Post by Catsmate on Jul 16, 2022 17:39:11 GMT
The Men in the Lead Masks.
The story of the two Brazillian men found dead under unexplained circumstances in 1966 began, by one standard, on a warm August afternoon with the discovery of their dead bodies by an unnamed boy.
The boy was out flying a kite on the Morro do Vintém (Vintém Hill) outside the town of Niterói (around seven kilometres from Rio de Janeiro) on the afternoon of 20AUG1966 (a Saturday) when, around 5PM, he encountered a powerfully unpleasant smell; investigating he found the corpses of the two dead men.
The boy reported the matter to police but the lateness and the difficult terrain delayed a response until the next morning. A small group of police, medics and firefighters arrived late that morning and found an odd scene; the two bodies rested next to each other, partly covered by foliage. Each man wore a formal suit, a lead eye mask, and a waterproof coat.
There were no signs of physical trauma, no evidence of a struggle or of anyone else being present. Next to the corpses was an empty water bottle and a packet containing two damp towels.
A small notebook was also recovered which contained some electrical circuit diagrams, lists of components and a set of cryptic instructions. Translated these said:
The notes were found not to be in the handwriting of either man.
The bodies were taken for autopsy, but due to a backlog at the coroner’s office this was delayed by several days.
In the meantime the police identified the men as two electronic technicians, Manoel Pereira da Cruz [32] and Miguel José Viana [34] both from the town of Campos, around 275 kilometers away. Both men were married with children, both were electronics technicians and had last been seen by their families at about 9AM on 17AUG1966.
There was no evidence of domestic problems or explanations for their deaths; both men were well respected, hard-working and showed no signs of mental illness.
The pair had claimed when leaving that they were travelling to Sao Paulo (about seven hundred kilometres) to purchase electronic components and a car, for which they carried cash, about three million Cruziero1.
The actually arrived at Niterói around 2PM.
In Niterói the men purchased the two raincoats and a bottle of mineral water at a bar. A waitress from the bar described Miguel as being "very nervous" and stated that he frequently checked his watch.
That is the last time they were known to have been seen alive; it is presumed they went directly from the bar to the spot at which they were discovered.
The delay in the post-mortem examinations has allowed the mens’ organs to degrade to the point that toxicological screening was worthless but it was established that there were no signs of blunt or sharp force trauma, explosion, burns or caustic chemicals.
The men were seen in the mountains on 17AUG, and it seemed likely to investigators that they died sometime on the night on 17AUG; nothing in the investigation suggested the men expected to die.
There was now also the question of where most of their money had gone (Approximately 160,000Cr was found with the bodies2), as they had clearly not had a chance to buy the car or equipment in what was known of their last actions.
However no cause of death, nor reason for the mens last journey, has ever been established.
A weird little matter, isn't it? It gets weirder.
The UFO connection.
Also on 17AUG a lady "of high social status", Senora Gracinda Barbosa Coutinho da Sousa, who lived in the upmarket Fonseca neighborhood of Niterói, saw an unidentified flying object. She had been driving that evening with three of her children when they all saw "an oval-shaped object, of an orangey colour, with a band of fire around its edges" hanging over the top of a hill and "sending out rays in all directions".
Sra, Sousa stopped the car and they all watched the object rise and fall vertically in the air for about four minutes. When she got home, she told her husband about the sighting; he drove back, but saw nothing himself.
A few days later he went to the police about the matter; the hill his wife had seen the object over was the Morro do Vintém, about 22 kilometres from Fonseca.
By 25AUG the story had leaked to the newspapers, who had the proverbial field day and speculated wildly. Other witnesses to the UFO came forward3.
The Other Dead Man.
After the mysterious deaths an old story was resurrected; four years earlier in 1962, a TV technician named Hermes had been found dead on a hill called Morro do Cruzeiro near Neves and that he was also wearing a lead mask.
The Morro do Cruzeiros is about 285 kilometres from the Morro do Vintém; but is also 135 kilometres from Campos, the home town of Viana and Cruz.
The Arrest.
Under extreme pressure about the deaths, the police made an arrest on 29AUG. A friend of the two dead men, named Elicio Gomes, was held "for making contradictory statements." Cruz's widow had told the police that Gomes and her husband had an argument, which is likely why they went looking for him to start with.
Instead of explanations things now got weirder.
Gomes claimed that both he and the dead men were members of a secret society of "scientific spiritualists" who regularly attended seances. He also claimed that the group collaborated on many strange electronic experiments, and hoped to communicate with beings on Mars.
Another claim by Gomez (and this was confirmed by Cruz's father) was that he and Cruz had worked on an experiment in Cruz's garden that had exploded violently.
Gomes also spoke of a strange incident that had occurred on 13JUN1966. He, and several others, had been invited by Viana and Cruz to meet them at the beach at Atafona, about 38 kilometers from Campos. Just as Gomes arrived, an "intensely luminous object" came down from the sky to hover over the shore of the beach. It stayed for around five minutes and then began to rise. At this point there was a blinding flash and an explosion that shook buildings 15 kilometers away. The explosion was certainly reported in the newspapers.
The papers reported that inquiries by the police, turned up fishermen at Atafona who claimed to have seen a flying craft fall into the ocean.
By now the Brazilian Navy and Air Force Intelligence were interested in the matters (at least so claimed the media).
There was an account in the newspaper, O Cruzeiro, that claimed the Navy had intercepted a strange set of radio messages on 12JUN. The transmitters used identifications that didn't exist.
Gomes was released after it was determined that he couldn't have been present at the Morro do Vintém
And there you have it. An odd little mystery, still without a solution and perfect for injecting into a Whoniverse campaign, either in 1966 or slightly modified for the present day.
Comments? Suggestions?
NOTES
1. Worth about five hundred pounds Sterling, or US$1,400 at the time). Or half-a-million Yen, 5,600DM, 6,900FFr or 6,000ChFr.
2. Cynical people might, and did, suggest the police stole the cash.
3. Speculation and discussion around 'UFOs' was being discouraged by the government at the time.
The story of the two Brazillian men found dead under unexplained circumstances in 1966 began, by one standard, on a warm August afternoon with the discovery of their dead bodies by an unnamed boy.
The boy was out flying a kite on the Morro do Vintém (Vintém Hill) outside the town of Niterói (around seven kilometres from Rio de Janeiro) on the afternoon of 20AUG1966 (a Saturday) when, around 5PM, he encountered a powerfully unpleasant smell; investigating he found the corpses of the two dead men.
The boy reported the matter to police but the lateness and the difficult terrain delayed a response until the next morning. A small group of police, medics and firefighters arrived late that morning and found an odd scene; the two bodies rested next to each other, partly covered by foliage. Each man wore a formal suit, a lead eye mask, and a waterproof coat.
There were no signs of physical trauma, no evidence of a struggle or of anyone else being present. Next to the corpses was an empty water bottle and a packet containing two damp towels.
A small notebook was also recovered which contained some electrical circuit diagrams, lists of components and a set of cryptic instructions. Translated these said:
- [Page one] Sunday, one capsule after lunch; Wednesday, one capsule at bed-time.
- [Page two] Be at the place arranged at 16:30. Take capsules at 18:30. After feeling effects, protect half the face with lead masks. Await the agreed signal.
The notes were found not to be in the handwriting of either man.
The bodies were taken for autopsy, but due to a backlog at the coroner’s office this was delayed by several days.
In the meantime the police identified the men as two electronic technicians, Manoel Pereira da Cruz [32] and Miguel José Viana [34] both from the town of Campos, around 275 kilometers away. Both men were married with children, both were electronics technicians and had last been seen by their families at about 9AM on 17AUG1966.
There was no evidence of domestic problems or explanations for their deaths; both men were well respected, hard-working and showed no signs of mental illness.
The pair had claimed when leaving that they were travelling to Sao Paulo (about seven hundred kilometres) to purchase electronic components and a car, for which they carried cash, about three million Cruziero1.
The actually arrived at Niterói around 2PM.
In Niterói the men purchased the two raincoats and a bottle of mineral water at a bar. A waitress from the bar described Miguel as being "very nervous" and stated that he frequently checked his watch.
- Interestingly the men kept the receipt for the water to collect a refund on the empty bottle, suggesting they intended to return.
That is the last time they were known to have been seen alive; it is presumed they went directly from the bar to the spot at which they were discovered.
The delay in the post-mortem examinations has allowed the mens’ organs to degrade to the point that toxicological screening was worthless but it was established that there were no signs of blunt or sharp force trauma, explosion, burns or caustic chemicals.
The men were seen in the mountains on 17AUG, and it seemed likely to investigators that they died sometime on the night on 17AUG; nothing in the investigation suggested the men expected to die.
There was now also the question of where most of their money had gone (Approximately 160,000Cr was found with the bodies2), as they had clearly not had a chance to buy the car or equipment in what was known of their last actions.
However no cause of death, nor reason for the mens last journey, has ever been established.
A weird little matter, isn't it? It gets weirder.
The UFO connection.
Also on 17AUG a lady "of high social status", Senora Gracinda Barbosa Coutinho da Sousa, who lived in the upmarket Fonseca neighborhood of Niterói, saw an unidentified flying object. She had been driving that evening with three of her children when they all saw "an oval-shaped object, of an orangey colour, with a band of fire around its edges" hanging over the top of a hill and "sending out rays in all directions".
Sra, Sousa stopped the car and they all watched the object rise and fall vertically in the air for about four minutes. When she got home, she told her husband about the sighting; he drove back, but saw nothing himself.
A few days later he went to the police about the matter; the hill his wife had seen the object over was the Morro do Vintém, about 22 kilometres from Fonseca.
By 25AUG the story had leaked to the newspapers, who had the proverbial field day and speculated wildly. Other witnesses to the UFO came forward3.
The Other Dead Man.
After the mysterious deaths an old story was resurrected; four years earlier in 1962, a TV technician named Hermes had been found dead on a hill called Morro do Cruzeiro near Neves and that he was also wearing a lead mask.
The Morro do Cruzeiros is about 285 kilometres from the Morro do Vintém; but is also 135 kilometres from Campos, the home town of Viana and Cruz.
- There is some doubt about the authenticity of this story.
The Arrest.
Under extreme pressure about the deaths, the police made an arrest on 29AUG. A friend of the two dead men, named Elicio Gomes, was held "for making contradictory statements." Cruz's widow had told the police that Gomes and her husband had an argument, which is likely why they went looking for him to start with.
Instead of explanations things now got weirder.
Gomes claimed that both he and the dead men were members of a secret society of "scientific spiritualists" who regularly attended seances. He also claimed that the group collaborated on many strange electronic experiments, and hoped to communicate with beings on Mars.
Another claim by Gomez (and this was confirmed by Cruz's father) was that he and Cruz had worked on an experiment in Cruz's garden that had exploded violently.
Gomes also spoke of a strange incident that had occurred on 13JUN1966. He, and several others, had been invited by Viana and Cruz to meet them at the beach at Atafona, about 38 kilometers from Campos. Just as Gomes arrived, an "intensely luminous object" came down from the sky to hover over the shore of the beach. It stayed for around five minutes and then began to rise. At this point there was a blinding flash and an explosion that shook buildings 15 kilometers away. The explosion was certainly reported in the newspapers.
The papers reported that inquiries by the police, turned up fishermen at Atafona who claimed to have seen a flying craft fall into the ocean.
By now the Brazilian Navy and Air Force Intelligence were interested in the matters (at least so claimed the media).
There was an account in the newspaper, O Cruzeiro, that claimed the Navy had intercepted a strange set of radio messages on 12JUN. The transmitters used identifications that didn't exist.
Gomes was released after it was determined that he couldn't have been present at the Morro do Vintém
And there you have it. An odd little mystery, still without a solution and perfect for injecting into a Whoniverse campaign, either in 1966 or slightly modified for the present day.
Comments? Suggestions?
NOTES
1. Worth about five hundred pounds Sterling, or US$1,400 at the time). Or half-a-million Yen, 5,600DM, 6,900FFr or 6,000ChFr.
2. Cynical people might, and did, suggest the police stole the cash.
3. Speculation and discussion around 'UFOs' was being discouraged by the government at the time.
