In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed Nicola Tesla as the first inventor of the radio. The review of Margaret Cheney’s book, Tesla: Man Out Of Time (1981), states that “In every step of progress in electrical power engineering, as well as in radio, we can trace the spark of thought back to Nicola Tesla.” One of Tesla’s dreams, in his own words, was “to transmit power, in unlimited amounts, to any terrestrial distance...” This feat was possible, Tesla believed, because of a phenomenon he discovered, which he described as “standing waves.” With regard to these oddly immobile “waves,” Tesla wrote: “Impossible as it seemed, this planet, despite its vast extent, behaved like a conductor of limited dimensions.” Tesla believed that this conducting ability of the earth would allow electrical energy to be broadcast around the world without a significant loss of power. Tesla believed that his oscillator experiments actually accomplished this broadcast power effect. How can this be explained? Tesla: Man Out Of Time (1981) tells us that “Tesla visualized the Earth as an extremely large container holding an electrical fluid which resonance caused to be formed into a series of waves frozen in position.” This “electrical fluid” sounds eerily similar to Dora van Gelder’s etheric material. Standing waves could be compared to the intense psychic impressions that result in apparently permanent zones where retrocognition or “haunting” occurs; only in this case, an electrical oscillator produces the effect instead of a dramatic event involving the death of a sentient being. The implications of this speculative line are too spooky to explore further.

If Tesla was right about the results of his electrical experiments, then his use of the giant oscillator set up a continuous state of “electrical resonance” in the Earth’s “ionosphere,” the effect of which was to make energy available anywhere on the planet. This energy can be tapped, according to Tesla: Man Out Of Time (1981), “with a simple piece of equipment. This would include the elements of a radio tuning unit, a ground connection, and a metal rod the height of a house.” Such an apparatus would allegedly allow anyone to access an unlimited supply of free household electricity.

Another fascinating phenomenon associated with Tesla’s electrical experiments is “ball lightning,” also known as “fireballs.” Tesla considered fireballs a nuisance, but nevertheless he pursued the effect until he felt that he could reproduce it at will. Modern scientists have so far failed to equal Tesla’s fireball creation feat, though cases of ball lightning continue to occur at random. Ball lightning, according to Tesla: Man Out Of Time (1981), “is a phenomenon that has fascinated and baffled scientists from ancient times to the present.” Recent theories suggest that fireballs could be responsible for the mysterious phenomena known as “crop circles.”

Beginning in the 1950’s and spreading elsewhere with increasing frequency into the 80’s and beyond, strange circular impressions appeared overnight in the grain fields of farmers who had no idea what caused the phenomenon. The circles showed surprising symmetry that might even suggest an intentional design. According to Everything Is Under Control (1998), in some cases “orange lights in the sky are allegedly seen just before the circles appear.” The appearance of these lights would seem to support the scientific explanation of the phenomenon offered by physics professor and meteorologist Terence Meaden. Meaden’s theory, as detailed in Mysterious Realms (1992), holds that the circles are produced by a “plasma vortex phenomenon” defined as a “spinning mass of air” mixed with “electrically charged matter.” Mysterious Realms (1992) goes on to say that crop circle evidence “suggests that the spinning wind has entered the ionized state known as plasma, and that the vortices are to become plasma balls akin to ball lightning in appearance except that they are much bigger and longer lived.” Now we have a positive connection between crop circles, fireballs, and “vortices,” a phenomenon that will be explored more thoroughly in the next chapter. Unfortunately, no one has yet told us what causes a “plasma vortex” to spontaneously appear. A clue to this mystery might be found in a book called Circular Evidence (1989), by Pat Delgado and Colin Andrews. The authors of this book claim that crop circles are somehow linked to the UFO phenomenon. Maybe the long lasting fireballs associated with plasma vortices look like UFO’s... or maybe intelligent beings from invisible worlds have a penchant for manifesting in grain fields. The mystery continues.