It was 1978 and Luis Carlos Serra was out collecting guavas in a remote jungle area near his village in the state of Maranhão, Brazil. The teenager was alone when he heard a loud siren-like noise coming from the sky above him.

High above the towering palm trees, a bright light rained down on Luis. Within the brilliance came the loud high-pitch sound that had alarmed him. It was then that Luis fell on his back, paralyzed and unable to scream for help. That’s when the engulfing  light began to lift his paralytic body off the ground. He screamed but was unable to stop the tractor beam from pulling him up off the ground.

While in transit, Luis saw something behind the blinding light. A large round object that had a dome on top of it. He noticed that it had three windows that went around it. He felt his body being pulled through an opening in one of those windows. He landed gently inside the craft.

Inside he described there being a small room in which three humanoid figures stood. He described them as being around three feet tall and wearing some type of metallic looking suits. He could hear them talking but could not make out the language they spoke. It wasn’t Portuguese he was sure of that. The language was unlike anything he had ever heard before, it didn’t sound human.

The beings seemed preoccupied with something else since they initially ignore the terrified teenager. As the adrenaline subsided and the panic began to seep in, he felt the craft move.

Luis couldn’t remember how long or how far he had traveled with his strange abductors. He did however remember that it was a short while before he felt it come to a complete stop. He was then levitated again, this time out of the craft and onto a flat looking rock. He was still in a state of full paralysis.

That’s where his story differs from most abduction cases.

Luis reported that while outside the craft, he witnessed a strange new world. A world without mountains, sky, stars, trees, or birds. Just a flat plane with tall grass and stark darkness above.

“I was taken to a strange land with no trees and only with tall grass. I do not know how long it took to get there. I went out the window just as I came in, with nothing supporting my back. He was still paralyzed. It was a strange place, I did not know. It seemed like a field, but no birds or sides. The grass was very high, about one meter. I did not see any house or building. I could not see the sky, there were no trees or stars. It was very dark.

I was still paralyzed. So those people approached me and put a tube in my nose. It did not hurt. Then they put a transparent ball in my mouth, and a liquid down my throat too fast. I fell asleep and did not know what happened later, I woke up in the bush.” -Luis Carlos Serra, 1978

When Luis came to, he was back in the jungle. Back in a world with trees, birds, and sky. Back in Brazil.

It was Monday evening, three days after he had vanished. He was in extreme pain and could barely stand to his feet. He shouted out for help.

From the water a fisherman heard the screams. He brought his small boat to shore and began looking for the source of the distressed calls. After a frantic search, he found Luis. He was laying on the ground unable to move or speak. Just the grunts and yells of pain that reverberated through the jungle.

The man panicked and tried to help Luis to his feet. However the boy appeared to be in a catatonic state and completely unresponsive to the fisherman’s questions. Luis was hurt. His hair was a singed, smoldering mess. To the fisherman’s horror, there was blood pouring out of the boy’s toothless mouth. He picked up the boy and carried him back to the village, where everyone was shocked to see that Luis was alive as he had been missing for days.

The boy was still in a catatonic state when they took him in to the local hospital. Upon closer examination, doctors there noticed that Luis was in a stiff, rigid shock. His arms and legs were locked, almost as if having gone through rigor mortis. They tested his sensitivity by pricking his arms and legs with needles but there was no reaction from the boy, as he felt nothing. They examined his bleeding mouth and noticed that four molars had been broken off. The medical staff was confused as the boy had no visible markings, cuts, or bruises. Yet the damage his body sustained pointed to a horrible, mangled mess of an accident as the only possible explanation for the boy’s state. They stared in disbelief, huddled around the teenager. The smell of burned hair permeated through the entire hospital.

48 hours later, he was flown to the state capital, where a better equipped staff awaited for the boy’s arrival. By that time, Luis had started to regain his full consciousness, however he still was not saying much.  Although he had been missing for a week, he did not show signs of hunger or dehydration. The doctors took no chances and fed him intravenously and had him catheterized.

Neurologists and psychologists examined the frightened boy but could not determine what had occurred to him. It was when Luis regained his ability to speak that his story unfolded. A story he told officials and investigators over and over again without wavering from the facts or details of his horrific account.

Decades later, Ufologist Bob Pratt interviewed  Luis Serra. Although years had passed, the minute details of the horrific events were still fresh in his memory. Pratt also interviewed some of the medical staff involved in Luis’ abduction who corroborated his story. The town’s mayor at the time was also interviewed by Pratt, he too confirmed the strange state in which they found Luis Serra that one March evening in 1978.

Sources: Patrick Gross / Fenomenum  UFO Investigator: Bob Pratt