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Varginha's Encounter With the Unknown · Shallow Nights: Scary Bedtime Stories

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In 1996, a small Brazilian town surrounded by countryside would
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play host to a string of supernatural events.
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Was it all just a ploy to increase tourism, or is there
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any truth to this tale? The alien of Virginia.
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It was January of 1996 and the mood amongst the residents in
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the small Brazilian town of Virginia was upbeat.
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The recent New Year's celebrations had been a success
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and plans were now underway for the Carnival which would be
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taking place in February, something of a highlight in the
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Brazilian calendar. For many people back in the mid
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90s, Virginia was little more than a promise of the thriving
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City of Culture and commerce it would eventually become.
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Located in the southeastern state of Minischerais, it was
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very much an up and coming town. The coffee trade was significant
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for local employment. Many commuted to nearby cities
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for work, though some multinational companies had also
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begun to invest in the region. With its rapid growth and steady
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stream of outside investment, the residents of Virginia didn't
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want for much. Compared to the sprawling
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cityscapes of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, it was nothing more
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than a sleepy backwater town where nothing much happened.
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However, on Saturday the 20th of January, a series of events
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occurred which were to shake this community to its core.
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It all started in the very early hours of the morning at a farm
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situated on the outskirts of town.
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Eureko Rodriguez, who lived and worked as a farmhand along with
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his partner Orolina Augusta, was awoken at around 1:30 AM by the
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unsettling sounds of panicked bleating and mooing from their
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livestock. Initially they considered that
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one of the animals may have escaped or that maybe there was
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a thief or predator on the prowl.
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They were absolutely dumbstruck when they looked out of the
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window and saw that it was actually a UFO that was
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troubling the animals. The description given for the
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strange craft was a grey submarine like object in the
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sky, about the size of a small bus.
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It was said to have been completely silent, with no
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lights whatsoever. The cows and sheep were in a
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disoriented state, and it is believed that the craft was
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visible for around 5 minutes before disappearing from view.
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Despite their encounter, Yuriko and Oralina decided not to
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report their sighting to authorities for fear of being
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ridiculed or labeled as hoaxes. Unknown to them at the time, the
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ramifications of what they had just witnessed would not hit
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home until a few days later when they read reports of possible
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UFO activity and even alien sightings in and around the town
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in the local press. One of these accounts would
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stand out amongst all others and came from a pair of sisters who
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lived with their mother in the hilly suburban outskirts of
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town. The Silver family resided in the
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Santana district, and though aged only 14 and 16 years,
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Valkaria and Liliana Silva were beginning to mature into
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responsible and reliable young women.
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Later on that same day, hours after the Rodriguez and Augustus
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sighting, the teenagers had met with their older friend Katia
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Xavier, who worked as a cleaner in the nearby Zarja Mandir
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district. The three of them regularly
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walked home together. It was a case of safety in
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numbers and they just so happened to enjoy each other's
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company. On that fateful day, the group
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decided to take a shortcut home through the small woods that
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separated their two neighborhoods.
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After walking through a section of woodland in Zarjem Indir,
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they arrived at a fallow but were suddenly startled by a
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strange looking entity less than 7 meters in front of them.
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There was something crouching down near a wall which they
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initially thought was some kind of animal, but it's grotesque
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appearance and odd behaviour unnerved them.
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As they approached, the creature turned its head in their
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direction and stared directly at them with terrifying bright red
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eyes. What it did or where it went
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after that point is not known, as Needless to say, the girls
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immediately fled the scene in horror.
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Upon arriving back home, the Silver Sisters were said to have
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burst in through the front door in floods of tears.
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Even after some comforting, the youngest, Liliana was
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inconsolable for some time. When their mother asked them
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what they had seen to make them so upset, they simply replied.
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We saw the devil. It wasn't long before the local
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press got wind of the story, and by the following day, Brazil's
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most watched Sunday TV show Fantastico sensationally
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announced the news that an extraterrestrial being had been
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spotted in Virginia. However, rumours were rife
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amongst the locals that there had in fact been multiple
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sightings of aliens roaming the streets during the previous day.
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The feeling in town was one of confusion and concern, with the
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majority of residents just trying to piece together exactly
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what had happened. Katia Xavier later gave a
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description of the creature they saw, saying it was a small
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emaciated non human, non animal being with brown skin, an oily
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appearance and an overly large head with three rounded
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extrusions or possibly even horns adorning the top of its
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skull. People came forward to say that
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they too had witnessed further alien or UFO activity.
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According to some reports, as many as 200 residents have given
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accounts in the time since the event bearing witness to the
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fact that they saw extraterrestrials, with many
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descriptions matching that given by Katia.
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Even some military and government personnel began to
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come forward and give their versions of events, though their
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identities have remained anonymous for obvious reasons.
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There was a military base very close to the farm at
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Trescarassois, about 16 kilometers outside of Virginia
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itself, and it is presumed that this is where some of the
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information may have been leaked from.
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One source in particular revealed how the aliens were
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rounded up and captured like animals by military firefighters
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before being transported out of the town through the woods
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undercover of darkness. Upon capture, the aliens were
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said to make some kind of buzzing sound, similar to the
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drone of a beehive. It is even suggested that the
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military took the aliens by road to Brasilia and were then
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secretly dispatched to the US by air, where they were killed and
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dissected. Another interesting yet
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unconfirmed claim involving the US suggests that the North
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American Aerospace Defence Command actually issued a
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warning to their Brazilian counterparts at Syndachter about
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an hour before the sighting at the farm.
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Apparently the United States government had intelligence
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about a possible UFO landing somewhere in the state of Mina
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Cerais and they tried to pre warn the Brazilian authorities.
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If correct, it somewhat supports the Rodriguez and Augusta UFO
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sighting near Tres Karasois and adds weight to the claim that
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aliens were sent back to the United States, though never
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validated by the farmhands. A government source has even
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said that a cigar shaped UFO crash landed in a field just
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outside of Tres Karasois and that he was part of a clean up
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operation to remove the debris. A crash certainly seems a more
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plausible explanation as to why extraterrestrials were seen
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roaming the countryside rather than for a UFO to have simply
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dropped them off and left them behind.
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Of course, most of these reports are unconfirmed and it is
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difficult to discern between what is true and what is
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fabricated. After all, many eyewitnesses
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only came forward after the televised report of the sighting
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by the three young women. Were they all simply jumping on
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the bandwagon for financial gain?
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Or did a UFO land or possibly even crash in Virginia during
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the night? Perhaps best place to answer
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this question is Ubi Rajara Rodriguez, a resident of
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Virginia in 1996 and coincidentally a part time
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Ufologist. He has worked hard on this case,
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looking for new leads and visiting suspected hotspots
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across the city. Working with Victorio Piccini
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from nearby Bellow Horizante, the pair have garnered valuable
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insight from key witnesses, including Katia, Xavier and the
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Silver family. It transpires that in February
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of 1996, a couple of weeks after the alien sighting, the Silver
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family received an unexpected visit from four men in dark
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suits. The girl's mother, Louisa,
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arrived home to find the men already at the property and in
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conversation with her daughters, they asked the girls if they
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were willing to deny their sighting of the alien.
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The men offered a large cash sum, but left without
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identifying themselves. Could the Fame Men in Black have
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been involved in this case? It would certainly seem so, if
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Louisa's story is to be believed.
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But given their somewhat fleeting and relatively
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unnoticed appearance, what was their role?
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And just how deep did their involvement in this case go?
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Were they even part of a government investigation or
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something far more sinister? Much of Rodriguez's early work
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questions how the aliens were able to travel around the city,
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how they were then captured by the military and disposed of
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without there being a public outcry.
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His conclusions are that whilst many people claim to have seen
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aliens and others saw the military presence, no one saw
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any events that took place between the two.
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Indeed, some criticism has been levelled at Rodriguez's work.
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He previously claimed that the alien autopsies were carried out
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by Doctor Badan Polaris. Nonetheless, Polaris himself
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publicly denied any involvement in the affair in 2012.
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As for some people testifying that they had seen firefighters
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assisting in the capture of the aliens, it is important to
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consider that, like many countries, both the fire service
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and the police in Brazil are an extension of the military.
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Specially trained firefighters may have been used.
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However, despite compelling testimony from residents, a
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wealth of international attention, and even endorsement
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from the City Council, the Brazilian government maintains
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that it did not facilitate the capture of extraterrestrial
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entities. But then, of course it would,
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given the potential ramifications of admitting such
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a thing. So if no supernatural incident
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took place, and this is all merely the product of hysteria,
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hearsay in conjecture, what was it that the girls saw in the
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woods that day? Katya and the Silver Sisters
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have remained steadfast in their recollection of events and it
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has to be said that their account seems genuine and the
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manner in which they tell their story is very convincing.
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When revisiting the area of woodland with Rodriguez in 2003,
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the women were said to be visibly upset, but if the
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official reports are to be believed, the creature they saw
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was nothing more than a case of mistaken identity.
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It may sound callous, but the theory goes that the young women
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were simply spooked by a deformed and malnourished
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homeless man. The disproportionately thin body
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given to the description of the alien tallies with this notion,
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and it is thought that the brown skin may come from the
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individual either being covered in mud or the result of too much
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exposure to the sun over time. Internet sources vary greatly as
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to the homeless man's name from Little Louis to Magino, with
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some sources even claiming to have photographs of this man.
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For some. Questions remain as to what
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extent it is by design rather than default, that the city of
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Virginia has been able to benefit so greatly from the
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supposed arrival of otherworldly beings.
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The event is assisted in the city's sustained growth and
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prosperity, helping a small town become a vibrant commercial and
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cultural centre, And it's easy to see why.
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Many people view the events of the 20th of January 1996 with
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such scepticism, purporting that they were well orchestrated
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hoaxes engineered towards that goal.
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Thanks to widespread media coverage, the small town of
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Virginia has received international notoriety and an
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influx of alien related tourism. In fact, since events in 1996,
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the city has remained very much in the supernatural spotlight.
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For instance, 2001 saw the construction of a 20 foot high
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water tower, the Navia Spatial di Varzinia, a disc shaped
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monument to commemorate the event.
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In 2004, the town was also host to ufologists and researchers
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from across the globe when it's held the UFO Congress of
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Virginia. However, an influx in tourism as
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a result of this event should not automatically delegitimize
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claims long held by the residents of the city.
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There are examples of other towns which have succeeded
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following supposed supernatural activity, such as Point Pleasant
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and of course, Roswell. The simple truth is that so many
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people believe that something out of the ordinary did occur in
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that small town back in January of 1996, and whilst it is
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possible that some eyewitness accounts were fabricated, surely
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not all of them were. With all things considered, we
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are no more qualified than anyone else to say what did or
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did not happen. It has been more than 20 years
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since the incident took place. Only Katia, Valkyria and
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Lilierni know for sure what they saw that day, and unfortunately
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for them, it will forever haunt their nightmares.
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For the rest of us, however, it will forever pique our interest
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and be left at the mercy of speculation.