It's no surprise that I like a good mystery case. So today I have one that's been sitting on my list for a while, and since spooky season is slowly creeping up on us, it just seemed like the perfect time to share it. Well, are talking about a case that takes us back into the nineteen sixties where two men were found dead under very strange circumstances with two lead masks laying next to them. The investigation that unfolded would take authorities down all kinds of rabbit holes that
would include UFO sightings with government investigations. This is the case, the infamous case known as the lead Mask Case. My name's Ben, I'm.
Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked and Grim.
A true crime podcast material audience listener. I changed it up. I opened my beer in the intro.
I liked it.
You liked it. I haven't even sipped it yet.
I'm drinking a good old ice coffee.
Yeah, you are a vanilla one.
Rare time that I drink coffee, staying good.
Drink those Starbucks ice ones all the time, though I do.
I don't think they're not very strong coffee flavored, but it's.
A frappuccino technically is it? It's a coffee, you know those ones that you can get a convenience stores in the glass bottle. That's what she's down on.
Yeah, she likes it. It's real good. And we're about to leave on a jet plane here, Yeah.
We are. I was really wanting to sing that song right away as as as you said that, but I'm holding myself back to save your ears. But yeah, we are leaving on a jet plane. We're heading over to the East coast. We're going over a little bit of a work trip slash vacation, and we're gonna be hitting up Disney World and Universal Studios.
While we're there. Yeah, it's gonna be good.
It is. It's gonna be good. Go see Mickey and many and all the.
Podcast funny that we have been. Well, it's gonna be our second time being at disney World, but yet we haven't gone to Disneyland, which is you know.
Yeah, and especially considering we're on the West coast. Yeah, I wouldn't say it's so close.
Well, I think you could. Probably it's way closer.
It's way closer, yeah, but I wouldn't say it's close closer.
I mean, we were supposed to go there one year, but COVID yeah.
Like literally, Okay, you guys remember when the first like COVID shutdown happened. Yeah, we were supposed to be in Disneyland that first week of COVID shutdown.
Well yeah, because we were celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary. Yeah, and then we renovated our basement instead.
Yep. It was so sad, yep, but it was a good time though I'm still sitting at home. It wasn't as great as Disneyland, but I'm sure we all still have some fun memories from Well. Yeah, COVID times.
Got shit done somehow, we didd true.
But we also got to thank patrons because, I mean, without the show, you guys listening and people signing up and supporting us over in Patreon, we probably wouldn't still be doing this. So shout out to Rachel Fabri and Freya Thompson.
Nice.
Yeah, they signed up on Patreon this week and they get all that exclusive behind the scenes and extra content.
That's awesome.
It is awesome. They're awesome, and you guys are awesome too for being here. So thank you.
Okay, so what do you got for.
Us well, the interlube intro Interlube interlude interlude intro. I gave you a little bit of a hint, will not hint information on it. It's called the Lead Mass Case. Have you heard this one?
No?
No?
Really, well I don't think so. No.
It's been on my list for a long time. It is a potentially a true crime case. There is death, and there is some some spookiness to it, you know.
So sounds like it's right up your alley it is.
And I think, you know this time of year, we're not even in October yet, but I think a lot of people are feeling that spooky season early this.
Oh yeah, it already feels like it's basically October to me, right, So I wanted to kind of throw this one in there because it just seemed good.
I was gonna save up potentially for Halloween week, but you know what, let's do it early, Let's do it. Let's do it, Okay, So you ready for this?
Mm hmm?
All right. So on August twentieth, nineteen sixty six, eighteen year old George da Costa Alvez was out on Vitamin Hill flying his kite. What a strange smell caught his attention. You know, it was a warm and sunny day in southeast Brazil at the time, following a series of rainstorms, and George expected, you know, to breathe in the fresh scent of wet grass, or maybe even the salty breeze coming off the ocean and the beach nearby, right, But instead,
what he encountered was something a little more unpleasant. It was foul, and it was an unmistakable odor, one that we all know as decay rotting. Well, George was curious, and he began to search for the source. Not far from where he stood. That's when he saw two pairs of legs protruding from the grass. At first glance, it seemed almost like there was two men laying there and simply just you know, out for a nap, laying in
the sun or whatever. Right, But the swarm of insects and the stench made it very clear that something was something else was happening here. They weren't out just for you know, just an afternoon nap in the grass. Now, these guys, the smell was rot These guys were dead clearly.
You know, I'm honestly kind of impressed that they went looking for the smell, because I am almost certain that I wouldn't.
Yeah, just peace out, Yeah, I can't blame you on that one.
I don't think I wouldn't think it's a human or anything, but I maybe an animal or something, and I just don't think I would like try to go find it.
Fair enough, Well, George did go find it, and after he found it, he quickly alerted the authorities and police arrived on the scene very quickly. It was immediately clear that this was no ordinary case because lying in the tall grass where of course, these two men, their two bodies their remains, but a little bit more so, these two were seemingly in about their thirties. They were dressed
in informal black suits and wore raincoats. Nearby investigators found things that the game began to get a little bit strange. There were two lead masks. Now these weren't full lead masks it would cover an entire face, but instead resembled like oversized sunglasses made entirely out of lead. Adding to the mystery, there was a peculiar note that was found near the bodies, and it read four thirty pm. Be
at the determined place six thirty pm. Swallow capsules after effect protect metals weight for mask signal.
Oh my gosh, I don't get this lead mask thing though. That doesn't make sense, Like I'm having trouble visualizing what it is.
Think like a big old pair of sunglasses. Okay, and they're they're metal.
No lens, so nothing that you can you can't see through it, then, I.
Don't think so, as far as I'm aware, maybe there was a pinhole or something. I don't think so. Okay, I have never actually tried to look up a photo of it, if I'm being honest, But as far as my understanding is, they're just solid lead.
Interesting, yes, well.
Investigators continue to comb through the area. They discovered a few more items, a bottle of mineral water, two towels, and a sum of money, which, when convert to today's value, would be about a couple thousand dollars. The men showed no sign of visible injury, but due to the advanced stage of decomposition, it was difficult to determine much about
their final moments. Their bodies lay on a patch of vegetation, and it appeared to have been deliberately cut, like with a knife for a pair of scissors or something like that. But there was nothing found in the area to explain that. The police were stumped. They weren't able to cause to figure out the cause of death, at least not right away.
This sounds like some cult shit to me, you.
Think so kind of it could be. Well, what they were able to identify was the men's The two men's names, One was Manuel Pierra de Cruz and the other was Miguel Jose Vianna. Both were electronic technicians and in their early thirties. They both had young families and lived in a town called Campos, and it was about one hundred and seventy five miles away from the location where the
bodies were found. So what exactly were these two doing on Vitamin Hill dressed informal suits with lead masks and a bizarre note?
Well and very young, yeah, exactly so young?
But mostly what killed them. The more authorities investigated, the more questions seemed to arise, and each piece of the puzzle only deepened the mystery. Police interviewed George, the boy who first discovered the men, and George revealed that he had actually seen the men on the hill a few days prior, on August seventeenth, sitting in the same spot where they were later found dead. The following day, after George first saw them, he returned to the area and
saw the men again, now laying down. However, at this time he wasn't alarmed. It was it was just some guys laying the grass. They were there the day before. Why can't they be you there today? After all, he.
Is a favorite spot or something right, right.
It wasn't until a couple days later when the pungent smell of decay became the overwhelming, you know clue in his mind that you know, something else is going went on here and the alerted authorities. So after speaking with George, investigators began to piece together the days leading up to the death of Manuel and Miguel by interviewing those closest to them, and they managed to put together a bit
of a timeline. So in the morning of August seventeenth, both men informed their families that they were heading to Sal Paulo to purchase some electronics and use car into a used car. Given that they worked as electronic repairman, it checked out right. Maybe it was parts or extra activities or who knows, but it checks out. What did Simon, however, was that they were going such a long distance several
hours in fact, to buy a car. Another strange detail was a significant amount of money they took with them and estimated three million kuerzos, which in today's currency would roughly estimate to translate at about thirty thousand US dollars.
Oh shit, which is way more than they needed for this car.
I'm assuming definitely more than they would need for a a used car. I can understand people traveling distances for used vehicles.
Oh yeah, that doesn't seem odd to me at all.
Usually though it's a collector. I can understand maybe traveling an hour, maybe two. But these guys are going several hours just for a used car.
I don't know, because I've met people who bought used vehicles from Vancouver.
But that is also in today's world, where you can find deals online travel to go purchase it. Oh yeah, this is the sixties, right. They don't have a car that they're going specifically for. If they're going to go travel several hours to go search for a car, it's most likely gonna be a very specific car thereafter. And that wasn't the case here.
Okay, that makes sense then, well, it doesn't make sense when it makes sense, you know.
Yeah, I gotcha.
Yeah.
So, despite their claims of heading to South Paulo, Manuel and Miguel never went there. Instead, they made their way to Niterio, which is a wealthy suburb of Rio de Janeiro. So the decision left investigators puzzled the sudden change in destination. What business did they have there? Was it a lie? What's going on? So upon arriving in Indio, Manuel Miguel made a few purchases, but not for any electronics equipment
or the car that they mentioned to their families. Instead, with rain being in the forecast, they bought matching raincoats for around nine four hundred creezos, and after that, the men stopped by a local bar where they purchased a bottle of mineral water. At the time, Brazil had a program in place where you could return the bottle get a small refund with the receipt, just like recycling returns today.
Interestingly enough, the men kept the receipt for the water, a detail that could actually be significant in this case because if they had planned to end their lives, holding onto the receipt might suggest otherwise. It might say that they expected to return.
Yeah, why would they keep that?
Yeah?
I also just have to say, I love that they bought matching raincoats. Can we find matching raincoats when we're are we?
Oh my god, you're gonna see us in Disney World and like a few and we're just gonna be walking around with matching raincoats.
I would love that, of course you would.
Well. Witnesses at a bar where they purchased the water bottle noted that the men seemed a little bit nervous and Miguel kept glancing at his watch. At around three fifteen pm, they hitched a ride in a jeep at the base of Vitamin Hill. From there they made their way up on sorry to the base of Vitamin Hill. So from the bar to the base of Edmond Hill, and from there they made their way up the hill on foot to what would be their final resting place,
at least before they were buried. So when their bodies were eventually discovered, only one hundred and sixty one thousand crew row I'm probably butchering how you say this, cruise zeros, which is their currency, remained on them. And given that the raincoats cost nine four hundred and the bottle of water certainly didn't cost two point eight million. The pressing question arose when happened to the rest of their money, and sorry.
How should you just say that they had left.
One hundred and sixty one and they started with three million? Wow, so where's the rest of them?
No shit.
Adding to the frustration, the corner's responsible for the corners, or i should say singular responsible for the examination of the bodies, actually told the police he was too busy to conduct a proper autopsy on them. So he could do the autopsy, but he wasn't able to do a toxicology report.
Which, curiously, Yeah, that is like a job that I just don't think that you can say I'm too busy.
I know, especially considering this it would be a murder. And there's a note specifically talking about taking pills brutal.
Yeah, I just like, that's kind of shit I don't think would fly today.
I know.
No, like you got to do this, but maybe they were massively shorthanded, like you did never know, but still like you have to do.
It, yeah, exactly. So Unfortunately it didn't get done, and without the testing, there was no way of knowing what substance, if any that they actually ingested from these capsules or pills that they mentioned.
That's brutal.
Yeah. Now, speaking of the note that actually mentioned these these capsules or pills, I think it said capsules, but I keep saying pills. So capsules I do actually have more than I didn't mention earlier. That was written on the note, so it also read quote Sunday, one capsule after lunch, Wednesday one capsule at bedtime. Another puzzling detail
was a mathematical formula also scralled on the note. It's Ohm's law and it says it's V equals I are, which is a basic principle used to calculate electrical currency. And given their profession, I mean, that does kind of check out. So it does actually potentially tie the note to the men being them, the ones who wrote it, and not someone else.
Okay, something I just thought, is there any way that say capsule could mean something other than like a pill or some of sorts that you're consuming.
I mean, potentially, but what else? I have no idea?
Hmmm, Well, because also too, it doesn't make sense the length of time in between taking them, right, Yes, if I don't know if these are a pill or something that like kills you. I don't know. I just think that would make no sense to have that gap in between you know.
Yeah, I'm not too sure why hmm oka. And it's obviously not something standard like penicillin or anything, because that gap obviously is not a schedule that you'd fall for or sorry follow for something like that. So who knows what these capsules if they are a pill, which they most likely are, what they would hold mm. So Now, as a police examined the scene and the sparse evidence
that they had on hand, they began exploring theories. One possible explanation was a robbery that had gone wrong, though this seemed unlikely given the significant amount of mine that was still found on their bodies. Most likely someone would have taken all of it if they were taking something, yeah, for sure. Even more problematic was the coroner's rushed autopsy, which did state that there were signs of foul play
or that the men had been killed. I'm sorry, not that the men had been killed violently, on, leaving the police to focus on other possibilities. So the potential foul play, but it's not a violent death, so were they poisoned or we don't know, thanks for doing the toxicology report.
And the fact that that isn't available is just like, how the hell are you supposed to.
Solve this exactly? So the prevailing theory became that this was potentially a double suicide, but again without the toxicology report, the idea of this was just a question mark. How could they prove it? Did they take something on purpose to kill them? So we don't know. A year later, though, the bodies were exhumed for further testing, and this time a toxicologuesy a toxicology there we go examination confirmed that the men had not ingested common poisons like arsenic, mercury,
barium or whatever. So there was not they were not poisoned.
Okay, what just like a waste? So hey, I just feel like they if they just had done that a year prior, right then they wouldn't have had to you know, like you know, unburied Barry eg zoom zoom, Yeah, then have to lay them rest again, Like that just sucks, I think.
So they were wondering if this was a suicide. Again back to that water bottle receipt, why keep it? Was it simply out of habit, you know, Did they just put in their pockets they usually do, or was it a sign that the men didn't expect to die that day? Investigators were left scratching their heads. If not a suicide, what other explanation was there. One possibility floated by the police was that the men might have been struck by lightning, but this theory, like many others, failed to account for
any of the peculiar details surrounding the case. Police in there scrambled to piece together any kind of logical explanation for the death of Manuel and Miguel were grasping at every possible lead. It had been raining heavily that day, the day that they had passed right, not that they were found yet, and some locals had actually reported seeing bright flashes in the sky on the night of August seventeenth, which is how the idea of lightning actually came into
play in the first place. But the bodies surrounding the area didn't. Sorry, The bodies and the surrounding area didn't show any signs that supported a lightning strike. The physical evidence just simply didn't add up. However, those strange lights witnessed by locals took on new significance when a prominent member of the community, a woman named Garcinda Barbosa, came forward.
So.
Garcinda was a well respected woman in Nierio, and while she was driving home with their children on the evening of August seventeenth, they all saw something very bizarre in the sky. She described it as quote an oval shape object glowing orange, with a ring of fire encircling it and strange blue rays shooting outward in different directions.
Hmmm, oh is shit. I freaking hate cases like this because now my brain is just like going a mile minute.
It's just like scrambled eggs.
In there now it is. And I'm like, I want to solve it, but I'm just one person. I'm probably not going to be able to solve this shit.
Well, I mean a lot of people have been working on this case since the sixties.
Well yeah, so I asked one question. I don't know if you'll know, but like these lead glasses or face masks or whatever, Yeah, is that like a prominent thing back then? Or it was like kind of weird and random to find this.
It was weird and random to find it.
Okay, okay, interesting.
So soon after the locals local press caught wind of this story of this thing saw the sky and published an article about it. Other residents began contacting the police with similar reports. They kind of read it in the paper and were like, oh, I actually I saw that too.
Multiple people corroborated this account, claiming they too saw it, this thing in the sky, just as it was described in this article, And when they were asked why they didn't come forward sooner, most of them just explained that they were too afraid of being labeled it's crazy.
Well yeah, because I mean, yeah, who would last? People would not believe you. So I'm not sure I would you saw something weird in the sky, would you like call right away?
I don't know. It's hard to say.
Yeah, I don't know.
But for these people though, with Griscinda's reputation being a very prominent individual and society around here and her and her credibility coming forward, they're like, well she can come forward, I can too.
Right, So it makes sense.
Yeah, they felt a little bit more comfortable.
Well yeah, in numbers too, it's easier right exactly.
Now, whether or not these sightings were reliable or they just, you know, like we're part of this frenzy of whatever that happened once was published in the paper. I don't know, it's entirely unsure, but police did continue to dig deeper into the lives of Manuel and Miguel, hoping to uncover something that was a little less out of this world. I like that.
That was good too.
So inside the men's workshop, officers found scraps of lead that were consistent with the material used to create the bizarre lead eyeglasses that the men were wearing, or sorry that had been found next to them when they died. The discovery strongly suggested that the two had constructed the masks themselves deliberately and preparing them for some sort of
specific purpose. Which what purpose that is were unsure. But the most intriguing find came when police uncovered a collection of books in the men's possession, particularly those on scientific spiritualism. Several passages in these books had been highlighted, and they
were about contact with extraterrestrials. The text claims that when humans come into contact with aliens, the light they admit is so intense that it will blind you unless you wore specific protection, specifically sunglasses made of lead.
Holy shit, Hey, it's like they like called them or something, yeah, or knew something that no one else did.
Exactly, which is very strange because if they're out there for that purpose, that's one thing. But there's also reports of seeing UFOs that fucking night.
But do you think that they could have just been doing something with the light.
Maybe that is very potential.
Huh, Because I see, I'm kind of one of I'm a skeptic, Like I actually don't super Oh gosh about saying this, I'm like, I shouldn't say this out loud, but I don't know if I do really believe in aliens and stuff.
I doue like I, but I'm a skeptic just like you. I want to disprove every account out there to find the real ones. If that makes sense.
Well, yeah, because I have heard people say before, like it's what would be the word, but it's unrealistic for us to think that we're like the only people or like things that exist in this universe or whatever. Right.
Well, I don't know the exact calculations, so don't quote me on this. I'm just gonna make one up just to give an example. But there was an article or something that was written out there on a scientist doing the math on what it would be for another Goldilocks planet, which is what Earth is to be in the perfect zone from its son to support life. He did the math on what it would take for another Goldilocks planet to exist out there, and it was like something wild,
like one in like several billion or something. Right, Oh, okay, but there are hundreds of millions of trillions and gazillions of fucking stars out there, let alone planets. So that basically the math just proved the existence of like, not necessarily intelligent life, but a Goldilocks planet existing that would hold.
Life some sort of other life yeaheah.
So don't quote me on those exact numbers, but it was something along those lines. But and then of course you have to account for well, are the intelligent and are they still alive today? Have they destroyed themselves? Are they far left long enough in their evolution to travel? And there's so many other questions into it.
But yeah, we're probably not about that for a while, couldn't we.
Oh, if you get a couple of drinks in me, I will talk about it all.
Night, oh goss.
But Manuel's wife confirmed that the two men were indeed involved in scientific spiritualism, and they were deeply involved in a community of like minded individuals that were scientific spiritualists. In fact, she actually revealed that many of the electronics repairmen the area shared this belief system, specifically in this this this field of work, regularly engaging in secret meetings and even seances. And what did you say earlier?
Yeah, I like in my head, I'm like, yeah, this is like a cult of sorts.
There there we go.
Okay, So this.
Secret society spiritualists wasn't an unusual hobby for the men in this profession, especially in the nineteen sixties Brazil, where the lines between science and spirituality were often blurred. So Miguel's niece added to an even stranger sorry, added an even stranger layer to this story. On the day of Miguel leaving the house, she asked him where he was headed. His reply was he was going to Saint Paulo to
buy a car. When she questioned, why you travel so far to make a purchase that could easily be done closer to home and probably for a far better price, Miguel responded, quote, I need to know one thing. Then when I get back, i'll tell you if I really believe in this story of spiritualism or not.
Oh jeez, hey, I do want.
To highlight one thing he said, then said there, then when I get back, When.
I get back, Yeah, he was planning to return.
Yeah, so he was not planning to die. Okay, his words hinted at something much deeper than a simple car purchase.
Obviously, right, that was just like a cover story.
Yeah, Miguel seemed to be on the verge of some kind of revelation or test regarding his beliefs and whether this final journey was intended to confirm or debunk his faith in spiritualism. It kind of remains unclear, but it suggests that the men were actively involved in something significant related to their spiritual practices, and at this point the investigation began to circle around the question what exactly were Manuel and Miguel getting involved in and what role did
their spiritualist activities play in their deaths. Now, it's important to clarify spiritualism, and more specifically scientific spiritualism. In essence, it's the belief of communication with the dead and believing that it's possible that there's hidden channel between the living and the afterlife, and that one can tune into this channel and to speak with lost loved ones. But Manuel and Miguel were not just ordinary spiritualists. They were part
of a movement known as saying tific spiritualism. This subset basically seeks out or sought out to prove that observable phenomena and experiments through these sort of things, that the supernatural was real. So think of like ghost hunting today and using technology, similar sort of thing. Through technology, we can prove that this sort of spiritualistic idea and these phenomena are real. That's kind of what they are, very early stage ghost hunters.
Essentially, right, Okay, it makes sense.
Yeah, so they basically believe using science to demonstrate the existence.
Now okay, sorry, they weren't really Okay, I'm just confused. Were they kind of wanting to talk to the dead or were they wanting to be seeing if there's like alien and stuff like it's really unknown kind.
We'll get to that, okay, yeah, okay, So in nineteen sixties Brazil, this fusion of science and sp spiritualism spiritual reality really penetrated certain professions, particularly the electronic repairment profession.
Really, that's bizarre to me. This whole case.
Yeah, I don't really know why it leaked into that profession specifically, Maybe because I guess their ability to work with electronics. They're trying to like tune the electronics to this certain frequence. Maybe it's just their knowledge that they held it was a certain skill set for it.
I'm like almost on vacation here, and you're making me you have to think way too.
It is a bit of a convoluted case, but most of this stuff you don't actually have to think too hard on. Okay, So basically they were found dead, there's some spiritualistic stuff going on that really comes from like their hey electronics businesses or whatever, and there's a UFO sighting that occurs the same night as their death, which is very suspicious. Yeah, that's what they're seeking out. That's basically all you really need.
To know, I know. But it's still like just you know, the gears are turning because understandable wanting to figure this out.
Fair enough, Well, the police were also wanting to figure it out, and the investigation was continuing, and they learned of a figure who was actually tied to Manuel and Miguel, which was an individual who was also an electronic repairman by the name of Elco. Now, Elcio was believed to be the last person to see Manuel and Miguel alive, while also admitted to being a scientific spiritualist person. Like others in the profession, the police couldn't actually find concrete
evidence directly linking him to the men's death. He just happened to be the last one to see him alive. Sort of thing, right, But nevertheless, Elsio provided a fascinating bit of insight into Manuel and Miguel and their search on Vitamin Hill. He revealed that their goal wasn't simply to communicate with the dead. These men were seeking contact
with higher and more intelligent beings. So also knew how outlandish this sounded, but he assured the police that their work was real and that he could prove it so. A few weeks before Manuel and Miguel's death, Alcio explained that the men had conducted an experiment to see if they could communicate with extraterrestrials, specifically beings from Mars. They
had even built a device for this purpose in Elsio's garden. Now, according to him, the belief within the scientific community, or whatever the spiritualist community it wasn't limited to contacting spirits that deceased. They held the idea that all spirits, living or dead, could be reached. So this whole spiritualistic idea. Yes, you can contact the dead, but you can contact living spirits too, also known as other spirits on other worlds
as well. Yeah, aliens, so including those of intelligent life, all these other spirits, they were all up for graps. This desice device sorry, that they built was supposed to facilitate that communication. Though the exact mechanisms of this device remained unknown, it was unclear that the men viewed this as a serious piece of technology. Sorry, it was clear, not unclear, It's very clear then the men viewed this
as a very serious piece of technology. However, when they first activated the device, things didn't go as they planned. They're hoping to fire this thing up and begin using it almost as like a two way radio, and start talking with these spirits, but the machine instead violently exploded, cutting the experiment very short. And after the explosion settled,
something strange caught their attention. A mysterious powder that had appeared around the garden scattered in the aftermath to Elcio and the others This wasn't just debris from the explosion. It was proof that their experiment had worked. They believed the powder was evidence of spirit or extraterrestrial presence. With that apparent success under their belts, Alsio, Manuel and Miguel decided they wanted to try again, but this time on
a much grander scale. So in June they traveled to Adipon Beach, where they hoped to where they hopped into the secluded location and they hoped that it would allow them to conduct their experiment with few interruptions. On that warm, still night, three men set up their equipment and began to work. As they were in the midst of the experiment, they looked up to see something incredible, a large glowing
object descending from the sky above them. According to Alsio, they watched this illuminated craft for about five minutes as it came closer and closer to Earth. Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, the object began to ascend back up once again, disappearing into the clouds. As it did, a bright flash and a deafening bang echoed across the beach and across the sky, as if a bomb had gone off in the sky, and once again, a powder substance was left behind, scattered in its wake, just like before.
Holy shit, I just feel like they're just almost kind of playing with fire here in a way.
Potentially whether this is a real situation they're actually calling these spirits, let's just say yah for a second, they are. Yes, you're playing with fire in that regard. If not, and you're just blowing up some electronics equipment on a beach, you're also playing with fire.
That's true. Like really, yeah, So now I'm either it's still potentially a cult in my mind, but it also could just be like an experiment gone wrong too.
Yeah, it could be. Well, Elciel's tail was understandably met with some skepticism, just like we are a little bit skeptical right now. But these three men attempting to contact aliens and actually succeeding to bring a UFO to Earth, only for it to leave them with a massive explosion. It sounds pretty far fetched, like something out of a
science fiction film. But Elsio was adamant that they witnessed this thing and it was real and it was proof of contact with extraterrestrial And here's where the story takes an even stranger turn. As if it hasn't already taken a bit of a strange term. But there were multiple documented reports from other witnesses who had heard a loud explosion and seen these mysterious lights that Elsio had described
over top of the beach that night. In fact, in fact, the event was so significant that it even caught the attention of the Brazilian Navy and Air Force, who launched an official investigation into it.
Okay, and this story is the night that they died, right, No, oh, this was the other night.
This is when Elsio is working with them on the beach prior to them even die. So we now have two documented nights where there are supposed experiments happening, with documented UFO sightings.
Yeah well yeah, to even get like the did you say the Navy or the army or something.
The Air Force and the Navy.
Yeah wow, okay, yeah.
So now, during their inquiry, the military discovered that they had picked up three unidentified radio signals on the night of the explosion, signals that they couldn't trace to any known source. They even reported hearing a strange conversation over the radios. Of the contents of the conversation were never
revealed publicly. What made it even more mysterious was that despite having technology to locate the origins of the radio transmissions, the military was unable to determine where the signals came from. None of the radios involved in the transmission were registered within Brazil.
M okay, And was there with these two bodies that they'd found? Was there any sort of powder? Not that I'm aware of, okay, I can't remember if you like said that, and I just knowed it, okay, not.
That I'm aware of. And the powder there is no doc documented evidence of this powder. That is strictly just what els was talking, right, But unfortunately, this beach experiment, this was the last time that Elsio actually saw Manuel and Miguel alive before they ended up passing on vitamin Hill.
And why the heck wasn't he involved in this other one?
Hey?
Wasn't.
Just wasn't so. As the months went by, police struggled to come up with an answer, and the case remained very confusing. Then a little over a year later, a new lead emerged that added a potential clue to the puzzle. A Brazilian yoga professor stepped forward and claimed that he knew the purpose of the mysterious pills that had been
mentioned in the note found with the bodies. According to this professor, who was a local scientific spiritualist and had knowledge of them, they had begun doing experiments with psychedelic drugs as a way to tune their minds for contact with these spirits or alien life. These substances were said to put people into a trance like state, which made them more perceptive to the signals and emissions that extra extraterrestrial beings might transmit.
That kind of makes sense.
I mean, honestly, people do that today, like LSD acid, Like, oh my god, I'm going on a trip, right, That's why they call it a trip because of all these different like plane traveling or what. I don't know the proper terminology, or I could be being a bit ignorant about it, but there are these sort of things that literally occur today in spiritualistic realms.
Yeah stuff.
So yeah, yeah, and now because of these admissions were thought to be blindingly bright. He also said that, yeah, the lead masks makes sense because of this or whatever protection. I mean, a lot of this didn't really offer much new information, Like the police kind of already thought about that because they found the writings with Manuel and Miguel's books, things that were highlighted for regarding the lead masks, they found the lead in their workshops. They kind of already
figured that it's not really any new information really. But in June of nineteen sixty eight, two years after the death, another potential break in the case would surface. The police announced that they were searching for a quote blonde man who was believed to have driven the jeep that transported Manuel and Miguel from Nitario to the base of Vitamin Hill. A witness had come forward stating that they had seen two men, the two men speaking with a blonde man
in a jeep. They were reportedly the two There were reportedly two other individuals in the jeep as well, though witnesses didn't get a good look at them. Unfortunately, this lead turned out to be a dead end, okay, and the blonde man and the other occupants were never identified.
Well, yeah, that's not like the best of descriptions to find somebody.
There's a blonde dude and a jeep with two other guys. You described fifty percent of Californians. I'm sorry, Like, I'm just picturing like Hollywood's depiction of like a surfer. He's driving down like the beach highway with like the blaw flowing blonde air. It's jeep, you know.
Yeah, so yeah, it's not the best of descriptions.
No it's not. It's pretty open ended in all honesty. But this case would take another unexpected twist when a man named Hamilton Bizani came forward claiming to know exactly what happened to Manuel and Miguel. Now, according to Hamilton, who was already a notorious criminal serving time in prison, he himself was responsible for the men's death.
Oh okay, here we go.
So Hamilton's story was bizarre, but he said that while hiding from the law in Rio de Janeiro, he was approached by three individuals who had a job for him in Nitorel and this job promised good pay for all involved. The group took him to Nitoreo, where they visited a spiritualist center. It was at this center, during a seance that Hamilton said that's when they met Manuel and Miguel.
According to Hamilton, they learned during the sanths the two men were planning to return home to buy a used car and equipment and they had a significant amount of cash on them. Hamilton then claimed that the group drove Manuel Miguel to the base of him in hill, forced them to walk to the top, robbed them, made them drink poison, and that's that.
You're frowning well, Afers, I was like, Okay, maybe this is going to get us somewhere, but that doesn't really seem like it does not really like at all? Yeah, not really well because they also did the toxcology report, right, and they didn't say that there was any poison in them exactly.
Not to mention that this witness mentioned there were three people in the vehicle talking to Manuel Miguel. This guy's now saying that there was four of them plus Manuel Miguel. And I mean, in all honesty, if this was a robbery, like he's saying, like they they robbed him at the top of the hill and made them drink poison, why was there still money.
In the body they're wanting have been like a dime left?
And also, if you're going to rob them, why make them walk to the top of the hill before robbing them?
Exactly?
Yeah, why I walk them all the way up, rob them, then make them drink poison up that why not the bottom or anywhere else?
Well, yeah, like, I feel like no one wants to willingly walk up the hill, right.
Yeah, even to authorities as this guy's talking, they were not convinced. The whole story felt fake and force and they were just like, yeah, sure, buddy, so okay. The police had already been chasing complex theories involving UFO scientific spiritualism and cult like rituals, and now they're expected to believe the sudden tale of random robbery turned murder. And ultimately the police decided, yeah, they weren't chasing this one, and they did not charge Hamilton with the crime, and
his confession was dismissed as completely unreliable. Frustrated and running out of leads, the police eventually closed the case. The investigation into the deaths of Manuel and Miguel have been shelved, and the authorities were done pursuing theories involving all these random, paranormal supernatural things, and officially the case remains unsolved and is today a mystery. However, for some, the lack of resolution in the bizarre details in the case only fueled
further speculation. There are those who believe that the police knew more than that they were willing to let on, and that they closed the case due to lack of evidence because they didn't want to confront the possibility of something beyond their understanding or willingness to inform the public
of the truth. Okay, this theory actually does gain some traction and isn't just based off people just talking about the police, Because there was another strange incident that occurred on Vitamin Hill just a couple years earlier, really, in nineteen sixty two, four years before the death of Manuel Miguel, another man, an electronics repair man named Hermes, was found dead on that same hill. He too was dressed in a suit and found with a lead mask.
Next time, Oh my gosh.
His death was equally unexplained, and like the latter case, the police closed the file without offering any real answers.
Holy shit, what a just wild ride though, that this case is even given the police, Like I can't even imagine.
I know, I feel like the police are honestly just like rolling their eyes at whatever new twist and turn comes to them. Yeah, like okay, what next, Like you know what I mean?
But it does make sense because I mean, it's not a new concept that like UFO or like alien life or whatever's hidden from the public, right, Oh, definitely, So that's that's I don't know, that makes sense to me a bit too well.
And there is the idea that some people toss around a bit that these guys wearing suits out at the top of the hill, men in black. Oh yeah, those government individuals that show up and like force you to keep your else shut, like knows right.
Well, yeah, the fact that this is this is that has happened previously is bizarre. Yeah, bizarre.
So that's the case of the lead mask. The lead mask case.
Huh, holy shit?
Yeah wow.
I don't even know what the hell to say.
I don't know if you ask me. I mean, they definitely ingested something, and I think they were intending to communicate somehow via these drugs. And I have a feeling the toxicology report being done a year later may not have been able to.
Pick it up pick it up, yeah there.
Or maybe at the time it wasn't able to pick up whatever they were taking, or they weren't searching for the right thing, who knows. I do think that they took pills hoping it would help them communicate with other worldly beings, whether dead or extraterrestrials. I'm just gonna say other worldly, and as a result, it killed them.
Hmm. I also think these two men would have known too that this other person had done previously, right, I'm assuming most likely, So that just it's interesting that they would have gone about doing it.
Yeah, but he did it wrong, We're.
Going to do right, true, And then now there's just not a fourth person trying.
And I also want to say I think that there was a third person involved, most likely that Elsio guy, because what I think is they had that experiment that blew up and left that residue right, and then they did it on the beach and they there was reports of this big light. Yeah. I think their experiment then also blew up, and that's why there's reports of these lights in the sky and the sound. I think they did it on this hill again, and Elsio was there
with them. I think between the drugs and the explosion, these guys died. El SiO panicked and fucked off cleaning up the crime scene.
Oh okay, yeah, fair.
It would explain the loud noise and the lights if they're an explosion.
Like he knew more than he was saying kind of thing.
I don't think there's an extraterrestrial I think they had some sort of experiment that went wrong, blew up, big bright flash of light, noise. I don't think they died necessarily from that, but I do think they died maybe a combination of that plus the drugs, because maybe they were on like they were already about to have a heart attack, their heart rate was so high the explosion happened. Maybe there was an emp I don't know, some sort
of shockwave hit them, stop their hearts. Who knows. There's a bunch of theory go in with it, but I think combination of the explosion and drugs killed them. And Elco knew more than he's talking about, or someone else was there.
Also still a cult? Yes, this is one percent to me, Well, okay, I'll do ninety nine percent. Sounds like a cult.
Think it's a cult, it really does. I think you can be a spiritualist. I think you can be a scientist. I think you can be a scientific spiritualist and not be within a cult. But this one, this particular incident sounds cult too cult like to me.
It kind of does it does. Yeah, Wow, that's wild. Dang, Like, why did you have to pick this kind of case for today? Now? My brain is just not going to shove it.
It's just screen.
We'll be like middle of the night on our way, like flying because we have to go to Toronto first, and I'll be like, what about this man? Maybe it was this.
Hey, yeah, let's talk about We'll theorize on.
The people on the plane will be like, wow, those people have weird conversations.
Let's let's get plane drunk. Let's just get drunk the plane and we're just going to talk about murders and ghosts and cults and all this stuff.
Yeah. I don't know if that would go well for us.
It might not.
It's a red eye, so my hope is that I'll be able to sleep. But we'll see how that goes.
We'll see. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this case, if you guys have theories about it, because it is very all over the place, Like Nicole was saying, it's hard to follow. But the basics of the case of what you were you need to consider. If you want to dive deep, that's when you really get that little bit extra information. But I still want to hear your theories. Let us
know she does a message, email, whatever. We're curious, and still we appreciate you guys being here, even if you don't have a theory, even if you don't reach out, but you can reach out. Check it our links down below, do all that good stuff. You're here. You're amazing. Thank you. We'll talk to you next time.
Yeah, until next time.
And next time we are going to be recording this on.
Oh yeah trip. Yeah.
So yeah, we'll be talking from over in Orlando from our hotel room.
Yeah, that's cool. And until then, stay wicked.