There are still mysteries that haven't been explained, especially when it comes to UFOs.
In 1974, the Betz family found a strange sphere near their property. This case became known as the "Betz sphere." The sphere was also known as an 'Odd ball.''
At first glance, you might think it's some kind of space junk, a part of a satellite, or something like that. Nonetheless, this particular sphere displayed peculiar behaviors. The device emitted an internal vibration and occasionally exhibited autonomous movement.
The family comprised Mr. Antoine Betz, a Marine Engineer, his wife Gerri Betz, their 12-year-old son Wayne Betz, and their 21-year-old son Terry Mathew Betz, a medical student.
On April 6, 1974, they set out to investigate the damage caused by a fire that spread across an 88-hectare area of woodland on Fort George Island, east of Jacksonville, Florida.
When they searched for the cause of the fire, they found a metallic sphere of approximately 20 cm in diameter. Finding the object curious, they took it home. This sphere looked shiny and didn't look like it had been burned.
The sphere stayed in the room of Terry Betz for two weeks. One day his friend Theresa Fraser went to visit him, they were both in the room, when Terry started playing the guitar the sphere reacted and started to vibrate.
The sphere also hummed, like it was responding to the sound of the guitar.
A few days later, the Betz family attempted to roll the sphere on the ground, but it seemed to change direction when it wanted to, or return to the point of origin.
The Betz kept trying to figure out what else the sphere could do. They found out:
When a metal object, like a hammer, touched the mysterious sphere, it made the sphere sound like a bell. It was more active on sunny days.
On cloudy days it was quiet.
One of the spheres moves was to rise in the opposite direction from what it should have been when it was on a flat table that was tilted. It appeared as though the sphere was attempting to avoid the fall.It exhibited a low frequency vibration at times.
It looked like a mini-engine was running inside.
The sphere began to jump and walk on its own, as well as closing the doors of the house without any explanation and making a sound similar to that of an organ being heard throughout the house. They decided to go to the press to see if they got any feedback.
A space junk would not be able to do that.
The first newspaper to publish an article was the St. Petersburg Times, April 12, 1974. A week after the discovery of the sphere. In the article, the photographer of the Jacksonville Journal, Mr. Lou Egner says he was skeptical, but when the Betz showed the ball going by itself, he changed his mind.
In the news it was also possible to read about the "paranormal phenomena" that began to occur and that the family asked the US Navy for help, which responded saying that "the ball was not property of the United States government".
After that report, several newspapers went to the Betz home on Fort George Island to see the sphere. All witnessed strange phenomena produced by the sphere.
Everyone began to pester the Betz family.
The original report from St. Petersburg Times, published on 4/12/1974
First investigation: Naval Air Station Jacksonville
In addition to newspapers, the scientific community as well as the military wanted to get a good look at the sphere. But they wisely did not send the sphere to anyone, for fear it would get lost on the way.
After the phenomena intensified in the house, the Betz and the US Navy finally gave in and the sphere was left by the Betz with scientists at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, near his house. The phenomenon was studied for a long time by the Navy's most advanced specialists in metallurgy. However, they were not satisfied, as even the most advanced X-ray equipment was not strong enough to penetrate the metal sphere.
Navy spokesman Chris Berninger reported the following:
“The initial attempts at X-ray imaging failed to yield any conclusive results. We will use a more powerful machine on it and also do spectrographic tests to find out what metal it is made of."
They were unable to observe inside the sphere, but at least dimensionally, the studies continued. Scientists were able to determine that:
Metal cover made with an ASTM magnetic alloy, called 431 martensitic stainless steel. This cover has a thickness of 12.7 mm (about 1/2 of an inch)
Diameter: 202.2 millimeters = approximately 20 centimeters (7.96 inches). Weight 9.68 kg (21.34 lbs). It had a 3 mm triangular mark.
A powerful Navy X-ray machine was used, and finally penetrated the interior of the sphere, proving that:
There were two round objects there, surrounded by a “halo”, made of a material with an unusual density.
There were four different magnetic poles in the sphere, two positive and two negative, which were not concentric. It showed no signs of radioactivity. There was nothing to indicate any explosive danger. There were no detonators, welds or visible marks.
But they wanted to know how it would have been built, and for that, it was necessary to saw it, something not allowed by the Betz, who took the sphere back and took it to the house again.
2nd Investigation: "Omega Minus One Institute"
On April 13, 1974, Dr. Carl Willson, representing a Louisiana research company known as the Omega Minus One Institute, based in Baton Rouge, examined the sphere for over 6 hours and made new discoveries:
The surrounding magnetic field produced radio waves. When compared to stainless steel, the spheres plating metal had an unknown element that made it different from steel.
The results of the Omega Minus One Institute on the identity of the mysterious sphere did not advance much in the mystery, just like the Navy exams.
3rd Investigation: Meeting of the National Enquirer's UFO Blue Ribbon Panel in New Orleans.
Between April 20 and 21, 1974, the National Enquirers UFO Blue Ribbon Panel met, and Terry Betz took the sphere there in the hope that scientists would make new discoveries.
The sphere seemed to be the center of attention, and the object was put through another series of tests. All the tests showed what they had already shown, including the fact that the object did indeed look like an audio transponder. However, it wasn't possible to tell for sure if that object was of extraterrestrial origin or what it should be used for or who made or how it was made, or who made or how it was made.
4th Investigation: Dr. James Albert Harder
James Albert Harder, professor emeritus of civil and hydraulic engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, was allowed to analyze the sphere. The family was very concerned when his research findings were presented at the International UFO Congress in Chicago on June 24, 1974.
The two inner spheres would be composed of an element that was significantly heavier than any known to human science at that time. And that included the heaviest element produced in any atomic reactor on Earth, uranium 238.
"If anyone tries to pierce the sphere, it could explode like an atomic bomb!"
Dr. Harder told the audience.
The Betz and the orb disappear.
From the revelation made by Dr. Harder, the Betz fearfully vanished, and as mysteriously as it appeared, the story surrounding the sphere vanished without a trace.
Nobody ever found out what the sphere was, who had made it or how, much less what it was used for or how it operated. Hundreds of people had already seen, held, photographed, shaken, balanced, beaten, weighed, measured, analyzed the surface with microscopes, with x-rays, with ultrasound probes... But there was no scientist capable of clarifying that mystery.
The disinformation campaign began.
Two subjects appeared claiming to be the owners of the sphere (two independent stories, the subjects did not know each other). A plastic artist, James Durling Jones, claimed that the sphere was his, and served as a "pendulum" with other steel spheres, in a sculpture of his.
During transport, one of the spheres fell from the roof of his car, an old Volkswagen. It would be this sphere that the Betz family found in the middle of the burnt forest.
The mysterious properties of the sphere would be a curious set of coincidences and misunderstandings. The sphere would have vibrated by resonance. The mysteriously rolling on the ground was attributed to the uneven floor of the Betz family home and the sounds of the sphere would come from small filings trapped inside it, which were trapped during the manufacturing process.
But there are things that don't add up to this misinformation story. James said that all of his spheres had been drilled and then soldered, but examinations of the Betz sphere did not indicate any soldering or surface perforation. It declined to name the company that manufactured the spheres, which could have solved the whole thing in one fell swoop, as it said they got it through "illegal activities".
If the sphere had "chips" inside, it would be unlikely that they would vibrate with the sound of the guitar in the distance. And how did the doors at the Betz house close by themselves? How did the Navy's x-ray fail to see the inside of the sphere in the first exam?
On April 18, 1974, a second individual, Lottie Robinson, recognized the ball from newspaper images. He said that ball had been in her garage for 15 years. Technicians at the St. Regis identified it as a ball valve from some large pipe used in their factory, which had been dismantled 15 years earlier.
Somehow the ball had ended up in the hands of a scrap metal dealer his son bought it from and dumped in his garage. In fact, investigations showed that the paper mill used similar metal spheres, but the dimensions, despite being similar, were neither identical nor in weight to the Betz sphere.
Malicious news appeared in the press, saying that the Betz wanted to compete for a prize and earn money with the sphere.
However, an investor wanted to offer them $75,000 for it, but they refused to sell.
What happened to the Betz?
They disappeared suddenly. They were more successful and suddenly disappeared! It is known that Antoine Betz died in December 1987 at the age of 67. Terry Betz appears to have remarried and is now called Gerri Betz-Jackson. Her last news is from 1999.
Of the sphere, nothing else is known.
In fact, spheres have already fallen from the sky, they are parts of satellites.
However, these spheres have dents, or oxidize over time. The Betz sphere showed no wear.
Space spheres (space junk) are metal spheres that don't move by themselves, or emit radio frequencies, or do anything the Betz sphere did.
Silvio Guerrinha
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