The Lead Masks of Vintém Hill

Was it foul play or a true breakthrough in connecting with extraterrestrial beings?

Imagine back in your youth, when nothing bad ever happened, and you would play outside alone, hours on end, with the only care in the world being back home in time for dinner. What we probably — hopefully — can’t relate to is minding our own business only to stumble upon the unmistakable scent of dead bodies, decomposing in the hot, hot sun.

Somebody who can imagine that experience is Jorge da Costa Alves, an 18 year old boy out enjoying the day on Vintém Hill, in Brazil, on August 20th, 1966. It was an uncharacteristically hot day for mid-winter in the southern hemisphere, and that was too nice to pass up on after the past spell of torrential rain.

Vintém hill was by no means a busy or popular location. But, because Jorge lived nearby, he often brought his kite to the hill, enjoying life and catching a breeze. His meandering, on this specific day, brought him to a patch of tall weeds. Nothing out of the ordinary, on an unkept hillside, but he could make out a dark heap that seemed unnatural within the surroundings. His first innocent impression was that someone must have left their belongings behind. But upon further inspection, he ended up stumbling upon a truly bizarre scene.