Event in 1946, while the world was talking about the rubble left by the destructive power of the World War 2nd, in the small town of Araçariguama, 70 km from São Paulo (Brazil), the concern was completely different. On March 4 1946. A Carnival Monday, farmer João Prestes Filho, then 44 years old, decided that the day was perfect to get three friends together and go fishing on the Tietê River. He warned his wife, Silvina Nunes Prestes, that he would be back late, but she didn't care, as she was going to a street carnival block with her family.
Burning Body[]

After a busy day, João returned home at 7 pm and found it empty and dark and, tired, decided to take a shower. On the way to the bathroom, he reported that a flash came from somewhere, crossing the rooms of the building and hitting him squarely. Immediately, João felt his body burn from head to toe. Desperate and unable to touch anything for so much pain, he opened the door latch with his teeth and ran barefoot down the road to the house of Maria, his sister. Even in the street João shouted at the top of his voice “The light! The light!”, crying out for help.
Trembling and crying, João would have dropped into his sister's bed, according to the testimony of his cousin, Virgílio Francisco Alves. Malachi, city delegate, quickly arrived at the house to question the man about what had happened, despite his deep torment.
“It was nothing of this world, but an invisible thing”, João told the police chief, before being taken to the Santana de Parnaíba hospital. Virgílio believed in his cousin, since his condition was horrible: “João was white and his skin was all toasted. His hands and face burned the most. His face even roasted. His hair, however, did not burn, nor did his clothes, ”he detailed. After 9 hours hospitalized in serious condition, João Prestes Filho died in the hospital.
According to the autopsy report, the third-degree burns on João's body were not caused by kerosene or any other fuel; there were also no signs of soot and the fur or clothing had not even been singed. Only the exposed regions of the body were affected, such as the head, neck, hands and lower limbs, which is why the coroner ruled out the possibility of burns caused by liquid at high temperature, as it is very unlikely that other areas would not have been affected by splashes. In addition, the parts affected by the burns were wrinkled, shrunken, cracked and falling off the limbs, and the body did not smell of burning or any substance. The tests showed that there was no residue of alcohol in the man's body.
On João's death certificate, the cause of death was listed as burns. However, on January 13, 1998, the Santana de Parnaíba registry office again issued the document and recorded that the cause of death was heart failure and generalized burns.