Ray Guns 101
( Part I -- History )
by Robert A. Nelson
Before you can purchase or use a Ray Gun, you must qualify for Federal Exemption from the
BATF as follows: 1) Read this Confidential Report, and watch the Safety and Training Videos; 2)
Pass a multiple choice Competency Test at 100% (You can take the test again if you do not
pass); 3) Sign an Affidavit of Responsibility. After reading the text below, start the Certification
process by clicking the button at the bottom of this page.
Introduction
Ever since malicious gods began smiting humans with lightning, we foolish mortals have
imitated them in every possible way. The ancient Greeks at the advice of Aristotle once fought
off a fleet of invading ships by setting them afire with sunlight focused by mirrors. Today
military forces deploy devastating laser weapons that are billions of times more powerful than
the Aristotle’s mirrors, while mercenaries use kinder, gentler lasers that induce vomiting to
discourage pirates or paparazzi away from their clients' superyachts. Police and civilians can
defend themselves with the Laser Energetics' Dazer Lazer "nonlethal light fighting technology",
a hand-held gut-wrench.
Laser Energetics states:
"These non-lethal weapons have the ability to control the threat at ranges of 1 meter to
2400 meters (model dependent). The Dazer Laser Light Fighting Technologies emit a
green “eye safe” laser beam that is shaped into approximately a 1 foot to 8 foot Dazer
Zone which when focused on the threats eyes, the threats vision is temporarily
impaired, their balance is effected, and they become affected by nausea. This controls
the threat making it difficult for them to manoeuver..."
On the home front, the Dept. of Homeland Security has contracted with Intelligent Optical
Systems to produce a pocket-sized light saber that induces ungracious regurgitation.
The "Incapacitating High Intensity Incoherent Light Beam" described in US Patent US7866082
exemplifies the method:
"A long range, high intensity spotlight for human incapacitation and control that uses an
incoherent collimated constant light source of sufficient intensity and focus to cause
temporary incapacitation of a person for a period of time when illuminated by the beam
without causing permanent physical harm..."
Many news stories published during the 20th century reported on inventors’ demonstrations
so-called “death ray”, most of which were exposed as hoaxes. A select few, however, were very
real, but fortunately for the rest of us, the details of their construction have been lost or hidden
in the intervening years. Some such rays kill only electronic equipment, some kill animal life,
and some kill both.
Here is a gallery of such devices, presented in chronological order. If you recognize any of the
ray guns in the photos, contact the nearest Authority Figure immediately!
Giulio Ulivi
Giulio Ulivi (1881-1948) was and Italian who became notorious in 1913, when he claimed to
have discovered "F-Rays", an application of infra-red energy that could detonate gunpowder
from several miles away. The French General Joseph Joffre arranged for a demonstration off
the coast near Le Havre. According to the newspaper L'Eclair, Ulivi detonated ten mines spaced
600 yards apart. Another test was conducted successfully with gunpowder and ammunition
shielded in a fortress. He was unable to explain his invention, however, and contradicted
himself several times when questioned, and his machine allegedly broke down, so nothing
resulted from the affair.
Ulivi also demonstrated the ray for the Italian navy by exploding two torpedoes in the Arno
River. Experts accused him of fraud, but no one ever proved anything, and his secret, if there
was one, died with him.
Edgar Hollingshead
The technical difficulties of transmitting energy in a beam or ray through the atmosphere have
hindered the development of death rays weapons until recently. But Edgar L. Hollingshead took
another approach, using invented the “Odic Ray” which he discovered. Besides being able to
produce levitation and other phenomena, it could decompose matter.
An article printed in the Syracuse Journal (3 January 1922 ) is typical of the publicity he
received:
"An instrument which, it is claimed, shoots an invisible projectile more disruptive than
any known explosive has made Edgar L. Hollingshead and his "Ray Gun" an object of
international attention.
“The missile is the so-called Odic Activity Ray which Hollingshead asserts he has been
able to focus and direct with astonishing results. It is capable, he says, of disturbing the
fundamental physical organization of our known universe, and may be employed in a
commercial or military way.
“Although still in the experimental phase, the "Ray Gun" to the satisfaction of
Hollingshead and his associates, has demonstrated that… [M]atter can be made to
disintegrate without explosion, vanishing without ash, smoke or residue.
“Water may be instantly transformed into its component elements...
The fate of the Hollingshead Odic Ray Gun is unknown, but perhaps we should be glad that it
disappeared. Despite its enormous benefits, by now we probably would have destroyed
ourselves with it.
Constantin Vaideanu
Constantin Vaideanu received French Patent FR524839 (Device to discharge the electricity of
the atmosphere within a radius of five kilometers) in 1919. He designed a focusing reflector
that collimated the UV radiation, thus greatly reducing the power required for its operation.
Vaideanu later obtained Patent FR FR36728 for a “Device for the Transmission of Energy of
Extreme Power to Great Distances”:
“The invention is a modulated radio frequency beam (-) and an ultraviolet beam (+)
which produce photoionization of the particles in the atmosphere and collects them,
amplifying the initial beam over enormous distances. When the beam strikes the target,
a huge electrical discharge is produced, with thermal and photic effects. At lower
power, it heats the atmosphere and causes climate disruption (tornadoes, rain, etc.”
Harry G. Matthews
Harry Grindell Matthews (1880-1941) began cogitating about his death ray in 1923 after
reading newspaper reports about French airplanes falling from the sky while flying over Bavaria:
“I realized that the Germans had found an invisible ray that put the magnetos of the
aircraft out of action. I concentrated on efforts to discover what it was, and with the
electric ray now at my command I think I have succeeded.”
Matthews showed off a prototype of his invention to several journalists, who witnessed it
stopping a motorcycle engine from 50 feet away. He told them:
“I am confident that if I have facilities for developing it I can stop aeroplanes in flight –-
indeed I believe the ray is sufficiently powerful to destroy the air, to explode powder
magazines, and destroy anything on which it rests.”
In 1924 Pathé released a 25 minute film titled "The Death Ray", which effectively served to
advertise Matthews’ work. He negotiated with the governments of Britain and France to sell his
ray but the demonstrations were disappointing. Eventually he obtained new financing and
relocated to South Wales, where he built a laboratory on Tor Cloud mountain near Swansea.
Local residents soon began complaining to the police that his rays were making them ill, and
their car engines would stop running if they drove too close to Matthews’ property.
A. Roberts
A man named A. Roberts was featured in a Modern Mechanix (May 1929) after he claimed to
be the original inventor of Matthews’ machine:
“Using portable apparatus weighing less than 50 pounds, the inventor of the so-called
‘death ray’ recently succeeded in stopping the motor of a motorcycle by directing the
deadly rays into the vitals of the engine. The photo below shows him just after
completing his successful demonstration. He is A. Roberts of London, England. Mr.
Roberts claims to be the original inventor of the death ray which he showed to H.
Grindell Matthews, who won considerable newspaper publicity through his efforts to
dispose of the ray to leading governments for the purposes of warfare. The death ray
has electricity as its basis, but the inventor refuses to disclose just how he produces his
mysterious effects.”
Henri Claudel
The unlikely death ray made by Henri Claudel made an appearance in Modern Mechanix
(August 1935):
"Ray of Death Kills at 6 Miles -- Henri Claudel of Bourges, France, is the inventor of this
new death ray machine. He is shown here with the apparatus which recent tests have
proven to be highly satisfactory.
"Latest of the death rays designed for modern warfare comes from Bourges, france.
Henri Claudel, well known French scientist, is the inventor.
"Recent experiments with the delicate apparatus have proved it to be unusually deadly
when directed at small forms of life. The inventor estimates that the machine, which he
calls "Rays of Death", will kill any living thing at a distance of 10 kilometers, or
approximately 6-1/4 miles.
"The rays are projected by means of a slender tube mounted on a tripod, permitting the
operator to send them in any direction or at any angle. Details regarding the
construction of the death ray machine are being kept a closely guarded secret, only the
results of the experiment having been made public."
Henry Fleur
When Henry Fleur announced his death ray in 1930, the Hamilton Evening Journal reported:
"He directed his ray against a tree covered with fruit pests and killed them in half a
second. The same ray swept another tree and annihilated thousands of spiders, ant, and
aphids."
In 1936 several disgruntled investors accused him of fraud and grand theft. At his trial before
Judge George Steiger in San Francisco, Fleur was permitted to demonstrate his machine to the
court, which reconvened to his home laboratory. There and then he executed a snake in 8-1/2
minutes, a lizard within 6 minutes, and terminated termites within 30 seconds. The jury took
only 4 minutes to acquit him. His explanation of its operation was not very illuminating:
“It uses a bombardment of ultrashort electrical waves which I send down a beam of light
does the work. These waves are attuned to the normal bodily vibrations of the animals
to be destroyed. The ultrashort waves increase the vibrations to such an extent that the
individual molecules in the body of the animals simply explode".
The radionic instrument invented by Galen Hieronymous (USP 2484776) also killed insects at a
distance by determining their resonant frequency and countermanding it with a phase
conjugate torsion field, rather than electromagnetic waveforms.
Harry May
All that remains to be seen of Harry May’s death ray is in an article published in Modern
Mechanix (October 1936).
Professor Harry May exhibited his Death Ray machine at the California Pacific International
Exposition in San Diego in 1936. The official program advertised that "It Destroys everything
before your View." Prof. May said he hoped it would make nations afraid to start future wars,
but he never published any details of operation.
Antonio Longoria
Popular Science magazine featured a photograph of Dr. Antonio Longoria and his genuine death
in February 1940:
"Inventor Hides Secret of Death Ray -- Pigeons on the wing instantly killed by death rays
from a machine 4 miles away -- that is the feat reputedly accomplished by a deadly
apparatus developed by Dr. Antonio Longoria, of Cleveland, Ohio, who recently
announced that he had deliberately destroyed the machine for the good of humanity.
The Cleveland inventor declared that he had stumbled on the deadly rays while
experimenting in the treatment of cancer with high-frequency radiations. The action of
the fatal rays, he declared, is painless and they work by changing the blood into a
useless substance, much as light transforms silver salts in photographic processes.
Before a group of scientists, it is reported, he once demonstrated that the radiations
would kill rats, mice, and rabbits, even when the animals were incased in a thick-walled
metal chamber. The rays, Dr. Longoria believes, could kill humans just as easily."
The Philadelphia Inquirer (20 October 1940) add this note in its coverage:
"Albert Burns, president of the Inventors' Congress in 1934, said that he had seen it kill
pigeons, rabbits, dogs and cats at considerable distances. Now Dr. Longoria said that he
is willing to re-assemble his apparatus in the event that the United States is subjected to
an unwarranted attack. He claims that it worked by changing the red corpuscles of its
victims' blood to white. And he says that it might be adapted to stall the motors of
airplane engines in flight.
Otto Mohr
The “Solar Detonator” invented by Otto Mohr sounds rather implausible and may well have
been propaganda, which Popular Science magazine duly published for the war effort in July
1940:
“Otto H. Mohr, inventor of the submarine detector, is the originator of the Solar Mohr
Detonator, and has successfully demonstrated it to Army officials. Recently a group of
United States Army experts gathered in the hills near Oakland, California, to witness a
test of the Detonator. Several times in previous months they had watched
demonstrations of the instrument, and they came prepared to put it to tests of their
own devising.
“Canvas bags containing charges of powder used to fire a one pound shell were placed
in the middle of a field. Twenty feet, away Mr. Mohr stood by his model Detonator, a
cubical measuring about two feet.
“He adjusted a cone-shaped antenna on top until a metal tube in its core pointed to the
sun. A gentle buzz from within indicated that it was in exact position, then a dim light
appeared in a tube extending from the front of the instrument. The inventor focused
this tube in the direction of the bags of powder. Nine minutes later the powder
exploded. Other tests devised by the officers convinced them that the Detonator is a
remarkable and practical defense weapon, and they recommended favorable
consideration by the United States Army.
“Mr. Mohr stumbled onto the Detonator Ray by accident. While working on another
instrument which utilized solar energy, a small amount of powder nearby exploded. It
took five years to discover the secret of this accident and to construct an instrument to
command and control the principle of remote detonation.
“Did you ever focus the sun’s rays to pin-point intensity with a lens and set fire to paper
or straw? That, very roughly, is the underlying principle of the Detonator. The coneshaped
antenna on top gathers the sun’s magnetic force which has transformed inside
the instrument to motivated vibratory currents. These vibrations are synchronized or
“tuned” to the atomic vibrations of the explosive substance and sent on a beam from
the focusing tube in the direction of the target.
“Four secret essentials control the Detonator, and to safeguard the invention, Mr. Mohr
dismantles it after every demonstration.
“A bright, sunny day is not essential to the use of the Detonator, but the brighter days
make, it possible to gather more solar energy in less time, thus shortening the time it
takes to explode the target. But any amount of sunlight is effective. It is possible, too,
that a mercury arc may someday be substituted at night for solar energy.
“The explosive principle is similar to that causing combustion when two sticks are
rubbed together rapidly; the energy vibrations from the sun’s magnetic force which is
transferred along the beam, set up a friction with the explosive elements. They become
hot, and hotter, then explode.
“Explosive substances used in ammunition are always compounds of several elements
— gun powder is a combination of potassium nitrate, sulphur and charcoal — but any
explosive with a hydrocarbon base is subject to the Detonator Ray. However, there is
one requirement: the atomic vibration of the constituents must be known so that the
Detonator may be “tuned” to effective action. Otherwise the solar vibrations would
slide past the explosive’s atoms without the friction essential to explosion.
“Mr. Mohr has determined the atomic vibrations of some elements, but many types of
explosives have not yet been analyzed, and the atomic vibrations of many elements are
not yet known. Gun powder, gasoline vapor, and some other explosive substances have
been successfully fired by the Detonator. All others will be calculated as soon, as time
and money will permit, and as fast as further atomic vibrations are formulated, they will
be turned over to the Army…”
Nikola Tesla
In 1935, Dr. Tesla wrote a paper on "The New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-Dispersive
Energy through Natural Media", in which he revealed construction details of his "Teleforce"
machine for transmitting vast amounts of power in a particle beam:
"...Much time was devoted by me to the transmission of radiant energy, in various
forms, by reflectors and I perfected means for increasing enormously the intensity of
the effects, but was baffled in all my efforts to materially reduce dispersion and became
fully convinced that this handicap could only be overcome by conveying the power
through the medium of small particles projected, at prodigious velocity, from the
transmitter. Electro-static repulsion was the only means to this end... But by the
application of my discoveries and inventions it is possible to increase the force of
repulsion more than a million times and what was heretofore impossible, is rendered
easy of accomplishment. The successful carrying out of the plan involves a number of
more or less important improvements but the principal among these include the
following:
“1) A new form of high vacuum tube, open to the atmosphere; 2) Provisions for
imparting to a minute particle an extremely high charge; 3) A new terminal of relatively
small dimensions and enormous potential; 4) An electro-static generator on a new
principle and of very great power.
"Perhaps the most important of these inventions is the new high potential electro-static
generator... which is provided with my improved terminal...
Tesla sent a poignant telegram to financier J.P. Morgan on 29 November 1934, appealing funds
for construction of his Teleforce machine:
“Dear Mr. Morgan: I have made recent discoveries of inestimable value which are
referred in the marked passage of the clipping enclosed. Their practical application
should yield an immense fortune.
“The flying machine has completely demoralized the world, so much so that in some
cities, as London and Paris, people are in moral fear from aerial bombing. The new
means I have perfected afford absolute protection against this and other forms of
attack.
“You know how your father assisted me in the development of my wireless system. He
did not get any returns but I am convinced that if he were living he would be gratified by
the knowledge that my inventions are universally applied. I still gratefully remember
your own support although the war deprived me of the success I had achieved. I not
only lost everything in those two undertakings but was for years compelled to pay off all
sorts of unfair claims. It was only a little while ago that I managed to settle the last one
and terminate the tormenting nightmare...
“Words cannot express how much I am aching for the same facilities which I then had at
my disposal and for the opportunity of squaring my account with your father's estate
and yourself. I am no longer a dreamer but a practical man of great experience gained
in long and bitter trials. If I had now twenty five thousand dollars to secure my property
and make convincing demonstrations I could acquire in a short time colossal wealth.
Would you be willing to advance me this sum if I pledged to you these inventions?”
In a Western Union Telegram from Nikola Tesla to his nephew Sava Kosanovic several years
later (1 March 1941), Tesla wrote:
“In the system there are no electrons. Energy goes into the same direction without any
distribution [dissipation] and the same on all sides of distance. It contains neutrons. [In]
the air [its size] is equal to a diameter of hydrogen. It can destroy the largest ships
afloat. There is unlimited distance of travel. The same is for airplanes... ”
In interviews that he gave to newspapers on his birthdays in 1934 and again in 1940, Dr. Tesla
made these comments about his "peace ray", as he preferred to call it:
"Teleforce is based on an entirely new principle of physics that no one has ever dreamed
about. The principle is different from those relating to the transmission of electrical
power by wireless.
"This death-beam will operate silently but effectively at distances as far as a telescope
could see an object on the ground and as far as the curvature of the earth would permit
it. It will be invisible and will leave no marks behind it beyond its evidence of
destruction.
“An army of 1,000,000 dead, annihilated in an instant, would not reveal even under the
most powerful microscope just what catastrophe had caused its destruction.
"The invention will make war impossible for it will surround any country using this
means with an impenetrable, invisible wall of protection. Plants for the generating of
this beam will be erected along the coasts and near cities. One plant will afford perfect
safety within an area of 40,000 square miles. The beam will be effective at any distance
at which the object to be destroyed can be perceived through a telescope.
“The means I have perfected have nothing in common with the so-called 'death ray'.
"It is impossible to develop such a ray. I worked on that idea for many years before my
ignorance was dispelled and I became convinced that it could not be realized. This new
beam of mine consists of minute bullets moving at a terrific speed, and any amount of
power desired can be transmitted by them. The whole plant is just a gun, but one which
is incomparably superior to the present.
“In times of peace such a plant can be used to transmit power in any amount up to its
full capacity and to any place on the earth visible through a telescope...
"Whatever battles there are thereafter will be confined to the sea. But no nation will
dare to attack another nation when every country is armed. There will be a general
feeling of safety throughout the world."
In the years since then, Tesla's Teleforce technology has been fully developed by several
nations, and some groups such as Aum Srinrikyo and the Yakuza, and it is being used to fight a
secret war by causing earthquakes and superstorms. The attacks have telltale unnatural
signatures that are visible to radar. The notorious HAARP installation at Gakona (Alaska) and
elsewhere is alleged to be an embodiment of the invention, but it does not emit a beam of
neutrons as Tesla specified and so does not qualify as a "death ray".
Nicolae Moraru
The Romanian engineer Nicolae Moraru (1910-1993) worked with Nikola Tesla to develop an
"electronic installation of aerospace defense" that is almost unknown today. It was composed
of a water reservoir and pump, air compressor, a 52-nozzle injector, energized (+) and (-)
solenoids, windings on quartz tubes containing mercury-argon, and two monopole antennae (+)
and (-). Water is pumped into the injector and mixed with compressed air to imitate the Lenard
Effect and reproduce the intense electrostatic conditions in thunderclouds. The cloud is further
ionized between screens charged with 50-75 KV. The Compton Effect gets involved when the
quartz tubes induce UV photoionization, all in all resulting in "superplasma". A polarized 10
MHz carrier wave is added and radiated out separate antennae. When the positive and
negative beams meet, they release a huge amount of raw power that destroys the target.
Sid Hurwich
The daring Israeli raid that rescued 103 hijack hostages at Entebbe Airport in Uganda (3 July
1976) did not appear on the radars of any nations in their flight path. Their stealth was made
possible with a secret weapon invented by a Toronto appliance repairman named Sid Hurwich.
The diplomatic journal Foreign Report, produced by Economist magazine, verified that Sid
Hurwich was the inventor:
"All that could be learned officially was that [Hurwich's] invention had been used in the
Israeli raid at Entebbe last year... [T]he invention sends out electronic rays to alter the
natural composition of magnetic fields and centres of gravity of weapons, instrument
dials and mechanical devices.
"On the Hurwich principle there was no reason why the new beams could not reach and
disable tanks, ground-to-ground missiles and complete radar systems.
"The beams could also be tacked together to form a screen that would make whole
zones safe from bombs or missiles."
Hurwich told reporter David Jones (Weekend Magazine, 19 December 1977), that the idea
came to him one day in 1969 as he was reading news about a series of bank vault robberies:
"It just clicked what to do. I picked up the phone to the police --- I knew a lot of the boys
--- and I told them I think I can stop those thieveries in about half an hour."
He assembled a prototype within a week, and demonstrated it to an assembly of police and
bank officials. Police Inspector Bill Bolton said:
"All I can recall is that it was under the table -- the device, whatever it was -- and there
was a bedspread over the table.
"He froze my service revolver! You couldn't pull the trigger, You couldn't lift it up off the
table and even on the table, you couldn't pull the trigger."
Hurwich never patented the device. Inquire to Mossad if you want to learn more.
Troy Hurtubise
Troy Hurtubise built the seemingly impossible “Angel Light” in 2004, inspired by a dream:
"I had a dream about a year and a half ago as I do for most of my innovations, just a
dream, and I saw it, saw the whole casing and everything, and I saw what it could do",
Hurtubise said. "I had the same dream about that three times and by the third time I
had it in my head and I started to build it."
It worked as imagined: the Angel Light detects stealth technology, sees through walls and
metal, and stops engines, motors, and other electronic devices. The machine also sees through
flesh but it is toxic. Goldfish were killed within a few minutes after being targeted.
It is comprised of three units: the “centrifuge” containing red, white, and black fluorescent
lights and seven lasers; the “deflector grid” contains a lens, a microwave generator, and carbon
dioxide plasma; the third unit includes 8 plasma tubes, CO2, magnets, 8 ionizers, lights, and
other undisclosed components.
Christian Granier
The zapifier invented by Christian Granier is described in his French Patent FR2869682 (X-Ray
Weapon) of 2007:
"In summary, two hard X-ray beams converge towards a focal point targeting an
electronic circuit or a computer configuration; the entire atmospheric zone traversed by
hard X-rays is ionized. At this ionized zone, a continuous, pulsed or alternating electrical
discharge is applied which, by induction, causes an electrical overload in the electronic
circuit which destroys the latter."
In closing, the deadly infrasound weapon invented by Vladimir Gavreau must be mentioned. All
of the devices described here utilized electricity and/or light in various combinations.
Gavreau, et al., utilized focused inaudible low-frequency sound to destroy targets from several
miles away. Nothing more will be said about it here.
This concludes the Introduction to Ray Guns. Click here to watch the Safety & Training Videos.
About the Author: Robert A. Nelson is a 10th grade dropout with no credentials. He established
Rex Research in 1982 to archive information about suppressed, emerging, and dormant
technologies, inventions, and therapies. He persists…
