One of the most brilliant minds to ever walked on the surface of the earth was Nikola Tesla. The brilliant inventor came into limelight in the 19th century. This period was a remarkable time for science in the world as it was a period that heralded brilliant inventions, outstanding human achievements, novel discoveries, and best of great minds. The greatest of those great minds was Nikola Tesla – a brilliant inventor, and one of the all-time great scientists.
The innovative times of the late 19th century had seen the unification of the east and west coasts by the railroads that were built. This means it was easy for ideas, labor, materials, and inventions to move across lands. Cities were getting bigger, and buildings were getting taller, and energy in the form of electricity was making its way across homes, towns, and cities all over the country. This period was indeed one that helped shape the rest of the world and how we are living now.
When electricity or the electric bulb is mentioned, everybody’s mind quickly runs back to one man – Thomas Edison. But few forget that Edison wasn’t alone. He had someone under his wing, at the time of his exploits and that someone became his protégé – Nikola Tesla. Over time, the ever-ambitious Tesla was able to carve a name for himself and became a competitor to Edison. Today, Nikola Tesla is known as the one who developed the alternating current, the electric power that ensures we live our daily lives effortlessly. As with every order scientist, Tesla didn’t just stop at one invention; he went on to create other things that would help shape the world in different ways.
Tesla’s Ultimate Invention
Tesla’s eye for the innovation led him to the path of some rather exciting and yet peculiar inventions. One such invention was a superweapon. While Tesla chose to call it a Peace ray, others decided to call it a Death ray. The superweapon was said to be as powerful as its name, and it is often said to have had the ability to cause a sizeable amount of destruction with just a push of a button. 
The superweapon was capable of destroying an entire army of soldiers, and not only that, but it also had the ability to eliminate targets anywhere in the globe. Tesla attested to the fact that he created such a powerful weapon at the height of his career. To see such mighty feats achieved by one man as far back as the 19th century shows his innovative heights. Renowned for going the extra mile to create something new and never before experienced, Tesla’s was always in the news for any mega projects. Often, it is speculated that he was involved in several secret projects ranging from the earthquake machine to the alleged time travel carried out in the Philadelphia Experiment. But in all of these projects, no one comes close to matching the Death ray for size and impact.
But the question remains, did he actually make such a super device of that magnitude? And if yes, where is the evidence of such an invention? The proof, as some claimed, was the cataclysmic 1980 explosion in a somewhat remote region of Russia, the Tunguska River. The evidence of this superweapon, if there was in did any, laid in the annihilated lands of the Tunguska River.
The Tunguska Blast
At the time of the Tunguska blast, given the share size of the destruction and Shockwaves it sent across the land, it won’t be wrong to say that the Russian mineralogist, Leonid Kulik, while examining the site, must have been left speechless by the share magnitude of destruction. Over 80 million trees covering over 2000 square kilometers met their destruction by a mysterious force never seen before. They laid on a specific pattern that showed observers that the force had an epicenter very close to The Tunguska River. On further inspection of the site, Kulik, couldn’t find any evidence of a crater or anything to signify a landing spot of an object or thing that could have caused the explosion. 
For an explosion that happened in 1908, Kulik was only allowed access to the site in the 1920s. So, for more than a 10-year period, there was no one on the site to carry out an expedition.
The delay in the investigation meant results as to what caused the explosion won’t be accurate. Also, given the fact that it was a remote area, there were very few eyewitness accounts. The few people who came out to give account gave stories of balls of fire, lights in the sky, and a frightful blast and wiped out the whole area.
For what it’s worth, the entire area was completely void of any life, and it was as if an extraterrestrial power reached down from above and wiped everything clean. Whatsoever, it was evident that it had great power, and if that had been a city instead of a remote area, there is zero chance anyone would have survived. For that size of destruction, a nuclear weapon was one of the few things that could have achieved such feats, such sizeable destruction, but as of the early 19th century, the atomic bomb hadn’t been developed. So one question remains:
What Caused the Tunguska Event?
With the growth of modern science over the years, plausible explanations as to what caused the Tunguska Explosion has been provided. Some say a comet, meteor, or any other projectile from space is the most plausible explanation. Any of the projectiles could have entered the earth’s atmosphere and exploded on gaining entry with a sizeable amount of force capable of destroying the trees. But the site had no crater or signs of a comet or a meteor.
Other weird explanations include Aliens and UFOs attempting to test out their new weapons or even make the most prominent crop circle. Or maybe a black hole made its way through the earth. Neither of these seems plausible because if any of them occurred, there is a high chance we won’t be having this conversation.
One other explanation that has surfaced involves Nikola Tesla and his Death ray. Some claim that Nikola Tesla and his secret experiments caused the Tunguska blast.
So, what did Tesla create that had the power to cause such feats?
Wardenclyffe Tower
The Wardenclyffe Tower was one of Tesla’s eye-catching projects. At 187 feet tall, it was impossible not to see this tall structure as it stood in Long Island, New York. The plan was to use the tower as a way of facilitating worldwide wireless communication, way before the cell phone was invited. The method of operation was to deliver electrical energy over considerable distances. Tesla’s belief was that he could transmit radio waves and electric power simultaneously across continents without the need for wires and cables.
The backing out of his financial backers saw the project scrapped before completion. So, at that time, Tesla had with him a means of transferring massive amounts of energy between continents through the air. So, was there a correlation between Tunguska and Tesla?
Reports suggest that Tesla had contacted the explorer, Robert Peary, as he was going on an expedition to the North pole, close to the time of the Tunguska Event. Tesla asked him to give him a report on any unusual occurrence he observed. Did Tesla fire a shot to the north pole and missed, sending the sending blast to the Tunguska River?
Tesla’s Motivation
You will never know if an invention works unless you test it out. This may have been Tesla’s motivation to carry out a test and see if his invention worked. The blast could have been an attempt to show that his tower was worth investing in after all and with the first-hand testimony of Robert Peary (assuming the energy blast did not kill him, had it worked), would have been substantial evidence to get the financial backing he needed to complete the project.
Another way to look at it would be to take the incident as a one-time accident if indeed the Wardenclyffe Tower was just strictly a communication setup. But there is another twist to the story. Some claim the tower had another use, that in fact, it was an operational superweapon, with the ability to cause catastrophic destruction.
Allegedly, the tower was capable of transmitting energy blasts, and in fact, Tesla mentioned he was indeed working on a superweapon from the early 1900s up to the time he died. He claimed there was a time he designed such a device, a charged-particle beam projector, and even carried out a test. He called the device Teleforce.
Teleforce
To set the record straight, according to Tesla, he made the Teleforce as a means of defense, as a weapon of peace and not one of war. He intended to use the Teleforce for protection and ensuring war never occurred in the first place. Rather than call it the “Death Ray” as it was later called, it was referred to as the “Peace Ray.”
Despite what Tesla claimed, he knew he had a mechanism that was capable of sending a massive beam of energy across vast distances. The device was very capable of taking down an army of soldiers and aircrafts miles away.
Teleforce had lots of potentials, and it could have stopped wars before they started. The days leading up to the Second World War come to mind, if such a device were at hand, several lives would have been saved. 
On the flip side of things, if such a powerful weapon had made its way into the wrong hands, the world would have been at the mercy of a supervillain like in the movies.
This brings up the question, whatever happened to the Teleforce? Well, the answer isn’t farfetched. In a very cryptic message Tesla allegedly gave out in 1937, he did mention that the Teleforce, although a viable idea, was only in its concept stage, and he had carried out a test of the device. It makes us wonder if Tesla was truthful, and if he was, did he mean the Tunguska was evidence of the test?
There are too many variables actually to pinpoint the validity of Tesla’s claim. What was that as at that time of his claim, no government or financial agency backed him up with the needed finances to finish up what he claimed he had already started. Although further attempts to reproduce the Teleforce have been futile as Tesla claimed the blueprint of the entire device was in no journal or paper, but all in his mind.
Did Tesla’s Death Ray Cause the Tunguska Explosion?
Among the greatest inventors in history, Nikola Tesla is one of the most innovative, intriguing, and brilliant scientists to walk the earth. His pioneering feats have helped shaped the world for better, and his inventions have made life rather easy for us. Say what you may, the alternating current he invented has really been of help although some persons do take it for granted.
Questions are still asked about his other creations, notably the Wardenclyffe Tower. Was the tower a superweapon after all? Was it an early design of the death ray weapon? Did he possess the ability to destroy several areas of land in the Tunguska River?
There are several conspiracy theories about his works and inventions. Modern science says the Tunguska blast probably did not occur because of anything Tesla invented. But there are still some researchers who feel it was well within Tesla’s capabilities to produce the blast that flattened Tunguska. Unfortunately, the truth followed Tesla to the grave, and the world will never know the truth.