On May 3rd 1969 Jose Antonio Da Silva a soldier by profession, set off to go fishing. After taking a bus he reached his destination; a lake in an area known as Bebedouro in the district of Matozinhos. As it was already midnight he set-up his tent, fished for a short while and went to sleep. Next day he woke up early and started fishing.

 

At about 3pm he notices behind him some movement of figures between the bushes and trees and hears some voices. Then he hears a groan and his legs is struck by some kind of beam originating from someone standing behind some bushes. His legs go numb and his forced to kneel down and drop his fishing rod. Next moment he is grabbed from the armpits by two humanoids wearing some kind of mask/helmet and he is dragged away from the scene. Jose Antonio did not try to resist fearing he would be struck again by the beam of light.

After few meters of being dragged he noticed that they were approaching a similar humanoids. This one did not react as they passed by as if he was monitoring the area. All of them carries some kind of weapon but Jose Antonio believed that this standing humanoid was the one that had fired the beam at him.

The robust humanoids stood at about 1.2 meters, had human proportions, thick legs and wore an overall. The face could not be seen as it was covered by a a dull-grey helmet that included a mask. The helmet was round at the back but flat on the front (mask part) with only a small protrusion in the nose area. Two round holes of approximately 2 centimeters in diameter catered for the eyes. The helmet widened at the lower part but was not connected to the body. From the lower part of the helmet came a plastic looking tube that passed over the chest and under one armpit to end up connected to small container at the back of the humanoid.

Painting of Alberto Francisco Do Carmo based on Jose Antonio´s testimony

After passing the standing humanoid he was taken to their craft. The craft was not disc shaped. It was a grey cylinder with two black “lids” at the top and bottom which were greater in diameter than the cylinder. The object had a height of about two meters. The top lid had a diameter of 3 meters whereas the bottom one was somewhat smaller.

Painting of Alberto Francisco Do Carmo based on Jose Antonio´s testimony

They entered into the object through a door. He found himself in a two by two compartment. The floor was dark grey and although the room appeared well lit the source of light was undetectable. In the center of the room there was a single seat. By the door was a bench on which he and the two humanoids sat. Once sat they placed on his head a helmet similar to the one they were wearing. He remembers that the helmet had a tube but was not able to detect if that was connected to some breathing system. Next they fastened his waist and legs. The two beings fastened themselves getting ready for take-off. At that moment the third humanoid entered, sat on the central seat and fastened himself.

The pilot manipulated a lever on the floor and one on the ceiling to make the object take-off. Jose had the impression that they were travelling vertically. Just after take-off the beings started chatting cheerfully in a language that Jose did not understand a word. The language had a prominent “r” sound at the end of most of the words and sounded aggressive.

The journey seemed interminable and Jose felt tired. Breathing was difficult, seating was hard and the helmet’s sharp edges were hurting his shoulders and neck. For a period of time the lights in the room became very bright and he could keep his eyes open. After about an hour the lights diminished and he could open them again.

Next, the object turned to a horizontal position. The seating in the room adjusted itself to the new position. Then after a long time the room turned to its original orientation and seats swung back. Finally, he felt that the journey was over; the object had landed somewhere.

The two beings on his side unfastened him and placed something over the eye openings of the helmet so that he could not see. They picked him from his armpits and dragged him out of the craft. After a while he could hear many voices (all male) speaking the same language as before. They then placed him on a backless seat and removed the cover over his eyes while still keeping the helmet on him. He found himself in a large room (10×15 meters). At a distance of about 5 meters stood slightly taller and stronger being looking at him with satisfaction. This being (presumably the chief) in the room and his captors were not wearing helmets.

All of them looked more or less the same. They had pale white skin; long and wavy red hair that reached their waists and a long beard that reached the stomach. Their eyebrows were thick( about two fingers thick) and run across most of their forehead. They had no eyelashes and their eyes were green and round and slightly larger than those of humans. The sclera (white part of the eye) was darker than their skin. Their noses were pointy and ears bigger, resembled those of humans but were more rounded on the upper part. Their mouths were wide and looked human. However they did not have teeth. Jose described them as mouths of fish.

Painting of Alberto Francisco Do Carmo based on Jose Antonio´s testimony depicting the beings without their helmet and space suit

The chief was talking making various gestures and seemed very happy. Then about 10 to 12 other individuals of similar appearance arrived from the area behind him and gathered around the chief. Jose could not see the ceiling due to his forward inclined positioned but he could see the wall on his left side. On that wall there was a large low shelf of stone on which a number of naked human corpses were lying on their back without helmets and no visible injuries. He momentarily got scared that he would have a similar fate but e felt that the deaths had not been caused by the aliens.

While in the room, Jose was able to capture many interesting details. The room was of grey color, he did not see any windows or doors (there was probably a door behind his back that he could not see). On the wall besides the stone shelf with the corpses, he saw pictures (most probably photos) of many familiar things such as animals (jaguar, monkey, elephant, giraffes), houses, towns, cars, a small two-engine aircraft. On the opposite wall there was nothing.

On his right was what seemed like a racing car. Instead of wheels it had what seemed to have engines. In front of him, at a distance of 5 meters was a cubical seat that the chief would sit on from time to time. Next to the seat and almost at floor level, was a slab with a white surface that was used for drawing sketches as Jose would later find out.

Then he noticed that one of the beings was examining his belongings. It was clear that during his abduction they had taken his cloth bundle with all his belongings. The beings were very excited to examine his belongings. They passed over his belonging so that everyone could have a close look (fishing hooks, knives, matches, banknotes, clothing, tins of sardines and other food). After they had inspected everything, they set aside all those items that were duplicates to keep for themselves. This included a fishing hook and a knife, some clothes a box of matches and bank note of small value. They made an exception with his identity card which they found in his pocket. After passing it round for examination they kept it for themselves.

The chief attempted to communicate with Jose through gestures and sketches on the slab. Jose has not revealed much information about what he understood from this attempts for communication. The humanoids also made an attempt to offer some food. One of them approached him holding a stone cube the size of a cup which contained a dark green liquid in its pyramidal cavity. The chief indicated him to drink the liquid and one of the beings raised Jose´s helmet violently. He initially refused but when he saw one of them drinking it he drank it since he was very weak and hungry. The bitter liquid made him feel better and more alert. He even felt that after drinking this liquid he could communication better with the chief.

Representation of the “cup”

Although communication was difficult, Jose was convinced that he was able to perceive that the chief made him a proposal. After the leader dedicating much time in drawing on the slate and gesturing Jose was able to understand that they were proposing for him to spend three years on Earth collecting information for them, then to spend seven years with them studying and finally descending to Earth with them as a guide. Jose reject the proposal and started praying aloud while pointing to the rosary around his waist touching the crucifix that he wore around his neck. The chief got irritated and snatched the cross off his neck. One of the beads rolled on the floor and one of them picked it up for observation along with the crucifix by the group.

Then Jose claims that he saw an apparition of a human standing in front of me that was not perceived by the aliens. This person was dressed like a monk and gave Jose peace and hope. Jose was also given some information by this human that he has not shared with researchers of his case.

Jose realized it was time to leave. The chief left and his captors who had remained at his side all this time covered his eyes in the same way as before. When the blindfold was removed he found himself back inside the craft. After a long journey he felt that the craft had landed. They removed his helmet and while in a semi-unconscious state they dragged him out in the darkness and left him. Some time later he was woken up by the first light of dawn and the sound of running water. He approached the stream and drank water using his water bottle that was still in the bundle the aliens had left beside him. Jose realised that the surroundings were unfamiliar and noticed that he had grown a beard of a few day.

Eventually reached a paved road. On the road he met a man and asked him of where he was and what day it was. Jose was approximately 30 km away from his original location and the day was May 9th, 4 and a half days after he was abducted. He decided to walk back despite being exhausted having a hurt knee and several wound on his shoulders and nape caused by the helmet. After getting a ride and taking a train he was back at his home town.

At the train station he was approached by the security guard. The guard saw his poor state and the bundle and suspected that he was a copper thief (something common at that time; copper wire was often stolen from the railways). As he had no ID with him the security guard took him to his office for inspection. Jose could not lie and shared his story with the guard. The guard was convinced and called a local journalist from the local radio station to interview him.