Varginha - the Roswell of Brazil

One of the more bizarre episodes in the history of UFO reports comes from the Brazilian town of Varginha where something strange took place on 20 January 1996.  Rather like Roswell, New Mexico, it seems to involve the notion that a UFO crashed -- in itself something implausible if extra-terrestrial craft can successfully negotiate galaxies.

Unlike Roswell, however, where the reports of a UFO crash were actually initiated by the USAF (which quickly changed its story), this seems to have begun with two teenage sisters and their friend who said they saw a "creature" 1.6 metres (5 ft) high, with a large head and very thin body, strange V-shaped feet, and large red eyes walking the streets of the city. 

Rumors spread quickly throughout the city. Within a day, UFOs were supposedly sighted, and other reports of alien sightings and even captured aliens came flooding into the local media. Two days later, a "creature" was reported to have been found dead in a roadside ditch. Three military trucks were reportedly sent to retrieve it.

The Brazilian media seized upon the story, though it was impossible to verify any part of it. The story even became international news, with the Wall Street Journal writing that "Varginha has the makings of a 'cosmic Watergate.'" Despite all the press coverage, there was never any proof that anything out of the ordinary was afoot, beyond a self-instigated mass media frenzy. The Brazilian government denies the entire incident ever happened, which of course only makes UFO believers even more suspicious.

Since then Varginha has become a UFO pilgrimage spot and the city has been more than happy to capitalize on its sudden influx of ET tourism. Grey dolls can be bought throughout the city, and businesses have added alien decor.

The largest and most conspicuous of the UFO-related items in the city is its water tower. Constructed in 2001, it is 20 metres tall and built to resemble the craft which was said to have been seen by the city residents. To augment the out-of-this-world effect, the water tower glows purple and blue at night.

It all seems like an elaborate hoax and if boosting tourist revenue was the objective, it clearly worked.