Anomalous Materials

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Story 1.

For whom the bell tolls

The German war machines' efforts to turn the tide of conflict in their favor have given rise to numerous tales involving advanced and dangerous weaponry.

But amidst the rumours of alien technology and paranormal experimentation, one story in particular stands out.

That of a mysterious machine, the ultimate purpose of which remains an enduring enigma.

What was De Glocker?

The testing facility was situated a short distance away from the Czechoslovakian border and was known to its inhabitants as Derisa, or the giant.

The soldiers stationed there had little knowledge about what the scientists in their charge were working on, other than that it was rumoured to possess the potential to turn the tide of war.

The soldiers were both well equipped and provisioned, to a far higher standard than the rest of the Wehrmacht, but few of them had seen active service.

Most had spent the entirety of their short military careers protecting secret projects such as this.

The sound of the artillery fire that was gradually creeping ever closer caused them no small amount of anxiety.

Safe behind the perimeter of overlapping barbed wire fences and reinforced concrete machine gun nests, the scientists went about their business in a deliberate and methodical fashion.

Their concern over the approaching Russians was only secondary.

The risk of making a mistake using the highly volatile materials they were working with bore a far greater threat than any advancing army.

The doors to the main hangar were opened, and a new group of test subjects were ushered inside.

They were referred to by those in charge as volunteers, but in reality, the only reason they were here was because the alternative would have been a long drop from the end of a short rope.

Few things in life motivated an individual more than the prospect of a death sentence.

Once the last of the group was inside, the the guards retreated, locking the doors behind them as they withdrew.

High up above in the viewing platform, the assembled scientists and military officers watched on dispassionately as the small throng of men slowly made their way through the room's sprawling interior towards the odd-looking object in the centre.

Momentarily, a technician threw the switch, which activated a nearby power source, and after a few moments, a faint thrumming noise could be heard coming from inside the strange object.

The men standing close to it glanced nervously at one another, as the sound began to grow in both volume and intensity.

From their elevated position, the observers noticed the air immediately around the object starting to shimmer and blur.

Suddenly, one of the volunteers dropped to the floor, his legs buckling beneath him.

He had made no sound as he had fallen, but his collapse caused the others to cry out in a mixture of fear and surprise.

Some started to back away from the object, whilst others bolted back towards the doors.

The incessant vibrations continued to increase, and more of the panicked men began to stumble and fall.

After a few minutes, it was all over, with the last of the test subjects now lying motionless on the ground.

The signal to cut the power was given, and the deafening hum began to subside.

As the soldiers re-entered the hangar and set about recovering the liquefied bodies that now lay scattered around, several technicians in white lab coats made their way directly towards the object.

A glass cylinder of dark red fluid was removed from inside and whisked away for further analysis.

The results of the experiment were mixed.

Whilst they had successfully obtained the results they were after, It was clear that the efforts to enhance the object's external shielding had been far from sufficient.

But this was of little consequence.

More volunteers would would be found, more material would be produced, and the Reich would be victorious.

Testimony pertaining to the mysterious device known as Diglocka, or the Bell,

first surfaced in the Polish media in 2000, after a journalist named Igor Witkowski published a book detailing his investigation into the secretive experiment.

The author stated that he had managed to gain access to confidential records belonging to his nation's military intelligence services, some of which detailed the post-war interrogation of an SS-Gruppenführer by the name of Jakob Sporenbjerg.

Vitkovsky's book, The Truth About the Wonder Weapon, enjoyed some brief success, but did not achieve widespread circulation.

It was, however, read by a number of people outside its country of origin, one of whom was the British writer and ufologist Nick Cook.

Vitkovsky's material was scarce and lacking in corroboration, but it intrigued Cook to the extent that he too began to investigate the reports, determined to bring the story to an international audience.

Buried within the depositions allegedly written by Sporenberg, before his appearance at Poland's war crime tribunals, was a lengthy description of a scientific apparatus, the existence of which the German government had apparently gone to great lengths to keep hidden from their opponents.

This device was believed to have been used to produce an unknown fuel source, but was so hazardous to operate that it caused the deaths of many scientists who had worked on it.

The machine was nicknamed the BAL because of its physical appearance.

Sporenbjerg described it as being approximately 4 meters high and 2.5 meters wide, made entirely of metal with a hemispherical domed top.

Huge amounts of power were needed in order to operate it, which in turn created a blue and violet haze around its hull.

During the initial stages of its creation, the SS Lieutenant General explained that an invisible field was somehow generated around the apparatus, which extended out to roughly 200 meters.

When plant and foliage samples were placed within this zone during the machine's operation, they would slowly decompose into a greasy organic fluid.

but it was the effect it had on humans and animals in its immediate vicinity that was most horrific.

The unknown forces being emitted from inside the device somehow formed solid crystals in the tissue of any living creature exposed to it.

The bloodstreams of these unfortunate victims would clot and solidify into a thick, gel-like compound, causing a near-instantaneous and agonizing death.

Once the machine was switched off, the blood would then naturally return to its liquid state, pouring out of the bodies and pooling on the floor around them.

This process would allegedly kill five out of seven of the original scientists assigned to the project, until an effective means was found which could shield them from its effects.

It remains unknown exactly what this force was, but Sporenberg states that it was powerful enough to lift the device up off the ground for short periods of time, allowing it to hover a few feet in the air.

Inside its metal housing were two cylinders, which were designed to rotate around one another in an anti-clockwise direction at great speed when the power was switched on.

Unknown substances were added to these cylinders, which in turn went on to achieve the experiment's ultimate goal, the creation of an unknown crimson-coloured fluid.

Many have speculated that the compound which de Glocker produced was red mercury, a theoretical material believed to boost the fission power of nuclear weapons.

Other commentators keen to point out that there has never been a verified example of red mercury being created or analysed, have instead theorised that the machine was some form of rudimentary particle accelerator.

It is possible that the Germans managed to obtain samples of thorium, which the process was able to convert into a further material known as protactinium.

This substance would naturally start to deteriorate immediately at the point of creation, meaning that after approximately a month, it would degrade into what was effectively weapons-grade uranium.

The Reich's efforts to secure the material needed in order to manufacture atomic weaponry are well documented, and so this theory about the Bell's true purpose is realistic.

An alternative hypothesis is that the Germans were looking to solve another pressing issue that was impairing their ability to continue the war, the need to find a form of sustainable and renewable energy.

Even from the outset of World War II, Germany was woefully short of the basic resources needed to power its military might.

As the conflict continued, Her scientists were locked in a perpetual struggle to combine their existing fuel sources into innovative new compounds and applications, but none proved practical for widespread usage.

Other theories about the mechanics behind Deglocker prove far more fantastic and terrifying.

Some suggest that the harmful field it generated may indeed have been fully intentional, and that the Germans hoped to mass-produce these devices and then activate them on the front lines.

The subsequent mass casualties caused by this action would not only have been catastrophic to the armies of their opponents, but would also have given the Reich a huge psychological edge.

The fact that the device was witnessed hovering above the ground has led many to theorise that it may have been some form of anti-gravity technology, intended to power a generation of new fighter aircraft such as the Hornaboo.

But by far the most terrifying potential application of the device comes from the testimony of a scientist named Otto Czerney.

Cherny was one of a number of German academics who were taken back to the United States after the war under Project Paperclip, where they were utilised in the American rocket program.

It is alleged that Cherny stated that the BAL had the ability to show the operators images from the past and future, via a concave mirror that had been mounted upon it.

This raises the horrifying prospect that the Germans had somehow stumbled across the ability to move through time, and that de Glocker was a prototype for a working time machine.

As ridiculous as this sounds, Who knows what the world would be like today if the Reich had succeeded in altering the past?

There is no photographic or scientific evidence to prove that de Glocker ever existed.

Sceptics believe the stories were merely the efforts of a disgraced war criminal attempting to creep favour with his captors.

But when certain elements of the device's story are subjected to closer analysis, it is startling how they corroborate with what we do know about the closing days of World War II.

The remains of the testing facility referred to in Sporenbik's testimony can still be visited, situated not far from the town of Ludwigo Wice Witser in Poland.

Deep tunnels were dynamited into the bowels of the nearby Vences Wosch mine to hide the activities of the German scientists from Allied aerial reconnaissance, but it is the presence of two decaying concrete structures at the site which is most intriguing.

Both consist of a series of concentric concrete posts, laid out in similar fashion to the stone circles found at Stonehenge in Great Britain.

This has earned them the nickname of the Henges.

It is not known exactly what their true purpose was, but some believe they may have been testing rigs, which de Glocker was tethered to when in use.

Jakob Spornbik spent the majority of the war in charge of SS policing units in the Lublin district of Poland, but in 1944, he and the majority of his staff were transferred to Norway.

The reason it is difficult to write his testimony off as pure fabrication is that it is subsequently corroborated by another German officer, Hauptstummfuhrer Rudolf Schuster.

Schuster was similarly stationed in Lublin during the war, but was later captured by American forces.

During his post-war interrogation in Berlin, completely independently of Sporenberg, he also described de Glocker to his captors.

Schuster explained that as Russian forces had neared the testing facility, he had supervised the evacuation of both the device and the technicians working on it to an unknown location.

Of particular interest in the story of Dieglocker is the senior senior officer allegedly attached to the project, an SS general by the name of Hans Kammler.

Kammler was ambitious and despicably loyal to the Nazi regime, and in the closing stages of the war, he had managed to gain control of Hitler's wonder weapon programmes.

In March 1945, Kamler had ordered his men to open fire on a convoy of refugees who were blocking his passage through the Arnsberg forest.

200 men, women, and children died, and Kamler would become one of the most sought-after fugitives for war crimes investigators.

He apparently committed suicide as his pursuers closed in on him, and was declared legally dead three years after the war ended.

Kamler's body was never found, and reports that he had successfully found his way to South America, or had been extracted by US agents to assist with Project Paperclip continued to surface.

Like most other military forces at the time, his command had been broken up and redistributed into other units as the German armies had retreated, and so it is impossible to know the true fate of him and the soldiers under his command.

Post-war records have indicated that as late as April 1945, General Kamler and approximately 600 of his staff had made their way from Poland into Austria, accompanied by lorries filled with equipment.

By the time American infantry units had entered the region, all trace of him and whatever he was escorting had vanished.

Reports linking Hans Kamler to Austria are of particular interest, due to the stories and legends associated with the Untersbee region of the country.

For centuries there have been tales of groups of people disappearing or experiencing time slips in the Untersbeg mountains, and in 2011, a book by an author named Stan Wolf made a startling claim.

Wolf stated witness testimony from shepherds in the region, who were said to have seen a force of Nazi soldiers walk directly into a wall of solid rock, never to be seen again.

Another witness allegedly encountered young German soldiers living in the mountains cave network, aging at an inexplicably slow rate, seemingly unaware that the war they were fighting had been lost.

Is it possible that Kamler and his scientists had sufficiently mastered de Glocker to allow them to escape the Allied forces, travelling either forwards or backwards in time to evade them?

This certainly sounds an outlandish claim, were it not for the events that would occur in the Pennsylvanian village of Kecksburg 20 years after the war ended.

On the afternoon of December 9th, 1965, radar operators tracked an object falling from the skies above Kecksburg.

The local authorities were quick to secure the crash site of this object and recover it before members of the press could access the location.

From the limited testimony of those who witnessed the object's recovery, it bears a staggering resemblance to Jakob Sporenberg's description of Diglocker, Glocker, a metal craft shaped like a bell and covered in strange runes and hieroglyphs.

It is speculated that de Glocker somehow travelled forwards in time from 1945, materialized in orbit above the Earth, and accidentally crash-landed in North America.

Another idea is that Allied forces successfully recovered both Hans Kamler and his technology from Nazi Germany, and that the Kecksberg crash was the result of American experimentation with the bell.

It is highly unlikely that we will ever have a definitive answer on whether DiGlocker ever existed, or is merely a tall tale which has since taken on a life of its own.

All we can do is continue to follow a frustrating and disjointed trail of evidence, which stubbornly suggests that there may indeed be some degree of truth behind the tale.

Looking broadly at German weapons experiments of the era, and discounting those stories alleged to involve extraterrestrial technology or satanic rituals, it is not beyond all possibility that German scientists managed to create a weapon system far ahead of its time.

But until any concrete evidence comes to light, all we can do

is wonder.

Story 2: The Mysterious Bet Sphere

In this story, we will be taking a look at a bizarre object which possessed what presented as both strange and unnatural abilities.

An item whose perplexing origins have remained as inexplicable as its subsequent fate.

Join us as we delve into the story of the mysterious Bet Sphere.

in March of 1974,

a significant wildfire unexpectedly sprang forth in an area of swampy forest situated within Florida's northeastern Duval County.

The land in question belonged to a local couple, Antoine and Jerry Betts, who waited until the fires had died down before venturing out to inspect the damage to their property.

It was as they were walking through the charred and smouldering brush that they happened upon something entirely unexpected.

An apparently smooth and undamaged ball of polished metal, which was lying out in the open, seated upon a patch of badly burned scrubland.

Unsure if this item had caused the fires or had perhaps been unearthed by them, the couple and their 21-year-old son Terry approached it with caution.

After some deliberation, they eventually handled the sphere and discovered that it was roughly the same size and weight as a full-size bowling ball.

They quickly formed the opinion that it was a historic relic, perhaps a Spanish cannonball dating back to the region's colonial past.

The decision was then made to take it back to their home, to carry out a more detailed inspection.

Over the coming days, Antoine and Terry examined the sphere's exterior and were bewildered by the apparent lack of damage or decay to its general structure.

After some time, they became distracted by other engagements, and their interest in the object inevitably began to wane, but it would not be long before it was once again at the centre of their undivided attention.

Roughly three weeks after the object's unexpected appearance, Terry and one of his friends happened to be playing their guitars in the living room.

Looking up from what they were doing, they were stunned to see that the sphere, which was in the room with them, was shuddering and vibrating, seemingly in response to the sound being produced by their musical instruments.

When they stopped playing, they watched as its movements gradually subsided, eventually returning to a motionless state.

On recommencing their playing, they observed the vibrations return, growing more substantial the closer they moved their guitars towards it.

They were stunned to find that when playing their instruments in the immediate vicinity of the sphere, these vibrations grew so strong that it began to gently roll back and forth along the ground.

This development prompted Terry and his parents to undertake a series of further experiments in order to assess the capabilities of the object.

From observations involving the family dog, it became apparent that the sphere was not only reacting to incoming sound waves, but was also seemingly generating its own in response.

If placed in close proximity to their pet when it was vibrating, the animal would become agitated, before escaping to another room.

At one point, Antoine had gently tapped the sphere with a metal hammer, which had prompted it to ring back at him as though it were a bell.

Shaking it vigorously back and forth also produced a slight rattling noise from inside, which was only audible when pressing an ear right up against its outer casing.

However, the family soon observed far more dramatic results from shaking the object.

When placed on a level floor after a a sustained period of being manipulated in this way, the sphere would inexplicably roll forwards of its own accord, and then travel in a wide arc if unimpeded by any other obstacle, before returning to the point at which it had first been set down.

Similarly, if placed onto the family's glass coffee table, The ball would travel around the entire surface perimeter, never once falling off over the edges, before again returning to its start point.

But by far its most bizarre capability was witnessed if the table beneath it was then tilted or lifted up at an angle.

Seeming to defy the laws of physics, the ball would at this point roll up towards the highest edge of the tilt, rather than descending to the lowest, as would naturally be expected.

By this time, the Betts family had come to the realization that what they had in their possession was not the remains of an aging cannonball.

Having already turned to their family and friends for assistance, they finally made the decision to approach the press to see if a news story could produce any further answers.

Having listened to their story, a local newspaper named the Palm Beach Post duly dispatched a photographer named Lou Egner to the Betts residence.

Initially dismissive of his assignment, Egner had listened impassively as the sphere's wondrous antics were described to him by Antoine and Terry, but when the item was shaken up and then handed to him to place on the ground, his jaw dropped.

The photographer would later recall that after a few seconds, The metallic ball had rolled forwards of its own accord for a distance of roughly four feet, and then travelled back in a wide arc of around 8 feet, before coming to a gentle stop at the point he had set it down.

Now fully engaged with the story, Egner had carried out a series of his own tests, assisted by the Betts family.

He observed that when placed directly into a patch of sunlight, the sphere would travel a further distance and at a greater speed.

seeming to suggest that some of its power is generated by solar energy.

Egner's article, which was published a short time later, prompted a frenzy of media activity, with several national newspapers picking up on the story.

Commentators began to speculate wildly about what the item could be, with suggestions ranging from a secretive government experiment to a crash Soviet satellite.

Correspondence was also received from renowned ufologist Dr.

J.

Alan Hynek, who asked if the sphere could be sent to him for a short time so that he could assess whether it may be extraterrestrial in origin.

This request, like similar ones from several private laboratories and companies, was flatly refused by Antoine and Jerry, who believed it would lead them to losing control of the item.

For the next few weeks, as the hype around the story gradually subsided, life began to return to normal for the family.

But this period of relative calm was soon disrupted by a series of disturbing incidents which took place within the Betts household.

On several occasions, the homestead was suddenly filled with short bursts of seemingly otherworldly music.

This was described as being similar to organ music, which would rapidly build up into a deafening crescendo before ceasing as quickly as it started.

The family were also kept awake by the sound of internal doors opening and slamming shut, despite none of them being observed to do so and nobody else being present at the address.

Eventually, her nerves worn down by worry and lack of sleep, Jerry Betts consented to send the sphere away from the family home.

for further analysis.

Initially believing that the government was best placed to assist them, the Betts family delivered the object to the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville.

But at first, the technicians at the base were unable to see beyond the object's exterior, claiming their X-ray machines were not powerful enough.

Eventually, utilising a more powerful spectrographic device, they were able to make a report on the object.

This detailed that the metallic exterior of the sphere was roughly half an inch thick, comprised of a metallic compound that was similar in nature to steel, and that the interior contained two smaller spheres.

These two internal spheres were free to move around inside the larger object when it was shaken, but appear to be in permanent contact with one another.

This not only explained the slight rattling sounds that Antoine had detected, but also how the momentum that moved the sphere forwards had been produced.

The item next passed into the hands of a local scientific company by the name of the Omega-1 Institute, where it was analyzed by Dr.

Carl Wilson.

But rather than answer any of the existing questions about the mysterious object, Wilson's findings only fueled further speculations as to its origins.

He reported that the sphere emitted a powerful magnetic field into its immediate environment.

Further still, he had been able to detect that the counter-vibrations being produced from inside the object were, in fact, radio waves.

In the aftermath of Wilson's analysis and a brief reignition of media interest in the story, Dr.

Hynek once again approached the family with a request to analyse the sphere.

In August of 1974, Antoine and Jerry drove to meet Hynek and a panel of other scientists at a conference which was taking place in New Orleans.

But once again, following close analysis of the sphere, little in the way of clarity was garnered from the meeting.

Whilst none of the panel members could confirm that the unknown object was man-made,

neither were they prepared to stake their reputations on a declaration that it was extraterrestrial.

With these findings quickly picked up on and publicized by the National Inquirer magazine, press coverage of the story quickly turned negative.

Several witnesses came forward to state that the sphere was actually an industrial item, either used to clean through waste pipes or as part of the internal mechanisms of a large valve.

Others claimed it was part of a kinetic artwork installation, which had been lost whilst being driven through the state of Florida to New Mexico during Easter of 1971.

Severely affected by the perceived backlash against them, both the Betts family and the sphere would disappear into obscurity after the incident, leaving little behind besides conjecture as to where the object had originated from and what ultimately became of it.

In the years that have followed, opinions about the article's true origins have settled across two distinct lines of reason.

Seizing upon the alleged scientific findings recorded in relation to the sphere, some have hypothesized that it must have fallen to Earth from the heavens, its impact being the cause of the bushfire in which it was found.

These commentators believe that the sphere must have been some form of extraterrestrial device, either part of a propulsion system or a complete unit.

such as a probe or listening apparatus.

Interestingly, the descriptions of the item do bear a striking resemblance to diagrams drawn by Bob Lazar regarding anti-gravity drives housed at Groom Lake, and the sphere itself did seem to present properties of an anti-gravitational nature.

Others have suggested that it may have been part of a lunar vehicle, an orbiting satellite belonging to either belligerent of the Cold War, or a part of a larger conventional spacecraft.

But there are equally strong arguments for the sphere being far more mundane in its origins.

Its dimensions and appearance are uncannily similar to the valve components sold by local businesses and used in the artwork that was sent to New Mexico.

Manufacturers of the valves claim that on occasion, shavings from drill heads or other tools fall into them.

and this may be the reason for the rattling sound heard inside.

It has also been claimed by some sources that the sphere was never observed to move of its own accord outside the Bett's household, and that the whole affair was either a ruse or a case of mild hysteria on the part of those investigating it.

If such claims are true, and if the floors of the Bett's household had been even slightly unlevel,

they would naturally have produced some degree of movement from the sphere when it was placed upon them.

This forwards momentum could then have been naturally counteracted and corrected by the other kinetic parts moving around inside it, be they a manufacturing floor or deliberately constructed.

In relation to the perceived magnetic fields and radio waves detected in the vicinity of the object, these may have been unrelated phenomena.

This may also have been a classic case wherein the work undertaken on the object was unduly influenced by the personal opinions and beliefs of those carrying it out.

There are many questions surrounding the story of the Betz Sphere which remain unanswered.

If the forest fire in which the item was found was not caused by its rapid descent to Earth, then what was the true cause?

If this was a prank or hoax, How did the family manage to fool both military personnel and members of the scientific community?

And why did the item and the family themselves seemingly disappear from the face of the earth in the aftermath?

In what has become an age of social media sleuths, it is entirely likely that at some point in the future, the movements of the Betz family may become known, and the true origins of the Betz sphere will finally be clarified, putting this mystery to rest, once and for all.

And

I'm not sure what to do with this.