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The Melting Man (Joao Prestes Filho; 1946; Brazil)

A strange tale from Brazil in 1947. Never heard of this one before. Any thoughts? ...

The incident is usually cited as "Melting Man" rather than "Burning Man".

The victim's name was Joao Prestes Filho.

The incident occurred on March 4, 1946, not in 1947.

Mysterious Universe has an extensive article on this incident:

https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2012/06/death-from-above-part-one-the-horrible-melting-man/

See Also:

https://www.ufocasebook.com/prestes.html
 
If you review the OP's video as well as the linked articles I posted, you'll see there are considerable discrepancies among the various accounts of Filho's death. Items inconsistently reported include:

- the precise date of the incident
- how long Filho had been gone fishing before returning home in the evening
- how long Filho lived after being burned by a mysterious light
- whether the light or fire or fireball that burned him was outside or inside his house
- how much of Filho's body exhibited burns
- the severity of his burns
- the nature of his burns (e.g., chemical versus thermal)
- whether or not chunks of Filho's flesh separated from his body during his final hours
- the extent to which the causative fire or light sounds like a UFO (as opposed to ball lightning or a terrestrial "fireball")
- whether Filho had been engaged with the stove to heat up the supper his wife had left for him
 
inspiration for the movie "incredible melting man" ?
 
Could 'Filho' in this case mean 'son' as in 'João Prestes Junior'? Or is it a proper surname?

I noticed the possible discrepancy when delving into the case, but I don't know what's correct. The majority of sources citing the case refer to him by the name "Filho", but a smaller number of accounts indeed cite him as "Prestes."
 
A strange tale from Brazil in 1947. Never heard of this one before. Any thoughts?
It is perfectly obvious to everyone involved that the local mine nearby is entirely responsible. It was closed down after glowing orbs started frying the miners. In fact these orbs are part of the defense system that Shambalah uses to defend its transport tunnels from surface dwellers. The mine dug too close to those tunnels and had to be neutralized. Filho would not have been attacked if he hadn't been engaged in breaking into his own house. The orbs, that were on surface patrol that evening wrongly determined him to be a criminal and casually fried him. You know Shambalah's police force; they treat all surface dwellers the way US cops treat black people. Note also, that his burns are consistent with radiation damage, but there is no sign of radioactivity. This is a signature of vril/chi based weaponry. There, now everything is all explained.
:tfoil:
 
... Filho would not have been attacked if he hadn't been engaged in breaking into his own house. ...

This element of the (apparently) standard storyline stands out for me. HIs wife locked the house when she took the children to the town's carnival celebration. He accessed the house by climbing in through a window.

I suppose it's entirely possible he and his wife had only a single key. The bigger issue for me is knowing more about his entry through the window and whether this window-entry may have had something to do with his burns.
 
It is perfectly obvious to everyone involved that the local mine nearby is entirely responsible. ...

This possible connection occurred to me, too. He could have been exposed to any of a number of toxic / caustic substances if the waters where he'd been fishing received outflows from one or more of the local mines.

Speaking of his having gone fishing that day ... I haven't seen any account of this incident that confirms he went fishing and did so at the nearby river that's always named as his intended destination. As far as I can tell, no one ever verified he did what he said he was going to do that day.
 
A horrifying case indeed. To me, it sounds like an extremely intense and targeted gamma ray burst at short range.
 
This element of the (apparently) standard storyline stands out for me. HIs wife locked the house when she took the children to the town's carnival celebration. He accessed the house by climbing in through a window.

I suppose it's entirely possible he and his wife had only a single key. The bigger issue for me is knowing more about his entry through the window and whether this window-entry may have had something to do with his burns.
Apparently his garments were undamaged and there was no damage to the house.
 
This possible connection occurred to me, too. He could have been exposed to any of a number of toxic / caustic substances if the waters where he'd been fishing received outflows from one or more of the local mines. Speaking of his having gone fishing that day ... I haven't seen any account of this incident that confirms he went fishing and did so at the nearby river that's always named as his intended destination. As far as I can tell, no one ever verified he did what he said he was going to do that day.
I like this line of inquiry EG. Had Filho gone swimming and come in contact with dangerous chemicals, as he dried off, the water holding them safely in suspension would have evaporated and caused the reaction. The wounds are in keeping with damage caused by corrosives, and thus the question becomes, which chemicals could explain what happened, and are they in keeping with those used at the mine?
 
I like this line of inquiry EG. Had Filho gone swimming and come in contact with dangerous chemicals, as he dried off, the water holding them safely in suspension would have evaporated and caused the reaction. The wounds are in keeping with damage caused by corrosives, and thus the question becomes, which chemicals could explain what happened, and are they in keeping with those used at the mine?
Hydrofluoric acid? He'd have had to swim in it for a while for the effects described, but even a small exposure would lead to death.
 
If this river was so contaminated, would he have even considered fishing in it ? It's highly unlikely there were any fish in it; and he would probably have known that.
 
If this river was so contaminated, would he have even considered fishing in it ? It's highly unlikely there were any fish in it; and he would probably have known that.

If he really went to the claimed destination river that day ...

One of the many odd angles to this story is the fact Prestes allegedly didn't care for the carnivale celebration and went off elsewhere that day. He supposedly told the wife and / or others he intended to go to the Tieté River and do some fishing. Nobody saw him come back later, enter the house, or encounter whatever he encountered before fleeing to the town / village. I don't recall anyone mentioning proof (e.g., fish) that he'd been fishing that day.

I haven't seen any account that mentions Prestes referring back to whatever he'd been doing that day. He'd set off earlier, and nobody seems to have seen him until he came stumbling into the carnivale crowd.

There's a huge hole in the narrative that's spanned solely by variations on retrospective hearsay and things a man half-crazy with pain said during his final hours(?).

The standard storyline is that he was already afflicted with the burns when he fled the house.

If I recall correctly, family members and acquaintances would later report many other lights / phenomena that had occurred in the same area, but nobody claimed to have seen any such phenomenon the night Prestes was burned. In other words, Prestes himself was the first and only purported witness to the strange intense light that burned him.

The most solid feature of this story is that it's been endlessly spun, re-spun, glossed, etc., decades after the actual event.

The second most solid feature of this story is that it's been casually shoehorned into the UFO category, even though the only element remotely suggesting a UFO would be the intense light(s) - assuming they were aloft. Most of the other local stories of odd lights and objects don't clearly recommend themselves as UFO-related. Some seem to be more like ball lightning, orbs, demons, ghosts, or terrestrial fireballs.

I'm not even sure his affliction involved surface burns. The panic, fever, reddened / blistered skin, etc., might be consistent with some sort of allergic / anaphylactic shock or reaction to some sort of natural venom.

A guy rushes into a celebratory gathering in extreme physically-evident distress, collapses, and eventually expires. This scenario is reminiscent of the opening scene in a mystery drama. The Prestes story (IMHO) remains so enigmatic because it consists of a tangible such death scene, but lacks any explanatory flashbacks or final resolution to make it substantive.
 
A guy rushes into a celebratory gathering in extreme physically-evident distress, collapses, and eventually expires. This scenario is reminiscent of the opening scene in a mystery drama. The Prestes story (IMHO) remains so enigmatic because it consists of a tangible such death scene, but lacks any explanatory flashbacks or final resolution to make it substantive.
It is half possible that it could have been an all-time-most-extreme allergic reaction. I mention this because I know someone who has a pretty severe grass allergy where their skin bleeds and flakes off. A very good reason to live in a sandy desert or a snowfield.
 
It is half possible that it could have been an all-time-most-extreme allergic reaction. I mention this because I know someone who has a pretty severe grass allergy where their skin bleeds and flakes off. A very good reason to live in a sandy desert or a snowfield.

Agreed ...

On another angle ... Most accounts mention that upon his arrival at the town gathering Prestes' bare feet were notably damaged (e.g., cut / lacerated). Some accounts claim Prestes was accustomed to walking barefoot. All the accounts (I've seen ... ) that mention the damaged feet go on to express a presumption he'd cut them up in his panicked sprint to the town center.

I don't see any firm basis for presuming all the damage to his feet occurred after he fled his house and ran to the town center.
 
Especially as somewhere it mentions he always walked bare foot so his feet would be hardened,
what a horrifying story
 
An interesting point. Care to develop it?

There's not much to develop with, considering the lack of solid details. I'd start with the point RaM made ...

Especially as somewhere it mentions he always walked bare foot so his feet would be hardened, ...

Exactly ... If he was accustomed to walking around barefoot, his feet should have been substantially "hardened", and it should have taken remarkable duress to damage them as multiple accounts claim.

There are two issues that seem to open up once one questions the presumption Prestes ripped up his feet running from his house to the gathering:

- The possibility that the foot damage occurred before he came home that evening, and / or ...
- The possibility that the foot injuries afforded an entry point for something causing his radical malaise.
 
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The second most solid feature of this story is that it's been casually shoehorned into the UFO category, even though the only element remotely suggesting a UFO would be the intense light(s) - assuming they were aloft. Most of the other local stories of odd lights and objects don't clearly recommend themselves as UFO-related. Some seem to be more like ball lightning, orbs, demons, ghosts, or terrestrial fireballs.
Presumably the only testimony regarding the lights is that attributed to the victim himself. If that's correct, then there is at least a slight possibility that whatever substance it was that affected him also affected his eyes, and as it inflicted damage he experienced that as flashes of light. I have only suffered impact damage to one eye (and if I'm honest I don't remember the precise visual sensation at the moment of impact) rather than chemical damage, but is it beyond the realms of possibility that there were in fact no external anomalous lights at all?
 
... is it beyond the realms of possibility that there were in fact no external anomalous lights at all?

IMHO - No, it's not impossible at all. Given Prestes' traumatized physiological state it wouldn't be unusual for him to have experienced transitory visual flashes or outright visual hallucinations.
 
They mention the going shoeless early on in the article and I
did wonder if they were teeing the the reader up sort of thing
for what came later.
 
Another point ...

The most straightforward reports from interviews with actual witnesses of the 1946 incident downplay the extent of Prestes' burns. At least two such witnesses stated Prestes' visible burns (or whatever they were ... ) were only on the upper half of his body. This is far less anomalous than the more lurid accounts claiming he was burned all over.
 
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IMHO - No, it's not impossible at all. Given Prestes' traumatized physiological state it wouldn't be unusual for him to have experienced transitory visual flashes or outright visual hallucinations.
It just occurred to me. Ergotism shares a lot of common symptoms with our main man and the miners. I believe I read about cases of extreme medieval ergotism where people literally fell apart and their skin sloughed off. Lower doses get you hallucinations. It's worth a thought at least.
 
No telling what horrible substances he could have been exposed to poking about round old
mine workings.
 
I think the immune reaction idea is most likely.

Other theories I've seen and why they don't seem to fit the facts:
He didn't have his hair fall out, which is what usually happens with radiation exposure.

I don't think it's ergot or something similar because you tend to go crazy.

Toxins and poisons typically cause organ failure long before you can have your muscles and skin fall apart. Also they tend to make you delirious too. Then again it's possible he WAS delirious and simply a calm sort of delirium. If true, pretty much all of his testimony is suspect.

Microwave exposure has a similar problems to radiation poisoning and toxins.

He obviously didn't get lit on fire as that would have damaged his clothing and hair.

Exposure to caustic chemicals is similar.

It can't really be that he was cooked alive somehow as if true he'd have been unable to keep moving long enough. Also while he probably died of septic shock if he'd had enough of his body actually cooked septic shock would have been nearly immediate.

I honestly think that if it'd happened today his death wouldn't have been a mystery.
 
It just occurred to me. Ergotism shares a lot of common symptoms with our main man and the miners. I believe I read about cases of extreme medieval ergotism where people literally fell apart and their skin sloughed off. Lower doses get you hallucinations. It's worth a thought at least.
The people literally falling apart there that you mention is actually a description of gangrene.
 
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