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Alternate Perceptions Magazine, March 2022


The Disappearance of Rivalino Mafra da Silva

by: By Brent Raynes






Drawing by young Raimundo of the strange objects he witnessed



On August 19, 1962, a diamond prospector named Rivalino Mafra da Silva and his three sons, ages 2 (Dirceo), 6 (Fatimo), and 12 (Raimundo), had retired to their beds for the night in their home located near Duas Pontes, in the district of Diamantina, the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, when disturbing events allegedly began to unfold.

12-year-old Raimundo would later recall how he was awakened by a strange presence in the house. In a chilling interview quoted in the Correio da Manha of Rio de Janeiro (August 26), the young boy recounted:

“It was a weird shadow, not looking like ours because it was half the size of a man and not shaped like a human being. We remained in bed, quiet, and the shadow looked at us – then it moved to the place where my brothers were sleeping and looked at them for a long time, without touching their bodies. Afterward, it left our room, crossed the other room and disappeared near the outer door. Again we heard steps of someone running and a voice said: ‘This one looks like Rivalino.’ My father then yelled: ‘Who goes there?’ There was no answer. Father left the bed and went to the other room, when the voice asked again if he was really Rivalino. My father answered it was right, that Rivalino was his name, and there was no answer. We came back to bed and heard clearly their talk outside, saying they were going to kill father. My father started to pray aloud and the voices outside said there was no help for him. They talked no more.”

“We passed the night awake. In the morning, still afraid, I had the courage to go outside to get my father’s horse in the field. But then I sighted two balls floating in midair side by side, about three feet from the ground, one foot from each other and a few feet away from our door. They were big. One of them was all black. It had a kind of irregular antenna-like protuberance and a small tail. The other was black and white, with the same outlines, with the antenna and everything. They both emitted a humming sound and appeared to give off fire through an opening that flickered like a firefly, switching the light on and off rapidly.”

“I was frozen with fear. I called father to see those strange flying objects. He came out of the house, still praying and asking about what those things could be, his eyes locked on them. He warned me to stay away and walked towards the objects. He stopped at a distance of two meters. At that moment the two balls merged into each other. There was only one now, bigger in size, raising dust from the ground and discharging a yellow smoke which darkened the sky. With strange noises, that big ball crept slowly toward my father.”

“I saw him enveloped by the yellow smoke and he disappeared inside it. I ran after him into the yellow cloud, which had an acrid smell. I saw nothing, only that yellow mist around me. I yelled for my father but there was no answer. Everything was silent again.”

“Then the yellow smoke dissolved. The balls were gone. The ground below was clean as if the dust had been removed by a big broom. I was confused and desperate. I walked in circles around the house looking for father, but I found no trace, footprints or marks. Was this the work of the Devil? My father had disappeared in mid-air. I have searched the plains, fields, and thickets with no results. I have watched the flight of the vultures, looking for clues to locate his body, but I saw nothing. Five days have passed and nothing was found. Is my father dead, taken by the globes? I want my father back.” Local police became involved the same day that Rivalino disappeared. They reportedly found the 15-foot area on the ground that was clear of dust, while reference was made to the area around the house looking like the ground had been swept clean with a broom, with only the footprints of the boys being visible, while about 150-200 feet away from the house they found a few drops of human blood, but were unable to determine if it had been Rivalino’s. For ten days they searched the neighborhood, and then they borrowed bloodhounds from the military police, but that effort failed as well. The boy was thoroughly cross examined, his bizarre story always remaining the same. A psychiatric examination was ordered and a Dr. Joao Antunes de Oliveira concluded:

“…the facts in the case are beyond my competence. But I can tell you that the boy is normal and he is telling what he thinks to be the truth.”

The police also went through Rivalino’s background extensively, asking around to see if the diamond prospector might have had some enemies or something. Initially suspecting that Raimundo’s story of the globes was made up to cover something else that happened the police took him into a room at their headquarters and showed him a body laying on a table with a sheet over it (actually it was just someone pretending to be a dead body). The boy began to cry, but didn’t retract his story, saying that the globes must have returned his dad’s body.

Nothing turned up, although facts of another kind began to emerge. In talking with diamond prospectors who had worked with him they recalled a strange story he had told them. Shortly before his disappearance, on August 17th, Rivalino told his co-workers that he had been on his way home from work and came upon two small men, standing three feet high, digging a hole in the ground not far from his home. When he approached, they ran off into some bushes and soon afterwards a red glowing hat shaped object rose from behind the bushes and shot into the sky at great speed.

In addition, a witness turned up who swore that he had seen two ball-shaped objects circling low over Rivalino’s house at 4 p.m. on the 19th. The witness, a postal employee, had been fishing nearby. He told police, “I don’t know anything about Rivalino’s disappearance, but from the report given by his son, I have the impression he saw the same objects I sighted.”

Four days after Rivalino’s disappearance, more than fifty people, including the local police chief, reportedly claimed that they had seen a white soccer ball looking object surrounded by a florescent glow flying over the town of Gouveia, just a few miles south of Diamantina. The mystery of Rivalino Mafra da Silva’s strange disappearance was never solved.

For additional information on this disturbing case history readers may wish to check out the following sources:

1. Flying Saucers: The Startling Evidence of the Invasion from Outer Space, by Coral E. Lorenzen. Signet books (paperback), New York, NY. 1966.
2. The Brazilian UFO Report, January/February 1996, Vol. 1, No. 5. Editor: Michael Wysmierski.


Thursday, March 28, 2024