Death and SecrecyTesla announced that he was close to discovering a new source of energy in 1931. He claimed that he was able to construct a beam that could bring down thousands of enemy planes at 250 miles away. He sought out investors so that he could build his "death beam" but no one wanted to provide the money.
In 1937 Tesla presented his plan to the Armtorg Trading Corporation (a Soviet corporation). In 1939 one stage of the plan was tested in the USSR and Tesla received $25,000. His ideas during that time of the beam are still considered impossible, but they are considerably similar to the charged particle beam developed by the Soviets and Americans during the cold war.
In 1943 Nikola Tesla claimed that he had perfected his "death beam". He died shortly after in the Hotel New Yorker, where he had been living.
The next morning after Tesla died, when his nephew came to his uncle's room at the hotel, the body was gone and many of his papers were missing.
Naturally, if Tesla indeed had invented anything that had to do with weaponry, the FBI would be interested. Thus, all the way up until 1952, Tesla's papers which were held on to by the government eventually made it back to his family. However, the papers having to do with the beams are still missing. Some people today believe that Tesla took that knowledge to the grave with him.
Tesla at age 79
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