Case description
Luigi Rapuzzi, the artist and science-fiction writer who used the name L. R. Johannis, attributed this encounter to a morning walk near Raveo and Villa Santina in 1947. Most retellings give 14 August and approximately 09:00, although month variants exist. He described a red, lenticular object roughly ten metres across, standing on edge in a rocky crevice beside a dry stream, with a low cupola and telescopic projection.
Two figures, each under a metre tall, reportedly stood nearby. They had large heads, earthy-green faces, prominent round eyes with ringlike surrounds, and fishlike mouths. Accounts describe dark-blue coveralls, red collars and belts, helmet-like head coverings and green hands with eight fingers. Johannis said a smoke-like discharge from a belt weakened or immobilized him after he raised his pick. The beings returned to the object, which rose vertically, hovered and departed. These are claims from the narrative, not established biological or technical findings.
The story was published in Clypeus in 1964, well after the purported event. Research summarized by Peter Rogerson traces an earlier version to Rapuzzi’s unpublished 1955 translation appendix and reports Maurizio Verga’s assessment of a possible hoax. That is a critical attribution, not a documented confession. There is no independently verified physical evidence in these accounts. The plate labels the late, disputed story and selects a calm initial scene, omitting the alleged discharge, paralysis and injury.
