Disclosed

Antônio Villas Boas abduction claim

Date
15 Oct 1957
Place
Farm near São Francisco de Sales, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Record
Curated case
Assessment
Contested
Evidence strength
467 case pages by decade; this one falls in 1950s with 49 othersAll cases

What was reported

Antônio Villas Boas, a 23-year-old farmer, said that while ploughing at night he was seized by small helmeted beings, taken aboard an egg-shaped craft, sampled for blood and had sex with a female occupant. Journalist João Martins brought him to the physician Olavo Fontes, who examined him in February 1958 and described symptoms he took for mild radiation sickness and skin lesions. The story was published years later and is often called the first widely publicised abduction account. Peter Rogerson argued that details echo a 1957 magazine story and contactee literature; Villas Boas, later a lawyer, kept to his account until his death in 1991.

What officials concluded

No conclusion stated

No official explanation has been given.

Strongest ordinary reading

none established; borrowing from 1950s magazine and contactee stories has been proposed

Evidence profile

Sensors1 of 9
  • Yes: Visual
  • No: Infrared
  • No: Radar
  • No: Video
  • No: Photo
  • No: Film
  • No: Audio
  • No: Night vision
  • No: Other sensor
Witnesses1 counted
  • Yes: Civilian
  • No: Military aircrew
  • No: Military ground
  • No: Airline crew
  • No: Sensor operator
  • No: Law enforcement
  • No: Scientist
  • No: Astronaut
  • No: Intelligence official
  • No: Other
ShapeOther shape
  • No: Light only
  • No: Orb or sphere
  • No: Disc
  • No: Triangle
  • No: Cylinder
  • No: Cube
  • Yes: Other shape
Effects1 reported
  • Yes: Physiological
  • No: Physical trace
  • No: Electromagnetic
  • No: Sound
  • No: Silent

Outside sources

On the map

19.86° S, 49.77° W, plotted at the town or city

Show on the map