The Betz Mystery Sphere of 1974 Revisited

reply to post by StargateSG7


Yes today maybe. I was wrong. But in 1974?

reply to post by DancedWithWolves


omg. nice picture and i saw this in a vision last night when asleep. not sure
what this could mean.

reply to post by Rubicant13


Who knows?

Maybe this Electron Beam Melting and Direct Laser Sintering technology
WAS SECRET in 1974 and only NOW is being introduced today.

For all we know, those two technologies were stolen from the
ROSWELL crash UFO's and now we've (humans!) have reverse
engineered EBM and DLS technologies ;-) :-)

We just don't know!

Originally posted by DrZrD
reply to post by Rubicant13

 

You may very well be correct that Dr. Hynek never directly examined the Betz sphere but I did find these web pages,
Dr. Hynek and the National Enquirer (1974)
NICAP, APRO & The National Enquirer
that corroborates Dr. Hynek's involvement with the National Enquirer beginning in February 1974, 2 months before the Betz sphere is found. At the very least this was a focus project for him at the time.

As I said in my earlier post, nothing demonstrates the Betz Sphere was a hoax but at least circumstantial evidence suggests we should view present day claims with some skepticism. To be honest, if as many reporters directly witnessed the spheres strange behavior as is claimed, then at least part of the story must be true.

Best regards,
Z

THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER?

reply to post by LilDudeissocool

I did more research into this topic and found conclusive proof that Dr. J. Allen Hynek did in fact conduct a hands-on examination of this object as part of the National Enquirer UFO Evidence Project. From The St Petersburg Evening Independent, April 22,1974, page 14a:


Note that Dr. Hynek believed the Betz family attempted no deception and everyone is equally baffled how this strange, yet man-made, sphere appeared near their home.

Best regards,
Z

reply to post by DrZrD


www.ibtimes.com...

www.news.com.au...

Add last but not least the most famous ball of all> en.wikipedia.org...


Point being it's a traditional design. It's the 1970's and not too far from the Cap relatively speaking in the sense of launching objects into space.

I'm sure the hint to what it is can be found in this archived press release list.. somewhere. www.nasa.gov...

Here is a whole book about manufacturing hollow sphere structures: books.google.com...=onepage&q&f=false

You make a seamless sphere by casting. You don't need 3D printing. I don't know why you all assume every one was an idiot before the turn of the century. There are even diagrams from patents dating from 1906. Among the uses for seamless hollow spheres "ball valves" are mentioned (page 7). Just like the Navy suggests the Betz object is.

Originally posted by Rubicant13
They noticed that it was extremely magnetic, but showed no evidence of any form of radiation. On April 13, 1974, Dr. Carl Willson of the Omega Minus One institute out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana studied the sphere, realizing that radio waves were also emanating from the object, as well as the sphere having it's own magnetic field.

I can tell you one thing that's wrong with the analysis: if it's emitting radio waves, it's emitting radiation.

reply to post by DrZrD


In my opinion, the examination by the Hyneck people confirms
to me the original purpose of one of the spheres...a gyroscopic
stabilization system for a LIKELY space-based or other
high altitude FILM-oriented camera platform.

The radio signals eminating from the device are likely
INS (Inertial Navigation System) data streams used
to send/receive control signals from the larger platform
such a device would have been attached to.

One VERY LARGE CAVEAT is whether or not the
radio transmitter is powered by a fuel cell or is
a radionucleotide-based micro-reactor.

I suspect if they opened it up, strontium, thorium or
other short-half life material would be irradiating
anyone who dared open up the device ESPECIALLY
if the device was built by the then Soviet Union space
program who just LOVED to put tons of radioactivity
based power cells on their space systems.

I suspect that Hyneck was TOLD not to open it up
by higher-ups in the chain of command for safety reasons
and he thus just reported on its basic RF emmisions
and NOT on it's LIKELY Soviet spy satellite program origins.

Again, probably part of a Soviet Z-series spy satellite In MY Opinion.

reply to post by DrZrD


Nice find. You were right, Hynek did indeed study the sphere.

reply to post by StargateSG7

After researching many old newspaper stories I quickly learned that the Betz Mystery Sphere story was much less of a mystery in 1974 than it is made out to be today. I believe the reason the mystery persists today is largely due to a few poorly researched UPI (United Press International) and AP (Associated Press) stories and our own desire to believe that something unexplainable happened in 1974.

For example, the US Navy did x-ray the sphere and did find a few smaller spheres inside, an essential element of the story persisting today. What the stories neglected to mention is that the Navy determined these internal spheres to be "tiny". Another essential story element persisting today is the strange behavior of the sphere when the Betz family rolled the sphere across a floor in their home. What today's stories neglect to mention is that the Navy investigated these claims too and determined the sloped and uneven floors in the Betz's home was entirely responsible for the strange rolling phenomenon observed. See news story published in the St. Petersburg Times from April 15, 1974 below.


Not surprisingly, the existence of a second sphere in Jacksonville, FL is omitted from the story today because on April 18, 1974, the AP story in The Palm Beach Post explained this sphere was scrap metal from the St. Regis Co. paper mill.


And the Betz Sphere became even less mysterious when UPI ran the story below a few days later explaining that the sphere is identical to paper pulp mill valve spheres manufactured by Bell & Howell in Bridgeport, CT and distributed through a Jacksonville, FL company near Betz's home. I found a copy of this UPI story on page 5 of the April 20, 1974 issue of the Lodi News Sentinel in Lodi, California shown below.


The mystery of how the sphere ended up near the Betz home was also answered during April of 1974. The Sarasota Journal April 24, 1974 issue contained the AP story below on page 15A: out-of-round ball valve spheres smuggled out of a company by a Taos, New Mexico stainless steel sculpture artist.


So if the world knew within 2 weeks of the Betz Sphere discovery that it was an ordinary object why did it gain so much worldwide publicity? In the April 16, 1974 issue of The Palm Beach Post, page C6, the editor suggests a possible answer - to distract the American public from the growing Watergate scandal.


On a final note, Dr. Hynek believed the Betz family to be honest, not publicity seekers, and not immediately interested in financial gain. The financial aspect of the story changed within a few months with Mrs. Betz claiming she turned down a $750,000 offer for the sphere.

It appears that MSM investigative journalists needed just 2 weeks to solve the mystery in 1974 and the Betz Sphere was always just a ball valve component used in the paper industry. Nevertheless, combine a mysterious shinny object, general scientific ignorance at the time, an uneven floor, and media misquotes and we get the terrific urban legend of the Mysterious Betz Sphere that continues today.

Best regards,
Z

Originally posted by DrZrD
Another essential story element persisting today is the strange behavior of the sphere when the Betz family rolled the sphere across a floor in their home. What today's stories neglect to mention is that the Navy investigated these claims too and determined the sloped and uneven floors in the Betz's home was entirely responsible for the strange rolling phenomenon observed. See news story published in the St. Petersburg Times from April 15, 1974 below.

If you're referring to the article posted by yourself titled "Just A Ball: Navy; Not So: It's Finders", please read it again.

Berninger conceded that the sphere did move at the Betz' house. "I believe it is because of the construction of the house", he said. "It's old and has uneven stone floors. The ball is almost perfectly balanced and it takes just a little indentation to make it move or change direction."

First of all, Mr. Berninger admits that he has seen the sphere move at the Betz' house. He makes remarks about the purported behavior of the sphere (it stops, re-starts, change direction, etc) but do not refute these claims, which I believe he would have done had he not witnessed them. We can therefore conclude that the Betz family claims are corroborated by Berninger.

Secondly, there's no talk about 'investigation'. Berninger says he "believes" that uneven stone floors and indentations can explain the odd behavior of the sphere. Which makes it an educated guess and nothing more. Perhaps the same behavior failed to produce itself during the Navy testings, therefore he discarded it with a simple assumption (my speculation). Or, he was simply trying to downplay media speculation.

I salute you for the work-hours you put in trying to elucidate this story, but you still have to stick to the facts to get closer to the truth.

I see no indication that the Betz family have lied about or exaggerated their claims, so why should we not take all their claims seriously? For instance, the sphere could roll up to the edge of a surface, stop and go back the same way.

This behavior falls outside of all the speculative explanations presented in this thread so far.

Let's add to this the 6 hour examination made by Dr. Carl Wilson:

Dr. Willson also apparently witnessed the sphere’s ability to propel itself across surfaces and abruptly change directions, but “was unable to determine a pattern in the movement” or explain how that was even possible.

I conclude from the number of different tests performed by Dr. Wilson that they had to have been made at the Omega Minus One Institute in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and not on the living room floor of the Betz family.

The strange dynamic behaviour of the sphere is therefore not due to uneven stone floors (unless they have similar floors at the research center and no one thought of this possibility,) but some other reason.

reply to post by Heliocentric

I uncovered much more evidence that I did not include in my last post because I did not believe it added to our understanding of what the Betz family found.

The quote attributed to Robert D. Edwards, president of a Jacksonville supply company is very compelling evidence the object is man-made (UPI story on page 5 of the April 20, 1974 issue of the Lodi News Sentinel in Lodi, California):

"All I'm saying is that the physical description of it matches exactly the type of ball we have in stock"

The UPI story next describes Mr. Edwards uncrating a ball from stock and placing it on an industrial scale;

"... The weight, slightly more than 21 pounds, was exactly the same as the weight obtained by the US Navy metallurgist."

We also know that Dr. Hynek personally examined the sphere with a team of other scientists and also concluded the object was man-made. If the sphere truly exhibited self-powered motion I believe this team would have reached a different conclusion or at least withheld judgement until completing more testing.

It is difficult to categorically determine what the Betz family found +35 years later and perhaps impossible without the central piece of evidence in hand. Nevertheless, I hope I demonstrated that essential elements of the story known in 1974 are missing or misrepresented in the modern story versions posted to the internet today.

Thank you and best regards,
Z

The noise making and rolling around remind me of Chinese baoding exercise balls. They ring and shift around when you move them. That would be a very big example of them obviously.

IS THE SPHERE A DOOMSDAY DEVICE?

Gerri Betz reported that she and her family began to hear strange organ-like music wafting through their cavernous abode in the dead of night, even though there was no such instrument in their home. As if that weren’t creepy enough, doors began slamming, seemingly of their own volition, at all hours of the day and night.

could this be the key to understanding hauntings and hearing voices...? Perhaps its some kind of T.A.R.D.I.S?

Very interesting story indeed! I have never heard of it before either. The first thing that came to my mind while reading this story was the fact that some UFOs were reported to be seen accompanied by a sphere. I just watched an old UFO documentary from 1976 and that was mentioned there. In that documentary, they presented a lot of pictures and information that I was not familiar with. Here is a link to it:

www.youtube.com...

A ball that stops, changes directions and comes back to you when you give it a nudge... caused by uneveness in the floor?

Originally posted by DrZrD
reply to post by Heliocentric

 

I uncovered much more evidence that I did not include in my last post because I did not believe it added to our understanding of what the Betz family found.

We are still waiting for that evidence.

Originally posted by DrZrD
The quote attributed to Robert D. Edwards, president of a Jacksonville supply company is very compelling evidence the object is man-made (UPI story on page 5 of the April 20, 1974 issue of the Lodi News Sentinel in Lodi, California):
"All I'm saying is that the physical description of it matches exactly the type of ball we have in stock"

The UPI story next describes Mr. Edwards uncrating a ball from stock and placing it on an industrial scale;

"... The weight, slightly more than 21 pounds, was exactly the same as the weight obtained by the US Navy metallurgist."

What we have here is a guy who says he manufactures something similar to this ball. He hasn't seen the Betz sphere, so he is just speculating. Speculation on the origin is not the same as proof of knowing the origin.

Originally posted by DrZrD]
We also know that Dr. Hynek personally examined the sphere with a team of other scientists and also concluded the object was man-made. If the sphere truly exhibited self-powered motion I believe this team would have reached a different conclusion or at least withheld judgement until completing more testing.

So, once again according to the St. Petersburg Independent :

Hynek says none of the five scientists now think the ball is anything but manmade. "None will go so far as to say it's extra-terrestrial," he said in an interview yesterday. "They would be putting their scientific reputations on the line."

skeptoid.com...

The five scientists didn't do a thorough analysis of the object, they 'studied' it for a day. "Hynek says none of the five scientists now think the ball is anything but manmade." is a vague way of saying possibly man-made, "None will go so far as to say it's extra-terrestrial," is a vague way of saying no one is prepared to take the risk of claiming it is extra-terrestial, since "They would be putting their scientific reputations on the line." This is far from a "conclusion that the object is man-made" which you claim. It is a way of playing it safe when you don't really know what it is.

Originally posted by DrZrD
It is difficult to categorically determine what the Betz family found +35 years later and perhaps impossible without the central piece of evidence in hand. Nevertheless, I hope I demonstrated that essential elements of the story known in 1974 are missing or misrepresented in the modern story versions posted to the internet today.

Unfortunately you didn't, since you have a way of tweaking facts so that they'll correspond with your preconceived opinion, which pulls down your credibility as a researcher/investigator.

All in all, the best and most complete study of the object comes from the Jacksonville Naval Air Station metallurgists :

Eventually the scientists at the station were able to determine that the exact size of the sphere was 7.96 inches in diameter and that it weighed precisely 21.34 pounds. They also concluded that the shell of the orb was approximately one half inch thick — which, according to the report, could withstand a pressure of 120,000 pounds per square inch — and made of stainless steel, specifically magnetic ferrous alloy #431. This alloy is a magnetic, Nickel bearing stainless steel designed for heat treatment to the highest mechanical properties and corrosion resistance.

The Navy team’s powerful 300 KV X-ray also discovered two round objects inside the sphere surrounded by a “halo” made of a material with an unusual density. They also noted that the sphere displayed four different magnetic poles, two positive and two negative, which were not concentric.

The Navy also concluded that while the orb was intensely magnetic, it did not show signs of radioactivity and did not appear to be an explosive.

The fact that the Navy metallurgists wanted to continue the analysis by cutting into it proves that they didn't know what the object was and needed to penetrate it in order to find out. Why was the object magnetic? What were the two objects within the sphere and how did it produce and what was the halo described? Does it correspond with the characteristics of a paul walve from a paper mill? These are clues you could pursue in order to clarify things further...

This podcast series includes an interview with a Betz family member who clears up some misconceptions: www.astonishinglegends.com...