Conspiracy Theories
UFOS, Occultists, Murder Schemes: The Deaths of Miguel and Manuel
Wed, 16 Apr 2025
Brazil, 1966. Two men in suits were found dead on a hill, surrounded by odd notes, and wearing lead eye masks. With no sign of violence, police were baffled. Theorists linked the men to occult rituals, criminal conspiracy, and maybe even alien contact. Keep up with us on Instagram @theconspiracypod! Have a story to share? Email us at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who were Miguel and Manuel and what happened to them on Veentame Hill?
On a stormy night on Veentame Hill, two men slipped raincoats over their suit jackets. They perched on a pile of leaves as if they planned on stargazing. But instead, they put on metal eye masks, blocking their vision. At least, their vision of this world. At some point soon after, both young, healthy men went into cardiac arrest.
As police investigated the mysterious deaths, they quickly realized that the men were following instructions, handwritten directions, including directions to take various pills at specific times. Theories ran rampant. Was the scene an elaborate criminal cover-up? Was it a spiritual ritual gone wrong?
Or did these two men, who professed an interest in UFOs and the occult, leave their bodies behind and ascend to an alien dimension? welcome to conspiracy theories a spotify podcast i'm carter roy new episodes come out every wednesday you can listen to the audio everywhere and watch the video only on spotify and be sure to check us out on instagram at the conspiracy pod
Today, we're covering the lead masks case, the mysterious 1966 death of two men. They were found near Rio de Janeiro without a scratch, each wearing a lead eye mask. Though Brazilian police uncovered plenty of clues, the case still baffles. Theories include an occult ritual gone wrong, a long con robbery, and an extraterrestrial encounter. Stay with us.
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It was another rainy August evening in Rio. All through the summer of 1966, downpours had lashed the Brazilian city. Jorge da Costa Alves looked up at the roiling clouds as he trudged through Niterói, a suburban neighborhood just outside of the city. It was not a good day to be outside.
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Chapter 2: What mysterious clues were found at the death scene?
And there was no better place than Veentame Hill. Clear blue skies framed his glider high above his head until a strong breeze tugged the kite out of his hands. The kite crashed into thick, overgrown brush. Georges marched over to retrieve it. As he reached the kite, a foul smell wafted through the air. He considered turning around, but curiosity got the better of him.
He followed the scent up Vingtame Hill to the summit. There, a dense layer of leaves covered a barren patch of earth. Next to that lay two men, side by side on a pile of leaves, hands under their heads. They looked like they were napping in the sunshine. Except... They were the source of the stench. Georgia could see crisp suits beneath their matching raincoats.
Their faces were expressionless, their eyes obscured by shining metal. Even so, something about them seemed familiar. Then it hit him. These were the same men he'd seen three days ago, sitting atop the hill in the pouring rain. But now, they were dead. Unnerved. Georger ran to the neighborhood police station. By the time he spoke to an officer, the sun had already set.
Authorities decided to hold off until morning when there'd be enough light to conduct a real investigation. The next day, the detectives walked up Veentame Hill and began an extremely bizarre investigation. It looked like the bodies were wearing wraparound sunglasses, but when officers peered more closely, they realized they were made of lead.
The eyewear seemed homemade, like the two men took a sheet of metal and cut it into sleep masks. Nearby, there was a newspaper, flipped open to an article about smuggling. And according to author Jacques Vallée in his book, Confrontations, they also found cellophane soaked in a chemical substance. It's unclear if these belonged to the men or were just random litter.
Inside the men's pockets, officers found a monogrammed handkerchief and a few pages of notes, including seemingly random strings of numbers and equations. Others included instructions. They were in Portuguese, so we'll translate. Sunday, one tablet after the meal. Monday, one tablet in the morning on an empty stomach. Tuesday, one tablet after the meal. Wednesday, one tablet before bedtime.
It reads like a doctor's note, but it gives no indication what the tablets are. Instead, the directions get more specific. Quote, 4.30 p.m. Be at the determined place. 6.30 p.m. Swallow capsules after effect. Protect metals. Wait for mask signal. It's important to note that these pages are handwritten, so the instructions probably came from a book or a conversation.
Still, it sounded like the men were following some kind of drug regimen. And detectives guessed the determined place was Veentame Hill. Naturally, the next step was to examine the bodies. While they'd begun to decompose, there was no obvious cause of death. So police brought them down to the medical examiner.
He noted no signs of violence, no bruises, no the men's skin appeared pinkish, possibly burned. The coroner concluded that the men died of cardiac arrest. One sudden cardiac arrest? Sure, happens all the time. Two at the same time? Right next to each other? Not so much. Especially because both men were in their 30s.
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Chapter 3: What did the police and coroner conclude about the cause of death?
Chapter 4: What is the significance of the lead eye masks and handwritten notes?
Inside the men's pockets, officers found a monogrammed handkerchief and a few pages of notes, including seemingly random strings of numbers and equations. Others included instructions. They were in Portuguese, so we'll translate. Sunday, one tablet after the meal. Monday, one tablet in the morning on an empty stomach. Tuesday, one tablet after the meal. Wednesday, one tablet before bedtime.
It reads like a doctor's note, but it gives no indication what the tablets are. Instead, the directions get more specific. Quote, 4.30 p.m. Be at the determined place. 6.30 p.m. Swallow capsules after effect. Protect metals. Wait for mask signal. It's important to note that these pages are handwritten, so the instructions probably came from a book or a conversation.
Still, it sounded like the men were following some kind of drug regimen. And detectives guessed the determined place was Veentame Hill. Naturally, the next step was to examine the bodies. While they'd begun to decompose, there was no obvious cause of death. So police brought them down to the medical examiner.
He noted no signs of violence, no bruises, no the men's skin appeared pinkish, possibly burned. The coroner concluded that the men died of cardiac arrest. One sudden cardiac arrest? Sure, happens all the time. Two at the same time? Right next to each other? Not so much. Especially because both men were in their 30s.
Unfortunately, the coroner didn't have an explanation for his unnerving diagnosis, but he was able to identify the deceased. Manuel Pereira de Cruz and Miguel José Viana. Both were electronic specialists from Campos, about 140 miles northeast of Vintame Hill. They specialized in TV signal transmission equipment. Each man was married. Miguel, the older of the two, had children.
And after interviewing their wives and local shop owners, police pieced together a timeline of their last day. At around 9 a.m. on August 17th, 1966, Miguel and Manuel told their families they were headed to Sao Paulo. They planned to buy a car and some electrical equipment. They took an estimated 3 million cruzeiros in cash.
Well, that sounds like an obscene amount of money, but according to the New York Times, Brazil's inflation was 45.4% in 1965, on top of rising 86% the year before. So by 1966... A single cruzeiro didn't have much buying power. The economy was struggling, and that may have been a factor in the men's deaths back to the day they died.
That morning, Miguel and Manuel packed their cash and boarded a bus. They arrived five hours later, but not to Sao Paulo. Instead, they stepped off the bus in Niteroi. They bought rain jackets because it had started to pour. From there, the men walked to a small bar. Miguel and Manuel ordered a bottle of water and took it to go. Around 3.15, they climbed up Vientame Hill.
They reached the summit and sat down. That's when Georgia spotted them from below. Sometime shortly after that, Miguel and Manuel died. The police didn't know what happened between the time Georgia first saw the men and their deaths, so they focused in on the bodies.
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Chapter 5: Were the deaths connected to UFO sightings and extraterrestrial theories?
This wasn't exactly a smoking gun, but the police were desperate for any earthly explanation. They arrested Elcio Gomez on August 27th and brought him in for questioning. As soon as he sat down in the interrogation room, Elcio told investigators he knew exactly what happened to the two men. He believed Miguel and Manuel were killed together. while trying to contact aliens from Mars.
Not what the police were hoping to hear, but they listened to Elcio's story for any possible leads. Elcio explained that he, Manuel, and Miguel belonged to a movement called Scientific Spiritualists. According to the United States Spiritist Federation, people who observe this philosophy believe spirits and other religious or supernatural entities exist.
Members can attempt to contact these beings via mediums. Elcio said most of the electronics technicians in the city were involved with the movement, operating in total secrecy. They dabbled in the occult, and they tried to commune with spirits using machinery. This sounds eerily similar to the explanation for the other lead mask death.
Going off of Elcio's testimony, the authorities searched Manuel and Miguel's homes. In Manuel's workshop, they found sheets of the same lead he and Miguel had used to cover their eyes, lying beside texts that specifically referenced masks and the supernatural. And they found books by Bezerra de Menezes, an important author who promoted spiritist doctrine.
Part of this doctrine involves the belief in extraterrestrial life, like on Mars. It also states that extraterrestrial life forms have spirits that live on after their death. So, in theory, the spiritists could perform a seance and contact the ghosts of Martians. or even the spirit of a living alien.
Miguel's copy of the book was annotated, and according to author Jacques Vallée, he, or someone, had marked up passages about, quote, masks. Elcio's testimony suggested the men combined techniques outlined in the books with their electronics expertise. A few months ago, they'd built an elaborate contraption in Manuel's garden. Before they could use it, the device exploded.
Later, Manuel found some kind of powder spread over his garden, and rather than take this as debris from the explosion, he interpreted it as a sign from the spiritual realm. family members confirmed the men made the machine but denied they were trying to contact an alien race they insisted the friends had just been playing around making homemade bombs
Whatever the explanation, their actions were certainly risky, and the explosion may have been a wake-up call. They moved their next project to a more remote location, and this time, Elsio joined them. Elcio explained to the police that, months before his death, Miguel talked about his plans to conduct an extremely important experiment soon.
Without elaborating, he and Manuel traveled to the beach town of Atafona about an hour away. Elcio met them there. According to Elcio, Manuel and Miguel may have been using radio signals to try to communicate with extraterrestrials. He said the pair ran an illegal radio station out of a nearby town, so they had expertise and equipment to create these signals.
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Chapter 6: What was the role of the Scientific Spiritualists movement in this case?
Chapter 7: How did prior incidents and similar cases influence the investigation?
The saucer hovered for about five minutes. Then, suddenly, a massive explosion obliterated the machine. It was powerful enough to knock the flying ship out of the air. The craft plummeted into the ocean and sank out of view. Afterwards, Miguel and Manuel found more odd powder around the area, perhaps a sign from the same aliens.
Elcio said he wasn't with Miguel and Manuel on Vintame Hill, but he thought another experiment went awry that day, leading to their deaths. All of this together led some to suggest Manuel and Miguel were attempting to use a combination of electronics and psychedelics to pick up alien frequencies when they died.
This theory could explain the capsules and tablets referenced in the notes found with their bodies. Tablets, or tabs, may refer to LSD, which is often dried on sugar tablets or squares of paper.
It's possible the men were microdosing LSD in the days leading up to their big trip, believing it would slowly open their minds and prepare their brains and bodies to communicate telepathically with aliens. Then, on the appointed day, they'd take a larger dose in the quote-unquote capsule. Others suggested the men took mescaline for a similar effect.
According to early theorists, the men overdosed and that led to a cardiac arrest. The only problem is, it would be extremely rare for LSD or mescaline to cause a fatal overdose. A few people have died from accidents while hallucinating. But again, neither Miguel nor Manuel seemed physically harmed. beyond a deadly cardiac event.
LSD can elevate the user's blood pressure and heart rate, not to the point of danger, but it could exacerbate another cardiac event like stress cardiomyopathy. That's the medical term for a heart attack caused by a sudden physical or emotional shock. You may have heard it called broken heart syndrome.
It's not outside the realm of possibility that something spooked the men and, combined with their already elevated heart rates, caused a cardiac arrest. But if that's the case, the next question is, what scared them? Well, alien or not, unidentified flying objects were reported in the sky in Brazil in the 1960s. And they were causing explosions.
Local fishermen confirmed the Atafona Beach UFO sighting just as Elcio described it. And a month before Elcio claimed this explosion happened, the newspaper Correio da Manhã wrote about a blast at the beach. The story notes buildings shook as far as 20 miles away. Plus, there's the testimony of Gracinda and dozens of other Brazilians.
More recently, theorists have proposed an earthly explanation for these kinds of moving, exploding balls of light. Ball lightning. If you're watching on Spotify, you can see a video of the phenomena on screen. Ball lightning is a natural phenomenon that looks like a glowing, colorful orb. It may be blue, red, yellow or orange.
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