Conspiracy Theories – "Tesla's Death Ray" (November 19, 2025)

Host: Carter Roy
Podcast by Spotify Studios

Episode Overview

This episode explores one of history's most tantalizing what-ifs: the mysterious disappearance of Nikola Tesla’s inventions following his death in 1943—particularly the so-called "Death Ray" or "teleforce" weapon. Carter Roy investigates the conspiracy theory that the U.S. government stole and possibly weaponized such advanced technology, delving into Tesla's life, his secretive nature, infamous rivalries, and the enduring legacy of his missing trunks and papers. Blending historical fact with speculation, the episode asks whether Tesla was a misunderstood genius whose work was suppressed, a brilliant hustler inflating his legacy, or a bit of both.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Death Ray: Fact, Fiction, or Suppressed Reality?

• Opening Scenario (00:01–01:45): Carter Roy sets the scene with a dramatic (fictional) account of a "death ray" obliterating an invading fleet—illustrating public fascination with Tesla’s rumored weapon.

• The Myth’s Origins (05:35–09:50):

  • After Tesla’s death in 1943, his nephew Sava Kosanovich allegedly discovered signs of tampering—some papers and Tesla’s Edison medal missing—fueling suspicions that the U.S. government was after something big.
  • Numerous rumors circulated about U.S. agents monitoring Tesla, including claims that FBI agents lived across the hall from him in his final days—a rumor confirmed decades later through declassified CIA documents.
  • A Tesla confidant, Blois Fitzgerald, was later revealed as an FBI informant who cataloged Tesla’s every move and invention.
  • Quote:

    "For years, [Fitzgerald] reported nearly all of his and Tesla's private conversations to the FBI."
    —Carter Roy [08:45]

• Tesla’s Defensive Motives: Tesla intentionally kept secrets, fearing misuse of his work but also hoping for universal prosperity—putting him at odds with both governments and business interests.

2. The Seizure and Suppression of Tesla’s Work

• Confiscation of Tesla’s Trunks (16:52–21:55):
  • Two days after Tesla's death, the U.S. Office of Alien Property Custodian (OAPC) seized his belongings, despite Tesla being a naturalized citizen.
  • Kosanovich’s legal battle uncovered that 20 out of 80 trunks were missing after the government returned Tesla’s documents, leading to theories that these contained the most valuable inventions, possibly including death ray blueprints.
  • U.S. officials claimed trunks were "consolidated," but skepticism remained. Even after returning 60 trunks to Kosanovich, the contents remained closely guarded by Yugoslav authorities.
  • Quote:

    "20 whole trunks don't just disappear by rearranging a few notebooks. This implied the officials were hiding pages from Tesla's family and from the rest of the world."
    —Carter Roy [18:44]

3. The Legend and Science of the Death Ray

• Tesla’s Teleforce Gun (22:30–28:00):
  • In the 1930s, Tesla publicly promoted his design for a "peace ray" or particle beam weapon, claiming it could destroy aircraft from 250 miles away and render wars obsolete.
  • Attempts to sell the patent to the U.S., U.K., and then Soviet-aligned Yugoslavia, all appear fruitless.
  • U.S. military interest was piqued by these proposals, leading to decades of related research. Programs like Project Seesaw (1958) and the Strategic Defense Initiative (1980s "Star Wars") would later echo Tesla’s particle beam ambitions.
  • Quote:

    "Tesla was ahead of his time thinking about mutually assured destruction before anyone had the capability to enact it."
    —Carter Roy [23:41]

• Did the U.S. actually build it? Carter suggests that persistent U.S. interest and secretiveness may point to ongoing defense projects inspired by Tesla—including withheld documents to this day.

4. The Edison Rivalry and Corporate Suppression

• Business Motives (31:24–37:00):

  • Tesla’s rivalry with Thomas Edison is spotlighted, most famously over the alternating current (AC) versus direct current (DC) “war of currents”—with Edison’s camp going so far as to discredit AC via sensational PR stunts.
  • The episode posits that Edison's successors could have had motives to suppress Tesla’s disruptive work, such as early solar panel concepts or wireless electricity.
  • Quote:

    "They were and are currently an electricity company. So might they have suppressed better technology again with solar panels?"
    —Carter Roy [34:19]

• Wireless Electricity and the Electric Car:

  • Tesla's vision extended to global wireless power and possibly even electric cars, with a story circulating about a secret battery-powered automobile—though Carter points out this is likely urban legend.
  • Quote:

    "If this story is true, it means the technology for electric cars existed almost a hundred years before their widespread adoption. But someone suppressed it before they could go mainstream."
    —Carter Roy [36:15]

5. Outlandish Claims: Aliens and Weather Machines

• Extraterrestrial Communication (39:15–42:45):

  • Tesla claimed to have detected signals from Mars, aiming to develop an alien communicator—a story that damaged his credibility but remains a favorite of conspiracy theorists.
  • Quote:

    "Upon further study and reflection, he deduced they had to be coming from outer space, specifically Mars."
    —Carter Roy [40:18]

• Weather Manipulation:

  • Tesla imagined radio-frequency devices could influence weather, possibly inspiring later projects (e.g., HAARP), another frequent topic in conspiracy communities.

6. Myth vs. Reality: Was Tesla a Genius or a Hustler?

• Tesla’s Last Scams? (44:35–48:18):
  • At the end of his life, deeply in debt, Tesla left a supposed “death ray prototype” as collateral at a hotel—a device revealed by John Trump (yes, Donald’s uncle) to be nothing but a standard electrician’s box.
  • The episode questions whether many of Tesla's grandiose claims—Mars signals, wireless power, the electric car—were genuine, misrepresented, or inventions of necessity.
  • Quote:

    "It wasn't a weapon of war. It was a multi decade resistance box. A common piece of equipment found in any electrician's laboratory. Nikola Tesla had conned the Governor Clinton Hotel to get out of paying his bill."
    —Carter Roy [47:01]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Government Motives:

  "To be clear, in 2008 the FBI came out and said they never had possession of any of Tesla's papers for prototypes. The Bureau claimed they were misidentified... Regardless, while Sava Kosanovich was trying to get his uncle's papers back, the US Military made use of them."
  —Carter Roy [27:50]

• On the Mystery’s Core:

  "So while it's possible the US Government is hiding a death ray or incredible technological advances from the public, it's also possible Tesla was the one lying to us all along."
  —Carter Roy [49:20]

• On the Enduring Enigma of Tesla:

  "It lives in the gray. Was he maybe the greatest inventor of the 20th century, the godfather of our best technology? Or was he another hustler... Probably the truth is a bit of both."
  —Carter Roy [49:07]

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:01 | Dramatic intro: envisioning the power of the hypothetical death ray | | 05:35 | Tesla's death, missing items, and first suspicions of a cover-up | | 08:45 | Confirmation of government surveillance on Tesla | | 16:52 | U.S. confiscates Tesla’s trunks, triggering inheritance fight | | 23:41 | The death ray as a weapon of mutually assured destruction | | 27:50 | Government denials and military review of Tesla’s papers | | 34:19 | Edison’s business interests and theories of suppression | | 36:15 | The legend of Tesla’s secret electric car | | 40:18 | Tesla’s alleged signals from Mars | | 47:01 | The "death ray" turns out to be a resistance box—a scam? | | 49:07 | Reflections on Tesla: Genius or hustler? | | 49:20 | Final thought: Suppression or self-promoted myth? |

Conclusion

"Tesla's Death Ray" expertly weaves fact, myth, and speculation, using Tesla’s real achievements and eccentric personality as a springboard for larger questions about invention, suppression, and the particularly American appetite for secret technologies and shadowy government plots. The episode invites listeners to weigh evidence of government intrigue and potential technological theft against the very real possibility that Tesla’s most outlandish claims were just that—claims, never realized. Ultimately, Carter Roy leaves us in the gray area that makes Tesla's legacy irresistible: perhaps both a pioneer and a self-promoter, with the secrets to a "death ray" still locked away—or never existing at all.

For further research:

• "The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla" by Mark Seifer
• PBS’s "Life and Legacy: Tesla"

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