Case description
Dirant Mello Ferraz, an eighteen-year-old resident of Rio de Janeiro, placed the beginning of his experience at about 7:30 p.m. on February 28, 1974. He said he was alone in the family kitchen when he suddenly found himself in a square, smoky-glass-colored room with a cone-shaped ceiling. His watch had stopped, and a voice speaking Portuguese reassured him from a boxlike device.
According to Ferraz, an opening appeared and an egg-shaped apparatus moved toward him. A yellow light shone down, and a figure looking exactly like himself emerged. He said he touched this apparent double, which then departed through the wall. A screen allowed him to watch it interact with his sister, a driver and people at the family's business.
Ferraz described being instructed to help the double negotiate ordinary activities, including money and paperwork, while it occupied his place for approximately a day. His account also involved an apparent visitor photographing a bridge. He eventually described a return to his normal surroundings and later told investigators Fernando Cleto Nunes Pereira and Irene Granchi about the substitution. Ferraz described the experience as a temporary substitution by a visitor resembling him.
