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The Joelma Building – the Thirteen Souls from the Elevator

When
since 1 February 1974 date from records made at the time
Where
Edifício Praça da Bandeira (formerly Joelma), Avenida 9 de Julho, São Paulo, Brazil
Verdict
Legend

The Joelma tower fire of 1974 killed 191 people. Thirteen unidentified victims are now venerated like saints, and the building is said to stand on cursed ground.

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-23.55°, -46.64° · dimmed: other phenomena within 1,500 km

What happened

At 8:54 a.m. on 1 February 1974, an air-conditioning unit on the 12th floor of the 25-story Joelma office tower in downtown São Paulo short-circuited. Wooden partitions, carpets and curtains let the fire race through floor after floor within minutes. The building had a single staircase, no fire exits and no helipad. People fled to the roof, sheltered under asbestos sheets, and many jumped from windows. 191 people died (sources also give 179–189) and more than 300 were injured. Thirteen people who tried to escape by elevator were burned so badly they were never identified. They were buried side by side in São Pedro Cemetery in the Vila Alpina district. People began coming to the “Thirteen Souls” with requests, leaving glasses of water and plaques giving thanks for favors granted; a chapel was built nearby. After reconstruction the building was renamed Praça da Bandeira, but the stories did not stop: staff speak of a woman's figure in the corridors, and a delivery driver of a woman in white floating over the parking lot.

Witnesses

Press reports from 1974 (including “Jornal do Brasil” and “Veja”); stories from people who work in the building and from visitors to the Vila Alpina cemetery, collected by the Terra news site (2014), among others.

Explanations and hypotheses

The fire was thoroughly investigated: it was caused by a badly wired air conditioner, and the death toll was made worse by the lack of basic safety measures. The disaster changed fire codes in Brazil and abroad – in Los Angeles it led to a rule requiring rooftop helipads on tall buildings for years. The “cursed ground” legend links the fire to the “Crime of the Well” of 1948, when the chemist Paulo Ferreira de Camargo shot his mother and two sisters and hid their bodies in a well. The Camargo house, however, stood a block away, not on the site of the tower – it was the press that moved it there while building the story of a “curse.” The cult of the Thirteen Souls is an example of the folk devotion to the tragically dead found throughout Latin America.

Legend A story handed down through generations – it can be neither confirmed nor disproved.

Sources

  1. Terra – Cercado de mistérios, terreno do Joelma é considerado amaldiçoado (2014)
  2. Jornal de Notícias – O mais pavoroso crime dos últimos tempos (1948)
  3. Folha de S.Paulo – Tragédia do Joelma foi a pior da cidade
  4. Folha de S.Paulo – Após 41 anos, edifício Andraus falha em segurança contra fogo (2013)

More: Wikipedia (en)