Lead Masks Case

On August 20, 1966 two TV repairmen are obsessed about making contact with extraterrestrials, attempting wild and dangerous experiments, their bodies were found atop Morro do Vintém, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in bizarre and unexplained circumstances. A boy named Jorge da Costa Alves (who was 18 at that time) was flying a kite at the Morro do Vintém (Vintém Hill), in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil when he found two dead men. Immediately, he made his way back home and called the police. Soon the spot was full of police officers, firefighters and journalists. Manoel Pereira da Cruz and Miguel José Viana’s bodies were neatly strewn next to each other, without any sign of violence. They were wearing nice suits and impermeable coats. However, what really caught people’s attention were the lead masks worn by them.

A notebook keeping diagrams and partially coded notes along with a strange letter was found with the bodies. They also had a handwritten note:

"16:30 estar no local determinado. 18:30 ingerir cápsulas, após efeito proteger metais aguardar sinal máscara" (16:30 be at the agreed place. 18:30 swallow capsules, after effect protect metals wait for the mask sign). After an investigation, the detectives reconstructed a plausible narrative of the last days of both men.

On August 17, they left their city, Campos dos Goytacazes, stating that they intended to buy some material for use at their work. Some witnesses claimed that they were carrying Cr$N2.300,00, but this money was not found. They took a bus and arrived in Niterói at 14:30. They bought the impermeable coats at a small shop and the bottle of water at a bar. The waitress who served them on the bar stated that Miguel seemed very nervous and looked at his watch frequently. From the bar, they went directly to the place where they were later found dead.

Those facts convinced the detectives that some kind of extraterrestrial activity was involved. Gracinda Barbosa Cortino de Souza and her children, who live next to the hill where the men died, claimed that they had seen a UFO flying over the spot at the exact moment the detectives believed the two men must have died. Later examination of their bodies failed to determine their causa mortis. They simply died without an explanation. Did they successfully contact aliens, but with terrible consequences? Cue to dramatic music.

The case is featured prominently in Jacques Vallee’s classic book “Confrontations” (which also features several other Brazilian cases), where you can find it described in good detail. It’s classified as a Close Encounter of the Fifth Kind and given a 443 SVP Credibility Rating: maximum ratings on source reliability, site visit by a skilled analyst (Vallee himself), and a second-to-maximum rating on possible explanations, where “natural explanation requires gross alteration of several parameters”.

(Sources : http://www.ufoevolution.com/forums/showthread.php?t=675&nojs=1#goto_threadtools; Wikipedia)

(Pic source : http://ty.rannosaur.us/wp-content/uploads/leadmaskscase.jpg)