148: Máscaras de Chumbo (The Lead Masks)

On August 17, 1966, Paulo Cordeiro Azevedo dos Santos went bird hunting on Morro do Vintém, a hill that overlooked the Santa Rosa neighborhood of Niterói in Rio de Janeiro. Instead of birds, he stumbled upon a horrifying scene: two lifeless bodies, partially covered in vegetation. He rushed to report his disturbing discovery to local radio patrol officer Antônio Guerra, but his story was dismissed as a prank. The following day, 18-year-old Jorge da Costa Alves and his friends went searching for Alves' lost kite and were hit with a putrid odor that led them to the same bodies. Alves immediately reported the discovery to the Niterói police station.

Join us as we discuss the bizarre details of the Lead Masks case, including a sneaky dog, criminals with lame nicknames, extraterrestrial revenge, and a man called Pizza.

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Sources:

“The Lead Masks Mystery” by Staff Writers, Flying Saucer Review, V 12 N 6, November-December 1966

“The Mystery of Morro Do Vintem” by Charles Bowen, Flying Saucer Review, V 13 N 2, March-April 1967

“No Easy Solution to the Morro Mystery” by Charles Bowen, Flying Saucer Review, V 14 N 4, July-August 1968

“Follow Up on the Morro Do Vintem Mystery” by Gordon Creighton, Flying Saucer Review, V 17 N 4, July-August 1971

“Strange Deaths in Brazil,” The A.P.R.O. Bulletin, September-October 1966

Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact by Jacques Vallee

“The Case of the Lead Masks” by Redação Vigilia, Portal Vigilia, 01/05/1999

“The Lead Masks Case” by Paola Lucherini Covo, Instituto Nacional de Investigação de Fenômenos Aeroespaciais

“THE LEAD MASKS CASE: MYSTERIOUS DEATHS ON VINTÉM HILL,” True Noir, 3/16/2017

“The Bizarre Lead Mask Deaths of 1966” by Stacy Conradt, Mental Floss, 10/22/2015