pedro Bambasi, then commander of the ESA in nearby Três Corações, formally denied any Army involvement. The case was investigated for several years by Brazilian researcher Ubirajara Franco Rodrigues and journalist Vitório Pacaccini; their conclusions (multiple creatures, military retrieval) remain disputed but the underlying documentary trail — fire-brigade log, hospital admissions, Cherese’s death — is publicly anchored.

Notable & intriguing

On the morning of 20 January 1996, the Varginha Fire Brigade — Cpl. Eurico de Freitas and Sgt. Pedro Pereira — was officially dispatched to capture an unknown creature in the Jardim Andere district; the dispatch is recorded in the official Fire Brigade log and was confirmed by Diário do Sul in publications dated 22 and 23 January 1996.

Varginha Fire Brigade dispatch log, 20 January 1996; Diário do Sul, 22 January 1996
Military Police Cpl. Marco Eli Cherese, reportedly part of a Military Police detachment that transported one of the captured creatures from the Bom Pastor hospital on 22 January 1996, died on 15 February 1996. His death certificate, signed by Dr. Cassio Murilo de Souza of the Humanitas Hospital, cited septicemia of unspecified pulmonary origin. He was 23.

Brazilian Ministry of Health death certificate for Marco Eli Cherese, 15 February 1996; Folha de São Paulo, 18 February 1996
Brazilian Army Gen. Sérgio Pedro Bambasi, then commander of the Escola de Sargentos das Armas (ESA) at Três Corações, formally denied any Army involvement in a creature retrieval; researcher Ubirajara Franco Rodrigues subsequently obtained witness statements from named non-commissioned ESA personnel that contradicted the public denial. The Brazilian Army has not released its internal investigation file.

Gen. Bambasi public statement, Estado de Minas, 30 January 1996; Ubirajara Franco Rodrigues and Vitório Pacaccini, Incidente em Varginha, 1996

Public-record items already documented about this subject. Folklore is labelled. Sources cited where the specificity warrants it.

Suggested watching

Moment of Contact (2022) documentary

dir. James Fox · Prime / Apple / various · 1h 45m

James Fox's deep-dive on the January 1996 Varginha case in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Local Brazilian witnesses, military personnel, and the Ubirajara Rodrigues investigation are foregrounded.

essential — the canonical filmed Varginha treatment

More — incident