The mid-1960s were turbulent in Brazil. In 1964, Marshal Humberto Castelo Branco staged a military coup and death squads raged across the country. These detachments of former police and military men, under the guise of fighting drug lords and criminals, ruthlessly destroyed the opposition, terrifying the townspeople and peasants.
One day at the end of the summer of 1966, several high school students from the town of Niteroi, near Rio de Janeiro, were flying kites on Vintem Hill. One of the kites flew away into a thicket of thorny bushes. In search of the snake, the young men came across the bodies of two young men in raincoats, business suits and strange metal half masks. Deciding that these were the next victims of the "death squads", the boys ran away.
The next day, talk about the terrible find was heard by Jorge da Costa Alves, the son of a policeman, who immediately reported everything to his father. A patrol who arrived at Vintem Hill recorded that next to the unknown were a plastic bag with several paper towels and an empty bottle from under the water. Their faces were really covered with strange metal half masks, without slits for the eyes. Both bodies lay on a mat of leaves and twigs, apparently cut off by a machete.
In the pockets of the dead, ID cards were found in the name of Manuel Pereira da Cruz and Miguel José Viana from the town of Campos dos Goitacasis, Rio de Janeiro, as well as notebooks with incomprehensible diagrams and tables of alphanumeric symbols and two notes with the same text:
“4:30 pm. Be at the designated place. 6:30. Swallow the capsule. After taking action, protect your face with a metal mask and wait for the signal."
Experimental Ufologists
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During the investigation, it turned out that the victims worked as radio mechanics in a small workshop and were fond of paranormal phenomena, esoteric practices, the search for alien signals and the observation of UFOs.
Another hobby was the creation of radio equipment for communication with the other world. The investigation revealed that the strange half masks were made in a makeshift way in the workshop of the dead and were intended to protect, possibly from radiation.
Having examined in detail the notes in the notebooks, which mainly contained an extensive specification of various radio details, the police decided that they were in front of traces of some strange experience that led to the death of the experimenters.
Nevertheless, the pathological examination did not find any traces of violence or extraneous influences, except for strange bluish veins on the temples of the dead.
There were no signs of either poisoning or radiation damage. Toxicological and histological analyzes were negative, therefore a detailed toxicological examination was not carried out again.
Only later, at the request of the relatives of the victims, on 25 August 1967, the bodies were exhumed for a second examination, which again did not reveal any signs of violent death. However, the mention of some "capsules" in the notes could still indicate the possibility of poisoning.
During the investigation, the police interrogated Elcio Correira Gomez, who had previously participated in the experiments with the victims. However, he categorically denied his involvement in the deaths of radio technicians and swore that he knew nothing about their trip to Niteroi.
In the radio workshop of the deceased, an extensive esoteric library was found, and in one of the books - "Scientific medium" - pages were marked, where it was described how to get a "bright glow of ectoplasm" (ectoplasm is a viscous substance supposedly released through the nose, ears, mouth of a medium and serving for the process of materializing ghosts) and protect yourself from it with metal screens and masks.
Much later, in conversations with reporters, Sister Miguela recalled that on the eve of his departure, the brother often spoke of preparing for some kind of "supernatural mission" that would make him rich and famous. The widow da Cruz said the same. Manuel, a few days before the trip, was very excited and all the time discussed with his friend some "final tests" for "entering another reality." In addition, we found out that the friends went on a trip, taking money with them.
Dangerous "balls of fire"
Today, the original hypothesis is popular that both radio technicians were killed by linear or ball lightning. On the evening of August 17, a severe thunderstorm passed in the vicinity of Niteroi, accompanied by a real "lightning storm". Local residents have long noticed that the Vintem Hill "attracts lightning", which more often hit its top than into the surrounding hills.
Brazilian geophysicists speculate that this may be due to iron ore veins forming an ore nest, or to the fall of an iron-nickel meteorite that formed a vast depression at the top of the hill.
One can observe the discharges of ordinary lightning a thousand times and never meet "round electricity". This unusual manifestation of an electrified atmosphere is encountered by about one in a thousand throughout life. Moreover, only a few can coherently and accurately describe what they see.
In almost half of the cases, during the observation time, lightning manages to travel from one to ten meters. Three-quarters of eyewitnesses reported that the lightning moved horizontally, in every fifth case it went down and only in every twentieth it went up. On average, it travels several meters per second, and it seems that its specific gravity is only slightly higher than that of air.
An analysis of the many observations revealed a striking fact. It turns out that ball lightning appears at least once in every hundred powerful strikes of ordinary linear lightning. Meanwhile, tropical thunderstorms are often accompanied by a kind of "lightning storm", when the discharges follow almost continuously. However, special expeditions observing this impressive riot of the elements did not reveal any signs of the massive emergence of "round electricity".
Meanwhile, it was in the years in question that the idea was especially popular among ufologists that ball lightning was a kind of “alien probes”. It seems that this is what the ill-fated radio technicians wanted to check. It is difficult to say what role metal masks played in their research, but it was extremely dangerous to be in them during a thunderstorm.
Indirectly, the hypothesis of a meeting with ball lightning is also confirmed by the testimony of a certain Gracinda di Sosa, who on the evening of August 17 drove with children near the scene. Suddenly her daughter Maria screamed that she "sees a satellite on the mountain." It must be said that in those years the successes of Soviet cosmonautics introduced this word into the international lexicon, and all UFOs were initially mistaken for satellites.
Then Grasinda saw on the Vintem Hill a glowing yellow-orange ball, which slowly disappeared behind the bushes. Returning home, Madame di Sousa told her husband everything, who immediately drove to the hill and even climbed to its top. However, he did not find anything there, except for the pungent smell of ozone, which occurs after a close lightning strike. Subsequently, journalists found several more people who saw the flickering of light on the slopes of Vintem Hill at the same time.
Unknown accomplices
One of the mysteries of the "lead mask case" is a handkerchief with the initials AMS in Da Cruz's hand, and a torn button on Viana's smart jacket.
The version about unknown accomplices in the experiment is also confirmed by the testimony of local residents who saw a jeep drive up to the foot of Vintem Hill. The radio technicians got out of the car and began to climb the hillside, while the jeep driver turned off the engine and stayed below.
The appearance of unknown persons in this story led the police to a criminal version. According to it, the attackers took advantage of the esoteric enthusiasm of radio engineers and invited them to take part in a "parapsychological experiment." At the same time, a legend was told about fireballs that periodically appear on the top of the hill, and capsules were proposed that should be taken to enhance "extrasensory perception." So da Cruz and Viana drank poison, and their poisoners stole money.
Despite the simplicity and rationality of this police version, it is rejected by many independent experts, including the famous UFO researcher Jean Vallee. They believe that such explanations are beneficial, first of all, to the police themselves, who appropriated the money of radio mechanics.
Meanwhile, Brazilian journalists found information about a very similar case in the police archives. In 1962, Ermes Juarez, a telemaster from Rio de Janeiro, was found lifeless on the nearby Cruzeiro Hill. A metal mask was clutched in his numb hand, reminiscent of those on the faces of da Cruz and Viana.
The cause of his death was also not clear, although someone saw that the TV master had swallowed some "pills" before heading to the top of the hill. Based on this, the police closed the case as a suicide. It is curious that Juarez devoted all his free time to finding funds to organize a "radio bridge with the other world."
The investigation into the case of "Vitemskaya tragedy" was terminated in 1969 "for lack of corpus delicti." At the moment, the masks that were worn by the dead are kept in the police museum in Rio de Janeiro.
Oleg FAIG