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Tesla's Death Ray (Myth or Real)


x o i s k

Do you think Tesla's Death Ray is real?  

180 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you think Tesla's Death Ray is real?

    • Yes
      88
    • Maybe
      51
    • No
      41


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Given that Tesla's inventions generally possessed an element of social conscience, of doing good for humanity, it may seem surprising that he created a number of devices with military applications. And the notion of the Tesla harnessing his mind for purposes of war may seem immensely frightening. After all, this is the man who boasted that with his resonance generator he could split the earth in two... and no one was ever quite sure whether he was joking.

The first Tesla invention with a proposed military use was his automaton technology, with which the labor of human beings could be performed by machines. Specifically, Tesla produced remote-controlled boats and submarines. He demonstrated the wireless ship at an exposition in Madison Square Garden in 1898. The automaton apparatus was so advanced, it used a form of voice recognition to respond to the verbal commands of Tesla and volunteers from the audience.

In public, Tesla spoke only of the humanitarian virtues of the invention: it would lessen the toils and drudgery of mankind and keep human lives out of harm's way. But Tesla actually had his hopes on a contract with the U.S. military. In a presentation before the War Department, Tesla argued that his unmanned torpedo craft could obliterate the Spanish Armada and end the war with Spain in an afternoon. The government never took Tesla up on his offer.

Tesla then decided to pitch the automated submarine to private industry, and submitted it for the approval of J. P. Morgan. According to some accounts, Morgan offered to manufacture Tesla's vessels, but only if Tesla would agree to marry Morgan's daughter. Such a deal was of course anathema to Tesla, and he and Morgan would not work together until Wardenclyffe, a couple of years later.

Tesla eventually landed a successful military contract -- with the German Marine High Command. The product here was not unmanned sea craft, but sophisticated turbines which Admiral von Tirpitz used to great success in his fleet of warships. After J. P. Morgan cut off his support of Wardenclyffe, this foreign contract was Tesla's only substantial source of income. Upon the outbreak of World War I, Tesla chose to forfeit his German royalties, lest he be charged with treason.

Nearly broke, and finding the United States on the brink of war, Tesla dreamed up a new invention that might interest the military: the death ray.

The mechanism behind Tesla's death ray is not well understood. It was apparently some sort of particle accelerator. Tesla said it was an outgrowth of his magnifying transformer, which focused its energy output into a thin beam so concentrated it would not scatter, even over huge distances. He promoted the device as a purely defensive weapon, intended to knock down incoming attacks -- making the death ray the great-great grandfather of the Strategic Defense Initiative.

It is not certain if Tesla ever used the death ray, or indeed if he even succeeded in building one. But the following is the often-related story of what happened one night in 1908 when Tesla tested the foreboding weapon.

At the time, Robert Peary was making his second attempt to reach the North Pole. Cryptically, Tesla had notified the expedition that he would be trying to contact them somehow. They were to report to him the details of anything unusual they might witness on the open tundra. On the evening of June 30, accompanied by his associate George Scherff atop Wardenclyffe tower, Tesla aimed his death ray across the Atlantic towards the arctic, to a spot which he calculated was west of the Peary expedition.

Tesla switched on the device. At first, it was hard to tell if it was even working. Its extremity emitted a dim light that was barely visible. Then an owl flew from its perch on the tower's pinnacle, soaring into the path of the beam. The bird disintegrated instantly.

That concluded the test. Tesla watched the newspapers and sent telegrams to Peary in hopes of confirming the death ray's effectiveness. Nothing turned up. Tesla was ready to admit failure when news came of a strange event in Siberia.

On June 30, a massive explosion had devastated Tunguska, a remote area in the Siberian wilderness. Five hundred thousand square acres of land had been instantly destroyed. Equivalent to ten to fifteen megatons of TNT, the Tunguska incident is the most powerful explosion to have occurred in human history -- not even subsequent thermonuclear detonations have surpassed it. The explosion was audible from 620 miles away. Scientists believe it was caused by either a meteorite or a fragment of a comet, although no obvious impact site or mineral remnants of such an object were ever found.

Nikola Tesla had a different explanation. It was plain that his death ray had overshot its intended target and destroyed Tunguska. He was thankful beyond measure that the explosion had -- miraculously -- killed no one. Tesla dismantled the death ray at once, deeming it too dangerous to remain in existence.

Six years later, the onset of the First World War caused Tesla to reconsider. He wrote to President Wilson, revealing his secret death ray test. He offered to rebuild the weapon for the War Department, to be used purely as a deterrent. The mere threat of such destructive force, he claimed, would cause the warring nations to agree at once to establish lasting peace.

The only response to Tesla's proposal was a form letter of appreciation from the president's secretary. The death ray was never reconstructed, and for that we should probably all be thankful.

Tesla made one one further attempt to aid in his country's war effort. In 1917, he conceived of a sending station that would emit exploratory waves of energy, enabling its operators to determine the precise location of distant enemy craft. The War Department rejected Tesla's "exploring ray" as a laughing stock.

A generation later, a new invention exactly like this helped the Allies win World War II. It was called radar.

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Nickola Teslsa was awsome. He and Thomas edison were at wars at the time, noting that Edison had really stollen his envention ac Or dc current, not sure but Edison won that one and was credited with modern day electricity, when both are used now.

As far as the death ray I think it might have been more of a microbeam or a primitive E.M.P weapon. Either way they both are deadly,and with todays technology WOW who knows whats out there.

I also read that he created a system of vibration that could cause small localized earthquakes. I bet alot if not most our modern day energy info is based on his research.

Very cool topic thumbsup.gif

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Thanks!

Yea I noticed the brutal technological wars between Tesla and Edison…

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I don't know my Tesla that well, but it seems rather suspect to me that he tested this device in such a way that the results could only be obtained by letter from an unsuspecting third party who really have no idea what they're looking for.

The death ray seems to be a light beam of some kind. How was it able to follow the curvature of the earth all the way "across the atlantic"?

What was the distance of the Peary expedition from Tunguska on June 30, 1908? I'm curious about just how inaccurate this device is.

What was the location of this death ray tower?

Why does one atomized owl signal the end of the test? That's not the result they wanted to generate... They wanted to make an impact in the artic.

The answers to these questions might all be obvious to a person more knowledgable about Tesla than I. If that's the case, then the article doesn't do a great job of reporting the incedent. If these questions cannot be answered, then they raise some doubts about whether the test ever took place at all.

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I don't know my Tesla that well, but it seems rather suspect to me that he tested this device in such a way that the results could only be obtained by letter from an unsuspecting third party who really have no idea what they're looking for.

The death ray seems to be a light beam of some kind. How was it able to follow the curvature of the earth all the way "across the atlantic"?

What was the distance of the Peary expedition from Tunguska on June 30, 1908? I'm curious about just how inaccurate this device is.

What was the location of this death ray tower?

Why does one atomized owl signal the end of the test? That's not the result they wanted to generate... They wanted to make an impact in the artic.

The answers to these questions might all be obvious to a person more knowledgable about Tesla than I. If that's the case, then the article doesn't do a great job of reporting the incedent. If these questions cannot be answered, then they raise some doubts about whether the test ever took place at all.

676990[/snapback]

Your remarks are very logical, I'd dare say.

I have heard in the past about the death ray-siberia connection, though it does sound unlikely.

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

Oh and this topic is away from home. Wonder what it does in crypto.....

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This topic is also for Myths and Legends...

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I have heard of the deathray and the only thing i can think of that might be able to travel to the other side of the planet would be some sort of e.m.p. device that uses the ionispere and harnesses energy directly from it ( ionispere )

But an e.m.p. would not leave a creator so to speak or blow over trees hmm mystery it is!

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If he could (supposedly) build rays in WW1, what could he make if he was still alive today...?

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Some pretty powerful weapons!!!

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I'd say that if he were still around today that the way that wars are fought currently would be a way of the past. With his knowledge and imagination, the options are endless on the types of weapons that he could create with our technology. Kinda scary

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the human mind IS scary

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i think it he made it or it was very closed to being made! i think propably the USA has copy of the plans and propably the russia spied and get a copy of the plan from the USA!

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Yea you wouldn’t want anything like that being leaked, just think of all the devastation that could take place if it was.

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as Far as a telsa coil that yes could be very powerful ie lightning in a bottle. that we can do now.

I have read and wondered what Tesla created was one of the hidden secrets, that may have been slowed to public recognition agian ie air travel or as some may see as ufo's.

By no means do I say ufo's don't exsist, they do with out a doubt !!!! But examine the deffinition of U.F.O. But then examine what we don't know could be anything wacko.gif

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This topic is also for Myths and Legends...

678304[/snapback]

yes its for cryptozoology myths and legends yes.gif

myths and legends of a cryptozoological nature...

innocent.gif

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Yes, I am working on a disintagration ray.

alien.gif

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The tunguska thing! A professor found a certain type of hydro carbon there, one that had to have been manufactured. However we can not duplicate today as yet. So, I really do not think tesla's ray did this. Do you have that date correct as to the experiment?

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The death ray was a particle accelerator and outgrowth of his magnifying transformer. The device focused its energy output into a thin beam so concentrated that it would not scatter, even over great distances.

On the night of June 30, 1908, Tesla tested the death ray while Robert Peary was making his second attempt to reach the North Pole. Tesla notified Peary's expedition that he would contact them, and that they should report to him anything unusual they might witness.

Tesla aimed his death ray across the Atlantic toward the arctic, to a spot which he calculated was west of Peary's expedition.

On June 30, 1908, a massive explosion devastated Tunguska, a remote area of Siberia, destroying 500,000 acres instantly. Audible from 620 miles away, it was the most powerful explosion in human history. Scientists believe it was caused by a meteorite or comet fragment, although no such objects were found. However, it seems obvious that Tesla's death ray had overshot its intended target at the North Pole and destroyed Tunguska.

In 1943, Tesla died in New York City at age 87. The U.S. government, through the Federal Bureau of Investigation, ordered the Office of Alien Property to seize all of Tesla's papers and possessions, although he had been an American citizen since 1891.

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Read a while back in Nexus magazine that Tesla also invented an electric car that got it's power from the atmosphere, in the early 1900's. Don't know how reliable that is but I think he is the cleverest man ever to walk the planet, he was decades ahead of his time, but virtually un-heard of. Can't remember ever hearing his name while I was at school

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I voted yes, I believe the death ray does exist, don't underestimate the powers of the human mind and the capabilities of ambition. Tesla had an abbundance of both, there's no telling what he achieved that we may still not know to this day

678773[/snapback]

Irrelevant...can I please fall in love with you?

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I voted yes, I believe the death ray does exist, don't underestimate the powers of the human mind and the capabilities of ambition. Tesla had an abbundance of both, there's no telling what he achieved that we may still not know to this day

678773[/snapback]

Irrelevant...can I please fall in love with you?

680023[/snapback]

I saw her first Vallhera....

Thanks for adding some glamour to an otherwise dreary subject niente.

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I voted yes, I believe the death ray does exist, don't underestimate the powers of the human mind and the capabilities of ambition. Tesla had an abbundance of both, there's no telling what he achieved that we may still not know to this day

678773[/snapback]

Irrelevant...can I please fall in love with you?

680023[/snapback]

I saw her first Vallhera....

Thanks for adding some glamour to an otherwise dreary subject niente.

680096[/snapback]

First of all, the name is Vallheru.

Second, we'll have to take it to duel.

I'll take the death-ray. What's your weapon?

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First of all, the name is Vallheru.

Second, we'll have to take it to duel.

I'll take the death-ray. What's your weapon?

682035[/snapback]

Mini - Nuke...

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There is footage. After his death, the CCCP continued work on tesla's ray. look into it, google: Caltech core-collapse program. maybe there's some info there.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Tesla's Death Ray was real, he hid it or somthing, bu locked the designs for it in a chest, and died without telling where the key was. The government smashed the chest and confiscated the plans, creating the laser now being used in war.

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