In 1966, two alien “hunters” in Brazil were discovered dead on a hill overlooking Rio de Janeiro. Over the eyes of each body is a strange lead mask.
The mysterious case of “Lead Mask” occurred in the hills of Rio de Janeiro on a hot summer day in 1966. The victims were two people who specialized in hunting alien objects, Manoel Pereira da Cruz and Miguel José Viana. The traces appearing at the scene are extremely difficult to understand.
Lying next to each other and seemingly unharmed, the two men wore metal masks over their eyes. Several other objects found near them could not give any clues. A note in one person’s pocket made the incident even more mysterious.
Over the years, investigators have proposed many theories surrounding the mysterious deaths of two Brazilian men, ranging from scientific to supernatural. However, they could not explain why these two men were wearing lead masks, what drew them to the hills of Rio de Janeiro, or even what killed them.
The case of “Lead Mask”
On August 20, 1966, a young man named Jorge da Costa Alves went flying a kite. As he climbed Vintem hill in the Niteroi region, he encountered a heart-stopping scene: two corpses lying on the grass.
When the police arrived, they found the scene very strange. Both of them wore raincoats over their formal suits and had a metal eye cover. Nearby is an empty water bottle, a few towels and some change.
However, the strangest clue is probably the piece of paper in a victim’s pocket. The paper reads: “At 4:30 p.m. at the agreed location, take the capsule at 6:30 p.m., after the metal protection effect, wait for the mask signal.”
The “Lead Mask” case begins here. Although police tried to gather more information about the two men in the days that followed, each lead led to more confusion.
The identities of the two victims
Police quickly identified the two men as Manoel Pereira da Cruz, 32 years old, and Miguel José Viana, 34 years old. Both men are married electronics repairmen and live in the Campos dos Goytacazes area, 280 km from Niterói.
Once they knew their identity, the police went to meet the victim’s family and discovered that Pereira da Cruz and Viana had told relatives on the morning of August 17 that they needed to go to Sao Paulo to buy equipment and a car. . But instead, the two men took a bus to Niteroi.
After arriving at their destination at about 2 pm the same day, the two victims visited several places. They bought identical raincoats at a local store and a bottle of mineral water at a bar. Notably, they still kept the receipt for purchasing the water bottle, indicating the possibility that they wanted to return the empty bottle after drinking it all to get a refund.
Some witnesses remember talking to each other about something that happened. The bartender who sold the bottles of water to Viana and Pereira da Cruz recalled that Viana seemed nervous. She told police he kept checking his watch.
Since then, the “Lead Mask” case has not had any other clues. Manoel Pereira da Cruz and Miguel José Viana were last seen climbing the hills at about 3:15 p.m. Three days later, they were found dead.
Mysterious theories
To this day, no one dares to say for sure what happened in the hills of Rio de Janeiro that strange August. Even the bodies of Pereira da Cruz and Viana did not provide any further clues because they were so decomposed that accurate toxicology results could not be obtained.
But theories surrounding their deaths keep appearing. As police discovered at the time, Pereira da Cruz and Viana were more than just electronics repairmen.
According to Pereira da Cruz’s wife, both men were immersed in what was called “scientific magic.” Both were especially interested in contacting alien spirits. In fact, they experimented several times with a friend named Elcio Gomes.
At one point, these men worked together to build an electronic device, but it exploded in Pereira da Cruz’s backyard. The three took the device to a beach to test again and claimed to see an explosion in the sky.
However, the police investigated in a more realistic way. They quickly considered Gomes a suspect because Pereira da Cruz’s wife said he had been in a fight with her husband. Gomes also gave conflicting stories.
And another man named Hamilton Bezani even told police that he participated in the plan to rob and murder the two men, after meeting them at a spiritual center and luring them to Niterói. Bezani claimed that an accomplice told him: “We killed them both. We forced them to drink poison.”
However, police could not find anything to corroborate Bezani’s testimony.
Until now, no one has been able to find the exact reason why the two repairmen went up Vintem hill. This mystery continues to frustrate those curious about it.
Manoel Pereira da Cruz and Miguel Jose Viana climbed the hill with a purpose in mind. They wore lead masks over their eyes. After that, their world became dark like the way this “Lead Mask” case could not end.