Alternate Perceptions Magazine, February 2026
Saucer Landing and Humanoids in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1947: The Jose Higgins case
By: Brent Raynes
It was only 29 days after the Kenneth Arnold sighting here in the USA, an event that began the modern UFO era, that on July 23, 1947, in Bauru, in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, that a survey worker named Jose C. Higgins noticed a piercing, high-pitched noise. Then he observed the landing of a disc-shaped craft approximately 150 feet wide and composed of a grayish-white metal. It rested on curved metallic legs. Other workmen present witnessed the UFO also, but soon fled the scene, leaving Higgins alone with three 7-foot-tall humanoid beings! The creatures looked identical to each other, with huge round eyes and huge round bald heads. They had no eyebrows or beards. They were dressed in “transparent suits covering head and body, and inflated like rubber bags,” with “metal boxes” on their backs. Their legs appeared to be longer in proportion than ours.
Underneath the “transparent suits” worn by the aliens, Higgins could see some sort of clothing, described as resembling brightly colored paper. He was unable to distinguish whether the entities were male or female.
Soon the beings surrounded Higgins. One even aimed a metal tube at him. They appeared to be trying to lure him into the saucer. However, Higgins noticed that they seemed to avoid bright sunlight and so used this to his advantage. Thus for approximately half an hour he kept out of their reach by hiding in a thicket that was out in the open sunlight. During this time the aliens reportedly ran and leapt into the air in a playful manner, and even tossed huge stones about, all with great agility. At one point during the strange encounter, one of the beings took a stick and made eight holes in the ground, presumably in a circle, and called the central one “Alama,” while the seventh, most distant one, was called something like “Orque.”
In the end, the aliens re-entered their craft which took off towards the north with a whistling sound. In addition, the craft had a rim around it, estimated at about 3 feet in width. Thus it seems to have been a Saturn-shaped object similar to the later UFO events at Trindade Island in 1958.
This case is significant as it represents one of our earliest UFO landing, occupant and possible attempted abduction incidents. Jerome Clark and Loren Coleman explored a possible Jungian interpretation of this case in their book The Unidentified back in 1975.
References:
1. The Humanoids, edited by Charles Bowen, with contributions by many other noted authors like Gordon Creighton, Aime Michel, Jacques Vallee, and Coral Lorenzen. Published by Henry Regency Company, 180 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601. 1969. ISBN: 0-8092-8231-3.
2. The Unidentified: Notes Toward Solving The UFO Mystery, by Jerome Clark and Loren Coleman. Warner Paperback Library, a division of Warner Books, Inc., 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10019. 1975. ISBN: 0-446-78735-3.
