1 00:00:05,921 --> 00:00:24,441 Speaker 1: Approach production. Hi. Welcome to Silent Secrets, a bedtime podcast 2 00:00:24,521 --> 00:00:32,801 Speaker 1: for curious minds. I'm jay, I'm glad you're here. This 3 00:00:33,201 --> 00:00:36,721 Speaker 1: is your time to let go of today, to settle 4 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:42,361 Speaker 1: in and slow down, and let curiosity gently carry you 5 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: towards sleep. In each episode, I'm going to share a 6 00:00:47,081 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: true story of the unexplained, not to alarm you, but 7 00:00:50,881 --> 00:00:54,201 Speaker 1: to quiet your mind, to remind you that the world 8 00:00:54,321 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: is full of wonder and some things we'll never truly understand. Tonight, 9 00:01:03,681 --> 00:01:07,280 Speaker 1: we drift into a hillside outside of Rio de Janeiro, 10 00:01:08,081 --> 00:01:12,041 Speaker 1: where the grass grows tall and the evening hums with 11 00:01:12,161 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: warm electricity. Find your breath as your shoulders lower. If 12 00:01:20,961 --> 00:01:24,521 Speaker 1: you want to close your eyes, let them. This is 13 00:01:24,521 --> 00:01:29,481 Speaker 1: a gentle story about questions and the quiet places they 14 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:46,521 Speaker 1: leave behind. On the afternoon of August twenty, nineteen sixty six, 15 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,801 Speaker 1: a boy climbed a slope called Vietnam Hill near a 16 00:01:50,841 --> 00:01:55,721 Speaker 1: coastal city in Brazil. He walked through the wind blown 17 00:01:55,801 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: grass that brushed his legs, past stones that were warm 18 00:01:59,881 --> 00:02:04,521 Speaker 1: by a day of hot sun. The city was below him, 19 00:02:05,281 --> 00:02:09,841 Speaker 1: a broad scatter of rooftops and light, But up here 20 00:02:10,881 --> 00:02:14,201 Speaker 1: there was only the breath of the hillside, and an 21 00:02:14,281 --> 00:02:18,761 Speaker 1: odd glint in the weeds ahead. When he drew closer, 22 00:02:19,161 --> 00:02:26,801 Speaker 1: he saw two men lying side by side on the ground. 23 00:02:29,881 --> 00:02:32,761 Speaker 1: They were dressed almost like they were jew at a meeting, 24 00:02:33,841 --> 00:02:39,241 Speaker 1: neat suits, polished shoes, light raincoats laid over their clothes, 25 00:02:40,121 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: as if they had expected weather that never arrived. Each 26 00:02:45,201 --> 00:02:50,321 Speaker 1: man wore a strange home made visor, shaped from thin 27 00:02:50,441 --> 00:02:55,641 Speaker 1: sheets of lead masks that covered their eyes and sat 28 00:02:55,800 --> 00:03:00,321 Speaker 1: like secret curtains over their faces. There were no signs 29 00:03:00,321 --> 00:03:04,441 Speaker 1: of struggle, no marks on the earth, just a small 30 00:03:04,441 --> 00:03:08,561 Speaker 1: collection of being set in a tidy cluster. An empty 31 00:03:08,561 --> 00:03:13,641 Speaker 1: water bottle, a packet of simple pills, a notebook with 32 00:03:13,721 --> 00:03:18,361 Speaker 1: a short list in careful handwriting, some cash, and a 33 00:03:18,401 --> 00:03:23,361 Speaker 1: few small tools. It was an ordinary pile of possessions 34 00:03:23,401 --> 00:03:29,201 Speaker 1: in the middle of an extraordinary scene. The boy stared 35 00:03:29,441 --> 00:03:33,801 Speaker 1: a long time, unsure if the men were sleeping or 36 00:03:33,881 --> 00:03:39,681 Speaker 1: part of something he didn't understand. After a while, he 37 00:03:39,761 --> 00:03:45,601 Speaker 1: went for help, and the officials came. The evening had 38 00:03:45,641 --> 00:03:51,641 Speaker 1: already begun to fold into night. Their names were Manuel 39 00:03:51,961 --> 00:03:56,121 Speaker 1: and Maguel. They were technicians from a town north of Rio, 40 00:03:57,041 --> 00:04:00,961 Speaker 1: practical men who repaired electronics, the kind of work that 41 00:04:01,001 --> 00:04:05,001 Speaker 1: teaches you to listen for quiet signals, a faint pole 42 00:04:05,201 --> 00:04:10,401 Speaker 1: of the circuit, the whisper of a wire. In their notebook, 43 00:04:10,641 --> 00:04:13,561 Speaker 1: beside a few numbers and times was a line that 44 00:04:13,601 --> 00:04:19,441 Speaker 1: people remember to this day. Different tellings, translated slightly differently, 45 00:04:20,361 --> 00:04:25,601 Speaker 1: but its shape remains the same. Be at the designated 46 00:04:25,601 --> 00:04:29,801 Speaker 1: place at four point thirty pm, take capsules at six 47 00:04:30,001 --> 00:04:38,281 Speaker 1: thirty pm. After effect protect metals a weight signal mask. 48 00:04:40,201 --> 00:04:45,200 Speaker 1: It sounded like constructions for a very particular plan. Cash 49 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:48,881 Speaker 1: was in their pockets, their watches had not been taken. 50 00:04:50,521 --> 00:04:56,521 Speaker 1: There was no theft, no sign of fright. A shopkeeper 51 00:04:56,521 --> 00:05:01,761 Speaker 1: in the town remembered them from the day earlier, polite, quiet, 52 00:05:02,841 --> 00:05:05,321 Speaker 1: buying raincoats and asking for a bottle of wa order. 53 00:05:06,761 --> 00:05:10,161 Speaker 1: They traveled by bus and had been seen near the 54 00:05:10,281 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: hill as the afternoon tilted towards evening. In the warmth 55 00:05:15,041 --> 00:05:19,961 Speaker 1: of the Brazilian night, two carefully men lay still underneath 56 00:05:20,001 --> 00:05:25,361 Speaker 1: the stars. They're lead masks, catching the last like like 57 00:05:25,401 --> 00:05:37,041 Speaker 1: a dull silver. There are many ways to tell a mystery. 58 00:05:37,841 --> 00:05:41,841 Speaker 1: One way gathers facts into a neat stack, as if 59 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: they hold still when you point at them. Another let's 60 00:05:47,401 --> 00:05:51,281 Speaker 1: the facts breathe like notes of music that echo a 61 00:05:51,361 --> 00:05:56,561 Speaker 1: little before they fade. We know Manuel and Maguel believed 62 00:05:56,601 --> 00:06:00,041 Speaker 1: in more than what could be measured. Friends said they 63 00:06:00,041 --> 00:06:07,161 Speaker 1: were interested in certain experiments, part science, part spirit, and 64 00:06:07,241 --> 00:06:10,961 Speaker 1: spoke about energies and light and signals that not everyone 65 00:06:11,001 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: could hear. Perhaps they were trying to reach something beyond 66 00:06:16,561 --> 00:06:21,201 Speaker 1: radios and wires. Perhaps the lead masks were made to 67 00:06:21,241 --> 00:06:26,361 Speaker 1: protect their eyes from a brightness. They expected a brightness 68 00:06:26,921 --> 00:06:31,841 Speaker 1: you would not want to meet unguarded. The note in 69 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,801 Speaker 1: the book felt like a ritual, written as a checklist. 70 00:06:37,561 --> 00:06:49,601 Speaker 1: Arrive in jest, protect, wait, But for what. Some whispered 71 00:06:49,761 --> 00:06:54,161 Speaker 1: that the men expected a visit from the sky, a 72 00:06:54,201 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: signal not from this earth. Others thought it was a 73 00:06:58,481 --> 00:07:03,121 Speaker 1: test at the boundary between body and mind, the way 74 00:07:03,161 --> 00:07:06,281 Speaker 1: a person stands at the edge of a cliff and 75 00:07:06,361 --> 00:07:14,361 Speaker 1: wonders about the wind. Investigators tried to follow every thread. 76 00:07:15,041 --> 00:07:19,041 Speaker 1: They studied the hillside. They spoke to chemists and doctors. 77 00:07:19,961 --> 00:07:22,321 Speaker 1: They tried to find out which capsules the men had 78 00:07:22,361 --> 00:07:28,321 Speaker 1: taken The answer. Staged soft around the edges. Nothing certain 79 00:07:28,401 --> 00:07:34,081 Speaker 1: would hold their raincoats, their formal clothes, their calm arrangements. 80 00:07:34,881 --> 00:07:41,481 Speaker 1: All of it suggested intention, not panic, a meeting, not 81 00:07:41,601 --> 00:07:48,161 Speaker 1: a chase, and those masks thin handcup pieces shaped to 82 00:07:48,201 --> 00:07:53,241 Speaker 1: fit like spectacles without arms, curving over the eyes, as 83 00:07:53,281 --> 00:07:57,161 Speaker 1: if the men could lie back and look safely at 84 00:07:57,241 --> 00:08:11,681 Speaker 1: something too powerful to face. Bear years past, and as 85 00:08:11,681 --> 00:08:16,081 Speaker 1: stories grew like vines across the original facts, some told 86 00:08:16,121 --> 00:08:20,161 Speaker 1: of lights over the hill that week. Others said the 87 00:08:20,241 --> 00:08:24,841 Speaker 1: men had tried similar experiments before, and promise themselves they 88 00:08:24,881 --> 00:08:29,281 Speaker 1: would be ready this time, that they would write instructions, 89 00:08:30,121 --> 00:08:35,440 Speaker 1: bring the right items, and keep courage. There are always 90 00:08:35,761 --> 00:08:42,841 Speaker 1: more ordinary explanations, but they don't always feel complete. You 91 00:08:42,881 --> 00:08:46,681 Speaker 1: can stand on Vietnam Hill today, as countless people have, 92 00:08:48,361 --> 00:08:52,681 Speaker 1: and feel how the city breathes below, how the tide 93 00:08:52,721 --> 00:08:57,281 Speaker 1: moves in and out, how the air tightens when evening comes. 94 00:08:59,041 --> 00:09:02,881 Speaker 1: If you close your eyes, you can imagine the two technicians, 95 00:09:04,081 --> 00:09:11,041 Speaker 1: careful men, placing a notebook on the grass, unscrewing a 96 00:09:11,041 --> 00:09:15,921 Speaker 1: bottle of water, and looking at their watches as if 97 00:09:15,961 --> 00:09:21,161 Speaker 1: counting down to an appointment at four point thirty, a 98 00:09:21,281 --> 00:09:26,681 Speaker 1: quiet arrival at six point thirty, capsules and the patients 99 00:09:26,761 --> 00:09:43,521 Speaker 1: to wait, protect metals, await signal mask Some mysteries feel 100 00:09:43,561 --> 00:09:46,921 Speaker 1: like a room that remembers who has entered it. You 101 00:09:47,001 --> 00:09:52,601 Speaker 1: step inside and the air changes, and even if you 102 00:09:52,681 --> 00:09:59,601 Speaker 1: say nothing, the room is not the same. There's something 103 00:09:59,681 --> 00:10:03,921 Speaker 1: tender about the way they prepared. They did not set 104 00:10:03,961 --> 00:10:07,641 Speaker 1: the world aflame, run through crowded streets announcing their theories. 105 00:10:08,521 --> 00:10:13,121 Speaker 1: They wrote a list, They dressed neatly. They bought raincoats 106 00:10:13,161 --> 00:10:16,481 Speaker 1: in case of weather, and they use their last coins 107 00:10:16,521 --> 00:10:21,441 Speaker 1: to purchase water to share between them. Two friends carried 108 00:10:21,441 --> 00:10:26,001 Speaker 1: their intention up a hill and placed it gently on earth. 109 00:10:28,361 --> 00:10:32,641 Speaker 1: Imagine them sitting for a while, talking the way people 110 00:10:32,721 --> 00:10:37,241 Speaker 1: do when a plan has reached the quiet part and 111 00:10:37,281 --> 00:10:43,121 Speaker 1: there's nothing left to trust but the plan. The light thins, 112 00:10:44,961 --> 00:10:52,801 Speaker 1: the insects grow louder, the city glows like embers. They 113 00:10:52,841 --> 00:10:58,921 Speaker 1: put on masks, not to hide from the world, but 114 00:10:59,041 --> 00:11:02,401 Speaker 1: to face something they believed might be too bright to bear. 115 00:11:04,281 --> 00:11:23,321 Speaker 1: They wait and wait, and the night folds softly around them. 116 00:11:23,441 --> 00:11:27,681 Speaker 1: What do we do with questions that never resolve? Sometimes 117 00:11:27,681 --> 00:11:30,761 Speaker 1: the kindest thing is not to force them to become answers, 118 00:11:32,001 --> 00:11:36,401 Speaker 1: to let them rest in their original shape, and to 119 00:11:36,481 --> 00:11:41,281 Speaker 1: notice what they give us in return. Manuel and Maguel 120 00:11:41,521 --> 00:11:45,841 Speaker 1: leave us a feeling that many of us carry and 121 00:11:45,961 --> 00:11:50,481 Speaker 1: rarely name. To touch a signal that proves we're not alone, 122 00:11:51,601 --> 00:11:54,001 Speaker 1: To find a pattern that puts our hearts at ease, 123 00:11:55,161 --> 00:11:58,081 Speaker 1: To lift a page of the ordinary world and see 124 00:11:58,081 --> 00:12:03,121 Speaker 1: a light shining through. I like to think that they 125 00:12:03,161 --> 00:12:09,321 Speaker 1: sought wonder that their last sight, whatever it was, wasn't 126 00:12:09,401 --> 00:12:16,401 Speaker 1: darkness but possibility. As you drift off now, picture a 127 00:12:16,441 --> 00:12:21,441 Speaker 1: warm Brazilian night on a hillside of tall grass. The 128 00:12:21,481 --> 00:12:25,041 Speaker 1: ground is still, the air has the softness of summer. 129 00:12:26,441 --> 00:12:29,761 Speaker 1: Somewhere far below, a boat gives a single horn to 130 00:12:29,801 --> 00:12:34,921 Speaker 1: the bay, and the sound floats up until it thins 131 00:12:34,921 --> 00:12:41,801 Speaker 1: into the sky. Two men rest side by side, their 132 00:12:41,841 --> 00:12:47,041 Speaker 1: hands close but not touching, their masts tilted towards the heavens. 133 00:12:49,121 --> 00:12:53,121 Speaker 1: The city lights flicker like a constellation of their own, 134 00:12:54,481 --> 00:13:07,001 Speaker 1: and for a moment, everything feels arranged. Breathe in, breathe out. 135 00:13:10,641 --> 00:13:15,721 Speaker 1: At the hillside, carry the questions for you, Let the 136 00:13:15,881 --> 00:13:21,361 Speaker 1: night hold the answers. You don't need to chase, and 137 00:13:21,441 --> 00:13:27,601 Speaker 1: remember not every secret wants to be solved. Some are 138 00:13:27,681 --> 00:13:32,921 Speaker 1: just meant to be felt and then released. So we 139 00:13:33,041 --> 00:13:36,241 Speaker 1: drift off to sleep. Good night.