– (Ico Yuji/Weird World)
NEW ON FIRE
One of the most tragic fires in Brazil happened on February 1, 1974, caused by a short circuit in the building’s air conditioning system. Joelma, opened two years ago, in the center of São Paulo. In four hours of fire, the temperature reached 700°C and, in the end, 189 people died (burned or throw yourself off the building, in despair). More than 300 were injured.
macabre terrain
After investigation, five people were held responsible for the accident – none were arrested. The episode took place two years after another fire in the region, at the Andraus Building. This ignited speculation that there was a curse on the land of the Joelmasince he would have been, in the past, a pillory: slave execution stage and criminals.
BEYOND’S INHERITANCE
Closed for four years for renovation, the building reopened under the name Praça da Bandeira. Since then, employees say they hear voices, in addition to witnessing spirits and strange phenomena, like car headlights turning on by themselves. During the filming of Joelma 23rd floor, from 1979, a photographer on the team recorded the scene of the deaths. In the revealed photo, there are supposed faces of spirits that prowled the recording set. In 2004, a team led by then mayor José Serra worked in a room in the building, but only after the place had been purified by a Buddhist nun.
THE CRIME OF THE WELL
Before the Joelma be built, another tragedy had occurred on the land, in 1948. Professor Paulo Ferreira de Camargo, 26 years old, killed his mother and two sisters, and hid the bodies in a well in the backyard. He denied responsibility for the crime, although he was the prime suspect. Two weeks later, when the police started digging the well in search of traces, Paulo killed himself.
WITHOUT EXPLANATION
To this day, there is no consensus on why the professor committed the murders. The crime also caused another death: one of the firefighters who performed the rescue in the well died of cadaveric infection from handling the bodies without protective gloves. There are those who believe that the fire of the Joelma is the result of a curse related to the Crime of the Pit.
MESSAGE FROM THE DEAD
One of the victims of Joelma went to typist Volquimar Carvalho dos Santos, who worked on the 23rd floor. She and her colleagues tried to leave the building, but were stopped by others who were also trying to save themselves. The story became known due to a letter from her, psychographed by Chico Xavier and published in the book we are six.
THE MYSTERY OF THE 13 SOULS
In the rubble of Joelma, 13 corpses were found inside an elevator. At the time, with no means of identifying these victims, the bodies were buried side by side in São Pedro Cemetery, with the tombstone “As Treze Almas”. Some time later, the cemetery caretaker and some visitors began to hear screams and moans coming from the graves. To “ease the pain of the dead”, they poured water on the graves (since people burned to death) and the screams stopped. Since then, the place has attracted devotees, who attribute to the 13 souls various graces achieved and, in gratitude, leave a glass of water on top of each tomb.
CONSULTANCY Angela Arena, researcher and professor of tourism at Faculdade Anhanguera, and Mateus Fornazari, from the website Supernatural
SOURCES Recife Center for Advanced Studies on Integrated Conservation, Gilberto Freyre Foundation; TV shows Ghost Hunters International (SyFy); Direct line (Globe) and Fantastic (Globe); newspapers Diary of St. Paul, Pernambuco Leaf, Folha de S.Paulo, The State of S. Paulo It is The Fluminense; websites G1 It is R7; Veja magazine; books Ghosts of Recife Velhoby Gilberto Freyre, Haunted Stories of the Caminho Velho de São Paulo It is Haunted Stories from the Time of Slavery, by Adriano Messias; and doctoral thesis Work and Daily Life in English Gold Mining in Minas Gerais: The Mariana Passage Mine (1863-1927), by Rafael de Freitas e Souza