Varginha ET at 30: Enduring Icon, Unanswered Questions

Overview

• As the case marks its 30th anniversary, no conclusive explanation has settled what the witnesses saw in 1996.
• A G1 review reports scarce official records, shifting testimonies and a Military Justice finding that the youths likely misidentified a local man known as “Mudinho,” with no definitive report closing the case.
• Residents reported unusual military activity at the time, which authorities maintained was routine, sustaining decades of speculation without verified proof.
• Varginha’s heritage council in 2023 formally listed the ET figure as part of the city’s cultural patrimony, reinforcing its role in local identity and tourism.
• The creature’s look—short, dark-skinned, veined, red-eyed with cranial bumps—drove a commercial wave from comics and plush toys to a 2019 Philips Walita ad and the 1998 FPS “Incidente em Varginha,” which sold about 2,000 copies in Brazil and 20,000 abroad.