Lead Is the Face of Death

The event takes place in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil where two men Miguel Jose Viana and Manoel Pereira da Cruz are found dead August 17, 1966 on Vintem Hill. Both electronics repair men living in the Campos dos Goytacazes area left town under the guise of buying a new car and necessary electronic parts for a handful of jobs. However, not long after departing, the duo stopped at a bar for water. Taking care of their thirst and offering the two men some water the bartender would later report that Miguel carried an anxious and hurried air about him. Though little was said through the simple exchange, the bartender would become the last person to see either Manoel or Miguel alive. In fact, three days after the strange meeting between bartender and technician a man by the name of Jorge da Costa Alvas discovered Miguel and Manoel whilst flying a kite. Immediately contacting the local authorities, Jorge reported the bodies while consequently starting one of the strangest investigations ever recorded.

Upon arrival, officers were quick to take note of the scene and it didn’t take long for a few odd but key details to emerge. Both Miguel and Manoel lay on Vintem Hill dressed in carefully pressed suits with waterproof coats about their shoulders. On their faces rested peculiar glasses later identified as lead masks. Even more peculiar was the lack of visibility when wearing the leaden eye wear as neither mask had any hole to see out of. They were solid through and through leaving anyone who wore them virtually blind. While relatively crude in structure, lead masks weren’t an uncommon phenomenon when used to protect the eyes from radiation. At least, they weren’t uncommon when used by professionals in highly radioactive businesses. As for two seemingly normal citizens the attire was very unnerving for officials.

Yet, the oddities don’t stop there. Officials went on to find an empty water bottle, presumably the one from the bar Miguel and Manoel visited. Such evidence indicated that immediately after leaving the bar both men came to Vintem Hill and managed to change attire. What they were dressing for had yet to be investigated, but the empty bottle wasn’t alone. It was accompanied by two dry towels and a single notebook. Historic Mysteries, people who also investigated the case, claimed “The towels indicate that the men were expecting moisture, as do the jackets,” but that “There simply is no explanation for this,” as weather reports indicated a dry rain free day. Ignoring the towels, investigators turned to the notebook in hopes that it held some form of a helpful clue. When opened, the notebook revealed a disturbing message, “16:30 be at agreed place, 18:30 swallow capsules, after effect protect metals wait for mask signal.” Confused more than before, investigators scrambled about for details that could potentially explain both the journal and the dead men. All they found aside from what had previously been discovered was a portion of the car money and a severe lack of radiation.

Taking what they could, investigators turned to autopsies for answers. Unfortunately, neither Miguel nor Manoel’s organs were preserved properly leading to a toxicology report that came up negative for whatever “capsules” the technicians had swallowed. Leaving nothing but disappointment in the mouths of investigators, the case was relatively forgotten. Thankfully, a few curious individuals managed to dig up new evidence. After looking into Miguel and Manoel’s private lives it was discovered that both men belonged to a spiritually and scientifically based group of alien believers. This so-called interest seemed to have developed upon reading a book by Bezerra de Menezes. Ironically enough, further inspection revealed that most of Brazil’s electronics industry was involved with this spiritual occult. Reports went so far as to claim that a common practice within this spiritual organization was the consumption of hallucinogenic drugs that allowed them to contact aliens. Now, anyone familiar with the psychological effects of hallucinogens knows that the likelihood of any reality based extraterrestrial connection is at a whopping 0%. The drugs themselves produce vivid and wild depictions of beings, situations, or creatures that invade a seemingly realistic world experienced by the user. The only explanation for the acclaimed alien encounters comes from the fact that these ‘believers’ were feeding their imaginations with psycho active drugs. And if that wasn’t enough to make you commit then the potential withdrawal that would follow abandoning the ‘religion’ was enough to keep people around.

However, drugs weren’t enough for Miguel or Manoel. The duo became so determined to contact aliens, according to a friend Elicio Gomez, that they would stop at nothing to do so. Whether contact was made through telepathy, seance, or summoning didn’t matter. They were going to do it. But Elicio wasn’t the only one privy to the duo’s obsession. In fact, Manoel’s father was more than aware of his son’s investigation attempts because a failed experiment performed by Miguel, Manoel, and Gomez exploded in his yard. The trio even caused another massive explosion over a nearby city that prompted the attention of Naval and Military Forces. Despite this, and despite intercepting radio communications from Manoel, the military has yet to release any details regarding what was heard.

While the investigation seemed to suffer once more, a potential ending came into view. A renowned gangster Hamilton Bezani claimed responsibility for the duo’s deaths. However, as investigators questioned Bezani it became clear that he was lying. The criminal couldn’t describe even the simplest details of Miguel or Manoel’s appearances. Frustrated, authorities turned once more to relatives and family members of the technicians. It was Miguel’s newly widowed wife that revealed her husband openly admitted to using the purchase of a car, large amount of cash, and intent to buy electronics supplies as a smokescreen. For what, she didn’t know.

It wasn’t until an old case from 1962 resurfaced that things got even weirder. As it turned out, Miguel and Manoel weren’t the first people to drop dead with lead masks perched on their noses. Another man by the name of Hermes (yes, he was named after the Greek god) died from nearly the same cause-whatever that cause was. His body was found upon a hill with a discarded lead mask. His toxicology report revealed nothing as had Miguel and Manoel’s, but the records of Hermes’ death are even more empty than that of his counterparts’. As summarized by the following report “The mystery was heightened by the revelation that in 1962 another man, a TV technician named Hermes, had been found dead on the top of Morro do Cruzeiro near Neves. His corpse also had a lead mask lying beside it. Speculation continued the outward-bound trend when the Folha de Sao Paulo of August 31 published an article in which a “Professor of Yoga” suggested that the men may have been trying to carry out a telepathic experiment with high-frequency thought waves.” (FSR). Nothing more was ultimately learned, and all that occurred by reopening Hermes’ case was an even more confusing series of peculiar ‘coincidences’ than those that already existed. The bottom line was that these men, insanely determined as they were, had managed to come to the same conclusion; alien life existed, it could be contacted, they were going to be the ones to do it, and hallucinogens with lead glasses was the way to make it happen.

Ultimately, little more can be said for the case as far as factual evidence goes, but that doesn’t keep theories at bay. During this time a huge UFO craze was washing through Brazil and countless spaceship sightings were reported. Coincidentally, there was one said to have occurred on the same day both Miguel and Manoel died. Even more of a coincidence was that the UFO seemed to bob up and down in a hovering manner above Vintem Hill. Which brings us to one very popular theory. Miguel and Manoel had succeeded in summoning aliens and died as a result. The lack of evidence indicating how they died could easily be explained away by the fact that aliens were an unknown species making their capabilities equally unknown.

However, I must interject and state that I personally find that theory 0% plausible as I don’t believe aliens exist. That being said, if theory one seems plausible to anyone out there, then by all means take it and run with it. Now, to make a more likely theory, if two men are going to swallow strange capsules with unknown contents inside, the fact that they died shouldn’t have been a surprise. Whether a hallucinogen was indeed in the capsule or something far different doesn’t matter all that much. Whatever they ingested most likely had a role to play and given the lack of responsibility on the coroners’ parts when it came to preserving the body it’s not unlikely that something would have shown on the toxicology report had things been handled appropriately.

And last, but certainly not least, there is the idea that a third unknown party was involved with the deaths of Miguel and Manoel. Given the note and its contents it seems that both technicians were hoping to see or meet someone else. Whether that individual ever showed up is unknown, but it’s not unlikely given the UFO craze in Brazil at the time. It became quite popular to say you saw an alien space ship flying about in the sky. As for this third party member actively involving themselves in foul play and murdering Miguel and Manoel, nothing can be said for certain but given the details of the case it’s fairly possible that someone could have easily offed the duo. Some even go so far as to suggest that the military was the third party. Given Miguel and Manoel’s explosive, dangerous, and fanatic tendencies it’s not implausible to think the military would step in. Not to mention their bizarre silence on the case and what they heard during Miguel and Manoel’s radio conversations.

At the end of the day, as frustrating as it may be, the case will never have a definitive answer. All that there is to do is speculate and wonder what made two seemingly reasonable men join the occult and what in the world-or out of the world- killed them.