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

The people literally falling apart there that you mention is actually a description of gangrene.
One of the most interesting quotes from the medical people is that his body looked like it was decomposing BEFORE death. This suggests that maybe it was in fact gangrenous, and that what killed him was actually septic shock from the gangrene.

this obviously leads to the question of what could cause that amount of gangrene in so little time.
 
Some of the actual witnesses (interviewed decades later) claimed Prestes didn't "decompose" (lose flesh) at all, and the "falling apart / shedding flesh" allusions represented nothing more than lurid glosses added in retelling the story.
 
Some of the actual witnesses (interviewed decades later) claimed Prestes didn't "decompose" (lose flesh) at all, and the "falling apart / shedding flesh" allusions represented nothing more than lurid glosses added in retelling the story.
Yeah, this is one of those cases where separating fact from fiction is super important. So what ARE the actual facts then? Hmm...
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
If you take all of the least fantastical parts, the story isn't much of a mystery. If you take the PoV that the light he claims to have seen was in his head, then there is literally nothing out of the ordinary, other than not really knowing how the guy died.

I mean from a certain PoV it actually makes sense to see it as a deadly bug bite. certain neurotoxins will cause limb paralysis, and depending on where you're exposed(IE bit on your hands) it will have varying methods by which it affects you. And it could give you this moment of excruciating pain when the venom first takes affect because it's overstimulating nerves as it destroys them. The pain is replaced by numbness since you are now incapable of feeling pain. Which is kinda the way his story goes. They take about how he's suffering, but lucid and not overcome by intense pain. It's possible that the venom was causing pain as it destroyed more and more nerves, until it reached the nerves controlling his heart.

I have had a few classes on neurotoxin exposure, and arthropod stings and bites can have weird effects. It's worst when it's neurotoxic venom since the overall effect is determined by how close to a blood vessel the bite/sting was. It might get scattered throughout your body quickly, or it might not. It makes a huge difference in how it affects you.
 
Could 'Filho' in this case mean 'son' as in 'João Prestes Junior'? Or is it a proper surname?

It's, indeed, the case. His family name must be read as Prestes. "Filho" have the very same role as "Junior" in his name. It's very common in brazilian names to take the name of the father and add Filho in the end. My father was ia "Filho" once he had the very same name of my gradfather.
 
I'm not saying that this is the answer, but I consider that it can be a good hypothesis.

Phenphigus is common in central Brazil (known also as Fogo Selvagem).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemphigus

Pemphigus (/ˈpɛmfɪɡəs/ or /pɛmˈfaɪɡəs/) is a rare group of blistering autoimmune diseases that affect the skin and mucous membranes.[1] The name is derived from the Greek root "pemphix," meaning "pustule."[2]
In pemphigus, autoantibodies form against desmoglein. Desmoglein forms the "glue" that attaches adjacent epidermal cells via attachment points called desmosomes. When autoantibodies attack desmogleins, the cells become separated from each other and the epidermis becomes "unglued," a phenomenon called acantholysis. This causes blisters that slough off and turn into sores. In some cases, these blisters can cover a significant area of the skin.[3]
 
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