The Claudio Case

One of Brazil’s most well-documented UFO events involving the Military Police

Name	Claudio Case
Occurred on	November 19 & 20, 2008
Seen by	Numerous witnesses, both civilian and military
Investigated by	No official investigation had been carried out

Brazil isn’t new to UFO sightings and extraterrestrial cases. It already had two notable events associated with the country: the Colares Incident in 1977 and the Varginha Incident in 1996. Recently, another remarkable event occurred in one of its regions. However, unlike the rest, the Claudio Case stands out for its level of detail and the involvement of military personnel.

What Is the Claudio Case About?

The Claudio Case is a series of UFO encounters that happened on November 19 and 20, 2008, in Cláudio, Minas Gerais. It involved seven military officers as key witnesses, which added a layer of credibility and made the incident unique from others that occurred in Brazil.

One of those military officers, Captain Eisenhower Guerck Austríaco, submitted a report to the 23rd Military Police Battalion, detailing their experiences on both days. The subject read, Fenômeno observado no céu da cidade de Cláudio, e perseguição a dois seres estranhos vistos no canavial da cidade (Phenomenon observed in the sky over the city of Claudio, and pursuit of two strange beings seen in the city’s sugarcane field).

Timeline of the 2008 Claudio Case

• November 19: The flying object was observed over Bela Vista, where military personnel and civilians reported seeing it.
• November 20: Military personnel saw two luminous humanoids in a sugarcane field in the village of São Bento.
• November 21: The witnesses returned to the site on November 20, and the place was different from the last time they had seen it.
• December 8: Captain Eisenhower submitted the report, and later that month, photos taken during the incident were also published on the UFOVIA website.
• 2019: One of the key witnesses was interviewed by the OVNI Pesquisa magazine.

The Events on November 19

As the entire country tuned in to the exciting football game between Brazil and Portugal, something more fascinating was unfolding in the municipality of Cláudio.

At 10 PM, Renata Veloso Guerck Austríaco was peacefully looking out their apartment’s window when she saw an object fall from the sky at high speed. Intrigued, she called on her husband, Captain Eisenhower of the Claudio Military Police Platoon, to look at it with her.

They described what they saw as a huge, luminous hexagonal object with two smaller, spherical objects revolving around it. When the craft flew over the Paróquia Nossa Senhora Aparecida church, they noticed that the streetlights went out block by block.

After assessing the situation, Eisenhower immediately dialed Corporal Sirio Barbosa de Oliveira and instructed a patrol car, manned by Corporal Amilton Jose Rabelo, Private Heverton Francisco, and Private Balbino, to proceed to Bela Vista, where the object was located.

Along the way, the officers saw a very bright yellow and white light on the right side of the road. They decided to follow it to a sugarcane plantation and drove 500 meters through the field until they reached a dead-end by a fence. When the personnel stopped their vehicle, they reported that the object stopped in its path as well and remained hovering in the sky.

Their description of the object differed from how Renata and her husband described it. According to the officials, what they saw was:

•  A rectangular object with oval sides
• The size and appearance were like a minibus without wheels
• It emitted a white, xenon-like headlight

As they were about to get out of their vehicle, Private Balbino warned them as the UFO stopped above them and made circular movements before disappearing completely. Corporal Rabelo managed to capture some photos of the object.

Alt Text: Rabelo’s photos

The Events on November 20

What happened on November 20 was even more eventful.

Captain Eisenhower, with Sergeant Waldir and Sergeant William, was surveying the sugarcane field when the latter reported seeing two luminous beings gliding through the reeds.

They described these beings as:

• About 90cm tall
• Walking without touching the ground
• Having oval-shaped heads
• Very bright

These beings allegedly stopped near a lake and appeared to be taking or placing something into the ground. Throughout the incident, the officials reported they experienced bouts of headaches and body aches, feelings of weariness, and the inability to think tactically.

It was as if the beings controlled their thoughts. They shared that the situation made them unsure whether the event was real, a dream, or a nightmare. The officials also claimed that they tried taking photos of them, but the beings didn’t appear in the camera.

The Events on November 21

The next day, the officials returned to the site to see if they could find any evidence of what they had seen. However, the lake they saw that night disappeared, and the field was only surrounded by reeds and pasture.

The Events on December 8

A few days after the event, Captain Eisenhower Guerck Austríaco submitted a 4-page report detailing what happened during the Claudio Case. This was sent to the 23rd Military Police Battalion and was signed by the seven personnel who witnessed the entire event.

This report included their accounts, statements from civilian witnesses, and photos taken by Corporal Rabelo during the first night. It now serves as one of the most compelling pieces of evidence for the existence of UFOs, especially since credible professionals have validated it.

At the time of publishing his photos, Rabelo was already retired. He expressed that waiting for his retirement was a deliberate decision, given that he was “prohibited from making the report to anyone or the press because he was active in the military police.”

The 2019 Interview

In 2019, Amilton Jose Rabelo was interviewed by Edison Boaventura and Paulo Werner for OVNI Pesquisa magazine. During this, the ex-Corporal shared more information that wasn’t included in the 2008 report.

His statement included two more witnesses of the event:

• He shared that before they saw the UFO on the first night, the officials met with a young man who also claimed to have seen the craft face-to-face.
• His friend Bras, who was fishing on the same day, shared that he saw a flying object with two smaller ones passing near him and causing the water to sway.

Rabelo also claimed that the day after the two events, when he was off duty, personnel from the Lagoa Santa Air Base came to interview him. The man asked Rabelo for his camera card so they could copy the photos, but ended up deleting them, including personal ones. Fortunately, he had already downloaded the images to his computer.

Is Claudio Brazil a UFO Hotspot?

Another interesting thing that Jose Rabelo shared during the interview was the alleged similar cases in Claudio before.

He shared that one incident occurred in February 1996, when he witnessed a UFO similar to the one he saw in November. Another one also occurred a year after the Claudio Case, where a Mr. Tonico claimed to have seen beings that glowed and moved similarly to what happened.

Witness Statements and Corroborations

A day after the Claudio Case, the officers immediately interviewed witnesses about the lights that flew through the city. Here are some of the statements they gave:

Mrs. Irma de Fatima Rodrigues Santos

Irma was someone who lived in the same apartment as Captain Eisenhower. At the time of the incident, the couple called Irma to look out her window, where she also saw the same thing as the couple.

Claudia Alves

Claudia was with her husband when they saw a luminous object with an intense white light. This allegedly followed them on the highway at around 9 PM before it continued flying straight ahead and disappearing near the airport.

Regy Markes Padilha

Regy was returning from the city with his mother when they saw the light on the side of the road. He detailed that the object shone so brightly it looked like a small sun, the size of a minibus. It made no noise and floated through the reeds.

Unnamed Witness 1

One of the witnesses described what they saw as flying objects with “incalculable speed.” They flew without a sound and at an extremely high speed, as if there were no limits to physics.

Unnamed Witness 2

A woman from the village claimed that she was just going home when the incident happened. When she was opening her door, she allegedly saw small beings in her yard and the object hovering behind a eucalyptus tree about 800m away from her.

Investigations and Explanations

Aside from the key witnesses returning to the site of the Claudio Case, unfortunately, no official investigations took place. The only evidence that the Claudio Case happened was the report submitted by Captain Eisenhower, and even then, the government paid no attention to it.

However, during Jose Rabelo’s interview with ONVI Pesquisa magazine, the ex-Corporal mentioned something intriguing. He claimed that when the military personnel visited him, he explained to Rabelo that what happened was a result of an “artificial gas burning.”

The Claudio Case’s Significance in Ufology

While the Claudio Case isn’t as popular or widely cited as the other incidents, it remains significant within the UFO community and Brazil’s history because of its compelling evidence. Although it may not have been thoroughly investigated, the report, signed and verified by seven military personnel, provides sufficient proof that the incident truly occurred.

Curious about more intriguing UFO cases like this? Visit UFO Connect to explore detailed reports, witness testimonies, and expert insights from around the world.

FAQ

Is the Claudio Case Still Unsolved?

What’s fascinating about the Claudio Case is that UFO researchers and skeptics alike haven’t revisited it. It’s as if the public subconsciously accepted what happened as factual.

While there had been no investigations, there had also been no arguments against the incident. People have never tried to debunk the events, especially when it’s something that credible professionals claim to have experienced.

Who were the main witnesses in the Claudio case?

Seven military personnel signed the report in 2008. They were:

• Sergeant William
• Captain Eisenhower
• Corporal Barbosa de Oliveira
• Corporal Jose Rabelo
• Private Francisco
• Private Balbino
• Sergeant Waldir

Was the Claudio case ever investigated officially?

Unfortunately, the incident wasn’t investigated by the government. The involved officials were the only ones to check the site after the events occurred.

Has the Claudio case been solved or debunked?

The Claudio case remains unsolved and has not been debunked to this day. This can be due to the lack of investigations, but the case hasn’t been attributed to any other phenomenon.