The North American Air Defense Command, known as NORAD, was established in 1958. It was to provide early warning and defense against Soviet bombers and missile launches.

But it wasn't long before NORAD would be monitoring skies around the entire planet.

Early in the morning, on January 13th, 1996, NORAD contacted Brazilian Air Defense to report an object entering the Earth's atmosphere about 200 miles Northeast of Sao Paolo.

When asked what type of object, NORAD said it was "unidentified". A few minutes later, it crashed somewhere near the town of Varginha.

The Brazilian Army and Air Force quickly scrambled to get to the crash site before any civilians did.

But they were too late. The craft was seen -- and the beings driving the craft: we're gone.

Over the next few days, a series of events would unfold that would change the lives of the people in Varginha forever.

Well, at least the lives of the people who survived.