Publicly unveiled in 1934, Tesla presented an amazing new device to the US military. It was named Teleforce. The device was the first "particle beam projector" in history to be taken seriously, the first one deemed realistic and plausible. Tesla had stated in his early talks with the US government that the device could attack a target 250 miles (400 km) away, leveling millions of soldiers or even a fleet of 10,000 aircraft. Myths and rumors regarding this device abound. Today, in honor of Halloween, we'd like to discuss one of these rumors surrounding this death ray.
There are many rumors stating that Tesla's early prototypes were fired over the arctic circle in the early 1900s. One such rumor was propagated by apparent eye-witnesses involved in his lab complex whom relayed information to the media. They stated that Tesla fired the weapon at a location at the North Pole, but atmospheric distortion and the curvature of the Earth deflected the beam. As a result, they claim that the beam did not hit where it intended.
At first, it seemed that the beam did not work; however, news began to trickle in related to 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. That's right; these eyewitnesses claim that Tesla is the one responsible for the Tunguska event. These individuals go on to claim that the initial disappointment that Tesla had at missing his target quickly turned to horror over the devastation it apparently unleashed. As a result, he sought to dismantle the current prototype and refine it further. Whilst it is unknown whether a perfected prototype was created, many claim that he offered it to the US Military as a weapon of defense, rather than offense.
Despite its apparent abilities, the US Military was reluctant to implement this technology - there must have been a valid reason for this... fear of retaliation? fear of misuse? Uncertainty inspired by the mysterious events at Tunguska? Or perhaps the device simply didn't work. Who knows for sure. To his dying day, Tesla continued asserting that he had created a super-weapon; however, there was a large cloud of uncertainty, and officials never admitted to seeing a prototype, nor observing a test-fire (such as the one that could account for the Tunguska event). Is it a cover up? Or is it all just a myth? You be the one to decide...
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Warning: This article was posted on the 31st of October, 2013 as a "Halloween-themed" article. Due to the conspiracy-nature of this article, most of the sources (seen below) cannot be considered "trustworthy" by FQTQ's quality standards. Nonetheless, I hope you had as much fun reading and imagining this as we did writing it. Use and navigate the sources at your own risk - bring your critical thinking cap with you.
Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II
Nikola Tesla's Teleforce & Telegeodynamics Proposals
Tesla: The Forgotten Mysteries III [Death Ray]
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