Brazil's 'Chupa-Chupa' Alien Claims and 'Operation Saucer' UFO Investigation Still Mystery Nearly 50 Years Later

Amid continuing global discussions about UFOs and unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), YouTuber and storyteller MrBallen has revisited one of the most enduring and mysterious alleged alien encounters on record.

In 1977, Dr Filagi Carvalho examined a middle-aged woman suffering from a large circular burn across her chest. The injury was unlike anything she had previously treated. Roughly the size of a football, the burn was perfectly round and resembled severe sunburn. At its centre were two small puncture marks that looked almost like bite wounds.

When Carvalho asked what had happened, the frightened woman described an extraordinary encounter. She claimed a metallic flying cylinder had appeared before firing a beam of light that 'latched' on to her chest. She felt two sharp punctures, followed by the sensation that her blood was being drawn from her body, before the object vanished.

Carvalho listened carefully but privately dismissed the account, believing the patient may have been suffering from psychological distress. She arranged for the woman to be transferred to a larger hospital around three hours away for specialist treatment. However, the woman reportedly died within 24 hours.

Days later, another patient arrived with virtually identical injuries. This time it was a middle-aged man whose burns appeared less severe. Carvalho questioned him while treating the wound, and the man calmly repeated almost the same story as the woman who had just died.

The 'Chupa-Chupa'

Over the following weeks, the number of similar cases steadily increased. By late 1977, Carvalho was reportedly treating new patients almost every day.

'I don't know what to believe,' Carvalho reportedly concluded as more people arrived with similar unexplained injuries.

Residents across Colares began describing mysterious lights, flying cylinders and glowing aerial objects appearing after dark. Many claimed the lights emitted focused beams that caused burns, weakness, dizziness and puncture wounds.

Witnesses also reported symptoms including fatigue, anaemia and temporary paralysis. The incidents became known locally as attacks by the 'Chupa-Chupa' — Portuguese for 'sucker-sucker' — a nickname inspired by widespread claims that the mysterious lights appeared to extract blood from victims.

Scepticism gave way one evening in late November. While walking home along the beach, Carvalho heard screams as people fled from the shoreline. She said she saw what appeared to be a metallic cylindrical object hovering about 100 feet above the sea.

Unlike everyone else, Carvalho moved towards it. Standing beneath the object, she later recalled feeling overwhelming awe as she stared upwards before it suddenly accelerated away and disappeared.

Military Investigation Failed to Find Answers

As reports mounted, Brazil's military launched an official investigation known as Operation Saucer (Operação Prato), led by the Brazilian Air Force.

Investigators documented hundreds of reports from Colares and surrounding communities. Official records describe numerous sightings of luminous aerial objects and alleged beam attacks.

According to accounts from the investigation, more than 400 people reported injuries linked to mysterious beams of light, while several deaths were also attributed by local residents to the unexplained incidents. However, no definitive medical or scientific evidence has established a direct causal relationship between the reported UAPs and the fatalities.

The investigation was suspended in 1978. Brazilian authorities have since declassified much of the Operation Saucer archive. Nevertheless, one military officer who participated in the investigation later claimed that some material remained withheld from the public.

Nearly five decades later, the events surrounding the so-called 'Chupa-Chupa' attacks remain one of Brazil's most enduring UFO mysteries, with declassified files providing few definitive answers.