Case description
Luigi Rapuzzi, who wrote as L. R. Johannis, described an encounter near the Chiarsò stream above Raveo in Italy's Carnia region. He placed it on the morning of August 14, 1947. While walking with a pick, he said he saw a red, lens-shaped object lodged near a ravine and two small figures beside it.
The account described dark blue clothing with red belts, unusual heads and hands, and an effect resembling vapor from a belt that left him unable to move. He later reported the object rising and departing and discovered that his pick was missing. Retellings differ about equipment, sometimes substituting an artist's easel for the pick.
The story became widely known through Clypeus and Flying Saucer Review years after the claimed event. Its origin and chronology remain disputed; Maurizio Verga subsequently argued that it was a literary fabrication. Johannis's occupation as a science-fiction writer does not itself settle the issue, but the delayed publication and lack of contemporary corroboration matter. The plate illustrates the reported opening scene as a disputed historical account.
