Rep. Eric Burlison’s request for FBI and CIA records on the 1996 Varginha UFO incident has thrust one of the world’s most enduring UFO cases back into the spotlight—more than 20 years after Whitley Strieber explored the mystery on Dreamland.
One of the world’s most enduring UFO mysteries is back in the headlines—not because of a new witness or documentary, but because a member of Congress is asking whether the U.S. government knows more than it has publicly acknowledged.
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, has publicly announced that he has requested records from the FBI and CIA concerning the 1996 Varginha UFO incident in Brazil. Often called “Brazil’s Roswell,” the case has long fueled speculation that the United States may have played a role in recovering evidence or coordinating with Brazilian authorities following reports of a UFO crash and the alleged capture of nonhuman beings.
In a recent interview with NewsNation, Burlison said he decided to pursue the matter after hearing firsthand testimony from Brazilian witnesses, physicians, and investigators connected to the case. His letters seek greater transparency regarding any U.S. government involvement or knowledge of the incident as part of his broader effort to increase public disclosure surrounding unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs).
On January 20, 2026, Investigative filmmaker James Fox held a major press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to present new evidence regarding the 1996 Varginha, Brazil UFO incident. The event featured surviving Brazilian eyewitnesses and U.S. insiders who testified about a secret recovery mission involving non-human beings and crashed technology. Burlison attended the press conference.
For longtime Dreamland listeners, the renewed attention may sound familiar.
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On March 5, 2005, Whitley Strieber interviewed the late Dr. Roger Leir about his investigation of the Varginha incident and his book UFO Crash in Brazil: A Genuine UFO Crash with Surviving ETs. Leir argued that witness testimony, military activity, and medical reports surrounding the case warranted serious investigation and suggested that surviving nonhuman entities may have been recovered. While those claims remain disputed and have never been independently verified, the interview introduced many Dreamland listeners to what has since become one of the best-known international UFO cases.
In recent years, Fox has become the leading chronicler of the Varginha story. His 2022 documentary Moment of Contact assembled testimony from residents, military personnel, firefighters, physicians, and other witnesses who described extraordinary events surrounding the alleged incident. In 2025, Fox released an expanded edition, Moment of Contact: New Revelations of Alien Encounters, incorporating additional interviews and newly available material as he continued documenting the case.
Fox has also continued to advocate publicly for further investigation, arguing that important witnesses and evidence remain overlooked nearly three decades later.
Whether Burlison’s requests ultimately produce previously undisclosed records remains to be seen. But his involvement has brought renewed public and congressional attention to a case that has occupied researchers for nearly 30 years. For followers of Dreamland and Unknown Country, it also serves as a reminder that some of today’s most closely watched UAP investigations have roots reaching back decades—and that questions first explored years ago are once again entering the national conversation.
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