had contact with the creature were admonished to not discuss it with anyone, not even their relatives, and to specifically avoid the press and UFO researchers. Interviews with some of the military men involved in the removal operation who gave confidential interviews reported that three army trucks were used, each with a two-man team. They speculated that three trucks were used to remove one possibly extraterrestrial body so that none of the trucks would know who was indeed transporting the body of the creature. The Brazilian investigators have since determined these facts. The driving teams, although kept outside the hospital itself, observed details of the operation. Military personnel from Brazil’s S-2 — the Army internal intelligence section — was in charge of getting the corpse from the interior of the hospital, placing it lying down in a wooden box and then loading it into one of the trucks. All three trucks went back to ESA. The next morning at 4:00 am, the trucks headed to another military facility located in Campinas in the state of Sao Paulo, a 200-mile drive. There, the corpse was transferred to the University of Campinas, one of Brazil’s best institutions. The body was autopsied by Dr. Fortunato Badan Palhares, who gained worldwide acclaim as one of the best forensic doctors alive when he conducted the autopsy of the famous German Nazi Mengle, whose body was found in Brazil. However, Dr. Palhares has publicly denied having taken part in the autopsy of the creature found in January of 1996. One year after the Varginha incident, another witness came forward — Joao Bosco Manoel. He called Sr. Pacaccini. He and Sr. Rodrigues met with him and heard his story. He was an independent witness to the capture of the first creature. At approximately 10:45 am on January 20, Sr. Bosco was in the area selling fish door-to-door when his attention was diverted by a fire truck and firemen, but no evidence of a fire. He hid and watched the goings on. He observed six firemen hurriedly emerging from the bushes, followed by four firemen wearing big gloves and between them were carrying the creature wrapped in a net. The life form was put into the truck and the men drove away. Sr. Bosco noticed an extremely acrid, ammonia-like smell permeating the open air. Sr. Bosco spoke at a press conference and made his story public, stating that he could identify at least two of the firemen. This caused something of an uproar due to the official denial surrounding the story. Sr. Bosco was intimidated and threatened following his press conference, and Sr. Pacaccini spent a great deal of time meeting with him following threatening incidents. Sr. Bosco eventually moved out of the state of Minas Gerais. The Brazilian media has widely reported on the incident and the majority of the population understands that the case is real and that the military and civil authorities are keeping the facts absolutely quiet. Researchers Pacaccini and Rodrigues have determined that the policemen involved in the captures have since been transferred and promoted. For a period of time after the incident, the region where Varginha is located, in the southern part of the state of Minas Gerais, was experiencing one of the largest waves of UFO sightings ever registered, including reports of huge UFOs observed at close range and reported contacts with inhabitants. This event was covered on the front page of The Wall Street Journal Europe94 although the article’s tone was very much tongue in cheek and is a good example of mainstream media reporting techniques discussed in section 4.1.
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The Arizona Sightings - March 1997
Moffett, Matt, The Wall Street Journal Europe, July 1, 1996
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