Case description
On April 21, 1996, Therezinha Gallo Clepf was attending a birthday gathering at the Paiquerê restaurant inside Varginha’s zoo in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The contemporary account identifies her as a sixty-seven-year-old housewife. Around 9 p.m., she stepped onto the veranda to smoke, leaving the other guests inside. The inherited catalogue gives 8 p.m., but the published interview places the encounter an hour later.
About four metres away, beyond the veranda’s parapet, she saw an unfamiliar figure looking directly at her. Only its head and neck were visible. She described a round face with dark-brown, glossy, oily-looking skin, large red eyes, no visible nose or facial hair, and a narrow slit in place of lips. A gold-coloured helmet or head covering concealed the upper and side portions of its head.
The surroundings were dimly lit, yet she said the eyes appeared luminous enough for her to distinguish the face, comparing their appearance to a vehicle’s red rear lights. The figure remained still and silent. Frightened, she initially neither moved nor called to the people inside.
She estimated that they stared at each other for about five minutes. She eventually returned to the party and urged her husband to take her away. There was no remembered conversation or physical contact. When Revista UFO interviewed her at home, she described continuing fear, difficulty sleeping and worry about encountering the figure again. Her observation was a separate episode from the three young women’s January sighting at Jardim Andere.
Reports from the same period also discussed five animal deaths at the zoo: two deer, a tapir, an ocelot and a macaw. Zoo director Leila Cabral and veterinarian Marcos Araújo Carvalho Mina were quoted about the examinations. Some findings suggested a possible caustic substance, while other causes remained unspecified. The animal deaths were reported separately from Clepf’s direct observation; she did not describe seeing the figure attack them.
